A Familiar Style

Lin Xiao followed the direction Liu Ge pointed, then withdrew his gaze. Instead of rushing to find Jiang Ran, he curiously asked Liu Ge:

"Oh, Liu Ge, yesterday I saw you chatting with Jiang Ran. What were you talking about? Were you trying to recruit him for your esports team?"

Liu Ge nodded, admitting without hiding: "Yes, yesterday I saw his mid lane Katarina played quite well, and we happen to be short a mid laner, so I talked to him about it."

Lin Xiao pressed: "Did he agree?"

Liu Ge: "Hmm, he agreed." Then he added: "But it's not entirely decided yet. The real decision-maker on our side isn't me. We still have to wait for our esports boss to come over this afternoon, and only after seeing his skill can a decision be made."

"Ah," Lin Xiao nodded, a thoughtful expression on his face: "Is that so..."

Seeing Lin Xiao's pensive look, Liu Ge couldn't help but speak: "Lin... Lin Xiao, are you interested in joining our team?"

Immediately, without waiting for Lin Xiao to answer, he quickly made a promise: "You can choose any position on our team! Aside from Jiang Ran's mid lane, top, jungle, support, ADC are all fine!"

Lin Xiao scratched his head: "Aren't you playing ADC?"

A somewhat flattering smile appeared on Liu Ge's face: "That doesn't matter! If you want to play ADC, I'll play support for you!"

Liu Ge said these words from the bottom of his heart.

One must know, the person standing in front of him was undoubtedly a great god!

Moreover, he was a Challenger Tier player from Server One, a true god with high gold content!

Not to mention giving up his most skilled support position, even if the other party played a different role, his skill level would definitely be many times stronger than his humble ADC.

Furthermore, Liu Ge also had a small calculation in his heart: If Lin Xiao in front of him... was truly the legendary No.4 god-tier player in the former Dota esports scene, then if he could support such a legendary existence, when he talked about it later, it would make a lot of people die of envy—

Liu Ge's flattery surprised Lin Xiao, but he thought for a moment and still shook his head: "Oh, forget it, I'm not very interested in this."

"Ah, alright then..." Liu Ge was a little disappointed but also understood: Just like he himself looked down on that eighth-grade friendly match earlier, in the eyes of a true god-tier Challenger from Server One, their city-level League of Legends esports tournament was probably just a small match...

...

Lin Xiao didn't know what Liu Ge was thinking in his heart. After casually chatting with the other party for a few sentences, his thoughts once again returned to the main topic.

Following Liu Ge's earlier direction, Lin Xiao quickly found Jiang Ran sitting in the corner of the internet cafe's main hall in front of a computer. The latter was intently looking at the computer screen in front of him, his two hands quickly controlling the mouse and keyboard respectively. It looked like he was playing ranked.

"Oh, classmate Jiang Ran~" Lin Xiao walked up and greeted him warmly: "What a coincidence."

Jiang Ran, not wearing headphones, tilted his head to look. After recognizing Lin Xiao, he slightly frowned, completely ignoring the greeting and turning his head back.

Missing a beat, Lin Xiao didn't care at all. He pulled over a chair from the side and sat directly next to the other party, full of enthusiasm: "Classmate Jiang Ran, are you playing ranked?"

Jiang Ran couldn't help but turn his head to look at Lin Xiao again, his eyebrows furrowing once more, his eyes carrying a hint of impatience.

Although he didn't speak, his meaning was already very clear—

I'm playing ranked here, please move aside a bit.

And Lin Xiao also seemed to understand the other party's meaning, suddenly realizing: "Oh, no offense, no offense, I'm sitting so close, I must be disturbing you..."

Jiang Ran felt slightly satisfied in his heart: This person was finally sensible.

But the next second, Lin Xiao slightly lowered himself and moved the chair back about ten-odd centimeters, then once again sat down casually: "Hmm, that should be fine then—"

Fine my ass!

Jiang Ran simply wanted to go crazy in his heart and beat up this guy who had no common sense: What's ten-odd centimeters? If you know others don't want to be disturbed, just leave directly and decisively!

But at this moment, Lin Xiao had already enthusiastically leaned his head forward again: "Oh, playing Kassadin? This champion isn't bad."

"Hmm? Classmate Jiang Ran, why are you looking at me like that? You need to focus when playing ranked..."

"Ah, look, you missed a last hit—"

Jiang Ran, hearing this, very rarely felt a sense of powerlessness in his heart:

With such a thick-skinned guy standing next to him, he was probably going to be tormented next...

...

Jiang Ran's thoughts were correct.

But he still underestimated the severity of the torment he was about to endure.

"Oh, the enemy Yasuo is low health, there's a chance, there's a chance!"

"Oh, no... This positioning, the enemy definitely has an ambush."

"Heh, indeed there was an ambush~"

"Classmate Jiang Ran, aren't you going to the side lane to help with a gank?"

"The minion wave has pushed past, farm wolves or raptors. You'll get Needlessly Large Rod very soon."

"Aiya, classmate Jiang Ran, this last hit count of yours is quite ugly..."

The incessant chatter from a certain person kept coming from his ear. Jiang Ran felt a terrible headache, and his usually confident mechanics and movement also made mistakes repeatedly.

This person... How can he talk so much!

Jiang Ran thought frantically in his heart.

And with such a distraction, his Kassadin's movement once again made a mistake. He was knocked up and CC'd by the enemy Yasuo's Q skill whirlwind that had stacked enough charges. Followed by the ultimate, a sharp sword light pierced through with burst damage, and his health bar instantly plummeted.

Hastily using his ultimate plus Flash to escape the chase from the enemy Blue Team's Yasuo, Jiang Ran then controlled his low-health Kassadin back to the turret to recall.

Then, the next second, a certain person's sigh was accompanied by a mutter: "Aiya, classmate Jiang Ran, you need to pay attention to your movement... Look, you almost died just now..."

Whose fault is it, after all!?

Jiang Ran roared in his heart.

...

Amidst his habitual chatter, Lin Xiao wasn't entirely doing nothing else.

Through these few minutes of watching the match, he gained a deeper grasp and understanding of Jiang Ran's mechanics and some of his stylistic habits.

It could be seen that the other party was very fond of AP assassin champions—for example, Katarina, the Sinister Blade, used the day before, or Kassadin, the Void Walker, in this ranked match.

Furthermore, regarding specific operating habits and fighting style, Lin Xiao also discovered that this classmate Jiang Ran, when playing mid lane champions, regardless of the opponent, always played very aggressively and proactively. And in teamfights, he was always able to seize a suitable opportunity to dive into the enemy backline to harvest and kill.

This style, in Lin Xiao's impression, was very similar to a former teammate of his—

No.4.

Both had the same aggressive style, both had the habit of strongly suppressing opponents in lane, and in teamfights, they always played the role of a hunter/harvester, delivering a fatal blow.

Of course, if one were to truly compare, this classmate Jiang Ran next to him, regardless of skill level or game sense, was still completely incomparable.

The latter possessed truly strong enough power, with the absolute capital to play so aggressively, and no matter how aggressive he was, he would definitely not be caught with any opening or exploitable opportunity by the opponent.

Of course, such a comparison actually doesn't have much meaning—

Lin Xiao shook his head slightly.

After all, that was No.4.

The fourth-ranked player in the world's top ten god-tier players ranking in the Dota esports scene.

And even more... his former teammate fighting alongside him, his closest friend.

Lin Xiao's thoughts suddenly drifted.

In his mind, it was as if a magic lantern once again replayed those images of the past, including... the scene of the other party angrily questioning him in the YY chat room half a year ago.