"Found five!" Tang Rou quickly typed in Happy's chat. She also gave Soft Mist's coordinates.
The audience was astonished. Team Tyranny hadn't even appeared in her sights yet, but just through those jumbled footsteps, she was able to deduce that there were five people? She must be quite confident in her listening abilities! Several pro players shut their eyes and tried, but even though they knew that were five people there, they couldn't distinguish between these footsteps at all. All they could get was that there was more than one person.
"Where are they?" Ye Xiu was surprised.
"From the east."
"That can't be right."
Tang Rou didn't have time to continue chatting with Ye Xiu. Even though she had noticed Tyranny's movements ahead of time and retreated, this canyon area was very flat and straight. True, she could back away, but there was nowhere for her to hide. During this time, Tyranny's five players had arrived at the entrance of the canyon. Hoping that they wouldn't look straight was unrealistic. When an intersection was reached, pro players would always check their surroundings out of instinct.
As a result, Tyranny quickly noticed Tang Rou's Soft Mist.
Everyone in Tyranny was startled.
For experienced players, as soon as the size of the map was known, estimating approximately what time the two sides would meet was an easy task. They only saw Soft Mist, but even considering that an individual moved relatively faster than a group, encountering her here shouldn't be possible.
The spawn locations were different than normal.
The spectators could see it with their own eyes, but for the players on stage, there was no way they would think of something that had never happened before. As a result, whether it was Tyranny or Happy, everyone was at a loss. They weren't able to figure out what the reason was.
Happy's response to it was rather simple. Tang Rou was only one person. She was in a 1v5 situation, what more was there to think about? The Thirty-Six Stratagems. If all else fails, retreat.
But it was more complicated for Tyranny.
Bait? Trap?
These words went through their heads. As a result, although Tang Rou was alone, they didn't dare rashly attack her. Facing this unfamiliar map, they thought about it and felt like Happy must have discovered something particular about this area. How else could Tang Rou have gotten to this area so abnormally fast? If Soft Mist was already here, who knew if there were others behind her?
Tang Rou didn't think too much. First, retreat. But seeing Tyranny hesitate, she immediately reported the information to the team.
The rest of Happy was hurrying over to Tang Rou's location. As soon as Y e Xiu saw the report, he immediately threw out his previous analysis.
His previous analysis had been the same as Tyranny's. Tyranny must have found some sort of secret in this map to be able to have reached that location so fast. But when Tang Rou reported that Tyranny was hesitating on whether they should chase after her, Ye Xiu knew that his analysis had been wrong.
For a team like Tyranny to hesitate this much, it meant that they must be feeling very apprehensive about the situation. From this, it could be seen that they hadn't expected to meet anyone from Happy there. In other words, their encounter with Soft Mist came as much of a surprise to them as it did to Happy.
Therefore, there must be a different reason, leading to this abnormal situation to occur.
Because of this small difference, Happy was a step ahead of Tyranny in solving this mystery. They at least knew that Tyranny didn't have the initiative. It was a surprise encounter.
In that case...
"Try and harass them!" Ye Xiu messaged.
"Harass?" Tang Rou was surprised. She obviously knew what the word meant. It was just that harassing required a bit of finesse. It wasn't Tang Rou's strong suit. She also lacked experience in reading the situation, so it was a rather difficult task for her.
"Give them something more to think about," Ye Xiu explained his intentions.
"Got it," Tang Rou wasn't stupid. It was a 5v1, yet Tyranny was hesitating. The other side was clearly apprehensive about something. Ye Xiu's meaning was to make a bluff and mislead them into thinking their misgivings were correct.
Go back and attack?
Tang Rou pondered over it. For now, she had Soft Mist stop retreating.
This sudden pause magnified that shadow of doubt in Tyranny's hearts. They had previously been hesitating, but when they noticed how quick and decisive Soft Mist's retreat was, they gradually became aware of Tang Rou's misgivings towards them. Just when they were about to come to the same conclusion as Ye Xiu, Soft Mist suddenly stopped and turned around to look at them.
Was it because they hadn't gone forward that the other side had no other choice?
Which meant that the other side had set this up, and it really had been a bait?
Tang Rou was still thinking of how to harass them! But she hadn't thought that the other side would analyze her move to that extent. Just this pause made the other side doubtful. Tang Rou was already misleading them.
But at this moment, Tyranny's Zhang Xinjie ordered: "We attack."
"Ah?" Zhang Jiale was somewhat surprised. If the order had come from Han Wenqing, he wouldn't have been surprised. Only their captain wouldn't bother thinking about whether it was a trap or not; just use brute force to break through it. But Zhang Jiale was different. He always considered every detail no matter how small it was, yet he was willing to take such a risk despite being in the unknown?
"Charge forward, and get a clear look. I'll heal." Zhang Xinjie clarified.
He didn't say much, but his aggressiveness and boldness came through. It wasn't an aggressiveness or boldness in terms of offense, but in terms of healing. Zhang Xinjie was stating: go look, I'll protect you.
Using force to suppress. But this time, they weren't relying on offense, but on healing. This aggressiveness wasn't without caution. Tyranny's and Zhang Xinjie's playstyle never lacked caution.
"Understood! We'll go forward!" Zhang Jiale's Dazzling Hundred Blossoms immediately rushed out. For this type of scouting, a long-ranged class was safer.
"Qiying, protect the healer," Han Wenqiny ordered and then Desert Dust rushed forward as well. Lin Jingyan's Dark Thunder followed. Song Qiying followed the order, and River Sunset kept close to Zhang Xinjie's Immovable Rock.
Team Tyranny finally moved forward. However, they still displayed a defensive stance.
"They're coming" Tang Rou reported to her teammates, and Soft Mist turned around and retreated again.
"Already? How decisive! Protect yourself." Ye Xiu replied.
If he had said this to anyone else, they would have most likely wanted to cry. It was a 1v5. Saying "protect yourself" was easier said than done!