IRAJAS Chapter 8

On the formal training’s first day, Lin Lan slept until almost noon before getting up.

Seeing the training time getting shorter, Xiao Hai was anxious, spinning around like ants on a hot pan. Seeing Lin Lan still leisurely brushing his teeth and washing his face, he reminded cautiously, “Lin Lan, the competition is the day after tomorrow.”

He was actually a bit afraid of Lin Lan. He and Ayu came relatively late, and he heard from the mid-laner Feifei that Lin Lan was particularly unsociable, with a fragile heart. Even a slightly stronger tone would make him shed tears. Plus, considering the recent suicide incident, Xiao Hai spoke to him with great care, fearing that he might hurt him.

Lin Lan spat out mouthwash, “I know.”

Xiao Hai didn’t want to rush him, watching him pour water, immediately catching the cup for him, seeing him take the towel and immediately handing it to him, hinting, “Lin Lan, our training time is limited, and you haven’t cooperated with Ayu yet. We need to make good use of our time for training.”

“Okay.”

Hearing his agreement, Xiao Hai breathed a sigh of relief. It seemed that he wasn’t as fragile as Fei Fei said; he looked quite normal.

Lin Lan wiped his face randomly, still not fully awake. He casually grabbed a piece of bread and bit into it, putting on his jacket while heading out.

Lu Shi saw it and teased him, “Oh, you woke up really early. If you go back to sleep now, you can get ready for dinner.”

Lu Shi was just a sarcastic person.

Lin Lan smiled without taking offense, finished dressing in the team uniform, and turned on the computer.

This was originally Xiao Hai’s seat. In order to let Lin Lan train well, he cleared his own things in advance and cleaned up. Lin Lan had a slight cleanliness obsession, and seeing that even the keyboard was cleaned so thoroughly, his favorability towards Xiao Hai instantly increased.

“Alright, quickly put on your headphones for training.”

Putting on the headphones, Lin Lan instantly transformed. His gaze sank with the interface, and his fingers elegantly danced on the keyboard.

Xiao Hai felt a sense of a master’s aura from him, but this elegance quickly stagnated.

“You forgot the password!!?”

Lin Lan “Hmm.”

He originally thought that the Lin Lan in the mirror world would use the same password as himself. As a result, after trying several, none worked, and in the end, he had to rely on Lu Shi to log in.

After Lu Shi told him the password, people were foolish, “I remember it after borrowing it once. Can’t you remember it yourself?”

Lin Lan nonchalantly said, “Forgot.”

Seeing him being so unreliable, Xiao Hai and Ayu both took in a sharp breath, their eyes filled with a sense of horror as they looked at him.

Do professional players really forget their own passwords?

Xiao Hai forced himself to stay calm. He couldn’t scold him. He was very fragile, and scolding him would make him cry. For the sake of socialist harmony and the team, he must endure and not scold him…

Lin Lan, wearing headphones, slowly brought up the game interface from four years ago. The familiar sensation instantly enveloped him.

Five years in the professional scene had given him muscle memory. Even for versions from a few years ago, he could glance at them and have a general idea of what the version was about.

Ayu asked him proactively, “What support are you good at?”

Lin Lan: “Anything.”

Anything? People who casually say these two words are either so skilled that anything works, or they’re so bad that anything works. Clearly, Lin Lan was not the latter.

Assigned to the first slot, Ayu chose his champion first and locked in his best champion, Kai’Sa.

When it was Lin Lan’s turn, Xiao Hai nervously reminded him, “Pick Thresh. Thresh synergizes well, but be cautious before level six, protect Ayu, he can carry late game.”

Lin Lan replied with an “Hmm hmm” and selected Thresh. However, as soon as he got to the top lane, he aggressively flashed in, using his E¹(Thresh)Flay: Passive: Thresh’s basic attacks deal additional magic damage, which builds up while not attacking (total souls collected plus up to 80/110/140/170/200% total Attack Damage).

Active: Deals 75/115/155/195/235 (+70% bonus Ability Power) magic damage in a line beginning behind Thresh. Enemies hit are pushed in the direction of the swing, then slowed by 20/25/30/35/40% for 1.5 seconds. on the enemy AD carry!

Xiao Hai was startled, raising his injured hand.

Ayu was also shocked, but with a passive personality, he saw Lin Lan engage and immediately followed suit, trading blows with the enemy without hesitation.

Can’t be killed, right? Ayu thought.

The opponent had healing and even Flash. It seemed impossible to secure a kill.

But Lin Lan wanted to fight. He directly applied Ignite, not giving Ayu a chance to retreat.

Ignite had a ‘grievous wounds’ effect, reducing all healing by half. So, the enemy AD carry dared not heal and had to Flash away.

Right at the landing point of his Flash, Lin Lan raised his hand, and landed a Q²(Thresh)Death Sentence: Thresh throws out his scythe, dealing 100/150/200/250/300 (+90% bonus Ability Power) magic damage, granting True Sight and stunning the first unit hit, pulling them in for 1.5 seconds.

Reactivating this ability will pull Thresh to the bound enemy.

Death Sentence’s cooldown is reduced by 2 seconds if it hits an enemy., hooking the enemy’s squishy champion back in for the kill.

Ayu didn’t even see what happened. He just focused on dealing damage, finally flashing for a burst of damage with five stacks of his passive. The enemy AD carry died before they could even use healing.

Level 2 solo kill, this is high-level play.

After the fight, Ayu was dumbfounded, and Xiao Hai was even more bewildered.

Ayu, who was last-hitting minions just now, might not have seen clearly, but Xiao Hai, who was behind him, saw Lin Lan’s every move.

In the professional arena, Thresh flashing in with E is a standard combo, but Lin Lan added a little twist, making the enemy AD carry mistakenly think he intended to retreat. Boldly, the enemy AD carry moved forward to last hit a minion. Right at the moment when he raised his hand to last, Lin Lan flashed with E at the limit, pulling him back.

Normally, after Thresh’s E, you would follow up with a Q skill for seamless crowd control, which is the standard thought process for most people.

But not for Lin Lan.

He used the lifting motion of a normal basic attack to create a fake movement, making the enemy AD carry believe he was going to hook himself. The enemy had to keep repositioning, thinking Lin Lan was about to throw the hook, but Lin Lan never did. Instead, he allowed Ayu, who was a few steps behind, to catch up and unleash a burst of damage.

What’s even more astonishing is that Lin Lan predicted the enemy’s Flash! His hook and the enemy’s Flash were almost released at the same time, accurately and without error, hooking the enemy at the exact location of their Flash! That’s the most crucial part!

Can a substitute who has never played in a match pull off such moves?

After watching, Xiao Hai’s brain was buzzing. He asked uncertainly, “Lin Lan, did you just…”

“Lucky,” Lin Lan directly interrupted his question.

“Lucky?”

“Yeah.”

Xiao Hai swallowed the words he was about to say. Lin Lan was successfully brainwashing him into believing it was just luck.

However, Lin Lan continued to perform miraculous plays.

At level 4, he lanterned over the wall, engaging with the jungle, flashing Q on the enemy AD carry, pulling them back for the kill. At level 6, he used his ultimate to keep an opponent, bringing two of them back for a simultaneous kill. At level 10, he flashed E on the enemy AD carry, pulling them back for a continued kill.

At level 16, amidst a thousand troops, he flashed Q on the enemy AD carry, once again pulling them back for the kill.

His hooks seem like they’re cheating, pointing and hitting precisely. The enemy AD carry, as if under a curse, gets hooked with every move, even having to flash directly into his hooks.

Xiao Hai was stuttering as he spoke, “Lin, Lin Lan, your hooks are so accurate.”

As a mid-laner, precise skill usage is the most fundamental skill.

Moreover, in addition to his extreme mechanical skill, Lin Lan is also exceptionally skilled at playing mind games.

He dares to claim that even professional players from the LPL might not be able to dodge his hooks, let alone someone at this level.

Lin Lan lied with open eyes, “The enemy AD carry is just too bad, keeps running into my hooks.”

“R-really?” Xiao Hai, not thinking highly of the opponent’s skill, began to doubt himself: Could it be that I’m just too bad?

After one game, Wu Tianqi only heard the words “lucky.” He couldn’t help but mock, “You can rely on luck in a match too?”

Lin Lan retaliated by hooking the support, flying over to E on the AD carry, and then using his ultimate to lock down their backline, directly achieving a team wipe.

Watching the slowly popping “Victory” on the screen, Lin Lan smiled. His soft eyelashes covered something in his eyes, seemingly calm and unhurried, “I’m so bad, of course, I can only rely on luck.”

The smile reflected on the screen sent a chill down Xiao Hai’s spine.

Why does it feel like a wild beast awakening?

On the other side, the AD carry stylishly hooked by Lin Lan was actually a popular female streamer with millions of followers, Xiao Xia.

After being hooked for the nth time, she felt something was off. Although she didn’t play exceptionally well, she had at least a Diamond level of skill. Why did the pressure from the opponent feel like facing a King-ranked player?

In the live stream chat, the haters started stirring, launching various attacks against her.

“Damn it…”

After the game, she specifically checked the opponent’s record. It was just an ordinary support player with an ID carrying some unknown team’s prefix.

“DT? Which team is this?”

Some viewers in the bullet comments knew: [It’s a team from the LDL, not very impressive, one godly jungler with four mediocre players.]

[Their starting support player doesn’t use this ID, probably a substitute.]

[An LDL substitute? Damn, is he that awesome? With this ID, I thought he was the LPL starter…]

[Is there a possibility that he’s using cheats?]

Seeing this bullet comment, Xiao Xia suddenly woke up. It seemed like she found a reason for herself. She desperately asked the bullet comments, “Is he cheating?”

She pulled up the replay and studied it for a long time but couldn’t understand. Meanwhile, the fans in the chat room were once again amazed by his plays.

[Damn, damn! So good!]

[Can a substitute pull off these details?]

[To be honest, even if the hooks are cheats, his awareness is authentic. This level could make it to the LPL…]

Seeing the direction of the live stream gradually turning against her, Xiao Xia quickly ended the broadcast, screen-recorded the game, and sent it to a more authoritative friend in the gaming community.

The received message from a well-known LPL support player gave a very objective answer: Not cheating, it’s anticipation.

Xiao Xia, unwilling to accept this, deliberately guided him: Is this kind of anticipation normal?

The well-known player replied: Not normal.

The well-known player continued: At least, it’s a level close to King rank. Encountering such a player at Diamond V is not very normal.

Xiao Xia trimmed the video, censored parts before and after, posted it on social media, and added a caption: “Xiao Xia consulted a very authoritative player (someone with super skills). He also thinks that this kind of ‘anticipation’ is not normal. Xiao Xia can’t reveal more but hopes to continue broadcasting well in the future. Heart~”

Although she didn’t explicitly mention “cheating,” every word was laden with meaning. Everyone knew that Xiao Xia had a very capable friend, a veteran in the LPL, so no one doubted her words.

As a result, fans spontaneously organized and declared their intention to expose this substitute and ruin his reputation!

They searched for his ID for a while but found no results on various platforms. Finally, they managed to locate the official account of DT, rushed in, and bombarded it with comments. However, they were surprised to find out that the last post on the official account was from six months ago??

Hmm…

Where did this obscure team come from?

• 1
  (Thresh)Flay: Passive: Thresh’s basic attacks deal additional magic damage, which builds up while not attacking (total souls collected plus up to 80/110/140/170/200% total Attack Damage).
  
  Active: Deals 75/115/155/195/235 (+70% bonus Ability Power) magic damage in a line beginning behind Thresh. Enemies hit are pushed in the direction of the swing, then slowed by 20/25/30/35/40% for 1.5 seconds.
• 2
  (Thresh)Death Sentence: Thresh throws out his scythe, dealing 100/150/200/250/300 (+90% bonus Ability Power) magic damage, granting True Sight and stunning the first unit hit, pulling them in for 1.5 seconds.
  
  Reactivating this ability will pull Thresh to the bound enemy.
  
  Death Sentence’s cooldown is reduced by 2 seconds if it hits an enemy.