Chapter Four: Flashing In to Take Down the Tower

In Xinran's live stream, her delicate face, carefully adorned with high-end cosmetics, was now tinged with a noticeable flush.

She was furious—utterly furious!

No matter how many times she ended up in jail in-game, Xinran rarely got this angry. Usually, if she lost, she accepted it with grace. Sometimes, skill simply fell short; there was nothing to be done. Xinran was proud of her composure—no matter if her opponent danced on her virtual corpse, she would only smile and admit her defeat.

But this Elder Master—he didn’t even have a single mobility skill! Yet he managed to dodge every one of her abilities with ease! The most infuriating part was, when she played Xi Shi, catching an Elder Master was as easy as casting her line. Since when had she ever been toyed with like this?

In her mind, Elder Master was always a rather clumsy hero.

Yet now, she was being thoroughly outplayed by an Elder Master.

So humiliating!

The viewers in her chat, seeing Xinran’s indignant, puffed-up expression, couldn’t help but burst into laughter.

“It’s been ages since we saw Xinran get put in her place!”

“This Elder Master is hilarious—what a showman!”

“With moves like that, Elder Master must be another streamer, right?”

“Scouts, any idea who this Elder Master is?”

“I’d wager, to dominate Xinran like this—borderline a crushing defeat—the Elder Master’s probably a pro player!”

Normally, when two somewhat famous streamers ended up in the same game, the platform would notify viewers if they were on the same site, and even if they weren’t, there were always well-informed fans relaying messages back and forth.

But Lin Hao’s stream had only been live for a little over a month, and his popularity hadn’t yet taken off. And he and Xinran streamed on different platforms.

If they’d been on the same one, perhaps a “streamer collision” alert would have directed viewers over.

Of course, there was another critical factor: Xinran was playing Guan Yu, not her usual mid-lane heroes. Because of this, Lin Hao’s viewers didn’t immediately recognize the more famous Xinran.

After Lin Hao managed to kill Xinran, the minimap revealed Nakoruru from the enemy team emerging from the bushes.

At that moment, Lin Hao was busy reading his chat.

His own viewers were spamming 666 in admiration.

“I’ve got this Guan Yu wrapped around my finger. Once I clear this wave and head back for a health pack under my tower, I’ll keep working him over!” Lin Hao said, grinning at his chat. “Make Guan Yu cry and you’ll send a rocket? That’s a wicked sense of humor, my friend, but I like it!”

“Whether he cries or not, he’s definitely suffering right now!”

Just as he finished speaking, Nakoruru pounced, and Lin Hao’s Elder Master dropped dead on the spot.

“What?!”

Lin Hao had just turned his attention back to the game to find his screen had already gone dark.

“Damn! I was reading chat—Nakoruru went for the sneak attack!”

At that moment, the system prompt sounded in Lin Hao’s mind.

"Rage points from Xinran: -500!"

What Lin Hao didn’t know was that, in Xinran’s stream, seeing Elder Master’s brutal death had her cheering, “NICE!”

Rage points could decrease too?

Lin Hao was momentarily stunned.

He seemed to grasp the system’s rules for rage point evaluation.

Infuriate your opponent, gain rage points; at match’s end, they’re tallied and converted for Lin Hao to use in the reward draw.

But if his actions pleased the opponent, the rage points would decrease!

This would directly reduce his final rewards!

Time to be more careful.

Especially since the enemy Guan Yu was a streamer—rage points from a streamer had a double multiplier. He couldn’t afford to be careless!

Revived, Xinran quickly regained her composure, a veteran of countless battles.

“This Elder Master’s mechanics are impressive. At this point, whether it’s gold or development, we’re no match.”

“If that’s the case, let’s just abandon the lane and go for support! It’s time to make the most of Guan Yu’s speed in assisting!”

In higher rank games, Xinran had seen plenty of Guan Yu specialists—when behind in lane, they’d roam and create opportunities elsewhere.

However...

Five minutes later, with the second turret on the solo lane destroyed by Elder Master, Xinran sighed softly, “Is our jungler sleepwalking? Won’t even hold the lane... Forget it, expecting that kind of map awareness from teammates in games like this is pointless.”

Suddenly, Xinran’s eyes sharpened. Elder Master was once again split-pushing solo, even bringing the dragon minions up to the high ground.

That deep? Looking for death!

Xinran typed, “Gank Elder Master.”

Lin Hao noticed the enemies kept clustering bot lane to fight with his marksman, leaving him to split-push top in peace.

He guessed Guan Yu had gone to help bot, so Lin Hao decided to take down their high ground directly.

The dragon minions slowly marched up the enemy’s high ground, and at that moment, Nakoruru arrived.

Before she could even strike, Lin Hao seized the initiative, casting his ultimate and binding her just outside the high ground.

With his second skill active, he flashed straight into the enemy high ground tower.

What kind of play was this?

Nakoruru was dumbfounded.

Lin Hao frantically spammed basic attacks, weaving expertly as Elder Master’s ruler struck blow after blow against the high ground turret.

The enemy mid, Cat Bomb, teleported back to base and charged out immediately.

Seeing this Elder Master completely ignore Nakoruru and demolish the tower, Cat Bomb hurried to clear the wave first.

Guan Yu swung around from behind, and Zhang Fei just emerged from the base, clearly having just recalled.

Once they finished off the nearly dead dragon minion, Lin Hao had already taken down the high ground tower.

“Damn, what is this streamer’s play?!”

“He bound Nakoruru outside and flashed in to break the tower—best play of the year, I swear!”

“Genius move, wow, I had to hit follow after that!”

“They lost their high ground, haha, that was totally worth it!”

“Heroes respawn, but a lost tower is gone for good! Absolute value!”

The chat was still raving about Lin Hao’s brilliant play when he suddenly declared, “They’re all going to die!”

Guan Yu charged in, Cat Bomb threw his bomb instantly, Nakoruru’s first skill and basic attack landed almost at the same time, but Lin Hao timed his second skill perfectly—reducing all incoming damage!

The next moment, Guan Yu went in for another charge—dodged again by Elder Master’s impeccable positioning!

Then, the King’s Pull!

Cat Bomb and Guan Yu were both dragged right to him!

In front of the ruined high ground tower, Elder Master danced as if in a tango, ruler swinging left and right, his footwork flawless, as if he were running a bot script.

Marco, the enemy marksman, finally arrived—only to whiff most of his first skill!

Xinran’s Guan Yu barely managed a nudge before realizing in dismay that Elder Master was barely taking damage, while she herself was slowed, stuck as if wading through a swamp.

“You have slain an enemy!”

The bomb-tossing cat was the first to fall!

Next was Nakoruru, whose skills were now on cooldown!

Elder Master’s health was reduced to a sliver—just a touch away from death.

Yet no one could finish him off!

At last, Lin Hao’s teammates arrived.

Han Xin found a perfect angle, leaping over the thick walls of the high ground to pick up Marco!

Sun Shangxiang rolled in right behind, unleashing a barrage of fire!

The tide had turned, and defeat for the enemy was all but certain.