Chapter Forty-Four: Another Slap

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Counter-ambush!

This is a strategy often employed in high-level games. Of course, it depends on the specific situation.

In this match, Lin Hao’s side had Old Master on the side lane, a hero known for his strong split-pushing ability. If Old Master pushed a lane and either Han Xin or Ma Chao came alone to stop him, neither would stand a chance—they might even get caught by Old Master’s chain and suffer a brutal beating. Even if both of them came, Old Master still had some room for outplay, possibly taking on the two of them at once.

On the other hand, Ma Chao and Han Xin were also considered split-push heroes, but their strength lay in their speed. After pushing the side lane, they could rush to support their teammates in team fights, creating pressure with the minion wave and establishing a numbers advantage in the fight. But with Old Master standing his ground alone, he effectively blocked Ma Chao and Han Xin from clearing the waves first, so they had no chance to split-push at all.

At the moment, Old Master had already been targeted several times early on by Han Xin and Ma Chao, and was still at an economic disadvantage compared to them. If both Han Xin and Ma Chao came at him together, Old Master would have no way out but death.

However, once Lin Hao gave up pressuring the side and came to the top lane to ambush with Old Master, things changed.

...

Ji Ran, as usual, shared a wave of mid-lane minions with Zhou Yu, then returned to the jungle to farm.

He focused his attention on the mid lane.

Jin Chan hadn’t shown himself in mid for a long time. Now, Mirror was already under the turret, clearing the minions.

Still pressuring the side?

But the outcome on the bottom lane was already decided. With Zhou Yu and Luban aggressively pushing the tower, Lin Hao’s team lost their bottom outer turret first.

Yet Marco Polo continued to farm the bottom lane. With his double dashes, he was fearless—he had plenty of outplay potential even if the enemy tried to catch him.

Let’s go gank Old Master in a bit.

The game continued.

Ma Chao used Sprint to create some tempo in the bottom lane.

Meanwhile, Old Master on the top lane focused on clearing the wave, using the opportunity to take down a tower.

Ma Chao had already lost his outer turret on the top lane, and Old Master continued to push forward.

Zhou Yu had already crossed mid and was about to support.

“Let’s toy with this Old Master for a bit,” Ji Ran said, executing a quick three-finger pull, locking onto Old Master’s position, then following up with a two-one combo, catching him in blind vision and launching Old Master into the air!

He said it was just teasing, but in reality, it was to keep Old Master in place. After all, once Zhou Yu circled around from the river, Old Master would be doomed.

At the same time, Ma Chao was also making his way through the river to support their lane.

Ji Ran’s plan was simple: after knocking Old Master up, auto-attack once, and then immediately use the second dash of his first skill to pull away.

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Usually, an average Old Master hit by Han Xin’s combo would panic and spam his ultimate.

This was also a way to bait out skills.

However, just as he launched Old Master and went for the auto-attack, a golden collar suddenly shot out from the bush, followed by a cascade of nine rings falling from the sky!

Damn! Jin Chan was lying in wait!

At this point, Old Master had already led the minion wave under the enemy’s inner turret, and Jin Chan had snuck into the bush next to their turret.

When did Jin Chan get in there?

Ji Ran was startled and quickly used the second dash of his first skill to pull away.

But once caught by Jin Chan’s Binding Spell, not even Zhong Kui’s hook could pull you out, let alone Han Xin’s mobility.

Han Xin, usually so nimble, was thus trapped within the circle.

Old Master quickly followed up with his ultimate!

Ji Ran, almost simultaneously, popped his own ultimate on the spot.

Super Armor!

He managed to dodge Old Master’s third skill!

A sense of triumph just began to rise in Ji Ran, when suddenly, he saw a bald figure slowly emerge from the bushes, staff in hand, expression solemn.

Dun dun dun.

The sound of recalling echoed.

This bald-headed figure, just like that time he harassed Ji Ran in the blue buff zone, started recalling right there again!

Go recall your grandma!

Ji Ran’s anger value +600!

Originally, Ji Ran wanted to escape, but now he changed his mind.

He’d take down this bald guy first!

By now, the Binding Spell had worn off.

Ji Ran used the second dash of his skill to close in on Jin Chan, his spear slashing at him relentlessly.

At this moment, Jin Chan’s red kasaya had already enveloped him.

Han Xin’s auto-attacks, with their high burst and crits, would have dealt massive damage to any fragile target. But Jin Chan’s passive, the Brocade Cassock, shielded him—any single damage instance exceeding 6% of his max HP would be reduced by 35%.

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Han Xin’s autos, with their built-in crit and burst, could easily deal huge damage to squishy targets. In this sense, Jin Chan’s skill countered Han Xin to some extent.

But ultimately, Jin Chan was fragile, and his HP plummeted.

Lin Hao, however, remained unfazed. He didn’t bother auto-attacking Han Xin, just continued to walk, pause, and recall, completely disregarding Han Xin’s attacks.

Meanwhile, Old Master, Lin Hao’s teammate, hurried over to help. After two auto-attacks, he used his first skill to pull Han Xin away from Jin Chan.

Ji Ran then quickly pressed his glowing second skill, hoping to sweep Jin Chan away for the kill!

However, another golden hand swept through!

“An opponent has been vanquished!”

At the same time, Lin Hao received another notification of anger points.

“Anger value from Han Xin +700!”

Lin Hao’s ultimate had already been fully stacked; he was just waiting.

Waiting for Han Xin’s ultimate to end.

During Peerless Hero, Han Xin could reduce incoming damage by thirty percent.

As for his repeated recalls...

It was simply because Jin Chan, as a mage, did negligible auto-attack damage. At most, a couple of hits—although, to be fair, sometimes those hundred or two points of damage could decide the outcome.

But Lin Hao, a master of Jin Chan at the national level, had an expert’s grasp of the hero’s damage potential. With Han Xin at that health, without damage reduction, a single slap would be fatal—no need to bother with extra autos. The recall was just for taunting.

“So slick!”

“Hahaha, Han Xin must be losing his mind right now!”

“I love watching Hao mess with the enemy’s mentality, and he never throws—so satisfying!”

“That was close, though. Old Master’s ultimate was dodged, and even if Han Xin couldn’t win, he could’ve just run, right?”

“I think Ji Ran on the other side really got tilted by Hao’s recall—he just wanted to trade with Jin Chan out of frustration.”

“Good point. Otherwise, Han Xin could have just left. Old Master was out of skills—why turn back to try and kill Jin Chan?”

Lin Hao glanced at the chat and smiled.

He didn’t say it, but even if Han Xin had tried to jump away, Lin Hao could probably have flashed and ulted to finish him off, sending him back to base.

But he hadn’t expected the taunt to be so effective.

He just wanted to collect some anger points, and as a bonus, tilted the enemy into making rash, impulsive decisions.