Chapter Fourteen: Su Xiaoqiang’s First Victory

Lu Mingfei had played the map “Big Game Hunters” countless times.

Since this map offered unlimited resources, many players favored choosing the Zerg race.

After all, in version 1.08, both Terran and Zerg were considered strong in the late game.

However, Zerg required less micro-management compared to Terran, which demanded extremely precise operations.

Generally, once a player assembled a fleet of Battlecruisers, they could usually steamroll their opponent.

As for Protoss, although there was a theoretically strongest late-game strategy, it mostly existed only in theory.

In actual matches, Protoss players rarely replicated that style, so the race was often regarded as the underdog in PvP.

Only top-tier players or Protoss specialists challenging Terran would choose Protoss in PvP.

Within Flyhead’s faction, four players had chosen Zerg, while the remaining two were Protoss and Terran respectively.

Because so many on Flyhead’s side picked Zerg, Lu Mingfei opted for Terran.

He intended to play a “rush” strategy.

If Flyhead knew what Lu Mingfei was thinking, they would surely consider him insane.

A 2v6 match, and he was paired with a newbie girl. They’d be lucky if Lu Mingfei didn’t rush—yet he actually planned to rush aggressively against them?

...

Flyhead was commanding his workers to build a base, constructing buildings and gathering minerals, when suddenly a scream startled him.

“Damn, I’m getting rushed!” one of Flyhead’s teammates suddenly shouted.

“Rushed?” Flyhead froze, doubting his ears. “No way.”

Before he could switch to the minimap, he heard frantic calls from his teammate: “Come quick, come quick! My base is about to explode!”

Flyhead finally glanced at the minimap and saw a Terran force of tanks and marines pushing relentlessly into his teammate’s base.

Their target was clear: first the barracks, then key structures, preventing any defenses from being produced.

This teammate was also playing Zerg, who had invested nearly all resources into upgrading buildings early on.

Though they produced swarms of Zerglings to defend, these quickly drowned under the marine firepower.

Buildings in the base were being destroyed one after another by the Terran assault.

It was Lu Mingfei! Flyhead immediately realized it was him playing Terran.

“How many units do they have?” Flyhead asked.

“About...” His teammate squinted at the screen filled with marines and tanks, quickly estimating in his mind before falling speechless.

“How many?” Flyhead urged anxiously.

“Over 160.” The teammate swallowed nervously.

“160?” Flyhead’s voice nearly blew out his microphone. “Impossible.”

It had been less than eight minutes, and Flyhead had barely reached 100 population—how could Lu Mingfei have over 160?

Yet, seeing his teammate’s base nearly overwhelmed by a flood of marines, Flyhead was forced to believe it.

Producing 160 population units in just eight minutes—what kind of monster was this?

“Quick, send reinforcements!” Flyhead commanded through the headset.

Everyone responded in unison, and soon several Zerg squads crossed most of the map to aid the teammate under attack.

But halfway there, the headset was filled again with shouts of disbelief.

“Damn, they’re rushing my base too!”

“Shit, mine’s being attacked as well!”

Just as they redeployed troops, several Terran squads slipped into their bases.

Though each Terran force was small, and the defenders had reserved some units at home, Lu Mingfei’s exquisite micro-management allowed his smaller forces to entangle and neutralize the defenders.

“What kind of strategy is this? No... how does he have so many units?” Flyhead had never seen StarCraft played like this; cold sweat formed on his temples.

Even more terrifying was the realization that this guy was controlling multiple armies simultaneously across different parts of the map—his APM had to be insanely high.

...

Lu Mingfei focused intently on the screen before him, completely unaware that Su Xiaoqiang was glancing at him from the corner of her eye.

If Flyhead could see Lu Mingfei’s screen now, he would doubt his own sanity, stunned by the population count in the upper right corner.

Lu Mingfei’s population was not 160, nor 170.

It was a full 200.

Before the match began, he had already devised his tactic—he was going to execute the TVZ fast three-base marine rush.

This strategy, used in Terran versus Zerg matchups, capitalizes on Terran’s early-game combat strength by quickly expanding to three bases and constructing eight barracks.

With perfect execution, this tactic can produce a terrifying 200 population within eight minutes.

Then, using ghost units and tanks for multi-pronged attacks, the player can swiftly destroy the opponent’s buildings, ending the early game with a decisive blow.

“T” stands for Terran, “Z” for Zerg, “P” for Protoss, and “B” for building.

...

This was actually one of the classic strategies in the later game StarCraft II, developed by the South Korean pro player Ryu Bu Lee Shin-hyung, a variant of the Terran rush tactic.

Lu Mingfei had simply transplanted the strategy from StarCraft II to the StarCraft I version he was playing now.

Although the game mechanics differed between the two versions, the core concept of the strategy remained highly advanced.

And so far, it had proven quite effective.

Flyhead and his team were clearly baffled by this unfamiliar style.

It was like the Blind Monk’s Q skill in League of Legends—the “Insec kick.”

By 2024, it was a common move, mastered fluidly by many silver-ranked players.

But back in 2013, when Insec first pulled it off in a competitive match, it was breathtaking.

Even veteran pros were stunned, never having imagined League of Legends could be played that way.

For Flyhead’s team in 2004, seeing Lu Mingfei wield such an advanced tactic was just as shocking as the 2013 LOL players witnessing Insec’s legendary kick.

...

The game raged on.

Despite the 2v6 disadvantage, and Lu Mingfei having already reached 200 population, splitting his forces into six groups left him still stretched thin.

He had to send a main army of tanks and marines to focus on attacking the Zerg base closest to Su Xiaoqiang.

At the same time, he dispatched several smaller squads to harass other enemy bases, delaying their reinforcements.

Though his forces were insufficient, Su Xiaoqiang, under Lu Mingfei’s guidance, had built a unit combination of zealots and immortals that slipped into the nearby Zerg base.

Even though Flyhead sent troops to assist, the reinforcements arrived too late.

The teammate’s base was already being destroyed by Su Xiaoqiang’s supporting units.

“Yeah!” Su Xiaoqiang couldn’t help but leap from her chair in celebration.

Her excitement was understandable—it was her first kill and her first time playing StarCraft, defeating an opponent with her own hands.

Though she somewhat stole Lu Mingfei’s thunder, the sense of accomplishment and satisfaction was undeniable.

Lu Mingfei watched her jubilant reaction and smiled quietly.

He understood her excitement; when he won his first match in StarCraft, he had been even more overjoyed, celebrating for days and smiling in his dreams.

Still, he put on a cool expression, as if his base were filled with Maybachs or Bugatti Veyrons, and said:

“Calm down. There are still five more opponents. Let’s celebrate after we win this game.”

“Tch.”

Su Xiaoqiang snorted but obeyed, sitting back down obediently, unaware that the corners of her lips were still curling upward in a grin.