This small BO3 in the Spring Split later became the source of countless highlight clips for professional players in Forest of the Full Moon, with the level of excitement rivaling some matches in the World Championships.
After this game, many teams were forced to start paying attention to KYM’s new Omega player and the duo he formed with Yan Chengfeng in the bottom lane.
They began analyzing the duo’s playstyle and researching counter-strategies to use against them in future matches.
What was truly terrifying wasn’t just Zhen Ning and Yan Chengfeng’s calm, smooth, and nearly flawless gameplay—it was the shocking level of synergy they demonstrated in this brief match.
They complemented each other perfectly. It wasn’t about the AD carrying the game or the support doing all the work; it was a true mutual achievement.
This was actually only Zhen Ning’s second official match.
The first time he and Yan Chengfeng teamed up on stage, their coordination had been somewhat awkward, leading the audience to call them the “divorced couple reunited.” In duo queue, they had picked ridiculous champion combinations like Noble Frog and Vine Witch, so the audience hadn’t truly realized just how high their skill ceiling was when they played seriously.
The post-game replay of this match quickly surpassed one million views on video-sharing platforms. Among the commentary, several remarks became iconic, with viewers humorously dubbing them the “seven slaps.”
The first slap in the face was jokingly referred to by netizens as “I don’t have high hopes.”
“Chef’s build and runes today are quite interesting.”
The commentator: “Mianli usually opts for tankier runes, but today he’s chosen full movement speed runes. With the synergy from Neither’s Velvet Willow… he should be able to move around really smoothly in the late game.”
“I don’t have high hopes for this build.” Another commentator frowned, offering the opposite opinion. “The core of Mianli’s support is durability—ensuring the team’s survival. Focusing on movement speed is risky. If he can’t stay in the fight, what’s the point of being agile?”
Of course, he quickly learned exactly what that build was useful for.
The second slap in the face was called “Pretty weak early on.”
The camera initially focused on Tao Luo in the jungle and Xu Minghe trading blows with the enemy mid-laner.
In the early game, bottom lanes usually lack the necessary items for aggressive plays, with both sides prioritizing farming until the junglers make a move.
“KYM’s bot lane duo is pretty weak early on, with low damage. So Carrot started at the red buff, likely preparing to gank bot lane soon,” the commentator analyzed. “In the mid lane, River picked his comfort pick, Miying. We all know the changes to Miying’s abilities this season—wait, what’s going on?”
The commentator’s voice cut off abruptly as the screen displayed: “KYM-Neither draws First Blood!”
The broadcast director didn’t even have time to switch the camera—the bottom lane fight had happened in the blink of an eye, almost going unnoticed.
After the replay was shown again, the commentator suddenly went, “Oh.”
Just a second ago, both sides had been farming peacefully. The next moment, Yan Chengfeng found the perfect gap between the minions and landed a precise crowd control ability. ZC’s support mispositioned and got caught, with Zhen Ning swiftly following up with damage. In no time, ZC’s support was pummeled to death by a flurry of fruits, flowers, and leaves from the two little squirrels.
It seemed like a simple mistake from ZC’s support, but—
“Such a quick move.” The commentator laughed and shook his head. “You can tell on camera that Ray hasn’t caught on yet. Chef is… really going all out today.”
Ray, ZC’s support, was clearly caught off guard. While early-level skirmishes like that do happen, it was rare to see one so aggressive.
Everyone’s eyes were glued to the two fast-moving squirrels at the center of the screen, a strange and subtle feeling starting to build, like a peculiar chemical reaction was brewing.
The third slap happened during the first Rift Herald[mfn]A powerful neutral monster in the game[/mfn] fight, marking the moment when everyone truly started to realize that something was off.
As the game entered the early-mid phase, the dragon spawned on ZC’s side. ZC’s jungler and bottom lane grouped up first, preparing to secure the first Cloud Drake[mfn]A dragon that gives movement speed buffs to the team that defeats it.[/mfn] of the match.
“ZC is taking the dragon very quickly.”
The commentator’s eyes widened. “KYM’s bot lane has arrived at the Dragon pit… Wait, are they actually planning to contest this? But ZC’s jungler has Smite[mfn]Smite is a summoner spell that deals damage to the target.[/mfn], and there are three people on ZC’s side. Not only will KYM fail to steal it, but they could very well get wiped out.”
Another commentator shook his head. “This position is very dangerous, and Carrot is still in the top lane. It’s really not a rational decision.”
As a result, this play was later dubbed “not rational” by the audience.
After the match ended, some viewers went back to watch ZC’s jungler Dosage’s first-person perspective of the situation and found the entire sequence to be like a horror story.
From ZC’s perspective, just as the dragon was about to be secured, a chubby little squirrel suddenly leaped into the Dragon pit from behind—
It was Yan Chengfeng’s Mianli.
The little squirrel zoomed across the pit as if her feet were oiled, her skirt swishing as she moved like she was in fast-forward. She weaved skillfully around ZC’s bottom lane duo and unleashed her ultimate, hurling a basket of fruit straight at ZC’s jungler.
ZC’s jungler: “?????”
At the same time, another chubby little squirrel suddenly jumped into the Dragon pit—Zhen Ning’s Velvet Willow.
The moment Yan Chengfeng entered the Dragon pit and distracted ZC’s jungler, Zhen Ning’s Velvet Willow flicked his tail, instantly unleashing a full combo of skills to finish off the already low-health dragon—
Then, without hesitation, Zhen Ning used Flash to escape the Dragon pit and ran off.
ZC’s jungler: “…?”
The audience: “?????”
It was a confusing yet incredibly smooth sequence of actions. The commentators were left stunned, one of them even stuttering, “Th-This… Chef just went straight into the Dragon pit, and Dosage couldn’t even use his Smite. Then Neither followed up with damage—did they really… really steal the dragon?”
“But Neither ran away so quickly… He just used Flash. It looks like he didn’t even try to save Chef.”
“That was a pretty conservative and safe choice. Otherwise, both of them could’ve been caught.”
Seeing Mianli stranded alone in the Dragon pit, the other commentator couldn’t help but laugh. “But unfortunately, it looks like Chef has no way out here, so… which member of ZC will end up taking this kill?”
Just as he finished speaking, a green teleportation circle with dark patterns appeared beneath Mianli’s feet.
In that instant, before anyone could react, two figures appeared within the magic circle.
The entire arena fell silent for a brief moment, then erupted into cheers.
The commentator was stunned and couldn’t help but raise his voice, “Neither didn’t go back to farm the wave! He went mid lane and actually teleported River and himself back into the fight!”
Velvet Willow’s ultimate ability was called “Time Hollow”—or as players referred to it, “Bring a Friend!”
It was a teleportation skill that allowed Velvet Willow to create a portal and transport himself and one nearby teammate to any location on the map.
Of course, this ultimate ability could also lead to some accidental sabotage—like misclicking the mini-map and teleporting a low-health teammate straight into five enemies. Because of this risk, the champion was rarely seen in professional play, as the skill required precise timing.
After Zhen Ning escaped the Dragon pit, he didn’t return to his lane. Instead, he ran directly to the mid lane, where he activated the teleportation circle, bringing both himself and Xu Minghe’s Miying into the fight.
Miying was a high-burst damage mage. The goddess wielded a staff to deal AoE damage, and although Yan Chengfeng’s Mianli had been alone and in danger just moments ago, the situation had completely flipped, turning into a three-on-three fight.
“KYM not only secured the dragon, but River’s Miying also dealt maximum damage! With Neither and Chef’s help, they took down ZC’s bot lane duo!” the commentator exclaimed excitedly. “Dosage darted around and barely escaped in the end, but this clash dealt a heavy blow to ZC, leaving them in shambles!”
“Neither could’ve used his ultimate to teleport himself and Chef out of the Dragon pit,” another commentator said, belatedly in disbelief. “But instead, he went mid lane and gave his ultimate to River. He chose to teleport back—not only did he want the dragon, but he also wanted to take down everyone else in the pit! This is just insane!”
The fourth, fifth, and sixth slaps in the face were titled “Chef can’t get past the tower,” “Two people can still chase five,” and “There’s no way Neither actually gets a triple kill, right?”
Then, when the final stats came in: “Chef’s damage output couldn’t really be higher than Carrot’s, could it?”
Later, Tao Luo was so furious about this comment that she refused to eat all day.
ZC was completely falling apart.
Yan Chengfeng’s Mianli performance in this game was terrifying—precise crowd control, relentless roaming, and during team fights, he was nearly impossible to pin down.
But that wasn’t even the worst part. The most infuriating thing was that he had one more trump card—Zhen Ning’s ultimate, combined with their movement speed synergy, gave him the confidence to harass the enemy endlessly.
ZC couldn’t control the dragon, couldn’t lane, couldn’t team fight—everything was crumbling.
Both teams were strong, and there wasn’t actually a huge gap in raw skill.
Unlike Lei Tao, who was notoriously unaware of his surroundings, ZC’s bottom lane had been acquired for a hefty price from Vietnam. Both players were alphas and had been playing together for years.
They had just never encountered… a combination this bold and shameless.
Yan Chengfeng himself was having the time of his life.
It had been so long since he played like this—not just fulfilling the role of “support,” but pushing the limits of his awareness and mechanics.
Throughout the entire match, he and Zhen Ning had barely spoken.
Or rather, their communication was silent; every move and every combo was an intricate process of syncing with one another.
There were no loud calls like “I’m going in, follow me!” By the end, they could predict each other’s next steps without a single word. That rekindled sense of tacit understanding, where instinct replaced speech, sent Yan Chengfeng’s adrenaline soaring.
His eyelids burned slightly, and he played more and more aggressively. When they started a team fight later on, Tao Luo couldn’t help but scream, “I can’t keep up! Yan Kitchen, slow down, slow down… Damn, that’s so clean! Awesome, awesome!”
Even when Tao Luo and Xu Minghe struggled to keep pace, Zhen Ning was always right behind, calmly following up with damage the moment Yan Chengfeng engaged and locked down his targets.
Victory was inevitable. And there was no doubt—Yan Chengfeng had carried the entire game.
As the second match began, ZC started to panic and immediately banned Yan Chengfeng’s Mianli.
Yan Chengfeng didn’t mind at all. Ban slots were limited, and by using one on Mianli, ZC had to leave the relatively lower-priority Mooncard open, allowing him and Zhen Ning to pick their more familiar Mooncard-Sunflower strategy.
KYM had already built up momentum from their first win. Or rather, they had found their rhythm, and everyone was fired up.
Meanwhile, Team ZC’s atmosphere was tense. Both the jungler and AD looked visibly frustrated. Yan Chengfeng’s relentless harassment in the previous match had clearly gotten to them, and they were still struggling to shake off the loss.
In the end, KYM won the BO3 with a 2-0 score, securing a near-crushing victory.
They didn’t even need to play a third match like they had against DXG. Beating ZC with a clean sweep was something no one, including Yan Chengfeng, had expected.
As expected, the post-game interview fell to Yan Chengfeng.
The rest of KYM didn’t return to the lounge but instead gathered backstage, waiting for him to finish.
Tao Luo waved excitedly. Xu Minghe smiled and nodded, while Xu Hao and Li Feng stood off to the side, waiting patiently.
Zhen Ning stood a little farther away from the group.
His face was still pale, but under the stage lighting, Yan Chengfeng thought he caught a faint, sickly redness on his cheeks.
He stood there quietly, watching Yan Chengfeng with calm, gentle eyes.
Yan Chengfeng swallowed slightly. In that moment, he suddenly had so much he wanted to say to Zhen Ning.
But before he could say anything, the host patted his shoulder, urging him to hurry up and take the stage.
Yan Chengfeng had no choice. He thought there would be plenty of time later, so after hesitating for a moment, he turned and walked onto the stage.
“Today is Chef’s birthday, so let’s all wish him a happy birthday!”
The host looked at Yan Chengfeng and asked with a smile, “You played exceptionally well today. If you had to describe today’s match with one word, what would it be?”
Yan Chengfeng: “Thrilling.”
The host: “Uh… ZC’s BP strategy is quite difficult to counter. Why did you bring out such a rare lineup in the first game, and what kind of communication did you have with Neither during that time?”
Yan Chengfeng: “Because they banned most of our other strategies, so we had to go with something less common. There wasn’t much communication.”
The host cleared his throat, trying to maintain composure and lighten the mood. “I see… Well, let’s step away from the match for a moment. If you could make a birthday wish right now, what would it be?”
Yan Chengfeng: “I want to finish work quickly and go eat hot pot with my teammates.”
The host, an old friend of his, chuckled. “Alright, alright. Blow out the candles and make a real wish, then I’ll let you go right away.”
The official staff brought out the prepared cake.
Yan Chengfeng usually scoffed at these kinds of ceremonies. As a young, hot-blooded alpha, he cared a lot about his image, especially in front of the audience. Holding a cake and making a wish like a child felt embarrassing, not cool at all.
But maybe it was because he had played so well in this match, the adrenaline rush and excitement still lingering in his chest refused to fade.
Staring at the thick layer of cream on the cake, he found himself lost in thought.
Colorful candles stuck atop it, their flames warm and bright. Yan Chengfeng pursed his lips, hesitated for a moment, then closed his eyes.
The candlelight flickered slightly. A second later, he opened his eyes and blew out the candles.
A thin wisp of white smoke rose into the air as the crowd erupted into applause. The lights and cameras focused on his face, and the host, smiling with crinkled eyes, began the closing remarks.
Instinctively, Yan Chengfeng turned his head toward the backstage area.
Tao Luo was still standing there, casually waving at him, signaling for him to hurry up so they could go eat hot pot together.
The other KYM members were still there too, some clapping, others smiling as they waited for him to finish the interview.
But when Yan Chengfeng looked toward the back of the crowd, he suddenly noticed something. The space was empty. Only quiet darkness remained—
Zhen Ning was gone.
