Chapter Ninety-Nine: The Third Turnback

As soon as Xi Shi lured Sun Bin over to the opposite side, Sun Shangxiang, riding in the support’s protection, immediately followed to fire back.

In the previous exchange, she had hurled her second skill toward Sun Ce, only for him to turn back and slip away.

Right now, Sun Shangxiang’s burst damage was still not especially high.

Sun Bin had not been finished off at once; his second skill had restored a bit of health, and he was desperately trying to pull back.

Zhou Yu’s flames shifted direction as well, and together with Luban No. 7, he pressed forward with overwhelming firepower.

Meanwhile, Mi Yue on the other side seized the moment and dashed in with her first skill, trying to pin down Luban No. 7’s output first.

The view shifted back to Lin Hao.

Pei Qinhu had already begun the assault.

“Don’t panic. I’ll make a detour.”

As Lin Hao spoke, the ship had already gone around the dragon pit and reappeared once more from the spot near the enemy’s red buff area.

Sun Ce had looped back again.

Damn.

From the enemy’s positioning, Luban Master was standing a little below the center of the river, Xi Shi was hidden in the grass near the first tower on Lin Hao’s side, and Mi Yue had already charged deep into the enemy formation.

Only Sun Shangxiang was still at the junction between the enemy’s top lane, red-side area, and the river, pouring out damage on her own.

At this position, if Sun Ce closed in and engaged her, Sun Shangxiang still had Purify to cleanse the ship’s knock-up.

But one must not forget that Sun Ce’s ship was carrying Pei Qinhu as well.

If Pei Qinhu’s burst landed on Sun Shangxiang, then even if she survived the initial hit, Sun Ce’s follow-up damage would still be enough to kill her.

And this lineup depended far too heavily on Sun Shangxiang’s damage. In other words, it was only because Dai Zi had a national-server-caliber Sun Shangxiang that they had dared to draft such a heavily utility-based composition.

So Sun Shangxiang absolutely could not die.

Unfortunately, whether it was Xi Shi’s skill or Luban Master’s, both had already been expended.

At this critical moment, Dai Zi reacted with extraordinary speed and instantly pressed Luban Master’s chain.

Sun Shangxiang was yanked straight toward him by Luban Master’s tether.

And a split second later, Sun Ce’s ship passed through that intersection.

So close.

Had it been delayed even one second, Sun Shangxiang would have definitely been controlled.

Lin Hao’s expression did not change. Sun Shangxiang was now in the middle of the river, and he kept driving the ship straight at her.

Even Pei Qinhu, seated aboard Sun Ce’s vessel, could not help but feel a surge of admiration.

This Sun Ce really had nerves of steel.

If it were him, at that intersection and from that angle, he would have long since thrown the ship and jumped off to take the fight directly.

Once again, the ship bore down on Sun Shangxiang.

Luban Master stepped forward, trying to body-block it.

But Pei Qinhu, empowered by the red buff, was faster, striking first with a basic attack in tiger form and biting down hard.

With a sharp thud, he bit right into the advancing Luban Master.

A slow.

And at the moment Sun Ce’s ship closed in once more, Sun Shangxiang executed a perfect roll at maximum range, vaulting over the wall and landing in that narrow passage on the enemy’s blue-side area near the river, just to the lower-right of Lin Hao’s top-lane tower.

She was using the wall as cover, kiting the whole way.

No wonder. That was Dai Zi.

Pei Qinhu froze for a moment. He had leaped off the ship with complete confidence, convinced the opening was there, never expecting that the bite would miss Sun Shangxiang entirely.

The next instant, he was ready to pounce straight in and force the kill on Sun Shangxiang.

“We still have to circle. He got off too early,” Lin Hao said quietly.

Then he ignored the frontline battle altogether. The warship skimmed past Luban Master’s body.

Luban Master, slowed by the red buff, still could not stop the ship that had already surged to frightening speed.

The reason Lin Hao could say that was because his map-wide awareness had already reached every corner of the battlefield.

At some point, Bai Qi had clicked the teleport shrine in the side lane, and the faint glow of the teleport had not escaped Lin Hao’s eyes.

Right in front of him, Bai Qi descended from the sky.

He was very rational; he did not even glance at Lin Hao.

Lin Hao was equally rational and did not crash into him.

The two passed by each other.

No, Bai Qi even triggered his tank jungle Smite on Lin Hao, granting a bit of movement speed.

The next moment, Bai Qi lunged forward and cast his ultimate, taunting Pei Qinhu, who had just dived with his second skill to the very front of Sun Shangxiang.

Bai Qi understood the situation perfectly. No matter what kind of wandering Sun Ce was doing, the top priority was to protect the marksman. That much had already been decided when he chose a team-oriented solo-lane hero, and when he saw the battle state while teleporting down.

Pei Qinhu was about to burst Sun Shangxiang down in one combo, but Bai Qi’s crowd control was simply too much.

The instant he dove in, Sun Shangxiang’s teammates erupted into action. Mi Yue, who had been fighting bravely on the front line, abandoned the battle there and rushed back to protect the marksman.

Under the focused fire, Pei Qinhu lasted barely a second or two before being obliterated.

“Damn it, what the hell is this Sun Ce doing?”

The Pei Qinhu player nearly hurled his phone away, feeling utterly betrayed.

You big-eyed, broad-browed Sun Ce—didn’t we agree you were going to cut down Sun Shangxiang? Why did you just circle around and sail off again?

The next moment, his eyes widened.

Because he saw Sun Ce coming back again.

From Lin Hao’s perspective, the audience watched him pass by the enemy formation near bottom lane for the second time without throwing the ship, instead carefully dodging Luban Master and Bai Qi.

Then he circled around the dragon pit yet again.

The ship’s speed had already reached its limit, and this one loop took only a brief moment.

The ship’s duration was nearly over as well. At the very last instant, Lin Hao looped back around, locked onto Sun Shangxiang’s position, and threw the ship.

Whoosh.

Bang.

Luban Master, Xi Shi, and the overlapping silhouettes of Bai Qi and Sun Shangxiang, all gathered around Sun Shangxiang, were knocked airborne by Sun Ce’s warship control.

And through the act of throwing the ship, Sun Ce himself leapt off it and closed in.

The next instant, Sun Ce slammed in with his first skill.

Crash.

Water burst upward. Sun Shangxiang and Bai Qi, neither of them having any mobility left, were both launched into the air.

Finally, Lin Hao followed with his second skill and a basic attack, taking Sun Shangxiang’s head outright.

At the same time, the enemy Mi Yue was also killed in the pincer formed by Luban No. 7 and the others.

Even in death, she could not understand why her teammates had not followed her charge.

And at that very moment, Lin Hao’s teammates began their own assault.

Zhou Yu’s flames, riding the wind, finally spread fully across the battlefield, and his fire stunned Xi Shi.

Luban No. 7 followed up and started pouring out damage.

Xi Shi was the first to fall.

The enemy’s position at that moment was simply far too awkward.

It was the result of having to shield Sun Shangxiang moments earlier, which had caused them to stand too far inward and bunch together.

From here on, it was harvest season.

Pei Qinhu’s red buff had transferred to Sun Shangxiang, and then into Lin Hao’s hands. By now, Lin Hao was dutifully applying slows to Bai Qi and Luban Master.

Meanwhile, Luban No. 7 was freely unloading from the side.