Chapter Three: The Future Is Never Free

Zhou's breathing changed. It was exactly Lin's prediction from review. "Plan B," Su ordered. Obsidian's bottom lane pretended to arrive normally while Chen vanished into fog at level two. Su cleared the third wave. At 3:11, Razor Beast vaulted into Obsidian's red side. "Classic level-three invasion!" the caster cried. "Daybreak is in danger—wait, why are Nova and Ferry already moving?" Lin waited behind the camp. Tang's brightest escape crossed the dragon wall. Lin threw his mark there, forcing Tang toward river, straight into Chen's control. First blood. The arena fell silent for half a heartbeat, then erupted. Lin had not rewritten anything. He had selected Tang's most likely road and let the team's prepared net catch him. No pain. No hole.