Chapter Thirty-Four: This Time, I’m Taking the Long Way Around!

“Damn it, we can’t let him get away!”
Nine-Tailed Fox barely had time to process what was happening before Guan Yu broke through their encirclement and escaped straight down the river.
He’d considered that Guan Yu might flee through the lower or upper side of the brush, but they’d sealed off both exits.
Yet, unexpectedly, Guan Yu burst through the densest part of their backline, breaking out directly!
This instantly increased the distance between him and Guan Yu, preventing him from stunning Guan Yu with the first segment of his skill right away!
Liu Chan chased after him wielding his mechanical claw, but quickly realized in frustration that Guan Yu had already entered the river and vanished.
“What just happened? How did Guan Yu escape?”
Nine-Tailed Fox was baffled.
“He went the opposite way! Damn it, I can’t spam my skill either, there are minions nearby!”
Shen Mengxi’s voice was tinged with anger.
It was like a fisherman hauling in a heavy catch, only for the net to tear and the fish to slip out through the hole.
How could he not be furious?
Anger points from Nine-Tailed Fox +600.
Anger points from Shen Mengxi +700.
…
Not only these two—the other three, though less enraged, still contributed to Lin Hao’s collection of anger points.
This round was already a huge gain. Except for Niu Mo, the teammates immediately cleared the mid lane minions, their own jungle, and the bot lane.
After all, even if they wanted to support Guan Yu, it was already too late, and at best it would be a four versus five.
But what they hadn’t expected was that Guan Yu had miraculously survived!
Niu Mo quickly sent out a “That was brilliant!” and pinged Guan Yu,
A public commendation.
As for the five opponents, though they hadn’t caught Guan Yu, seeing Lin Hao’s teammates appear in bot and mid lanes on the minimap, they opted to continue taking the Dragon.
With the Dragon buff, the enemy forcefully occupied mid lane vision; Niu Mo tried several times to lead his teammates through the mid brush, but each time the enemy mid Shen Mengxi lobbed a bomb at their back line, driving them away.
“Hold the mid lane, focus on poke, then prioritize taking down the high ground tower!”
Nine-Tailed Fox directed his teammates to clear the mid wave, keeping both mid and top lane minions advancing together, intending to strike whichever high ground was weakest.

“I’ll go mark Guan Yu’s position!”
Nine-Tailed Fox didn’t join his teammates at the front line, instead using Li Bai’s skill to continually harass the enemy heroes defending high ground.
Because the enemy had Jin Chan, and although Li Bai had a control immunity skill, it was still risky—if he got trapped on high ground and couldn’t retreat, he’d be blamed for the loss.
Instead, he decided to mark Guan Yu’s position.
Against such an aggressive team composition, if Guan Yu managed to flank them, it would mean a deadly pincer attack from Niu Mo and Guan Yu, crushing them completely.
The gold difference wasn’t so large at this point.
Lin Hao indeed circled around from the red side.
Guan Yu had a hidden trick: he could use his horse’s eyes to detect whether there were enemy heroes in the brush or fog of war ahead—within the range of his second skill.
This small technique was very useful; as Lin Hao charged into the red zone, he kept his eyes on Guan Yu’s mount.
No glow—meaning the enemy hadn’t set up defenses in the red zone.
He’d just entered from the inner path, so they shouldn’t have vision on him.
The five opponents were probably positioned in mid lane, top lane, and near their own blue zone, since they were pushing mid and top minion waves.
He’d look for a chance to circle wide and launch an attack.
At this stage, Lin Hao could no longer return to base and taunt the enemy in plain sight.
With everyone pressing high ground, if Guan Yu hadn’t begun his charge, retreating to base would simply mean giving up the fight.
Suddenly, the eyes of Guan Yu’s Frostblade Warhorse flashed!
No vision ahead, but clearly someone was there!
Sure enough, at the edge of vision, Li Bai’s silhouette appeared unexpectedly, as if he’d been waiting there for some time.
Lin Hao reacted quickly, immediately turning and retreating!
In the next moment, Li Bai unleashed two segments of his skill, rapidly approaching Guan Yu, but just fell short of catching him.
“What a pity—if he’d caught Guan Yu, he could have poked him and forced him to burn some health.”
Nine-Tailed Fox said regretfully.
Still, the attempt had its effect.
He forced Guan Yu back.

Lin Hao had no choice but to retreat, and Guan Yu’s vision vanished.
“Guys, I’ll keep my eyes locked on Guan Yu—it’s absolutely crucial! Guan Yu should be returning to the main battlefield now, so I’ll head over to help my teammates.”
Nine-Tailed Fox spoke confidently.
He felt he no longer needed to keep watch.
With minions already at the gates and teammates beginning to touch the tower, the battle was shifting.
In Guan Yu’s information, Nine-Tailed Fox was still marking him in the red zone—at least until Nine-Tailed Fox joined the main fight, Guan Yu wouldn’t dare try to flank again.
And once Nine-Tailed Fox’s Li Bai truly charged in, the enemy’s fate would likely be sealed.
As for the front line, it depended on whether his teammates could seize the opportunity—even if the enemy played defensively, constant pressure on the minion waves might allow them to shave off the high ground tower.
Lin Hao’s livestream chat was tense.
“Nine-Tailed Fox’s game sense is incredible—marking Guan Yu’s flank was such a subtle move. As expected from the national server’s Li Bai!”
“How did he know Guan Yu was trying to flank?”
“Amateurs! At this stage, if the streamer wants to turn the tide, Guan Yu must coordinate with Niu Mo for a team fight; otherwise, once Liu Chan leads his team onto high ground, it’ll be too late.”
Lin Hao, meanwhile, cursed under his breath.
“Damn!”
He’d received a system notification.
“Joy points from Nine-Tailed Fox +500!”
Nine-Tailed Fox had successfully forced Lin Hao back, and for him, it was a triumphant moment—outmaneuvering Lin Hao with his game sense!
The opposing Nine-Tailed Fox was also a national server Li Bai, an old veteran of four or five years—facing a Guan Yu flank, he was rich with experience and could spot ordinary flank attempts with ease.
By comparison, Lin Hao’s Guan Yu had no skill point advantage against a fellow national server player, and his positioning wasn’t much use for flanking.
If only he had the awareness skill points from the system shop—judging by the strength of the movement skill, maybe he could have found an angle to slip past Li Bai and complete the flank.
But now wasn’t the time for such thoughts—the enemy was already pressing high ground!
Was he really going to return for a head-on fight?
Lin Hao considered for a moment, then gritted his teeth. Guan Yu circled back, heading into a blind spot in the bot lane, then raced outward.
This time, he would make a wide loop!