Chapter 173

Chapter 173 – Canglan VS Cheetah (Trap Cooling)

As Bai Xuan said, the Cheetah team was currently the overall weakest team in the Miracle League. Before the Canglan team returned to the league, the Terminator team was ranked at the bottom with Cheetah right above them. Cheetah ranked second last in the sixth season’s regular season.

This team’s style was very clear. It mainly relied on the hunters’ traps for output.

Cheetah’s captain, Jiang Xu was a player who debuted in the second season with Su Guangmo and Yu Pingsheng. However, Jiang Xu was low-ley in the league compared to the highly popular Su Guangmo. He was known as the best hunter but he didn’t have many fans.

The operation of a hunter in Miracle was extremely complicated. The number of people playing a hunter in the players base wasn’t big and Jiang Xu wasn’t handsome compared to the other captain. His face naturally couldn’t capture beauty fans.

Of course, Jiang Xu had his own means if he could lead the Cheetah team for so many years in the Miracle League. A;though the Cheetah team’s tactic was the ‘trap flow’ style, many strong teams had been beaten by it, especially in the regular season. The giant teams of Flying Feathers, Time and Wind Colour had all lost to Cheetah before. Jiang Xu’s use of maps to set up tactics couldn’t be underestimated.

Last season, an old player of Cheetah retired and Jiang Xu discovered the talented newcomer Chen Anran. This newcomer’s debut was different from Cheng Wei and Qin Mo. He was as low-key as his captain and no one noticed him until the end of the season where the judges discovered that this 16 year old was particularly stable.

The Most Promising Rookie Award went to Chen Anran, leaving many viewers confused. However, most of the league’s captains recognized Xiao Chen’s level.

This included Li Cangyu. He watched the videos of Cheetah’s games and noticed that Chen Anran, a player with almost no sense of existence, was the Cheetah team’s most powerful weapon.

***

For the preparations this week, Li Cangyu specifically arranged for Zhuo Hang to watch the videos of the Cheetah team and to ask if he didn’t understand anything.

Watching videos over and over was more boring than daily training. Li Cangyu originally thought that Zhuo Hang wouldn’t be eager to do this due to his pride and narcissism. Surprisingly, Zhuo Hang was very serious. He didn’t show any impatience despite watching the same video ten times in a row.

On a closer look, it was discovered that Li Xiaojiang was sitting next to him.

Li Cangyu had confirmed in advance that Li Xiaojiang wouldn’t be playing in the match against Cheetah. His black magician had no advantage over the hunters who could quickly set traps. He had Li Xiaojiang train by himself for a few days which would allow him to digest what he learnt.

There was no need to play on the weekend. Other players might used this time to rest but Li Xiaojiang had always been the most serious person. He might not have to play in the next match but he wasn’t idle. He sat seriously and watched the videos together with Zhuo Hang.

The two little guys had been working together for a long time and their relationship had improved greatly. Even if Zhuo Hang might not be happy in his heart about Cat God’s arrangement, Li Xiaojiang was watching the videos so seriously that Zhuo Hang didn’t dare express it.

He watched it many times and made a discovery. He looked back at Li Cangyu and said, “Captain, this Chen Anran plays a terran hunter. It is reasonable to say that his movement speed shouldn’t be faster than an elf hunter. However, I found that when he is setting traps, he is actually faster than his captain Jiang Xu and he is a lot faster than me!”

“Being able to find it means that you are looking carefully.” Li Cangyu patted him on the shoulder. “You should figure out the reason yourself.”

“Okay!” Zhuo Hang scratched his head and thought carefully. Then Li Xiaojiang suddenly whispered, “Is it because of his hand, hand, hand speed?”

Zhuo Hang’s eyes brightened and he immediately pulled up the game’s statistics panel. Sure enough, Chen Anran’s hand speed actually exceeded 500. This was almost comparable to the great gods with the best hand speed in the league!

The fastest players in the Miracle League were undoubtedly Ling Xuefeng and Li Cangyu. Their peak outbreak could reach a hand speed of more than 550. Other big captains like Tan Shitian, Su Guangmo and Lou Wushuang could reach a speed of almost 500. Chen Anran’s hand speed could reach the level of these great gods. It was no wonder why he won the Most Promising Rookie Award last season.

Zhuo Hang couldn’t help sighing. “This is why he plays a terran hunter. His hand speed is fast enough and he doesn’t need the agility advantage of an elf. A terran hunter might lack speed but he can make up for it with his hand speed. A terran hunter has higher survivability so his hunter is a fast, defensive and highly flexible output.”

Li Xiaojiang seriously asked, “B-But don’t skills have cooldowns? How can he become faster by relying on his hand speed?”

Zhuo Hang listened to his stuttered question and couldn’t help smiling. He explained, “Hunters have a difficult method of play called trap cooling. It means that a trap placed by a hunter can reduce the cooldown time of a trap and enhance the damage as long as it successfully captures the prey. In other words, if a hunter’s operation is accurate enough and the traps always capture the prey then in theory, the trap skills can be continuously released without a cooldown.”

“Oh!” Li Xiaojiang nodded as he realized. He was silent for a moment before saying doubtfully, “Isn’t, isn’t this just a theory? It should be difficult to actually achieve.”

“Yes.” Zhuo Hang patiently replied, “At present, the world’s strongest hunter can achieve the seamless connection of common trap skills at key moments. My, cough, my accuracy isn’t high enough. At this point, Chen Anran is much more powerful than me.”

Xiao Han heard the conversation between them and couldn’t help interrupting, “Are you actually admitting someone is better than you? This is rare.”

Zhuo Hang, “…”

‘Youngster, do you have to be so honest? I know it in my heart. Do you need to say it?’

Xiao Han’s words made Zhuo Hang cough with embarrassment a few times. Li Xiaojiang saw this and couldn’t help smiling. Xiao Han’s words were true. Zhuo Hang always said things like, ‘I am handsome’, ‘I am very good’ and ‘watch my powerful performance.’ This was the first time he said that someone was better than him.

Zhuo Hang saw Li Xiaojiang smiling and his ears turned red. He glanced at Xiao Han and cried out, “Go practice and stop fooling around!”

Xiao Han made an innocent expression. “I am listening to you speak about the hunter’s trap cooling. Your words are very reasonable.”

Zhuo Hang, “…”

Li Cangyu’s fingers were quickly tapping the keyboard but his ears weren’t idle. He heard the words of the teenagers in his ears.

He ignored Xiao Han’s blunt words and was very happy that Zhuo Hang could find Chen Anran’s advantages and admit his own shortcomings.

It seemed that Zhuo Hang’s mentality had changed after working with the sluggish Li Xiaojiang for a long time.

Compared to the initial Zhuo Hang who was proud and looked down on this teammates, this Zhuo Hang was willing to discuss issues and share his experiences with his teammates. It was definitely a great improvement.

The child was proud due to being spoiled but he wasn’t blind to the facts. He only spoke narcissistic words but his heart was calm. The best thing in a match was to recognize the gap between yourself and your opponent.  It was only by understanding the opponent’s strength and your weaknesses that it would be possible to find a way to win.

Li Cangyu saw that Zhuo Hang was still watching the video and walked behind him. “If you play with Chen Anran alone, what do you think is the most important thing?”

Zhuo Hang seriously thought about it and replied, “Breaking his rhythm?”

“You have a good understanding.” Li Cangyu smiled and confirmed his answer. Then he said, “How do you interrupt your opponent’s fast pace? Come to the arena and fight me. I will personally teach you.”

Zhuo Hang excitedly jumped out of his seat. This was the first time that Cat God would be personally guiding him!

***

Li Cangyu took Zhuo Hang to a corner of the training room and found two free computers. They sat down, opened a side account and created a locked room in human-machine training mode.

Xiao Han, Gu Siming and the others had their own training tasks. They were curious but didn’t dare run around. Li Xiaojiang looked over with a curious expression and Li Cangyu couldn’t help smiling. “Xiaojiang, come here and watch.”

Li Xiaojiang was happy and immediately pulled a chair to sit behind Zhuo Hang.

The Miracle human-machine training mode could be set by him. Li Cangyu chose a forest map filled with mobs and also opened a hunter account. It was the first time Zhuo Hang had seen Cat God playing a hunter.

He thought that Li Cangyu was a master of summoning. Now he was playing a hunter and Zhuo Hang should be able to cope. It turned out that Cat God might not be a professional hunter but he could rely on his hand speed to give the enemy great trouble!

Trap cooling… this style of play was used by Li Cangyu. Zhuo Hang could only feel dazzled as colourful and beautiful light effects flashed without interruption. The hunter’s traps were placed one by one and the mobs on the ground fell one by one. Cat God wasn’t playing a hunter, he was simply a bulldozer!

In less than a minute, the nearby mobs were wiped out by Cat God. Li Xiaojiang looked at the captain with adoration and Zhuo Hang was gobsmacked.

Li Cangyu saw the teenager’s surprised face and patted him on the head. He asked, “Do you understand?”

Zhuo Hang smiled with embarrassment. “…No, it’s too fast.”

Li Cangyu explained, “It will be like this against Chen Anran. You will find that his speed isn’t slower than me. He is a full-time hunter and is definitely better at the hunter’s skills. The Cheetah team is strong in team battles because Chen Anran and Jiang Xu will rely on trap cooling to reduce the cooldown and clean up the mobs on the map as quickly as possible. This might not seem terrible but once it accumulates, their economic benefits will become the highest in the game.”

Zhuo Hang suddenly realized. “I understand. He relies on this quick killing method to gain a higher economy and take the advantage?”

Li Cangyu smiled. “Yes, if you want to confront him then you must find a way to interrupt his rhythm.”

Zhuo Hang carefully pondered on it. He seemed to understand and seriously gripped his mouse. “Try again!”

Li Cangyu pressed start and the two people entered the dense mob forest map to practice releasing traps.

Zhuo Hang was extremely serious and had a high understanding. It only took him a bit of time to know what to do, making a hint a appreciation form in Li Cangyu’s heart.

Perhaps Zhuo Hang wasn’t as impetuous as he was in the beginning due to the subtle influence of Li Xiaojiang. Now he could calm down and practice this boring and monotonous operation. He had no complaints despite the hours of continuous practice. Li Cangyu’s decision to let him partner with Li Xiaojiang was really correct. The people with opposite personalities had a positive influence on each other. This was a good thing as they could progress together.