League: I really didn't tank!

Chapter 395 Lü Bu's Death at Baimen Tower

Although both sides are human, their starting strategies differed drastically.

Two boats of pawns are not very effective in TVT, so Chen Dongqing did not plan to use two boats of pawns in this round.

On the other hand, Lü Bu dared not do it at all.

Facing a completely black map, how could Lu Bu, who didn't even know what race the enemy was, possibly build a starport at the start? If the enemy launched a rapid attack, he'd have to be immediately killed!

This is why Chen Dongqing said earlier that Lü Bu dared not use two ships of soldiers.

With just the intimidation of random races, Lu Bu's most proficient weapon was rendered useless.

Chen Dongqing chose to speed things up this time, directly deploying a single ship of soldiers, focusing on harassment and suppression.

On the other hand, Lu Bu was quite experienced this time, choosing to start with Raven.

Ravens are Terran mechanical units, originating from Starports. In addition to carrying tracking missiles, they can also deploy an automatic turret.

A single raven can unleash two tracking attacks, making it the bane of spearmen.

Even if Chen Dongqing scattered his spearmen in a dazzling display, he could only avoid the explosive damage from the tracking missiles at most, but he would still have to take the damage anyway.

Chen Dongqing's ship of soldiers did not achieve any good results, and he even lost several good brothers!

Upon seeing this, Huang Xudong immediately let out a wail: "What happened, Ilex? You were a bit careless! Was the reconnaissance inadequate?"

This is Master Xudong, whose "poisonous milk" always works subtly and silently.

Unbeknownst to them, the mysterious force began to exert its power.

Seeing the initial advantage, Lu Bu naturally pressed his advantage, launching a massive offensive with his spearmen and tanks, switching from defense to offense!

But when his tank force had just left home and reached a corner, a hidden Widow Mine exploded from the ground, wiping out the Terran Marines and killing countless 50-gold comrades!

Although the Terran race still has a few tanks left, they are obviously meaningless; tanks without infantry are just castles in the air.

Lu Bu felt a chill run down his spine and had no choice but to retreat with the tanks, thinking he should reconsider his options.

But just then, a medical transport plane roared in from the darkness, and five riflemen were dropped in a carpet-drop fashion to block the edge of the tank formation, landing with a whoosh!

Chen Dongqing controlled the five riflemen within the firing range of a single tank, and with two salvos, forcibly destroyed a tank with low health. Then the transport plane flew back, loaded all the riflemen onto the ship, and sped away!

Without riflemen and tanks unable to attack air units, Chen Dongqing's medical transport plane is invincible!

As long as you have fast enough hands, once you can complete the process of airdropping, dismantling tanks, and loading ships, the enemy will have no way to deal with you!

Chen Dongqing followed the same method, clearing out the remaining enemy tanks one by one. His operation was so scientific that it was almost unbelievable!

Lu Bu was facing huge losses and gritted his teeth. Before he could even catch his breath, Chen Dongqing sent two more ships of spearmen over. With a total of three ships of soldiers operating on three fronts, the suppression was pushed to the limit!

Lu Bu's forces were severely depleted and couldn't keep up with Chen Dongqing's rate of improvement. In order not to affect his mentality, he directly typed GG, ending the first game!

The moment Lü Bu surrendered, the cheers from the audience erupted almost instantly! Everyone was cheering for Chen Dongqing's swift and decisive victory!

As all the viewers knew, the key to this victory lay in that seemingly ordinary Widow Thunder, which was precisely what Lu Bu had in his Achilles' heel!

The location of this landmine was extremely cunning. It was placed on Lu Bu's inevitable route, and it wiped out his spearmen in one fell swoop!

The sheer cunning of this mine suggests it was deliberately designed and targeted.

Who builds a heavy factory and then lays landmines first? Isn't that just plain sneaky?

At this moment, Lü Bu was also filled with confusion.

How did the other side manage to figure out his thought process?

Of course he didn't know.

When Chen Dongqing first started learning StarCraft, he watched a lot of videos in order to quickly master the two-ship infantry tactic and its subsequent development.

INnoVation, as the best representative of two-ship tactics, is the subject of Chen Dongqing's research!

To put it bluntly, in his early days, before he had developed his own fighting style, Chen Dongqing was a one-to-one replica of Lu Bu!

Chen Dongqing understands Lü Bu as well as a farmer understands rice!

He knew, of course, that Lü Bu would launch a counterattack at this time, and he also knew the enemy's route and general reconnaissance habits. Laying a mine was just a casual thing to do, but it directly achieved the decisive effect!

In addition, there is the information advantage of random races.

With the enemy in the open and us in the dark, how exactly will Chen Dongqing lose?

After winning the first game, Chen Dongqing clenched his fist in front of his eyes, excited about the victory!

He walked quickly backstage. This time, he didn't stop in the backstage lobby, but walked all the way to a small dressing room.

At the entrance to the lounge, Park Unryong greeted Chen Dongqing with a smile and gave him a thumbs up.

"Impressive!" Park Yun-yong exclaimed. "The human race won the civil war, so our chances are much better today."

"What are you saying?" Chen Dongqing said cheerfully, "The chances were already pretty good today, so you have some confidence in me."

Park Unryong felt incredibly confident upon hearing this, but he still said, "Don't be too arrogant. You still have two hurdles to overcome: the Zerg and the Protoss!"

For a random race to win the championship, it's not enough to rely solely on the strength of the human race.

At this time, similar comments were heard in the other StarCraft live stream rooms, all believing that the Zerg and Protoss were the real test for Ilex.

It's worth noting that during Lu Bu's peak period, his win rate against the Zerg was 95%!

Chen Dongqing didn't offer any further explanation after hearing this.

We'll find out soon enough whether we can win or not.

The second game started quickly.

This time, Chen Dongqing was randomly assigned to the Protoss race. Facing the dark map, he decisively chose to open the Stargate.

Stargates are Protoss structures that can produce Phoenix Fighters, Void Rays, and Carriers.

These three are all air units with extremely strong air combat capabilities, but their weakness lies in their relatively weak ground combat capabilities.

Choosing this opening strategy means focusing on the later stages of the game.

Chen Dongqing's strategy was to rely on the information protection provided by the random race to help him get through the early stages.

In this game, Lu Bu chose the conventional Barracks and Factory opening strategy. He discovered that the Protoss had opened the Stargate and decisively adopted a strategy of overwhelming with Marines and Tanks, initiating a rapid attack in the early game.

The idea was certainly correct, but Chen Dongqing reacted quickly, or rather, he had already made preparations.

He decisively switched to Blink Stalker, and countless Stalkers were teleported out to split into two groups.

One of the teams was responsible for welcoming the Terran Marine and Tank units!

"Are we just going to defend with chickens?" Huang Xudong frowned and shouted, "We can't hold this wave! We're going to get overrun!"

The Hunter is nicknamed the Chicken Hunter because its direct combat ability is not strong. At most, it can only kill chickens or use its blinking mechanic to harass and kite.

A Terran Marine/Tank unit is definitely not something a single Stalker squad can take down.

Even if the Stalkers can use their agility to stall the situation, it's only a matter of time before the Terran reinforcements arrive and the front line is breached!

But Huang Xudong was of course unaware that this was exactly the situation Chen Dongqing wanted.

The camera cuts to the rear of the Terran forces, where we can see that their reinforcements are already on their way. This time, it's a whole ship of Marines, moving through the darkness, seemingly preparing to launch a surprise attack and breach the Protoss's third base!

Lu Bu was incredibly experienced in the game. He had already realized that at this point in the battle, the Protoss forces couldn't possibly only have this many troops on the front lines.

The Protoss must still have a hunting party hidden away!

If his crew were to go to provide frontal support, they would surely be flanked and intercepted halfway there!

Therefore, he was on the second level, and this fleet of ships directly invaded the third mine!

However, Chen Dongqing is on the third level!

On a high platform next to the Protoss's third base, a small squad of Stalkers suddenly used Blink to appear directly around the transport ship!

The medical transport ship has a total of 150 health, while the stalkers deal 14 damage to heavy units. This small squad of stalkers only needs two volleys to easily shoot down the transport ship!

Lu Bu reacted quickly; he swiftly unloaded the spearmen, and a squad of his men unleashed a furious barrage!

But Chen Dongqing was not afraid at all.

Without the milk from the transport ships and the protection of the loading vessels, your squad of gunners is nothing but chickens! That's the scope of chicken hunting!

Chen Dongqing led a large number of hunters to focus fire, leaving one hunter with low health after another to continue attacking, while the rest shifted their firepower to avoid hitting the corpses.

This hardly qualifies as a skillful maneuver; Chen Dongqing's ambush easily crushed the human reinforcements!

"Here it comes, another tactical victory!" Sun Yifeng, watching the ambush in his livestream, was utterly amazed: "That was brilliant! How did Brother Shu know Lu Bu was going to steal the third base! This attack gives us a huge advantage!"

Immediately afterward, the hunters replenished their shields, and Chen Dongqing continued to micro-manage, constantly blocking human reinforcements!

Meanwhile, Chen Dongqing's direct harassment continues!

Although the frontal forces were vastly different, Chen Dongqing had the base behind him, so his troops could return home at any time to slowly replenish their shields and then come out fully recovered to fight again!

Furthermore, with the Protoss reinforcements arriving without any hindrance, it's only a matter of time before the Terran tank force, which has no backup, is wiped out!

Seeing his main force isolated and helpless, Lu Bu had no choice but to choose AIIIN, attempting to break the Protoss encirclement.

However, Chen Dongqing reacted extremely quickly, instantly scattering countless hunters to avoid being bombarded by tank AOE, while perfectly controlling the concentrated fire to defeat the human forces one by one!

Faced with such a crushing defeat, Lü Bu could only grit his teeth and type GG again.

2-0!

The finals will be a best-of-seven series, requiring four wins to secure the ultimate victory.

But clearly, when one side reaches 2-0, their chances of winning are practically limitless!

The two sides didn't rest for long and quickly started the third game!

After both humans and gods had made their appearances, this time, Chen Dongqing used the Zerg race.

All three are different races, which is a huge challenge for users who prefer random races.

This battle, this battle is called the Three Heroes Fighting Lü Bu.

Fortunately, Chen Dongqing was able to hold on, because the advantages of random races were also obvious.

If it were against other Zerg, Lu Bu would definitely launch a two-ship onslaught followed by four ships to suppress them, and then finish them off with a single punch from two hundred population units.

But Lu Bu clearly wouldn't dare to play against the randomly generated Zerg, because he had no idea what that meant.

By the time he discovered at the start that Chen Dongqing was a Zerg player, it was already too late.

On the other hand, Chen Dongqing clearly had much more room to maneuver at the start.

If the Terran player doesn't engage with two ships of infantry, the early game pace won't be fast, giving Chen Dongqing a lot of room to maneuver.

Four minutes later, Chen Dongqing photographed a cockroach nest and simultaneously photographed a farmer, thus discovering the situation of the human army.

This opening strategy was a unique strategy developed by Chen Dongqing himself, specifically designed to counter the human race.

Depending on the opponent's opening moves, there are many possible outcomes.

For example, this time, after he scouted over, he saw that the Terran players had deployed a tank composition.

The tank system is characterized by high damage and long range, but lacks proactive offensive capabilities.

Yes, he's pretty much like Huang Zhong from Honor of Kings.

Facing a group of Huang Zhong, Chen Dongqing had no defensive pressure at all, so he only needed to send out four cockroaches, two at the top and two at the bottom, to cooperate with the Queen to block the two entrances.

The Zerg can quickly deploy troops, and can adapt to any situation and deploy troops to defend if the opponent intensifies their attack.

But if the opponent doesn't attack, Chen Dongqing will just keep producing peasants and mining at home to increase his development speed.

Generally speaking, it takes about six minutes to replenish seventy or eighty peasants, giving you a lead of at least twenty over the opponent.

The number of leading farmers represents the economy.

With the economy supporting the troops, Chen Dongqing, relying on his micro-management skills, has no chance of losing!

Lu Bu originally planned to build up tanks at home, focusing on defense.

But when his Grim Reaper entered the Zerg camp and saw the densely packed swarms of tiny farmer insects, Lu Bu felt as if he had opened the toilet in the middle of the night and found a toilet full of cockroaches—his scalp tingled!

So you haven't deployed any troops at all for so long, and have only been massing peasants?

Are you just here to collect interest?

Lu Bu knew he couldn't let the Zerg continue their greed, so he had no choice but to launch an attack!

On the other side, Chen Dongqing was fully aware of the situation. He knew that the human death god had arrived, and the other side must be in a hurry.

So he decisively sent troops ahead of time, relying on his superior economy to max out his cockroach, dog, poison, and flying snake abilities!

The human army pressed in with overwhelming force, but Chen Dongqing showed no mercy, easily taking down the wave of tanks!

After the Zerg held off this wave, they continued to produce workers to mine resources, and their economy continued to grow rapidly.

At this point, the tactics panel in the live match showed that the economic gap between the two sides had widened to nearly double.

Facing the impenetrable Zerg base, Lu Bu was filled with a sense of despair.

For some reason, he always felt that he was completely under the control of the other side.

The mine in the first game, the well-laid ambush in the second game, and the mass worker tactic in the third game—they had him completely under their control!

He couldn't even display his full strength before inexplicably falling into a disadvantageous position.

Is this Ilex?

What happened to the promise of only micro-management and no tactics?

Left with no other option, Lü Bu typed "GG" for the third time.

3-0!

The moment Chen Dongqing won the game, all his supporters cheered!

Inside the StarCraft Old Boys' livestream room, two middle-aged men were practically hugging each other tightly! So hard, my Tree Bro!

At this moment, in the live stream, besides countless comments praising Brother Tree's greatness, some people were also focusing their attention on INnoVation.

This man, whom Huang Xudong dubbed Lü Bu, is currently experiencing the biggest defeat of his career.

At this moment, the live chat was filled with jokes like "[Lu Bu died at Baimenlou]".

The overwhelming dominance of these three games made it clear to everyone that there was no possibility of Ilex coming back from a 3-0 deficit to win 4-3; Ilex was going to win the championship!

This is the most dominant champion in StarCraft history!

The fourth game is about to begin!

In this game, Chen Dongqing was once again randomly assigned to the Human race and faced off against Lu Bu, the "World's Number One Human"!

Lu Bu is going all in this game, trying to use what he considers his powerful late-game strength to crush his opponent!

However, he clearly underestimated Chen Dongqing's abilities.

Chen Dongqing handled all of Lü Bu's actions steadily and made almost no mistakes throughout the game, with all his troops in optimal proportion.

He proceeded cautiously, taking advantage of the vulnerability of Lu Bu's ground forces caused by the large number of Viking warplanes he deployed. He launched a surprise attack on Lu Bu's three mines, tearing a gap in Lu Bu's impregnable battle line and successively destroying the economy of Lu Bu's three mines!

After inflicting initial damage, Chen Dongqing launched a war of attrition, leveraging his economic advantage to continuously expand his lead!

Finally, Lu Bu, in a state of mental breakdown, typed "GG" for the fourth time.

Four to zero, game over!

All interstellar viewers around the world witnessed this unprecedented miracle, and it is highly likely that it will never be repeated!

Ilex, with a random race, won the annual championship!

The first game featured the Terran player, Maru, who frequently used Mines at the start with his Ships, often with surprising effectiveness.

The second Protoss game was from this year's Katowice semifinals, where Li Peinan faced HerO. HerO used Stalkers to cut off Li Peinan's reinforcements.

In the third game, playing Zerg, Reynor employed the same opening strategy he used against Li Peinan in the quarterfinals when Li Peinan pushed with tanks. He focused on defense and aggressively produced workers to develop his economy, managing to hold out against Li Peinan for a long time (although he ultimately lost, this opening was quite good, and Li Peinan praised it highly in his post-match analysis).

The fourth game was the decisive game between Li Peinan and Maru in the final.

Today's chapter is a microcosm of Li Peinan's path to victory; consider it a tribute.

Actually, it wasn't laziness. To write this chapter, I read a lot of articles and explanations, and even watched Li Peinan's own review. It was much more effort than just writing for my own enjoyment.

(End of this chapter)