Chapter 81

Indeed, no one could stop him.

Li’s passive ability allows him to build up a Silver Blade enchantment after two auto-attacks or three skill uses, resulting in a powerful enchanted auto-attack. This mechanism allows him to not only be a Mage but also an Assassin.

In this match, Rong Yi stacked full physical attack and high damage penetration. The trade-off was zero defense, making him so fragile that even minions could take away half his health. Yet, despite this, he managed to avoid getting caught and killed even once. His high mobility allowed him to roam freely.

Whenever an attack came from the enemy, he would retreat in that direction, slicing deep into their weakest defenses, and repeatedly prying them open, gradually breaking through.

After the enemy lost two side towers, Rong Yi stopped risking his life to push the remaining towers. Instead, he began rotating lanes, controlling minion waves, and plundering resources. The whole team shifted from aggressive assaults to a strategy centered around Rong Yi, looking for opportunities to engage in team fights in the jungle.

The enemy’s defensive formation was completely disrupted, forcing CH to come out and fight.

They couldn’t stay under their towers indefinitely because they needed to manage minion waves.

If they didn’t come out to manage the minion waves, VIT would seize the opportunity, control all three waves simultaneously, and they’d lose more than just a side tower.

CH was forced to engage in a team fight in the jungle.

From the audience’s viewpoint, it was clear that CH’s defensive tactics were thoroughly broken. Li had a significant economic lead, and despite Rong Yi not having any crowd control abilities, he weaved through the team fight as if no one could touch him.

With high attack and penetration, combined with Hydralisk’s naturally high sustained ADC damage, one broke through defenses and the other followed up with attacks. Even CH’s entire team crumbled like paper before them.

The entire defensive line was shattered once the team fight began.

VIT seized the opportunity from winning the team fight, pushed the wave strongly, and took another tower, advancing straight to the high ground.

At this moment, CH’s terrain advantage had completely collapsed. VIT controlled the tower defense operations, leaving CH with no choice but to confront and retaliate on the bottom lane.

Ultimately, VIT chose the bottom lane as their entry point. This move was incredibly ruthless.

They chose the resource area in the bottom lane, while the mid-lane outer turret was still standing. If their players wanted to retreat to other resource points, their only safe route was through the top lane.

Although they had an advantage in the mid lane, CH could no longer allocate any manpower to scout vision and resources there; it was meaningless.

At the thirty-fifth minute, amidst VIT’s steady operations, CH’s high ground turret was breached. They failed to manage their resources effectively, and in the high ground team fight, VIT, with a two-thousand gold lead, completely wiped out CH.

VIT:CH, 1-0, secured the first half victory.

The venue erupted with thunderous applause and screams. Some people jumped onto their chairs, smashing their hats, while others waved LED signs and shouted until their voices were hoarse. Both the live audience and online streams were ablaze with excitement.

Everyone was discussing the match, analyzing VIT’s new tactic.

There was no doubt about it; it was too brilliant, too sharp. CH was the wall, and VIT was the cold, gleaming knife slicing through it effortlessly.

“CH’s win rate with this tactic this season is 99%! Today is their first and only loss!”

“They even defeated VIT last time! But today, VIT turned the tables!”

“In just a few days, what a terrifying counterattack, what an exhilarating competitive showdown! No matter today’s outcome, let’s thank both teams for bringing us such an exciting confrontation. I daresay this might be the most spectacular tactical battle we’ve ever witnessed!”

The audience was in a frenzy.

The commentators were absolutely right.

Previously, domestic teams primarily focused on individual style clashes and solo performances, year after year. What we saw was one player’s highlight moments overshadowing another’s. Fans would argue over their favorite player’s rank, tearing down others.

They had never seen an esports tournament like this year, where the overall level had been elevated to a new height. Whether it was individual player performance or team coordination, it had now reached the level of tactical warfare.

How could one not be passionate?

During the halftime break, CH requested an extended rest period, prolonging the halftime to thirty minutes.

Outside, the excitement was spreading like wildfire. Inside both training rooms, the atmosphere was tense and unprecedentedly oppressive.

CH was relentlessly discussing their tactics.

Was there anything they could do at this point?

Yes, they absolutely couldn’t let VIT control the tempo in the next game.

This nearly 100% win rate defensive operations system they had relied on throughout the playoffs could no longer be used.

They were resolute.

In the arena, harboring any illusions would destroy their chances of victory. They wouldn’t entertain any more fantasies about easily defeating VIT.

Moreover, they had already been continuously digging into the fatal weaknesses of this system, weaknesses that Rong Yi had clearly identified beforehand.

However, they had more than one tactic against VIT.

They had always relied on their experience to find the core winning strategies of the season. Mastering their experience to the extreme might still be the right answer.

The second game of the first round began!

CH was bold. Despite being crushed by Li in the previous game, they stubbornly refrained from banning Li and stuck to a very similar high-defense system.

But there were slight differences from the previous game.

“Fire God, Bird Ancestor, Gray White Spider, ADC Ronin, and Support Mother of the Earth, but without Flash, they brought Gale instead.”

It was a very uncommon lineup.

CH had always used high defense when playing a defensive system, but this time, all five champions had one thing in common.

They were extremely fast.

Fire God had a noticeable speed boost when standing within his skill effect area, Bird Ancestor was naturally 1.25 times faster than other champions, Gray White Spider had high mobility, and Ronin could repeatedly jump and accelerate using terrain.

They were coming in fiercely.

“CH switched tactics right after the last game! Five high-speed champions, what are they planning? Are they trying to cut off VIT’s members from each other?”

“Makes sense. Whoever they chase will die; no one can outrun them!”

“Interesting.”

Rong Yi first picked Yin and swapped it to Xiao Yin, then picked the top lane champion for Wu Daogu.

As per VIT’s usual strategy, they could only get either Yin or Li, not both. Sure enough, CH wasn’t taking them lightly. Seeing that Rong Yi didn’t pick Li, they used their final ban to target him.

“Li is banned!”

Rong Yi chose Memory Key.

“VIT’s Support is choosing Memory Key. VIT’s strategy here… He locked it in! Was that a misclick?”

“Why did Easy lock in Memory Key?”

Rong Yi didn’t swap Memory Key to Grey Cat; instead, he took the champion himself!

A Support champion going Mid Lane no one saw that coming.

A faint smile appeared on Xiao Yin’s lips.

On the other side, Grey Cat muttered to himself with focus, “Choose your own champion. I’m a mature Support.”

He picked the offensive champion Silver Hook.

It looked too much like the Mid and Support had swapped roles.

Even the Referee Team paused for ten seconds and stood up to ask VIT if they needed to switch their lineup.

After receiving a negative response, they were shocked.

The live audience, commentators, and viewers outside the arena were all stunned.

“What kind of strategy is this!”

“Easy’s signature champion this season, Silver Hook, is now in Grey Cat’s hands.”

“And Grey Cat’s breakout champion, Little Key, is now being wielded by Easy.”

“This is actually quite fascinating. Today, both VIT and CH are giving us entirely new, unconventional tactical experiences.”

“But it makes sense. You have to know, Easy is proficient with all Support champions, and Grey Cat was personally trained by Captain Rong. If they’re making these choices, there must be a deeper meaning.”

Soon, everyone understood what that deeper meaning was.

The moment CH finalized their lineup, VIT’s tactic was already taking shape.

At the start, CH aggressively scouted for vision, spreading out to secure resources, while Xiao Yin went directly to the Top Lane, avoiding combat and sharing farm with Wu Daogu. After clearing the Top Lane, he moved to the Mid Lane. Rong Yi stayed behind, using Memory Key’s abilities to evade enemies without any intention of fighting.

The same applied to the Bottom Lane.

Hydralisk also adopted a different farming method today. Instead of picking a burst ADC like Empress, he chose the sustain-heavy Shark bone and shared half of the resources with Grey Cat.

Eight minutes into the game, Rong Yi had the lowest gold, while the others each had a thousand more gold than him on average.

And Grey Cat was being nurtured almost like a Mid Laner.

“VIT is playing extremely… cautiously?”

Outside the arena, Lin Yi exchanged a glance with his partner. “Their style is completely different from the last game. They’re very mysterious and extremely attentive to vision control, creating fake vision whenever they clear waves.”

“VIT usually doesn’t create fake vision often, but in this game, they’re doing it a lot. They’re also spending a lot of time hiding in the brush.”

His partner continued, “Of course, CH is being equally cautious. They’re very fast and efficient in scouting for vision. So far, neither side has made any major mistakes.”

Just as the words left his mouth, the first small team fight broke out!

The enemy Top Laner first spotted Xiao Yin in the Jungle. The rest of the team quickly followed, planning a small ambush.

Without hesitation, Xiao Yin used his ultimate, crossing the River twice and landing near the Mid Lane. But the enemy followed quickly, using Gale to charge at him. At the same time, the golden flash of Memory Key’s ability appeared from the brush, causing Xiao Yin to vanish and reappear 0.5 seconds earlier, slipping silently into the River brush.

CH lost their target.

They didn’t notice Rong Yi, who had just used his skill in the brush.

In this game, Rong Yi gave all the minion waves to Xiao Yin to farm. After maxing his skills, he rotated between the brushes of the Top Lane and Mid Lane, always ready to support his teammates.

He knew CH’s strategy.

Twenty minutes earlier:

“Actually, we believe that the key to beating VIT is to sever their communication. They’re very tightly connected. It’s hard to limit Easy, but there’s another way.”

“With high speed and mobility, we can keep them constantly exposed to our vision. This will make it very uncomfortable for them to play.”

This was Lu Feng’s conclusion after observing an entire season.

He was right, but also not entirely. The core issue lay elsewhere.

During the BP phase, in VIT’s Training Room:

“Our core strategy is simple,” Rong Yi said. “They were almost successful because a high-speed lineup favors vision scouting. Our overall information would continuously break, making it very difficult for us.”

“But they chose five champions with assault capabilities, probably thinking that severing our connections would be enough.”

Rong Yi continued, “They haven’t thought this through, or perhaps they have but didn’t dare to execute it. Because no one dares to take more than two carries specifically to control vision against us.”

This was VIT’s complete version answer.

All parameters were input into the model, all champion values taken into account. The final result considered all the complex variables of movement speed, range, attack power, positioning… A significant number of parameters were simplified, and many were distilled into the primary correlation of a linear equation.

The primary correlation: Vision.

Grasping this core meant understanding all of VIT’s secrets.

CH might have glimpsed some clues, but they hadn’t touched the core.

Therefore, this high-speed lineup would make it very uncomfortable for VIT, but they were destined to lose.

Especially since they were facing Rong Yi’s Memory Key.

“Memory Key is going Mid Lane, but he’s constantly rotating between Top Lane and ADC! The advantage brought by the enemy’s high-speed lineup is being continuously neutralized by him!”

At the twelfth minute, Xiao Yin was chased again, his skills on cooldown. Once more, the mysteriously appearing Memory Key pulled him back to his position 0.5 seconds earlier. Grey Cat stepped forward with Silver Hook, controlling the enemy and allowing Xiao Yin to escape.

Up to now, Rong Yi hadn’t earned a single gold coin from minion waves. From the moment he stepped onto the battlefield, his sole responsibility was clear.

To ensure that the enemy couldn’t catch any of their team members.

Xiao Yin had narrowly escaped death multiple times, and the audience’s emotions were like a roller coaster.

If Grey Cat’s Memory Key was the cornerstone that elevated the entire team’s potential, then Rong Yi was… the high blood pressure trigger.

His Memory Key was elusive, completely untouchable, appearing and disappearing at will, making it seem like everyone on the team suddenly had a thousand extra mobility skills.

At the fifteenth minute, the enemy team tried to surround them. Rong Yi preemptively flashed in the opposite direction, tricking Lu Feng.

Lu Feng calculated his cooldowns: “Memory Key’s cooldown! Surround him, he has to die.”

CH’s three players ventured deep into enemy territory. Rong Yi sprinted madly before flashing back to his original position, where Xiao Yin picked him up. Xiao Yin, Hydralisk, and Grey Cat then countered, taking down three members of CH.

This wasn’t a mistake; it was a tactical disadvantage that had started to show.

Their excessive vision scouting led to insufficient defensive reinforcements, which constantly fed their vision back to VIT.

Everyone was screaming, everyone was shouting. On VIT’s side, each time someone was on the brink of death, Rong Yi would pull them back. On CH’s side, every time they were about to secure a kill, their target would slip away.

The pace had been severely disrupted, making a comeback impossible.

VIT ended the game in just twenty-five minutes.

Rong Yi’s Memory Key stats: 0-0-0. He didn’t participate in any of the team’s kills or assists, nor did he take any minion wave gold.

But he was undeniably voted MVP by the Referee Team.

With two games concluded, VIT vs. CH: 2-0!

The moment everyone took off their headsets, the cheers from outside nearly blew the roof off. The deafening screams and chants drowned out the sound system inside, and the lights were blazing hot.

In an instant, the uproarious discussions online went silent. Everyone echoed the Commentator’s shout.

“Congratulations to VIT for winning this year’s domestic competition championship!”

“Congratulations to VIT for winning this year’s domestic competition championship!”

Flowers, applause, everyone shouting and jumping, repeatedly chanting this phrase.

The internet fell silent, like the brief stillness after water boils.

“Congratulations to VIT for winning this year’s domestic competition championship!”

“Congratulations to all VIT members, Yin, Easy, Grey Cat, Hydralisk, Wu Daogu, Potato Chip. VIT has carved a new chapter in this year’s playoffs, leaving marks as sharp as blades.”

“They have eliminated the superfluous, polished away the dust, and discovered new stars. They fought with sharp knives, forging even sharper ones.”

The closing words for the champions were soon announced. Lin Yi, an emotional person, read them almost to the point of tears.

The scene was actually a bit amusing.

Rong Yi wasn’t particularly accustomed to such sentimental moments, but he had a smile on his lips.

No one dislikes being a champion.

He had won five domestic championships before; this was his sixth, but his first with VIT.

Grey Cat and Hydralisk were already crying in each other’s arms, overwhelmed with emotion. They were young and inexperienced.

Coming from QILIN’s youth program, they had never imagined they would win a trophy so quickly, let alone aim for the highest peak so soon.

Potato Chip was also bawling, “What do we do? We really won the championship trophy! What do we do? I’m willing to train until I cry next year! Captains, you’re amazing! Thank you for wanting me “

Xiao Yin turned around and called out to Rong Yi, “Ah Yi.”

He reached out his hand.

Rong Yi didn’t move.

He knew that not joining them for the award ceremony would be disappointing, but he couldn’t bring himself to move. He knew there was something insurmountable holding him back.

All these years, it had been the same.

In the past, he had felt a slight regret due to the neglect and prejudice from his teammates. But now, those kinds of people were no longer by his side.

The people around him now loved him, admired him, and cared for him.

He had no regrets anymore.

Rong Yi smiled and said, “Go on out, go see your starlight shower!”

The red carpet was already laid out, and gold and silver confetti rained down from the ceiling. Silver and blue lights swirled, dazzling and unparalleled.

Suddenly, a gust of wind blew, and a silver flash streaked overhead. It was a straight flagpole, with a billowing flag unfurling behind it.

The silver and blue flag, featuring a silver wolf’s head, glistened with a majestic aura, as if it were about to come to life, dominating the scene.

Xiao Yin bent down and took Rong Yi’s hand.

“Come with me.”

Rong Yi was pulled up from his seat and led outside.

He didn’t know where Xiao Yin was taking him. He only saw the others following with excited smiles.

He knew Xiao Yin’s character well; he would never force him to face the cameras.

The path he was being led down was towards a mysterious, particularly large theater backstage.

There were two large theaters in the League Building, originally part of a converted theater. Typically, only one was used for events.

Now, this theater was empty, but the stage was filled with starlight. Confetti gently fell from above, and a large screen in the center displayed the camera feed of the audience from the arena.

“Come on.”

Xiao Yin bowed his head, shielding Rong Yi as they walked down the hallway. At this moment, just a wall away, the competition venue was erupting with cheers, as if set ablaze.

“Easy, Easy!”

“Captain Rong! Captain Rong! Is Captain Rong in the back “

“Holographic projection,” Xiao Yin whispered. “There are no cameras here, only mirrors. Lift your head.”

Rong Yi saw that as Xiao Yin walked forward, his image also appeared on the screen on the other side of the stage. Identical.

It was magical.

They were on this side, while the audience was on the other, as if separated by different dimensions and timelines, greeting this extraordinary championship award ceremony.

“…It’s so magical.”

Rong Yi carefully held onto Xiao Yin’s fingertips, then looked at the audience on the screen and let go.

The light particles gently fell onto his shoulders.

He felt a bit lost, “I really didn’t expect… this.”

“That this could happen.”

Xiao Yin gazed at him, and behind him, Grey Cat, Hydralisk, and Wu Daogu were also watching him with smiles. “The Boss came up with this idea in a second.”

“Five years, Ah Yi, come see your own starlight shower.”

“We’re here with you.”