Chapter 9: Are you fucking kidding me!

Inside the EDG lounge.

A-Bu, who had just finished watching the replay commentary, revealed a smile that hadn't been seen in a long time.

The next moment, thunderous applause erupted in the EDG lounge.

Clap, clap, clap, clap...

"Good, good, good!" A-Bu praised while clapping. "Well played! Zilean solo-killing Shen—excellent!"

Regardless of whether Zilean getting this kill was actually useful, it at least had a massive impact on boosting EDG's morale.

A-Bu searched his memory again, trying to find any recollection of Su Mo playing Zilean.

But... there was still nothing.

"Xiao Mo's skill placement was so insane, and that Flash the moment the minion died was so aggressive and decisive. If it were me, I definitely wouldn't have dared to make that play."

Mouse, sitting beside him, spoke with excitement, as if the person who had just solo-killed Letme wasn't Su Mo, but himself.

Hearing this, A-Bu turned his head and stared at Mouse, making him feel uneasy. "What's wrong, Coach? You're scaring me looking at me like that."

"Didn't you have a headache and dizzy spells?" A-Bu said with a half-smile. "You look pretty energetic right now."

"Uh..." The excited Mouse immediately wilted, curling up in his chair, twisting his body while clutching his forehead and groaning. "Ouch, I was just too excited, now my head is starting to hurt again..."

A-Bu watched him quietly, speechless.

He began to wonder if this guy was actually sick or just faking it.

Could he be pretending to be sick just to avoid taking the blame?

However, A-Bu didn't have time to dwell on it. He put his headset back on and, sure enough, heard the communication within the EDG team.

Clearlove's voice rang out: "No way, Xiao Mo, you're being ridiculous. You just blabbered on and killed the opponent, and I didn't even notice."

Next was Meiko: "Xiao Mo, you're amazing! But you don't have Flash now, so be careful. Try to let the wave push into the tower; don't give them a chance."

Scout: "666!"

Facing his teammates' praise, Su Mo replied modestly: "Hehe, it's just something anyone with hands could do."

The expressions of Clearlove and the others stiffened instantly.

Solo-killing Letme for First Blood at two and a half minutes is something anyone with hands could do?

This is the professional stage, for crying out loud!

The person you solo-killed is a veteran of the scene, Letme!

Who are you calling handless!

[Received +5 Torment Points from Clearlove]

[Received +5 Torment Points from Meiko]

[Received +3 Torment Points from Scout]

[Received +5 Torment Points from A-Bu]

For some reason, Clearlove felt his hands itching; he wanted to hit someone!

He tilted his head slightly and looked at Su Mo, who was sitting next to him.

The teenager's refined features carried a faint smile, giving off the impression of someone who wouldn't change their expression even if Mount Tai collapsed before them.

It was as if solo-killing a well-known veteran like Letme was just a trivial matter to him.

In Su Mo, Clearlove saw the shadow of his younger self.

Back in the day, hadn't he been just as arrogant, always thinking he was invincible, until Peanut appeared...

At this moment, he suddenly felt a bit of pity for Su Mo.

Because he knew very well that even if Su Mo got First Blood, the hope of winning this game wasn't high.

After all, the ADC was Zet, not the former carry, Deft.

Once this game was lost, EDG would miss the finals.

And Su Mo would inevitably become the scapegoat, which meant his career, which had only just begun, was about to end.

Compared to Su Mo, he was undoubtedly much, much luckier.

Clearlove sighed inwardly.

As for Su Mo, he naturally didn't know what others were thinking.

At this moment, he was already overjoyed, happily listening to the system's notifications.

[Received +10 Torment Points from Letme]

[Received +10 Torment Points from Letme]

[Received +10 Torment Points from Letme]

[Current Torment Points: 91]

In just a few seconds, Su Mo had harvested a pile of Torment Points.

Most of them were provided by Letme.

It was worth solo-killing him!

He only needed a little bit more to apply an all-stats buff to his teammates.

Thinking this, Su Mo cleared the minion wave and pressed the 'B' key to recall and resupply.

...

On the other side, the RNG team voice chat was incredibly noisy.

"Ah? Junze, how did you get solo-killed?"

"What happened? Why is Zilean still at full health?"

"That's not right, Junze, did you go easy... no, did you throw?"

"..."

The chattering of his teammates made the already bewildered Letme feel incredibly awkward.

He had previously sworn that he would hang this rookie named Mo out to dry, only to give away First Blood the moment he got to lane.

The most ridiculous part was that he hadn't touched Zilean once from start to finish, and he hadn't dodged a single one of Zilean's skills.

He was sent back to base while the opponent was at full health.

It was too embarrassing.

Based on past experience, he figured this scene of him being solo-killed would be made into a montage and whipped by netizens on the internet forever.

Letme sighed slightly in his heart. He didn't immediately answer his teammates' questions, but instead looked down, searching...

He wanted to find a hole to crawl into and hide.

Unfortunately, the floor of the venue was perfectly flat; there wasn't even a crack.

"Um..." Letme pondered for a moment, unable to find a good excuse. "Sorry brothers, I was careless."

After saying that, Letme fell into deep repentance.

If only he had started with a Doran's Shield instead of a Doran's Blade, he wouldn't have been solo-killed.

I'm truly hopeless!

Fortunately, his teammates didn't pay too much attention to it.

Xiaohu smiled: "It's okay, Junze. You're melee, it's normal to be careless and get solo-killed early on."

Mlxg, who usually had a short temper, also comforted him: "Just think of it as letting the rookie have one. Just win it back."

Ming: "Yeah, Zilean is a useless hero. We can win this game easily."

Only Uzi remained silent, his eyes fixed on the computer screen, using Caitlyn's range advantage to constantly look for opportunities to harass the opposing Varus and pressure his CS.

Letme giving away First Blood hadn't affected the atmosphere within RNG at all.

Only Coach Feng, who was in the lounge, frowned slightly.

As the coach of RNG, he had naturally researched this EDG substitute rookie.

But now, he was starting to doubt his own research.

According to the data, this rookie named Su Mo had never played Zilean in ranked games.

From the start of the game until now, every move Zilean made was so perfect it was hard to believe.

Especially the laning details—calm, composed, daring, and aggressive. This didn't look like the playstyle of a rookie at all; it looked like that of a battle-hardened veteran.

Although Letme was solo-killed, he had many issues of his own.

But that still couldn't hide Mo's brilliance.

For some reason, Coach Feng suddenly had a bad premonition.

Could it be that this so-called rookie was actually EDG's trump card?

Was the so-called top lane Zilean not a random pick, but their hidden strategy?

Impossible, impossible.

There's no such thing as a top lane Zilean strategy; it's absolutely impossible.

Coach Feng shook his head vigorously, trying to shake those unsettling thoughts from his mind.

After calming himself down a bit, he looked at the game screen.

At this moment, both junglers had arrived in the bot lane, and a small-scale skirmish had broken out, though no kills were secured in the end.

Looking at Uzi's CS, in just over three minutes, he was already up 5 CS on Zet's Varus, and he had also pressured his health quite a bit. The bot lane could be said to have a significant advantage.

Seeing this, Coach Feng smiled.

That's right, no matter what kind of monster or ghost EDG had in the top lane, this was the bot lane meta. As long as Uzi didn't have any issues, that was enough to suppress everything.

But just as he thought this, a mournful voice suddenly came through the headset: "No way, did you put a magnet on your Q skill?"

It was Letme's voice...