Chapter 543

Both sides had a total kill count of four to two.

VG's economy was behind by less than a thousand, and they hadn't lost a single turret.

Such a small gap, any slight mistake would be instantly erased.

So after winning the team fight, G2 Zhong Ren didn't get overly excited; they remained tense, everyone keeping the utmost focus.

Perkz's voice would occasionally sound in the headset, reminding everyone not to let their guard down.

At the end of the team fight, among the three surviving G2 members, only Jankos's Mang Seng was in decent health, while Perkz and Zven were both low on health; whereas the two surviving VG members, although the Mantis's health was also low, the Orianna's condition was very good, still having the blue buff, and since the Mantis is a jungle champion, it could regain health by farming jungle.

Therefore, even though G2 had won the team fight, they didn't rashly proceed with the next attack, not even going for the dragon; instead they quickly returned to base to resupply and then headed out, solely to seize the initiative for the next round.

Both sides returned to lane to continue laning.

Both junglers simultaneously began to focus on Zhong Lu.

Whoever could fully control lane dominance would be able to seize the initiative to apply pressure on the side lanes.

If G2 took down the first turret, there was no doubt they would establish a huge early-game advantage; for this, Perkz began frequently probing with his equipment advantage, each minion wave making a restless posture, trying to weaken Easyhoon's vigilance, laying the groundwork for the actual strike.

Easyhoon, as a veteran with rich experience, was not so easily fooled; no matter how Perkz provoked and teased, he remained unmoving like a mountain.

Although Perkz had an advantage, once Orianna's level came up her wave-clear speed also became fast; Easyhoon made up his mind not to actively fight Perkz, only clearing lane with full effort while ensuring his own safety. As a result, Perkz, whose flash was still on cooldown, really had no way to deal with Easyhoon.

Of course, as the side with the advantage, Perkz held the initiative to attack.

At around 11 minutes, Perkz and Jankos ahead of time cleared VG's vision in the lower river, then Perkz returned to Zhong Lu to clear a wave of minions, after which he pretended to roam downwards.

Easyhoon's lane clear time was only a few seconds slower than Hu li's, and he followed toward the small path in the right Ye Qu, preparing to ward over the wall to reveal the river brush.

Just as Easyhoon entered the entrance of the small path, Perkz, who was not actually going into the brush but hiding under the river wall, calculated Orianna's lane clear time to predict his position, and suddenly a Soul Assault surged out from the shadows.

Bare-handed, all muscle, the Mang Seng closely followed.

Perkz's combo was extremely fast; although Easyhoon quickly reacted and gave himself a shield, he still lost half a bar of health from Perkz's RAWQAR combo.

Bold Easyhoon didn't panic, dashed away, and when Hu li's second stage of his big came close, he did not retreat to create distance but instead clung to Hu li and began to wildly twist.

This is the veteran's experience.

When the opponent is holding a non-targeted control skill, the safest thing for oneself is to stick to the opponent's movement rather than pulling distance to move, because when sticking close, the opponent finds it harder to judge movement direction and will easily whiff the skill.

Of course, the premise for doing this is that you must have support; otherwise you cannot pull distance and will still die in the end.

Of course, there is someone behind Easyhoon.

Then, when Perkz cast the second stage of his ultimate, a void mantis flapped its tiny wings and flew out from the shadows of the side lane, landing with a slap on Perkz's head.

Perkz had no choice but to change his plan, hastily throwing out Charm and then pulling distance with his third-stage ultimate.

As expected, that Charm was dodged by the Clockwork Devil's Footwork, and the Clockwork's condition was actually a bit better than Perkz's, with about half a health bar left, while Perkz took a full QW combo from Clockwork and the mantis's two claws, leaving his health just over one-third.

"Perkz pulled distance with his third-stage ultimate, Marquis retaliated with a big! But unfortunately it fell just short of reaching Perkz! And although Jankos was pulled, the next second he directly used a Golden Bell Shield to touch and meet his own Perkz, pulling distance!"

"Jiao Shen didn't continue chasing, because Shen's ultimate wasn't ready yet; knowing when to stop is the best outcome!"

"Wow, Marquis also has some guts, being able to hold back and not use Flash!"

"Hmm, if this Charm lands, you'll probably be one-shot by Mang Seng."

"Actually, whether you use it or not is fine; using it seeks stability, not using it is also okay as long as you don't die, because I still have Flash in hand while you have neither ultimate nor Flash, so the initiative will switch."

"That's right!"

"No, actually it's wildly wrong."

If using Flash could guarantee safety, Easyhoon wouldn't have hesitated even a bit at that moment and would have used it directly. So the problem is, unless you use Flash the instant the fox lands the first segment of its R to the face and pull far enough away, otherwise using Flash later would actually be more dangerous—because the fox still has two segments of R, and at that moment if Easyhoon uses Flash, the subtle distance makes it easier for the fox's Charm to land.

This sounds counterintuitive, but it's the experience Easyhoon, a veteran, gradually realized after being caught countless times, forming an almost instinctive operational mindset.

"Marquis's play this wave, I give it full marks."

Easyhoon's calm response earned Liang Yan's sincere praise.

This is indeed a very rare occurrence.

Easyhoon smiled embarrassedly and changed the subject awkwardly:

"The river crabs are about to respawn, do you want to eat?"

"Yeah, I'll eat."

"Then after we push this wave, we'll place vision downstream."

"Sure, while we're at it, let's ease Ma Ge's pressure."

Liang Yan, with his bodyguard, retook the vision in the lower river; afterward Easyhoon alone returned to mid lane to farm, while Liang Yan ate the freshly respawned river crabs and provided cover for the bottom lane, greatly easing Sima Laozei's lane pressure and giving the VG duo a chance to clear the wave and go home first.

Just as the second round was about to end completely, Fu Lan Duo used a big support to mid lane, launched an offensive, but ultimately still couldn't kill Perkz; Galio used his ultimate and saved him.

In this round, both sides erupted in two small skirmishes, exchanging several summoner spells, yet no kills were made; from lane to macro, they were evenly matched.

The mid and bottom lanes basically maintained high-pressure lane matchups, with no major leaks, and Liang Yan was very satisfied with this result.