Chapter 321: The Lady of Fortune Smiles
Entering the ranked match interface.
A low, deep BGM began to play. It started with a soothing yet tense rhythm, then dense drumbeats kicked in, followed by the war horns common in battle anthems. Several instruments blended together seamlessly.
Although the melody itself wasn’t particularly fast-paced, it perfectly set the atmosphere for a ranked match, evoking an inexplicable tension while also stirring the blood and filling the heart with anticipation.
This BGM was the original ranked match theme from Chen Mo’s previous life in *League of Legends*, a classic piece from the "music factory Riot Games." Many players, upon hearing this tune, would instinctively want to lock in a champion.
Li Jingsi scrolled through the screen full of champions and asked, "What should I pick?"
"Whatever you want," Chen Mo said. "Just pick something you feel like playing."
After the bans, both sides began selecting champions.
Li Jingsi’s pick order was higher, so she locked in Vayne first. Meanwhile, Chen Mo, seeing that the enemy had already chosen Annie, locked in the Card Master, Twisted Fate.
"The Lady of Fortune smiles."
The moment he locked in, a teammate immediately spammed question marks.
Molten Giant: "??? Card Master is a trash champion, why play him? You have Kassadin and Karthus available, and you pick Card Master?"
Chen Mo chuckled and didn’t mind.
Soon, the game loaded.
Chen Mo went straight to mid lane and stood under his tower, dancing.
As the Molten Giant headed to top lane, he kept typing relentlessly: "Card Master, just don’t feed. I’ve already run into several Card Masters who ult into a crowd and die instantly on landing."
Chen Mo was a bit speechless. It felt like this Molten Giant didn’t trust him at all.
After a moment’s thought, he decided to calm his teammate down.
Card Master: "I’m Chen Mo. I won’t feed, guaranteed win."
The Molten Giant stood under his tower for a bit before typing: "And I’m Goph!"
"Oh, wait, I didn’t even notice your ID. Is it a knockoff? How did you make it look so real?"
Wuju Bladesman: "Are you trying to cosplay Chen Mo’s life-saving Cow or feeding Tryndamere?"
Chen Mo: "..."
Was this becoming a stain on his reputation?
Forget it, he wouldn’t argue with these clueless bystanders. He was magnanimous like that.
The enemy Annie was very aggressive, standing just outside the range of Chen Mo’s tower and spamming taunts.
Indeed, among the mid-lane champions available, Annie was considered by new players to be the strongest in lane. She could stack stuns and harass mindlessly, no logic required.
Chen Mo ignored Annie, staying behind the minion wave to farm safely. Every time Annie tried to close in to stun and poke him, Chen Mo perfectly dodged her range.
On his first recall, Chen Mo had 38 CS, a full 10 more than Annie.
Only then did the stream’s viewers notice the finesse in Chen Mo’s last-hitting.
"Those last hits are insane, like a work of art. Did anyone see him miss a minion?"
"Looks like he didn’t miss? I wasn’t paying attention!"
"Wow, he’s already 10 CS ahead of Annie."
"And it seems like Chen Mo isn’t trying to kill Annie? Why is he playing so passively?"
"Trash! I would’ve solo-killed her by now!"
Chen Mo continued to farm.
In truth, if he wanted to outplay Annie mechanically, he could, but that would defeat the purpose of the stream. Not every player had his mechanics and reaction speed. Killing someone might look flashy, but it had no educational value.
Chen Mo wanted to show the viewers the essence of this champion—even without godlike mechanics or reactions, you could carry a game with just experience and game sense.
Soon, Card Master reached level 6. After pushing the wave under Annie’s tower again, he moved to the river brush.
As Card Master’s ultimate, "Destiny," activated, a massive eye appeared above every enemy champion, as if someone was watching their every move from the shadows.
The viewers in the stream heard Card Master’s cold laugh.
"Gotcha."
Top lane, the Molten Giant was being pushed under his tower by Garen. Frustrated by the pressure, he didn’t hesitate when he saw Card Master’s support. He immediately ulted in, and Card Master followed up with a Gold Card. Under their combined damage, Garen died without a doubt.
The top lane was long, and with the Molten Giant’s slow and Card Master’s sustained damage, Garen couldn’t survive.
After easily securing a kill, Card Master took a detour back to his tower, arriving just in time to catch the wave Annie had pushed in.
The stream chat was already flooded with "666."
"Wait, that’s it? He just killed him?"
"Strange. When I play Card Master, I never feel like he’s this good at killing. Every time I ult, the enemy just runs away, or I get counter-ganked!"
"Look at Chen Mo’s kiting—it’s beautiful. He didn’t waste any damage, chasing Garen down to the very end!"
"Can Chen Mo actually make Card Master look this flashy?"
For his second ultimate, Card Master flew to bottom lane, helping Vayne secure a kill on Miss Fortune.
For his third ultimate, Card Master flew into the jungle, catching and killing the low-health Amumu who was farming.
And throughout all this, Card Master’s CS didn’t just stay ahead of Annie—the gap only widened. With the advantage in both farm and kills, Card Master’s items snowballed. Before 20 minutes, he had completed Lich Bane, Abyssal Scepter, and Zhonya’s Hourglass. When he caught a lone enemy in the jungle, a single combo took half their health. All the enemy champions were living in constant fear.
The Molten Giant, who had been trash-talking at the start, went silent. Occasionally, he’d type "666," since Card Master’s gank top had given him a huge advantage, making his lane against Garen much easier.
His team’s Wuju Bladesman typed: "Let’s group while we’re ahead. It’ll be harder if they get tanky!"
The enemy team had the same thought. Card Master’s frequent global ganks had them on edge, so they started grouping up, denying him any more picks.
"Come."
Chen Mo typed quickly as he activated his ultimate again. But the position he chose shocked everyone: right behind all five enemy champions.
At that moment, the Molten Giant and Wuju Bladesman had a lot of curses on their minds. They’d seen Card Masters do this before—ulting to cut off the enemy’s retreat—and every single one had fed themselves and thrown the teamfight.
Instead of cutting off the enemy, they’d cut off their own team’s chances.
Because Card Master was a fragile mid-lane mage. In a 1v1, he had no advantage against most champions. Ulting into a crowd was basically suicide.
This Card Master had been playing so well—why had he suddenly lost his mind and started feeding?
And he was carrying a big bounty!
But there was no time to argue. Card Master had already flown in, and the rest of the team had no choice but to commit to the fight.