Chapter 637: Mid-Jungle Rift

Ai Luoli stared at her own spider corpse lying in the river, eyes fixed on the grayed-out screen for two seconds, her lips twitching as she wanted to speak but held back.

He felt his play was fine in that fight—he landed his cocoon, dodged the Prince's EQ with his flight, did everything he should have—but because Scout's damage was too low and slow, Zzitai was delayed too long, ending in a one-for-one trade, whose fault was obvious at a glance.

Although fans jokingly called Ai Luoli EDG's second prince, her actual standing in the team was far below Scout, who had firmly become EDG's pillar of strength; despite her resentment, she could only mutter:

"If mid lane had followed up earlier, the Enchantress would definitely die."

Scout didn't even glance at Ai Luoli, cast his Recall, returned to mid lane, quickly cleared a wave of minions, then hid behind the tower to recall; only after landing in the fountain, buying his items, and heading out did he blandly reply to Ai Luoli:

"Followed."

"... Followed a bit slow, huh."

"Slow?"

Scout turned his head sideways, glanced at Ai Luoli, his expression tinged with sarcasm,

"I stopped using Flash, because we shouldn't have engaged this fight."

"I landed my cocoon..."

"From that far away, is it useful? You say, is it useful? Did your damage land? Can you kill?"

"My cocoon wasn't a hit..."

"I don't want to talk to you, you understand, there's a problem."

Scout coldly cut him off.

"..."

Mouse didn't get involved in the mid-jungle argument, off to the side clacking the spacebar, but his expression felt even more awkward than Ai Luoli's.

Meiko also stayed silent. Not because she didn't want to speak, but she knew that getting involved in a mid-jungle quarrel was best avoided by others, and even better not to mention it to A Bu, or the problem would worsen.

After a long silence, Meiko finally muttered:

"Let's just farm; we can still fight."

On VG's side, Zi Tai started his antics again.

"My my my, if I hadn't turned back I could have killed for a profit, guys—I messed up, my fault, my fault..."

"Hmm."

Liang Yan gave a faint reply,

"Take it slow—you're not familiar with Enchantress yet; in later team fights just stay behind and follow whoever we engage, don't overthink it."

"Okay, okay!"

Zi Tai nodded like a chick pecking at grain.

He actually hoped Liang Yan would scold him a couple times, but Liang Yan didn't say a word, which instead made Zi Tai uneasy, as if a sword hung over his head, ready to fall at any moment...

Liang Yan actually knew Zzitai's thoughts, but deliberately kept him hanging, using this to force Zzitai to reflect on himself.

Fu Lan Duo and Xiao Duan clung to Liang Yan like intestinal worms, and Fu Lan Duo, having personally undergone his conditioning, knew all his little tricks; thus they also didn't comfort Zzitai, instead holding in their spite and watching the show.

As for Ma Ge, don't expect him to voice comfort; if he truly wants to console someone, his only way is to treat them to a meal...

After Zzitai died, the mid lane minion wave had no one to take it; Fu Lan Duo, after finishing the teamfight, swung by mid lane to pick up a wave, then turned into the river, joining the duo heading home and Liang Yan to claim the first dragon, only then recalling.

After that, they resumed normal laning.

The Summoner's Rift fell quiet for a few minutes.

Minion waves came and went; both sides farmed jungle and cleared lanes, occasionally tossing a skill to probe, but nobody went all-in.

But EDG's side seemed overly quiet.

Ai Luoli resurrected and headed out, cleared one jungle patch then walked to another, deliberately cutting across mid lane—of course she didn't touch the minion wave—but despite having green trinket, control ward, and item eyes on her, she left no wards in the river bushes on either side.

Scout glanced at his inventory and said, "You're not placing wards?"

Ai Luoli replied, "I am placing them—just elsewhere. Don't you have wards yourself?"

Scout then fell silent.

Meiko opened her mouth, sensing the atmosphere was really off.

Just past nine minutes, the Rift Herald spawned in under a minute.

The new Rift Herald is too important—landing a head-on collision deals nearly two thousand health (charged strike: deals 150 (+25% current HP) damage to turrets and self), taking it basically equals a free turret plate, giving huge early snowball potential; in value it outweighs the current version's small dragon.

Both sides understood, and without prompting began to move toward the Da Long Keng.

Each side left only an AD to farm the bottom lane, while everyone else gathered at the upper river, surrounding the soon-to-spawn Rift Herald, forming lines at both river ends and standoff.

The ward battle raged for nearly a minute, with vision placed and removed back and forth, lasting until the Rift Herald spawned, but nobody wanted to move first on it, because the Da Long Keng's narrow terrain means whoever enters first worsens their formation—equivalently, whoever acts first is at a disadvantage.

Moreover, although this patch's Rift Herald can be pulled out of the Da Long Keng to fight, its attack stats cannot be ignored—about 0.6 attack speed plus over a hundred attack damage, plus periodic 300% attack damage bonus cone AOE; objectively, the Rift Herald's threat even exceeds that of some weaker dragons, and at this early‑ten‑minute mark it still counts as early game; in a situation where team fights could erupt at any moment, whoever first engages the Rift Herald and draws its aggro essentially hands the enemy an extra beefy damage dealer.

But since neither side wanted to move first on the Rift Herald and suffer a loss, nor surrender it willingly, they reached a brief stalemate.

Meanwhile, while the sides stared each other down, the bases didn't stop spawning minions because of it, so the upper and middle lane waves kept dying, with experience and gold continuously siphoned by their own minions.

Consequently, the mid‑upper lane players on both sides inevitably grew anxious.

At this point, the sides were comparing whose discipline and execution were stronger.

Without doubt, in VG, where Liang Yan is the absolute core and his commands the final order, no one dared to step away without his explicit permission to retreat.

EDG's side wasn't so strict—especially since the former shot‑caller, the factory chief, wasn't present, and the current shot‑caller Meiko hadn't yet established sufficient authority, so it's normal for players to have their own ideas and lose control of their hands.

For example, Scout, though he hadn't left, had gradually slipped to the rearmost position, appearing somewhat disconnected from the Kled and Spider leading EDG's formation.

Scout's doing this merely to soak up experience from the mid‑lane minions that die of natural causes.