Top 16 (2-in-1)

"I never realized you were just as good at making people angry as Chen Guowei. And you even gave Chen Guowei those two lines of poetry!"

Seeing the five members of the Anhui University team filled with anger, eager to get back on the court for revenge, Bai Xiaowen shook his head and smiled as he spoke to Xiang Hui.

Xiang Hui glanced back at the departing group of five from Wannan University and chuckled, "That guy named Shi Feng is too arrogant. He's not even that good, and I'm not going to put up with his jerk attitude."

"But there's an advantage to this approach. If the other side gets too angry, they might lose their temper," Bai Xiaowen said. "Alright, let's go back to the contestants' area in the auditorium to rest for a while and prepare for the second match."

While they were talking, the two teams, one on the left and one on the right, returned to the auditorium via the staircases on either side to begin the second round of the draw.

This time, there's no need to guess; the opponent will ban first.

Despite suffering a significant loss in the Resource Raid Mode, Duanmucheng still opted to disable the SOLO Mode King of the Hill Mode. He had already decided that if he were to draw the Resource Raid Mode again, the entire team would stick together and directly confront the opponent's main force in the early game, absolutely no longer splitting up.

Bai Xiaowen still sticks to the SOLO Mode Conquest Mode.

Finally, the result displayed on the big screen was... Crystal Destruction Mode!

In the Crystal Destruction Mode of the entertainment competition, everyone's level is capped at level 1, and then gradually unlocked as experience points are gained. In addition, the equipment of the Awakened also requires gold coins to unlock.

Jinghai University Team encountered this mode before when playing against Jinling University. They drew the League of Legends Season 7 map from the Common Era, and Bai Xiaowen, playing jungle, completely crushed all four lanes of the opposing team...

Upon seeing this pattern, Duanmucheng's face quickly darkened.

This mode is the one he least wants to encounter, aside from the King of the Hill Mode.

With the crystal destroyed, three lanes need to be defended simultaneously. It's absolutely impossible to push the middle lane as a group... because doing so would result in the loss of a large amount of gold and experience points on both side lanes, which would be a net loss.

Duanmucheng had also studied Bai Xiaowen's match videos, paying particular attention to the videos of Bai Xiaowen's battles against Jinling University and Jiangnan University, because both universities had Hero Class leading their teams. In those videos, Bai Xiaowen's dominance as a jungler was simply breathtaking.

"Only if I also go jungle can I possibly stop him! At least I can achieve a kill matchup," Duanmucheng thought to himself.

The map was extracted and ultimately set to the Season 8 version of League of Legends.

Then, Bai Yanni, the host, announced a 30-minute break for both teams. The Psionic Training Ground map was generated during this time.

In the home team's rest area, the five starters and substitutes huddled together, discussing tactics.

"It's another League of Legends map. How should we assign lanes this time?" Feng Zi'ang asked.

"Like last time, Lao Bai will jungle, and he'll gank the enemy like a baby..." Chen Guowei said irresponsibly. "But, Lao Xiang will have to tank the pressure in the mid lane, hehe... Just don't feed kills, and if we stay calm, we'll win."

Xiang Hui curled his lip, gave Chen Guowei a disdainful look, and then said to Bai Xiaowen:

"I can go mid, I'll play safe and farm in the early game. You come and gank for me, and once we have an advantage, you don't need to come anymore."

Xiang Hui's implication was that he was confident that after gaining an initial advantage, he could snowball it and at least maintain the advantage.

"Let's try a different strategy this time," Bai Xiaowen suggested, but with a deeper consideration. "I'll go mid."

"Huh? Who's going to jungle?" The University Team members looked at each other in confusion.

As an Awakened One with Mental Specialty attacks and a ranged attack ability, going mid lane is certainly no problem. The question is, besides Bai Xiaowen who has summons, who can handle the jungle role and withstand the damage from jungle monsters?

"Shu Yi will play jungle," Bai Xiaowen said simply.

Li Shuyi readily replied, "I have no problem."

Everyone was taken aback again.

Bai Xiaowen continued with the assignments, "Han Xu, stick to the usual top lane. Xiang Hui and Feng Zi'ang, go bottom lane, focus on tanking and don't actively fight minions, stay under the tower and only auto-attack the last bit... Play it safe on top and bottom lanes. Shu Yi, focus on mid lane, use it as your breakthrough point... After taking down the mid tower, I'll start clearing minions and roaming, pushing down the enemy's towers. After taking down six outer towers, use the accumulated economic advantage to group up..."

This tactic wasn't new, and everyone quickly understood it. In the S8 map, each destroyed turret earned the entire team a total of 775 gold, more than two kills! Not to mention the vision and spatial advantages gained after pushing a turret, which is why League of Legends is also known as a turret-pushing game...

Of course, killing also has its advantages; it can disrupt the opponent's rhythm and cause their development to stagnate.

Just as Bai Xiaowen was giving instructions on tactics...

In the front row of the audience, a girl wearing sunglasses and acting suspiciously was holding her phone.

She posted on Bai Xiaowen's fan website, and the post in the comments section was:

[Xiao Wen's Update Today: Leading the Team Against Wannan University, with Match Report and Images!]

The post has been upvoted to over 2000 replies, the vast majority of which are from other fans.

"Thanks for your hard work Yi-Yi, the big spender!"

"Thank you Yi-Yi for the live text and picture broadcast! It's so frustrating not being able to be there in person!"

"Yes, although Xiao Wen's agent, Sister Zheng, said that there would be a video of the match released tonight, I still really want to go to the venue to watch it."

The girl in sunglasses smiled slightly, and after reading the latest reply, she put her phone to her lips again, switching to voice mode.

"The first show is finally over! After a 30-minute wait, the second show has begun! Here are two beautiful photos of my idol from the event, drool~"

Within seconds, a row of replies appeared, mostly from female fans, vying for the comment space. Of course, there were also some male fans urging for the competition information to be posted.

"The second match has begun! Wait, the lane assignments are different from last time. Xiao Wen's going mid? Are you serious?"

The girl in sunglasses, also a staunch supporter of Bai Xiaowen, was a rich girl named "Yi-Yi." She quickly sent two battle reports, which were then transcribed into text by voice recognition technology:

"The villains are on the blue side, the idols Purple Side, and the lane assignments for both sides are somewhat different from what was expected."

"Top lane: Lu Jiadong vs. Han Xu; Bottom lane: Chu Li Shi Feng Chu Xiang Hui & Feng Zi'ang; Jungle: Duanmucheng vs. Li Shuyi; Mid lane: Xu Wenze vs. Xiao Wen... You read that right, Xiao Wen is in the mid lane!"

I took a picture of the big screen, and it immediately caused an uproar in the comments section.

"No way? Xiao Wen is such a great jungler, he's going mid lane? What a waste!"

"Can Li Shuyi jungle effectively? Won't she get killed by jungle monsters?"

"I have a feeling this game is going to be Cool Cool..."

The discussions about tactics were mostly among male fans, who valued skill more than looks. Of course, those fans who doubted the game's outcome were quickly criticized by others...

Ignoring everything else, Yi-Yi continued sending out battle reports.

"Li Shuyi started with the blue buff. Xiao Wen's summoned creatures helped with a few hits, and then started moving back after the minion wave made contact... Hmm, she left three summoned creatures to help with the fight? Not bad, with the summoned creatures helping to tank damage, Li Shuyi doesn't really need to worry about her health. However, the summoned creatures will eventually have to return to the mid lane."

"Sure enough, after leaving a certain area, Xiao Wen's summoned creatures were retrieved and resummoned online. Now I'm more interested in Li Shuyi's jungling situation... Sure enough, the big screen's perspective switched to a close-up of Li Shuyi's side; everyone is very interested in Li Shuyi's jungling."

"Li Shuyi single-handedly fought three wolves, and her attack movements were indeed very smooth, fast, and dealt high damage... How come her Life Value remained at full? What's going on? All her attacks missed?"

Yi-Yi looked closely in surprise, and only after seeing Li Shuyi's actions clearly did she understand.

"I see. Li Shuyi's Melee Specialty are exceptional, and she also has the advantage of agility, allowing her to repeatedly dodge the wolf pack's attacks through skillful maneuvering! Especially that two-headed wolf, it could barely touch the hem of Li Shuyi's clothes, and the other two smaller wolves, even when they occasionally got hit, were barely affected, their Life Value regeneration speed keeping up with hers..."

In the Black Tide Plane, after receiving guidance from the high-level BOSS Elven Sword Bard, Li Shuyi's One-Handed Swordsmanship has reached level 7. Level 7 and level 6 are a watershed moment. Although there is no additional data boost, Li Shuyi can clearly feel that she has become more at ease in battle, and has a sense of mastering the rhythm of the battle.

These days of intensive training, including sparring in the Psionic Training Ground, have given Li Shuyi a deeper understanding of combat. She has sparred with Rageclaw, Butcher, Skeleton Sword-and-Shield Soldier, and Shadow Assassin, and has a thorough grasp of the attack patterns of monsters of various sizes.

Mastering the rhythm of battle allows you to Suppression opponents of the same level.

This feeling is similar to how Ahan Suppression a boss of the same level, Gote; it has little to do with basic attributes, it's purely a matter of skill.

The camera shifted back to the mid lane. Xu Wenze had been pushed out of the experience range by Xiao Wen and could only cower under his tower, waiting for the minion wave to arrive. Xiao Wen was pushing really aggressively; normally, he should be controlling the lane by now...

"However, pressing the line also had an effect. Xiao Wen was able to occasionally get a shot off the opponent. Within two minutes of the start, the opponent's Life Value had dropped to 1/3, forcing them to use a health potion."

Every shot Bai Xiaowen fired hurt Xu Wenze deeply. In the Kane Plane, in the territory of White Stone City, Bai Xiaowen had been trained by Cecilia for a few days, raising his Ranged Shooting Specialty to level 4 (without title bonus), giving each shot a 20% damage bonus.

With everyone fully equipped, and Xu Wenze also wearing a highly enhanced upper garment that could reduce damage by a percentage, the damage from the Shooting Specialty was not noticeable when both were offset.

But Xu Wenze is currently at level 1 and doesn't have much equipment... so getting hit will obviously hurt more.

The camera then switched to the bottom lane.

"The situation is reversed in the bottom lane. The villain's marksman Chu Li, is putting a lot of pressure on them, after all, he's a ranged attacker! Xiang Hui and Feng Zi'ang can only play defensively under the tower and farm."

"Jungle... Duanmucheng from the villain team is jungling, he's clearing the jungle so fast! After he finished the blue buff in the top half of the map, he started his first roam, his target is... top lane? I thought he was going to mid lane." Yi-Yi took off her sunglasses, blinked her big eyes, and said to her phone.

In fact... the hardest Duanmucheng to gank is mid-lane. Don't be fooled by Bai Xiaowen's aggressive lane pushing; that's only because Bai Xiaowen has wide-range mental perception. Duanmucheng has neither invisibility nor a dash ability, so how can he possibly gank him?

"Top laner Han Xu seemed to sense something was wrong, abandoned the laning phase, and headed straight for the tower... Duanmucheng, loitering in the river bushes, couldn't resist trying to kill a crab, but after circling around, he still couldn't find an opportunity... This big oaf has to be praised, he's actually quite clever."

Han Xu received a warning from Bai Xiaowen...

Duanmucheng was, of course, outside Bai Xiaowen's perception range... However, given that the blue team started with the red buff, and after finishing the blue buff and reaching the top half of the map, the first gank would be either in the top or mid lane. They couldn't possibly circle half the map to gank the bottom lane, could they?

Moreover, their own bottom lane was playing so cautiously, hiding under the tower. The Wannan University Team wouldn't dare to tower dive and kill them unless they had all four members together.

In the middle lane, Bai Xiaowen Psychic Sensing no trace of Duanmucheng nearby, so it was clearly the top lane.

Han Xu trusted Bai Xiaowen completely. After hearing Bai Xiaowen's warning, he left without saying a word and without any hesitation—which was also an important factor in his survival.

"First Blood! First Blood has arrived! Xiao Wen got First Blood just 4 minutes into the game! Li Shuyi's assist made it a successful gank... Xu Wenze hiding under the tower was useless; Xiao Wen's three summoned creatures took turns tanking the tower, each with only a sliver of health left. Perfect!"

Yi-Yi was so excited that her originally sweet voice became a little distorted. The Hengxing Phone's intelligent voice recognition also expressed Yi-Yi's emotions perfectly with a series of exclamation marks.

The comment section erupted in excitement, with everyone spamming "666".

In reality, it was just a regular kill; subsequent events proved that everyone had gotten excited too soon...

"In the seventh minute, Xiao Wen solo-killed Xu Wenze! Duanmucheng rushed over and luckily managed to defend the mid-lane tower..."

"In the ninth minute, Xiao Wen killed Xu Wenze again, taking down the first tower!"

"At eleven minutes, Xiao Wen and Li Shuyi ganked together and caught and killed the villain's bottom lane duo at their own bottom lane second tower!"

"Fourteen minutes..."

Later, Yi-Yi's excited tone changed to:

"Xiao Wen's sixth kill, this time it was Xu Wenze again... Oh, a double kill, his seventh kill, a near-godlike killing spree, just one more away from godlike status..."

The use of ellipses and periods on the Hengxing Phone clearly reveals the owner's numb state of mind.

"Wow, they've gone godlike... Team Idol has taken down all of the enemy's outer and mid towers, and is now grouping up to push the mid lane inhibitor tower..."

"Beneath the high ground tower, the two sides engaged in a decisive battle... Tsk, the economic gap is quite large; the villain team is in a terrible situation."

At this point, Yi Yi even felt a little sorry for the villainous team... oh no, the Anhui University team.

The team's economic deficit was nearly 8000, which is equivalent to each player having 1-2 fewer items and being 1 level lower on average than the opposing team. It's a truly disastrous situation.

"The idol team pulled off a 2-for-5 exchange, securing the mid-lane inhibitor! They then moved to the bottom lane, destroying two inhibitors in quick succession... widening the gold gap to 10,000..."

"In the 26th minute, the Idol team, boosted by the Baron, once again made a strong push down the middle... a 5-0 team wipe of the Villain team... and they've destroyed the crystal! Congratulations to Xiao Wen for leading his team to defeat Wannan University and advance to the top 16 of the CUAA National Championship!"