Chapter Fifty: Turning Back in Anticipation

You have to know, Xi Shi's Glory Battle Power score is extremely high.

In the current patch, all magic items have been nerfed across the board. The once-legendary mid-laners—Flame Dancer and Wan’er—have fallen from their pedestals. Pure utility, wave-clearing mids led by Xi Shi have now ascended as the new gods, becoming must-pick, must-ban heroes in high-level matches.

So for Xinran to reach the top of the national server with Xi Shi, she’d poured in a tremendous amount of effort—and, admittedly, a dose of luck!

Yet now this Haoran dared claim she was weak?

Well, then, let’s see the truth at hand!

This round, Lin Hao’s side is the blue team. Their lineup: Elder Master, Fei, Supreme Officer Wan’er, Li Yuanfang, and Lian Po.

Xinran’s side is the red team, fielding: Yuange, Xi Shi, Mirrorblade, Marco Polo, and Liu Chan.

Lin Hao’s team wears their Glory badges with pride—each has brought out their best heroes.

In particular, Lin Hao’s Elder Master is ranked Top 50 in the province; Lian Po also carries a provincial badge, and the other three teammates are all national badge level.

The game begins.

As usual, Lin Hao heads straight to the bush on the inner side of the top lane to lie in wait.

Once the minion waves gather, Lin Hao steps forward to clear them.

His lane opponent appears to be Xiao Nan, a streamer for SharkTV—and a coworker of Lin Hao’s.

Even though the bonus from having less than double the rage value isn’t much, it’s something. Lin Hao taps the recall button twice in quick succession as a taunt.

He knows Yuange is hiding in the bush ahead, but a level-one Yuange isn’t much to fear. What matters is what skill he leveled first.

Yuange emerges from the bush and auto-attacks Elder Master.

Lin Hao sidesteps, but Yuange’s Cross Slash still blooms across Elder Master’s body.

A hit!

This Yuange’s Cross Slash is precise! Perhaps it’s luck. Still, anyone bold enough to take Yuange’s third skill at level one is usually a veteran, and landing the first skill without slowing the opponent in the early game—now that’s the mark of a master.

At this moment, Lin Hao notices the audience’s comments on the live chat.

“Xiao Nan is the top-ranked Yuange in the nation. Haozi, you’d better play seriously this round—don’t throw it.”

“That’s right, Xiao Nan’s Yuange has soloed and beaten even the ceiling-level Yuange players—he’s definitely top-tier.”

“The enemy is the nation’s number one Yuange?” Lin Hao raises an eyebrow. “Interesting.”

Even after getting hit, Yuange’s early damage isn’t high. Lin Hao activates his second skill, tanks Yuange’s auto-attacks, and clears the backline minions.

“Ding, ding.”

Supreme Officer Wan’er immediately pings Lin Hao’s top lane.

To be honest, the signal is a bit redundant to Lin Hao.

His awareness is now at an X-ray level; he can duel Yuange in a tense, detailed standoff while simultaneously tracking the movements of every other player on the map.

He’s already noted the enemy mid and support’s movements.

Their Fei started blue buff, meaning Xi Shi has a seventy percent chance of invading the blue jungle.

A few skill tosses—maybe Fei uses Smite early, and just misses finishing the buff.

After all, a level-one Fei isn’t capable of fighting off Xi Shi and Liu Chan together!

But...

Lin Hao, after auto-attacking the last backline minion with his second skill, hits level two.

All the while, his mind is spinning with calculations.

His teammate, Supreme Officer Wan’er, is still hovering mid, likely afraid of wandering into a bush and being ambushed by Liu Chan and Xi Shi. As for Lian Po, he’s happily trotting down to bot lane, probably to help the marksman secure the river crab and guarantee his farm.

That means Xi Shi should now be arriving at the entrance to blue side jungle.

Yet Fei’s vision hasn’t revealed Xi Shi or even Liu Chan!

That means they’re circling around the river, heading toward the dragon pit side, never once checking if Fei is taking blue—they’re heading straight for top lane!

They’re coming for me!

Lin Hao’s expression grows serious. After clearing the wave, he doesn’t linger—he retreats immediately.

In his field of vision, Yuange’s position is pressing forward.

They should be at the river crab by now, though Lin Hao can’t see it yet.

Yuange’s forward posture, without taking the opportunity to farm and hit level two, suggests he’s trying to add damage—

He wants to keep me here!

In a flash, Lin Hao’s tangled thoughts clarify.

He may not have vision, but in his mind’s eye, the positions of Xi Shi and Liu Chan are perfectly mapped on the canyon’s terrain!

They’ve already slipped into the river bush near Lin Hao’s tower.

As Lin Hao walks the main path, drawing closer to that bush, he suddenly triggers his second skill for speed, then spins around!

“Whoosh!”

“Bang!”

Liu Chan’s mechanical gauntlet slams down right on Lin Hao’s path!

That was a flash combo from Liu Chan!

From the river—right by the river crab, in the bush near Lin Hao’s tower—he triggers his first skill. Then, inside the bush, he auto-attacks for the empowered slam, strikes the ground, then flashes over the wall, landing the knock-up effect on Lin Hao!

This shows just how professional the Liu Chan player is. He must have enabled close-range auto-attack, or else he would have automatically chased Elder Master out and missed the flash combo.

This was textbook bush control from Liu Chan!

Xi Shi emerges from the bush, immediately casting her first skill at the exact spot Liu Chan landed his slam.

Their teamwork is flawless. Xinran’s lips curve in a victor’s smile.

Welcome to jail, Haoran!

Yet in the next moment, she freezes.

Because Elder Master’s timing and movement were perfect, sidestepping at the exact instant they made their move!

Liu Chan had predicted one direction, but Lin Hao’s sudden feint in the opposite way caused Liu Chan’s flash combo to miss entirely.

Xi Shi’s first skill missed as well!

Lin Hao’s eyes gleam with delight.

This X-ray level awareness is incredible!

Ordinary awareness might infer only the general direction of Xi Shi and Liu Chan, but X-ray awareness lets you calculate their precise positions!

Lin Hao isn’t about to waste this golden opportunity. After pulling off such a godlike predictive sidestep, he instantly spams the quick message button—a quick “Sorry!” flashes on the screen.

“Xinran’s anger +600!”

“Liu Chan’s anger +800!”

Lin Hao’s viewers are so stunned, their eyes nearly pop out.

“What kind of devilish movement was that?”

“A predictive turn? No way—how did Haozi know Liu Chan would flash?”

“Is the streamer hacking? But even with map hacks, how could he react to Liu Chan’s surprise flash from the bush?”

“God, is this even humanly possible?”

“I don’t get it, but I’m loving Haozi taunting the enemy! Hahaha, this is hilarious.”

Even Lin Hao hadn’t expected Liu Chan to pull off such a flashy flash combo.

He’d thought Xi Shi might try to fish for him with her first skill from the bush.

Even with his reaction speed, Lin Hao would have had to burn his flash before Xi Shi’s first skill landed.

So rather than waste flash, he’d planned a little sidestep to bait out her skill and avoid unnecessary damage after.

Instead, Liu Chan’s flashy play only made Lin Hao’s movement look even more brilliant!