All or Nothing: The Final Game

Yu Shengshui spoke, her voice tinged with eager anticipation. In this short time, she figured Lan Mengyao must have given her precious little sister some special training.

She was right—they had indeed trained all night, leaving Qing Zixi drenched in sweat. Only, it wasn’t about the game.

Lan Mengyao scratched her cheek and laughed awkwardly.

“Y-yeah, my sister looks confident enough. Let’s just wait for her triumphant return.”

She couldn’t very well admit that not only had she not trained her sister, but she’d actually wasted almost a day of her time.

Only now did the guilt creep in.

‘Lan Mengyao, Lan Mengyao, you have to defeat the demon in your heart. You can’t be thinking about your sister all day!’

Still, Lan Mengyao secretly sent Qing Zixi some confidential information about the pro scene, including tips and warnings. She even went so far as to have her team’s analyst break down the competition.

That’s right—under the pretense that the opponents looked strong and talented, she grabbed their match footage and had the analyst scrutinize every play.

“…Lack of coordination, riddled with holes, undisciplined, poor resource allocation. Don’t bring this trash to my eyes.”

Hearing that reply, Lan Mengyao was delighted instead.

She compiled the opponents’ weaknesses and crammed them all into Qing Zixi’s head.

Just like before—whether Qing Zixi could absorb it or not, she just crammed and crammed and crammed.

Big sister has done everything she can. The rest is up to you!

[Keep it up! Force out the opponent’s tricks for Wang Ba. If his team wins, a third of the credit goes to you!]

Naturally, they were underestimated. From the outside, the semifinalists’ strength seemed mismatched. Qing Zixi’s team’s bottom lane was seen as the absolute weak link, while their top, jungle, and mid were prone to reckless mistakes. Yet…

Game one: Qing Zixi’s team devised a specific strategy and composition based on the intel. They took a small lead early, then under Qing Zixi’s lead, targeted the opponent’s weak spots to secure a decisive advantage. From there, they advanced step by step, methodically.

Game two: Even though the opponents adjusted, they fell into Qing Zixi’s trap. To outsiders, the situation seemed tense, but the players on stage felt strangely composed, clinching victory with a final decisive blow.

“This feels amazing! So this is what winning is like!”

“Let’s keep the momentum and take it all!”

Winning two straight made them ecstatic, feeling invincible. That mindset naturally cost them game three as the opponents adapted. In game four, the opponents pulled out a killer tactic meant for the finals, repeatedly targeting Qing Zixi’s supposedly weakest bottom lane, tying the series.

[Alright, that’s enough. You’ve already given us an absolute surprise by forcing out their trump card. You can surrender now.]

[Exactly, all their cards are on the table. Unlike Wang Ba’s team, who won cleanly!]

Wang Ba and his crew were in the group chat, calling on others to spam disparaging comments in the livestream. Since their own team had already advanced to the finals 3-1, they had nothing better to do.

But Qing Zixi and her teammates on stage couldn’t see the chat, so it didn’t affect them. The audience in the arena wouldn’t dare shout insults either.

Yet the biggest enemy was always themselves.

In the final game, Xiao Yi leaned over to ask Qing Zixi, a hint of urgency in her voice.

“What’s the plan? Are we running the dual-brother teamfight comp again?”

She meant the two ronin brothers from their last miraculous comeback. But Qing Zixi shook her head.

You can’t use the same trick twice. Even if the opponents might not have a counter, that pick was inherently unstable—good only for a surprise attack.

“Don’t underestimate them. Their overall strength is greater than ours.”

She first calmed her restless teammates, then laid out a strategy.

The thing is, in crucial games, everyone tends to play safe. But now, after two losses, Qing Zixi saw her team growing impatient, and she couldn’t help but worry.

Whoever gets impatient first, makes the first mistake, and loses.

She couldn’t fall here!

For the final game, they stuck to their old tactics. Targeting Qing Zixi’s strength in teamfights and their weak bottom lane, they picked a composition that was weak early but centered on the bottom lane, with strong support from the rest of the team.

If the opponents couldn’t break them early, they would win through team coordination in the late game once fully developed.

This tactic was commonly known as “protect the carry”—because a fully fed carry could 1v5, and with four protectors, they were hard to assassinate.

Of course, Qing Zixi had anticipated all this.

No, to be precise, she had deliberately induced the opponents into picking this composition. By banning many bot-lane champions, she made them think: ‘Ah, they’re trying the Tian Ji horse racing strategy—sacrificing their weak bot lane to stall ours while attacking the top side of the map.’

‘I won’t let you have your way!’

So the opponents locked in a late-game dominant duo in their first three picks: a versatile support that could grant shields, speed boosts, attack speed, and even bonus health, and a marksman who could suddenly extend range, shred resistances, slow enemies, and deal percent health damage.

Facing that combo, no one could withstand it. If Qing Zixi played safe with a conventional approach, she would surely lose.

She smiled and chose the strongest bot-lane duo available.

‘You have a support babysitting a marksman that needs level three to be useful, huh? Then I’ll pick a combo that crushes you from the very start!’

“They’re actually running such a high-risk composition? They really have no fear.”

Yu Shengshui wasn’t surprised—Qing Zixi’s team was known for unconventional picks, and this one had even appeared in official pro matches.

Yes, this very composition had been used in pro play, yet the opponents overlooked it.

“Hiss, it’s fine. Just hold steady. They’ll be useless in teamfights!”

“Right, and do they even know how to play it? They just picked it to mess with us!”

The opponents were hyping themselves up, while Qing Zixi’s team did the same.

Would Qing Zixi tear through their defense, or would the opponents hold and turn the tables? The audience watched eagerly as a fierce battle was about to erupt.