Chapter 540: Spiritual Ambush

Perkz turned to look at his own screen, thought for a moment, then suddenly the corner of his mouth revealed a meaningful smile:

"Can I get an Ahri?"

Tang Anna blinked slightly, then nodded:

"Sure. I'll assign you a Mang Seng for jungle."

"Thank you so much."

Thus G2 double-picked Fox and Mang Seng, locking the lineup.

Afterwards, VG locked in the last hero on the fifth pick, Voidreaver·Kha'Zix.

Both sides' lineups are locked.

G2, Blue Side

Ban: Crocodile, Darius, Jayce; Card, Kennen

Top lane: Expect, Galio

Jungle: Jankos, Mang Seng

Mid lane: Perkz, Ahri

Bot lane: Zven, Rat

Support: Mithy, Lulu

Coach: Ana

VG, Red Side

Ban: Syndra, Katarina, Gunner; Thresh, Lion Dog

Top lane: Flandre, Shen

Jungle: Firrrrrre, Kha'Zix

Mid lane: Easyhoon, Orianna

Bot lane: Smlz, Varus

Support: Caveman, Karma

Coach: Loong

The stage lights above the player seats dimmed slowly, like the silence before a play begins.

The players from both sides began their final checks—whether runes were mismatched, whether summoner spells were correct—then the countdown ended and the match entered the map loading phase.

During this time, both coaches left their seats, walking along a faint guideline on the stage floor to the center of the stage, which lies at the middle of the entire venue.

The two coaches shook hands under a spotlight.

During this brief one- or two-second contact, Zhu Xiaolong curiously lifted his head to glance at this beautiful coach who had some gossip with his own thigh.

Meanwhile, Tang Anna's gaze swept past Zhu Xiaolong's shoulder toward the VG players' seats, taking just a quick glance before snapping back, unnoticed by anyone.

The person she wanted to look at was staring at the screen, considering the tactics of both teams' lineups, his side profile showing a focused, undistracted expression.

Afterward, the stage lights went out completely.

Tang Anna imperceptibly took a shallow deep breath, then clipped her notebook and turned, walking quickly backstage.

Immediately afterward, the arena lights also dimmed.

The Rio Olympic Stadium was split by dim lighting into two clearly distinct areas: one side deep-sea blue, the other volcanic red.

The spectators began to shout, the G2 fans' voices completely drowning out the VG fans' cheers, the entire venue filled with uniform chants of 'G2!'

"Welcome to Summoner's Rift!"

The moment Summoner's Rift appeared on the big screen, the entire audience erupted in wave-like cheers.

Easyhoon sat in the center of the VG players' bench, pulled out a soft cloth from his pocket, took off his glasses, and wiped them.

Sima Laozei sat beside Easyhoon, staring expressionlessly at the screen.

Xiao Duan, seated on the far right, was shaking his leg to relieve his tension.

Fu Lan Duo, seated on the far left, would occasionally turn her head to look right.

Liang Yan kept his contemplative expression.

The game time skipped ahead 15 seconds, and the air wall blocking the spring disappeared.

The heroes, having already bought their starting items, rushed out quickly, each heading to their respective lanes to defend their positions in unison.

Monsters respawned; both junglers started in the upper half, but their clearing paths diverged after the second monster camp: Liang Yan's mantis went straight down after finishing F6, while Jankos's Mang Seng chose to clear the entire upper half.

One river crab each on top and bottom, then they simultaneously moved toward the middle lane.

Both junglers nearly simultaneously entered the river bushes on either side of the mid lane, while both mid laners started to show off, but this engagement was like an undercurrent underwater, never surfacing.

Both junglers crouched in the grass for a while, then after the third wave of minions in mid lane was cleared, each left and returned to their own jungle to continue clearing.

The minion waves on all three lanes were stalemated; nobody wanted to push past the river midline to give the enemy jungler an opportunity, yet they also refused to let the enemy fully control lane pressure, lest they be pinned by the minion wave and unable to assist.

The first intense skirmish between the sides broke out around six and a half minutes.

Perkz took the initiative, using Soul Assault to lunge at Easyhoon's face; after expending both ultimate casts and his QW, Orianna lost a large chunk of health.

However, Easyhoon kept his composure, gripping his flash tightly and only using a speed boost, moving erratically.

Perkz finally couldn't hold back his charm, but his prediction failed; Easyhoon easily twisted it aside and then began to counterattack.

At the same time, Liang Yan's mantis leapt from the lower river bush; Perkz released his final ultimate to pull toward the upper river, Easyhoon followed with his ball to prepare a big pull, but Olaf also surged from the upper side path, forcing Easyhoon's movement.

Perkz took Easyhoon's counterattack combo and also lost half his health bar.

At that health level, a full mantis combo could kill instantly, but Liang Yan didn't rush to flash, instead stepping forward a few more steps until Galio finally unleashed his ultimate, at which point he stopped pursuing.

Seeing no immediate opportunity, Easyhoon simply cleared a big wave of minions, then retreated under the turret to recall.

Both junglers returned to the jungle once more.

Just then, a sudden change occurred.

Before the Zhong Lu battle erupted, Xia Lu also had a small skirmish; adding to the accumulated friction from earlier clashes, after the duel both sides' duo's health dropped to about one-third. Afterwards, after both sides cleared the current minion wave, they disappeared from each other's vision.

VG's duo had indeed recalled to base; I thought the other side had done the same, but I didn't expect G2's duo to sneak off and kill a group of Stone Armor Beetles, causing Zven's rat to hit level six early, after which Zven sneaked over to Zhong Lu.

When the rat appeared before VG's first tower, Easyhoon, who had retreated behind the tower to recall, was browsing Taobao……

This recall position was already safe enough; Easyhoon never expected someone to be so painstakingly plotting to take his head.

When the edge of the screen flashed red, it was already too late for Easyhoon to react.

With a clang, green poison gas exploded beneath the clockwork's feet; the ghostly figure of Teemo emerged from the air with a strange cackle, unleashing his ultimate in a frenzied spray.

When Easyhoon switched his view back, the health bar above the clockwork's head was down to the last sliver. Easyhoon knew he was doomed and ultimately did not use his flash.