From Pokémon to The International, Dota 2

As the match began, the live stream's popularity surged instantly, and the number of comments also increased.

"Oh, going out looking so fierce, carrying two mangoes? Are you planning to solo kill Tiny?"

"You solo-killed AXX, huh? If you do, I'll send a rocket to the streamer."

"@A meteoric rise, hahaha, level 1 smurf account, you solo killed me and sent a super rocket to the streamer."

Although they are all empty promises, it's a good thing that there are people sending comments in the live stream. It's much better than when he plays games for hours without anyone saying a word.

Neither side initiated a level 1 team fight with smoke at the start, and both sides peacefully collected two gold runes at the start.

Gu Ran and AXX met in the mid-lane river. He immediately entered combat, using Shadow Rush to push the lane and reach level two, unlocking his third skill. Then, he began denying his own minions. (Denying means killing an allied minion when its health is about to reach zero, thus preventing the enemy from gaining the gold and experience from last-hitting.)

AXX landed a Shadow Rush once, but dodged the second one with her movement. In this lane matchup, if you can land Shadow Rush consecutively, you can use the slow and damage amplification to solo kill the opponent. AXX was well aware of this.

Gu Ran became even more excited after sensing his opponent's strength. This opportunity to face off against a renowned player on a big stage was rare, and he was determined to show his best. Just as he focused even more intently on last-hitting minions, positioning, and pressuring the opponent's health, his perspective suddenly shifted—

He found himself as if he had entered the game himself, with minions from both sides and enemy heroes right in front of him; he had become the Shadow Fiend himself!

This amazing experience didn't frighten him; instead, he found it very interesting. He felt that in this state, he had a more precise grasp of the distance of Shadow Strike, and his timing for releasing skills was extremely precise—he could stop casting at the very limit.

Canceling a spell's cast generally refers to pressing the S key during the skill's pre-cast animation. Shadow Fiend's first skill, Shadowstrike, can be canceled in this way. Simply press the S key within 0.4 seconds of pressing the skill key (the skill's pre-cast animation is 0.4 seconds) to cancel. In the game, this appears as a pause after the Shadowstrike animation begins, without actually casting the skill. Therefore, it doesn't consume mana. This advanced technique can be used to bait the opponent's movement or skills.

So Gu Ran interspersed several Shadow Rush feints between finishing off enemies, and each time he finished within the limit of time—in his perception, he was very familiar with the Shadow Rush skill, as long as he didn't make the final step of the skill to stop it.

Shadow - Do not suppress, Shadow - Do not suppress, Shadow suppress - Cancel.

AXX's Tiny was fooled by feints several times, which affected her last-hitting. She judged that the opponent was really going to unleash Shadow of Destruction, so she needed to move around to avoid the damage, which caused her last-hitting to fall behind.

"No way, you can't believe I've been fooled by that, you little fairy (one of AXX's nicknames)?"

"Hahaha, I'm totally overwhelmed by their display of skill."

"The assistant shows that the last hit was successful."

Such comments started appearing more frequently in AXX's live stream, but only she understood the limits of the opponent's skill—how could he possibly kill so precisely? How many years has this guy been practicing inch-stopping techniques?

As AXX was pressured to finish off her opponent, she became increasingly agitated. She had originally expected to suppress the opponent's Pokémon, which had around 10,000 points, and then dominate the game. However, she was now being pressured instead. So she started looking for an opportunity to get a solo kill. Tiny had a high burst damage, and if the opponent made a mistake that she could capitalize on, she could get a solo kill. Once she got the first blood, the economic pressure she had been under in the early game would be instantly reversed.

Gu Ran could vaguely sense from the first-person perspective that the opponent's positioning was a bit too far forward, but this was exactly what he wanted - after a few feints, he finally managed to hit the longest-range C-cannon, and then moved closer to release the mid-range X-cannon - AXX had already realized that he was at a disadvantage in terms of health, but after being hit by Shadow Pressure twice, he was already slowed down and had no way to run away, so he could only fight desperately.

Shadow Fiend was hit by Tiny's two-hit combo of Avalanche, while Tiny was taken down by a basic attack after being hit by the third hit.

First Blood! Firefly kills AXX! Gains 356 gold.

Just as Xiao Xiao was about to die, Gu Ran's perspective suddenly returned. He saw the computer, keyboard, and mouse in front of him again, followed by a dizzy spell and hand pain. Fortunately, Xiao Xiao was already dead, so he only needed to finish her off without anyone interfering. Although he was in poor condition, it didn't matter.

"Holy crap! The streamer solo-killed AXX!"

"Where's that Rocket Guy from before?"

"Hey streamer Tie Diao Bai, I didn't see you playing this hard in the previous games, but you suddenly started making plays this game?"

The barrage of comments flashed by instantly, and the number of VIPs in the live stream gradually increased, from less than 500 at the beginning to 2,000 in a short time. Many viewers who were watching this match flocked in from various live streams, wanting to see how this substitute streamer, who was said to only have 10,000 points, would perform.

At that moment, a rocket effect flashed in the live stream room—

[A rocket will be given away as a gift for someone who makes a name for themselves!]

"Thanks, boss, for the rocket! You're so generous! Wishing you happiness every day and eternal life!"

Gu Ran immediately expressed his gratitude for the gift. This was the first rocket he had ever received in his live streaming career. Normally, he would be happy for half a day if he received a plane.

Then another bunch of gifts like membership cards and glow sticks floated across the live stream screen, but Gu Ran didn't have time to thank them all. At this moment, he had to shift his attention back to the game.

Awesome, bro!

Diao's voice came through the team voice chat. Diao had already suppressed the opponent's offlaner. His biggest worry was that his mid laner would be broken through by AXX, leading to a collapse in the mid-game rhythm. This was the most common scenario in the games he lost to AXX. Seeing his mid laner solo kill AXX, he immediately encouraged him.

After securing the first blood, Gu Ran's confidence soared. Although he didn't get to that amazing first-person perspective again, his early advantage forced Tiny to turt, and his economy was suppressed, making it difficult for him to get his Blink Dagger. In the mid-game, he was actually pressured by Diao Ge's team, and the match ended in victory for Gu Ran's side.

[ZHOU Chen Yao is gifting a rocket!]

As soon as the competition ended, a gift notification appeared in the live stream.

"Thanks to ZHOU for the rocket! Thanks to ZHOU, I got carried to victory this game."

Upon seeing the rocket gift from Brother Diao, Gu Ran, displaying high emotional intelligence, began engaging in a friendly exchange of compliments with Brother Diao.

A comment from Brother Diao floated across the screen:

"You played very well, you took down the big devil. We wouldn't have won so comfortably without you this game."

After Brother Diao left, the live stream chat was filled with congratulations and small gifts, which Gu Ran thanked one by one. For the first time, the live stream's popularity soared to the first page of the DOTA2 section.

Three hours later, Gu Ran said goodbye to the viewers in the live stream, and the settlement screen for today's live stream popped up:

Today's live stream duration: 6 hours and 23 minutes

Peak concurrent users: 5326

New followers: +647

Gift income: 3124.5 yuan

His earnings for the day were equivalent to his total earnings for the previous month. He silently closed the settlement screen and then opened DOTA2 again—he wanted to try again to see if he could still get into that wonderful first-person perspective that he had experienced earlier.