Chapter 45: Chasing and Fighting; One Person Chasing Two
The venue for the knockout stage was nearly double the size of the one used for the group stages.
On both sides of the central stage, the team flags of the sixteen teams fluttered in the wind. Every time a team was eliminated, their flag would be removed until the grand finals, where the last remaining flag would be branded with the mark of the championship trophy.
Today was their match against WIN. The flags of the two teams had already been placed at the very front, in positions of direct confrontation.
In the Beijing Youth Training Camp, Fu Yang and several roommates were huddled in front of a computer, watching the live broadcast of the first match of the Arena Spring Split Round of 16: VEX vs. WIN.
The broadcast had just begun, and the number of viewers in the official stream had already skyrocketed to tens of millions. The bullet screen comments drifted by so densely that it was almost impossible to read the words.
“Ladies and gentlemen, both here at the venue and watching online, welcome to the live site of the Arena Professional League Spring Split!”
“After the Spring Festival and a seven-day holiday, I wonder if the teams have developed new tactics or if they’ll bring out ‘top-secret weapon’ lineups? Let’s welcome the players of today’s match: the group stage dark horse, VEX, and the championship favorites, WIN!”
The broadcast audio had been processed, but the cheers erupting from the audience were still enough to make one’s blood boil.
As the players from both sides walked toward the stage, a pre-match prediction interactive box popped up in the stream.
[Which team do you support? 1. VEX. 2. WIN.]
[Real-time Team Support Rate: VEX 2% : WIN 98%.]
“Fu Yang, did your hand slip? How did you end up clicking support for VEX?”
“You wouldn’t know, but Fu Yang is a loyal fan of VEX. He even has autographs from VEX’s coach and jungler!”
“Not bad, Fu Yang. VEX did play quite unexpectedly in the group stage. But compared to WIN… the gap is still a bit large, isn’t it?”
Fu Yang glanced at his WeChat. An hour ago, he had sent a message to Land-ge saying, “Land-ge, you and Coach Zuo Jia-you!” and the other party had replied with an “OK.”
“I actually think VEX will definitely have become stronger after the Spring Festival. You have to look at someone with new eyes after three days of absence, right?”
“Fine, fine, there’s no talking to someone with fan filters like you. Watch the game, watch the game—the coaches are on stage, it’s time for the BP phase!”
Coach Zuo Chi’s face appeared on the screen.
Fu Yang immediately began typing in the bullet screen.
[Sending crazy support for Coach Zuo!]
[Coach Zuo is number one in the world!]
[Coach Zuo’s BP is invincible!]
His roommates: “…”
“Fu Yang, if you’ve been possessed, just blink. I never realized you were this kind of person.”
As the heroes were locked in one by one, the bullet screen shifted more toward analyzing the lineups of both sides.
“Land didn’t take Abyssal Fire this time. I was looking forward to learning more about how to play Abyssal Fire from him.”
“VEX’s lineup looks so violent; it’s a pure brawling team. Even the hero Beyond took can build critical strike items to dive right into people’s faces.”
“Yeah, in comparison, WIN’s lineup is much more balanced. They have tools for both the early and late game.”
“Is VEX trying to beat the old master with chaotic punches?”
“It’s not that easy to beat an old master with chaotic punches on a professional stage. Usually, if you get chaotic yourself, the other side will just steamroll you. Did you forget the lesson from our training match last night where we couldn’t even beat a team eliminated from the group stage?”
“…Don’t bring that up, don’t bring that up.”
Entering the game, Ning Luzhao didn’t go to his own jungle at level one, nor did he go to counter-jungle the enemy. Instead, he followed Beyond to the lane, hiding his vision as he entered the brush.
Meanwhile, Wall went to the mid lane to help Wu Yang clear the wave and secure priority at the start.
“VEX has made a new opening arrangement. We didn’t see Land start on the side much during the group stage. Today, he actually went to the bottom lane at level one to hide in the brush.”
“WIN doesn’t seem to have much of a guard up. The support followed the mid lane as usual, leaving only the marksman, Pine, in the bottom lane.”
The point where the minion waves met was close to WIN’s turret. If Land came out of the brush directly now, the opponent could at most burn a Flash to escape back under the tower. A kill would be impossible.
Land waited quietly in the brush while Beyond stepped forward to trade auto-attacks with Pine.
Initially, Beyond held a small health advantage. However, once Pine reached level 2 first, the situation changed instantly.
Beyond lingered for two low-health minions and failed to retreat in time, being hit by two of Pine’s skills until his health was less than a third.
Beyond hurriedly used Flash to retreat, and Pine followed suit simultaneously.
“Holy crap! Beyond’s acting is so good! If it were me, I’d definitely think I could get a solo kill and chase him too!”
The second after Pine finished his Flash, the ice and snow special effects unique to the Snowfield God appeared behind him. After a slow, Beyond immediately pulled back to a safe distance, while the Snowfield God lunged into Pine’s face.
It was all too easy for an assassin to dive and kill a half-health marksman.
When only a sliver of health remained, Beyond supplemented the final basic attack.
[First Blood!]
The camera panned over Beyond’s face. The boy with the baby face and glasses wore a shy smile.
Fu Yang slammed the table in triumph and said to his roommates, “See, look! I told you VEX must have practiced new things over the Spring Festival!”
“WIN will definitely be on guard next time. Starting on the side to catch the marksman only works once. We’ll have to see if they can expand the advantage afterward.”
“VEX got First Blood, but Land starting on the side wasted too much time. WIN’s jungler is going to clear faster than Land.”
Wall and Wu Yang had already gone to the jungle ahead of time to help Land whittle the Red Buff down to low health. After Land returned to the jungle, he took the Red Buff with Smite and continued clearing other small camps with Wu Yang. Wall went to the bottom lane river to help keep vision for Beyond.
With the advantage of First Blood, Beyond played very aggressively in the bottom lane, almost pinning Pine under the tower the entire time. He even froze the wave, preventing the opponent from getting the gold from the minions’ last hits.
“Is Beyond playing a bit too aggressively? I felt like he was the type to play safe and soak pressure under the tower during the group stage. Today, he seems a bit different.”
“WIN’s jungler has finished the first jungle rotation. Looking at his movement, he’s coming down to gank Beyond. If Beyond doesn’t retreat, he’s going to get caught!”
Two seconds before WIN’s jungler arrived at the bottom lane, Beyond began retreating toward his tower, but he stopped at a very ambiguous position.
It was close to the tower, yet far enough that a jungler could potentially get a kill with a good play, though a slight mistake might let the target escape.
On the professional stage, the temptation of a squishy marksman is enormous. Very few top-laners or junglers can resist it.
WIN’s jungler couldn’t resist and chose to continue down to the bottom lane. Pine also moved forward in sync with his teammate’s position.
“From Beyond’s perspective, he shouldn’t be able to see WIN’s jungler, but this positioning… it almost looks like he’s intentionally standing there as bait?”
“Look at VEX’s rotation speed. It’s so fast. Before the fight even starts in the bottom lane, their mid and jungle are already heading straight down.”
It was as if they had predicted the WIN jungler’s ganking movement in advance.
The bullet screen suddenly became quiet.
The people around Fu Yang also stopped talking. Countless eyes were fixed unblinkingly on the broadcast screen.
The moment WIN’s jungler revealed himself was only for a fraction of a second. Beyond Flashed. Almost at the exact same moment, the WIN jungler dashed to the spot where Beyond had been. But that Flash—which could be called a prediction or just luck—dodged the WIN jungler’s high-mobility ultimate.
Now, it was WIN’s turn to be in an ambiguous position.
They couldn’t go in, and they couldn’t retreat.
Going in meant they were already missing key skills. Retreating meant they had wasted time.
In the two seconds WIN hesitated, Beyond didn’t choose to hide under the tower. Instead, he took a step forward. Alone, in front of two WIN players, he began to fire auto-attacks.
The bullet screen exploded.
[Beyond is showing off like crazy! I’d believe it if someone said he was using cheats for that Flash!]
[Chasing two people by himself! You really think WIN has no temper!]
[Look at the positions of VEX’s mid and jungle. WIN either has to endure it, or if they dare to counter-attack, they’ll definitely be surrounded by VEX.]
WIN’s jungler was hit four or five times and endured it, moving back. But Pine couldn’t hold back and stepped forward to trade auto-attacks with Beyond.
[Is Pine crazy? Your teammate moved back and you’re still going?]
[He probably thinks he can kill Beyond?]
[Are you joking? Who’s killing whom here?]
Land and Wu Yang arrived. Wu Yang dumped all his skills, heading straight for Pine. Although many skills missed, he successfully blocked Pine’s retreat path. Land pinned down the enemy jungler. Beyond used a combination of skills and auto-attacks to take Pine’s head once again!
A 2:0 kill start!
Fu Yang jumped up from his chair, shaking his roommate’s shoulder: “That play just now! That play! Beyond, the marksman of my dreams!”
Who playing support wouldn’t want to meet such a powerful marksman partner?
The entire dormitory consisted of youth trainees for the support position, and the others quickly changed their tune.
What “not favoring VEX before the match”? Oh, that was just a joke before seeing Beyond’s performance!
“Beyond is OP!”
“I declare that I am now a fan of VEX!”
“Fu Yang, don’t you have Land-ge’s contact info? How about taking us along when it’s time for tryouts? I want to be Beyond’s teammate too…”
After that team fight, Land gave the entire Red Side jungle to Beyond to take solo. In less than ten minutes, Beyond’s equipment was already worth a thousand gold more than Pine’s, and he was two levels higher.
A thousand gold was enough for a lead of three small item components.
The other members of VEX also began to frequent the bottom lane. Once the mid wave was cleared, they’d go. Once the jungle was cleared, they’d go. Once Pine left the tower in the bottom lane, they’d go again.
They pushed Pine all the way back to the second-tier tower. With the minion wave at the first tower, Pine couldn’t even smell the experience points.
[VEX is too ruthless. They are relentlessly targeting WIN’s bot lane.]
[Why isn’t WIN doing anything to help Pine?]
[Pine started 0-2-0. It’s meaningless for WIN to help him now. They might as well try to gank VEX’s top laner, Million, to see if they can recover some ground.]
[Million picked a tank and is building pure defensive items. Even three people might not be able to dive and kill him. How do you gank that?]
Pine waited under the second tower for a long time before VEX’s mid and jungle finally left, their vision disappearing from the river.
There was still one minion and one cannon minion under the first tower, worth over a hundred gold in total.
Pine used “Recover” to restore some health and walked toward the first tower.
Just as he entered the range of his own turret, the brush connecting the turret to the jungle suddenly lit up with a flash of colorful skill effects. Subsequently, Pine’s health bar was instantly emptied—
0-3-0.
The director immediately turned the camera to Ma Song on the field. Ma Song’s face was ashen, his eyes reflecting the greyed-out computer screen. His lips were moving rapidly as if communicating with his teammates, and as he spoke, the veins on his neck bulged.
With a 0-3-0 start, unless he could turn the tide in the late game, he would become the target of WIN fans’ attacks and a laughingstock on the hot searches, regardless of which team advanced to the top eight today.
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