Chapter 40 Spring Water Murder

Ezreal's abilities struck him with absolute precision, sending a wave of panic through Zero.

His first instinct was to cast Exhaust and Flash backward.

However, the opposing Zyra had already used Exhaust on him a split second earlier, severely restricting his mobility.

Mystic, standing nearby, hurriedly cast Heal to help his teammate escape the danger zone.

Thresh, his health plummeting rapidly, broke free from the restraints and hurriedly flashed backward, desperate to retreat beneath his turret.

He was in such a panic that he didn't even manage to cast Exhaust.

Even if he had used it on Ezreal, Zyra was still right there to dish out sustained damage.

Escaping the attack range of both champions to avoid a sudden death was the optimal choice.

Following up with a basic attack, Lin Ruo flashed forward, firing his Mystic Shot at an oblique angle, aiming straight for the fleeing, low-health Thresh.

Yet, with a flash of golden light, no kill was secured.

"Whoa, Mystic flashed to block the skill and save Thresh from certain doom! Is this the pure and selfless brotherhood of the bot lane?"

Guan Zeyuan, broadcasting from the caster desk, was left dumbfounded.

Enthusiastic cheers erupted in the arena once again.

Every single 60E fan was moved to tears by this scene.

This was the brand-new second-generation WE, united as one!

"Do you have your ultimate? Try casting it."

Lin Ruo's health wasn't looking much better after taking Caitlyn's barrage, so Meiko pressed Heal to help his AD carry fall back.

Retreating into the middle brush, Lin Ruo calmly pressed the recall key.

Meiko was utterly baffled; he had checked, and the ADC's ultimate was clearly off cooldown.

Zero, standing beneath the turret, wasn't in a rush to recall precisely to guard against this exact scenario.

WE had placed vision in the middle brush, and upon seeing Ezreal channel his recall, Mystic finally breathed a sigh of relief and said, "He's recalling, probably doesn't have his ult."

Zero saw it too, nodded, and walked a few more steps. Realizing that Kha'Zix might be lurking nearby, he headed into the brush in front of the tier-two turret to recall.

Ailoli poked his head out from the tri-brush, but Thresh was no longer beneath the turret.

"Pity, he got away."

"Meiko, there's vision under our feet, clear it."

Hearing Ailoli's words, Lin Ruo cancelled his recall, Arcane Shifted into another brush, and vanished from sight.

The stealth ward had been placed right in front of WE's bot lane duo, so Lin Ruo knew it was there, but at the time, their support had gone to the river to help the jungler establish vision, leaving no time to clear it.

Meiko activated his Oracle Lens and dismantled the ward in a few swift clicks.

Watching the entire sequence unfold, the WE bot lane duo didn't think much of it. With vision at their feet, moving to a safe spot to recall was standard procedure.

What they didn't know, however, was that instead of continuing his recall, the missing Lin Ruo changed direction and headed toward the outer wall of the tri-brush.

Counting silently in his mind, he kept his finger poised over the R key to cast his ultimate. Given that Kha'Zix was blocking the path, Thresh was most likely recalling either beneath the tier-two turret or inside its surrounding brush.

Roughly estimating the recall duration, he decided to gamble with his ultimate.

After a brief wait, his graceful avatar leaped upward, arched backward, and unleashed a Trueshot Barrage. Like a bright moon illuminating the murky jungle, it soared straight toward the red side's spawning pool.

Realizing what was happening, Meiko dragged his mouse, his gaze tracking the projectile.

"Is he actually predicting this?"

Guan Zeyuan's eyes nearly popped out of his skull at the caster desk, fixed entirely on the massive screen.

Hao Kai leaned forward, gripping his desk tightly. "Thresh is in the middle of recalling. Is there a chance?"

The entire audience held their breath at that exact moment.

Even the air seemed to stand still.

Thresh successfully completed his recall, his figure materializing inside the fountain in a flash.

Swish!

Almost simultaneously, the Trueshot Barrage swept through harmlessly.

Before Zero, casually browsing the shop, even had a chance to buy items, his screen suddenly darkened by several inches.

Staring at his teammate in utter disbelief, Zero finally resigned himself to reality.

He was dead, slain right inside the fountain...

"Oh wow, what am I looking at? What kind of god-tier prediction is this?!"

"Ezreal's ultimate crossed the map to execute Thresh in the fountain! Yes, you heard that right—the safest sanctuary in League of Legends has turned into the graveyard of WE's support!"

Guan Zeyuan clutched his head, staring in shared shock with Hao Kai.

The gasps from the live audience echoed endlessly.

"Fucking legendary, Lin-ge! You're my god!" Ailoli, having just emerged from WE's jungle, looked like he was about to tear up.

What kind of mind-boggling, legendary play was this?

Meiko massaged his temples and swallowed hard. "Did you actually time that precisely?"

"It took Thresh ten seconds to reach the tier-two turret brush, eight seconds to channel his recall, one second for my ultimate cast time, and about six seconds for the Trueshot Barrage to reach the fountain. I did a rough calculation and gave it a try, didn't expect it to actually hit," Lin Ruo said with a calm expression.

As soon as those words left his mouth, all four of his teammates turned to look at him.

Lin Ruo then chuckled, "Haha, you actually believed that? I just closed my eyes and fired blindly, pure dumb luck."

"Damn it, can you stop messing with me? I was this close to worshipping you," Ailoli complained, his mental image of Lin Ruo's towering stature dropping a notch instantly.

With that bit of lighthearted banter, the atmosphere within the EDG team improved dramatically.

Regaining his fighting spirit, Mouse also chimed in with a joke, "Since Elise hasn't shown up top in forever, I feel like I'm unstoppable again, brothers."

The match clock ticked to the 13-minute mark.

Freeing himself up to roam, Ryze teamed up with Elise to execute a four-man dive on the bot lane, forcing the EDG bot lane duo to retreat.

WE capitalized on the momentum to take down the tier-one turret, and their duo lane rotated to the top side to transition into the operation phase.

Both teams officially entered the lane-swapping phase.

Throughout this period, Elise continually showed herself in the top-side jungle, helping the bot lane pressure waves and threaten the outer turret.

Ailoli devoured the Wind Drake in the bot lane, securing the first dragon of the game for his team.

At the 15-minute mark, Condi brazenly appeared in the top lane once more, making no attempt to conceal his movements.

"Elise is here. They're getting a bit impatient; they definitely want to leverage Caitlyn's range advantage to force down the low-health tier-one turret as a trio."

Lin Ruo, clearing minions under the tower, felt a stir in his heart. He backed off temporarily while pinging, "Ailoli, come. We can fight this."

Hearing the command, Ailoli didn't hesitate for a second, rushing over from the jungle immediately.

Scout, possessing razor-sharp awareness, had already finished pushing his wave and was on his way.

Oblivious to the danger, WE were completely blinded by the allure of the tier-one turret. Thresh stepped to the front, and the three of them pressed forward, eager to claim the tower.

Meiko unleashed his ultimate, Stranglethorns, beneath the turret. A dense thicket of vines erupted from the ground, knocking all three WE members airborne.

A Trueshot Barrage streaked across the sky, striking Caitlyn dead center in the forehead.

WE successfully destroyed the tier-one turret, but AD carry Mystic's health bar was instantly halved.

Realizing something was terribly wrong, the trio scrambled to retreat.

Lin Ruo Arcane Shifted right into their faces, unleashing a barrage of Q and W abilities.

Condi tossed out his Cocoon, but Lin Ruo instantly cleansed it, leaving the enemy with no room to counterattack.

The figures of EDG's mid and jungle suddenly converged at the river entrance.

Thresh was forced to sacrifice himself by stepping forward to block, buying time for his two teammates to escape through the brush.

[EDG Ling has slain WE Zero.]

Taking advantage of the two low-health WE champions, EDG grouped up to take down the top tier-one turret, narrowing the gold gap even further.

"Stop playing so recklessly. Xiang Renjie, follow me. I have my ultimate now, which makes ganking much easier. Let's focus on the bot lane; their Jayce is our win condition."

His teammates had played far too aggressively just now, prompting Xiye to show a hint of annoyance in voice comms.

"My bad, my bad," Condi quickly apologized for his erroneous shot-calling.

He had been far too greedy for that low-health top tier-one turret, and it had backfired spectacularly.