Chapter 102: Running into Emperor Ye

During a team fight, the marksman, as the team's core damage dealer, bears the heaviest burden in terms of output.

This was especially true for Dai Zi's team composition, which relied far too heavily on the damage output of his Sun Shangxiang. Now, having calmed down, Dai Zi could clearly appreciate the meticulous detail in Haoran's play.

"Sigh, next game, next game."

Ultimately, Dai Zi let out a soft sigh and began his next match. Lin Hao started his matchmaking at the same time.

*Ding!*

Viewers watching both streams could see that Haoran and Dai Zi entered the lobby almost simultaneously.

Matched again?

The fans were pleasantly surprised and immediately began scanning the ten summoners in the lobby for Dai Zi and Haoran. Sure enough, they had been matched together once more. Lin Hao was Peak Summoner Rank 3, while Dai Zi was Rank 5. Both were on the Blue team—the same team!

"Matched again."

"Third pick is Dai Zi, hahaha."

"Brother Dai got his points taken by the streamer last round, hopefully, he’ll carry him this time."

Lin Hao’s chat moved at lightning speed, with many viewers flooding in from Dai Zi’s stream.

"Matched again?"

Lin Hao glanced at the chat and understood the situation. He sighed softly; for him, the saddest thing was when a streamer got matched with him, only to end up on his own team.

"Brother Haoran, that Sun Ce of yours gave me such a hard time last round!"

Dai Zi’s voice suddenly came through the voice chat. It seemed his viewers had already tipped him off. Lin Hao felt a bit awkward. Judging by the anger points collected in his system backend, Dai Zi had been left slightly tilted by his performance in the last game.

"Ahaha, just good luck, just good luck," Lin Hao said with a laugh.

"Brother Haoran, why don't you play Sun Ce again and carry me? I'll play Sun Shangxiang again."

"OK, OK."

Lin Hao had already intended to play Sun Ce, so he didn't refuse when Dai Zi suggested it.

"By the way, Brother Haoran, what's your power rating for Sun Ce? Your Sun Ce feels incredibly fierce."

Dai Zi asked curiously. He had become a little fan of Lin Hao; if he weren't worried about causing drama or being accused of "sucking up," he would have added, "You're no weaker than Ye Huang."

Lin Hao rubbed his nose awkwardly. "A few thousand, I guess. I haven't played him much."

Dai Zi: "..."

You're telling me that level of proficiency is only a few thousand power? That’s at least fifteen thousand or higher! That ship-maneuvering technique, the initiation timing, and the precision of his landings were all at the level of a top-tier national player!

As the two talked, their random teammates—who had their mics muted—were utterly confused. Were these two people who had just been opponents in the last game chatting away?

Both sides had finished picking their heroes. Lin Hao’s first pick was confident and immediately snatched up Jing. Both Jing and Lan remained top-tier heroes even after being "slashed" by the developers, because their strength lay in their core mechanics. Because of this, they were highly contested junglers in high-level Peak matches. While they weren't always banned, they had to be secured early; otherwise, if you hesitated, the opponent would take them to counter you.

Lin Hao and Dai Zi had both pre-selected Sun Ce and Sun Shangxiang, but they weren't planning to pick them immediately. However, when it was the opponent's turn, their first pick—who had been showing Pei Qinhu—suddenly switched to Sun Ce.

Lin Hao was stunned. *Damn, someone actually sniped Sun Ce?* Honestly, that hero wasn't even that common in high-level play.

"Brother Haoran, Sun Ce got stolen! Damn!" Dai Zi said, sounding shocked.

"It's fine, it's fine. I have plenty of other heroes I can play."

As Lin Hao spoke, he glanced at the chat. It was no longer spamming about Dai Zi, but rather... Ye Huang!

Ye Huang?

Lin Hao raised an eyebrow. The name sounded very familiar! He was a legend among Sun Ce players, the ceiling of the hero's potential. The term "triangle jump" was actually coined by Ye Huang. Even more impressively, the previous summer, a "ghost ship" technique was developed for Sun Ce, and Ye Huang saw an epic boost in performance, skyrocketing to the number one spot in the Peak rankings!

The "ghost ship" involved pressing the recall button twice the moment Sun Ce launched his ultimate, making the ship move faster and stutter, making it nearly impossible for enemies to predict its trajectory and dodge. With this trick, Ye Huang had been invincible. Of course, the bug was later emergency-patched by the developers, but in reality, the ghost ship wasn't easy to pilot; only someone with Ye Huang’s exquisite skill could master it to maximize Sun Ce’s potential.

Lin Hao was, naturally, very familiar with this legendary figure among Sun Ce players.

"The Sun Ce on the other side is Brother Ye Huang," Dai Zi said, having received the news. "We have to take this seriously."

Lin Hao thought for a moment, and his eyes suddenly lit up.

"I'll play mid," Lin Hao said, sending his lane preference. He added, "Mid lane, level 22 mastery."

Before his teammates could react, when it was his turn to pick, he locked in Jin Chan!

"Jin Chan is a huge counter to Sun Ce! When Sun Ce launches his ship, if Jin Chan hits him with his first skill, he’ll crash immediately!" Lin Hao explained.

Dai Zi and the other three teammates were speechless. Everyone knew that, but the question was, could you actually play Jin Chan? Weren't you a side-laner?

However, since Lin Hao had already locked in, the fourth pick—who had originally wanted to play mid—had no choice but to fill another role. Dai Zi gritted his teeth and locked in Sun Shangxiang. He chose to trust Haoran!

The lineups were set. Lin Hao’s team (Blue) consisted of: Jin Chan, Sun Shangxiang, Jing, Zhong Kui, and Xiahou Dun. The opposing team (Red) had: Liu Shan, Yu Ji, Nakoruru, Shiranui Mai, and Sun Ce.

The game began. At that moment, Lin Hao received a system notification:

"Detected that the opposing Sun Ce is Hu Chi platform's Ye Huang. You will receive triple the anger point rewards for collecting his frustration."

It really was Ye Huang! Lin Hao nodded. It looked like he was going to have some fun this game.

At the start, Lin Hao headed to the mid-lane. Zhong Kui, however, didn't follow him to clear the wave, but instead headed to the bottom lane. He was likely going for a surprise play; if the opposing Yu Ji wasn't careful and stepped too far forward after leveling her first skill, they might have a chance at first blood.

Of course, the main reason was that when the game loaded, Dai Zi’s Sun Shangxiang had a massive badge in the corner—a National Top 100 mark! Meanwhile, Lin Hao’s Jin Chan only had a blue mastery icon.