Chapter 972: Extreme Contrast
Translator: Nomyummi Editor: Nomyummi
It was impossible to know the reactions of those watching the live broadcast, but the audience present was silent like the grave.
Most of the audience had been watching this match closely, so what they saw was the two characters meeting and then Sun Zheping’s Another Summer of Sleep attacking, attacking, attacking and then his opponent died.
Did Fang Daxu’s Knight even use any skills?
Everyone’s memory of it seemed blurred. Even if skills had been used, they didn’t seem to have done anything, buried amongst Another Summer of Sleep’s attacks.
One minute and seventeen seconds...
This was the amount of time the first Individual competition had taken. It wasn’t until the statistics were shown that the audience went crazy.
This was a pro level match right? Even though Mysterious Fantasy might not be the strongest, they were still a pro team, right? Even though Fang Daxu hadn’t been taken in by any of the other pro teams, he still managed to stay in the pro circle a full two years, no?
One minute seventeen seconds? And a Knight as well? He just lost with seemingly no resistance like that?
Most of the audience came to see Happy humiliated, but in this moment, they couldn’t help but boo Mysterious Fantasy.
They had seen fast, but not this fast. A tanky Knight being wiped out in one minute and seventeen seconds, did he grab the wrong equipment and go up in cloth armor?
Amidst the booing, Sun Zheping had already come down from the stage. He had immediately stood and left as soon as the result was out.
"So fast." Ye Xiu smiled, stretching his hand out to Sun Zheping.
"I wanted to rest earlier." Sun Zheping high fived Ye Xiu before returning to his own seat, turning to glance over at Zhang Yiwei, tilting his head up and saying, "A Knight, huh?"
Zhang Yiwei’s face was clouded over and that was when he saw their team’s Fang Daxu walk out from the stands in bewilderment, listen to the booing increase by several decibels with further bewilderment, and come down from the stage with even more bewilderment. Seeing the dumb look on his face made Zhang Yiwei irritated and he wanted to go up and kick some sense into the player. However, he knew that this was nowhere near appropriate. He had to keep calm, otherwise it could affect the morale of the entire team. Having been a coach for two years, Zhang Yiwei understood the ins and outs of leading a team. In his heart, he might’ve been about to erupt, but after Fang Daxu came down, he only said, lightly, "You were too impatient."
"Ah?" Fang Daxu who’s mind had cleared a bit was bewildered once more. Had he been impatient? However, before he could say any more, Zhang Yiwei was already continuing, "Go and take a break!"
Fang Daxu sat to one side dumbly. He had no idea that this was one of Zhang Yiwei’s leadership techniques. He had been clearly and completely suppressed by the opponent, yet from Zhang Yiwei’s mouth it sounded like Fang Daxu had simply underestimated his opponent. This way, he didn’t let the opponent’s spirits rise too much and reminded the other players to not lower their guard either.
"Luo Tian, it’s your turn," Zhang Yiwei then called for the second player to go up. His tone calm and keeping his inner shock well hidden. He understood very clearly that Happy’s reasons for arranging Sun Zheping to play first didn’t just stop at the fact that Sun Zheping needed rest. At the same time, they were hoping that Sun Zheping would score them an overwhelming victory for the opening match and boost their morale while striking at their opponent’s.
Zhang Yiwei wasn’t hoping for Fang Daxu to score a point when he arranged for Fang Daxu to be their first player, but for him to utilize the Knight’s defensive capabilities to their fullest, thereby dragging the match on and forcing Sun Zheping to expend more energy on it. At the same time, they could minimize the impact of their opponent’s fierce arrangement. This was killing two birds with one stone. Yet in the end, Fang Daxu didn’t do a good job, unable to achieve any of his goals. So all Zhang Yiwei could do was use his own composure to minimize the impact this defeat would bring to their team.
Zhang Yiwei’s actions helped calm the players of Mysterious Fantasy quite a lot, as expected. However, Luo Tian, who was up next, didn’t seem to be adhering to expectations. The effects of Sun Zheping’s overwhelming performance couldn’t be completely neutralized by just a few words and a calm attitude from Zhang Yiwei.
"Do your best." Zhang Yiwei didn’t say too much. The more he said, the more nervous he’d seem. If he was too serious about a match where they only needed to get two points, it might have the opposite effect of making the players panic.
Luo Tian nodded and took a deep breath before heading to the stage.
As for Happy, Zhang Yiwei looked around and saw Mo Fan standing up.
"Hm, this guy hasn’t seemed to have played any matches before? How come he’s become restless today?" Zhang Yiwei said, trying to strike at Mo Fan emotionally. However, he got no visible response, not even a glance before Mo Fan walked away and onto the stage, making Zhang Yiwei suspect that his voice just now had been too quiet for notice.
"Haha, don’t be offended. He’s always like this. He even ignores me, usually," Ye Xiu said.
"Hahaha…." Zhang Yiwei laughed dryly, evidently not believing Ye Xiu’s words. On the other hand, Happy’s other members felt like Ye Xiu was sticking gold on his face. Mo Fan ignoring him? More like absolutely hating him!
The players of each side had already entered the stands, and their characters were loaded into the map.
Mysterious Fantasy’s Luo Tian had played as a core member for two years, using an Elementalist character.
After the commentator gave some vague background information on Luo Tian, he couldn’t be bothered with this unimportant and small character from a relegated team anymore. His interest was more on Mo Fan, enthusiastically regaling everyone with the tales of Deception in the Heavenly Domain
"Hey, hey, don’t forget your impartiality!" As the commentator spoke excitedly, the program director hurriedly gave him a yelled reminder. The commentator snapped out of it and hastily added, "Of course, this sort of behavior shouldn’t be encouraged. We hope that everyone can play fairly and peacefully…"
"Okay, the match has begun, let us turn our attention to the match." The commentator knew that his ramble about scrip-picking wasn’t very appropriate, so he quickly stopped himself and turned to the match.
After the defeat last round, Mysterious Fantasy’s player was much more careful. Compared to Luo Tian, Mo Fan had very little fame in the pro circle, but Luo Tian didn’t dare underestimate him at all. As he had his character move forth, he continuously used small skills to test out his surrounding, guarded against being closed in on.
Ninjas weren’t the best at close combat, but they were very good at hiding their movements and getting close to their targets without being seen. From this point of view, Ninjas had an advantage over classes like the Elementalist that feared being closed in on. It was because of this that Elementalists would put priority on guarding against this. The current Luo Tian was cautiously having Elementalist move forwards, using different moves and techniques, yet he never caught even a glimpse of Mo Fan.
The audience was much more clear on Mo Fan’s whereabouts. From the start, Mo Fan had chosen a roundabout path, preparing a sneak attack on his opponent as expected.
Currently, Deception was already watching Luo Tian’s Elementalist from the shadows, but Luo Tian had yet to realize this. Everyone was on the edge of their seats, thinking that Deception was about to find a chance to close in, but all Deception did was patiently follow the Elementalist around, as if waiting for a chance.
Everyone had no choice but to continue waiting.
"Chance!"
"Chance!"
"Chance!"
The commentator had already yelled out "chance" thrice, but Mo Fan continued to abstain from action. The commentator didn’t dare yell it anymore. This thunder without rain put him in an awkward position with his yelling! However, even if he didn’t yell aloud, he would still keep track in his heart. It wasn’t just him, but the entire audience that was keeping tracking of Mo Fan’s opportunities.
"He didn’t strike…"
"He still hasn’t struck…"
"Fuck, that was a great opportunity, but he still didn’t take it?"
Slowly, more and more people began to lose their patience. This Deception seemed to be merely following Luo Tian’s Elementalist, making Mysterious Fantasy’s members anxious as hell. Yet this guy never struck. It was as if just continuing to stalk his opponent would give him a victory.
Mysterious Fantasy started out anxious, but slowly became impatient as well. Zhang Yiwei turned his head around, smiling falsely. "I say, this player of yours sure is careful!"
Careful? This was something the commentator had also said, but now it didn’t seem appropriate to use this word anymore. If this was considered "careful", then "careful" must be feeling very pressured.
"He just has enough patience," Ye Xiu said with a smile.
"Is that so? Then why don’t you tell me how long he can wait? If you don’t tell me, then I’ll really have no way of knowing," Zhang Yiwei said.
"Don’t worry, he’ll strike when the time is right. Don’t think too much about it. Go and think about what to say to your team after your second consecutive defeat!" Ye Xiu replied.
"I wouldn’t do something unnecessary like that," Zhang Yiwei said, turning his head back and ignoring Ye Xiu.
On the field, Deception was still following his target. Luo Tian had carefully moved all the way until he finally arrived at where Deception had started out, but still didn’t find his target. Luo Tian immediately hesitated, not knowing where to go next. He helplessly turned around, choosing another path and following it carefully like before.
The audience was being driven crazy.
The previous match had been extremely direct, with the opponent being cut to pieces almost instantly. Although the result wasn’t ideal, it was at least satisfying to watch. Now the second match was an extreme contrast to the first. Last match was a swift one minute seventeen seconds, and now it had become an unending stall.
It had been three minutes since the match had started. At a pro level, this was enough time for the match to have come to a close. Yet in the current match, the two sides hadn’t even clashed once.
Luo Tian’s Elementalist was already wandering around aimlessly. Yet the target he was trying to find, Deception, was following after him closely without him knowing.
The boos started again, all yelling for Mo Fan get out. However, Mo Fan didn’t adhere, continuing to follow Luo Tian.
"Patient, huh?" Zhang Yiwei turned around again, sarcasm on his tongue.
"Yup, patient." Ye Xiu nodded in affirmation.
"So he’s just going to be patient like this forever?"
"Of course not. Haven’t you seen that many people have already lost their patience?" Ye Xiu pointed at the jeering crowds. "Those without patience will only lose."
As Ye Xiu’s words fell, Zhang Yiwei startled, turning to the match. As expected, Luo Tian had already begun to lose his patience, his technique becoming more and more mechanical.
The opportunity had arrived!