Chapter 20: Losing a Pack of Five and Letting Someone Escape—Do You Even Know How to Play?

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“You’re squatting there like a clown!”

Watching the excavator leave dejectedly, Mouse happily began to dance beneath the tower.

Unfortunately, the dancing hero wasn’t the Pig Sister, so the effect wasn’t as dramatic.

“Never had such a perfect start,” Mouse murmured again as he leisurely recalled the earlier praise while heading back to base.

Today was truly a wonderful day.

Meanwhile, silence in the IG training room was so intense you could hear a pin drop.

Juggling multiple roles, Rookie rubbed his forehead, realizing that if he didn’t get to work now, it would be another day of clocking out early.

At the ninth minute of the game, Rookie, now level eight, observed the Clockwerk moving towards the upper half of the jungle, deducing with high probability that he was going for the blue buff.

This meant that the Mantis was currently in the blue side jungle, likely planning to start the Rift Herald at the ten-minute mark.

The bot lane was vulnerable—this was an opportunity not to be missed!

“Let’s go, Kid is coming bottom.”

Calling the jungler, the two entered the red buff area from F6, charging straight into the Stone Beetle zone.

EDG’s bot duo sensed the danger and hurriedly retreated under their tower.

To be safe, Rookie warded the minion wave path in front of EDG’s second tower, and as expected, a teleport came through.

The big tree arrived too.

The entire IG squad was assembled, determined to avenge their previous disgrace.

What a thrilling welcome ceremony for the LPL.

Meiko, who had just taken a few steps forward, sulked back under the tower.

The path back to the second tower was cut off.

Due to IG’s bot lane being pushed, the minion wave hadn’t yet reached the tower but was approaching quickly.

Titan’s teleport on top lane was still on cooldown, and mid lane Clockwerk had Cleanse equipped. Facing such a massive five-man collapse, even divine intervention would be powerless.

“No escape now, save your skills,” Tianye said calmly, sheltering beneath the tower.

“Using ultimate to clear minions might work too; maybe fewer minions can buy a kill,” he added.

Lin Ruo ignored his rambling from start to finish.

Tianye was a little puzzled, but the next moment, a flicker of golden light flashed in his eyes.

Then Jhin’s figure swiftly slipped through the wall, limping as he dashed toward the tri-brush.

With healing and speed boost, plus the special shoes, Fleet Footwork, he ran like the wind.

Tianye was stunned.

Varus and the bounty hunter who had just pushed the wave into the tower were equally stunned.

Especially the bounty hunter, Baolan—he had been just about to block the entrance.

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The hail of bullets that came a moment too late failed to slow him down.

The most foolish was Rookie, who had arrived at the brush just in time to see the rune circle beneath his feet gleaming.

He had just activated his tower-diving ultimate a second ago, only to watch helplessly as Jhin flashed out of the tower and dashed straight toward the tri-brush.

They passed each other.

He went in the tower, Jhin came out of it...

“Damn it, don’t let him get away!” Kid’s urgent voice echoed through the training room.

IG’s bot duo immediately turned around: one chased through the tri-brush, the other along the river path.

Clear vision revealed Jhin was heading along the river path toward mid lane.

A very clever move.

From the tri-brush, he would descend along the dragon pit wall to the area behind the red buff.

Neither Ryze nor the excavator could afford to flash or wall-jump to block the rear path.

In the endless river path of the bot lane, Jhin’s silhouette grew more distant, already making his escape.

A three-hundred gold Grass Shoes could not compare to a fully built Fleet Footwork that granted bonus movement speed.

Marge stopped shortly after pursuit, sulking.

Baolan chased briefly with his W skill but had to give up, secretly regretting not having flash.

If he had flash, he could have followed Jhin’s flash out of the tower and fired the bullet rain to slow him down, surely keeping him in place.

But there’s no “if” in League of Legends.

Under the overwhelming five-man gank, they finally secured the kill on EDG’s support Meiko.

Rookie accepted the kill with a sullen face.

No one on IG was happy.

Top and mid lanes were left unattended; the Rift Herald was conceded.

Such a huge sacrifice yielded only the so-called support kill.

They lost even their underwear.

At this moment, Kid, still harboring resentment, fixed his gaze once again on the bot duo.

Undoubtedly, it was still the bot lane’s fault for the misplay.

The lineup that was supposed to push the wave failed, the minion wave entered the tower too slowly, allowing Jhin to escape.

If the minion wave had pushed earlier and sealed off the tri-brush entrance, their opponent would have been trapped.

“I really can’t stand this,” Kid complained again.

Baolan dared not say anything, silently sharing the frustration with the AD carry.

“Don’t worry, there will be other chances,” Rookie tried to console.

In truth, with their mid and early game performance like this, facing the disciplined and well-prepared EDG, their chances of winning were slim to none.

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...

“Tianye, what did you just say?”

Having just escaped to mid lane and helping Scout take a couple of tower shots, Lin Ruo, who had been slowly heading back to base, finally recalled the support’s parting words and turned to ask.

Tianye shook his head weakly. “Nothing much. Just remember to take me with you next time you run.”

“You won’t be able to keep up anyway. You’re better off dying honestly under the tower.”

Lin Ruo bluntly pointed this out, then with a smile asked, “Do you have Heal?”

“No.”

“Then did you buy Fleet Footwork?”

...

“Didn’t buy either. You can’t even run half as well as this crippled guy. You’ll still die if you leave the tower.”

“Besides, it was thanks to you distracting the enemies under the tower that the escape plan succeeded. You deserve half the credit, truly heroic.”

Lin Ruo gave a thumbs-up, then patted his shoulder sideways: “Good death, support.”

Tianye had nothing to say.

It was definitely good that the AD carry escaped, but disappearing without a word and leaving teammates all alone under the tower—somehow, it hurt more than he expected.

The game remained deadlocked until the thirtieth minute, with EDG maintaining the advantage they had built early on.

A decisive Baron teamfight ended with a flawless five-for-zero, forcing IG to surrender in all chat.

Ailoli gleefully reviewed their performance in the match. Not only did he secure the first blood, but he also controlled the dragon and Rift Herald flawlessly.

Mid-game, he and Clockwerk coordinated several plays in the jungle to accelerate the pace, staying active every minute.

Facing the others with a grin, he almost openly invited praise.

Akguang stood up, patted Ailoli on the shoulder, but said nothing, instead walking over to Lin Ruo: “Great job, Lin Ruo! We followed your calls the entire time; we didn’t give the opponent a single chance.”

“And your nine-minute escape at bottom was amazing—I was totally stunned.”

Tianye took off his glasses and wiped them. Although reluctant to admit it, he had to concede: “You command better than I do. You should be the main shot-caller from now on.”

When Mingkai was around, the jungler was the team’s shot-caller, and Tianye was the deputy.

Logically, with Mingkai gone, Tianye should have stepped up, and both Abu and Nei agreed.

But it seemed Lin Ruo was indeed better suited for the role. His judgments, situational analysis, and coordination of all lanes were spot on.

Still, having the AD carry do shot-calling left Tianye feeling there was something off.

That was one of his grudges.