"Zhao Yun got banned?"
Seeing that the hero he used to climb the ranks had been banned, Su Hang rubbed his chin and murmured, "Is my Zhao Yun that scary?"
From the livestream chat, Su Hang also learned that he had been matched against two top streamers: Han Han, the jungle overlord of season 18, and Zongshi, the popular streamer favored to be the current version's jungle overlord.
"Exalted Emperor, we were so absorbed in your stream that we forgot to tip you off. You actually ran into Liu Wei right after you reached Supreme Star!"
"Did I?"
Su Hang frowned, trying to remember. "How come I don't recall that?"
"Remember that Pei Qinhu you killed like a jungle monster?"
"Oh~~~ now I remember."
Su Hang's brow relaxed as the memory surfaced. Late in that match, his Zhao Yun had been 3,000 gold ahead of the enemy team by himself. He had gone alone to steal their blue buff, opening with his ultimate and diving at it. To his surprise, Pei Qinhu had leaped over in tiger form and caught the attack head-on.
And so...
With a plain, unremarkable skill-two-into-skill-one combo, Su Hang had casually killed him like a jungle monster.
Afterward, on the match results screen, he had even taken special note of Pei Qinhu's ID: [Huya Liangweichuan].
"So that was Han Han." Su Hang recalled his opponent's performance and offered a professional assessment. "His game sense alone could put him in the peak top ten, but once you factor in his mechanics, he'd make the peak top hundred at best!"
As soon as he said that, admiring reaction images flooded the screen.
Because when the season 39 rankings were finalized, Han Han had placed among the national top hundred junglers!
Since Su Hang's only jungle hero, Zhao Yun, had been banned, the fill system automatically unlocked three jungle heroes for him to choose from.
They were Jing, Lan, and Yao.
All jungle heroes with single-character names.
"I've dabbled in all three before. As for which one I lock in, I'll leave the choice to you."
"Boss Exalted Emperor! I'm on my knees begging you to play Jing!"
Su Hang looked at the livestream chat and saw Jing's name appearing most often. "You want to see me play Jing? Sure, I'll give you what you want."
Without the slightest hesitation, he locked her in!
"My image still remains in the mirror!"
As one of the hardest jungle heroes in King's Canyon, Jing had always been a staple for top jungle kings. It was no exaggeration to say that if you couldn't play Jing, you didn't deserve to be called a jungle king!
And after Su Hang locked in Jing, the opposing side instantly locked in Luna.
"Luna?"
Luna was also a difficult jungle hero, but she was a little different from Jing. Luna was a classic low-economy, high-output hero: even without much gold, she could still deal considerable damage through skillful mechanics.
Notably, the question of whether Jing or Luna was the true queen of the jungle remained hotly debated even now.
"Jie jie jie, Exalted Emperor, Jing and Luna are both our Zongshi's signature heroes. Nobody understands Jing better than he does. You're in for a serious training session."
"Remember to tap the green lucky bag in the upper right corner at six minutes, or your reputation might suffer."
"Don't think beating Han Han by sheer luck means you can defeat our great Zongshi. There's still a huge gap between your skills."
At that moment, the livestream's viewer count surged to 20,000, the vast majority of them pouring in from Zongshi's stream.
Su Hang had originally felt neutral about Zongshi, but the flood of low-IQ provocations from Zongshi's fans immediately soured his impression.
Rather than trade trash talk, Su Hang preferred to strike back hard with bloody reality. He picked up his phone and sneered. "Then let's wait and see."
The game entered the loading screen.
Su Hang's side: Mulan (Flash), Jing (Smite), Angela (Flash), Marco Polo (Purify), Dolia (Heal).
Zongshi and Han Han's side: Lu Bu (Flash), Luna (Smite), Gan & Mo (Flash), Di Renjie (Flash), Zhang Fei (Flash).
"Welcome to Honor of Kings. The enemy will reach the battlefield in five seconds. Prepare yourselves. All troops, attack!"
As soon as the game began...
The team's text chat started scrolling.
Mulan: Bro, are you serious about filling jungle with Jing?
Marco Polo: Don't mess around on a new account. I'm one star away from King!
Angela: I'm gonna faint! Why do I get matched with actors every game? I seriously can't take this damn matchmaking system anymore.
Dolia: Brother Jing, you're not throwing on purpose, are you? Do you have some unavoidable reason?
Clearly, the fill indicator on Su Hang's Jing during the loading screen had sparked his teammates' doubts and dissatisfaction.
Su Hang typed a reply.
"This is a new account, so I don't have any proficiency on Jing, but I've played her on my old account. I can vouch for my skills."
Mulan asked, "Bro, how good is your Jing?"
Su Hang didn't hide it. "National number one."
That reply only deepened his teammates' doubts, and even the viewers in his livestream were somewhat taken aback.
Jing was a popular jungle hero, and the glory power needed to reach national number one was an astronomical figure-more than twice what an unpopular jungle hero needed.
Every player who had reached national number one with Jing was either a widely renowned expert in the scene or a KPL pro.
"Bro, that's a pretty big boast." Mulan didn't believe a word Su Hang said. "If I told you I was the national number one Mulan, would you believe me?"
As Su Hang controlled Jing on her way to the red jungle, he typed back, "You're currently a provincial top-hundred Mulan."
Mulan, who had just reached the top clash lane, froze. "Holy crap? I hid my badge. How could you tell?"
Su Hang replied calmly, "I guessed."
"You can guess that accurately?"
Marco Polo, who was fighting the tasty roast chicken in the bottom lane, chimed in. "Bro, guess how good my Marco is."
Without stopping his attacks on the red buff, Su Hang glanced at the bottom lane and replied, "Former provincial top fifty, ten thousand power."
Marco Polo was dumbfounded. "Damn! Bro, are you using a lookup hack?"
"What about me? Me?" Angela joined in too.
Su Hang glanced at the middle lane. "Not even in the ranks."
"What does 'not even in the ranks' mean?" Angela asked in confusion.
"Your highest hero power has never exceeded 3,500, and you've never earned a badge." Su Hang didn't mince words.
"Uh~~~" Angela flushed red, wishing he could find a crack in the ground to crawl into. Jing's guess was completely correct: he had played Honor of Kings for three years, but his highest power on Angela was 3,452, and he had never earned a district badge.
Those uncannily accurate guesses at their skill levels amazed Mulan and the other teammates. Although they still doubted Su Hang's claim of being the national number one Jing, one thing was beyond doubt: Su Hang was definitely a King-level expert.
As the saying went:
A layman watches the spectacle; an expert sees the craft.
Many of the one-trick players in the livestream were shaken to their cores.
"My fiery horse, isn't that the [King's Visual Assessment] only players with King titles possess? How does Exalted Emperor know it?"
"If Exalted Emperor's teammates weren't lying, then his [visual assessment] is downright terrifying. The laning phase hasn't even started in any of the three lanes, and he accurately assessed his teammates' skill levels. That's ridiculous! I've never seen a King-title expert do anything like that."
"Exalted Emperor mentioned having a national number one Jing on his old account. Assuming he wasn't lying, and considering that freakishly powerful [visual assessment] ability, is it possible that he's a King-title expert himself?"