Chapter 48: Seamlessly Switching and Tangling Everything Up

[Minion has footwork, god-tier.]
[Confirmed, the streamer is definitely a hater; the cat's out of the bag now.]
[Even my grandmother, who has suffered from a decade of cerebral thrombosis, couldn't pull off a play like that.]
[There's an impostor among us. Turns out it's our own sleeper agent, so everything's fine.]
[I'm dying. If the streamer can tilt Uzi on New Year's Day, you will forever be known as the God of Haters.]
[Good, good, good. Streamer, keep playing like this, and I'll gift you ten Super Swords.]
[Can you take this seriously? Is it really okay to grief Uzi like this on New Year's Day?]
[Are you even an Uzi fan? If you don't know how to play Thresh, just don't play.]
[Your Thresh isn't even worth a strand of my hair; why didn't you just obediently pick Lulu and let the Dog carry?]

Lin Ruo truly hadn't expected that such a minor, abstract play would drive the chat room into a frenzy.
Uzi's hardcore fans also began launching fierce attacks one after another.
That made no sense—Uzi was the one who invited him; how could he possibly grief the guy?

"Where are the moderators? Quickly ban the one threatening to send ten Super Swords. These little haters are getting a bit too arrogant; I make one tiny mistake and they immediately start trying to sow discord."

That was close—he almost accidentally made some money.
Straightening his posture slightly, Lin Ruo knitted his brows.
What on earth was this Alistar's problem? Relying on Caitlyn's superior range to steal level two, he actually started spamming the mastery emote in the neighboring bush.
His level-one hook was still trying its best; surely it wouldn't actually bamboozle the cow and earn him a mark as a certified clown?

Lin Ruo pondered, opting not to throw his hook, staying stupidly crouched in the bush and occasionally stepping out for a brief flash.
After executing a tiny trade against Caitlyn and ensuring the wave wouldn't crash into the tower, a smug Uzi turned around to look.
His support was hanging back like a dummy, refusing to come out and contest the wave or push for vision.

"Hey, don't tell me you got scared just because you missed one hook. You acting like this makes things really uncomfortable for me, you know."
Uzi's face flushed red instantly, feeling as though someone was putting pressure on him.

"Idol, don't panic. Either I don't strike, or when I do, it's nothing short of earth-shattering, guaranteed to feed you till you're stuffed."
Placifying him, Lin Ruo reached level three, immediately stepped out of the bush, and began pressing forward slightly.
The Alistar was still displaying mastery marks as usual, and Caitlyn showed no intention of backing off.
They were looking down on him way too much.

Before Lin Ruo even threw his hook, Alistar initiated with a Headbutt, rudely shoving him back into the bush.
"Good opportunity, hook the Alistar!" Uzi started issuing commands again.
Lin Ruo still didn't throw his hook; he didn't like eating beef.
However, Alistar kept positioning himself between Lin Ruo and Caitlyn, making it genuinely difficult to make a move.

Lin Ruo feigned a retreat, then unexpectedly caught the animation frame to fling out his chains.
The Alistar, who had just shifted position, completely failed to anticipate this, dodging the hook by a hair's breadth.
Caitlyn was chained...

With sharp eyes and swift hands, Lin Ruo tossed the lantern backward and pressed Q, his body drifting along with the chain.
Alistar took a few steps forward, attempting to CC the Vayne flying over with the lantern to turn the fight around.
What he failed to notice, however, was that Jarvan IV had already rushed in from the river.
Caitlyn noticed, immediately backing off to safety. As Thresh closed the gap, she decisively flashed, planning to use her E for another displacement and escape with her life.

Yet the moment Caitlyn flashed, she realized someone was keeping pace with her—moving even faster than she was, in fact.
As it turned out, Thresh, her steadfast backing, remained faithfully by her side through thick and thin.
Caitlyn fired her 90 Caliber Net, preparing to thrust herself backward.
With a sweeping motion reminiscent of autumn wind scattering fallen leaves, Thresh interrupted the animation with Flay, knocking her right back.

Jarvan followed up with a Flash EQ combo, and Caitlyn ultimately could not escape death.
Vayne executed a stylish E-Flash, turning the Alistar pinned against the wall into a delicious plate of lunchtime canned ham on the menu.

"Say something, haters!"
Having secured the play, Lin Ruo immediately ran his mouth in front of the screen, "Who was questioning whether the streamer is a true-beloved fan of Uzi? Step out and face trial in court!"

Uzi, connected via voice chat, had his ears nearly blown out, but he was secretly pleased and gently advised, "Bro, don't get so excited."
He believed there was no other man in the world who cherished and defended the status of a Dog fan quite like this.
It was even more genuine than a hardcore fan, and far more authenticated than the melon Liu Huaqiang demanded.

Lin Ruo spread his hands, wearing a helpless expression, "What can I do, idol? There are always haters trying to drive a wedge between us."
"It's fine, it's fine. I'll always trust you," Uzi patted his chest in guarantee.

Securing the kills, they backed to buy items, and upon returning to lane, the enemy duo could only despair helplessly beneath their tower.
"Puppy, come here quickly. There's a control ward in the tri-brush; I'm going to drop vision near the Red Buff, come eat it."
Thrilled from dominating the lane, Uzi was in high spirits, and upon hearing the call, he immediately turned around to clear the control ward.

A stroll around the tri-brush netted another dozen or so gold pieces.
Just as he prepared to return to delightfully farm minions, a fist the size of a sandbag crashed down unexpectedly.
Vi emerged from goodness knows what corner, locking him down with her ultimate and ruthlessly closing in for the beatdown.

Lin Ruo, who had just placed the ward, hurried back to the rescue.
However, before he had taken a few steps back, Ryze's teleportation portal sounded right on cue.
Damn it, this was a blatant four-man dive.
Originally intending to return and toss a lantern to save him, upon second thought, there was zero room for resuscitation.

Lin Ruo decisively chose to sell out his teammate and run for his life; once they killed Uzi, they wouldn't kill him, right?
"I'm done. They're coming for a four-man dive at just seven minutes." The enemy's over-the-top hospitality prompted Uzi, whose temper was notoriously fiery, to let out a complaint.

The hater-infested chat room instantly reached a climax once again.
[It's starting, the familiar flavor.]
[This right here, this is called planting a ward to lure the dog, law enforcement via dog-fishing.]
[Streamer did a great job, successfully tricking the washing-dog into taking the bait.]
[Did the streamer do it on purpose or by accident? Why make God go eat such a dangerous control ward?]
[Warning, the sleeper agent is back at work.]

"Hold on, what do you little haters mean by that?"
Slander, I'm going to sue you for slander.
Lin Ruo expressed his innocence.
He had clearly been working hard the entire time, protecting his idol's scaling, so how on earth did he mysteriously get slapped with the sleeper agent title again?
It wasn't like he had a God's-eye view; how was he supposed to know the enemy jungling duo would be lying in ambush?
All in all, he genuinely hadn't intended to grief Uzi this time.
A support yielding economy to an AD was the most normal thing in the world; he was simply feeding him a control ward.

Lin Ruo laughed in exasperation. Since the little haters were being unreasonable, he would just have to turn up the heat on them properly.
Upon returning to lane, he once again headed to the warded area behind the Red Buff.
The jungle camps had just respawned, and Vi was currently clearing them.

"Puppy, hurry over here, take your revenge! I'm getting revenge for you!"
Unaware that there was vision beneath her feet, Vi was leading the Red Buff toward the brush.
Lin Ruo landed a precise hook, flashed backward, and hurled his lantern from across the horizon, instantly pulling Vayne—who had just stepped out of the tri-brush—directly into the fray, serving up the female boxer for a severe beating.

The smiles swapped places; Uzi, having secured the kill, felt satisfied.
His compatriots in the chat, however, were displeased, with various remarks about "divine servants" and "being a dog" drifting past.
A short while later, Lin Ruo accidentally led Uzi into a failed tower dive, and the two of them returned to base together.

That damn Vi had a personal vendetta against him, making her permanent home in the bottom lane, ignoring top and jungle entirely, and camping them relentlessly.
The moment Uzi suffered a setback, the direction of the chat shifted at the speed of light, with "God-hater" memes flying everywhere.
Lin Ruo finally understood: as long as they played well, he was a divine servant; if they played poorly, he was a God-hater.
At this point, his brain truly felt completely fried.