Chapter Ninety-Three: Streamer, Your Flag Is Awfully Green!

Meanwhile, there had also been new developments in the shark-shooting event.

Lin Hao had been chosen for Teacher Ge's team.

So he also joined the chat group Teacher Ge had set up.

Just as Wang Zhaoyi from the guild had said, Teacher Ge did not arrange any extra training. He merely went over the appearance schedule for the event and gave the streamers a great deal of freedom.

After all, this was meant to be an entertainment match. Its real purpose was to use the collaboration to help the streamers attract one another's fans, raise their popularity, and increase their exposure.

At seven o'clock the next evening, Lin Hao went live on time.

Today his popularity had risen even more than yesterday's.

"He's here!"

"You're early today!"

"Haozi, I saw your name on Teacher Ge's big roster!"

...

The moment Lin Hao went live now, the barrage was already flooding the screen.

After waiting a little while for viewers to settle in, Lin Hao began today's ranked grind.

The first few matches went very smoothly, and he took three straight wins with ease.

By now, Lin Hao's points had reached 2478, placing him eleventh in the national rankings.

"Win one more, and I'll be in the top ten of the peak ladder!" Lin Hao announced loudly.

Last season, the shark platform had launched a bounty order: any shark streamer in the top ten of the peak ladder could receive a reward ranging from 5,888 yuan to 18,888 yuan for each day they remained on the board, depending on their ranking.

That was because the top ten of the peak ladder enjoyed extremely high visibility in-game. When a player opened the ladder rankings on the peak match homepage, they could see the nicknames of the top ten players at a glance.

Back then, there were only a handful of shark streamers in the top ten, and they were all streamers from the rival platform Tiger Teeth...

That said, although there was no reward this time, making the top ten was still a symbol of honor.

Besides, for Lin Hao, the higher his rank, the more likely he was to run into streamers.

He entered the game.

This match put Lin Hao on the red side, in the third slot.

The first few picks on both sides came very quickly. They were probably all confidence picks from strong players.

Lin Hao studied the enemy lineup for a moment.

West Lady, Berserker, Master Lu Ban.

Plenty of control, plenty of tankiness.

Against this composition, if Lin Hao wanted to take a side laner, it would actually be rather awkward.

The three side-lane titans, Guan Yu, Ma Chao, and Yuan Ge, all had a hard time facing a hero like Berserker.

With that level of tankiness and a kit that relied on development, he would definitely keep taking a solo lane, which made it hard to pull away and rotate to help.

As for Dun, he also would not easily suppress Berserker.

After thinking for a moment, Lin Hao tapped his finger and selected a hero.

Prince of the Waves!

This was the hero skill he had just drawn yesterday, and in this lineup, Prince of the Waves would be easier to play.

In the early game, Prince of the Waves would not be afraid of trading with Berserker. When he attacked, he stacked armor, becoming very tanky himself, while Berserker relied heavily on the damage from the passive spinning of his automatic scythe. The two happened to form a perfect counter.

"Prince of the Waves? Is this Haozi's first time bringing out this hero?"

"What new trick is Haozi cooking up now?"

"I have a feeling this is probably another highlight game. After all, this is Haozi's match as he pushes for the top ten of the peak ladder. He must have come prepared."

The viewers in the barrage were all curious as well.

"I know a little bit about Prince of the Waves," Lin Hao said modestly.

After locking in his hero, Lin Hao began adjusting his build and emblems.

The other side's heroes were still being selected.

Their fourth and fifth picks were Sunlight and Moon Witch.

And Lin Hao's side chose Tiger Walker and Healing Breeze for the fourth and fifth slots.

Just as the game was about to begin, Lin Hao's sharp eyes caught a barrage message saying, "Their Sunlight is Bag."

Bag?

Lin Hao was no stranger to this streamer. After all, one late night he had even, at Xinran's invitation, gotten into Liu Wei's car.

The marksman in that car at the time had been Bag.

His signature hero was Sunlight, and he was also very strong on other marksmen. He was one of the heavy hitters in the streamer scene when it came to the marksman role.

Was it really him?

After entering the game, Lin Hao also received a system notification.

"Detected that the enemy Sunlight is Tiger Teeth streamer Bag. While the host is collecting his rage, earnings will be tripled!"

Speaking of Bag, he had been first or second in the S18 final rankings, so his strength was absolutely top-notch.

As for popularity, his Tiger Teeth live room had 2.5 million subscribers. Although his current concurrent viewer count was around 1.3 million, roughly the same as Xinran's, when other factors were taken into account, the rage he provided could indeed reach three times the normal amount.

Looks like this match would have to focus on Bag's Sunlight.

Only by making him feel the cruelty of the world would the rage points be easy to gather!

Lin Hao glanced briefly at the loading screen.

The enemy was on the blue side, with the lineup: West Lady, Berserker, Master Lu Ban, Sunlight, and Moon Witch.

And Lin Hao's side was the blue side, with the lineup: Prince of the Waves, Lord of the West Wind, No. 7 Lu Ban, Tiger Walker, and Healing Breeze.

The average ranking in this match was 680th, and all his teammates had also brought their main strength heroes.

Aside from the fill-in Healing Breeze, who had a provincial title, Lord of the West Wind was a top-50 national minor title, No. 7 Lu Ban held a major national title, and Tiger Walker was also top-50 national.

Only Lin Hao was still just a green badge.

Looking at his teammates' commonly used heroes, Lin Hao nodded in satisfaction. "Not bad, not bad. Everyone brought their power picks. As long as there aren't any slackers, big brother can definitely carry."

The viewers in the stream burst out laughing at once.

"Isn't the slacker you?"

"Streamer, your national title is so green!"

"Stop arguing up front. The streamer said it himself: so what if it's a green badge? Play a couple more matches and it'll turn blue, won't it?"

At the start, Lin Hao was immediately singled out by his teammate No. 7 Lu Ban.

Lin Hao shook his head helplessly. There was nothing he could do about that. After all, he had only just obtained the national-level skill, and he had not yet played enough matches on Prince of the Waves to build up his power rating.

Come to think of it, today was Sunday. By next Monday, his three most-used side-lane heroes, Yuan Ge, Ma Chao, and Guan Yu, would all have national top-50 badges. Then they would count as his true power picks.

He went to lane with Berserker to clear the wave, stepping first into the brush beside Berserker. He could see that Berserker was standing at the far end of the grass, watching him.

Lin Hao had originally thought Berserker might start with the river crab, since he was holding Retribution.

If they were on lane, though, he could still pressure him first.

Lin Hao did not forget his old habits. While retreating toward base, he moved forward again, timed the minion wave, and swung his first skill straight into the wave!

To Berserker, this Prince of the Waves looked like he was doing a twitching dance while clearing the lane. It was outright mocking him!

And more importantly, Prince of the Waves was standing very far forward. The moment Berserker's minions stepped out from under the tower, his first skill was already coming down on them.

In any case, Berserker could not outfight Prince of the Waves even if he tried to contest level two, so he simply changed tactics.

You clear the wave, and I will chip away at your health.

Thus, while Lin Hao was clearing the minions, Berserker stood to the side, quickly slashing once with his first skill before following up with basic attacks.

When Lin Hao saw Berserker's positioning, he laughed. "A weak horse!"