All-Round Mid Laner

Ranked games weren't pro games; there was no need for professional players to get too rough with random passersby. Both teams developed steadily for a while, until the two junglers reached Level 6 and began to roam the map.

Chi Shuo marked the bottom lane on the map, indicating that he was going to provide assistance down there. Fang Zhengqing swiftly cleared a wave of enemy minions and followed him over. The enemy jungler and mid laner quickly rushed down as well. A 4v4 was due to break out on the bottom lane at any second.

In this fight, each side would have 2 pro players and 2 casual players.

On the surface, it seemed like both sides had a 50% chance of winning.

Chi Shuo hit the 'Attack!' command.

His hero, the King of Fighters, had a crowd control skill. He could leap into the fray from a great distance and initiate the fight by stunning the enemy heroes with one blow.

Logically speaking, after Chi Shuo jumped in to stun and cripple the enemy marksman, Fang Zhengqing should have immediately followed up with a skill combo from his Cobra King. This hero's little snakes should have surrounded the enemy marksman, taking down that kill.

All the viewers in their respective streams eagerly fixed their gazes on their screens.

Chi Shuo lurked in the woods, until he launched his surprise attack—

While the enemy marksman Xie Yuan was close to the front of his team's formation, Chi Shuo rushed in and used an ult to stun him!

However, Fang Zhengqing's little snakes didn't come up to surround Xie Yuan like Chi Shuo had expected. Those little snakes had run off into the woods instead, surrounding the enemy jungler who had come down to assist.

Chi Shuo blinked.

Fang Zhengqing blinked.

Their heads were full of question marks.

Xie Yuan was about to laugh himself to death. He hurriedly used a flash to escape.

Chi Shuo's King of Fighters was very strong in late-game, when he could take down a glass cannon with one punch. However, when he didn't have all his optimal gear in early-game, he couldn't instakill a shielded marksman at full health. And so, he could only watch as Xie Yuan fled with a sliver of HP remaining.

Fang Zhengqing had yet to reach Level 6, so he didn't even have his ult available to him. He couldn't instakill the enemy Brawler with just one skill combo either. And so, he could only watch as the enemy jungler swiftly escaped over a wall.

This kind of mid/jungle incident, where one player targeted A and one player targeted B… it was really…

Where was their tacit understanding? Their teamwork?

Netizens started to type question marks into the chat.

Fang Zhengqing said into the voice channel, "We kill the enemy jungler, then invade their jungle. Wouldn't that have been nice?"

Chi Shuo was silent for a moment before he said, "…we absolutely had to take down the marksman first in this fight. What were you thinking?"

They both had a point.

In Fang Zhengqing's eyes, the enemy jungler had been hidden in a very obvious spot in the woods. If Chi Shuo had stunned the jungler with a punch, Fang Zhengqing could have taken the hero down with a simple QW combo. Then they could have invaded the enemy jungle to steal buffs and snowball an advantage for themselves. Then they would win, right?

In Chi Shuo's eyes, the main DPS of their enemy team was going to be the Warlock of Poison—the marksman. They couldn't let the Warlock get geared up. If they let the Warlock get five stacks of poison on them, there would simply be no way to defeat him. So, they had to suppress the marksman first.

As a result, Fang Zhengqing went to kill the enemy jungler while Chi Shuo went to stun the marksman. Ultimately, neither of the enemies wound up dead… the two of them had charged in so blindly that they didn't realize until much later that they'd taken a grand total of zero kills.

Chi Shuo helplessly said, "Alright, alright. Let's take care of the minor dragon first."

Before Chi Shuo even finished speaking, Fang Zhengqing teleported straight back to their base crystal.

Chi Shuo blinked again.

"We're fighting the minor dragon," he said. "What are you going home for?"

"I'm almost out of mana," Fang Zhengqing said. "Going back to buy some equipment."

The netizens watching the game were all speechless.

It seemed… something… wasn't quite right?

Chi Shuo huffed a frustrated laugh and led his team's badly wounded support and marksman to fight the minor dragon. He set another marker on the bottom lane and said, "You go back to the middle lane and finish clearing the minions, then go back to gank on the bottom lane again."

Then, because he was afraid of Fang Zhengqing making some sort of bizarre decision again, he added, "Kill the marksman."

"Got it," Fang Zhengqing said.

After Chi Shuo cleared out another wave of monsters in the jungle, he once again hid himself in the woods by the bottom lane to stage an ambush.

Fang Zhengqing finished clearing his lane and returned to the bottom lane again as well.

At that moment, their marksman and support had already been too badly wounded by poison. They'd had no choice but to go back to their base to heal up. The enemy support and marksman, on the other hand, were in fairly good health. Chi Shuo's ult was off cooldown, and Fang Zhengqing was already at Level 7.

A 2v2 was set to begin.

Chi Shuo hit the 'Attack!' command.

Xie Yuan's flash was on cooldown, so he had no way to run. Chi Shuo leapt in from afar and stunned the enemy with one blow. Fang Zhengqing didn't drop the ball this time. He instantly followed up with an attack of his own. Four little snakes wrapped themselves around Xie Yuan like vines, instantly dealing five stacks of poison to this enemy!

Right in front of Li Yunmo's eyes, Xie  Yuan's HP plummeted like crazy. But Li Yunmo's Dark Priest was quite a force to be reckoned with on his own. He flung out a 'Cursed Rings' skill at Chi Shuo, instantly draining away 50% of Chi Shuo's HP and turning that HP into a shield.

A crimson shield appeared around Xie Yuan.

As soon as the stun effect on him ended, Xie Yuan instantly retreated. While fleeing, he flung his Q skill and normal attacks at Chi Shuo. Fang Zhengqing's little snakes chased after him, but Li Yunmo used his ult—Dark Sacrifice—to transfer his own HP to Xie Yuan!

This support hero, the Dark Priest, had two ways of boosting his teammates' health. He could either drain away an enemy's HP and turn it into a bloody shield for his teammate, or he could give his own health to his teammate. His ability to protect his allies was extremely strong.

Xie Yuan was still inflicted by five stacks of poison. His HP dropped continuously, but he wouldn't die anytime soon.

"Chase!" Chi Shuo ordered.

As he spoke, he used his W to sprint forward. With one skill combo, he struck the marksman heavily enough to shatter the shield around Xie Yuan's body!

At the same time, Chi Shuo was also brought down to low health by Xie Yuan's endless barrage of poisoned arrows.

Chi Shuo swiftly retreated. He'd already used up all of his own skills, and Xie Yuan only had around 20% of his HP left. Fang Zhengqing could use an ult to instantly kill off the enemy. Chi Shuo decisively made a retreat while his own health was low, in order to let Fang Zhengqing take this kill.

But at that exact moment, Xie Yuan suddenly used his ult—

Piercing Poison!

The Warlock of Poison could lock onto a target with his ult and dole out huge amounts of poison damage!

Dark green arrows lanced through the air, flying straight at Chi Shuo. Just as they were about to strike, Chi Shuo darted to the left and took cover behind Fang Zhengqing. He was thinking that Fang Zhengqing could help him take the hit.

However, Fang Zhengqing suddenly took a step to the right, leaving just enough of an opening for Xie Yuan's poison-tipped arrows to strike the heart of the teammate taking cover behind him.

[Round Round (Warlock of Poison)] killed [Jungler No. 8 (King of Fighters)]!

Chi Shuo was quiet for a moment. "…you really are an undercover agent sent by the other side?"

Fang Zhengqing innocently said, "I thought you were going to go right. I was trying to help you block that ult."

But the result was that Chi Shuo had gone left.

So, what wound up happening was—

Xie Yuan fired off his poison-tipped arrows from afar, taking aim at the crippled Chi Shuo. Fang Zhengqing was at full health; if he'd just helped block those arrows, Chi Shuo would have been fine. But in the end, Fang Zhengqing seemed to willingly step out of the way, causing those poison-tipped arrows to shoot straight through Chi Shuo's chest.

The viewers in the streaming rooms were speechless.

How had these guys managed to go in two completely different directions while trying to block an ult for a teammate?!

[Square Square (Cobra King)] killed [Round Round (Warlock of Poison)]!

Although Fang Zhengqing did manage to take Xie Yuan's head in this bout, he and Chi Shuo 'going their separate ways' had resulted in Xie Yuan managing to take Chi Shuo's head. In this exchange of blows, the mid/jungle duo really had made a catastrophic mistake.

Chi Shuo sighed silently and said, "I'm going to gank the top laner."

"Okay," Fang Zhengqing said.

"Don't come with me," Chi Shuo added.

Fang Zhengqing, who was already on his way up, felt a bunch of question marks pop into his head.

The netizens watching this exchange were thoroughly baffled.

Very soon, a third fight involving this mid/jungle duo would begin. The viewers couldn't help but feel some worry.

Chi Shuo reached the top lane. Fang Zhengqing arrived as well.

Xie Yuan understood his own captain very well. He knew that the enemy was going to gank in the top lane now, so he called his own teammates down to clear minions on the bottom lane, while he and Li Yunmo went up to the top lane.

This 3v3 would be a fight between six professional players.

Chi Shuo camped out in the woods near the top lane while Fang Zhengqing lurked in their jungle, waiting for the opportunity to strike.

The minions from both teams clashed by the river. Chi Shuo hit the 'Attack!' command.

Ye Shaoyang and Chi Shuo did still have their tacit understanding. As soon as he saw Captain Chi's order, Ye Shaoyang instantly flashed in with his Black Dragon Knight and used his Black Dragon's Roar to taunt the enemy. Instantly, that taunt dragged in the enemy marksman and support.

Chi Shuo followed him over and used a 'Flurry of Fists' to stun those two heroes!

They weren't teammates for nothing. With their seamless crowd control, they rendered their enemies immobile for 2.5 seconds.

However, Li Yunmo was one of the best supports in the league. His game sense was extremely strong. As soon as Ye Shaoyang leapt into the fray, Li Yunmo used his 'Cursed Rings' skill, draining 50% of the Black Dragon Knight's health and turning that HP into a shield for his own marksman!

Although the marksman was a glass cannon, the Black Dragon Knight was a tank. A shield created using 50% of the Black Dragon Knight's health was an extremely thick shield. Once that shield was placed on the marksman, Xie Yuan's HP shot up to over ten thousand. Chi Shuo had no way of taking him down with one set of skills. They needed Fang Zhengqing to follow up and do some additional damage.

However… where was Fang Zhengqing?

Once again, Chi Shuo hit the 'Attack!' command.

Meanwhile, Fang Zhengqing was frantically clicking the 'Retreat!' command again and again.

This guy had actually flashed away to flee!

…because Reporter Zhao had circled into the back line to hack away at him.

Zhao Xin'an was playing the Vampiric Duke in this game, a hero with a very high attack potential. Once he used his ult at the start of a fight, all his skills became blood-leeching skills. He could hack away wildly at the enemy while tanking as much damage as the enemy could put out.

Little Zhao was a very fierce player to begin with. As soon as he cut into the back line, he launched an endless assault against the mid laner!

Fang Zhengqing had been brutally slaughtered by Zhao Xin'an quite a few times in official games. He instinctively used his flash to avoid Zhao Xin'an's skills, and this flash allowed him to run far, far away. Zhao Xin'an chased him all around the rift, making it so that Fang Zhengqing could only stay on the run while summoning his snakes to counterattack.

However, how could a fragile mid laner fend off a blood-sucking fighter? Those little snakes were all chopped to bits. Fang Zhengqing didn't have any skills which would help him defend himself, and he didn't have any teammates around to protect his Cobra King. He had no choice but to fall at the enemy fighter's feet!

Meanwhile, Chi Shuo had already used up all his skills without managing to kill the shielded Xie Yuan.

Xie Yuan instantly retreated, keeping a distance between himself and Chi Shuo as he led Chi Shuo along on a chase. He shot out arrow after arrow, and when Chi Shuo was struck by both a slowing and a poison status effect, his HP instantly crashed to zero.

[Reporter Zhao (Vampiric Duke)] killed [Square Square (Cobra King)]!

[Round Round (Warlock of Poison)] killed [Jungler No. 8 (King of Fighters)]!

The viewers were speechless.

One of these players went to start a fight, and the other instantly flashed away and fled.

This mid/jungle duo… seemed to be offering a kill one, get one free deal?

#TacitUnderstanding#???

Ye Shaoyang couldn't possibly win a 1v3, so he helplessly returned to his team base and let their outer tower fall to the enemy.

Originally, he had been doing quite well in a 1v1 against Zhao Xin'an. He could have protected the top lane. But in the end, once their mid/jungle duo came over… those guys had the ability to make their whole top lane collapse!

It would have been better if they never came!

Fang Zhengqing asked, "The fighter was coming after me. Why did you have to engage?"

Chi Shuo said, "If you'd stuck with us, you could have killed their marksman. Who told you to run?"

Fang Zhengqing fell silent.

Chi Shuo fell silent as well.

Fang Zhengqing believed that they had no way of winning after Little Zhao came after him, so it was better to retreat for the time being.

Chi Shuo believed this battle was worth fighting, so he'd decisively initiated a clash.

The jungler and the mid laner weren't on the same page, which created a 'kill one, get one free' opportunity for the enemy. They were doing a great job of putting on a show of what not to do as a world-class mid/jungle duo.

Ye Shaoyang did his very best to resist the urge to laugh out loud. It was no wonder Chi Shuo and Fang Zhengqing couldn't play as teammates.

When the two of them worked together, they would have no problem making their own team collapse on all three lanes!

With these two 'helping' as the team's mid/jungle duo—

The bottom lane outer tower was lost, and the top lane outer tower was lost as well.

Xie Yuan was developing nicely, and Little Zhao hacked away at his enemies like a mad dog. There was no way to fend them off.

And during a critical grand dragon fight…

Fang Zhengqing suddenly flashed in to attack the enemy marksman while Chi Shuo decisively turned and retreated to clear a wave of minions.

Fang Zhengqing, who'd charged in all by himself, was shocked to the core.

The netizens in the livestreams were laughing like mad.

[So this is the tacit understanding of old friends.]

[Powerful enough to blow up all three lanes. You guys are really something!]

[This really is a world-class example of what not to do. Let's hope the junglers and mid laners of other major teams don't learn their bad habits! Doge.jpg]

[This is really a 'kill one, get one free' mid/jungle duo?]

[I finally understand why the two of them aren't on the same team. T_T]

The words 'Chi Shuo', 'Fang Zhengqing', and 'no tacit understanding' completely filled up the screen.

Everyone had learned a big, shocking secret!

Before the game ended, Chi Shuo said, "I'm going to queue for another game. You wait one minute before you queue for your next game. I don't want to run into you again."

At the same time, Fang Zhengqing said, "I'm queueing again. You wait five minutes before you queue. Let's not get matched to the same team again."

Wait one minute. Wait five minutes.

They really would be forever out of sync.