Chapter 72: Zhong Lu Gap

Everyone present was a professional player, and Liang Yan's explanation was easy to understand; upon hearing it they got it, and then Zven started yelling to switch lanes.

The two mid laners naturally raised both hands in approval.

Lao Zhang was originally a bit nervous and had no reason to oppose; after switching lanes, although his development would collapse, the saying goes the worse the development, the lesser the responsibility, so no one would have high expectations of him, thus the pressure would actually be much less.

Finally AP gave the go-ahead.

Let's play lane swap this game!

Thus a scene appeared on the big screen at this very moment.

G2's duo arrived at the top lane.

The three commentators were clamoring, and the audience seats were also buzzing.

The whole venue was extraordinarily lively.

H2K's members were wearing superior noise-canceling headphones, yet they could faintly feel that the venue's atmosphere seemed to have become hotter, finding it strange.

What's going on? How did everyone suddenly get hype?

What did the opposing team do to provoke such a huge reaction?

H2K's members were completely unaware of G2's actions; at the start, both sides had seen the opposing five players, and it was a normal opening defensive position.

Until the minions spawned, on the top lane EZ and Bu Long emerged from the side brush.

「WhattheF**K！」

Odoamne, who had been heavily targeted in the previous game and was already miserable, couldn't help but curse on the spot.

Fortunately he had gone to help the barrel kill the Stone Armor Beetle at the start, and didn't go to lane immediately, otherwise he might have been caught by the two sneaky opponents and dropped to half health.

G2 was the side that actively swapped lanes, so Lao Zhang naturally wouldn't go to lane early either; likewise, on the blue side's bottom half he helped Liang Yan kill the Stone Armor Beetle.

When EZ and Bu Long appeared on the top lane, neither side's jungler had cleared the first camp yet, so they could only follow the jungler around, but they couldn't share experience, so they were essentially working for nothing.

On the top lane, G2's duo originally had no intention to ambush; this game they actively swapped lanes, employing a fast push to seize towers tactic.

It's worth noting that this version still lacks the first tower mechanic; the team that first destroys the map's first turret does not receive extra gold reward.

But regardless of whether there is a first tower bonus, the side that pushes the tower first always has an advantage.

H2K, suddenly encountering the lane swap tactic, was completely unprepared; their bottom lane duo was still farming jungle at the start, and by the time they realized G2's intention, they were in a bind and could only grit their teeth and continue eating the jungle monsters.

This gave G2 an opportunity to take advantage.

When the Stone Armor Beetle's health was low, Liang Yan signaled to the empty bottom lane, directly letting Lao Zhang go farm the lane, while he himself headed to the red buff camp.

Lao Zhang happily ran over, nicely ate the experience of three frontline minions, then quickly fled when the enemy duo finished their jungle monsters and came to lane.

「No need to stay in bottom lane; go directly to top lane to help destroy the tower. 」

Liang Yan saw the top lane minion wave had already pushed in, directed Lao Zhang to teleport over to together destroy the tower and pick up a bit of development, while he himself kept clearing all the way up.

Liang Yan's luck was good; after just finishing F4, the first mark appeared in the upper river, and Liang Yan didn't rush to take it immediately, because the duo and Lao Zhang were all in top lane, meaning the entire upper half was their territory—if the barrel dared to come contest, it would be giving itself away.

So Liang Yan continued to follow the most efficient jungle clearing route, systematically clearing each monster group in the jungle.

H2K noticed that the big tree (Maokai) had gone to top lane, so they copied the idea, letting Ekko go to bottom lane to help destroy the tower; but because they had lost the initiative from the start, their tower destroy progress was far slower than G2's top lane side—G2 was about to take down half the turret's health, while H2K had just barely touched G2's next turret.

「The first turret was taken by G2 at 3 minutes 25 seconds! Mithy selflessly left early, giving up his participation bonus to those who needed it more, Zven and Island split the 300 turret gold evenly, each receiving 250 turret gold! The rest of G2 similarly gained 100 gold from global turret takedowns! Meanwhile, H2K's demolition crew looks far less effective, having only managed to chip off half the health of G2's bottom turret so far! 」

「Wow! G2! Very smart early game play! 」

After destroying the turret, Lao Zhang stayed in top lane to continue farming, while Zven and Mithy recalled in place and headed down.

After clearing the jungle, Liang Yan took the first mark, then headed straight to the enemy's upper half, managing to kill a large Stone Armor Beetle before the enemy duo arrived and quickly fled.

「Vander slid down the slide to arrive quickly, but the Stone Armor Beetle had already been smited by Firrrrrre and taken, leaving him only the sight of Thresh blinking away through the wall! 」

「At 4 minutes, one stack of mark, 18 damage—Firrrrrre's Thresh is far better than Jankos's from the previous game. Moreover, he is about to launch his first assault! 」

「Come gank mid! Ryu's position is a bit dangerous; if he gets chained by Perkz... Perkz is in! His E skill gives himself a shield and speeds up to throw the spirit link onto Ryu! 」

「Firrrrrre appears from the F4 path! 」

「Ryu immediately flashed to try to escape back under the tower! But Perkz had anticipated and moved early, so even if Ryu flashed out he still couldn't break the spirit link!! 」

「Ryu is bound in place, unable to move! Hit by Perkz's one cast of Divine Curse-enhanced Soul Flame, exploding for tons of health! 」

「Firrrrrre decisively flashed in and dealt damage! Flashed in QWEA! 」

「The burning ring explosion from the enhanced Soul Flame left Ryu with only a sliver of health; Firrrrrre's basic attack easily took the kill! 」

「FirstBlood! 」

「Firrrrrre barely lifted a finger to snag first blood! 」

「And Perkz likewise reaped the full 200 gold assist bounty! 」

「Jeez! Jankos is envious to tears! Why does Firrrrrre's Thresh come with marks while mine can't even get the first mark! This is unfair!! 」

「For H2K, amidst the misfortune there is one good news. 」

「Huh? 」

「Firrrrrre has no mark stacked. 」

「……Wow, that's indeed good news; otherwise Firrrrrre would already have two stacks of mark, which would be a horror story. 」

Both sides' duos continued lane swapping to destroy towers.

After being chased off top lane, Lao Zhang traveled a great distance to bottom lane to regroup with the duo and continue destroying towers.

After killing, Liang Yan recalled and headed out, sweeping from his own bottom jungle across to the enemy jungle, after a full clear he brought Bu Long to mid lane, crouched behind the mountain wall beside the enemy's middle turret for about half a minute, then looked for another chance to strike.

But this time he failed to kill.

Jankos arrived just in time, using one E-flash to knock Liang Yan's Thresh aside, successfully saving Yue Lun.

However, unexpectedly, the low-health Yue Lun did not recall.

Liang Yan had only been away a short while when mid lane suddenly reported good news.

「Cinnabar! Perkz suddenly flashed forward! One sneaky soldier-piercing RQ hit Ryu hiding behind the turret! Braum's health was instantly depleted! Ryu! He paid a huge price for his carelessness and greed! This is already his second death! 」

「Jeez! He looks like he's feeding! 」

Speaking objectively, if H2K needs... uh, then it should be Zhong Lu Gap.

Indeed, Jankos is about to cry again; I risked my life to save you, and in the blink of an eye you just casually gave it away—what kind of pig teammate is this!