Happy Deepavali 💗
[Blue Side vs. Red Side]
Top: Radiant Goddess vs. Explorer
Jungle: Spirit Fawn vs. Soul-Sealing Blade Demon
Mid: Phantom Trickster vs. Holy Healer
Marksman: Shadow Hawk vs. Void Devourer
Support: Verdant Treant vs. Blood Count
Once the lineups were locked in, the fans in the livestream chat completely lost it.
Chao Mi's lips were practically twitching upward with amusement. He put on a serious expression and said, “Both sides' compositions seem to have some potential. The slot machine actually has some pretty good ideas! What do you coaches think?”
The coaches: …
They had never drafted such high-level compositions in their entire lives!
The few veteran coaches fell silent. The most straightforward special guest, Da Ju, thought for a while before analyzing, “I'll start with a few of the laning matchups.”
“Just looking at the champions, in the top lane, the Red Side's Explorer undoubtedly has an overwhelming advantage against Radiant Goddess. However, Explorer is an AD who needs to cast skills frequently, so its basic attack damage is extremely low!”
“Frequent skill casting means the mouse and keyboard have to coordinate constantly! And, as it happens, the person controlling Explorer this game is two people…”
Even Da Ju sounded speechless as he continued. “—With them splitting the work, the difference in champion strength in the top lane may not necessarily be enough to show.”
[“Splitting the Work”]
[Myerii is screwed. And Son Xuxu has the keyboard, not the mouse. If he had the mouse, maybe he could trade a few blows with Lio!]
[The strongest marksman’s battle to defend the dignity of the top laner, hahahahaha]
[As everyone knows, our Myerii can't see the minion wave. And as everyone also knows, if Son Xuxu misses even one minion, he'll wake up in the middle of the night and slap himself. So, tell me: how many decibels will his scream reach when he misses minions later?]
[ Miss minions?? My jungler doesn't even take any of them!]
Da Ju continued, “The mid lane is the same. Blue Side got Phantom Trickster. There's no doubt about this champion's strength in the mid lane, but her agility and mobility rely heavily on accurate skill casts…”
Chao Mi, enjoying the chaos, immediately seized the opportunity to ask, “Coach Da Ju, are you saying that even if Erllit and Amor combine their strength, they still can't beat God Yue?”
Da Ju choked for a moment before shaking his head tactfully. “I wouldn't put it that way. I've never seen these two players work together before. Their opponent, Cpyhc, has Holy Healer, a champion that relies heavily on skills, but he happened to draw a negative effect that prevents him from using skills, so his solo-kill potential is basically zero. I feel like both sides are equally weak.”
Hearing this, Coach Tang Yu spoke bluntly as well. “Yes. I predict the mid lane is going to be pretty hilarious. It's ‘Clown’ versus ‘Useless.’ Let's see who can feed harder.”
[??? Hahahahahaha, “Clown,” holy shit hahahahaha]
[Do you think the Cheng brothers would be able to guess that this is how their coach sees them? Gahahahaha]
[I'm fucking dying. My Yue is being called “useless” for the first time. It's all Holy Healer's fault, hahahaha]
[Two of Angel's three skills are shields/healing for teammates, and she can't even use them on herself. Whether she has [Supreme Basic Attack] or not, there's basically no difference when she's playing mid (Clown)]
“As for the bottom lane, there's even less to say,” Tang Yu continued his ruthless evaluation. “The two ‘marksmen’ have absolutely no strength whatsoever. The support is even more ridiculous. Aside from standing in lane to leech experience, it's practically useless.”
Pan Pan also nodded in agreement. “Yeah, I agree with Boring on this. Having the support AFK in the bottom lane might actually be even more useful.”
[Hahahahahaha, holy shit]
[Don't you dare talk about my number-one Blood Count like that, hahahaha]
[I'm fucking dying, how does something like Blood Count support even exist? What can he do? When in doubt, just suck on someone once? Hahahaha]
[Freeloop is sweating bullets, hahahaha]
After discussing the three lanes, Tang Yu looked toward the jungle position and fell silent for a moment.
A faint look of pity appeared in his eyes. “—As for the jungle, well… let's just see if Wind can survive long enough to finish his jungle monsters.”
[??? Hahahahahaha]
[The hardest episode of the World's Best Mid Laner]
[He's not going to survive. A jungle Fawn without Smite… I genuinely have to feel sorry for Feng-bao!]
Chao Mi covered his microphone for a long while before finally trembling as he spoke, “Ahem, thank you, coaches, for your very professional analysis! But don't forget, both sides have an undercover player this game. Our goal is to identify the undercover—”
The fans watching everything unfold in Chao Mi's livestream simultaneously began making sinister “heh heh heh” sounds.
——
The game began.
Sui Ning stared at the enormous “Cannot Purchase” symbol beneath the [Jungle Knife] in the shop, his gaze gradually becoming vacant.
Seeing this, Chao Mi immediately spoke up. “The game has begun, and Wind has already encountered his first problem! He didn't bring Smite as a Summoner Spell, so he can't purchase the Jungle Knife! The rules prohibit teammates from helping the jungler start his jungle monsters, and without the Jungle Knife's 15% increased damage to jungle monsters, the Spirit Fawn's chances of successfully securing the buffs have dropped even further!!”
At the same time, his teammates also noticed Sui Ning's predicament. Yu Cai struggled not to laugh as he said over voice chat, “It's okay, Wind. Don't be scared. I'll carry this game!”
Sui Ning: “……”
Yu Cai had spoken far too confidently. Feng Yi immediately let out a cold laugh. “Don't make me laugh.”
“? What, you look down on Treant support? Do you not understand the value of the veteran Treant who helped win the World Championship?”
“What does that have to do with you?”
“Don’t you know that all domestic top laners share the same brain?”
Sui Ning silently glanced at the timer in the upper-right corner: 0:03.
Very good. Three seconds into the game, and his own bottom-lane marksman and support were already arguing.
The mid lane wasn’t peaceful either. Cheng Wensheng leisurely said, “I rarely lose lane against Meng Xiyue. If we lose this game, whose fault it is doesn’t need to be said, right?”
Cheng Su: “Heh. You miss every skill shot. What are you even doing alive?”
“Miss? The mouse is in your hands, and you’re blaming me for missing? Where’s your attention to detail? Your positioning? Your kiting? Can you even last-hit?”
“You talk too much. Is this really all the skill a TL mid laner has?”
“You’re dragging me down.”
“Stop messing around. With me playing Holy Healer, isn’t this basically a free win? Are you the undercover?”
……Very good. The mid laners had also started arguing over things that hadn’t even happened yet, all within the first three seconds.
Sui Ning was speechless. He bought two potions and a Magic Ring—the standard starting build for an AP champion—then slowly headed toward the Red Buff area.
Meanwhile, Ji Yunyu encountered the same awkward situation.
[Potions King] required him to purchase three potions. After spending 180 gold, he didn’t have enough money left to buy the Jungle Knife!
Expressionless, he opened and closed the shop several times before finally purchasing a Long Sword.
[Hahahahahaha, I'm dying. Those few times Cloud opened and closed the shop said absolutely everything.]
[The most torturous jungling experience in World Championship history, hahahaha]
[I've tried jungling with Blade Demon before. It's really slow. A normal jungler can clear their jungle in two and a half minutes, but he takes three and a half!]
One clever fan commented:
[Honestly, I don't think this is even a problem. Cloud is the undercover anyway, so he'll just slowly farm and not gank!]
[Makes sense.]
[Makes sense.]
The moment the barrage had sent a few “makes sense” comments, Meng Xiyue, who had also just left the base, suddenly flashed in place.
“Ah.” He blinked innocently. “My hand slipped.”
[????]
[Yue, could you at least put a little effort into your acting??]
[No, seriously, Cpyhc accidentally pressed Flash? Do you actually expect us to believe that? Hahahahaha]
Several waves of laughter and question marks swept across the screen.
A few teammates frowned slightly at the sight …No way, right? Meng Xiyue could make this kind of mistake? Could he actually be the undercover?
But that didn't make sense. I'm the undercover!
So did he really misclick? Could Meng Xiyue actually have such an embarrassing moment??
The more they thought about it, the more confused his teammates became.
“Impossible!”
Coach Pan Pan declared confidently from the commentary desk, “Cpy would never make such a low-level mistake. He's the undercover. No need to investigate anymore—we've solved the case!!”
Chao Mi was already about to die laughing. He glanced at the timer—it hadn't even been five seconds. “Hahah—cough, cough. Coach Pan Pan sounds very certain. But is it possible that God Yue really just had his hand slip?”
“No, no, no. This kind of mistake either happens when someone is extremely distracted or extremely nervous. Obviously, neither applies here.”
Coach Li En also entered detective mode. “In a normal competitive match, the probability of seeing a mistake like this is probably once every several thousand games.”
“Yes, Cpy is undoubtedly the undercover.”
“Exactly.”
Several coaches strongly agreed with Pan Pan’s conclusion.
The fans in Chao Mi's livestream were practically going insane. Wei Ye and Lin Zhaoxu exchanged a glance before immediately throwing the blame at him. “Crispy Duck couldn't possibly make this mistake! You're not Crispy Duck. Who are you?! Are you the undercover?!”
Meng Xiyue smiled faintly. “I'm not.”
“Then how do you explain that Flash?”
“I made a mistake. Everyone makes mistakes.”
“You're lying! I don't believe you!”
Meng Xiyue put on an innocent expression. He opened the chat box and silently typed: Wow, they're pretty sharp.
Then he deleted it with Backspace.
[They're not sharp. Your acting is just way too fake, Yue, hahahaha]
[I'm dying. From the coaches to the players, not a single person believes Crispy Duck could make such a low-level mistake, hahahaha]
[Holy shit hahahahaha, what kind of image does my Yue have in these people's minds?]
[Case solved in one second, hahahahaha]
The barrage erupted in laughter, but the coaches watching the game had already confirmed Meng Xiyue's identity as the undercover.
Then, when they saw Ji Yunyu buy his equipment and head toward the enemy jungle, they became even more certain of their judgment. “Is Cloud planning to invade the enemy jungle?”
Li En raised an eyebrow. “Invading the jungle of a Spirit Fawn without Smite? That's practically guaranteed to work! Cloud is going to teach Wind a lesson. He's taking this so seriously—he definitely isn't the undercover!”
“No need to think about it. The Red Side's undercover is Cpy. No question about it.”
Only Chen Chen remained silent, staring intently at Ji Yunyu. His expression kept flickering between You aren't seriously going to help Wind start his jungle monsters, are you, bro? Everyone's watching and Could he really be going to help his wife?
[?? What is Cloud doing?]
[No way, no way, no way. Surely no one's going to invade his wife's jungle, right? There's no way Feng-bao can contest him with that champion!]
[It's over. Feng-bao is going to cry little tears.]
[?? I don't believe it. Cloud, wake up!!]
The barrage was devastated by his actions. But Ji Yunyu couldn't see any of it with the livestream interface closed. He simply bought his equipment and silently ran into the Blue Side's Red Buff area.
Although he was sitting right next to Sui Ning and could see his screen simply by turning his head, he didn't do so.
Given Ji Yunyu's understanding of his own mid laner, he knew exactly what Sui Ning was probably thinking: get the Red Buff early to speed up his jungle clear—
And sure enough, when Ji Yunyu entered the passage into the Red Buff area, he saw the Spirit Fawn struggling to take the Red Buff on the other side of the wall.
Sui Ning sensed him as well and asked, “Are you going to invade my jungle?”
“No.” Ji Yunyu said this as he controlled Blade Demon and walked out of the shadows. “I'm helping you start it. You can't do this alone.”
Blade Demon took over the spot of the low-health Spirit Fawn. The corners of Sui Ning's lips instinctively curled upward, but he quickly remembered that this was the Undercover Cup, so he straightened his expression and said, “This is a competition. How can you help the opponent start their jungle?”
“Friendship first, competition second,” Ji Yunyu declared righteously. “The rules only say we can't help our teammates start their jungle. They never said we can't help our opponents.”
“Are you the undercover?”
“I'm not.”
Sui Ning smiled. “Sure.”
The Spirit Fawn successfully secured the Red Buff.
Chao Mi couldn't take it anymore. “Hey, hey, hey! What's going on with these two players? How can you chat with the opposing player in the middle of a match?!”
[Guess what? The league actually doesn't have a rule prohibiting players from talking to their opponents (Clown)]
[It's just that nobody expected someone to be able to ‘voice chat’ like this, right? Sitting next to each other really is cheating!]
[It's just a way for a little couple to show off their affection!! Traveling all this way just to help him start his jungle—if this isn't true love, what is??]
[I'm fucking dying. During that Cloud Follows the Wind conversation just now, the other eight players all looked like they were desperately holding back because they'd just discovered some huge gossip, hahahaha]
[Everyone saw through it but no one is saying anything, huh? Hahahaha]
[Damn, this pairing is making me ship them so hard. The more I ship them, the more real it feels! And the reactions from the other players are so weird. Could I actually live to see the day they officially announce it??]
[Wahhh, I'm surviving this lifetime on these little wedding candies!!]
At the coaches' bench, Chen Chen wore an expression of complete indifference, while the other coaches looked bewildered. “What does Cloud mean by this? Are the mid-jungle players really that close?”
“I don't think so. Cloud has to be the undercover!”
“Huh? Then what about Cpy?”
“…Two undercovers? Tsk, something's not right…”
The coaches fell into confusion.
After helping Sui Ning clear the jungle, Ji Yunyu asked, “Can you handle the small camps?” After receiving a definite answer, he obediently walked back to his own jungle.
The coaches were dumbfounded. He really came over just to help Wind clear his jungle??
So this kid Cloud really is the undercover??
His teammates were also stunned. Several of them who knew the truth couldn't deny that it was certainly entertaining to ship them, but Ji Yunyu's actions were indeed extremely suspicious!
Undoubtedly the undercover!
So Wei Ye opened his microphone again. “Cloud, tell me honestly. Are you the undercover?”
“I'm not.”
“If you're not, why did you run over to the enemy side? You're not even invading! Is this really the level of the World Champion jungler?!”
Meng Xiyue chimed in at just the right moment. “See? I told you that you were wrongly accusing me. Cloud's opening was obviously suspicious.”
“Don't start. You haven't cleared yourself of suspicion either!”
Down in the bottom lane, Jiang Hao had left Blood Count AFK in the brush. Although he knew perfectly well that he was the undercover, he seized an opportunity to pile suspicion onto his teammates. “—You two are way too suspicious. One of you is definitely the undercover!! Did the other one receive some kind of special mission?”
Lin Zhaoxu shouted through Wei Ye's microphone, “I think there's a special mission too! Case solved! Undercover, undercover!!”
Meng Xiyue: “The undercover is obviously Cloud. Anyway, it isn't me ^W^.”
“Not you?” Wei Ye was exceptionally sharp. He pressed Tab and immediately challenged him. “If you're not the undercover, then how did you get pushed down by three CS against the idiot duo of Erllit + Amor?!”
“Hmm… because Amor is really strong in mid. Erllit is also very good at the laning details.”
“Amor counts as 1.5 mid laners, and Erllit counts as -1.5. After rounding, your opponent basically has no one!”
Wei Ye narrowed his eyes. “Explain that.”
Lin Zhaoxu repeatedly nodded in agreement.
Meng Xiyue muted himself and pretended to be clueless, then typed another sentence into the chat box: They're way, way, way too smart, aren't they?
Then deleted it.
[Holy shit hahahahaha, Yue, you could go through an entire Worlds laning phase against False without missing a single CS. Now you're missing minions like crazy while your keyboard and mouse are flying all over the place, and you think your teammates will believe you? Hahahaha]
[Case solved! Erllit + Amor combined > False!]
[I'm dying. How did False become a unit of measurement? Hahahaha]
[Missing minions and randomly throwing out skills aren't working. Next time, just pretend your internet is lagging and disconnecting! Gahahahaha]
[ The internet provider at Nv's base is innocent, though, hahahaha]
The clever fans continued coming up with strategies for Meng Xiyue. Meanwhile, Cheng Su and Cheng Wensheng's voice chat was equally lively.
They had already been arguing for nearly half a minute over one minion.
Cheng Su gritted his teeth. “Use the skill. Use the skill! W—tsk, how can you even miss that?”
Cheng Wensheng remained completely calm. “You pointed the mouse in the wrong direction. That's not my fault.”
“Then why didn't you use W when I told you to?”
“My reaction time is slow.”
“?”
Cheng Su took a deep breath and forced himself to remain patient. “You're the undercover.”
“I’m not.”
“Then you farm the minions.”
Cheng Wensheng answered leisurely, “The mouse is in your hands. There’s nothing I can do about it. My reaction time is slow!”
[??? Brother Cheng, you…]
[Little brother is really about to assassinate his own big brother this time, hahahaha]
[I can feel Erllit’s anger meter shooting up, but he’s the undercover, right? Why is he getting so angry? If he can’t last-hit, then so be it, right?]
[ Because his desire to beat up his own brother has already surpassed the rules of the Undercover Cup, right? If Amor went to the other side, I dare say Erllit could immediately put on a flawless last-hitting performance without missing a single minion.]
[? He’s directly challenging the limits of the support role, huh? Hahahaha]
[I’m fucking dying. Why does everyone in this group look so much like the undercover?!]
[The two supports AFK-ing in the bottom lane probably aren't. They don't look like they're acting (Clown)]
After Yu Cai's Verdant Treant said, “I'll carry this game,” he immediately started AFK-ing in the brush to leech experience.
Jiang Hao wasn't about to be outdone. He parked Blood Count by the side and began openly munching sunflower seeds.
[?? Chili Mixed with Rice, are you out here on a spring outing??]
[I'm dying, why are both supports just sitting there watching the show? Hahahaha]
[Jae-Hee is going to be driven insane by Brother Boring, gahahahaha. He looks like he's never played Void Devourer before!]
[This jungle champion's laning strength has absolutely nothing to do with its actual jungle strength, hahahaha]
Although Feng Yi was playing Shadow Hawk, a champion he rarely used, the support champion's skill design was undoubtedly much better suited for laning, and it also had greater range. Combined with Feng Yi's superb laning mechanics, Lee Jae-Hee was forced to retreat in a miserable panic.
He stammered out a plea for help. “Hao, help, help!”
“Coming, coming!” Jiang Hao answered. He controlled Blood Count out of the brush and precisely used [Q – Blood Siphon] to suck a tiny bit of health from Feng Yi, successfully shaving off an almost negligible amount of HP while putting his skill on a whopping 12-second cooldown.
Jiang Hao: “Slip away, slip away.”
Then he retreated back into the brush.
The barrage was practically going insane! They didn't even suspect Jiang Hao was the undercover, because a scaling AP tank like Blood Count—who required a huge amount of levels and equipment—was simply supposed to be this weak in the early game!!
A 12-second base cooldown, yet only half the base damage of a normal mage. Picking this thing as support was practically asking the marksman, Are you scared yet?
Lee Jae-Hee stared blankly at Jiang Hao's play. ???
Are you a mosquito?
That's exactly what he thought, and he immediately asked it aloud.
His teammates' arrogant laughter instantly came through voice chat. “Hahahahahaha, mosquito! That's so accurate, hahahaha—”
Jiang Hao wasn't offended at all. He picked up another sunflower seed and said, “Hide normally, then come out and suck once whenever the cooldown is ready. Who says that's not a mosquito? Bzzzz, bzzzz…”
[??? Haohao-zi accepted his new species so easily??]
[Oh my god hahahahaha, it's actually so accurate!!]
[Looking at it this way, the bottom lane actually seems pretty serious. The support's problems are just because of their champions…?]
[These two former marksmen playing support really don't look like they're faking it]
[One is playing Blood Count like a mosquito, while the Treant can't use his skills, runs over to slap Jae-Hee once, then runs back into the brush after losing half his own HP. If these two aren't the undercover, I don't believe it!!]
[I agree. Blood Count and Treant are both former marksmen. There's no way Guesz and Ljbf don't know how to play them.]
[If all else fails, have Myerii coach them on the spot (Clown)]
Feng Yi also watched Yu Cai's performance coldly before suddenly saying, “You're the undercover.”
Yu Cai's heart jumped. No way, I've already been exposed this quickly??
But before he could say anything, Cheng Su spoke up. “No. Cheng Wensheng is the undercover.”
“I already said I'm not.”
“Heh.”
Feng Yi then switched his screen over to watch the mid lane for a while. The more he watched, the stranger it seemed.
Yu Cai immediately relaxed. Thank goodness… I survived!
[…No, Brother Boring, did you forget that you're the undercover? Hahahaha]
[What is it like when the undercover thinks everyone on the entire team is the undercover?]
[They're so bad that it doesn't look like they're acting!]
Sui Ning listened quietly as he slowly cleared his jungle, hiding himself among all the people who were “suspected undercover.”
The coaches, however, had been observing him the entire time and began to feel that something was off. “Hmm… Wind's jungle pathing… isn't quite right, is it?”
“I remember he once had to fill jungle in ranked, and his kiting was perfectly fine back then. Why has he made two kiting mistakes this game? The monsters reset their aggro and have to be started over. How much time has that wasted?”
“Something's wrong. There's definitely something wrong with Wind!”
“Both mid and bottom have opportunities to create plays. I don't believe his competitive instincts wouldn't notice them—”
Although Sui Ning was primarily a mid laner, there was no way he didn't understand some basic jungle knowledge and mechanics.
Likewise, his ability to spot opportunities was better than the average player's. There was no way he wouldn't notice that both of his side lanes had potential openings.
In a normal competitive match, whenever an opportunity like this appeared, Sui Ning would even abandon his lane and go help.
But right now, he had Red Buff's burning slow, along with two small forms of crowd control from Q and W in his hands, and he was still farming jungle??
Is this really PNG_Wind? Impossible!
After analyzing everything, the coaches once again reached a conclusion. “Could Wind be the undercover??”
“I think so. His acting is a little too obvious!”
“Uh… what about Guesz, Erllit, Amor, and the others? I feel like there's something wrong with them too.”
“Tsk…”
The more the coaches talked, the more confused they became.
How did the conversation somehow end up with the entire team being undercover?? Were they all just acting?
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