Chapter Seventy-Six: Even This Cross Slash Can Hit?

This is not to say that Yuan Ge’s classic skin is looked down upon. The original skin simply has a fatal flaw—it lacks ten points of attack power! In a Yuan Ge solo match, where every detail matters, this can sometimes be truly fatal.

The veteran viewers in Lin Hao’s streaming room had watched many of his broadcasts and knew he was used to playing with the original skin. Even in the peak matches, Lin Hao always chose the original Yuan Ge skin.

But Shang Jie’s fans didn’t take kindly to this.

“The original skin, Jie, he’s looking down on you!”

“Giving away ten attack points, so arrogant!”

“Jie, smash him for me!”

“An unknown upstart dares challenge the chief of Flower Fruit Mountain?”

Shang Jie quickly waved his hands, “Guys, don’t stir things up. Let me ask him what’s going on. Maybe he just forgot to change skins?”

After entering the game, Shang Jie first sent a voice message, “Haoran, did you forget to change your skin?”

Lin Hao replied, “No, I’m just used to the original skin. It feels better in my hands.”

As a professional Yuan Ge player at the national server level, Lin Hao knew full well that, in terms of feel, the Cloud Theatre skin was superior—the cross slash was more powerful, and the puppet’s third skill had more noticeable effects when slowing enemies. Of course, in terms of modeling and color, the companion skin better suited Yuan Ge’s temperament. It all came down to personal preference, but the original skin was hardly anyone’s first choice.

Lin Hao had started with the original skin to play the “pig eating the tiger” routine: feigning weakness and mediocrity, then killing his opponent ruthlessly to draw a sharp contrast and collect more rage points. Over time, he simply got used to the feel of the original skin.

“Alright, it’s personal taste. For example, I like the Midnight Opera skin; it makes me feel like a peerless expert when I play,” Shang Jie explained to his viewers.

The first wave of minions slowly arrived, and neither player revealed themselves.

Yuan Ge’s starting skill can vary. In a solo match between two Yuan Ges, you can even pick your skill based on what the opponent chooses.

Lin Hao and Shang Jie were both aware and knew their opponent was hiding in the inner bush.

But neither dared to check.

If you walk in, you might get hit by a full level-two combo and lose your status.

If you probe the bush with a skill and the enemy isn’t there, they’ll see you used your skill, calculate your ten-second cooldown, and rush the line!

So, in a Yuan Ge solo, you must plan carefully before acting.

Shang Jie lost patience first, coming out of the bush and making a basic attack on the low-health melee minion.

Lin Hao followed, doing the same—attacking the melee minion.

But unlike Shang Jie, Lin Hao added a recall animation at the end of his attack. Though only a brief frame, the recall effect in Shadow City made it quite obvious.

“It’s starting! Taunt-stream Yuan Ge versus Apology-stream Yuan Ge, this is going to be good.”

“Haha, I’ve been looking forward to Haoran and Shang Jie’s duel!”

“I’m watching both streams at once now!”

Lin Hao’s fans in his streaming room were excited to see his familiar recall. In their minds, Lin Hao never seemed to play seriously, or perhaps when he did, he always added a recall animation to his moves.

Shang Jie noticed Lin Hao’s move and instantly learned skill two, casting it immediately. Four darts flew out, hitting both Lin Hao and the minions.

At the same time, the word “Sorry” appeared next to Shang Jie’s Yuan Ge.

Lin Hao took some damage first, so he picked skill three and stepped forward to attack Shang Jie.

Shang Jie wasn’t to be outdone and attacked Lin Hao while retreating.

Lin Hao caught this pause and, with skill three, unleashed a cross slash!

A perfect hit!

“Rage points from Shang Jie +200.”

“Damn, he even landed the cross slash? Haoran is pretty good!”

Shang Jie had been playing rather casually, even intending to start bold. After all, he was a well-known Yuan Ge, while Lin Hao’s Yuan Ge was still obscure. If Lin Hao was truly skilled, there should be some highlight videos of him online.

But there were none.

And with that original skin choice, Shang Jie subconsciously underestimated Lin Hao at first.

Until the cross slash landed.

Shang Jie had tried to dodge, mainly to avoid the opponent’s second skill darts, but Haoran confidently learned skill three and dealt full damage to him.

From the first exchange, Lin Hao’s cross slash hit entirely, giving him a slight advantage, but Shang Jie had the edge on the minion wave, since his skill two hit both Lin Hao and the minions.

Lin Hao wouldn’t let Shang Jie clear the wave comfortably—he was obviously intent on trading attacks.

Shang Jie decisively turned and walked away.

Fine, I won’t contest the wave.

After all, I’ve learned skill two. If you try to block my wave, next round when our skills are ready, I’ll use flash and skill two to deal full damage up close, and you’ll be finished.

Besides, cross slash isn’t so easy to land.

Lin Hao recalled in place twice, then started clearing the wave with basic attacks.

He truly wasn’t planning to block the wave.

With priority to clear the minions, he could attack the river crab first.

After clearing the minion wave and reaching level two, Lin Hao went to the river and started attacking the river minion.

“I can’t use my skills now, because Shang Jie will soon finish clearing his wave. If I use my skills and get traded, level three could be my death.”

Lin Hao’s awareness was strong.

If he learns skill one for the river crab and uses all his skills, he can secure it, but then what? Yuan Ge’s extremely long skill cooldown will make him miss the second wave, and then he’ll face a level-three Yuan Ge tower dive.

Not worth it.

On the other side, Shang Jie finished his wave and headed toward Lin Hao.

Lin Hao was unfazed and rushed directly toward Shang Jie.

Both stepped into each other’s attack range and tested with basic attacks.

Then, both Yuan Ges released their puppets at the same time!

Now things get interesting!

Once the puppets are released, the main bodies are in super armor state.

But at this moment, Shang Jie’s Yuan Ge had learned skills one and two, only able to switch and use skill two.

Lin Hao’s Yuan Ge had learned skills one and three, so after controlling with puppet three-three, he could knock up and follow with a slash.

All these moves require landing the initial control, but now, both puppets arrived at the opponent’s main body simultaneously, and since both were in super armor, there was no knock-up effect.

Lin Hao made a snap decision and immediately used three-three bind!

This move was highly technical and crucial!