Chapter Ninety-Seven: The Heart Must Be as Still as Water

Lin Hao immediately followed up with his first skill, and at the very moment Sun Ce lunged forward and slapped down a burst of spray, he threw out his summoner spell as well: Stun!

What came next was the final two basic attacks in Sun Ce’s combo, and then the last hit.

Sun Shangxiang was locked down completely, unable to move an inch, and was instantly slain.

Meanwhile, Lu Ban Seven, pinned by both Xi Shi and Lu Ban Da Shi, had also been brought down to a sliver of health. But at the next moment, with his own support Sun Bin’s second skill speeding him up and the control effect of Sun Bin’s ultimate, Lu Ban Seven burned his Flash and fled in panic.

His health was down to a single sliver, but at least he was alive!

Earlier, when Sun Shangxiang and the others had seized their chance, Lu Ban Seven had not been able to use Flash. This time, it saved him just in time.

As for Xi Shi and Lu Ban Da Shi, they could only watch helplessly as Lu Ban Seven skipped and bounced back beneath the tower before retreating in frustration.

What should have been Xi Shi’s shining moment had been completely overturned by Lin Hao’s timely support.

“Insane!”

“Haozi just pulled a mantis stalks the cicada, unaware of the oriole behind him!”

Lin Hao said calmly to the viewers in his stream, “If you’re going to trade waves like this, and the enemy just happens to be pressuring a tower on the other side, then it’s a huge gain. Otherwise, you can only look for an opening. If the enemy is playing too cautiously and it’s hard to dive, then you’re just bleeding minions for nothing. So this kind of play isn’t something most off-laners should try lightly. It’s better to focus first on strengthening your laning. Win your lane, aim for a solo kill, or at least suppress the opposing off-laner. That’s actually simpler.”

“The reason I played it like this was because I could tell they were pressuring the tower. I just didn’t expect Xi Shi to be so aggressive, able to force out a Flash and still keep fighting so hard.”

After being ruined like that twice in a row, Sun Shangxiang was completely tilted.

At this point, the state of the battlefield was: Sun Shangxiang dead, Lu Ban barely escaping, and Lin Hao had also helped clear the top wave.

In mid lane, the enemy’s Mi Yue caught Lin Hao’s teammate Zhou Yu, forcing out Zhou Yu’s Flash. After that, she cleared the wave first and rotated toward bottom lane.

On the bottom side, Pei Qinhu helped Lin Hao clear the minions, but by the time she finished farming the jungle and reached the tower, the enemy’s Bai Qi and Mi Yue had already started pressuring it.

Pei Qinhu struggled to defend. By the time the wave was cleared, the tower had been beaten down to only a third of its health.

On Tiger Fang, in Baozi’s stream:

Baozi glanced at the chat and noticed that people had already figured out the enemy Sun Ce was Hao Ran from Shark.

Since they were on two different platforms, even if streamers met each other in peak rank, the platform wouldn’t provide any warning. They could only rely on sharp-eyed fans.

“Hao Ran?” Baozi froze for a moment, then suddenly understood. “Right, he played a five-man with us a few days ago. His Yuan Ge was pretty good.”

“Thinking about it that way, his style really does match this Sun Ce in front of me. The kind of style that loves to taunt the opponent.”

“I have to say, he’s got me taunted too.”

Baozi continued, “I need to calm down now. Sun Shangxiang cannot die again. If her economy can’t come back up, then we’re really going to end up in prison.”

However, in Baozi’s stream, the fans were mercilessly mocking him.

“Trying to stay calm, are we?”

“Baozi: I’m the real carry, the real carry!”

“Truly a clown match, my ass.”

Baozi shook his head and focused on his play.

As a national-level Sun Shangxiang, if someone wanted to isolate and kill him, they would need not only top-tier mechanics, but also the right hero.

Heroes like Yuan Ge, Guan Yu, or Ma Chao might actually be able to cut him down.

But as for Sun Ce, as long as he paid even a little attention and held his Purify properly, Sun Ce would only be coming for a one-way trip.

...

After reviving, Lin Hao headed to bottom lane to clear the wave.

At this point, it was all about managing the lane. As a front-line tank like Bai Qi, he was hard to kill, but there was no reason to let him farm comfortably.

If the bottom tower fell too quickly to Bai Qi, then Bai Qi could fully play the role of a split-pushing anchor, or even simply hand the lane over to Mi Yue and then rotate to the top lane for team fights.

That gave them much more room to maneuver, since there would no longer be any pressure from defending the tower or the minion wave in bottom lane.

So Lin Hao still prioritized holding the lane, while also keeping a close eye on what was happening top side.

This game, the teammates on Lin Hao’s side were still decent. Zhou Yu also knew how to play the side-lane rotation style and had already begun roaming to pressure towers.

However, without Lin Hao’s support, they lost another team fight top lane. Their deaths outnumbered the enemy’s, yet the overall situation still maintained a delicate balance.

In other words, the enemy had gotten kills, but their own status bars were also worn down so low that they didn’t dare shove the wave recklessly in the short term.

“This wave, Sun Shangxiang doesn’t have Purify again,” Lin Hao said lightly.

The viewers in Lin Hao’s stream, watching from his perspective, naturally understood exactly what was happening, because Lin Hao kept dragging the camera to observe the top lane, even while clearing waves.

“The enemy Sun Shangxiang is Baozi.”

“So what if it’s Baozi? Didn’t our Haozi still cut him down twice in a row?”

“Pei Qinhu isn’t doing anything. Damn it, the top-lane Lu Ban Seven plus Zhou Yu combo still hasn’t taken the top tower.”

“Haozi, it’s time to make your move!”

Lin Hao glanced at the chat. “No rush. If you want to launch a ship and crash straight into the enemy like this, you have to avoid sailing up directly from bottom lane.”

“Launching a ship makes noise. Opponents at this rank will mark it immediately. If you sail right up, you’re just giving them time to prepare in broad daylight. So if you want to force tempo directly with a ship, you can only wait until a team fight has broken out, and it’s already fairly tense. Right now, we need to sneak up first.”

Lin Hao cleared the side lane wave again, naturally exchanging a bit of friendly physical contact with Bai Qi along the way.

But at this point, Lin Hao had already completed his Sky Piercer.

Even with only two-thirds of his health remaining, he could still make it in time to join the fight.

Lin Hao chose to walk there first.

In mid lane, at some unknown point, the enemy had already cleared the wave, while on Lin Hao’s side, the Pei Qinhu who had just finished clearing the red side jungle was only now coming out to last-hit.

“Given the current situation, the enemy should be going for a four-one setup, trying to force the top tower down directly,” Lin Hao said.

He glanced at the mini-map. Although no one had been revealed, his absurdly strong sense of awareness told him that all four enemy players were definitely lying in wait top lane.

The second wave in top was about to reach the tower. With Zhou Yu and Lu Ban Seven backing him up, Sun Bin had been occupying the inner brush near the edge of the canyon the whole time.

No one there.

So Zhou Yu moved straight toward Sun Bin’s position and began to clear the fire.

Lin Hao switched his camera and watched it all unfold.

At first, he thought Xi Shi would probably hook Sun Bin from across the brush. But no, there was still no movement from the enemy.

After thinking for a moment, Lin Hao’s brows suddenly tightened.

“No, they’re either in the river or behind their blue-side jungle. This wave, they’re probably not trying to fight Zhou Yu head-on. They’re going to burst out from the side!”