60. The finals begin
There are 2 hours left before the match starts.
The venue for the finals was different from that for the semi-finals. Lin Jiang organized everyone to pack up their things and catch up with the team in an orderly manner, preparing to go to the new venue for the final.
Teammates boarded the bus one after another, and even Song Zhixu, who was the slowest, caught up. Lin Jiang checked the time and realized that it was already 5 minutes past the scheduled departure time, but there was still no sign of Chen Ju.
He told Ryan, "Go and urge him again."
Ryan went in and looked around but came out too. Just when everyone was in a panic, Shen Ju came down with Duren. He was carrying a backpack, and his things were already packed.
Lin Jiang checked it again for him: "Are you sure you've brought all the equipment and spare equipment?"
"I brought everything."
"Where's the medicine?"
Shen Ju paused for a moment, then rummaged through his backpack for a while before taking out a strip of pills. "Painkillers, I've got them with me."
Lin Jiang glanced at it, said nothing, but reminded him, "Take it in advance, the medicine will be more effective."
Shen Ju nodded, grabbed his backpack, and got into the car much faster than usual. Lin Jiang paused for a moment, feeling as if he had overlooked something.
“Captain Lin,” Ryan ran up, panting, “I couldn’t find it… Hey, has Shenju come down yet?” She was covered in sweat as she climbed into the car. “Why didn’t anyone tell me? I’ve been looking for ages…”
Song Zhixu laughed at her: "You can't even find someone this big? You're really blind."
Ryan pounced on him and hit him so hard that Song Zhixu begged for mercy. Laughter erupted all around, and the little incident quickly passed.
Lin Jiang also got into the car and sat next to Shen Ju, separated by an aisle.
The two did not greet each other as usual, each avoiding suspicion.
Shen Ju fell asleep as soon as he got in the car. Lin Jiang tidied up his things and secretly glanced at Shen Ju a few times, feeling that he was unusually well-behaved.
From the back seat came Song Zhixu's voice: "I secretly checked the online opinions yesterday. They all said that if you win, you'll make a fortune, and if you lose, you won't lose anything. Brothers, don't feel pressured, just play with confidence."
"Wow, how come you have a cell phone? Aren't they supposed to be handed in?"
"Song Zhixu, did you secretly go to see Lao Du? Did you go to get your phone?"
"Hey, hey, wait a minute..." Song Zhixu hurriedly explained, "I saw it by accident. Old Du definitely didn't give me his phone. I swear to God...!"
"I don't believe you!"
Duren couldn't help but curse him: "Song Zhixu, you bastard, you said you wouldn't drag me down with you, and you turned around and sold me out..."
Hearing their commotion, Lin Jiang couldn't help but laugh. Li Qian, standing next to him, squinted and teased, "It's the finals and you're still making such a fuss. You're not nervous at all. Your teammates are really good."
Lin Jiang smiled without saying a word. He focused on recording data in his notebook, occasionally joining in his teammates' conversations.
In a relaxed and pleasant atmosphere, everyone arrived at the competition venue.
Although the competition was held overseas, many fans from China traveled long distances to visit them. They held up familiar Chinese characters and shouted each of their IDs, which boosted the players' confidence in a foreign land.
No matter what, we must do everything we can to win this game.
Lin Jiang led his teammates out of the car. The teammates, who had been laughing and joking before, all became serious as soon as they arrived at the scene. The group was tall and confident, so they were not inferior in terms of momentum.
There is one hour left before the start of the match.
The stadium was packed with fans. Many fans had gone to great lengths to buy tickets to come to Korea to watch the game and cheer on OT. Looking at the endless array of light sticks, the commentators broadcasting from China joked, "The ratio of fans to viewers is almost 1:1, isn't it?"
The live chat erupted in laughter, with many expressing regret, saying they should have gone too and turned the match into a home game for the Chinese team.
After checking the equipment and scouting the locations, the team members from both sides exchanged a brief greeting before returning to their respective rest rooms to await the start of the match.
Lin Jiang reminded everyone of potential mistakes, went over the prepared tactics with Li Qian again, and finally looked at Chen Ju in the corner, reminding him, "Have you taken your medicine?"
Shen Ju paused for a moment, then nodded.
He was drinking water, and his hand strength was steady, so he seemed to be fine.
Lin Jiang finally relaxed, sat back in his seat, and prepared for the upcoming match.
The audience was so enthusiastic that you could hear the noise from outside even through several walls. This was a match between LCK and LPL, a battle for the title of the top region.
This battle concerns the honor of the nation and represents far more than just their personal achievements.
Domestic netizens were also busy, cheering from afar, and some even performed rituals remotely, attempting to use mystical power to help OT win the championship, which amused netizens.
With everyone ready, the competition officially begins.
As the host introduced them, the players from both teams arrived at the arena. HIT appeared relaxed on their home turf, prompting Korean netizens to praise their excellent form.
When it was the OT team's turn to play, Song Zhixu was the first to go up. He always had a cheerful look in any competition and was never nervous.
Then there's Zhang Mingying, who has a big heart. He was specially chosen by Lin Jiang to deal with LCK. Even though he's the newest member of the team, he doesn't panic at all.
Lin Jiang remained calm as always, Zhou Wen was a little shy but not nervous, Shen Ju's hand looked much better, and even Coach Li Qian jogged onto the field and gave everyone a French greeting.
Seeing how well they're doing, netizens are showering them with praise, dominating all forums both domestically and internationally. In short, they absolutely cannot let them lose in terms of public opinion!
Both sides were brimming with momentum; all that remained was a battle of strength.
Both sides enter the game and proceed with their respective ban/pick phases.
Both sides had a clear goal: to win the first game and lock in morale. So both sides picked the lineups they were most confident in.
HIT excels at macro-management strategies, having secured a dual-carry composition of Azir and Kai'Sa. Kai'Sa can step up and deal damage in the mid-game, while Azir can carry the entire match in the late game.
OT excels at offense and uses a rather aggressive lineup.
Song Zhixu acquired Quesanti and prepared to launch a full-scale attack on the opponent's top lane.
Zhang Mingying's Prince was banned, so he picked Lee Sin as a substitute. His main goal in this game was to limit the development of the opponent's two carries.
With Xayah and Rakan in the bot lane, they still have the ability to deal damage even in the late game.
As for Lin Jiang, he was the most ruthless.
He picked Jayce.
Lin Jiang's Jayce is basically unplayable in China. HIT banned his LeBlanc in order to limit his play, which conveniently allowed Jayce to be released.
Domestic commentators were surprised when they saw this lineup: "Is OT planning to break through the opponent in the early and mid-game? This lineup is too strong. If they get an advantage in the early game, it will be too easy to snowball in the mid-game."
Moreover, Lin Jiang is a high-level player for Jess!
He is already very strong individually in lane, and when combined with a champion like Jayce who can unleash two sets of skills in 2 seconds, it's like a lane bully meeting another lane bully, and you can imagine how powerful they are!
Chinese netizens dug up Lin Jiang's past Jayce gameplay records. In the most outrageous game, he ended the match in just 19 minutes. While others were still farming, he had already pushed the minion wave to the high ground.
The commentator couldn't help but joke, "It seems that LCK has forgotten the power of River Jayce."
[Haha, I'm dying of laughter! They even dared to let Jayce through.]
[I'm worried Lin Jiang won't know how to play this hero anymore since he's been banned so many times.]
[HIT, good luck to you.]
[An LPL fan sent a mournful emoji.]
Lin Jiang's Jayce once dominated the World Championship, and almost every team banned this hero afterward. Countless Korean netizens have also slowly recalled this incident and have been angrily criticizing HIT for letting the hero through recklessly.
With viewers around the world watching, both sides entered the game and tacitly avoided a level 1 team fight.
Lin Jiang switched to cannon mode as soon as he logged in, making it difficult for the Tsar.
The Tsar is a late-game hero and can only summon one sand soldier. Once summoned, he has no attack ability. Lin Jiang simply circled around the sand soldier and quickly overwhelmed the Tsar with the attack range of the cannon form.
Even with the minion wave pushing to the tower, Lin Jiang wasn't afraid. He reached level 2 first, upgraded his E skill, and continued to bombard the enemy jungler relentlessly. The enemy jungler didn't dare to come and help.
They watched the OT semifinals, where WAG's jungler tried to gank mid at level 2 but failed. Then Zhang Mingying relentlessly invaded their jungle, and they never got back up. So the jungler's rhythm absolutely cannot be broken.
If you're going to have to endure the pressure in the mid lane, then so be it; even the Azir can only grit his teeth and bear it.
During this time, he pretended that there were people behind him twice and frantically pressed Lin Jiang twice, but Lin Jiang seemed to have a third eye and just wouldn't back down, he just kept pressing him hard.
Even a saint couldn't resist such pressure. The opposing jungler abandoned a group of jungle monsters and came to the mid lane to gank Lin Jiang. Just as he got the chance, Lin Jiang suddenly used a speed boost to escape.
HIT's jungler: ? ? ?
Wasn't there no one looking around? How did he know I was squatting?
From God's perspective, Lin Jiang didn't have any wards in that position, but it was as if he could really see them. Every time he marked a location, he almost blindly targeted the enemy jungler.
This is the most shocking part!
If Lin Jiang's aggressive pressure and retreat are a kind of awareness of a professional player, then what level is it to hit the enemy jungler with every move?
In the live stream, Lao Mao couldn't help but exclaim, "Brothers, this is practically cheating! Lin Jiang was absolutely phenomenal in this final!"
When Lin Jiang was only level one, he saw a very small trajectory on the opponent's map, and he immediately deduced all the opponent's trajectories for the first three levels and relayed it to his teammates. Is this kind of skill really possible?
Not only Lin Jiang, but Zhang Mingying was also cooperating in calculating the other party's trajectory.
The two people will mark the possible locations. Sometimes the trajectory will branch out, but as they verify, some trajectories will be eliminated, and eventually a unique solution will be found.
In other words, the opposing jungler was moving around right under Lin Jiang's nose the entire time!
This conclusion shocked all the major regions. They didn't know what OT had gone through to grow so rapidly and so abnormally!
Even South Korean netizens were frightened. They felt an invisible terror from God's perspective, let alone the players in the canyon.
A strange insight shrouded HIT. No matter how they played or how off their rhythm, it was as if they were being pulled by something, always just a little bit off, always just a little bit off.
"Are they calculating my trajectory?"
"How could that be? Putting aside whether the calculation could be accurate, the physical energy consumed by the calculation alone is dozens of times that of the operation. No one would do that."
No one would have done that, but Lin Jiang did.
He had discussed tactics with Li Qian before the match. He was determined to crush his opponent and win in advance, and he would never allow his hand injury to recur.
For this, he can expend a lot of effort, dragging out complex and lengthy calculations, and he can also force himself to maintain 12 points of strength and make moves that he would not dare to make normally.
His goal this time is to shut out his opponent.
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