Aren't I just as hooked myself?

Entering the fray at this moment, the opponents had basically exhausted their skills; those on the verge of death were already done for, and those left with a sliver of health were crippled. With Baili Shouyue entering the battlefield, safety was absolutely guaranteed. Lin Hao acted as a heavy weight dropped onto one side of the dueling balance, tilting the scales decisively in his team's favor.

Baili Shouyue took a few steps forward. In the main skirmish, Xishi’s second wave of her first skill was also ready. She cast her first skill directly, pulling Xiahou Dun from the front line toward the rear.

Lin Hao chased after him and landed two basic attacks. However, Xiahou Dun’s health and tankiness were indeed formidable; after this round of exchange, Xiahou Dun still had nearly half of his health remaining.

The Tiger, which had been outputting damage against Kui Niu nearby, saw Lin Hao’s Baili Shouyue step up and cut short its advance to retreat. Counting the timing now, Xishi’s and Kui Niu’s second-stage skills were about to come off cooldown again. Fighting a two-versus-three with the Tiger’s current state being less than stellar, retreating first was the wisest choice.

However, Lin Hao flicked his right hand gently, instantly executing a stylish ultimate-flash combo!

Shouyue performed a backflip in mid-air, closing the distance to Pei Qinhu in an instant. The bullets fired from his ultimate escape pierced straight through Pei Qinhu.

An unexpected kill!

The reason Lin Hao had reserved his skills earlier and marched forward was precisely to keep his ultimate-flash in hand, waiting for the opportune moment to finish off that unhealthy Pei Qinhu.

In a split second, only a low-health Xiahou Dun and a newly respawned Yang Yuhuan—preparing to return to the lane—were left on the opposing side.

With the Tiger’s suppression removed, and the minion wave conveniently stalled outside, Lin Hao simply pushed the lane forward, demolishing the mid lane's outer tower just before Yang Yuhuan could return to the line.

Kui Niu brandished his hook nearby. The low-health Xiahou Dun, who had just stepped out of range, didn't dare to turn back.

"Look, this Xiahou Dun is playing it very safe," Lin Hao laughed. "With all his teammates basically dead, everyone's eyes are definitely on him. If he tries to defend the tower and gets hooked away by Kui Niu due to a careless turn, some of his hot-tempered teammates are going to start flaming him."

Sometimes, when all your teammates have fallen, it is best to play it safe. After all, those dead teammates are watching your every move, and the slightest mistake could become the outlet for them to transfer the anger of their own deaths in the previous teamfight.

"I think I’ve learned something: snipe people during the teamfight, and only move up to poke when the fight is almost over."

"Is this what a national-server Shouyue looks like?"

"Which other marksman can deliver such precise strikes and focus their damage entirely on the backline?"

"You guys missed the key point. Haoran is just accurate—he hits pretty much wherever he aims."

Inside CK’s training room, Meng Lan and his teammates were gathered together.

It wasn't training time, and there were no scrims scheduled for today. The players were free to play peak matches to maintain their form or mess around with other mini-games.

Meng Lan usually spent this time grinding peak matches, given his sheer passion for Honor of Kings.

Through this dedication, he had become a permanent resident at the top of the Android Q-server peak ranking.

Yet right now, his brow was furrowed.

A Shouyue with this level of oppressive presence was truly a rare sight.

Fair is fair, ninety percent of Shouyue players are accurate, but their accuracy is usually honed within a team system—accustomed to playing the mid lane and used to having economic resources funneled and allocated to them. When encountering those ninety-percenters in peak matches, even if they locked in Shouyue, Meng Lan was confident he could crush them.

Yet the Shouyue before him not only possessed that ninety-percent accuracy, but more importantly, he knew exactly what he needed to do. Looking back at this teamfight, every single instance of damage was effective, and that final ultimate-flash cleanly and brilliantly finished off Pei Qinhu.

Aside from the few headstrong trades we had in the early game, his macro understanding in every other aspect was at the level of a top professional player...

Meng Lan suddenly smiled and shook his head. Weren't I being quite hot-tempered myself?

...

Beimu had a thoroughly comfortable game this time around.

Shouyue always managed to supply him with that crucial shot at the critical moment, collecting the enemy’s head.

After playing out a few waves like this, their tempo immediately picked up.

Game time passed in a flash, and in the blink of an eye, the fifteen-minute mark arrived.

This match could be considered a snowball game.

Though the mid-game skirmishes weren't entirely smooth, Lin Hao’s side still held the overall advantage in terms of minion waves, vision, and tower counts.

Once Meng Lan scaled up in the mid-game, he did indeed spearhead a few counter-offensives, but with Lin Hao sniping from the middle lane, Meng Lan’s momentum was swiftly halted.

By the fifteen-minute mark, the bottom lane barracks of Meng Lan’s side had already been breached.

Only the second tier remaining in the top lane, and the high ground in the mid.

After securing the dragon, Lin Hao’s team prepared to push forward once more.

At this juncture, the voice chat on both sides was extremely active.

The shotcallers and communicators from both teams were laying out their operational strategies.

On Lin Hao's side, Beimu and the mid-lane Xishi were the main speakers. Lin Hao himself hadn't turned on his mic, keeping only his earpiece active.

Beimu: "Let's split push two lanes and push straight up."

Xishi: "Deal with the top lane first; the minion wave is terrible."

Meanwhile, over in Meng Lan’s voice channel, Pei Qinhu had also started issuing commands.

"Defend well. I'm going to push a side lane out. If they come to gank me, just fight accordingly."

Indeed, blindly defending inside the base at this point would inevitably lead to a collapse.

Defending the base was the right call, but one had to consider team composition.

Meng Lan’s composition for this match lacked a mid-laner capable of large-scale, widespread wave clear. Instead, Yang Yuhuan, Li Yuanfang, Xiahou Dun, Pei Qinhu, and Donghuang were all exceptionally strong in small-scale skirmishes.

Naturally, they needed to play to their strengths and avoid their weaknesses.

"I'll just flash-suppress Shouyue later to take him out first. Otherwise, this enemy Shouyue is simply too annoying," the hot-tempered Donghuang suggested.

"No, you need to stay in the back to zone out Luna. We don't have many crowd control skills to begin with; if Luna and Damo dive our backline, it'll be too hard to retaliate," Meng Lan retorted, unable to hold back his disagreement upon hearing this reckless proposal.

"Right, Donghuang, just play the counter-engage. Don't waste your suppression on Shouyue; Shouyue isn't that useful," Pei Qinhu chimed in.

At that moment, Pei Qinhu was pushing the top lane, and the vision ward Lin Hao had placed in the dragon pit had just been cleared out by Pei Qinhu.

Oh?

Lin Hao was clearing minion waves in the mid lane and naturally noticed the movement in the top lane.

Knowing that we are focusing on the mid and bottom lanes, he's using the top lane to recklessly stall and create a distraction?

Weren't they afraid that Luna would actually go and pressure the top lane?

However, reflecting on it with the skills of a national-server Luna, Lin Hao thought further: Luna against Pei Qinhu—though Luna had the matchup advantage, but...

Pei Qinhu could just run away if he couldn't win!

Without minions or stepping stones as anchors, Luna’s chase potential had always been a fatal flaw.

Swap her for Jing, Lan, or Nakoruru, and if you couldn't beat them upon meeting, you couldn't hope to run either, as they could instantly dash into your face and deal massive damage.

Luna couldn't do that. Unless she ambushed from a bush, if they met head-on, Pei Qinhu could simply hop away.