"What's going on? It's only been three minutes—less than four minutes into the game, and Jayce is heading back to base again?"
"His TP only landed less than two minutes ago!"
When the director switched to the top lane, they saw Mo Yu barely escape Fiora's pursuit and slink back under his own turret before hitting Recall.
Wa Wa, Miller, Rita, and the audience were all a little dumbfounded.
The scene before them was just too bizarre. Sure, Jayce had given up First Blood, but Fiora hadn't recalled either. She'd even "proactively" traded and lost a lot of health in the process.
And now, less than two minutes after Jayce's TP landed, he was being forced back to base again?
Was this guy laning, or trying to rack up steps on WeChat?
It made no sense!
"It's probably because of that trade after Jayce's TP landed, combined with losing the last fight in lane..."
Miller was only halfway through when Wa Wa cut in—
"No, seriously, Murder's laning is just ridiculous! He solo-killed Jayce once in the early game, and now he's forced Mo Yu back to base without even recalling himself!"
Wa Wa's excitable nature took over. He pointed at the big screen and shouted:
"This kind of laning pressure... I've never seen it from a rookie before! This is his first time playing professionally, right? Isn't today his debut?"
"Why does it feel like today's Mo Yu's debut?"
"...!"
Applause erupted!
The EDG fans, who hadn't seemed all that excited before the match, suddenly broke into cheers and clapped like crazy.
"Holy crap! Brother Cheng Zi!!"
"Good grief, this is the laning dominance of a Data Monster? Mo Yu's head's about to get smashed in!"
"Honestly, this lane is ridiculous. I don't even know how Mo Yu lost this hard. He just started the game and somehow fell behind by so much..."
Factory Director found his true father. This time, it's a real top-lane carry!"
"...!"
Cheers rang out all around.
It was the first time Xu Cheng had received such enthusiastic applause in the Professional Arena. When he got First Blood earlier, many people hadn't reacted in time because the match had only just begun. They hadn't been nearly this excited.
"With things looking like this in the top lane, DAN definitely won't just let you keep bullying him. Now that Mo Yu's recalled again, DAN might make a move on top..."
Miller glanced at the big screen and murmured, "Time to give the rookie a little taste of the LPL!"
"We've got to gank him. This guy's playstyle is so weird. It's like only the living have the right to last-hit. What the hell!"
Mo Yu recalled and couldn't help swearing.
Those few minutes of laning had left him completely rattled by Xu Cheng.
After all, he'd never faced a top laner with this kind of style before. He was even more reckless than the top laners in the LCK.
LCK top laners could be aggressive, sure, but they were the "carefully aggressive" kind.
Xu Cheng was different. His aggression had a bloodthirsty edge to it, like he wouldn't last-hit unless he killed you first.
He was going all out to hit you. This guy didn't care about the Minion Wave at all. He wanted kills!
"Dude, your laning is awful. No matter how good the other guy is, it's his first time playing in the LPL. You've been a pro for ages—how'd you get beaten into this sorry state?"
The jungler, Fishball, glanced at the top lane and couldn't hold back.
"It's not that I can't beat him. I'm just not used to his style. This guy's pure aggression... You wouldn't get it."
Mo Yu tried to defend himself, but his teammates weren't buying it.
Of course, even if they couldn't understand Mo Yu, they could see that the top lane was in a bad way and needed help—
Just as the casters had said, this recall had cost Mo Yu even more than the time he'd been solo-killed.
Because of the long lanes and the way the game worked, top lane was where players were most desperate to get experience from the Minion Wave. It was also the most punishing lane.
In high-level ranked games, falling even a little behind in top lane often meant getting hammered from beginning to end, with your opponent constantly keeping you down.
And Fiora had already solo-killed Jayce once, so the gap would only grow.
If DAN let Fiora keep scaling in the top lane, it would be extremely bad for their overall team composition.
"I'll look for a chance to move up there. Don't panic."
The jungler called out, then started looking for an opening.
Meanwhile...
"Bro, they'll probably come for you. Don't panic. I'll protect you."
7 Sauce knew his stuff.
He only had to glance at the situation to immediately guess what DAN's jungler was thinking.
DAN was still a new team, and although Ancestor Saiwen was no longer as fearsome as he'd once been, he was still spot-on when it came to studying domestic players.
"Xiao Kai, why do I feel like they don't take me seriously?"
Xu Cheng was still puzzling over Jayce's mechanics. "His mechanics are clearly so bad he doesn't even see me as a person!"
"Huh?"
Factory Director froze, then finally caught on. He hurriedly replied, sweating, "Bro, it's not that his mechanics are bad. Yours are just too good!"
At the same time, he complained to himself. He should've had Xu Cheng watch some of DAN's match footage.
They'd been short on time, so Xu Cheng had spent the past few days watching scrims and footage from top LPL teams like WE and RNG.
Yesterday, he'd only taken a quick look, and most of the time the coaching staff had been explaining the teams' strategies. He hadn't remembered much.
He really didn't know smaller teams like DAN at all.
"That doesn't sound right. I remember you saying that no pro player is a scrub. Even if they don't have my talent, they're definitely better than me in skill and experience."
"Yeah, exactly! But that guy used to play in a secondary league. He's obviously a scrub. His mechanics are nowhere near yours..."
"Xiao Kai, don't lie to me. I hate being lied to more than anything."
"...Holy crap, they're here!"
Factory Director had just opened his mouth to reply when he ran into the enemy jungler, who was also on his way to the top lane.
The two of them were on the verge of clashing. Neither said a word—they just went straight at each other.
The river was right near Mid Lane, so it wasn't long before both mid laners came to back them up.
"They're fighting! An accidental little skirmish has broken out. Scout is coming to help... Murder's here too! Both teams' mid laners and top laners have arrived!"
At the commentary desk, Rita stared anxiously at the big screen.
It was the first Team Fight of the match, and with Xu Cheng involved, she was completely focused.
"Scout with the knockback! Oh, that was so well played! DAN might have to back off..."
"Too bad they couldn't catch anyone. DAN reacted quickly too. Jarvan IV hit two people with EQ and bought a lot of time..."
The exciting little skirmish came to an end.
It had started by chance and ended just as suddenly.
EDG had a slight edge in both mechanics and gold, so they came out ahead in the Team Fight.
But they didn't manage to get any kills.
Jayce, Jarvan IV, and Ahri all got away. Jarvan IV, who'd stayed behind to cover their retreat, was in the worst shape. Jayce was at half health, while Ahri was in the best condition.
None of the three were in danger of dying. They grouped up and strolled off into their own jungle.
"What a shame. This team has some talent. No wonder they made it up from the secondary league."
Factory Director looked at the low-health Jarvan IV and, though disappointed, ordered everyone to retreat.
As a team that had only made it into the LPL this summer, DAN really wasn't as weak as people might have expected.
"Bro... let's go, bro... What are you doing?"
But when everyone else had already backed off, Factory Director suddenly realized Xu Cheng hadn't moved. He was staring at the three opponents.
Especially Jarvan IV, who was nearly dead.
Even as they disappeared into the jungle, Xu Cheng's eyes followed them.
He muttered to himself, "There's an opening here...""We should be able to kill them, right...""Yeah, we can kill them... Probably!"
???
"Hey, bro, don't do anything reckless! Calm down!!!"
Factory Director panicked!!
Don't go over there!
Sob, it's not easy for the author to make a living. Please don't let the chapters pile up—keep reading, please! Please keep reading!
I'll go all out with updates when it's time to put the novel on sale!
I'm begging you—bang, bang, bang!
Also, there are so few people in the group! Feel free to join. The author will remind everyone about updates each day and answer all sorts of questions. Everyone's welcome!
Before you continue