Chapter Eleven: The Ruleless Flank

“There are plenty of new viewers today, so I’ll explain it once more,” Lin Hao said, all the while performing a twitchy dance in the middle lane. “Among all the recall effects, according to my tests, only the Shadow City recall effect stands out distinctly when you spam the recall button while moving. In other words, only the Shadow City effect displays a cloud at the very start—while all the other effects, no matter how flashy, appear gradually. That’s the difference!”

Lin Hao’s sudden, off-topic explanation left the viewers baffled, and question marks flooded the chat.

“???”

“What does this have to do with gameplay?”

“Clearly, non-solo-lane players wouldn’t understand. This is our solo lane’s unique philosophy of taunting: recalling in front of your opponent can disrupt their mentality, causing them to tilt and make mistakes.”

“As someone who taunts with recalls all the time, I’ve learned something new today.”

“But the way the streamer is dancing around like this, I feel like something’s about to go wrong…”

Just then, the situation in mid lane shifted dramatically!

From the left brush, a fan suddenly flew out! Below Yuan Ge’s health bar, an eye appeared silently—Guiguzi had activated his ultimate!

In an instant, several translucent figures surged toward Yuan Ge!

On the other side, Yifan was directing his team: “Yuan Ge’s really squishy—let’s focus all our damage and kill him! Go, go, go!”

Normally, Yuan Ge would send his puppet in first, wait for a good opening, then use his fourth skill to dash in, quickly recalling the puppet for a knock-up combo and burst damage.

Why not have his main body join the team and start with his first skill for another knock-up? Because Yuan Ge is just too fragile! In team fights, if he doesn’t find the right angle, the enemy can easily lock him down and his health bar will be buried under a barrage of effects.

Now, faced with the enemy’s aggressive initiation, it was time to rely on technique and speed.

Lin Hao had been prepared—though his right hand appeared to be casually tapping the recall button, in reality, his nerves were taut, ready to press his fourth skill at any moment.

The instant Fire Dancer threw out her second skill, Lin Hao decisively activated his fourth skill and dashed away!

But instead of retreating toward his own turret, he fled toward the river!

If he ran toward the turret, the enemy could simply chase diagonally and easily unload all their damage onto Yuan Ge’s fragile frame. But by running away from the enemy’s direction, only Ma Chao and Guiguzi could keep up; Fire Dancer, Marco Polo, and even the recently nerfed Lan couldn’t catch him for the moment.

It was as if the canyon had turned into a hundred-meter sprint, with Yuan Ge weaving between his puppet and his body, skillfully swapping positions, leaving Guiguzi and the others in the dust.

But this was just temporary. Once Yuan Ge ran out of skills, Ma Chao would inevitably catch up, and being cornered at the river meant certain death.

However, Lin Hao’s teammates had not been idle.

Shen Mengxi had already been lurking in mid, but without vision in the brush, he’d been cautious. Now, reacting swiftly, he tossed a Cat Bomb down the predicted path.

Boom!

The Cat Bomb exploded among all five enemies, centered on Guiguzi, and the Ice Scepter’s effect stacked in, slowing them considerably.

Zhang Fei hurried over, also predicting their movement with his ultimate—a mighty roar stunning the slowest of the enemy, Marco Polo and Fire Dancer!

“All lured out!” Lin Hao quickly recalled his puppet, slowing down just as Ma Chao closed in.

Lin Hao’s eyes narrowed, his mind drawing upon a wealth of movement knowledge at a script-like level.

In that instant, he thought through his options. Since it was a mirrored map, Ma Chao was thrusting towards the upper left; the best way to dodge would be to move clockwise—so Lin Hao twisted left.

Bang! Ma Chao’s spear stabbed into thin air! The first skill thrown also missed!

Yifan, staring at the Yuan Ge who’d solo killed him three times, let his guard down for a moment and missed the hit.

That was some slick footwork. As expected from someone who plays Old Master!

But before Lin Hao’s rise, Yifan’s own movement was considered top-tier in all of Honor of Kings.

The second spear followed immediately—this time, Lin Hao couldn’t dodge it.

Still, he predicted Ma Chao’s movement and hit him with Cross Slash! But for a rampaging Ma Chao, that damage was a mere drop in the bucket.

The next three spears landed true, and Yifan finished off Lin Hao’s Yuan Ge.

By now, Nakoruru had arrived, leaping from the red side and immediately claiming Ma Chao’s head.

If Lin Hao hadn’t delayed Ma Chao for so long with his footwork, Nakoruru might have arrived too late for anything.

“This game is just not like League of Legends—trying to dodge all the damage through movement is just too hard,” Lin Hao mused after respawning. “Maybe against an average Ma Chao, but this is Yifan—a national-level Ma Chao!”

After dying, Lin Hao shifted his view to the main battleground.

It was as if a mighty army, hot on the pursuit, had been ambushed from the flank and thrown into chaos.

Guiguzi’s second skill had been aimed at Yuan Ge, but since Yuan Ge ran straight away, he missed, and was instead locked down by Shen Mengxi and Zhang Fei!

Di Renjie followed up with damage, and Yifan’s team was routed. By the time Lan and Marco Polo recovered from their stun, they were left with barely any health and had no choice but to flee.

Fire Dancer and Guiguzi were left behind.

So, the skirmish ended in a three-for-one trade: the enemy lost Fire Dancer, Guiguzi, and Ma Chao, while Lin Hao’s team only lost Yuan Ge.

A massive gain!

“Haozi’s top-tier baiting!”

“So Yuan Ge can be played like this—what a lesson!”

“I swear I just witnessed a canyon chase scene!”

“No joke, the streamer’s last bit of footwork was so precise—I wonder if anyone else noticed?”

A system notification echoed in Lin Hao’s mind.

“Rage value from Yifan +300.”
“Rage value from Guiguzi +400.”
“Rage value from Fire Dancer +200.”
…

A quick glance showed all five enemies had contributed to his rage value.

No wonder—Lin Hao’s play was deliberately designed to provoke the opposition. Otherwise, the game would have devolved back into a high-level mid-lane brawl, with endless poking and wasted time.

This round was risky—if he’d been caught showing off with recalls in mid and his teammates failed to follow up, it would have backfired, and instead of rage points, the enemy would’ve just seen him as a clown.

In Yifan’s stream:

“That Yuan Ge’s movement was so intricate,” Yifan exhaled. “I thought my solo lane was unpredictable enough, but Hao Ran’s Yuan Ge took it further—luring us in with his main body, then flickering away at lightning speed, opening up the fight for his teammates to follow up! This is what true ‘unpredictable solo lane’ means!”

He was a bit frustrated—failing to kill Yuan Ge instantly had dragged out the battle and handed the enemy an opening.

As for Yuan Ge’s recall taunt… after years of experience, how could Yifan be rattled by such a minor trick?

His chat was filled with laughter.

“First time I’ve seen a solo laner bolder than Teacher Fan—I want to defect to Hao Ran’s stream!”

“This is the real ‘unpredictable solo lane!’”

“My take: his mechanics aren’t as good as Yaoyang’s.”

“‘Unpredictable solo lane’? That term’s been popular lately!”

“Wasn’t it coined by Yaoyang? Teacher Fan was so impressed he started using it himself. But I think Hao Ran has really perfected the concept.”