Chapter 68: That can’t be (2)

“…No. That can’t be.”

Li Zhixuan shook his head.

The hypothesis that this Ryze was Prisoner was utterly absurd.

Li Zhixuan knew this.

What he was seeing now was nothing more than a delusion created by his obsession with Prisoner.

“My current state isn’t normal.”

Li Zhixuan calmly assessed his condition.

“I haven’t been sleeping properly for days, and I’ve barely eaten anything.”

Looking at the situation, it seemed that his obsession with Prisoner had reached such a level that now everything in the game reminded him of Prisoner.

A healthy mind comes from a healthy body.

Li Zhixuan, who had always been meticulous about his self-care as a pro player, knew this better than anyone.

But why, despite knowing his own state, did he keep seeing Prisoner in Ryze?

Especially, the movements seemed eerily familiar.

“Clearly, I’m not predicting the skill shots, I’m avoiding them while watching.”

Could it really be possible with human reaction speed? But Prisoner had done this before.

But was there anyone else who could do this?

‘Ah.’

There was.

And that person was right in this game.

“Rainbow.”

The reason Li Zhixuan had been so fixated on Prisoner was because of Rainbow.

Rainbow, the opponent he had both envied and hated, yet also respected, was now the subject of his distant feelings.

Perhaps it was because of Prisoner.

‘Ah.’

Then, a thought crossed his mind.

Could it be that Rainbow knew something about Prisoner’s disappearance?

Li Zhixuan knew that Prisoner and Rainbow had been playing together since the early days of League of Legends.

Maybe Rainbow knew where Prisoner had gone?

…I’ll ask after this game.

Whether Prisoner is gone, or maybe even alive.

The situation felt strangely out of place, but it didn’t matter.

What mattered now was finding out where Prisoner had gone.

“First, this game.”

Li Zhixuan refocused on the screen, which he had been staring at absentmindedly.

“I told you, right? That Ryze is fierce.”

“Stop talking nonsense. Didn’t you carry him yourself?”

“Seriously, when the mid lane is pushed, isn’t it obvious that the jungler should be careful?”

“Ping Mia then.”

“Jungle difference.”

“Throwing.”

Even while his teammates exchanged some friendly banter, Liu Zhinxian couldn’t laugh.

It wasn’t just because the words “Jungle difference” made Yun Gi flinch.

It was also because of the strange sense of déjà vu he was feeling from the enemy Ryze.

“What is this?”

It wasn’t just a player being good.

Any skilled player can be met in solo ranks or scrims.

But the feeling was clearly bothering Liu Zhinxian.

“This feeling, I’ve definitely felt it before…”

In the end, Liu Zhinxian decided to check the opponent’s profile.

[GameWellPlayed4148]

[Level 29]

Solo Rank

• Unranked

Normal Game

• 116 Wins, 0 Losses
• Win Rate: 100%

As expected.

A 100% win rate smurf account.

Not only that, but it had been over 100 games with a perfect win rate, an almost unbelievable record.

“…”

Of course, thinking about it rationally, creating a 100% win rate smurf account wasn’t that difficult by Liu Zhinxian’s standards.

Especially if that win rate was in normal games, not ranked.

‘But.’

What was surprising was that the opponent hadn’t achieved this with duo wins.

It was purely solo rank, or rather, solo normal games.

Naturally, this made the difficulty exponentially higher.

It was one thing to get over 90% win rate in a chaotic environment like normal games, but to maintain an absolutely flawless 100% in a solo normal setting was an entirely different story.

‘The opponent is at least Challenger.’

Not just any Challenger, but clearly a high-tier Challenger account with over 1000 points.

‘Was there such a player?’

Liu Zhinxian’s mind was filled with thoughts of various mid-laner playstyles.

But none of them immediately stood out.

Instead, a name crossed his mind.

…No, that’s impossible.

Even though he thought that, Liu Zhinxian couldn’t help but feel his heart race.

‘But.’

Even though it was time for the champion to respawn, Liu Zhinxian didn’t stop searching.

‘What position do they play? What’s their main position?’

But to his surprise, GameWellPlayed4148 didn’t seem to have a fixed position.

Of course, based on frequency, jungle and support were a bit more common, but those were usually the leftover roles in normal games, so it wasn’t too strange.

…So that’s how it is.

For some reason, Liu Zhinxian had seen Prisoner in Ryze, but in truth, he already knew.

Prisoner does not return.

It was something that could no longer happen.

Despite trying hard to move past it, meeting an opponent in a normal game who reminded me of Prisoner…

“Let’s stop.”

Amid various situations, the game slowly approached its mid-game.

Although we had an overwhelmingly favorable early game, we failed to roll the snowball due to the cracks that started to appear in the mid lane.

Although we took the first tower and the dragon in the bottom lane, we failed to secure the first mid-lane tower and the Rift Herald, which are key to snowballing.

“This is rough. Jungle difference.”

“Clearly, mid lane difference.”

“Both of you be quiet. Stop blaming each other.”

“That’s true.”

The enemy Ryze and Li Zhixuan grew stronger.

Kamahl, who had been stopped by a solo kill, fully recovered thanks to the growth of Ryze and Li Zhixuan.

Meanwhile, our Yasuo and Jarvan were a bit behind.

This created the typical situation of a top-lane versus bottom-lane fight.

Strictly speaking, the top lane was still strong compared to the enemy’s collapsed bottom lane, but the situation was as it appeared.

“Don’t worry. I’ll carry.”

As Yun Gi confidently stated, Ezreal’s growth on our team was impressive.

-Enemy slain!

-Double kill!

Yun Gi, unusually for a jungler, was quite good at playing ADC as a secondary role.

This phenomenon was due to Yun Gi’s extreme playstyle, which was typically reckless and one-dimensional as a jungler.

“Is he… Yun Gi?”

“Isn’t he just an idiot?”

“That’s too much.”

Unlike serious Liu Zhinxian, the team members laughed, not caring whether the game was getting harder or not.

Yeah, this game was that kind of game.

It was fine whether we won or lost.

In a game where everyone was enjoying themselves, it wasn’t right for Liu Zhinxian to be so serious by himself, so he shook his head.

“Don’t let it bother me.”

Even telling himself not to care felt like he was still caring.

Centered around Yun Gi’s well-grown Ezreal, our team gradually took control of the mid lane push.

This was an important step toward gaining control of the upcoming objective fights.

However, even though we held control of the mid lane, by mid-game, the enemy Ryze and Kamahl started causing chaos, forming a makeshift squad to rampage.

-Our ally has been slain!

“What?!”

A game that should’ve ended by now began dragging on because of the actions of these two makeshift players.

The Ryze-Kamahl combo was extremely tricky.

If we sent in reinforcements carelessly, the Ryze-Kamahl duo would easily eliminate them, and if we sent too many, they would escape using their mobility.

The world’s best team, SY, was being shaken up by just these two.

Of course, we were also the world’s best team, SY.

We knew how to deal with this.

The solution was simple.

If we didn’t have an initiation, we could clear the waves in mid, then break through the main force of Zinkus, Nami, and Li Zhixuan.

However,

“Ah, the mid lane difference is huge. And you died again?”

“Agreed.”

“Nice job, not joining the fight.”

…These guys seriously need to group up.

Despite the game dragging on when it should have been over, our team wasn’t losing composure.

The reason was simple: no matter how much Kamahl and Ryze were rampaging, the overall game situation was still very favorable for our team.

“After all, there’s no real urgency.”

This was just a normal game.

Liu Zhinxian smiled wryly at such an obvious truth.