You've only been playing for half a year, and you've already reached the finals?

Mingjing opened his eyes and saw that it was a little past ten o'clock.

Perhaps the girl's prayers had worked, because when Mingjing opened his eyes again, he felt that his discomfort had lessened considerably.

He turned on his phone and saw another long message from his mother.

Clearly, Mom also learned about Mingjing's situation through domestic media platforms.

Ming Jing first clipped the thermometer to his pocket, estimated the time in China, and confirmed that his mother was still awake, so he simply made a phone call.

Once the call is connected, a long string of questions inevitably follows.

"Oh dear, oh dear," Mingjing interrupted his mother's question, "I'm much better now, it's alright."

Hearing the hoarseness in her son's voice, his mother said with heartache, "You must take good care of yourself. Health is the most important thing!"

Compared to winning a third championship, the parents would certainly prefer their son to have a healthy body.

"Okay, I know." Mingjing smiled to reassure his mother before hanging up the phone.

After hanging up the phone, Ming Jing couldn't help but cough twice, then got up to wash and get dressed.

The symptoms of the virus often come and go, perhaps because the body temperature is currently at a low point, or perhaps because Mingjing is truly a superhuman.

Mingjing really feels much better now, and his body temperature has even dropped to 37.8 degrees Celsius, which is no longer considered a high fever.

Ming Jing felt a little relieved. He put the thermometer away and then took out his phone to report the situation to his teammates.

Seeing that Mingjing is much better today, his teammates are relieved.

Park Do-hyun's condition has not improved today. Her temperature is still hovering between 38 and 39 degrees Celsius. The most serious problem is her throat, which is so painful that she can hardly speak.

But the best news is that Mingjing is getting better.

Ming Jing is the absolute core of this team, and his performance is closely related to the team's strength.

In EDG's victories, it's common to see one of the top, mid, jungle, or support players disappearing from the game, yet still managing to win by simply farming minions, even when their lane is completely lost.

This situation occurs most often with Flandre, followed by Viper.

After all, their geographical location at the top and bottom of the road means they are very likely to become marginalized.

But the only thing I can't see is a situation where Mingjing and Hunying both win.

In games where EDG wins, Mingjing's voice is never quiet.

Therefore, Mingjing's current condition is of utmost importance.

Of course, Mingjing's condition has only improved to a limited extent. If they want to get through today's hurdle, the other three must perform well today.

"No matter what, good luck in the match!" Abu said in the video. "I believe that with your strength, even if you're not in good form, you can still beat DRX!"

"Charge! Charge! Charge!" Jie Jie's voice was filled with even more energy. "Ming Jing Dao Xian, watch me today! I'll lead you to victory!"

Upon hearing this, Ming Jing smiled and said, "That's great."

With the match approaching, the remaining three members of EDG, along with the coaching staff, officially set off for Atlanta State Agricultural Arena.

Ming Jing packed up his mouse and keyboard and followed the Riot Games staff to a brand new isolation room.

To ensure fairness and impartiality, the positive test results will be played in a specially set-up single-player room by Riot Games, and the entire match will be monitored.

Mingjing sat in front of the computer, skillfully installed the peripherals, and transformed the computer into his own shape.

At this point, the team had probably just arrived at the venue, and there was still a long process before the match could begin. Only Mingjing and Viper were in the voice chat.

Mingjing could only practice last-hitting in custom games to get a feel for the game, but it got boring after a while, and he felt more and more dizzy. His body temperature was probably starting to rise again, so he simply lay down in front of the computer to rest and conserve his limited energy.

Viper's symptoms were much more severe than Mingjing's, and he probably didn't have the energy to speak at the moment, so the voice channel was quite silent.

After what seemed like an eternity, his teammates' voices finally rang out in the voice channel. Maokai immediately asked about Mingjing and Park Do-hyun's situation.

Ming Jing responded softly, but because his throat was so sore that he had difficulty speaking, he put another throat lozenge in his mouth.

"What about Daoxian?" Maokai asked again.

There was still no response in the voice channel.

Several seconds passed before Viper's voice finally rang out.

"I just fell asleep, sorry." Park Do-hyun's voice was hoarse, just like An Lingrong whose throat had been poisoned.

Viper's condition was extremely poor, even by the standards of a severe case among infected patients.

Unfortunately, EDG had no substitute to replace him, so he had no choice but to play despite his shortcomings.

"..." Maokai paused for two seconds before saying, "Have some water, clear your head, the BP will start soon."

Now that the voice channel has been connected, BP naturally won't have to wait too long.

Soon, the referee's voice came through the voice channel, and after confirming that everyone was in the correct state, the draft phase was quickly initiated.

EDG advanced as the top seed in their group, giving them the right to choose sides in the first game. However, due to Mingjing's poor performance, the team honestly chose the blue side, hoping to secure a popular champion for their top and jungle players and rely on them to carry the team.

"Let's ban Sylas first." Maokai gave the first ban, and then said, "Anyway, we'll prioritize Aatrox and Sejuani. If those two are gone, then we'll consider other heroes."

As they were talking, DRX's first ban was announced.

It was the Sword Demon.

Maokai then signaled to his teammates to ban Akali.

Sylas and Akali have been getting more playing time in recent scrims, and these two champions are among Scout's specialties.

Normally, Mingjing wouldn't be afraid to face Scout as a mage assassin, but given his current poor form, he should try to avoid heroes that require skillful execution.

DRX's bans came out extremely quickly, with Sejuani being banned immediately in the second round.

Maokai's chosen heroes, Aatrox and Sejuani, were both sealed away.

This is actually quite rare in EDG's draft picks.

After all, under normal circumstances, the opponent's ban slots are usually aimed at the two carries, Lucian + Twisted Fate or Galio are always the go-to bans.

But today, none of these heroes were banned.

Maokai understood what the other side meant, and with a grim expression, he banned Caitlyn as his third pick.

In recent training matches, Caitlyn's priority has been steadily increasing, and with her Radiance on the outside, her priority has surpassed Luna's.

DRX is one of the teams that uses the Caitlyn strategy best, so Caitlyn must be banned.

DRX's ban picks were a bit odd; instead of banning Yuumi, who is almost always banned by the red side, they also banned Fryegor.

In China, Douyu is a live streaming platform.

The JDG team, who had just returned to China and adjusted their schedules, immediately started live streaming and watched the game together.

"Grass!"

Even toothpaste was furious when it saw this ban, exclaiming, "They're disgusting!"

DRX's three bans were clearly aimed at the two carries with high fever!

Under normal circumstances, who would dare to ban Aatrox, Sejuani, and Fryegor when facing EDG?

Pick Galio or Twisted Fate in the mid lane, and Luna in the bot lane. You'd be lucky if you didn't get a good beating!

Why did DRX ban Fryegor as their third pick instead of Yuumi? The reason isn't hard to guess. Yuumi is a champion lacking independent tempo control; she's essentially a carry amplifier.

This is why, in this version where the focus is not on fighting pace but on laning and resource team fights, Yuumi's ban rate has consistently remained the highest, even higher than Aatrox's 100% ban/pick rate.

The problem is, EDG doesn't have a superstar player today.

On the LPL commentary desk, commentator Wang Duoduo, having grasped the crux of the matter, spoke with great enthusiasm:

"But with both carries infected, the burden has to fall to the top, jungle, and support. Yuumi is definitely not a good choice for EDG. Meiko will definitely try to pick a roaming support to break the deadlock. That's why DRX dared to let her out!"

"It can only be said that the impact of injuries on EDG was already evident in the draft phase. DRX would normally have been unable to draft effectively, but due to the injuries, they seem to be able to pick a very good lineup in the first game!"

"The main problem is that EDG's draft picks were ill-considered." Miller chimed in from the side, "If they had known DRX wouldn't ban Galio, they wouldn't have needed to ban Akali and Sylas."

At this time, the chat in the live stream was also filled with heated debate.

[Koreans are truly disgusting; they only know how to take advantage of others in times of distress?]

This is utterly unsportsmanlike!

[No, what do you guys take this competition for? Knowing your opponent has weaknesses, aren't you going to exploit them? Any normal person would do that.]

That's what they say, but it really is disgusting.

[Maokai's draft was also questionable. Did he also get infected? Banning Akali and Sylas himself, and then picking Galio? Completely stupid!]

[EDG, show some spirit! I want to see Galio back on the opposing team's ban list in the second game!]

The audience members' tone was tinged with worry.

But Ming Jing didn't care about all that.

Without almost any hesitation, Galio appeared directly on the first floor of EDG and locked onto his target in a flash!
"Here comes Galio!"

In the commentary booth, upon seeing this choice, Wang Duoduo's spirits lifted. "Fei Shen didn't hesitate at all; he chose Galio, who believed in himself!"

The Colossus of Justice, thanks to Faker, was once a champion that caused immense damage to the LPL.

But now, thanks to Mingjing's performance, this pure white anti-magic statue has become a source of great security for LPL viewers.

Unfortunately, Ming Jing wasn't present at the moment; otherwise, his expression would have been incredibly serious.

Seeing Mingjing's Galio, the JDG guys got goosebumps.

"Go, Mingjing! Go, go, go!" Toothpaste's words were unrestrained. "Let the Koreans regret it!"

In the video, BP continues.

Since the cat was placed outside, DRX certainly had no reason to miss it. However, after locking in the cat, they did not lock in Sivir as usual, but instead chose Miss Fortune as a pairing.

"Miss Gunner?" Clearlove looked at DRX's third pick and shook his head.

The female gunner's intention was clear: she planned to continue exploiting Viper's weakness and initiate a rapid-fire attack.

"Should we still choose Luna?" Maokai asked.

"I'm not picking it." Viper's voice was still hoarse. "I can't lane against it."

Given this choice, EDG wouldn't be able to pick Luna even if they had her.

Luna is too weak in lane, picking her is tantamount to losing the dragon, and Viper is also not in good form, so Meiko still needs to take on more responsibility.

“Then let’s go with the Doomhammer,” Meiko said. “Let Xian farm first, I’ll roam.”

Viper had no objection to this, and he shared the same idea.

On the other side, DRX made their selection quickly, seemingly not intending to give EDG any time to think. They quickly locked in Zoe as their third pick, entering the second round of draft.

Everyone was surprised by Zoe's choice.

He is arguably the hero most affected by the durability patch.

After all, this hero's damage output is just so-so. She's the kind of hero who can one-shot people, but her damage is just enough. If the enemy builds any tank items, Zoe becomes useless.

However, with the durability patch update, everyone's tankiness has increased significantly. Zoe is really having a headache when she sees AD carries with 2,000 HP or even shields from shield bows in the late game.

Admittedly, Scout is an extremely skilled Zoe player, but in this situation, there is only one possibility for locking in Zoe.

I'd like to order some food.

Zoe is one of the few mages who can still fight Galio. As long as she can draw Galio's Spinning Top and get a good farm, she can still have the same ability to kill people instantly.

In a normal match, even if Scout had a million times the courage, he would never dare to pick Zoe to counter Mingjing's Galio.

However, the current situation is special, and there are indeed some explanations.

After entering the second round of drafting and banning, both sides continued to identify and address any shortcomings.

DRX picked Hecarim jungle as their fourth pick, leaving the counter pick for top lane.

Maokai didn't think much of it and locked in Kennen and Jarvan IV in the top lane, thus finalizing his lineup.

Actually, it would be better if Flandre picked Camille, as he could coordinate with Galio and Jarvan IV in the mid and jungle to create an unstoppable combo.

However, Camille isn't particularly strong in this patch, and Flandre's Camille proficiency isn't high enough to carry the game, so Kennen, who has higher proficiency, is still a better choice.

In DRX's final pick, Kingen locked in Ornn. Ornn is a formidable opponent against Kennen in lane, and his ultimate's long-range initiation combined with Hecarim's charge is highly effective.

The lineups for both sides are now finalized.

Blue side EDG: Top lane Kennen, Jungle Jarvan IV, Mid lane Galio, Bot lane Aphelios and Thresh.

Red team DRX: Top lane Ornn, jungle Hecarim, mid lane Zoe, bot lane Miss Fortune and Yuumi.

Maokai looked at the lineup and sighed inwardly.

All I can say is that the draft picks in this game were definitely not good.

The second-chosen duo had no lane advantage, and the first-chosen mid and top laners were also at a disadvantage in their lanes, which meant they were at a disadvantage in all three lanes!
It's fair to say that the draft was terrible when they banned Sylas and Akali but then picked Galio.

The only consolation is that all five heroes played in this game were the players' forte.

"It's up to you guys now, brothers," Maokai said. "It's no exaggeration to say that today's match might be the toughest one you five have ever faced since you formed the team."

This EDG team, having completed its golden journey, has never encountered any real difficulties since its inception.

In fact, no team has ever forced EDG into a decisive game.

Without a doubt, this EDG team is the most dominant team in the history of the league, bar none.

Barring any unforeseen circumstances, this EDG team might just sweep the World Championship again without any obstacles, just like last year, achieving an unprecedented back-to-back championships with the same roster.

But life is never always smooth sailing.

"But I believe in you more than ever before."

Maokai continued, "You must also believe in yourselves. You are the five best people in the world. This mere virus will absolutely not stop you from advancing. Once you get through this, you will become even stronger."

Although Ming Jing wasn't there, he could almost feel that the coach, as usual, had his hand on his shoulder.

Maokai always tended to put the burden of responsibility on Mingjing's shoulders.

"Don't worry," Ming Jing coughed twice, then said, "We won't lose." (End of Chapter)