Chapter 52: Why Do You Keep Staring at My Road?

The atmosphere was slightly subtle.

The two top-side players looked at each other, wide-eyed.

Playing Jayce while pairing with an Ivern who couldn't protect the jungle early game felt like a situation requiring manual customer service.

"With you playing like this, it's really hard for me to come top and make plays," Ailoli said bluntly.

Though feeling a bit insecure inside, Mouse still put on a front on the surface: "Just kidding with you. Do you really think I couldn't pressure a Fiora early game? If their Rek'Sai dares to step into our top jungle, I'll eat her raw."

Lin Ruo's gaze shifted back and forth between the two of them, then retracted.

As expected, Ailoli finally brought this question up to him.

Lin Ruo immediately retorted: "That Vietnamese bandit loves to invade, why don't you counter-invade to punish him? What are you even thinking about? Can't you be half as smart as your big brother?"

"Can Ivern's invades actually work?" Ailoli's brain cells genuinely seemed a bit sluggish.

Lin Ruo calmed his mind and smiled slightly: "Have you ever heard of 'relying on the master's power to bully others'?"

Since invades were destined to happen, changing the jungle pathing route was undoubtedly the best solution.

Besides, with the bot lane guaranteed to push, Lin Ruo felt that Ailoli could completely focus on clearing the bot jungle and then invade to establish vision.

You invade mine, I invade yours—whether you can actually get anything out of it depends purely on skill.

Trying to avoid it meant you'd run into it sooner or later anyway.

Moreover, giving up the jungle meant losing regardless of whether you tried to dodge or not.

Hearing this, Ailoli fell into a contemplative posture, as if a whole new world had suddenly opened up in his mind.

As the draft concluded, both team compositions were locked in.

Blue Side EDG: Top Jayce the Defender of Tomorrow, Jungle Ivern the Green Father, Mid Orianna the Lady of Clockwork, Bot Jhin the Virtuoso, Support Zyra the Rise of the Thorns.

Red Side Snake: Top Fiora the Grand Duelist, Jungle Rek'Sai the Void Burrower, Mid Corki the Daring Bombardier, Bot Varus the Arrow of Retribution, Support Thresh the Chain Warden.

Amidst a wave of one-sided cheers, both sides officially entered the game, beginning their journey across the Canyon.

Leaving the fountain, Ailoli guarded the upper river bush as usual.

Rek'Sai did not appear at the river entrance. Ailoli pinged a few warning signals and hurried down to the lower jungle.

His original plan was to plant his passive on the three camps in the top jungle, use Smite on the red buff in the bot jungle to reach level two, and then transition back top for a fast level-four pathing routine.

Now, he changed his direction.

Throwing his Q skill over the wall to enter the Raptors camp, he planted his bright, glowing circular passive, then hurried toward his next target: the red buff.

After similarly planting his passive there, he rushed away without stopping a beat; he needed to go to the top jungle, Smite the blue buff to reach level two, and then come back.

Watching the opening jungle paths of both teams, Guan Zeyuan began: "Ailoli has chosen to spend his Smite on the blue buff, which means his focus this game is still heavily on the bot lane."

"As for Snake, SoFM chose a blue buff start. The bot lane couldn't secure wave control at level one, so their duo lane simply gave up trading and came over directly to help leash the buff."

"So are they looking to make plays in the top lane? The two sides seem to have chosen completely different directions."

"SoFM, are you going top?" In Snake's voice chat, Crystal哥, acting as the shotcaller, asked the exact same question.

SoFM shook his head directly: "Not going. Once I finish clearing my bot jungle, I'll go check out their Raptors."

Crystal哥 fell silent for a moment and hummed an acknowledgment.

Ivern would most likely clear from bottom to top, so he probably wouldn't think about making plays in the bot lane where the enemy had early wave control.

Invading was also an option; both counter-jungling and ganking presented opportunities.

The camera shifted to the bot lane. Facing the incoming minion wave, the EDG duo did not rashly try to shove the wave. Instead, they managed their positioning to let the minions fight normally while waiting for the enemy heroes to return to lane.

Possessing absolute control over the bot wave, Lin Ruo and Tianye were primarily focused on shoving the wave while simultaneously extracting efficient health-trading advantages against the enemy.

In the blink of an eye, the camera abruptly panned to the top lane.

The two top laners had already begun trading fiercely before even reaching level two.

Jayce stepped out of the tri-bush, landing an auto-attack to try and force Fiora out of the experience zone. To his surprise, Fiora had a fiery temper and instantly turned back, lunging forward with a Lunge.

Retreating back into the bush, facing the relentlessly pursuing Fiora, Jayce executed a close-range Q followed by auto-attacks, then switched to cannon form while hugging the wall to move and prevent exposing any vitals.

Both popped their health potions, skirmishing all the way into the middle brush. After a brief exchange of blows, Fiora finally triggered her first vital.

Under the extra true damage, Jayce's health bar rapidly plummeted into a disadvantageous state.

The second vital refreshed right in front of her, and Fiora, granted a burst of movement speed, rapidly closed the distance.

Jayce switched back to cannon form for the movement speed buff and hurriedly retreated back into the first brush.

A flash of golden light—Fiora flashed into the bush ahead of time, successfully triggering the second vital in front of him.

With Jayce's health bar on the verge of depletion, he hurriedly flashed back before his turret.

Fiora followed up with a single auto-attack, watching helplessly as Jayce scuttled in panic back under the safety of his turret.

At the caster desk, Guan Zeyuan exclaimed in regret: "So close! A level-one Q cooldown is still too long, otherwise if Landlord Fiora had stepped to the side to proc that third vital, she really would have secured First Blood."

Jie De nodded: "Landlord played too aggressively. Trading flashes and forcing Jayce to burn his Teleport to get back to lane—this play was definitely a profit. Mouse took a slight disadvantage right at the start."

"How did you end up getting beaten up like that? You're supposed to space them!" Lin Ruo called out across the screen from the bot lane.

A mouse rubbed his neck and scratched his head: "I was genuinely spacing! If you don't believe me, go check the replay; I was constantly trying to block the vitals. Who knew her close-range damage would be this high?"

"Replay my ass, your big brother watched the live broadcast crystal clear. You literally walked out of the bush and shoved your face right into her, as if you were terrified Fiora couldn't reach you with her Q. If that first Q had hit a vital, you'd already be lying flat on the ground right now."

A mouse's face instantly turned red, and his tone faltered: "Come on, aren't you supposed to be laning bot? Why are you staring at my top lane?"

"Never mind that, just play well. Either way, I'll be keeping a close eye on you," Lin Ruo said out of nowhere.

A mouse couldn't help but turn his head, leaning back to glance far across at Lin Ruo's monitor.

One look almost gave him a myocardial infarction.

Lin Ruo was frantically switching screens—auto-attacking a minion, switching screens; moving a step, switching screens; looking top for a second, looking at the jungle the next.

Damn it, was he out here trying to cosplay Faker?

Could you even play the lane properly like that?

Checking the tab panel and seeing that the bot lane was comfortably up in CS, A mouse instantly fell silent and obediently shut his mouth.

While playing Varus with effortless ease, the guy still had spare time to switch screens and monitor other lanes.

Meanwhile, he was sweating bullets playing Fiora and had to recall to base at level one.

In the official livestream chat, the trolls had already begun their sneering commentary:

[What is Mouse even doing? Picking Jayce and playing like this.]

[If you don't have the skills, don't play him. Wouldn't it be better to honestly play a tank and soak up damage?]

[And you even have the nerve to call yourself the Light of Domestic Top Laners. You must be blind; getting driven back to base at level one.]

[Haha, the No.1 Domestic Top Laner utterly destroys the Light of Domestic Top Laner. Fitting and proper.]

[Do you believe in the Light? I believe my ass.]

[Let's go, Landlord Fiora! Slam this pig team and rid the world of pests!]

[The pig fans' doomsday is coming. Don't tell me you actually thought Landlord would let you play a tank.]

"I'm invading, bot lane keep an eye out."

Having cleared the red buff and reached level three, Ailoli stepped on a blast cone and wobbled leisurely into the dragon pit.

At the same time, SoFM burrowed through a tunnel into the river.

The two completely missed each other, each wandering into the enemy's jungle.