Eighty, so dark that one could not see one’s hand before one’s face.

After the exchange of insults, the rhythm of battle quickened.

When Wu Qingchen appeared again in the lower lane, reinforcements had already been lying in wait within the war fog behind him, hidden along both sides of the minion route: Sasuke Sarutobi, best suited to open a fight in concert with others, and Chiyo Tachibana, the strongest at early-game duels.

Footwork, last-hitting, retreating, pulling the minion wave.

The fully restored Yako appeared once more, and the familiar harassment pattern began again: leap to reposition, stun, repeated basic attacks, and the health bar of Saiga Sonshi dropped swiftly.

After two signal pings, Sasuke Sarutobi slipped into invisibility and moved up beside Yako.

Invisible slash. Reveal. Slash. Stun. Throwing stars. Lightning scroll.

Wu Qingchen, controlling Saiga Sonshi, drank a swig of speed-granting sake and lunged forward at once. In the bedroom, the clicking of the mouse and the tapping of the keyboard suddenly grew dense; the k and r technique he had honed through seventeen hundred MVP matches had become consummate. Saiga Sonshi fired while giving chase, each shot stopping him only for an instant, his footsteps scarcely pausing as he clung tightly to Yako, who was fleeing with sake of her own and never once looked back.

When he was still half a turret’s distance away, reinforcements from the Oda side burst out.

Ring leap. A Song stun. Slowing spell.

The allied side, already prepared, also erupted from the woods.

Freezing seal.

Sasuke Sarutobi, who had been accompanying Wu Qingchen in the pursuit, immediately followed up.

Throwing stars. Lightning scroll.

Wu Qingchen seized the opening and finished Yako with his last two shots, securing the allied force’s first kill.

Halting his steps, Saiga Sonshi swung his rifle toward A Song, who was already trapped in the encirclement, preparing to claim the second kill.

At that very moment, the situation changed in an instant.

Invisible slash. Reveal. Straight hook.

Invisible slash. Reveal. Explosion. Stun.

Basic attack.

Three jolts.

The second wave of Oda reinforcements appeared, and at once took Saiga Sonshi’s life.

The outlook was grim. Low on mana, low on health, skills on cooldown, Sasuke Sarutobi and Chiyo Tachibana on the allied side turned back immediately to disengage, but the relentless three from Oda gave chase without mercy. A few seconds later, Hattori Hanzo, with a deft, quick hook, caught Chiyo Tachibana lagging behind; the three Oda players piled on her in a ferocious beating, and the allied side surrendered yet another kill.

A skirmish in the lower lane: Oda four versus allied three, trade ratio one to two. The allied side lost again.

By now, the game had reached the seventh minute. Oda had already claimed five kills, while the allied side still had only a lonely single kill, hanging under the name of Wu Qingchen, who had died four times.

This won’t do... We can’t beat them...

As the wait for resurrection grew longer and longer, Wu Qingchen, seated before the computer, felt his spirits sink.

In the command room, at the medical office, the psychology team had been watching Wu Qingchen’s expression all along. When his disappointment and discouragement became increasingly obvious, one white-coated figure after another pressed a button on the console before them.

Ding. Ding. Ding.

Before the leader of the medical office psychology team, one green light after another lit up. The progress bar quickly crossed the threshold set for the three-day training period. The leader raised his head and gave a forceful nod toward the scholar in charge, who had been watching this direction the entire time.

“Good!” the scholar immediately issued a new order. “All units, attention. Enter stage two. Enter stage two! Allied force, execute Plan Two-One at once!”

Upon receiving the order, the professional players of the allied force immediately typed the stage-two lines into team chat.

Team chat:

“I can’t do it. There are too many of them!”

“Too hard! We’re behind in level and equipment...”

“Of course. They’re all together.”

“How are we supposed to handle this?”

Yes, how were they supposed to handle it?

They couldn’t win one lane; even with teammates helping, they still died. They lost every small skirmish too... how were they supposed to handle this?

They were behind in levels, behind in economy, and the other side was a full premade. He himself had already died four times... how were they supposed to handle this?

Watching his teammates’ conversation, Wu Qingchen was equally lost. What else could they possibly do? Under normal circumstances, this was already the point where surrender seemed inevitable.

“Group up! We can only force a push!”

Group up?

In a game that averaged sixty minutes per match, where team fights usually did not truly begin until around the thirtieth minute, start grouping from minute——Wu Qingchen glanced at the game clock in the upper-right corner——from minute eight?

An eight-minute rush push was a tactic outdated by five years, all right?

An eight-minute rush push was not something a random public match could pull off at all; it was only a tactic that worked well in a coordinated five-versus-five arranged by acquaintances.

In team chat, Chiyo Tachibana voiced the doubt Wu Qingchen had in his heart.

“Rush pushing depends on teamwork. They’re a full premade. Wouldn’t rush pushing put us at an even bigger disadvantage?”

“Since when has this game ever not depended on teamwork? If our teamwork is poor, the later the game goes, the worse off we are!”

“I think it’ll work! I’m coming to the lower lane too!”

“Fine, then let’s group up earlier! At least we’ll lose faster!!”

The others: “........”

That made sense! It was only a game, and feeling comfortable mattered most! If they grouped early and lost early, at least they could take a few more kills!

Seeing Sasuke Sarutobi’s absurdly earnest logic, Wu Qingchen could not help but laugh. In his mind, all notions of random matches, acquaintance matches, and outdated tactics scattered like smoke.

“Not necessarily a loss! We’ll protect Saiga no matter what. As long as Saiga gets farmed up, they’ll each fall to one shot.”

“I think that’ll work! We’ll listen to you...”

“Saiga, hang in there!”

“Yeah, everyone come bottom! Saiga, watch your retreat! Stand at the very back. If you can’t win, get out fast!”

“Yeah, Saiga, watch your retreat...”

“I’m coming...”

Since his teammates had already decided to risk everything to protect him, what objections could Wu Qingchen possibly have?

Typing on the keyboard, Wu Qingchen entered his own decision into team chat:

“Okay. Wait for me.”

After respawning once more, Wu Qingchen left the main base and hurried to the front lines.

By the time Wu Qingchen reached the first turret in the lower lane, Mori Motonari, Hojo Soun, Chiyo Tachibana, and Sasuke Sarutobi had already taken their positions beside the supply tent.

Wu Qingchen no longer played cautiously. He strode boldly onto the minion wave.

Footwork, farming. Ten-odd seconds later, Yako, who had also just revived, came edging over once again.

The allied force still struck first with the hero carrying an invisibility skill.

Invisible slash. Reveal. Stun.

The Oda side was equally prepared. Before Sasuke had even finished using his skills, he was already being controlled by the Oda heroes.

Stun. Slowing spell.

Invisible slash. Reveal.

Sasuke Sarutobi’s health bar dropped to half, and just as the three from Oda prepared their next attack, every allied hero surged out at once.