Chapter 49: I have only ever seen the male gunner played as a dirty soldier

Lao Zhang's crow stood beside Liang Yan's crow, and the two danced facing each other.

Second Brother softly sang in Liang Yan's earpiece: "Suddenly the whole world~~begins to sway~~this time's strategy~~is full firepower~~full firepower hey ah~~"

"Brother, are you confident?"

Lao Zhang's voice suddenly pierced through the BGM and into Liang Yan's ears, speaking in Chinese.

Liang Yan was about to remind him when Ka Lao Si's voice already sounded from outside the earpiece:

"During the match, communication must be in English, don't speak Chinese!"

"Sorry, my my."

Lao Zhang hurriedly apologized.

This is a rule Ka Lao Si set long ago, not aimed at any particular person.

"Don't speak Chinese during the match, otherwise I will really deduct your wages."

Ka Lao Si again solemnly reminded, then walked away from behind Lao Zhang's back.

Lao Zhang secretly breathed a sigh of relief and gave an embarrassed smile toward Liang Yan.

An English version of "All units, advance!" rang out, startling the quiet canyon, and the battle officially began.

Liang Yan sent a signal to his Stone Armor Beetle camp:

"The bottom lane can be taken."

"What?!"

Zven was instantly startled.

The rest all looked over with faces full of fear.

Everyone present was a professional player, having spent some years in the canyon.

Since the male gunner was reworked, we have only ever seen the male gunner played as a dirty soldier.

But this male gunner who lets teammates eat the jungle monsters, they've really never seen before!

"Are you sure?"

Zven even doubted whether it was his auditory hallucination and couldn't help but want to confirm.

But then heard Liang Yan say:

"Sure, go ahead and eat."

He said it could be eaten...

He definitely said it could be eaten!

Zven gave himself a pep talk, ultimately feeling seven parts nervous and three parts grateful, standing with the support beside his Stone Armor Beetle camp in the lower area, waiting for the jungle monsters to respawn.

If one were to ask Liang Yan why he lets teammates eat the jungle monsters, there are two reasons.

First of all, it's because the Jhin + Morgana bottom lane combo has the ability to eat a set of jungle monsters before going online.

Morgana's W skill deals considerable damage when fully landed.

Liang Yan estimated that if he let Mithy's Morgana alone take the damage, they would only need to lose about one-third of their health to take down a set of Stone Armor Beetles, and after eating they would lose at most the experience of two to three frontline minions when going back online.

Although Riot had reduced the base experience of jungle monsters, they did not set up a strict penalty for laning heroes stealing jungle, meaning laning heroes who jungle still gain the full monster experience, just without the smite bonus.

After an AD alone gains the experience from a set of Stone Armor Beetles, going online they only need to eat one minion's experience to reach level two.

This assistance is extremely huge for high-pressure lanes.

If the opposing side is not careful enough, they might even be counter-killed due to misjudging the timing of their level-up, a phenomenon that frequently occurs in ranked play.

As for the second reason, Liang Yan never intended to be a major jungler, even though the male gunner's hero role allows him to comfortably jungle in the early game.

Moreover, Liang Yan's chosen jungle route for this game goes from top to bottom; after he clears along the way and eats the red buff, the Stone Armor Beetles will actually respawn not long after.

So as long as they have that ability, letting teammates eat a set of jungle monsters at the start is a sure-profit deal for the whole team.

"I really ate it, huh?"

As the jungle monsters were about to respawn, Zven asked again, and only after receiving permission from the jungler big brother did he fire a shot, with Morgana following up by splashing a patch of sticky substance.

On the upper area side, the Magic Swamp Frogs respawned in sync.

The punishment light fell.

Graves simultaneously raised his shotgun, the dark muzzle aiming at the hopping Magic Swamp Frogs charging over.

With a bang, in the explosive roar of the shotgun blast, all four pellets struck the plump Magic Swamp Frog.

After the bullets left the barrel, the male gunner slid toward the wall and raised his hand for another shot.

The ordinary male gunner's E skill, which resets the auto-attack after wall-cancel, when executed by Liang Yan feels exceptionally smooth, beyond what an average person can achieve.

Lao Zhang stood nearby, helping output; seeing the Magic Swamp Frog's health about depleted, he signaled the top lane, preparing to return to lane.

"Alright, you may go."

Liang Yan said while stepping back two steps, maintaining the perfect distance to let the Magic Swamp Frog switch its aggro, then in the instant the Frog turned to chase Lao Zhang down the bottom lane, he followed with a slide after a quick draw, firing two shots, exactly emptying its health at the moment its patience was about to run out.

"Your jungle clearing is too artistic, buddy."

Lao Zhang watched Liang Yan's jungle operations; even though he had seen them many times before, he still couldn't help but praise.

"If you're unskilled, just practice more; mastery comes from familiarity."

Liang Yan shamelessly accepted Lao Zhang's praise, and moreover pretended to be cool—by fluently spouting a string of high-level English vocabulary.

Unfortunately, Lao Zhang didn't understand the latter half, so Liang Yan's pretense failed.

After eating the toad, he started hitting the blue buff; a maximum-range cast of Desperate Path was launched, and the incendiary shell burst into splendid fire upon hitting the wall.

The vision at the river's edge had already disappeared; Liang Yan pulled out the blue buff monster to fight, to prevent the Mang Seng from coming over the wall with Q.

But even after Liang Yan finished the blue buff, the Mang Seng still did not appear.

Liang Yan signaled the bottom lane to tell the duo to be careful, then proceeded from the wolf camp to the lower area to clear.

Although the male gunner has some crowd‑control ability, it lacks any hard‑control that restricts movement (the slow from smoke grenades is soft control), so before items are built its pick‑off capability is weak, thus early game it mainly just farms.

Liang Yan, however, is a different sort.

As he ran to F6, he began giving tips to Zhong Lu:

"Lu Ka, use a bit more mana."

"Want to come gank?" AP asked.

Liang Yan said, "Hmm."

AP said, "OK."

Liang Yan added: "Don't get it wrong—I mean you should use a bit more of your own mana, not the enemy's."

"What?"

AP indeed got it wrong, looking very surprised.

"Lower his psychological defenses."

Liang Yan said, clicking the mouse on the character portrait and marking a signal.

AP fell silent, probably thinking.

After a while.

When Liang Yan started clearing F4, AP apparently figured it out and finally answered.

Liang Yan didn't know whether he truly understood or just pretended, and couldn't be certain AP had that ability; anyway, it was like a fisherman idly passing a pond, casting a line regardless of whether there were fish.

Not catching anything doesn't matter; anyway, it doesn't affect his own rhythm.

That's how Liang Yan planned it.

Before killing the red buff, he switched screens again to glance at Zhong Lu.

Hey, don't say it, really don't say it—even Bilsen, known for his steady laning style, took the bait; his champion's position wasn't far from the midline!

And looking at the minion wave position, AP was intentionally or unintentionally drawing the minion clash point toward the lower river, coordinating quite excellently!

Genius! This is a natural-born actor!

Liang Yan rejoiced, ate a red buff with a punishment, directly 【Quick Draw】 bursting through the jungle camp's wall, picked up his gun and ran toward Zhong Lu.