Chapter 288: Is Mr. Chen Really This Powerful? (7th Update, Requesting Subscriptions, Monthly Passes)

Chapter 288: Is Mr. Chen Really This Powerful? (7th Update, Requesting Subscriptions, Monthly Passes)

Inside the game, Chen Xu became slightly more focused.

After all, his opponent was a professional player—and quite a strong one at that.

As for race, Chen Xu chose the Night Elf, and the map was the relatively balanced 'Twisted Meadows (TM),' featuring a neutral tavern at the center where heroes could be directly recruited.

Checking his spawn point, Chen Xu found himself in the upper-right corner.

Since spawn points were randomly distributed across the map’s four edges, after placing a Moon Well, Chen Xu sent his newly created Io to scout clockwise—a standard routine.

Meanwhile, in the live stream room, Huang Donglai and Sun Yixie were commentating.

Although their own skills didn't match those of professional players, their understanding of gameplay and mechanics was quite solid.

"Hmm... Mr. Chen has chosen a rather unconventional opening—Moon Well first, then Altar of Elders. Is he planning to start with a neutral hero?" Sun Yixie was the first to notice this detail.

In the game, summoning a hero required a food-providing building: Farms for Humans, Burrows for Orcs, and Moon Wells for Elves.

Typically, if summoning a racial hero, players built the Altar of Elders first, followed by the food building, since the latter had a shorter construction time, allowing for faster hero summoning.

"And look, Brother Huang, Mr. Chen’s operations are actually impressive!"

"Scouting clockwise, confirmed no one in the upper-left, continues downward, Io positioned right at the edge—chopping wood while providing vision. Clever!"

Sun Yixie was commentating seriously. He had initially assumed this would be a one-sided match, but judging from the current operations, Chen Xu was holding his own!

While scouting with the Io, Chen Xu didn’t pause base operations either.

It wasn't yet possible to judge his technical skill, but clearly, he wasn't an average player.

"Ah, Brother Sun, it won’t matter. You need to understand who Mr. Chen is up against."

"Shu Ben—an incredibly strong man! Double Ancient of War, one placed near the right-side mercenary camp. What kind of move is this? Planning to mass Huntresses?" Huang Donglai, while still skeptical of Chen Xu, noticed a subtle detail in his play.

"You can see Shu Ben sticking to his signature playstyle: Single Burrows Fast Tech."

"Though I hate to admit it, against absolute strength, tactics and macro mean nothing. Mr. Chen is in serious trouble now," Huang Donglai boldly declared.

Chen Xu, however, didn’t seem concerned. He built an Ancient of War at home and another at the right-side mercenary creep camp.

This was because he already had a clear game plan.

Since the enemy hadn’t scouted him early, he deduced they weren’t spawned in the lower-right. He hadn’t seen anyone in the upper-left either.

So the opponent was most likely in the distant lower-left corner. His Io’s scouting soon confirmed this. Even if he’d guessed wrong, canceling the Ancient of War at the mercenary camp would still be timely.

Then, as time reached the mark, the Mid-lane Tavern summoned a neutral hero—the Beastmaster. After summoning a Quillboar, Chen Xu immediately marched toward the Orc’s base in the lower-right.

Midway, he encountered a Blademaster accompanied by a Footman, clearly going for leveling. The Blademaster followed the traditional Orc opening with a Blademaster start.

The Blademaster chased; the Footman blocked. Despite Chen Xu’s decent control, he got blocked twice, allowing the Blademaster to land three free attacks.

The live stream’s bullet comments were buzzing.

‘What’s going on? Shouldn’t Night Elf’s first hero be Demon Hunter?’

‘Confirmed (slang)! Orcs are the strongest! Look, even Mr. Chen, playing Night Elf, recruited Beastmaster first!’

‘WTF, your logic is messed up!’

‘I’m more curious about why Mr. Chen built two Ancients of War at the start. Is he going for Huntresses? But Huntresses can’t win!’

‘Shu Ben’s double Burrows are still being built—Beastmaster and Piglets are heading to wreck it! Three pigs are so aggressive!’

‘Blademaster took some damage here, didn’t get to level, but at least got Quillboar’s experience.’

‘This harassment is actually well-executed. Mr. Chen has some skills!’

Through the commentary, many players began to notice deeper insights.

This left many RTS players feeling astonished.

Could Chen Xu actually be good?

In the commentary booth, Sun Yixie and Huang Donglai, viewing from the God's-eye view, were equally surprised.

"Double barracks to mass Huntresses—solid early game. But unfortunately, Mr. Chen is facing a pro player, Shu Ben. Look, the Orc base has already reached Tier 2 tech, Wolf Riders are out, and the second hero is a Shaman."

"And Wolf Riders are faster than Huntresses—meaning Wolf Riders can surround and kill Huntresses, but not the other way around. How can he lose? Shu Ben has already placed himself in an unbeatable position!" Huang Donglai, as a professional commentator, felt bold enough to make such a judgment.

On the battlefield, the situation seemed relatively even, yet Chen Xu was smiling broadly—because everything was under control.

Though he was still at Tier 1 tech, his second expansion base was already up, and his economy was excellent.

‘Here it comes! Shu Ben’s Wolf Rider all-in push! And note—Wolf Riders have Siege attribute, dealing bonus damage to buildings.’

‘Wait, Mr. Chen is attempting a base trade with Beastmaster? Smart move, but ineffective—he just lost two Huntresses.’

‘Shu Ben already seems to have won. No matter how you play, he wins. He wins the direct engagement, and wins the base trade.’

The commentators were professional, and in-game, Shu Ben also felt his advantage was substantial.

After applying a Great Potion to a low-health Wolf Rider, Shu Ben planned to save up for two more Wolf Riders before launching his push. But soon, he noticed something strange.

The opponent wasn’t recruiting multiple heroes—he was still leveling just the Beastmaster, and producing only Huntresses.

And the Beastmaster was already at the terrifying level of 5.

Earlier, he had clearly wiped out nearly a full squad of Huntresses.

So why was another squad appearing now!?

Did he expand?

How many expansions did he have!?

Constantly harassed by the Beastmaster early on, combined with Single Burrows Fast Tech, then transitioning into Wolf Riders—

Shu Ben never had time to expand. He remained on a single base, and now his main gold mine was nearly mined out. Yet the enemy, whose base had been partially destroyed, still had overwhelming forces!

Not just Shu Ben—viewers and commentators in the live stream, seeing from the God's-eye view, noticed this too.

It seemed like every engagement, Chen Xu lost badly, even having his main base structures torn apart.

But he never took a fatal blow!

Instead, with the appearance of a third expansion base, money was no longer an issue.

Expansion base? Main base?

As long as I have gold, everywhere is my main base!

As for Huntresses—four Ancients of War were churning them out. When you kill one squad during your downtime, I already have a fresh one ready.

I just won’t engage you directly. If you come to destroy my base, I’ll trade with yours. Dare you not use your Town Portal scroll?

The longer the game went, the worse Shu Ben’s economy became, while Chen Xu’s grew stronger.

Finally, as the Beastmaster reached level 6, he led a massive army of Huntresses straight into Shu Ben’s base and unleashed his ultimate ability.

Watching countless Thunder Lizards ravage his base, Shu Ben’s Mindset finally broke, and he typed ‘GG.’

"What just happened!? Did Shu Ben actually lose? Night Elf… no, is Mr. Chen really this powerful?" Huang Donglai on the commentary desk looked utterly incredulous. Even now, he still felt bewildering.

At that moment, the live stream’s bullet comments exploded.

Watch TI~ Forgot to update...

(End of Chapter) <>