Chapter 12 — Middle Road Rules

25th minute of the game.

In a normal E-sports match, this is the time when the generals are almost fully equipped, and team fights take place continuously to decide victory or defeat. But with Bảo Châu's "shrinking turtle" playing style and the extreme goal control tactics crammed by Hải Đăng, the match turned into an extremely frustrating tug-of-war for Trần Phú's team.

The kill ratio was 8–3 in favor of Trần Phú. However, if you looked at the economic statistics, everyone at the gymnasium would have been startled: Hoàng Diệu's "defensive" squad was leading the opponent by more than three thousand gold.

"Why do we fight so cowardly? Every time we rush in, they retreat!" Trần Phú's mid laner angrily slapped the mouse. He controlled a super mobile Assassin, but for the past 25 minutes, he had not touched a hair of the Seraph in Bảo Châu's hand. That magician stood far away, every time he saw someone's shadow he ran away.

"Concentrate on eating the Elder Dragon! They won't dare fight!" Captain Trần Phú gave the order, pulling all five people towards the dragon cave area. Elder Dragon is the strongest buff on the map, capable of enhancing extremely large damage. If they can eat it, they can push it straight into the main base.

On the HD E-sports side, Tuấn's Control Eye system 'Compass' detected the opponent's movements.

"They ate the Big Dragon, Mr. Đăng... oh wrong, Châu! What should we do now?" Tuấn shouted through the intercom system.

Châu swallowed saliva. Đăng was sitting in the stands and could not directly direct. She had to rely on what he had crammed into her head over the past week. "E-sports is a chess game. The big goal is not just dragons." Đăng's voice echoed in her head.

Châu glanced at the small map. All five enemies were gathering in the dragon cave at the bottom of the map. In the top lane, Hoàng Diệu's soldiers were pushing high and close to the opponent's level-three protection tower.

"Abandon the dragons! Let's all go Top lane and push towers!" Châu suddenly ordered, her voice high-pitched due to tension but extremely decisive.

"Yes? But the Elder Dragon..." Kiên hesitated.

"No buts! Push faster! Hùng takes the lead as cannon fodder. Nam buffs Kiên's movement speed to destroy towers!" Châu screamed, her hands pounding the keyboard. She herself also controlled Seraph to waddle after her teammates.

All four male members obeyed the order. The HD E-sports squad rushed into the Top Lane like a tornado, destroying the 3rd tier tower in just five seconds.

Trần Phú's team's alarm system rang out. They had just finished defeating the Elder Dragon when they were horrified to realize that their top lane was riddled with holes, and Hoàng Diệu's kids were frantically attacking the Inhibitor House - the most important building in front of the main base.

"Go home now! These guys are crazy!" Team leader Trần Phú screamed in panic and pressed the Return button.

But Châu had anticipated that. "Tuấn! Use your ultimate move to block their return!"

Tuấn 'Compass' immediately controlled his Jungle Assassin to launch a wide-area attack from the darkness, interrupting the Return rhythm of three enemy members. Tuấn knew he would have to die, but buying five more precious seconds was more than enough. Tuấn lay down, in exchange for the enemy Soldier House crumbling under the fire of Kiên '3G'.

"It's done! Retreat! Run now!" Châu screamed, commanding Seraph to turn and run away.

Hùng, Kiên and Nam immediately used all their speed-boosting skills to escape. Trần Phú's team carried the Elder Dragon talisman and aggressively chased after them, but could only catch Hùng 'Gaur', who walked slowly last.

Exchange two lives for one Soldier House. A worthwhile exchange in E-sports terms. With the loss of the Soldier House, Trần Phú's faction would constantly have to deal with waves of extremely powerful Super Soldiers, making it impossible for them to leave their base comfortably and attack. The "eroding" battle was completely in favor of HD E-sports.

In the stands, Đăng crossed his arms across his chest and nodded slightly in satisfaction. These kids really understood the lesson. The fact that Châu had dared to make the decision to "exchange a base structure for the dragon" in such a stressful moment proved that this manager had a surprisingly strong tactical instinct.

The match lasted another fifteen minutes. Even though Team Trần Phú had strong buffs, they could not push the base because they always had to send people back to clear the Super Soldiers. Their frustration and impatience gradually eroded their composure.

At 40 minutes, Trần Phú's squad decided to play a life-or-death game: Force a team fight in the Mid lane area. They rushed forward like drunken animals, pouring all their damage into Kiên '3G' and Hùng.

"Protect AD!" Châu panicked. Nam 'Cowardly' threw all his healing and armor skills at Kiên. Hùng sacrificed himself to stand in front, taking dozens of damage and then collapsing.

Kiên survived with a glimmer of blood. He stepped back, starting to return damage with fatal shots. Thanks to the outstanding amount of gold accumulated from farming, Kiên's build was fully stacked. Each shot from the Gunner hit Trần Phú's team, causing their health bar to plummet.

The enemy mid laner—the assassin with the highest damage—recognized the threat. He used the Flash skill to slip through Nam's defense barrier, aiming straight at Kiên '3G' who was weak on health.

"Die you stupid Gunner!" He shouted, launching the decisive move.

The spear of death light soared towards Kiên. There was no way to avoid it.

At that moment of life and death, a cloaked figure waddled past.

Seraph of Bảo Châu.

Because she was too panicked by the bloody battle scene, Châu accidentally pressed the wrong movement key, causing her character to stray right into the center of the battlefield instead of hiding behind.

*BANG!*

The spear of light stabbed into Seraph's body. Châu was a mage with very low health; she took massive damage and evaporated instantly.

"Ah ah ah! I'm dead!" Châu screamed loudly, letting go of the mouse.

But the whole Gymnasium suddenly fell silent, then burst into explosive cheers.

Bảo Châu - with a brilliant "misguided" move - accidentally became cannon fodder, taking the fatal blow on behalf of main Gunner Kiên '3G'.

The enemy lost his strongest move and could not defeat the Gunner. Kiên '3G', narrowly escaping death, stood still and began a wild shooting (free-shot).

"DOUBLE KILL! TRIPLE KILL!" The system voice rang loudly.

To everyone's surprise, Trần Phú's squad was completely destroyed. All four people were knocked out. Only Kiên, Nam and the superior soldiers of Hoàng Diệu's faction remained and rushed straight in to destroy Trần Phú's base.

The words "VICTORY" flashed brightly on the screen.

Breathtaking victory. HD E-sports' first official victory after two long years of losing.

Châu took off her headphones and looked at the screen bewildered. She still didn't understand why her character just died and the whole team cheered loudly.

Four male students jumped up and rushed to hug the small, bewildered manager.

"Châu is so amazing! The 'bullet-stopping' IQ is 200!" Kiên screamed happily. "If it weren't for you using your body to fill the hole, I would be gone!"

"Long live Captain Châu!" Hùng and Tuấn also cheered loudly, throwing her high in the air in bursts of joy.

In the stands, Hải Đăng gently pulled down his mask and smiled a truly cheerful smile. Luck combined with naive courage was sometimes the most terrifying weapon in E-sports.

And HD E-sports, his seed of disaster, had officially germinated.

On the way home, the whole team stopped at a small tea shop near the school to celebrate. Bảo Châu ordered five cups of red bean sweet soup and paid for them herself with the club's limited funds, not forgetting to instruct the owner to calculate the correct price for students.

"Miss Châu, your 'sacrifice' is truly a lifetime," Kiên sipped the tea and laughed happily. "When you died and we still won, it felt like watching a comedy mixed with action."

"Don't say it again!" Châu blushed and gave Kiên a fake stern look. "If I had known the result in advance, I wouldn't have panicked so much that I pressed the wrong key."

Đăng sat quietly at the corner of the table, listening to the loud laughter of the four children and the clumsy manager. He took a spoonful of tea and suddenly realized that this was the first time in eight months that he sat among a group of people without feeling the need to take any precautions. No one was calculating the benefits, no one was waiting for an opportunity to stab him in the back.

"Hey Đăng," Hùng suddenly called out, "why are you sitting still and not saying anything? Cheer up a little, today is a historic day for the team!"

Đăng looked up, the corners of his lips curled up into a smile that he didn't mean to hide. "I'm having fun. It's just that my way isn't as loud as yours."

The whole table burst into laughter, and that laughter, although small in a popular roadside tea shop, was warmer than any professional stage light Đăng had ever stood under.