Chapter 52: You’re Not the Only One with Teammates

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Yet the audience found themselves quite puzzled.

“Isn’t Xi Shi heading downwards?”

“That’s right, Wan’er may be idling in mid, but she did send a message to the bottom lane.”

“Why is Haozi saying Xi Shi is coming to help?”

Noticing the viewers’ confusion, Lin Hao, who was still under his turret, continued his analysis, “Our bottom lane’s Li Yuanfang has already pushed the wave, and he’s not making any move to pressure the turret. This time, even if Xi Shi comes to support, she’ll return empty-handed. Besides, the enemy’s vision in the bottom river isn’t set up either.”

“By contrast, the aftermath in the top lane is much more likely to spark a play.”

“As for the vision you see on my mini-map showing Xi Shi heading down, that’s a deliberate decoy. She’s giving us false vision to make us drop our guard,” Lin Hao shook his head. “You’re all still too inexperienced.”

There were more subtle clues supporting his deduction that Xi Shi was coming top, but Lin Hao didn’t have time to explain them all. For instance, the enemy Lian Po in the bottom river hadn’t spotted Xi Shi yet; or the fact that Liu Chan and Marco on the enemy’s bottom lane were dutifully clearing minions without advancing, which meant they weren’t trying to trap anyone...

In Xinran’s stream, Xinran asked her viewers in bewilderment, “Did any of you leak my movements?”

There were plenty of enthusiastic viewers in her chat, so who could say if someone hadn’t already shouted in Hao’s stream: “Xinran’s coming to gank you, kids—run!”

Otherwise, there was no reason why, after she deliberately vanished from vision and doubled back to ambush top, the enemy’s Old Master would abandon his lane-clearing rights and retreat to his turret.

Xinran was already in position for her first gank, crouching in the river grass near Lin Hao’s side.

If Lin Hao stayed and cleared the wave, Xinran and Xiaonan would have sandwiched him perfectly.

But now, there was nothing they could do.

Xiaonan’s stream didn’t have many viewers; only a “Streamer Collision” tracker had detected the match between Hao and Xiaonan, so now Xiaonan knew the enemy Old Master was a streamer as well.

Xiaonan picked up a health pack behind his tower, then stepped out to clear the wave, hitting level three.

“This Old Master is really something,” Xiaonan muttered to himself. “Last time his movement was godlike, then he outplayed me in our duel, and now, his map awareness is on another level.”

“But, for Yuange versus Old Master, this is the best window. Once I push the wave, I’ll use my puppet with a triple-three combo.”

At level three, Yuange already had the ability to solo-kill Old Master under tower. If the damage wasn’t enough, the puppet could just get a few hits in first.

Xi Shi emerged from the bush as well, advancing with Xiaonan.

Yet, under the turret, there was nothing—Lin Hao had already abandoned the lane.

“He ran already? How cowardly,” Xinran grumbled, feeling as if she’d thrown a full-force punch into a pillow.

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Just now, Lin Hao had simply retreated to his turret and recalled to base from a blind spot.

In other words, the enemy had no vision on his recall the entire time.

He had no choice but to back; not only was Xi Shi coming, but a level-three Yuange was nothing a level-three Old Master could handle.

“That awareness is insane!”

“It’s like he’s wall-hacking!”

“Xinran’s getting completely outplayed.”

The game continued. Lin Hao returned to lane, as his own jungler silently hopped over the wall.

Fei had started blue, but after clearing red, he immediately headed for the top lane, aiming for an unexpected play.

Yuange was still pushing with his puppet, when Fei dove in with a leap, catching the level-three Yuange in a stun.

After a basic attack, Fei instantly cast his ultimate.

Yuange hurriedly recalled his puppet, and his cross-slash caught Fei precisely, but with barely half his health, he was still finished off by Fei’s ultimate.

Lin Hao chuckled, “You think only you have teammates?”

Then he walked up to Yuange’s corpse and recalled twice in quick succession.

Taunting had become second nature to him.

“+200 Rage from Xiaonan!”

Most of the rage value here was probably from Lin Hao’s taunt recall, not from Fei’s long-range gank.

What could be said about this round? Xiaonan’s map awareness simply wasn’t strong enough.

In the bottom lane, Xiaonan’s Marco Polo and Liu Chan were already pressing forward, and Jing’s icon had appeared. By Fei’s blue-side start it was time for him to join the fight.

But since Fei hadn’t shown on the map, Xiaonan should have considered the possibility of Fei camping mid, or making a surprise play top.

Players with some depth in King’s Glory could have thought of this. The question was, when you’re utterly focused on laning, do you still have the presence of mind to process other information?

That’s why, even with shared vision, side lanes always need the mid laner to signal where the enemy mid is heading.

With Fei’s timely support, Lin Hao was off to a flying start.

After clearing the wave and hitting level four, Lin Hao glanced at the teleport array.

Ultimate ready, but Flash on cooldown.

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He could consider going to hunt down the enemy marksman, to create a tempo swing.

However...

The enemy marksman and support were just ordinary solo-queue players, offering no rage value bonus.

Besides, if he went bot to start a fight, he’d have to engage first—sure, Lian Po could initiate, but diving past the tower to grab a kill might just turn him into a sacrificial lamb for the team’s victory.

After weighing his options, Lin Hao decided it was better to keep milking Xiaonan in the top lane.

He pushed the wave to the enemy’s outer turret. By now, Xiaonan had respawned and made his way to the area between the mid inner turret and the red buff entrance.

Since Jing had revealed herself in the bottom lane, Fei didn’t accompany Lin Hao to pressure Yuange’s lane, but instead went straight for the top lane dragon.

“This round, I’ll show you all how to dive for a kill.”

When he saw the level-three Yuange shuffling over, Lin Hao marched straight towards him.

He couldn’t let Yuange slip under the turret; with the puppet’s control, trying to secure a kill under tower would be a fool’s errand.

Xiaonan still had his puppet. Judging the distance, he unleashed his combo—Skill Two followed by Skill One!

But just as he closed in, Lin Hao suddenly stepped back.

Yuange’s puppet flew out, landing right in front of Lin Hao.

Xiaonan was stunned.

How could this Old Master judge distance so precisely?

The two-one combo naturally predicted Old Master’s path forward. Xiaonan’s initial idea was to knock him up with Skill Two-One, slow him with Skill Three, then swap places and slash, dealing a burst of damage and retreating under turret with Skill Three.

That way, even if Old Master tried to dive again, his health wouldn’t allow it.

But unexpectedly, Old Master dodged the puppet’s knock-up!

Xiaonan still tried to use Skill Three to slow him.

After stepping back, Lin Hao landed a basic attack on the puppet that had just spawned in front of him, then followed up with Skill One for a pull and control!

He then activated Skill Two, moving upward while auto-attacking the puppet again.