Chapter 144: Counterattack

Some narratives and trends are things the platform cannot manage, nor does it dare to.

A live-streaming room ideally needs one or two assistants, and their role is to properly manage the chat and maintain order in the room.

If Jiang Zheng’s live-streaming room had such assistants, those malicious narratives and controversies could have been nipped in the bud the moment they began to surface.

Instead of letting the drama fester and develop into the irreversible state it had reached today.

…………

Jiang Zheng had seen the controversy stirring in his live stream, but he simply ignored it.

He didn’t care much about such chatter. To him, streaming was merely a platform to complete his tasks, and he had no intention of pursuing a career in this industry in the future. Therefore, no matter how intense the drama got, it wouldn't have much of an impact on him.

The second match began.

Having lost the first game, Jiang Zheng could not afford another defeat.

His expression turned dead serious; he had to win this game!

Meanwhile, on the other side, Erad was extremely proud of himself, already fantasizing about how he would spend the prize money once he got it.

Had it not been for the sake of maintaining his image, Erad would have openly mocked his opponent.

Through the previous game, he had pretty much figured out his opponent's skill level.

The guy was undoubtedly strong, and Erad had to admit that. Among all the opponents he had ever faced, this person's strength ranked near the top.

Yet, compared to him, a gap still existed. Furthermore, his opponent clearly lacked match experience, leaving vulnerabilities in numerous places.

This wasn't a matter of mechanical skill, but rather a gap in game sense and awareness.

He would easily take the second game as well.

The two players maneuvered their respective heroes into the lane, and Erad immediately executed a taunt emote at Jiang Zheng.

While speaking trash directly would harm his image, using in-game character animations to taunt was well within acceptable bounds.

Erad’s taunt caused another small surge of emotional outburst in the live chat.

The viewers could not stand Erad's arrogance, nor could they stomach how Jiang Zheng remained completely unfazed after being taunted.

Erad started out playing aggressively once again. This was his signature playstyle—full of crushing pressure.

However, this time, Jiang Zheng met Erad’s aggression head-on, showing not the slightest intention of backing down.

Instantly, the netizens in the live stream felt a mixture of frustration and exasperation. Knowing full well that the opponent was formidable, why would he choose to clash with him directly?

Wouldn't it be better to temporarily yield to his momentum and wait for an opportunity to deliver a thunderous blow?

However, the moment they engaged, Erad immediately felt a sense of discomfort washing over him.

His opponent's playstyle was different from the previous game. Although it looked virtually identical on the surface, as a professional player, his perception of such nuances was exceptionally sharp.

His opponent's operations didn't seem to have any particularly dazzling highlights, yet every single movement felt as though it had anticipated his own actions.

By anticipating his moves, his opponent could preemptively dodge his attacks and follow up with counterattacks.

This made the duel intensely suffocating for him; every time he tried to press the offensive, he felt completely restricted and bound hand and foot.

No kills were secured during the level-one skirmish, but Erad found himself at a disadvantage and was the first to retreat.

Jiang Zheng seized control of the lane minions, beginning to secure last hits and farm gold.

This time, Jiang Zheng held the upper hand, but failing to kill Erad and secure the first blood left the viewers deeply dissatisfied. They believed Jiang Zheng should have pursued the enemy; perhaps the kill would have been secured.

In front of his computer, Erad’s expression grew grave.

He couldn't fathom why Jiang Zheng’s playstyle had suddenly become so bizarre, practically countering him at every turn as if he could foresee his every move.

As an internationally top-tier top-laner, Erad quickly formulated a response strategy.

The current economic gap between them wasn't that wide yet; if he adjusted his approach, he could still turn things around.

If he allowed Jiang Zheng to maintain permanent dominance over the lane, he would inevitably fall into an absolute disadvantage over time, making defeat a foregone conclusion.

If he wanted to break the deadlock, he had to seize the few remaining opportunities.

Erad adjusted his playstyle. As a top-tier professional player, making adjustments on the fly was well within his capabilities.

After all, relying on a single playstyle for too long made it easy for opponents to study and exploit one's flaws.

One had to remember that the professional gaming scene was far more perilous than this; ganks and ambushes came out of nowhere, making steady, peaceful farming exceptionally difficult.

Once Erad recovered his condition, he clashed with Jiang Zheng for a second time.

Having altered his tactics, he originally thought he could suppress Jiang Zheng and secure a kill.

Yet as the fight progressed, he still felt something was terribly wrong. Jiang Zheng was still able to predict his movements, and every single attack of his was preemptively anticipated.

A chill ran through Erad’s heart. How could this be?

He had clearly changed his playstyle; how was he still being predicted?

This time, Erad failed to escape and was hunted down and killed by Jiang Zheng.

Upon witnessing the kill, the viewers in Jiang Zheng’s live stream erupted into cheers.

"Defeating and suppressing Erad head-on, truly living up to the title of a pro streamer."

"Keep going, streamer, maintain this form!"

"Take down Erad, you've got this!"

…………

After respawning, Erad replayed his recent moves in his mind, failing to find any glaring flaws.

The reason he lost was purely because he had been predicted.

Even changing his playstyle had proven useless.

Erad pondered silently on how he might launch a counter-offensive.
For the remainder of the time, Erad stopped playing so aggressively, practically avoiding prolonged trades with Jiang Zheng. Whenever an unfavorable situation arose, he decisively fled without lingering for a single second.

After all, Jiang Zheng wouldn't dare chase him too far; if he dared to dive the tower, Erad could leverage the turret's high damage to reverse his disadvantage.

Yet Jiang Zheng played with absolute composure. Seeing Erad retreat, he didn't pursue at all, content as long as Erad missed minion waves and the economic gap continued to widen.

Erad muttered to himself inwardly that if things continued like this, he was going to lose.

From an outsider's perspective, Erad was completely pinned down and beaten by Jiang Zheng.

One had to bear in mind that Erad was no ordinary player. He held the title of "God of Top-Liners." While it carried an element of hyperbole and adoration, there was no denying that Erad was exceptionally formidable.

In the professional arena, whenever he faced an opponent in lane, he had never once been suppressed. It was always he who suppressed others, keeping them pinned under their towers.

To be beaten this miserably—to the point where he didn't even dare to step out to safely last-hit minions under his tower—

To the viewers in the live stream, this was an utterly unimaginable sight.

The encouraging barrage in the chat hadn't ceased, especially multiplying exponentially after Jiang Zheng took the lead over Erad.

The previous malicious comments had now dwindled to almost nothing. A few stubborn trolls still persisted, but their messages were instantly drowned out by a flood of words encouraging Jiang Zheng.

Before long, Erad launched an offensive. Perhaps he believed this was his absolute final window to attack, and missing it meant certain defeat.

This time, Erad fought to the death without retreating, and Jiang Zheng traded blows with him fiercely, blow for blow.

Even though Jiang Zheng could predict his every move and made the engagement thoroughly agonizing, Erad refused to back down.

A kill was finally triggered. After such a long wait, the very first kill of the match had finally occurred.

Surrendering this kill left Erad feeling a deep sense of discouragement.