Chapter 12: A Solo Kill Revisited, Chen Yan’s Smile

“Mid lane just scored a solo kill!”

Guan Zeyuan’s voice suddenly rose in excitement.

In professional matches at this level, pulling off a solo kill was incredibly difficult—especially on such a short mid lane where playing safe usually made kills nearly impossible.

“The key is that both players wanted to take the initiative,” Zhihuan analyzed. “In fact, both the Cassiopeia and Jayce plays were extremely tight. Cassiopeia’s Corrosive Spittle negated Jayce’s initial burst, while Jayce used his E and Heal to extend the duration of the Corrosive Spittle debuff. Later, Jayce launched another attack, trying to secure a solo kill with a fully cooled-down Cannon Q combined with Flash.

“But Cassiopeia’s reaction was just too fast. Or rather, she anticipated Jayce’s move perfectly, dodging his Q-Flash combo…”

“This rookie is no joke.”

Only a few could fully grasp Zhihuan’s analysis, but the stats spoke for themselves: Cassiopeia had genuinely completed the solo kill.

The live chat exploded with praise—screens flooded with “666,” a symbol of admiration.

Meanwhile, iCOn was being roasted relentlessly in the chat.

“Is that all iCOn’s got?”

“The solo kill king got solo killed by a rookie.”

“Picking Jayce as a counter and still getting trashed? Seriously?”

“I have to say, this EDG rookie is playing pretty well.”

“Long live the Yan family army!”

The chat was chaotic, full of all kinds of comments.

But the biggest shift was in the fans’ attitudes.

Everyone expected EDG’s rookie to be cannon fodder, but he came out and solo killed iCOn, which wildly boosted expectations for Chen Yan.

Among the most excited were Chen Yan’s live stream fans.

They had been quiet earlier, but now, seeing Chen Yan’s solo kill, they all popped up, flooding the chat with “Yan family army, up!”

…

Outside, the storm of reactions raged, and inside EDG’s voice channel, exclamations of “WTF” kept flying.

Teammates were clearly stunned by Chen Yan’s solo kill.

“Holy crap! Solo kill mid?”

“Insane.”

“Nice one.”

Chen Yan felt great hearing this.

Just moments ago, his teammates had all been bragging like they owned the place, but now they were obediently shouting “Yan’s the man.”

“Sigh, honestly, I was forced into that solo kill. I wanted to farm, but he just had to come in and make a play…”

His teammates listened silently to his rambling, but that solo kill had definitely changed their impression of Chen Yan and fired them up for the match.

Consequently, OMG felt increased pressure in the lane.

…

In EDG’s backstage lounge, Abu and NOfe jumped up from their chairs the moment Chen Yan landed the solo kill.

“Solo kill!” Abu exclaimed excitedly. “Little Yan’s got it!”

Compared to Abu, NOfe was more reserved, but that didn’t mean he had any doubts about Chen Yan. In fact, after discussing the draft with Chen Yan, NOfe was the most confident in him on the EDG roster.

“Manager, there’s something I forgot to tell you.”

“What?”

Abu looked toward NOfe, but what NOfe said next made Abu’s face turn pale.

“Chen Yan said that as long as this Jayce dares to make an aggressive move, he’ll solo kill him anytime—it just depends on whether Jayce has the sense to back off.”

…

“iCOn?”

Within OMG, several players looked puzzled.

iCOn might not be the strongest mid laner overall, but his laning was definitely well-respected.

And yet, he got solo killed?

iCOn’s face flushed red as he muttered about Cassiopeia having too many rings, about Flash dodging his Q-Flash combo, and so on.

After a long moment, he finally calmed down.

But the shame of being solo killed by a rookie still stung deeply—especially since before the match, he had boldly boasted in front of teammates that he would teach the rookie a lesson.

Now, faced with this reality, iCOn wanted to crawl into a hole and disappear.

For now, he could only repay blood with blood, tooth for tooth.

He had to solo kill back to wash away the humiliation of being crushed!

If players could see heat indicators above heads, iCOn’s would be soaring rapidly.

Fueled by rage, iCOn returned to lane and continued facing off against Cassiopeia.

He noticed that although Cassiopeia had recalled to restore health, her combat power hadn’t improved much—she was low on mana and needed to buy Tear of the Goddess first.

But the solo kill money wasn’t enough to get Tear, so she had to settle for a mana crystal component.

The mana crystal only restored mana, which helped Cassiopeia stay in lane longer but didn’t increase her damage, so the lane pressure gap wouldn’t widen.

In fact, despite Cassiopeia’s 2:0 score, Jayce still had room to operate.

iCOn’s laning skills were solid; he hadn’t tilted from the solo kill but kept looking for opportunities.

Chen Yan could feel Jayce’s eagerness to fight, but he played like a cat toying with a mouse, not rushing to finish it off.

He kept trading damage with Jayce, but whenever Jayce tried to go all-in, Chen Yan would back off and keep distance.

This approach allowed him to steadily chip away at Jayce’s health and served as a tactical choice.

Cassiopeia’s E healed her when attacking poisoned enemies, and with potions and rings, her lane sustain was maximized.

In contrast, Jayce had no health, no mana, and because he couldn’t control the wave properly, he couldn’t use his melee form to manage mana.

After a few rounds of poke, Jayce was completely drained of health and mana, forced to return to base.

The camera focused on mid lane, and the two commentators were stunned.

“What’s going on with Jayce? This laning…”

Guan Zeyuan almost said Jayce was being completely broken by the rookie but stopped himself at the last second.

Still, he was genuinely baffled. If the first solo kill was an accident, this was clearly a skill gap.

“Cassiopeia is playing very smart,” Zhihuan said, staring at the screen with admiration. “She knows Jayce is eager to fight back, so she never gives him the chance. Instead, she uses her mana and sustain advantage to wear Jayce down.

“Has anyone noticed? Spider tried to approach mid several times, but Cassiopeia always held her position perfectly, never giving Spider an opening.”

“Chen Yan’s Cassiopeia is the smoothest mid laner I’ve seen so far,” Zhihuan added.

He wasn’t just flattering; he was genuinely impressed.

From his perspective, every move Cassiopeia made—offensive or defensive—was textbook perfect.

Of course, these comments ruffled feathers among other mid laners’ fans.

“Too much hype. Have you seen Rookie’s Cassiopeia?”

“I admit EDG’s rookie is strong, but tone down the praise, please.”

“Let’s see him face Xiaohu then!”

“Only solo killed iCOn, no big deal.”

“Don’t disrespect iCOn—your dad’s been solo killed by him before.”

The chat was wild, but soon it was flooded with countless “666” again.

On screen, Cassiopeia’s glow flashed as she hit level six first.

Stare of the Serpent!

Though Jayce turned just in time to avoid the petrify, he was slowed and forced to take Cassiopeia’s Q head-on.

Cassiopeia accelerated while Jayce was slowed.

She followed closely, spamming E.

Jayce’s health plummeted.

Seeing he couldn’t create distance, iCOn gritted his teeth and decisively turned around.

He landed a fully charged Cannon Q on Cassiopeia, then switched to melee form with W.

“Skybound Leap!”

Jayce lunged back, desperate for a lifeline.

But Chen Yan smiled faintly, laying down his W at Jayce’s landing spot and immediately pulling away to prevent Jayce from bursting him down.

E… E… E…

Jayce’s health bar finally gave out, drained completely.

“Solo kill! Cassiopeia claims another solo kill!”

The commentators shouted at the top of their lungs.

Before the crowd could celebrate, Spider suddenly appeared from the right side, sneaking around above EDG’s F6 and behind Cassiopeia.

“Spider!”

“Cassiopeia’s in danger!”

The commentators’ voices grew urgent and heavy—the flanking position Spider took was wickedly clever.

The camera cut to Chen Yan, and everyone saw him suddenly smile.

Everyone froze.

Was this smile a sign he was about to give up?