The top floor of a skyscraper abroad.
Yao, Dolia, Su Lie... a bedroom filled with chibi-style figurines of the heroes from the King of Glory.
A purple-haired, Cinnamoroll's Dream -themed pillow and holding an IQ13 phone in her hands.
The phone's status bar displays a VPN for overseas networks, and the screen shows the loading screen for the Honor of Kings Peak Tournament.
" Yugong Liuli, Yugong Liuli, you've made a mess of things."
Yugong Liuli was feeling a bit dizzy because she wasn't sure if her teammate Heino had a couple's skin, so she sent him a shared poke.
The original intention was for Heino to wear the couple's skin while Dolia used her original skin, thus preventing the pairing of heroes from being lost.
Unexpectedly, Heino used the original skin, and by some strange twist of fate, they formed a pairing based on the original skin!
"If the senior happens to see this--"
Yugong Liuli's cheeks flushed instantly, and she shook her head vigorously, "How could my senior possibly pay attention to me?"
The senior she admires is a super-skilled player in the game, adored King of Glory millions of players. Yet, she still hasn't had the courage to ask to become his friend in the game! After all, he only befriends those with exceptional gaming skills!
Recalling ten years ago, Yugong Liuli's red eyes were filled with loneliness, and she couldn't stop feeling guilty and blaming herself. At that time, she had just started playing Honor of Kings and her game skills were terrible. She was unexpectedly matched with a senior player and ended up letting him down.
Even after adding the senior's QQ number and having someone recharge 168,888 Q Coin for the senior, the senior still deleted and blocked him.
Welcome to Honor of Kings...
As the familiar game sounds rang out, Yugong Liuli's attention shifted to the game.
"First, help Heino secure the mid-court line."
Yugong Liuli levels up one skill, buys Knowledge Gem, and stays by Heino's side.
"Huh?"
Yugong Liuli let out a soft sound of doubt as she observed Heino's movement habits. She felt a sense of familiarity and the image of the original Marco Polo skin appeared in her mind.
Is it him?
Huya, Jiucheng stream room.
There were many questions and criticisms in the public chat.
"Hey Chengshen, do you really think so highly of the Exalted Emperor? Five mages on the enemy team, they'll definitely think we can't handle this."
"Yes, yes, even if Diaochan and Shangguan are released, what can they do? Exalted Emperor a clown; he can't cause any trouble!"
"The person upstairs, are they probably just pretending to be a hater?"
Jiucheng glanced at the public chat and said, "With Ci Citong as a cautionary tale, if I let Tianxiu Mage play with Exalted Emperor, what if he knows Immortal Technique Maneuver? Wouldn't I be shooting myself in the foot?"
Maoshen clapped in agreement, " Cao Tutu is right. Without knowing how many sets of immortal techniques Exalted Emperor can skillfully use, banning all the Heavenly Show Mages at once is the wisest choice."
In Honor of Kings, heroes with extremely high skill ceilings possess Immortal Technique Maneuver, such as Diaochan's Perpetual Motion Machine.
Practicing Immortal Technique Maneuver is extremely costly, and even if you master them, you can only rely on luck to pull them off in actual combat. But Exalted Emperor is an exception!
"Can Exalted Emperor really make Heino work in a fun way?"
Maoshen was very enthusiastic. To be honest, Heino, like Daji and Angela, is a mage that is easy to pick up and play, with a very low skill ceiling.
Even if the current top-ranked Heino in the Chinese server came, he'd still only have the same skills!
One netizen asked, " Maoshen God, what's the difference between the village-level Heino and the national-level Heino?"
"Well," Maoshen clicked his tongue, "Although the skill release order is the same, there will be a big difference between the two in terms of overall strategy, game awareness, and adaptability!"
"And then there's the equipment," Maoshen explained. "When people play games, they basically just copy the recommended builds, but different situations require different builds."
"Given that everyone has a different playstyle, their item builds will naturally vary greatly!"
"Some people enjoy the thrill of combat and opt for a pure, aggressive build, while others prefer the thrill of taking hits and opt for a turtle-like build. It all comes down to personality!"
One netizen asked: What build will Exalted Emperor Heino use?
Maoshen recalled, "There were only two popular builds for Heino: the pure tank/immortal God of War build, and the pure magic build."
"The former is great at tanking damage in team fights and can show its power in the mid-game, while the latter has explosive damage output but needs to consume a lot of gold to become powerful in the late game!"
Maoshen glanced at the game livestream screen and muttered, "Based on my understanding of Exalted Emperor, he'll most likely opt for an immortal build."
"After all, aside from the mid lane, the top lane, the bottom lane, and the jungle are all at a disadvantage, making it difficult to survive until the late game."
"First Blood!"
Two minutes into the game, the first blood was drawn, with Jiucheng Gan assisting Nezha in eliminating Meng Tian of the Exalted Emperor.
This isn't the end of the story.
Good news has arrived from the Development Lane! Our allies Zhuge Liang, Hou Yi, Zhong Kui have slain Ao Yin and Da Siming of the Exalted Emperor!
"Double-Kill!"
"No pressure at all, Cheng-ge." In the team voice chat, [ Watching Over Her ] mocked, "The enemy marksman and jungler's positioning is just like Ren Kun's, at most Minor National Badge level."
"The enemy Meng Tian has some skill, but he's only at the level of a major power with basic attacks!" Jiucheng said, narrowing his eyes. "It seems the system matched Exalted Emperor with three terrible teammates!"
"Then we've got this game in the bag," Watching Over Her casually. "His Exalted Emperor is playing Heino, he doesn't have much of a comeback potential. If the side lanes and jungle collapse, his mid lane will just explode."
This matter concerns a battle for the top national team Gan, Jiucheng has to be cautious. "Let's take down all of the opponent's outer defensive towers first!"
"Understood, Brother Cheng!"
Under Jiucheng's efficient command, the five players were like a steel plate, without any flaws. Their individual combat ability was already far superior to that of Exalted Emperor's side, and now they were using professional league-level operations.
It's a complete dimensional reduction attack.
The Exalted Emperor faction was no match for them at all!
The game has been going on for four minutes.
The Exalted Emperor side reduced the towers on the top lane and the development lane to ruins.
Jiucheng commanded his teammates to control the Tyrant and the Overlord, achieving a double dragon combination, and in one fell swoop, they destroyed the Exalted Emperor's middle tower!
The game has been going on for six minutes.
The Exalted Emperor team's mid lane, top lane, and bottom lane towers were all destroyed, leaving only the three high ground towers outside the crystal base standing alone.
"Well done, brothers."
Jiucheng's breathing became slightly rapid.
Although it felt a bit inappropriate to open champagne at halftime, the facts were undeniable: ten minutes earlier, they could have defeated Exalted Emperor and won the match!
"Isn't everything going a little too smoothly?"
Maoshen, who was watching from the sidelines, had a strange expression. During the process of Jiucheng leading his teammates to push the tower, they only encountered the opponent's symbolic defense. Otherwise, it would have been impossible to push down all of Exalted Emperor's outer towers in just over six minutes!
Rather than saying that Jiucheng led the team to push away, it would be more accurate to say that Exalted Emperor's side voluntarily gave up.
Something just feels off.
As the saying goes, those involved are often confused, while bystanders see things clearly. Maoshen's brows furrowed, and an ominous premonition rose in his heart.
What is the purpose of the enemy team quickly building towers?
It's important to understand that Honor of Kings is a tower-pushing game; the more towers you push, the faster you win. You only give up towers as a last resort when you truly can't defend anymore.
Why would the Exalted Emperor, who clearly have the ability to defend their towers, be so eager for Jiucheng and his team to demolish their high ground?
Maoshen looked at the game live stream screen.
The moment I saw Exalted Emperor Heino appear at the mid-lane high ground tower.
The cat's pupils dilated, and its body trembled.
Could it be...?