Chapter 20: You Can Do That?

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation  Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

In a small cyber café in Lucheng, two youths were seated in a corner, watching a computer screen intently.

For most people their age, being able to find the time to hang out in a cyber café gaming, drinking Coke and having a smoke like this, was also a little slice of heaven.

“Ice, the enemy’s got a Thresh. Should we be worried?” said a young man with a face like a chunk of coal.

“The hell we should. That champion just came out a couple of days ago. Must be some dumb fool trying him out. Let’s smack him!” the guy called Ice replied.

“You’ve got a point, there.” Coal Face grinned with a mouth full of teeth. “Come to think of it, what skills has this hero got?”

“All you need to know is that he can hook people.”

“Hook people, like Blitzcrank does?”

“Not exactly the same. Blitzcrank yanks people over directly. Thresh can keep the person on the hook for a while, and drag them back a little. Just don’t get hooked—it’s easy to dodge.” Ice took a gulp of his Coke.

“Right. Okay.” The coal-faced young man would be playing ‘Ashe, the Frost Archer’.

It was a mystery why someone with such a dark complexion himself would favor an innocent maiden with snow-white skin like Ashe!

“Hey, that prick actually tried to hook me! Good thing I’m a pro at juking!”

Coal Face pulled Ashe aside, managing to evade the incoming hook.

Seeing Thresh miss several hooks in a row, Ice sneered. So he really was just trying out a new champion. How could they let that go unpunished?

***

Yu Luocheng moved Thresh into the brush.

Playing Support could actually be quite a leisurely experience. It was the only role which could afford to look around and see how everyone else was doing.

Sometimes you could even munch on some snacks on the side while playing Support, or switch windows to search for some music to listen to.

‘Thresh has a delay before his hook comes out. I’ve got to let him swing that chain about a couple of times before letting it fly. It’s a bit different from Blitzcrank. The skill’s maximum range seems just a little bit longer.’ After some experimentation, Yu Luocheng now had a pretty good sense of how this hook worked.

Using Blitzcrank’s hook well required a certain degree of foresight, since no one would be stupid enough to just stand around waiting to get hooked.

Therefore, it was important to become familiar with the travel time of the hook.

Thresh wasn’t really that different. There was a slight delay beforehand, but the hook itself seemed to fly a little faster and further in comparison, so that the timing and difficulty involved was roughly the same anyway.

‘Aha, here’s my chance!’ Setting his sights on the enemy Ashe, he noticed a serious mistake in positioning.

Alright, cast the hook!

A ghostly green metal chain soared through the air in a straight line towards its target.

Clang! The hook caught on something upon Ashe’s bosom!

Yu Luocheng immediately walked Thresh backwards, dragging Ashe and her bra along with him for several steps.

“Got her!” Yang Qianqian squealed in delight.

She hurriedly brought Caitlyn over and attacked Ashe savagely, even applying a Headshot into the mix!

“Keep it up, I’m going in!” Yu Luocheng activated his Q-skill, ‘Death Sentence’, a second time.

Thresh gave a mighty pull on the chain and, indigo cloak billowing, he flew over like a vengeful spirit, diving hungrily towards Ashe’s ample bosom!

Whereas Blitzcrank pulled his target over to himself, when Thresh caught somebody with his hook, he could activate the same skill a second time to bring himself over to the enemy, similar to Lee Sin’s ‘Resonating Strike’.

When he arrived before Ashe, Yu Luocheng immediately stepped forward and used ‘Flay’, sweeping Ashe a couple of feet to the side!

‘Snap!’ That little shift had thrown Ashe right onto a Yordle Trap that Caitlyn had set earlier!

“Well-played! She’s toast now!” Yang Qianqian sounded exhilarated.

Hooked, dragged, and then knocked into Caitlyn’s trap, that amounted to a total of three… nearly four seconds worth of control. A fragile champion like Ashe stood no chance.

“Boom! Headshot.” With her next shot, Caitlyn brought Ashe to her knees!

Three hundred gold, in the bag. Easy-peasie.

The enemy’s Support was ‘Nunu, the Yeti Rider’. Besides tossing a token snowball into the fight, all he’d done was watch helplessly as Ashe was picked apart!

***

“What happened…” Coal Face had gone pale.

“Told you not to get hooked!” Ice snarled.

“How did he fly over to me like that?” Coal Face wailed in confusion.

From the moment he got hooked, all the way until the moment of his death, his Ashe hadn’t been able to release a single arrow in retaliation. Wasn’t this a bit excessive?

“Uh… how would I know?” Ice himself had only seen Thresh in a couple of games, and didn’t recall him being able to swoop around like that!

“Argh, we messed up! It’s time to get serious!” Coal Face declared.

***

After getting the kill, Yang Qianqian sent Caitlyn back to do a bit of shopping. Soon, she was the proud owner of a B. F. Sword. ¹

On the other side, Ashe could only afford a pair of Boots and a Vampiric Scepter… and the Vampiric Scepter had merely been built up from the four-hundred gold Long Sword that she’d started the game with. How tragic!

“Hey, Yang Qianqian, try touching this lantern, here,” Yu Luocheng suggested to Caitlyn upon her return.

“Oh, there’s a green arrow on it, pointing to you,” Yang Qianqian observed.

“Walk over to it, and then try clicking on it,” Yu Luocheng urged her.

“Alright… wow, where did I zoom off to?” Yang Qianqian cried out in wonder.

That was Yang Qianqian’s first encounter with Thresh’s W-skill, ‘Dark Passage’. One touch of the ghostly green lantern, and your champion would be transported over to Thresh, as though caught by a chain attached to their soul!

“So Thresh can pull his allies over to himself? He’s like a flipped version of Blitzcrank!” Yang Qianqian said thoughtfully.

“That’s right. I just found out about it, myself.” Yu Luocheng thought it was rather fascinating.

Then he noticed that their minions were just about to reach the enemy’s Tower. A sly grin stole across his face.

“Yang Qianqian, let’s make a play.”

“What sort of play?”

“Go hide behind the wall, pretend you haven’t returned to the lane yet.”

Yang Qianqian was a clever girl, and figured it out immediately. Her bright laughter rang over the line, and she moved to hide Caitlyn away in the shadows.

Yu Luocheng brought Thresh back out into the lane, on his own.

Seeing him by himself, the enemy players supposed that Caitlyn was still standing around back at their base, waiting for the gold to buy something. Ashe moved in to engage Thresh, thinking to bully him while he was outnumbered.

(Translator’s Note: Besides killing monsters and enemy champions, each player’s gold also increases steadily, on its own, throughout the game.

Regarding the price of the Long Sword from earlier, it’s become 350 gold nowadays – but like I said previously, I’m not always going to point out every minor detail.)

Hook, line, and sinker.

As the Tower cleared off the last of the minions, Yu Luocheng pushed forward as well!

Taking careful aim, he landed another hook on Ashe!

He flung out the lantern, and it landed on the far side of the wall, at Caitlyn’s feet.

“Take my lantern, babe!” Yu Luocheng called out.

Caitlyn seized hold of the lantern, which brought her straight into Thresh’s waiting arms.

Even as she soared through the air towards him, Yu Luocheng activated ‘Death Sentence’ again!

And then Thresh was in the air as well, swooping in towards Ashe, just like before—but this time, he’d brought Caitlyn along for the ride, the both of them descending upon Ashe!

“Wow, you can do that? We’re both flying together!” Yang Qianqian squealed, her girly voice alight with exuberance and excitement.

***

Outside the room, a middle-aged woman was making her way slowly along the corridor, when she heard Yang Qianqian’s heartwarming laugh of delight.

“What’s that girl up to? Sounds like a good time,” the woman muttered to herself, and then continued on her way.

And then she heard Yang Qianqian’s thrilled voice again. “Ah, that was fun! I didn’t know you could do two people at the same time!”

Two people… at the same time?

What in blazes was going on in there?

The woman froze in place, gaping at the locked door.

Dear girl, please be sensible—you’re still too young!