Inside the farm-lane tower, the pink red lotus array vanished. The true-damage marks above Lady Sun and Donghuang instantly stacked to full and exploded. The two were so close together that the explosions set off a chain reaction like falling dominoes.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
The storm of pink explosions formed a vortex. Lady Sun's and Donghuang's health bars dropped to zero, and they shattered into hero fragments that scattered in the wind.
The stirring voice of the Rift announcer rang out.
"First Blood!"
"Double Kill!"
In an instant, the bottom lane fell silent.
As they watched Su Hang's Diaochan recall,
Zhong Kui and Sun Quan stared blankly.
The public chat in Su Hang's livestream suddenly went blank. A few seconds later, a dark, surging flood of comments swept in.
"Holy shit! That was the Perpetual Motion Machine, right? Did Exalted Emperor just pull off Diaochan's perpetual-motion combo?"
"It was the Perpetual Motion Machine, but not quite. There were only two people, after all, but the chain reaction from the true-damage explosions was real."
"Dynasty, my ass! Surviving a tower dive after taking Donghuang's ultimate head-on was one thing, but he killed two of them like he was cheating! It's only been two minutes! Is Diaochan supposed to be this strong?"
"I thought Exalted Emperor's best mid-lane hero was Gan. Who would've thought the Diaochan he was forced to pick would perform just as well as Gan!"
"You're all focused on Exalted Emperor's flawless Diaochan mechanics. Didn't you notice that the tower-dive strategy was the most amazing part?"
"Hiss-he took down the former Farm Lane King on his own. I wonder how Citong feels right now?"
On Douyin, in Citong's livestream.
As he looked at the black-and-white game screen, Citong's hands trembled slightly around his phone. He was clearly in a state of extreme shock.
"He just... killed me and Donghuang?"
Exalted Emperor's Diaochan had engaged first, and Citong's Donghuang had caught her opening and locked her down under the tower. Who could have imagined that she would put herself in a desperate situation and survive, relying on her second skill's invincibility to turn the tables and secure the kills?
"I shouldn't have used Flash in that last exchange with Sun Quan."
Citong rubbed his head, full of regret. Exalted Emperor's Diaochan mechanics had been flawless, but a close review made it easy to see that if he'd had Flash, Exalted Emperor's Diaochan wouldn't have escaped death, no matter how dazzling her play had been!
"Tongzi, you still don't understand why you lost?" Grandpa Ge suppressed the shock in his heart. "Exalted Emperor tricked you. He tricked you right out of your underpants!"
"Tricked?" Citong was stunned.
"Exalted Emperor deliberately took Donghuang's ultimate and exposed an opening so you'd lose your head and go all out to kill him." Grandpa Ge pointed at the screen, his words flying out at breakneck speed. "This wasn't a contest of mechanics. It was psychological warfare!"
"The moment you decided to kill Exalted Emperor's Diaochan, you'd already suffered a crushing defeat."
Grandpa Ge's words made Citong see the light at once!
As the owner of Diaochan's FMVP skin, Maoshen sat beside Citong. He seemed calm, but his twitching eyelid betrayed him.
If anyone was qualified to comment on Exalted Emperor's Diaochan tower dive just now, it was Maoshen.
Maoshen hesitated. "Citong, I have good news and bad news. Which do you want first?"
Seeing Maoshen's strange expression, Citong replied, "The good news first."
"You'll most likely be able to beat Exalted Emperor."
"What kind of good news is that?" Citong was a little speechless. Although Exalted Emperor had just used flawless mechanics to dive the tower and kill him, there was one thing he had never doubted: he would definitely beat Exalted Emperor.
What a joke.
As the former Farm Lane King, once the KPL League's number one marksman, with marksman heroes ranked at the national-server level, if he couldn't beat a rookie streamer who wasn't even an Overlord, he might as well quit the Honor of Kings scene.
"What's the bad news?" Citong asked unconcernedly.
Maoshen smiled wryly. "Exalted Emperor's Diaochan is good enough to rival me at my peak!"
"What?" Citong's heart jolted.
Maoshen had been terrifying at his peak, especially when he played his signature hero, Diaochan. It was just like Menglei playing Han Xin-even a King-Titled Player who ran into him had to be on full alert, not daring to relax in the slightest.
Citong's gaze sharpened. "You mean I could lose this match to Exalted Emperor?"
Maoshen nodded firmly. He didn't want to dampen Citong's fighting spirit, but the facts were right in front of him. If he didn't explain how terrifying Exalted Emperor's Diaochan was, Citong might end up suffering a crushing defeat.
"Cat has a point, but you don't need to worry too much," Grandpa Ge said with a smile. "Unless Exalted Emperor's Diaochan can fight three opponents at once in the midgame, you'll still be the winner in the end."
Citong felt a little more at ease.
"True. Even if Exalted Emperor's Diaochan is on par with Maoshen at his peak, there's no way she can fight three at once in the midgame!"
At the four-minute mark, the Tyrant and Overlord spawned.
Su Hang's side secured vision around the Tyrant in advance.
Because of their early setback, Citong's side chose not to contest the Tyrant. Instead, they sent a two-person squad to harass the enemy, while the remaining three core players went to start the Overlord.
"Exalted Emperor, it looks like the other side wants to trade dragons," Zhong Kui reported from the mid-lane river after scouting the enemy.
"Leave them alone. You guys start the Tyrant." Su Hang made his decision at once. Looking at Yun Ying, who was attacking the blue buff in the blue jungle, he said, "Give me the blue buff."
"No problem!" Yun Ying brought the blue buff down to a sliver of health.
She presented it to Diaochan as though offering a treasure.
Su Hang's Diaochan killed the blue buff, a Sea God soul ring beneath her feet.
Yun Ying asked curiously, "Speaking of which, Exalted Emperor, what do you need blue for?"
"There might be a tough fight coming up!"
"A tough fight?"
Yun Ying's player looked toward the Tyrant river in the lower half of the map. The enemy jungler Liu Bei and support Donghuang were hovering nearby, itching to make a move.
"Could they be coming to steal the Tyrant?"
As soon as those words came out, alarm bells rang for the other three teammates.
Liu Bei and Donghuang were a famous golden duo for stealing dragons. Donghuang could Flash into the pit and lock down the enemy jungler to absorb damage, while Liu Bei used his massive shield to break crowd control and spent Smite to steal the dragon.
"They're not going to steal it. They're just watching for vision and putting on a show." Su Hang controlled Diaochan, setting out from the blue jungle toward the Overlord pit in the upper half of the map.
"Then what tough fight are we going to have?" Yunying's player wondered. Glancing at the minimap, the player noticed that Su Hang's Diaochan was heading in an unexpected direction.
Recalling the tough fight Exalted Emperor had mentioned, Yun Ying's player swallowed. "Exalted Emperor, you're not thinking of stealing the Overlord by yourself, are you?!"
Zhu Bajie, Zhong Kui, and Sun Quan were stunned on the spot.
Three enemies were gathered at the Overlord pit. Su Hang's Diaochan trying to steal the dragon alone would be like a lamb walking into a tiger's jaws.
"I'm not going to steal the Overlord."
"That's good."
The four players breathed a long sigh of relief. They really had been afraid Exalted Emperor would risk stealing the dragon.
After all, Exalted Emperor had been setting the pace for the whole team so far. If he got picked off trying to steal the dragon, they might have to hand the advantage they'd built in the early game over to the enemy!
But before everyone had finished breathing their sigh of relief, Su Hang's next words left all four of them dumbstruck!
"The Overlord is just a bonus."
Reaching the vicinity of the Overlord pit, Su Hang looked up and saw Lady Sun, Gao Jianli, and Xiahou Dun attacking the dragon. His eyes filled with fighting spirit. "They're my real targets!"