One blue, one red—two pentakill notifications appeared simultaneously at the center of the giant screen.
For a split second, the vast Longhu Esports Arena fell silent. Fans stared serenely at the match footage, not even noticing when the cheering placards slipped from their hands.
“…My god.”
After a long moment of being struck dumb, Chao Mi finally came back to himself.
He shut his jaw with difficulty, his throat painfully dry. “It’s just… I—I really don’t know how to put this into words anymore. I don’t even know what vocabulary to use, you know what I mean? It honestly feels like I’ve been commentating for all these years for nothing—I can’t even speak properly!”
The instant he spoke, the audience below also snapped out of their shock.
Twenty-five thousand fans roared in unison to cheer for their respective teams, the tsunami of sound nearly shattering the soundproof glass around the stage competition area.
No one wanted to analyze what this double pentakill would mean for the flow of the match. All they needed was to cup their hands around their mouths and vent the excitement surging from their chests—
“Taylooooo—! Let’s go!!”
“Amor, my husband! Amor—aaaaaah!!”
In the TL fan section, light boards reading “This Moment, Hear the Sound” waved nonstop. PNG fans caught sight of them out of the corner of their eyes and immediately refused to be outdone.
“PNG—so damn good—!!!”
“Ahhh Fen-bao, husband, let’s go—!!”
“We’re watching a match here, stop yelling ‘husband’—just call him Dad, instantly elevates the mindset!”
“Uh… Winnnnnd—my forever Dad!! Charge! Kill!!”
“Feng—Bao—!! Solo Kill King!!”
“Where are the light boards? The support gear? Wave them harder! …You guys over there too! Lift them—higher!”
“Holy shit… who on the right is holding up ‘Clouds Follow the Wind’? Put it away—damn it, don’t wave that toward PNG’s player booth! What if it flashes into Feng-bao’s eyes—”
A small fan nearby timidly raised a hand to ask, “Um… aren’t light-up signs made so the players can see that people are supporting them…?”
“—But not this one!”
All kinds of roars—loud and soft—intertwined beneath the stage, the cheering fervor reaching an unprecedented peak.
“Honestly, the two of us have been commentating together for so long, and there haven’t been many times when we’ve been at a total loss for words—this is one of them…”
Qing Ci sighed, rubbing his forehead with a wry smile. “But I’m sure everyone listening to the fans’ shouts in the background can already glimpse just how incredible this game has been! I thought the early and mid game were exciting enough—who knew this dragon fight would be taken to such a heart-pounding level by both teams!”
His voice rasped. “Teammates dropping one by one, skills and HP completely drained! Honestly, in a situation like that, no one would blame you for just turning around and leaving! But Wind and Amor—these two just had to fight it out, and they did it so beautifully, so spectacularly!”
“Double pentakill!!”
Chao Mi nodded furiously. “Yes—this double pentakill is absolutely one for the HPL regular-season history books! This is the first time in HPL history that both teams were whittled down to their last two players and then eliminated each other simultaneously!”
“The last time we saw anything even remotely similar, we’d have to go all the way back to Season 4—and that was in the HDL, the secondary league!”
[I’m laughing so hard—when the double pentakill popped up, I howled so loud the neighbors thought I was giving birth at home. Auntie, I’m a guy, okay?]
[Ten-year TL fan here, in tears. That fight just now—Amor felt like he had that spark from when he first debuted again…]
[Too strong!! The commentators on the secondary stream were just listing skills from that teamfight and nearly ran out of breath—speech speed couldn’t keep up with the players’ hand speed at all!]
[Damn it, Winnnnnd!!! How the hell did you snatch that pentakill out of Amor’s hands?! You’re way too damn insane!! Get over here and let me kiss you twice!!]
[Everyone keeps saying Lee Jae-Hee is a rookie, but does anyone remember that Feng-bao was also in his first season as a pro?]
[ That’s the scariest part. At this point, do you really think anyone still looks at Wind by rookie standards?]
[The last team that treated Wind like a rookie—grass on their grave is already three meters tall (lol)]
Qing Ci was filled with emotion, eyes locked on the screen as he spoke slowly. “Especially in clashes between top teams—over the course of an entire season, even a single pentakill is rare, let alone a double pentakill like this! Two minutes ago, who could have imagined the dragon fight would turn out this way?”
[Oh no—the commentator’s already naturally calling my ragtag team a ‘top team’! What do we do now!!]
[ It’s fine, I bet the script for this game is TL getting kicked out of the ‘elite clubs’ and crowned king of the bottom-feeders! PNG remains a weak team that only beats bottom-feeders, no doubt!]
[Send help hahaha—TL: do you have any manners at all]
[TL doesn’t need to panic; the bottom-feeder family will definitely expand sooner or later—who knows, maybe even a world champion will join one day (lol)]
[If that happens, wouldn’t FR be the biggest winner?]
[I’m dying—if haters had even half as much skill as they have mouth, Chinese esports would’ve already conquered the universe]
“Before the result came out, I couldn’t picture it at all—but once the double pentakill happened, it suddenly felt completely reasonable! In that fight, all ten players on both teams played out of their minds. Everyone did everything they could to deal damage and apply pressure; if you couldn’t get the kill yourself, you created opportunities for your teammates. The micro plays, and detail trading were maxed out…”
Chao Mi was full of admiration. “Shamelessly speaking, this isn’t even textbook-level teamfighting anymore—this is Bible-level! Both teams played it so beautifully, so delicately!”
“Stronger opponents bring out greater strength!” The commentator took a deep breath. “And this is the most direct embodiment of the spirit of esports!”
“PNG and Tayloo have proven to us with their actions that esports is about constantly challenging the limits and turning the impossible into possible! The plays that commentators and fans think are unrealistic or impossible—they’re the ones who go out and make them happen!”
“Especially the final duel between Wind and Amor. Even at their last 1% of HP, neither player gave up. Neither was willing to miss a single chance to defeat the other…”
Chao Mi rubbed his hands together, admiration overflowing from his words.
As a seasoned league veteran, he had commentated on thousands of matches, but games with twists and turns as dramatic as this one were truly rare. And this was only a regular-season BO3!
Cheng Wensheng—Chao Mi had seen him plenty of times and understood his level well. Captain of a top-tier powerhouse team, rock-solid mechanics and game sense, years of big-match experience—undoubtedly among the world’s very best mid laners, one of the representative figures of the Chinese region. If he were just a few years younger, he’d be the undisputed male lead of an esports drama.
…Then what did that make Sui Ning, who could pick a disadvantaged hero and still go toe-to-toe with Cheng Wensheng, even gain a slight edge?
That question had been lingering in Chao Mi’s mind since Game Two. It wasn’t until the double pentakill appeared that a faint answer finally surfaced.
——
At 26 minutes, PNG widened the gold gap to 6,000, leading 56.3k to 50.1k.
In theory, a full wipe on both sides benefited TL more. With their carries behind in items, taking a dragon fight was somewhat forced—but stopping PNG from chaining a double-dragon push was enough to let them breathe, so Cheng Wensheng and Jian Wang’s decision was the right one—
Commentator: “After both sides respawn, no one has cooldowns—no flashes, no ultimates. At this point, teamfighting doesn’t mean much! We’ll probably see a period of calm farming again, clear the waves first, maybe pick up some jungle resources.”
“But TL’s lower jungle looks rough. The mid and bot outer turrets are gone, vision is hard to push out—this blue buff probably has to be given up!”
Qing Ci frowned, fully aware of how tricky this was. “PNG’s push is giving TL a massive headache! This really shows the strength of having two teleports in mid and top—Myerii pushing top, Wind pushing bot, a classic 1-3-1 split!”
Chao Mi nodded. “Exactly—and the key is that TL has a really hard time answering this 1-3-1. Amor does have TP, but there’s no way he can split-push alone. He’s a squishy mage! His 1v1 on Astromancer is already on the weaker side—he can’t compare to an assassin like Mavis.”
“Tch—when you put it that way, PNG’s macro really feels incredibly seasoned.”
For the first time, Qing Ci couldn’t help but sympathize with TL. “Both Baron and Dragon are up—TL has to deal with the waves! PNG has given them a brutal multiple-choice question: dragon, or inhibitor?! The bot lane is becoming impossible to manage!”
The initiative was in PNG’s hands, and they chose to shove the waves and start the dragon immediately.
“Forget bot for now!” Jian Wang said urgently. “Check the dragon pit!”
“What’s the call—fight?”
“No, no—focus on securing the dragon! Take it slow, don’t lose it! Make sure to protect Owld!”
Qing Ci: “TL decides to ignore the two cannon waves in bot lane and defend the dragon area first!”
“And that’s the correct choice. This is PNG’s match-point dragon! Another Infernal! PNG already has two Infernal drakes—if TL gives up this one, the next spawn is Soul.”
“With PNG’s composition getting Infernal Soul, TL absolutely cannot handle that!”
Chao Mi glanced at the minimap, hesitating. “It’s just that the wave state is really unfriendly for TL, especially bot lane. The tier-two turret is already gone, and Wind pushed pretty deep earlier. If they commit to defending dragon, the bot inhibitor turret might get chunked down to low HP by minions…”
Sui Ning had pushed that lane himself—he knew exactly how destructive those two cannon waves were. He kept his eyes locked on the bot wave, constantly switching screens, simply waiting for a chance to end the game.
When TL’s five players finally began appearing around the dragon area one after another, and the bot wave reached the inhibitor turret, Sui Ning let out a quiet breath.
“Wei Ye, how long on TP?”
Wei Ye: “It’s up now.”
“I’ll TP bot with you,” Sui Ning said. “Have them stall on the front line—go straight for the base.”
As soon as the words left his mouth, he pressed Teleport.
Wei Ye’s mind lagged half a beat behind, but his body instinctively followed the call.
Cheng Su stayed on the front line. The moment Cheng Wensheng appeared in vision, he charged at him on reflex.
Cheng Wensheng was slightly taken aback. “…Starting a fight like this—are you trying to get yourselves killed?”
“Whoa—this aggressive?”
“Did PNG lose their heads?!”
TL’s teammates swarmed in, completely surrounding Cheng Wensheng.
Ji Yunyu “tried” to save him, but it didn’t amount to much—his W fear even got thrown onto top laner Jiang Hao instead.
Charging in like a suicide squad, rushing to die? At a decisive moment like this, the more you need to stay calm. Cheng Wensheng shook his head helplessly at his younger brother’s play.
…Wait. Suicide?
The smile at the corner of Cheng Wensheng’s lips froze.
Almost instinctively, he glanced at the minimap. At the same moment, shouts erupted through his headset.
“They’re TP’ing to backdoor!!”
——
“Beautiful—!! This bait-and-switch, luring the snake out of its hole—absolutely brilliant!”
Chao Mi pumped his fist in excitement. “TL thought PNG was going for the double-dragon and had to come defend, leaving bot lane completely empty! But PNG never intended to fight at all—they were fishing the whole time, just waiting for you to bite!!”
“Wind and Myerii light up their teleports simultaneously—PNG’s bot wave is insane, two cannon waves!”
“What do we do now?! TL has to rush back to defend—nice! Erllit and Cloud are so sharp, all their CC lands on Amor and Ljbf! TL only has teleports on mid and top! Then it’s over!”
Qing Ci slaps his thigh. “Bot lane pushed way too fast—you can only make it if you TP home in four seconds! Recalling takes a full eight seconds! Eight seconds, bro—by then the daylilies are cold! And Mior’s poking like a sprinkler, spreading it everywhere just to interrupt recalls! Nobody’s allowed to back!!”
[Blue team has destroyed a turret!]
“The inhibitor turret is gone—way too fast! Freeloop is outputting, Erllit’s down to his last sliver of HP… but it doesn’t matter! You can’t get back!!—My god, Ljbf flashes over the wall, getting ready to sprint home!!”
Watching Jiang Hao’s miserable mad dash, Qing Ci doesn’t know whether to feel sorry or laugh. “Th—can they make it?! …JW’s started running too!”
[Blue team has destroyed an inhibitor!]
“The Nexus is down, the two Nexus turrets are right there! Myerii’s being so detailed here, tanking the turrets first to soak damage for the minions! If the wave stays, PNG really might end it in one push!”
The commentator shouts at the top of his lungs, “TL, run!! Run faster!”
The fans in the arena are on edge.
“Tayloo—! Waaaah, no!!”
“Holy shit PNG, geniuses—!! Smash it, smash it, smash it!!”
[Blue team has destroyed a turret!]
With the Nexus turrets down, both teams’ voice comms are more chaotic than a village market.
Jiang Hao roars at full volume, “Aaaaah run faster!! My base—holy shit these two have no honor, what kind of hero backdoors the base!!”
The veins on the back of his hand bulge; with a bit more force he’d crush the mouse, as he drives the Peerless Swordsman into a full sprint.
“Haha, I’m convinced.”
Cheng Wensheng can’t help laughing.
He can’t get back. He takes his rebellious little brother’s kill and just stands there to watch the show.
At this point, the outcome is out of his hands. At this life-or-death moment for the team, there’s nothing he can do but spectate.
He doesn’t think getting backdoored means PNG has no shame. Quite the opposite—Cheng Wensheng feels… thrilled.
“Ah—PNG Bad!” Lee Jae-Hee laughs helplessly, even starting to imitate players pinned in fountain in solo queue, begging the winning side for mercy. “No no no, one more chance plz!”
“Don’t break it, don’t break it—fight a little longer!”
“Damn hahaha—what, this works too?! It was definitely that bastard Wei Ye’s idea—looks all proper but black-hearted as hell!”
Wei Ye: ? Busy. Don’t @ me!
Wei Ye is busy auto-attacking the Nexus; the friction between mouse and fingertip is practically sparking.
“Ughhhhh—!!” His face turns feral. “Break it, break it!! Damn it, why can’t Glory shop in the enemy base?! What’s the shopkeeper thinking! I’ve got so much gold and gear—like I’d stiff you on that cut!”
Lin Zhaoxu squats in a safe bush, craning his neck to watch Sui Ning’s screen, speaking leisurely. “You only regret not studying when the time comes. This is when you wish you’d bought a couple more attack-speed items earlier.”
Wei Ye twitches his mouth. “…That’s how you use that idiom?”
Immune to low-level banter, Lin Zhaoxu looks down at Sui Ning’s hands and yelps, “Holy shit, Feng-bao! Why are you so smooth and elegant even when auto-attacking the base?!”
Sui Ning: …
Sui Ning says calmly, “Don’t talk yet. We haven’t won.”
“What, am I that charming? A few words and I affect your backdoor?”
“…” Sui Ning restrains himself. “I’m afraid I’ll throw the mouse at your face.”
Lin Zhaoxu is very gentle. “It’s fine, Feng-bao. Abuse me a thousand times and I’ll still love you like my first love. I definitely won’t let the refs ban you.”
Sui Ning: ?
Ji Yunyu: ?
[PNG_Erllit]: ?
[PNG_Erllit]: Can you shut up?
Wei Ye is speechless. “Seriously, can we get more hype? We’re literally backdooring—”
“6666, Myerii!! You’re the eternal god!!”
“Woohoo—!”
“Nice!! TL, carry them off—next!”
The base shatters on cue.
Victory!
Cheers crash through the arena like a storm; the chants of PNG’s name are endless.
At the instant the base explodes, even TL’s die-hard fans can’t help but give PNG thunderous applause for the spectacular play.
The scoreboard flips.
[PNG 2:0 Tayloo]
[WINNER —— Phoenix Nirvana Gaming!]
——
The moment the word Victory appeared, the trending list was instantly flooded.
The double pentakill—previously crushing every other topic—was pushed down by a brand-new [BREAKING] tag.
#Congratulations PNG 2:0 Tayloo!#
Comment: ?????? Holy shit???
Comment: …Wait a second??? I didn’t watch the live stream—what the hell… is this real?? This isn’t fake news, right??
Comment: No, hold on—who 2–0’d whom?!?!
Comment: Holy shit holy shit holy shit—I checked the account that posted it, it’s the official HPL account! PNG won?? And it was a 2–0 sweep??!
Comment: …My god.
#Double Pentakill#
#Wind Pentakill#
#Amor Pentakill#
“Congratulations to PNG—!!!”
Both commentators’ voices were already hoarse from shouting.
Chao Mi kept clapping. “Incredible, absolutely incredible, PNG! You guys have completely blown past my expectations!”
“I dare say every single viewer was sweating for PNG before the match! After all, Tayloo’s advantage was massive—two-time domestic champions, top-tier players in every role, proven international results—”
Chao Mi cleared his throat, barely containing his excitement. “Who—could—have—imagined!!”
“Clean, thrilling, decisive!” he enunciated every word. “PNG wins both games and once again defends their undefeated record! I want to ask those viewers who said before the match that PNG and TL weren’t on the same level—do you still think they’re not on the same level now?!”
[…Hehe.]
[I’ll be bold and answer: they’re not!! It’s just that the high and low swapped places (lol)]
[ This is getting ridiculous—sure, celebrate the win, but maybe dial it back a bit…]
“Twelve straight wins, twenty-four consecutive game wins!!”
Qing Ci couldn’t help joining in the praise. “Some people said PNG hadn’t played enough matches, that their opponents weren’t strong enough, that the earlier results didn’t count. Fine—then what about this BO3?!”
“I can responsibly tell everyone that PNG’s results are absolutely not castles in the air. The strength that’s brought them here today is something all of us viewers can plainly see!”
“PNG—!”
“PNG—!”
As the commentators spoke, the players on stage began packing up and preparing to leave.
Lin Zhaoxu immediately tried to do a left-foot-on-right-foot hop and jump onto Sui Ning’s back with a classic ‘good brother you’re insane’ move—only to be ruthlessly blocked by Ji Yunyu’s quick reflexes.
Lin Zhaoxu protested, “Anyone who gets in my way is trash!”
Ji Yunyu shoved his keyboard into Lin Zhaoxu’s hands and, as if nothing were out of the ordinary, picked up Sui Ning’s mouse with his other hand. “Don’t go attacking teammates. Last time you pulled this, you nearly broke Chen Chen’s back.”
“…Uh.”
Sui Ning glanced at Ji Yunyu and held out his hand. “I can carry it myself…?”
Ji Yunyu shot him a look. “What, I help you out and you’re unhappy about it?”
“Just worried you can’t lift it,” Sui Ning curled his lips into a smile, baring his teeth provocatively at him with his back to the audience.
Ji Yunyu laughed, his gaze lingering on Sui Ning’s face. “…Your mouse weighs a ton or something?”
Behind them, the referee’s eyes swept over the two of them, his expression growing increasingly strange.
Cheng Su couldn’t take it anymore. He tugged at the jerseys of the two flirting elementary schoolers and gestured to the side.
TL had come over for the handshake.
Starting from top lane, the two teams lined up and exchanged a few barbs, the atmosphere unexpectedly harmonious.
That was, until Cheng Wensheng stepped forward. Cheng Su stared at him expressionlessly.
After a long moment, Cheng Wensheng smiled. “Cat got your tongue?”
Cheng Su tugged at the corner of his mouth, trying to force the most disdainful expression he could manage.
Meeting his brother’s gaze, he spoke casually: “…I won.”
“Pfft!” Cheng Wensheng burst out laughing. “I thought you were holding it in all that time to say something profound.”
Cheng Su immediately wanted to punch him.
It took Cheng Wensheng a while to stop laughing. He straightened up and looked calmly at his younger brother. Compared to when they met before the match, his expression was much gentler now, something unreadable flickering through his eyes.
He curved his lips and patted Cheng Su on the shoulder in encouragement. “You played… not bad.”
Cheng Su: …How is it that someone can lose a match and still act cockier than the winner? I don’t get it.
Ignoring his reaction, Cheng Wensheng stepped forward and shook Sui Ning’s hand.
Looking him in the eye, he said with a smile, “See you at Worlds.”
With that, he followed his team and left.
Sui Ning froze.
There were still playoffs before Worlds. Still the Summer Finals. A whole mess of complicated procedures to decide the Chinese seeds…
But so what? After these two games, Cheng Wensheng clearly didn’t believe that this season’s PNG would fail to make it to the World Championship.
He waved once toward PNG with his back turned and walked off the stage.
----------
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