Chapter Thirty-Two: The Canyon Pursuit Contestant

Bang!

At the very moment when the models of Guan Yu and Bai Qi crossed paths, Lin Hao's Guan Yu chose to charge sideways with a direct push!

There was no way this wouldn’t connect. Bai Qi was shoved aside, and then, with a quick turn, Guan Yu dodged the hook that Bai Qi tried to reel back.

“A ninety-degree push?”

Bai Qi was briefly stunned.

Next, Lin Hao’s Guan Yu, propelled by both his sprint and ultimate for double speed, once again reached Bai Qi’s rear!

No panic, I’ll just reposition!

The Bai Qi player steered his character, not moving forward in a straight line, but twisting slightly to the side instead.

It was an incredibly subtle maneuver!

With this sidestep, although Lin Hao managed to circle to Bai Qi’s back, the extra distance was limited, making it nearly impossible to shove Bai Qi directly toward the defense tower in a straight line.

Then let’s adjust the angle just a bit more!

Lin Hao pressed the attack key again, this time angling the push slightly, driving Bai Qi into the brush between the tier-one and tier-two towers on the solo lane, right up against the edge of the canyon.

“Damn, he actually got pushed!”

At this point, even Bai Qi started to feel flustered.

Lin Hao kept up the pressure, Guan Yu continued to accelerate, and for the third time, he pushed back!

This time, Bai Qi was driven straight along the canyon wall and shoved into the tower!

All at once, cold sweat beaded on the Bai Qi player’s forehead.

He could feel the precision of this Guan Yu’s play.

It was a level of finesse far above his own!

If it were a Guan Yu player below 2000 points, the first push would’ve likely been a 180-degree back shove, missing Bai Qi entirely.

But this Guan Yu, in effect, led Bai Qi in a full circle!

He steadily adjusted the angle, finally forming the perfect 180-degree push—one before, one behind—without anyone realizing how it happened!

And the most frightening part: this Guan Yu blocked all his escape routes, and through repeated charges, cornered him into a dead end at the canyon’s edge!

If he hadn’t been pushed at precisely this spot—if he’d even been a little further out…

He could have just tanked the tower’s damage, run the other way, and escaped easily through the passage between the high ground and the tier-two tower.

But with this godlike maneuver, Bai Qi was left with not a shred of hope.

In the end, the combined damage from the tower and Guan Yu brought Bai Qi down.

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Lin Hao smiled and said, “Trying to outmaneuver me? You’re still too green.”

With that, Lin Hao didn’t forget his old habits—he recalled to base right on Bai Qi’s corpse, then sent an apology emote.

This time, he really did return to base.

“Rage from Bai Qi +500!”

Lin Hao felt he was becoming something of a psychology expert. In ordinary matches, it was whatever, but these streamer games, with their multiplier effect, made him rack his brains to find new ways to tilt his opponents.

This time, Bai Qi had really walked right into his trap.

“How did he manage to push him back like that?”

“???”

“Wow, the streamer’s moves are above the provincial standard for sure—feels like top-tier national level.”

“Seems like he split the push into several moves. You could tell Bai Qi was trying to reposition, but he still couldn’t dodge Guan Yu’s shove.”

“Hahaha, that recall at the end just killed me. Bet Bai Qi is smashing his phone right now.”

Now, any viewer who entered Lin Hao’s stream found it hard to leave for another. After all, who wouldn’t want to watch a top-tier streamer who excelled in both skill and entertainment?

Just think, what other entertainment streamer could make you laugh and still show you top-of-the-pyramid, high-level matches? And what technical streamer, in these intense showdowns, wouldn’t be fully focused on the game?

Yet Lin Hao played as if it was all for fun—constantly recalling, taunting, getting inside his opponents’ heads.

As he returned to base, Lin Hao noticed some viewers asking about his moves. He took the chance to explain, “If it were an average Guan Yu in that moment, he probably wouldn’t have managed it. Bai Qi was really on point, so I split the push into several steps—first a horizontal push to dodge his hook, then a slanted push to adjust my spacing with him, forcing him against the canyon wall, then a straight push all the way.”

“This is a handy Guan Yu trick. If you run into an opponent like this, you don’t have to force a 180-degree back push. You can circle them bit by bit, like I did. Of course, it takes practice.”

…

In Nine-Tailed Fox’s stream.

He was focused on farming gold.

After being disrupted by Guan Yu at the start, his economy was still only third or fourth on the team.

For Li Bai, that was fatal.

When Li Bai gets ahead, he becomes unstoppable—dominating the economy, dashing in every three seconds with his first skill, carrying two stuns. Whether it’s tower diving or picking off enemies, he excels.

But if he falls behind, he’s just a tickler: can’t deal damage, can’t risk jumping into team fights for fear of being deleted.

So Nine-Tailed Fox could only keep farming, slowly building up gold.

While Lin Hao was solo-killing Bai Qi up top, Nine-Tailed Fox led his team to win a four-on-four on the bottom lane, relying on his own skillful play.

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With his farm finally improving, he managed to catch Yun Ying out of position in the bottom lane as well.

It seemed Nine-Tailed Fox’s side was about to turn things around.

“Start the dragon up top—we’ll play the wave management game,” Nine-Tailed Fox said on mic.

Just as he and his teammates reached the river on the top lane to prepare for the dragon, they suddenly saw Guan Yu appearing at the intersection of the top lane minions.

He was split-pushing.

In theory, starting the dragon was the better play here.

After all, Guan Yu couldn’t contest the dragon alone. And if they all went for Guan Yu, it would be a major commitment, taking a lot of time.

Chances were, if everyone revealed themselves up top, Guan Yu’s teammates would pressure the bottom lane, maybe even push the tier-two tower.

If they kept their cool, Nine-Tailed Fox and his team would’ve chosen to ignore Guan Yu and go straight for the dragon.

After all, what could Guan Yu do with just that wave? He wouldn’t dare push any further, and Nine-Tailed Fox’s side wouldn’t lose a single tower.

But just as they shifted their vision toward Guan Yu, he finished clearing the side wave and—suddenly—started recalling step by step right into the brush.

He moved slowly.

But the insult was palpable.

In that instant, all five players who had been about to start the dragon remembered the humiliations this showboating, attention-seeking Guan Yu had inflicted on them earlier:

Li Bai’s jungle monsters were stolen early game.

Shen Mengxi was stomped flat.

Liu Chan and Di Renjie were faked out with a mere flick of Guan Yu’s head.

And Bai Qi—worst of all—was solo killed, with Guan Yu taunting on his corpse.

Now, at this very spot, Guan Yu dared to taunt them with recalls again?

How could that be tolerated?

All five players, losing their composure, almost simultaneously pressed the quick message: “Initiate attack!”

Nine-Tailed Fox even turned on his mic: “Damn it, get that Guan Yu! Like a flea—you can’t let him get away with this!”

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