Chapter Ten: Flowing Like Clouds and Water

Then, Lin Hao quickly clicked to swap positions, instantly exchanging places between his main body and puppet! The puppet’s knock-back lasted only a moment; after Fire Dance landed, control and damage continued to fall upon the unit in front of her. But now, it was the main body!

Ma Chao was still maneuvering, weaving around, seemingly determined to wait until Lin Hao finished his display before following up with damage.

Lin Hao dashed forward with his fourth skill. The script-level movement abilities granted him not only agility, but also the insight and anticipation to read his opponent’s moves!

This fourth skill sent the puppet surging right up to Ma Chao!

Yi Fan was surprised to see the puppet so close, but it wasn’t a major problem. He had activated Sprint—trying to control him now was nothing but a pipe dream!

However, in the next moment, Lin Hao clicked the third skill to slow him, then immediately recalled the puppet!

This was the moment!

At the instant the puppet was recalled, knocking Ma Chao into the air, Lin Hao pressed Cross Slash!

Knock-up plus slash was a guaranteed hit!

And as Cross Slash burst upon Ma Chao, Lin Hao’s hands never slowed; he swiftly triggered Flash!

Normally, after Cross Slash, the hero would retreat a certain distance. But Lin Hao’s immediate use of Flash after Cross Slash allowed him to remain in place!

It became a Cross Slash without retreat!

In the blink of an eye, Ma Chao’s health dropped to its lowest point!

Finally, Lin Hao finished with a basic attack!

After being struck by Cross Slash, Ma Chao tried to retreat as quickly as possible, escaping from Yuan Ge’s attack range. But Lin Hao’s Flash had cancelled the post-action delay, so his final basic attack still flew out!

Lin Hao added a second skill for good measure; of course, the four throwing knives were too slow and Ma Chao dodged them, but that basic attack, just a moment later, hit Ma Chao and finished him!

In the next instant, Fire Dance and Ghost Valley’s skills killed Yuan Ge as well!

The main body had just endured Fire Dance’s damage and was already in critical condition after killing Ma Chao, with no skills left.

This exchange ended in a one-for-one!

But the visual effect was explosive!

Fourth skill forward to dodge Fire Dance’s kick, first skill replay to knock Fire Dance up, another swap, puppet surges to Ma Chao, third skill slows then instantly recalls for Cross Slash, and it’s not over—immediately follows with Flash to cancel the post-action delay, then the final basic attack takes Ma Chao!

The entire process flowed smoothly, not a single unnecessary move.

This kind of play is exactly what every Yuan Ge player dreams of!

“Swapped out—no loss!”

Seeing the barrage filled with “666,” Lin Hao explained, “Why didn’t I use the second skill after hitting with Cross Slash? Because Ma Chao’s movement speed was too fast. After Cross Slash, the second skill has a startup delay, and it might not hit at all, or it might not even come out before Fire Dance finishes me…”

“So third skill followed by Flash, then a basic attack, is undoubtedly the safest way!”

“Amazing!”

“It’s amazing, but it feels a bit unfamiliar—Haoko seems to have suddenly become so strong…”

“With that play just now, I feel even pros might not be able to pull it off!”

Lin Hao waited a moment and finally received a system notification.

“Anger value from Yi Fan +100!”

He shook his head and added, “Too bad I didn’t manage to recall to base at the end—got taken out by Fire Dance.”

Yi Fan stared at the screen that had gone dark again, but he wasn’t particularly angry.

He was always a mechanical monster, styling on others was routine, being styled on was just as normal.

This round, Yuan Ge’s moves were flawless, and he hadn’t made any obvious mistakes—he could only admit defeat.

Sure enough, my Ma Chao still falls short when matched against a top-tier Yuan Ge, Yi Fan sighed inwardly.

“Who is this Yuan Ge?”

“It’s Haoran, didn’t they just say?”

“A nobody? Never heard the name.”

“I think he’s the one who crushed Xinran yesterday—Haoran.”

“Where is Haoran streaming? I want to check it out.”

With Yi Fan’s third death, the rhythm in the live chat grew stronger.

Few blamed Yi Fan for poor play—after all, everyone saw the three solo kills, and could only admit the opposing Yuan Ge was truly skilled.

This led many viewers to become curious about the player, or rather, the streamer controlling Yuan Ge.

Already, plenty had downloaded Shark, searched for Haoran, and entered Lin Hao’s stream.

“It really is that original-skin Yuan Ge!”

“Is the streamer the national-ranked Yuan Ge?”

“Let me give you some info, newcomers—Haoko is the Green Bean Yuan Ge!”

“Come to think of it, this might be the first time we’ve watched Haoko play Yuan Ge.”

For a moment, Lin Hao’s stream surged to 400,000 viewers.

Popularity is tied to concurrent viewers, chat volume, gift numbers, and so forth—400,000 means saying goodbye to obscurity and becoming a streamer with real buzz and exposure.

Though it was only temporary.

But Lin Hao had no time to thank for gifts or respond to new viewers’ questions.

Ma Chao is a tricky hero—even if you crush him in lane, he can catch up in mid-game through support and cleanup, restoring his economy.

A mid-lane team fight erupted; Ma Chao and Yuan Ge rushed to assist.

Unfortunately, the fight ended 2-for-3; Lin Hao successfully took out the opposing Marco Polo, but was himself finished by Ma Chao.

Ma Chao took a shutdown and a double kill, quickly catching up in gold.

“My teammates aren’t doing too well this match.”

Bot lane lost the lane, and mid lost the team fight—Lin Hao’s side was already showing signs of falling behind.

The enemy jungler pushed the side lane, Lin Hao revived again, and could only keep seeking opportunities in mid.

Truthfully, win or lose, it doesn’t matter; the main point is, once you’re behind, it’s hard to anger your opponent, especially one with triple rewards like Yi Fan.

But Lin Hao had no way around it; faced with a Ma Chao determined not to lane against him, he couldn’t kill him, and couldn’t prevent him from finding opportunities among his teammates.

This won’t do.

Normally, to anger the opponent, it would be a fantasy.

In theory, Lin Hao should be using the puppet to dive, recall it, then follow up with Cross Slash to open mid vision and chip away at the enemy’s health.

Both sides would first exchange health, then through dragon control, grass ambush, or a health advantage, win a frontal team fight, push the enemy’s mid tower, and enter a dominant position.

But Lin Hao wasn’t planning to do that.

Before the minion waves met, he walked straight to the very center of mid lane—the heart of King’s Canyon.

Then, he pressed recall.

A cloud hovered above Yuan Ge’s head, flashing endlessly.

To ramp up the taunt, Lin Hao recalled in a start-and-stop manner.

The so-called twitch-dance.