In the S1 season, country boy Ling Mo made a name for himself across the world with a no-minion Han Xin backdoor. The Star team assembled a galaxy fleet, yet finished as runner-up twice. In S3, their core mid laner left, and Star fell from its peak into the abyss, losing 26 matches in a row and getting relegated. Ling Mo became everyone’s target, mocked across the internet as a “one-trick.” He stayed behind amid the ruins and proved himself again on livestream. At the same time, Chi Nuo, a young man at a police academy in Jiangxi, gave up his studies to go pro. He went on a 16-win streak as the top trainee and publicly declared, “Ling Mo is my idol.” In S5, Revival Capital acquired Star and brought in Chi Nuo. The two generations of core players met for the first time. Ling Mo gave Chi Nuo the “Famed Blade: Siming” necklace that had made him famous. “Don’t become another me.”
Over the next eight years, Chi Nuo switched from the side lane to marksman, becoming a legend with Gongsun Li in a losing position in the finals; led a new lineup to a dynasty of consecutive championships; kept playing through a wrist injury with painkillers; took his team to the Asian Games national squad and won gold alongside his sworn rival Fei Jiang, both wearing the national flag; and claimed the global finals FMVP in front of 60,000 fans at the Bird’s Nest
Then collapsed.
Chi Nuo took 120 days away from competition to recover from his injury. Everyone declared that the Star dynasty was over. But from his hospital bed, he saw the young marksman Chu Xue taking his place and being called “a counterfeit Chi Nuo.” Suddenly, he understood how Ling Mo had felt when he gave up his own position. In the S16 Challenger Cup, Chi Nuo returned after resting, but didn’t ask for his captain’s armband back. Instead, he competed for a starting spot as a substitute. He observed from the bench, put in extra practice in the training room, and was called in during a crucial match, where he pulled off a recreated version of the “one-push” and led the new generation of Star to the championship trophy.
After the match, he stood before the silver
