Chapter Thirteen: Whoosh—The Sound of the Running Wolf!

Yifan looked at Yuan Ge, who was apologizing within their line of sight while recalling back to the city, with a face full of speechless frustration. This guy seemed to have some sort of inexplicable illness. For a moment, an unnamed fire began to burn inside him.

Recalling for taunts was something that could be amusing once in a while, seeing the opponent recall after a fight, but Lin Hao's high-frequency taunting was downright infuriating. Some players who weren't mentally strong enough might easily lose their composure, focusing entirely on how to instantly kill the enemy hero who kept recalling, and thus losing sight of the overall game.

"Hold the tower and look for opportunities," Yifan said.

It was said to be a disadvantage, but really, it was just a matter of one team fight. The opposing side had just won a team fight and gained the right to pressure the tower. If they could catch an opportunity and win a fight, the situation would instantly turn around. After all, there wasn't much disparity in the economy yet.

Both sides were playing cautiously, dancing around the towers and minion waves, trading damage. For Lin Hao's side, with the economy still close, diving the tower to start a fight could easily lead to a complete collapse, so their strategy was to grind down the tower. Yifan's side naturally focused on defending the lane.

Suddenly, Lin Hao's Yuan Ge paced to the outer edge of the defense tower and unleashed his second skill plus Flash! Swish! Four darts instantly hit Yifan and his teammates who were clearing the minion wave under the tower. Then Lin Hao followed up with his third skill, dealing yet another round of poke damage.

What was happening? Yifan and his teammates were caught off guard by the sudden poke; the rear heroes like Fire Dance and Marco Polo lost a third of their health bars in an instant. Their first reaction was that the enemy wanted to initiate a fight! They immediately pulled back, dodging enemy skills and waiting for a chance to counterattack, since the enemy was diving and the tower’s high damage was their advantage.

However, the opposing side didn’t seem to be coordinating for a team fight—no Zhang Fei roaring, no Shen Mengxi throwing bombs. So what was the point of this second skill plus Flash? Just poking? That was the only explanation. But was Flash meant to be used like this? Did he not even consider them as human?

After Yuan Ge finished poking, he continued to recall, the flickering effect of Shadow City was particularly eye-catching. The nameless flames in Yifan and his teammates burned even hotter.

"Yifan's rage value +300."
"Fire Dance's rage value +400."
"Marco Polo's rage value +300."
...
Another wave of rage points was pocketed, and Lin Hao was in high spirits. Yet the live stream chat was full of question marks.

"I don’t get this second skill plus Flash..."
"Is Flash supposed to be used like this?"
"What kind of move was that?"

Lin Hao answered the viewers, "We’re pushing the tower, but the enemy is keeping their distance tightly. If I want to poke with my second and third skills, I’d have to eat their skills, so I used second skill plus Flash to poke."

"Flash has only a 120-second cooldown, but once we take down their tower, it never comes back."

It sounded reasonable...

In this round, apart from Yuan Ge’s poke with second skill plus Flash, there wasn’t much big rhythm. The enemy’s lineup had low tolerance for mistakes; in a disadvantaged position, Guiguzi didn’t dare initiate recklessly.

So, in the end, the mid-lane second tower was successfully taken down by Lin Hao’s side. It was time to pressure the high ground.

The enemy wouldn’t give up the high ground tower easily, and Lin Hao’s teammates didn’t seem interested in splitting lanes; all of them focused on mid, aiming for a direct team fight. It was understandable—Lin Hao’s side was in a favorable position, and with Shen Mengxi, Zhang Fei, and Di Renjie, they were all strong at fighting and tower pressure.

A few minutes later, the mid-lane minion wave slowly rolled toward the high ground. Lin Hao stopped recalling to taunt and concentrated fully on the action ahead.

In front of the high ground tower, Guiguzi didn’t show himself—clearly preparing to try for a team initiation!

Swish~! The sound of the Wolf Charge!

Lin Hao quickly glanced to the side; his attention had been focused on the mid-lane C-position heroes clearing the wave, and he’d neglected the vision to the side.

Zhang Fei was helping to pressure the tower, but they hadn’t secured vision in the blue jungle, allowing the enemy to rush straight through the blue jungle and bypass vision! This was the downside of not splitting lanes; for example, if they didn’t bring the bot lane minion wave, the enemy could use bot lane vision to sneak into the blue jungle bush and come in from the side or behind!

In just a moment, Guiguzi was already up close, standing behind Di Renjie! Di Renjie became alert the moment he heard the Wolf Charge, reacting swiftly with a second skill cleanse and Flash reposition, instantly widening the gap between him and Guiguzi!

Guiguzi and his teammates now revealed themselves: Guiguzi, Ma Chao, and Lan!

Ma Chao missed his spear, Lan was even more cautious, saving his skills until Di Renjie used Flash, then transformed into a shark and lunged at him!

Yifan’s Ma Chao followed up with damage right away!

It all happened in an instant. On Lin Hao’s side, Shen Mengxi had just charged up and lobbed a big bomb at Marco Polo and Fire Dance, but didn’t expect Di Renjie beside him to be shredded!

In panic, Di Renjie threw a yellow card, stunning Lan, but it was futile. Ma Chao, adjusting his position, landed two heavy shots and took Di Renjie’s head!

With Di Renjie dead, Fire Dance and Marco Polo, who had been clearing mid, sprang into action! This round, victory was theirs!

Zhang Fei hurriedly jumped back with his second skill, unleashed his ultimate, roaring Lan and Ma Chao away—but it was already too late!

Shen Mengxi ignited her bombs, speeding away to escape from Lan and Ma Chao.

Nakoruru flew over from the red jungle, arriving late but smashing down on Lan.

It looked as if Zhang Fei had managed to engage, and Nakoruru followed up with damage, but with Lin Hao’s side lacking a marksman, winning this team fight was basically impossible!

Because the enemy still had Marco Polo and Fire Dance!

As long as Marco Polo reached the frontlines, he could kite every one of Lin Hao’s team to death!

Lin Hao narrowed his eyes, his expression focused. In his vision, Marco’s next movement, every likely path, was calculated in his mind...

The next moment, Lin Hao moved.

Once again, he started with skill four!

Yuan Ge entered from the side with his fourth skill, releasing the first skill in the void!

Shua!

Yuan Ge’s true body appeared before Fire Dance and Marco Polo, and his first skill knocked Marco Polo airborne!

From his current position, it was already impossible to knock both Fire Dance and Marco Polo up at the same time.

At this point, Lin Hao’s priority was clear: attack Marco Polo first!

He followed up with the third skill to slow, then an auto attack, his puppet empowered by Master’s Might clawed at Marco Polo, instantly lowering Marco’s health bar!

Lin Hao’s left hand subtly swiped the joystick twice, rapidly switching positions between his puppet and true body!