Chapter 175: Dark under the lamp!

By the time AP's ward vanished, Xiao Huasheng's spider still hadn't appeared at the red buff camp, making it clear that Xiao Huasheng had opted for the full‑clear jungle route in the upper half, and he was likely clearing the three wolves at that moment.

Liang Yan made up his mind.

He raised his hand to ping an attack signal on Syndra's head and spoke in the team channel:

"Lu Ka, fake it a bit—I'll catch him at level three."

"There's a ward here."

AP marked the grass patch on the right side of the river in mid lane.

"I know."

Liang Yan replied in a sentence, but didn't say to cancel the move; right after clearing the three wolves he slipped from the wolf pit's bottom, ward‑jumped through the wall.

The director happened to catch this scene.

"What?!"

The casters' eyes widened instantly.

A guest player from the North America region sitting nearby was equally shocked:

"What does that mean—warding while running? Does the Blind Monk even play like that?"

"It's all about racing against time."

The audience burst into laughter.

On the big screen,

Mang Seng ran the shortest route to the river, then dashed straight across, went uphill, and kept close to the wall behind the blue team's F4, feeling his way to Syndra's back.

At that moment, Liang Yan and Xiao Huasheng, who had just entered the F4 brush, could be said to have brushed past each other.

Only a couple of seconds apart, the spider failed to see Mang Seng coming up from the river.

Xiao Huasheng walked a few steps forward and placed a ward in the brush behind the red buff.

But Liang Yan had already passed by.

At that moment, Xiao Huasheng only needed to take two steps left to see Mang Seng crouched by the wall, but he didn't; instead he turned back, headed for the red buff, and placed the ward—obviously to stop Mang Seng from invading via the river to steal the red, since G2's bot lane had lane priority.

Such a tiny blind spot in vision was blocked by Liang Yan.

Figure: Jungle path and vision situation

The casters who had just been laughing hysterically were suddenly shocked:

"Jeez! He not only dodged Kuro's ward, but also avoided Peanut's scout! Nobody noticed his move—it's practically magic!"

"OMG, that's amazing!"

The audience grew restless.

Meanwhile, in the LPL broadcast studio, the three commentators shouted, "Dark under the lamp!"

Wawa's voice was full of shock:

"You're saying he really calculated that? This guy is way too exaggerated!!"

"He must have calculated it; otherwise there's no point wasting a ward just to run."

"How outrageous! It's completely dark under the lamp! Kuro didn't even sense the deadly danger right beside him!"

"Syndra could actually engage here, but he's still crouching!"

"What on earth is he waiting for?!"

The answer appeared in the next moment.

Syndra cast a Q to finish off the last two low‑health minions, preparing to retreat, but that spell drained his mana almost to zero, leaving him unable to use any skills for a short time—including the E that keeps enemies at bay, 【Weakness Dispel】.

At that moment, Liang Yan struck.

Mang Seng had no wards on him, so he opened with a single 【Heavenly Sound Wave】.

The light wave flew from behind the wall at a projectile speed of 1,800 units per second, heading for Kuro, who was only five to six hundred units from the wall.

In the blink of an eye, the wave reached Syndra's face.

Smack!

"Hit!!!"

"Kuro's flash was a beat slow and got tagged by Heavenly Sound Wave!"

"Jiao Shen flew straight in!"

"Syndra's mana was empty, so he couldn't push anyone off and had to use his dash to run toward the tower!"

"The vampire can't keep up the damage!"

"Jiao Shen didn't keep chasing!"

"Syndra made it back safely under the tower!"

The broadcast chat filled with "WTF".

Kuro waited behind the tower to recall, wiped his forehead, and came away with a hand full of cold sweat.

He glanced at the right side of mid lane—vision everywhere—then looked at Xiao Huasheng, who had taken two steps toward mid then turned back to keep hitting the red buff, and asked doubtfully:

"How did this guy get here?"

Xiao Huasheng, also a top‑tier jungler, had of course realized by then that Mang Seng was exploiting a timing gap to slip past the wards and had silently appeared behind Kuro.

He pinged a path and explained:

"He clears jungle faster than I do, so he must have timed his way around."

He paused, then couldn't help adding:

"Be careful—this guy is really strong."

Kuro remained silent.

That line sounded a bit familiar, as if Xiao Huasheng had said it before; perhaps he hadn't taken it to heart earlier, so the impression wasn't strong.

But at this moment, Kuro finally began to take it seriously.

"This gank was indeed brilliant, but unfortunately it only landed Kuro's double summon without killing anyone—there was gain, but not much."

"Yes, this round of rushing and ganking probably wasted about half a minute, which still has a certain effect on Mang Seng's jungle rhythm."

After ganking mid lane, Liang Yan went straight to farm the river crabs.

Meanwhile, the spider had already started farming the red buff.

When Liang Yan finished the remaining two jungle camps in the lower half and recalled, the spider also followed, eating the upper river crab in the upper river lane before recalling.

The two recalled almost simultaneously.

But the red side's Stone Armor Beetle hadn't moved.

Therefore, Mang Seng's jungle progress was one monster camp behind the spider's.

They were the same level, both level four, but Xiao Huasheng had the experience of one extra monster camp.

After Kuro in mid lane was caught once, he became much more cautious in lane, preferring not to push and giving no openings; if he could safely get through this period without flash, it would be equivalent to losing nothing this round—instead, it was Mang Seng who lost tempo…

But how could Liang Yan not have a follow‑up?

After leaving base, he cleared from top to bottom, placed a true sight in the blue side's Triangular Grass in bottom lane and removed the ward ROX had originally placed there; then Liang Yan glanced at the top‑lane minion state, calculated the spider's timing, and judged that he could just counter‑jungle off this top‑lane push, so he exchanged a few words with Lao Zhang, telling Lao Zhang to push a bit slower, while he himself instantly recalled to base.

He headed to the upper river lane, and after taking the second respawning river crab there, Lao Zhang had just pushed the minion wave to the Na'er Tower; Liang Yan greeted Lao Zhang and then slipped into the gap in the blue buff jungle.

After entering, he hugged the wall opposite the blue buff camp, swept the ward over the wall, and as the mist behind the wall was pushed aside, Xiao Huasheng's spider and the plump Magic Swamp Frog appeared before him.

Liang Yan was quick‑eyed and quick‑handed; the instant he landed he slammed a 【Heavenly Thunder Break】 down, then threw two punches at the spider's bulky rear and kicked out a 【Heavenly Sound Wave】.

At this moment, the blue side's top laner Na'er was busy clearing a big wave of minions that Kai Nan had slow‑pushed into the tower, while Kai Nan had disappeared from the lane.

Xiao Huasheng received a top‑lane miss alert from Smeb and knew that Kai Nan was on his way.

That was already a level‑six Kai Nan.