Chapter 38: I Have Always Been Working

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The match officially began. Both sides spread out in a long line, facing one another from afar.

Condi placed a ward at the entrance to the upper river to guard against an invade, while Ailoli crouched in the small brush beside him as usual, keeping watch.

Both teams followed the standard jungle route, clearing from top to bottom.

“Ah, I got clipped.”

Tian Ye sounded rather annoyed. While planting seeds in the first brush of the bottom lane, he had inadvertently been struck by Caitlyn’s Q, Piltover Peacemaker, fired blindly from outside his vision.

That was careless. He had no Flash.

Planting seeds was standard procedure for Zyra when entering lane. Caitlyn could easily predict it and had more than enough range to harass her from outside the area.

He should have been paying closer attention.

“It’s fine. That little bit of health will come back soon enough.”

Lin Ruo did not mind. Caitlyn was powerful in the early game, and contesting level two meant giving ground and allowing the wave to push. Since they had no intention of fighting, losing a little health was hardly important.

But with a Zyra on their side who was equally unwilling to back down, the struggle for lane priority would grow white-hot from level three onward. It would no longer be a question of which champion had the stronger early-game attributes.

“The EDG bottom lane duo is playing very intelligently. Zyra has planted most of her seeds in the brush, which has let her wear down Thresh as he moves forward to pressure them.”

At the commentary desk, Guan Zeyuan explained every detail of the bottom-lane matchup:

“Ezreal’s Q connected too. EDG has no intention of pushing for lane control. They’re focusing on trading health instead: you farm, I hit the champions. They’re keeping their eyes on Thresh, and it’s working quite well so far. Zyra has landed all of her damage.”

The camera switched to mid lane in an instant.

Hao Kai let out a surprised exclamation. “The fight in mid is even fiercer. At level one, Scout’s Cassiopeia is chasing Ryze down with Twin Fang. Xiye has been forced all the way beneath his turret and has had no choice but to drink a health potion.”

After taking the blue buff, Condi reached level three. Seeing the state of the mid lane—with Cassiopeia still pressing so deeply—he began to entertain murderous thoughts.

“Can we gank mid?”

The bottom lane was certainly out of the question, but since he had come down here, he had to try to make something happen.

“There might be a ward in the river,” Xiye warned.

“Zero, come with me. Let’s invade.”

Condi immediately directed the support, who was helping shove the lane.

Understanding at once, Zero coordinated with his AD carry to finish pushing the wave, then entered through the tri-brush.

In spider form, Condi reached the interior of the dragon pit and used E through the Blast Cone, successfully avoiding the enemy vision and entering the opposing jungle.

The two of them checked the red-buff pit. The monster was already gone, and there was no sign of Kha’Zix.

“Let’s go, let’s go. Forget Kha’Zix. We’re going straight for Cassiopeia.”

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They circled around from the raptor camp toward mid lane, intending to catch Cassiopeia off guard. Besides, it was a three-on-one. Condi could not imagine that she would have any escape route while being attacked from behind and in front.

He was already impatient to claim first blood.

At that moment, Lin Ruo was clearing minions in front of the turret. He glanced toward the river and saw Kha’Zix taking the Rift Scuttler. His brows immediately tightened with alarm.

With both buffs and the Wolves, a level-three Elise would inevitably clear faster than Kha’Zix. There was no way the bottom-side Rift Scuttler could belong to his team.

Unless Elise had not come down at all, choosing instead to clear her upper jungle and gank top directly.

But where was Thresh?

There was no trace of him in the exposed river vision.

That meant Thresh had entered the tri-brush and might not have gone through the river.

“Li Ruican, watch your back!” Lin Ruo blurted out almost instinctively.

Scout, in mid lane, felt his heart jolt. He turned around on reflex and saw Thresh emerge from the corner of the wall behind him.

The moment he entered range, the level-two Zero decisively used Flash, cast Flay, and applied Exhaust, hoping to push Scout toward his own side of the lane.

At the same time, Xiye flashed forward with Ryze, attempting to follow up with a Rune Prison.

But the instant he arrived, he realized that he was out of range.

Cassiopeia had already flashed almost at the exact moment Thresh did.

All three flashes had lit up in virtually the same rhythm.

That was an absurd reaction. How was it possible?

While Xiye stood there in disbelief, Condi flashed over the wall from the river and fired a Cocoon, successfully stunning the Exhausted and slowed Cassiopeia.

Thresh threw out his hook as well.

But before the three members of WE could celebrate, a flash of cleansing light appeared around Scout. He instantly used the Cleanse he had been holding, removing both Exhaust and the binding effect.

With a twist of his body, he dodged the hook and strode away after purging the debuffs.

Kha’Zix and Zyra arrived to reinforce him, but WE had already expended every ability. There was no possibility of pursuit.

“Wow, WE had an excellent idea there, but Scout still managed to escape.”

Guan Zeyuan shook his head in frustration.

The prey they had practically caught had slipped away, and they had used so many abilities in the process. They had lost both the battle and their advantage.

Hao Kai analyzed the exchange in retrospect. “Scout reacted far too quickly. Condi and Zero had already done everything they possibly could.”

“What I’m most curious about is how Scout reacted in the first place. He had no vision behind him! It was as if he had turned on cheats and forgotten to hide them, you know?” Guan Zeyuan could not stop shaking his head in astonishment.

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Hao Kai thought it over rationally. “The only explanation is that Scout had already been on guard.”

Having narrowly escaped death, Scout recalled from the bottom-lane tri-brush and let out a long breath of relief.

“That was way too close. Good thing you warned me.”

“As long as you’re all right.” Lin Ruo made no attempt to claim credit.

With Thresh roaming after reaching level two, the situation in bottom lane changed as well. Working together with Tian Ye, who had returned to lane ahead of time, they shoved the wave beneath the enemy turret. Before four minutes had passed, they had seized complete control of the lane.

Thresh was now behind in levels and had also lost both summoner spells. Even after returning to lane, it would be difficult for him to recover.

On top of that, Ailoli openly invaded the enemy jungle on his way past and took the Gromp, forcing WE’s bottom duo to play even more cautiously.

“We actually failed to catch him.”

Frustrated, Condi could only turn away from mid and head back toward his own raptor camp to vent his anger by farming it.

Then 957’s voice suddenly came through.

“You can gank top. You just showed on vision in mid, so Jayce will never expect you to come straight up here without stopping.”

Jayce was also pushed far up the lane. After seeing Elise fail in mid and burn Flash, he would naturally let his guard down. Going top now was indeed a rare opportunity.

“Got it. I’m coming right away.”

Condi abandoned the raptor camp, entered the river, and turned toward top lane.

He had no Flash, while Jayce still did.

If this gank failed as well, his early-game development and tempo would collapse completely. Even so, he chose to go without hesitation, unwilling to let even the slightest opportunity pass.

With the minion wave nearing the turret, A Guang—whose nerves had remained taut ever since taking down Jayce—did not dare linger. He planned to shove the wave in and immediately recall.

But fate had no intention of giving him that chance.

Elise appeared blatantly in the river vision.

A Guang instantly switched to hammer stance and accelerated backward, but because he had pushed so far up, he still found himself on the same horizontal line as the approaching spider.

Poppy had already activated her W and was closing in. If she latched onto him, he would never escape.

A flash of golden light appeared as A Guang decisively used Flash to retreat and create distance.

But the moment he landed, he found himself unable to move.

Looking down at the web binding his feet, A Guang realized through his tears that he had probably become the backdrop for an enemy jungler’s spectacular play.

I’m cooked...

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