Chapter 136: The Nation's Top Marksman and the Nation's Top Jungler

As soon as the lobby opened, Lin Hao was about to type "I'll play jungle," but the third-pick teammate sent the exact same message almost simultaneously.

Along with that message came a massive "National Top Jungler" badge.

125-tier mastery in jungle!

At this level, you can identify the player just by looking at the mastery badge. Once that badge appeared, the viewers in the livestream immediately knew who it was.

"Beimu!"
"Holy crap, we queued into Beimu!"
"Haozi, play your best! Carry Beimu to a win!"
"The number one jungler in the national server!"
"Too bad, the streamer doesn't have the mastery to contest Beimu; I guess we won't see him play Luna."

Lin Hao naturally knew who Beimu was. He was a legendary player in the Peak Tournament who had risen to fame even earlier than Weiliang, and he had secured the top spot on the leaderboard multiple times. His signature hero was Luna, but he was equally proficient with several other junglers like Jing, Lan, and Ukyo Tachibana, all of whom he had played to a historical power level of 20,000.

Lin Hao didn't feel particularly happy. He wondered if his recent performance had been so dominant that the system's "anti-smurf" measures had kicked in, matching him with another streamer who specialized in the exact same jungle pool. It was true—Lin Hao’s displayed hero list was identical to Beimu’s: Luna, Jing, and Lan, in that exact order. It was just that Lin Hao's jungle mastery was still under 50 tiers.

With Beimu having locked in Luna with lightning speed, Lin Hao could only sigh and silently concede the position.

The teammates chose their heroes normally. Lin Hao had originally intended to stick to his usual role in the Clash Lane, but the first-pick teammate locked in Damo almost instantly. He seemed like a dedicated "one-trick" specialist.

Beimu’s Luna was in the third slot, while Lin Hao was in the fifth. They were on the blue side, with the final two slots acting as the counter-picks. By the time it was Lin Hao’s turn to pick, only the Support and Marksman roles were left.

"I guess I’ll have to embarrass myself with a little Baili Shouyue."

Lin Hao found Baili Shouyue in the Marksman pool and locked it in immediately. Supporting was out of the question; he didn't have the hero pool for it.

For a marksman, he had just acquired the "National Top" skill points for Baili Shouyue yesterday, so this was the perfect opportunity to use them. However, at this level of play, Lin Hao knew that to reach the top of the Peak Tournament, Jungle and Clash Lane were the most reliable roles. Marksmen were highly dependent on their teammates.

Of course, one could reach the top ten in the Peak Tournament with a marksman. On the Android QQ server, the top of the leaderboard was dominated by professional players who had a stronger sense of protecting their marksman. In the top ten, the ratio of marksmen to junglers was roughly fifty-fifty—a stark contrast to the Apple QQ server, where junglers reigned supreme.

But that applied to traditional marksmen. When it came to Baili Shouyue... there really wasn't anyone in the top 100 who had climbed the ranks solely using him without relying on "coefficient boosting." In professional play, this hero was usually played in the mid-lane to build a "poke" composition; he was rarely picked with the traditional marksman mindset of relying on auto-attacks.

There is a saying: If a teammate asks, "Why aren't you auto-attacking with your Baili Shouyue?" You can reply, "If I wanted to auto-attack, why wouldn't I just pick another marksman?"

In short, it was a hero that made the other nine players in the game feel quite unhappy. For teammates, it was because their Shouyue usually couldn't hit a shot, just standing there sniping during team fights while the enemy marksman shredded them, leading to a loss—a "tumor" Shouyue. For the opponents, it was because they were being poked all game long; squishy heroes would lose half their health from one shot and be finished off by the second. It ruined the gaming experience, regardless of who won. Dealing with a Baili Shouyue in lane or during mid-lane team fights was just incredibly frustrating.

Lin Hao’s instant lock of Baili Shouyue... looked very much like he was "throwing."

As one could see, the fourth-pick teammate clearly hesitated for several seconds before locking in Zhong Kui with only three seconds left on the clock.

The "Three Stooges of Throwing": Zhong Kui, Shouyue, and Jiang Ziya!

It wasn't hero discrimination; it was just a long-standing impression formed by Honor of Kings players. If you showed your win rate or match history, it might be okay. But if you said nothing and instantly locked one of these three, your teammates would inevitably feel uneasy. The fourth-pick player clearly assumed the fifth-pick was just a disgruntled player whose jungle spot had been stolen, so he decided to throw the game as well.

"Damn, why is Haozi starting to throw too?"
"Don't do it! You could play Yange in the Farm Lane; your Yange is strong. With Brother Beimu here, isn't this an easy win?"
"Yeah, seriously, don't throw!"

The audience was becoming increasingly indignant. Lin Hao glanced at the chat and then at the game screen, finally realizing the situation.

How to put it? In the past, he might have felt that such a quick lock of Baili Shouyue wasn't confidence, but preparation to throw. But having acquired the "National Top" skill points for Baili Shouyue, he knew exactly how powerful the hero was in skilled hands. Not to mention, he had the "Prediction" personal skill bonus as well, so he was incredibly confident.

Lin Hao had simply overlooked the fact that the people watching had no idea about his proficiency with the hero.

"Trust me, okay? My Shouyue is definitely at the national level. I’m really not throwing," Lin Hao explained helplessly. "Just watch me dominate this match."

As the game loaded, the system’s voice chimed in.

Perhaps because his rank had gotten higher recently, Lin Hao kept running into streamers on the opposing team in almost every Peak Tournament match. Most weren't well-known, so the "Anger Value" bonus wasn't very high.

This match was the same; there were two small-time streamers on the opposing team, both offering a double Anger Value bonus. But then, a single sentence from the system made Lin Hao instantly grow serious.

"Detected that the opposing marksman, Li Yuanfang, is a professional player: CK Meng Lan. The host will receive a seven-fold bonus when collecting his Anger Value!"

Seven times!

Upon hearing the professional player's name, Lin Hao immediately understood, and the player's profile surfaced in his mind. Meng Lan: a top-tier marksman of the new generation, holding the highest power rating for marksmen across the entire network, a 128-tier National Top One Marksman, and the number one in the Peak Tournament. Having recently been cleared of age-restriction locks, he had led the CK team to jump straight into the S-group in the Spring Split. Meng Lan’s playstyle was known for being ferocious and highly spectacular.

At this point, the well-informed and omniscient viewers in the livestream had also caught on.

"The enemy marksman is Meng Lan!"
"Holy crap, Haozi is doomed!"
"Baili Shouyue versus Li Yuanfang is so operation-heavy in the early game, and the opponent is the National Top One marksman Meng Lan. I think Haozi is going to have a really hard time."
"I don't care, the streamer is the best!"

Once the viewers in Lin Hao’s livestream learned through the rapidly scrolling chat that the opposing marksman was Meng Lan, they generally stopped betting on him. It was no wonder—no matter who was laning against Meng Lan, the audience wouldn't be optimistic. This was, after all, a 128-tier "heaven-defying" marksman!

Not to mention that when Lin Hao picked his hero, the displayed win rate was: 287 matches, 45% win rate. And once they entered the game, everyone saw it—it was a plain, badge-less Shouyue!