128 Qiao Yue’s Game

“Beautiful!” Qiao Yu sighed.

Together, they scored a double-kill, one who had been at half health and the other full. Since he and Qiao Yue had not taken much of a beating in that fight, they returned to their lanes and earned more gold, widening the gap between them and their foes.

When Qiao Yue reached her lane, she bumped into her opponent. Her foe was not very experienced with her champion, and her aim was subpar, giving Qiao Yue an easy pass dodging her skill shots.

Qiao Yue felled another wave of minions before heading to the bottom lane. The 2v2 became a 3v2, with her side scoring another double-kill on the enemy sharpshooter and support. Soon, the bottom lane turret fell, the three of them pushing their advantage to take the enemies’ Tier-2 turrets.

Once they destroyed that turret, their team would gain greater control over the map, increasing the number of resources Qiao Yue could steal from the enemy jungle. It would also give her more opportunities to ambush her opponents.

While Qiao Yue had fun poaching monsters from the enemy jungle, a game notification flashed on her screen, informing her that Qiao Yu had scored another kill on the enemy jungle.

“Fourth Brother, have you taken a fancy to the enemy jungle? You’ve caught him three times already!” Qiao Yue teased.

Qiao Yu laughed coldly. “Since he has the nerve to trespass in our territory, he should be prepared for death. Come, let’s take the battle to them. It seems they’ve grown too cowardly to explore the limits beyond their turrets. We’ll push the wave of minions into their top-side tower.”

“Okay!” Qiao Yue directed her champion to the top lane to assist Qiao Yu.

Still unhappy with the enemy jungle with whom he had played together earlier, Qiao Yu launched a vicious campaign against the top outermost turret. He only wanted to crush that tower and run down the enemy jungle on their turf.

Catching the enemy top lane in a pincer manoeuvre, they swiftly dispatched their opponent, with Qiao Yu taking the kill. Maybe it was a force of habit after playing as a support for so long, but Qiao Yue instinctively gave all her kills to her teammates.

Just then, Qiao Yue was ambushed by four from the enemy team while she was down in the bottom lane. The enemy sharpshooter died, and the support escaped with a sliver of health. Meanwhile, the enemy jungle, hampered by his teammates, ended up dying, giving Qiao Yue a little more gold.

Once she handled that mess, Qiao Yue rushed to her lane and chipped away at the enemies’ middle turret. They had not even been in the game for more than 15 minutes.

The enemy mage was so flustered by the sequence of events that they hurried to their middle turret, unleashing their ultimate skill.

The enemy mage probably thought they could take Qiao Yue and Qiao Yu’s lives since they were under half-health when they breached the outer turret with their minions.

Qiao Yue giggled. She didn’t want to bully the enemy mid-player, so why did she rush over, delivering her head on a silver platter?

It would be a waste not to accept such a precious gift. Qiao Yue used her first, third and second skills in succession, crashing down on the enemy mage, who could only wait for death with all her skills on cooldown.

With their enemies defeated, Qiao Yue and Qiao Yu harvested gold from the jungle monsters before returning to base.

After the mid-lane mage died, the enemy jungle launched several sneak attacks on Qiao Yue but failed, with each attempt almost killing him, but he had no choice; he could not allow Qiao Yue free reign over the middle lane.

The enemy team soon realised that Qiao Yu and Qiao Yue were not marks they could easily overcome, so they turned their sights to their other three opponents.

The enemy jungle managed to catch the sharpshooter time and time again, despite their support’s best efforts to protect him. Qiao Yue and the support player teamed up to defend their sharpshooter, but the enemy would retreat whenever she appeared. If nothing else, they were at least aware enough of the disparity in skill between them.

The gold deficit between Qiao Yue and Qiao Yu’s team and their enemies steadily grew. Bridging a three-player gap took work. Qiao Yue was too lazy to continue with the tug-of-war, so she resolved to force them into a confrontation.

“Fourth Brother, let’s wrap things up,” Qiao Yue said.

The two blitzed the enemy middle lane turrets, heading straight for their nexus. Ranked games were supposed to hone a player’s skill; Qiao Yue understood that. What she found appalling, however, was the enemy’s guerrilla tactics, avoiding direct combat. Since they refused to meet her head-on, Qiao Yue would force them.

Seeing that their inner turrets were falling one by one, the five enemy players swiftly retreated to defend their base.

Their team’s support caught up with Qiao Yu and her. They sieged the enemy’s nexus turrets between the three of them – the last line of defence before the enemy base fell – grinding its health down to a third.

The support took the lead, using their ultimate skill to stun two enemies. Qiao Yu followed up and stunned another but ended up rooted because of the enemy sharpshooter’s skill. Before the enemy mage or jungle could capitalise on Qiao Yu’s momentary weakness, Qiao Yue joined the fray, stabbing them both with all the might mustered behind her spear, killing two champions in the process.

“Double-kill!”

The mage and sharpshooter lost their lives, while the top lane, jungle and enemy support were all half-dead.

Qiao Yu took another third of the three enemies’ lives, reducing their health bars further, before retreating. When she arrived, Qiao Yue controlled her champion using an item that would refresh her ultimate skill’s cooldown.

The item, an armour of resurrection, took effect, and the remaining three enemies succumbed to her blows.

It was as if someone had pressed the slow-motion button. Qiao Yu had thought Qiao Yue’s champion would perish trying to save him and the support; not in his wildest dreams did he expect…