Chapter 161: Invitation

A-Zhe’s expression was somewhat gloomy.

As a teenager not yet twenty years old, he still possessed a certain degree of pride. His daring choice to use Ma Chao against Lin Hao’s Old Master was proof of that.

However, the score was already 2 to 0.

From their two previous clashes, it was evident that the opposing Old Master’s mastery of micro-details was far superior to his own.

Yet, being able to recognize one's own problems during a duel meant that the gap between oneself and the opponent was still quantifiable. The Old Master’s first skill had disrupted his output rhythm, and the first wave had also been compromised by the same first skill. This forced A-Zhe to silently raise his guard.

After securing his second kill, Lin Hao still had about a third of his health remaining. He tapped a health pack to recover, and while shepherding the minion wave into the enemy tower, he stole A-Zhe's health relic under the tower. This way, he didn't even need to recall to base.

A couple of minion waves passed, serving as a period of farming and growth.

A-Zhe did not seem anxious at all, and his positioning was extremely conservative. Given that Lin Hao had given up his Flash advantage, it was difficult for him to actively initiate and bind him.

It looked like he was waiting for the Sprint spell.

No matter, let him wait then.

Lin Hao continued to clear the wave. He currently held the priority for wave clearing, though Ma Chao was also indirectly harassing him using his first and second skills.

Another wave passed.

The next wave met in the middle.

Calculating the time, Ma Chao's Sprint should be ready by now.

Lin Hao returned to the lane, once again circling around to the backline minions, preparing to farm.

Lin Hao’s health was currently at about three-quarters, which was still relatively healthy.

Ma Chao was harassing from behind.

Suddenly, the spear planted at the Old Master's feet flew toward Ma Chao.

Myriad Blades Return!

The fight was about to begin.

Lin Hao was running Interference. If Ma Chao used his ultimate purely for harassment, Lin Hao was confident that not only could he dodge a large portion of Ma Chao's combo through movement, but once he pushed the minion wave under Ma Chao's defensive tower, Ma Chao's fate would be miserable.

Sure enough, while his spear was being retrieved, Ma Chao turned around and lunged straight forward.

His position closed in abruptly.

Lin Hao was well-prepared. His first skill followed immediately as the Old Master pulled his measuring ruler, dragging Ma Chao right in front of him.

The Old Master’s first skill possessed a crowd control effect along with a forced displacement. Ordinarily, an Old Master player would immediately chain their ultimate the moment the first skill connected, locking the enemy down directly.

However, in a blind spot hidden from Lin Hao's view, A-Zhe smiled faintly.

He knew his opponent's skill level was quite high, and he simply couldn't out-tether him in a pure spacing war.

Therefore, he had purchased Resistance Boots early on.

He had been waiting for this exact moment!

Ma Chao quickly shook off the crowd control of the Old Master’s first skill, rapidly activated Sprint, and swept forward with a lunge to immediately widen the distance!

At this moment, Lin Hao’s basic attack had already been queued up.

Lin Hao appeared to be executing a 1-A-3 combo.

If he unleashed his ultimate right now, it would be over. Missing the ultimate on Ma Chao would leave the Old Master without his first skill or ultimate, allowing Ma Chao to kite him to death.

Yet, Lin Hao’s operation halted abruptly, and he held back his ultimate!

Instead, he activated his second skill and continued to chase after Ma Chao!

By previously basic-attacking the minion wave, Lin Hao had already triggered his Red Fury state!

As for Ma Chao, this lunge had been executed at point-blank range. Having intended to use the displacement to adjust his position while dodging the Old Master’s skills, Ma Chao instead stabbed the tail end of his spear right into the Old Master standing behind him.

One had to remember that at this moment, the Old Master had just activated his second skill!

The Old Master’s second skill not only provided massive damage reduction, but under its protection, it also reflected enemy basic attacks and inflicted a slow on the attacker!

In an instant, Ma Chao was heavily slowed while the Old Master gained a speed boost. This shifting balance of power allowed the Old Master to close the gap once more.

Panicking, Ma Chao lunged forward with another spear thrust, attempting to force a maximum-distance separation.

Yet Lin Hao kept his ultimate squarely aimed. This ultimate was critically important; if he failed to bind his target, he might be the one to die. Thus, Lin Hao remained extremely cautious.

Finally, after tailing him for another second and securing sufficient range, the Old Master sprinted forward rapidly for a few steps, collided with Ma Chao, and directly pinned him to the lamp post!

"It's over."

Lin Hao seemed to hear A-Zhe mutter softly.

What followed was simple.

The Old Master stood at the center of the circle with the lamp post as its radius, hammering away relentlessly at Ma Chao.

By this point, due to the economic disparity, coupled with the fact that the damage dealt by a pinned hero is reduced by twenty percent during the duration, Ma Chao could only continuously retrieve his spears and run along the perimeter of the circular zone. Meanwhile, the Old Master trailed just a step behind him, smashing him with terrifying consistency. The entire sequence remained exceptionally smooth and fluid, without a single wasted motion.

In the final second before the lamp post was about to vanish, Ma Chao was finally beaten to death by the Old Master.

3 to 0.

Lin Hao and A-Zhe had established rules beforehand, and one of the winning conditions was reaching three kills.

This meant Lin Hao had won the match.

"Truly impressive. Your handling of details is far better than mine."

A-Zhe decisively clicked surrender.

Lin Hao smiled faintly and offered a polite compliment: "You flatter me. Your Ma Chao is extremely fluid; your first skill chained into the ultimate and spear retrieval is lightning fast, and the damage output almost seems simultaneous."

This was something Lin Hao had noticed during the laning phase—A-Zhe clearly must have put considerable effort into researching mechanical execution.

However, when it came to the overall details of laning, Lin Hao ultimately emerged victorious.

Yet what he really thought in his heart was that, purely in terms of solo duels, A-Zhe still lacked somewhat in laning finesse, perhaps due to overconfidence.

For instance, his understanding of the Old Master was insufficient. While people often talked about the Old Master's "infinite second skill," that state only occurred because the Red Fury state reduced its cooldown by one second for every basic attack landed.

A-Zhe's choice of engagement timing was consistently flawed. If one truly wanted to go toe-to-toe with the Old Master, they needed to wait until the Red Fury state had expired.

Of course, Lin Hao had no intention of voicing these thoughts aloud. After all, as a professional player, micro-details in laning were secondary; the crucial factor was whether one could coordinate well with the team.

The philosophy of the King Pro League centered around team fights, and one-on-one solo kills were a rarity.

Under these conditions, it was entirely normal for players not to excessively polish their individual laning micro-details.

"Both of you played very well."

Coach Zhou Yu walked over and patted A-Zhe on the shoulder. "A-Zhe, go head to training first. I want to have a proper chat with Haoran."

"Alright."

After A-Zhe left, Coach Zhou Yu sat down across from Lin Hao, tapping his index finger on the table. After a moment of silence, he spoke: "Haoran, I've actually been keeping an eye on you for a long time. From your climb to the top of the Peak Ranking to securing the number one spot, I've watched many of your videos."

Following that, Zhou Yu dropped a bombshell: "If I invite you to join the AC eSports Club right now, would you be willing?"