Chapter 749: Even this bit of blue needs to be saved?

Condi respawned, went out and headed up, under 957's protection, ate the blue buff.

But 957 also needed to farm; it couldn't always follow Condi, making sure he safely took the blue buff was already going the extra mile.

The crocodile pushed the lane to under the tower again, so 957 had to go back to farm the lane.

Condi knew full well; after taking the blue buff, he thanked Leg Bro, hurriedly fled his own upper lane, sprinting to the lower lane, afraid that if he was even a bit slow the Prince would come.

After arriving in the lower lane, Condi saw the middle lane was being pushed, so he couldn't attend to himself; he didn't dare take F6, skipped the red buff, and went straight to eat the Stone Armor Beetle.

Although the lower lane was also pressured, at least it was closer to Condi, and the Stone Armor Beetle's camp was deeper, making it relatively safer.

The WE duo, ever since Gangzi and Xiao Duan returned to lane, had been living in dire straits; within just over a minute they fell behind by nearly ten last hits, until Condi arrived in the lower lane, only then did they finally get a breather.

Condi knew the lower lane's miserable state was his own fault; feeling ashamed, upon arriving in the lower lane he tried to cover up by marking the minion wave and said: "Lower lane, don't be afraid, I'm here—you can push the wave out."

Mystic simply couldn't understand; even if he could, he wouldn't listen to him.

Push the wave out?

What if the Prince comes? In a 3v3, could you win?

I'd have to be brain‑dead to push!

Whether Ben or Mystic, both felt pessimistic about the current situation; they didn't choose to push the lane, merely stepping out from under the tower and steadily last‑hitting each minion.

Condi ate the Stone Armor Beetle, walked two steps toward the river, tossed a sapling into the Triangular Grass, made sure no one was lurking before proceeding, then threw a scan; seeing no enemy wards, he crouched in the Triangular Grass, waited for the sapling ability to cooldown, then tossed another sapling into the river grass, confirmed the patch was clear, then entered the river and immediately planted his true sight ward in the grass, discovering an enemy false ward inside, whereupon he moved forward to remove it.

The VG duo saw him approach and retreated slightly.

This action made Condi feel a bit more at ease, but he remained cautious while warding—auto‑attacking then stepping back two steps, auto‑attacking then stepping back two steps, looking very careful, which was rather amusing.

Yet even so, it couldn't guarantee his safety.

Smack!

A sudden sound.

Condi heard that sound and instantly got PTSD.

As expected, the next moment a Demacian Prince was seen knocked back by an Explosive Fruit projectile landing behind him; Condi flinched, his whole body trembled, and his finger instinctively moved to the D key.

But he had no flash.

On the venue's big screen, the footage had about a five‑second delay.

"Condi's sapling ability is off cooldown again; he only dares to come over after making sure the grass is empty, to destroy the ward Jiao Shen just placed through the wall! Jiao Shen has finished eating the toad and is walking this way! His ultimate isn't ready yet, but if Condi doesn't flash and gets caught, he'll die!"

"Run, Condi!"

"You can't get away anymore!"

"Jiao Shen auto‑attacks, the Explosive Fruit flies over! It lands right behind Condi! Shuijing Ge and Xiao Duan simultaneously flank, cutting off Condi's route to rendezvous with his duo teammates!"

"Condi knows going down is a dead end; he can only choose to turn and run toward mid lane!"

"Jiao Shen isn't rushing to use his skills; after two auto‑attacks he's knocked back by the big tree thorns heavy strike! Jiao Shen simultaneously raises his shield to slow Condi! He pursues and keeps auto‑attacking! This is a warrior jungler's weapon, only missing the synthesis cost, an output item for the Prince! His basic attack hurts especially!"

"You can't get away, Condi!"

"How desperate! Am I going to be beaten to death by auto‑attacks?!"

"Does Jiao Shen even need to conserve this bit of blue? It feels unnecessary, since the enemy already has blue buff—taking it would make it ours..."

Condi had the blue buff, but Liang Yan intended to let that kill go.

Xiao Duan came in with a grand entrance, linking Light Dance into a double‑cast, tossed a Q at Condi for an assist, then immediately turned back, and another Light Dance double‑cast went back toward Gangzi.

Condi was already dead; the VG duo saw no point wasting time here, so after taking the assist they simply returned to the lower lane to farm.

Liang Yan urged Condi to go toward mid lane.

Easyhoon came around from mid lane.

Xi Ye's retreat signals came one after another, shrill and urgent.

Condi knew the enemy wanted the Prince to take the kill and get the blue buff, and with his teammates repeatedly urging retreat, he couldn't help but feel a wave of sorrow.

He had already ruined the lower lane once, inadvertently offending the most troublesome faction of WE's fanbase; if he also ruined things for Xi Ye, the team's second‑most popular fan, after this match his Weibo might be unusable.

So Condi was forced to prioritize the big picture; he turned and used a Distortion Burst to bind the Prince, then turned back and ran downward.

Easyhoon saw the situation and didn't waste time either, directly turning back to mid.

Liang Yan also felt helpless; he could only use a Dragon Strike (the Prince's Q skill is actually called that) to stab Condi, who had only one‑quarter health left, to death.

"Blue buff secured!"

"Jiao Shen is now 3‑0!"

"It feels like Jiao Shen, upon returning home, already has a tier‑3 jungle knife."

"What terrifying development..."

"But Jiao Shen doesn't plan to just go back; he wants to earn even more!"

After taking Condi's kill, Liang Yan greeted the mid‑lower trio, shouldered his spear, and dove straight into WE's lower jungle.

When Condi appeared, he had only a blue buff, no red buff, but the second wave of buff monsters had already spawned, meaning the blue side's red buff was still untouched.

Liang Yan sympathized with Condi's difficulty jungling due to his poor equipment, and prepared to help him.

But for WE, losing the jungler is more than just giving up a kill—especially now, with WE losing on all three lanes, the jungler's death has a huge impact.

Xi Ye, through the river grass ward, saw the Prince enter his own jungle, quickly retreated, falling back all the way behind the defense tower, and carefully placed a ward through the wall.

Sure enough, the Prince was eating at F6.

Fearful of provoking the Prince into unleashing a full E‑Q‑R combo, Xi Ye had his full basic skill set plus four missiles ready but dared not harass; after confirming the Prince's position he dutifully retreated, keeping a retreat path that allowed him to W‑wall‑jump into the upper jungle at any moment, staying about three hundred units behind the tower, waiting for Easyhoon to push the lane.

This scene left all the mid‑lane players watching the match silent.