Chapter 325: Pre-season
Original Translations: Crafted with Care, No Unauthorized Reposting Allowed.
Pre-season Day 2.
Du Sanying was drawn for the eighteenth time when a team finally appeared without a forfeit.
But this team bar ...... is crying on the field.
Wang Shun sits twitching at the corners of his brow in their viewing pool, while Bai Liu sits calmly next to him.
The opponents sat shivering on a bench far away from Bai Liu, occasionally sneaking a glance at him, who looked back at them so gently that they almost screamed in fear, the five of them shivering in a huddle and sobbing.
"They were scared by the Joker's declaration earlier." Wang Shun cried out, "They think you're one of those Joker types who likes to do things to death."
Bai Liu laughed: "Not bad for coming to compete with us when you're so scared."
"It's not just anyone who has the capital to forfeit." Wang Shun sighed, "A small guild like this doesn't even know if it's alive next year, so it's a gamble no matter what."
Bai Liu looked to the big TV screen in the middle of the viewing pool: "Do you think we can finish the battle today before the team match?"
Wang Shun was stunned, and after a long moment of reflection, he replied, "I don't know."
"The pre-season is also a points system per game, only it's not a combined settlement like the mid-season, it's a per-game settlement."
"One point per game for singles, three points per game for doubles and eight points for team games.
"From that point of view, the singles and pairs are like unimportant, win or lose, the real winner in the end is the team competition."
Wang Shun said seriously, "But that's not really the case."
"In one particular case, once you win the pairs and singles, the match is over straight away."
Wang Shun pointed out the panel for Bai Liu to see: "There is a special rule for singles and pairs, called the time limit rule."
"This rule refers to the fact that if a single or double match can be finished within one dimensional hour, the points earned by the winning side for winning the match are doubled."
"This means that if both the single and double players finish within one dimensional hour, the points for both the single and double races combined will be doubled, i.e. 8 points."
Wang Shun looks to Bai Liu: "At this point, the game is over early and we call it an early kill again."
"Killing off games early is something that is almost impossible to happen in mid-season and playoffs, rare even in pre-season, and the requirement to end a game in one dimensional hour is so demanding that it can only be done when there is a disparity in power."
Bai Liu dragged his jaw and curled his mouth lazily, "Which means that if we can kill the game early, the attention we get will stack up exponentially too, right?"
Wang Shun nodded: "Yes, it means this team is overwhelmingly strong, and being strong is the most attractive trait in the league."
"If you can get a kill game early in the league ......" Wang Shun took a deep breath, "the huge attention it attracts can make up for the missing exposure you have in the game pool all at once. "
Wang Shun looked over at Tang Erda in the viewing pool, warming up for the game and muttered, "An early kill, that's probably what every tactician dreams of."
A large screen in the middle of the viewing pool flashed and a line appeared.
[System Alert: Single player tournament is about to begin.]
[Wandering Circus Crew (Rose Hunters) vs Celebes Crew (Hikers)
[The game is "Dreamboat" and the way to win is to kill the captain of the Dreamboat and the first player to land on the Lost Lands wins].
[The game begins!
Tang Erda and the man across the room had a flash of white light on them and the next moment they appeared in a huge TV screen.
Seven dimensional minutes later.
Tang Erda logged out with his gun and pinned it to his back.
Immediately after his opponent's eyes went into a trance and he logged out on his knees in a painful tremor.
Tang Erda hesitated for a moment, but reached over and helped her dazed opponent to his feet, nodding naturally and saying, "Thank you."
[System Alert: Player (Rose Hunter) has killed the match early and won the single player match, accumulating 2 points]
Tang Erda walks over to Bai Liu and sits down, turning her head and nodding in greeting to Bai Liu, who smiles, "Well done, Captain Tang."
"It's our turn next."
Bai Liu and Mu Sicheng stood up slowly.
[System alert: The double race is about to begin.]
[Bai Liu, Mu Sicheng of the Wandering Circus vs Wang Ling of the Celebes, Undead Pawn]
......
Fifty-seven dimensional minutes later.
Bai Liu straightens his white shirt and boards with a cursing Mu Sicheng.
"Shit, why did it take so long!" Mu Sicheng was very unconvinced, " Tang Erda only took seven minutes, why did it take us over fifty when it was our turn!"
Mu Sicheng grunted and glanced at Bai Liu: " Bai Liu, is there something wrong with your command?"
Bai Liu responded without changing his face, "Well, especially if you suddenly dropped out of the group in the middle of the game, rushed off to kill the boss alone, and almost brought me along with you, I think I did have a problem with my command."
Mu Sicheng: "......"
His arrogance instantly subsided as he whispered and forced, "Didn't I want to kill the game earlier ......"
Bai Liu smiled a back-breaking smile, "Want to get out early, better to listen to me next time."
Mu Sicheng: "...... good."
The two players opposite who had just logged out sat paralysed on the floor with their eyes glazed over and gasping for breath, looking almost in disbelief at the two men across the room who were still idly and slowly bickering.
That game was so dangerous that it was clearly a two-player game where two people had to be closely linked, and one of the Wandering Circus dropped out midway and couldn't be found, but the tactician in the white shirt didn't panic at all and continued to play unhurriedly, almost killing the game by jamming the line.
This ability to calculate ...... is too sick!
[System Alert: Players Bai Liu and Mu Sicheng have won the double match with 6 points after an early kill]
[System Alert: Wandering Circus has accumulated a total of 8 points, killing the game early and advancing to the next round]
[Celebes team eliminated]
......
Du Sanying drew the team from the box and raised his hand to announce his name loudly, "[Grave Robbers]!"
......
[System Alert: Player Little Witch kills the match early and wins the single player match, accumulating 2 points]
[System Alert: Players Mu Sicheng and Bai Liu killed the match early and won the double match, accumulating 6 points]
[System Alert: Wandering Circus has accumulated a total of 8 points, killing the game early and advancing to the next round]
[Tomb Raider Team Eliminated
......
Du Sanying leans in to see the procession on the note: "[Winged Hound]?"
......
[System Alert: Player Muke used Flash Strike to kill the match early within one dimensional minute, setting the record for the shortest solo match, earning him the title of Lightning Solo and winning the solo match with 2 points]
[System Alert: Players Mu Sicheng and Bai Liu killed the match early and won the double match, accumulating 6 points]
[System Alert: Wandering Circus has accumulated a total of 8 points, killing the game early and advancing to the next round]
[Winged Hound Team eliminated]
......
Du Sanying carefully read out the name of the team on the note: "[Emerald Tiger Tetan]."
......
[System Alert: Wandering Circus has accumulated a total of 8 points, killing the game early and advancing to the next round]
[Emerald Tiger Titan Team eliminated]
......
Du Sanying slid his hand into the cardboard box as the man next to him stared in almost dumbfounded awe, and he read the team on it word for word: "[Storm House]?"
The man next to him steals a glance at Bai Liu, who stands behind Du Sanying as he draws his war party, and discusses in a lowered voice, cautiously.
"...... Will the Roving Circus still kill the game early this time?"
"Storm Hall is at least the team that made it to the pre-season top 100 last year! It's time to play a team match again!"
"Let's go over there later, I'll make a note of their viewing pool number, it's 98 right?"
The viewing pool 98 was so crowded that the spectators coming from behind looked like they couldn't find a place to land, but luckily it was only visually dense.
The viewing pools within the system are all infinitely extendable spaces that can accommodate an endless number of spectators.
The audience was buzzing with discussion.
"Too strong to kill the game all the way over early ......"
"Last year's killer sequence only managed to kill the game early in the singles too, the pairs weren't that strong ......"
"This team is basically all newbies, right?! Why is it so strong?!"
"It's the tactician." A dazzling, lazy female voice interjected into the conversation between the few spectators.
The few spectators were stunned and turned their heads over for a split second to draw a backwards breath, "Red, Queen of Hearts!"
Hearts greeted them with a smile and a wag of the finger, "How are you?"
One spectator's face was red with excitement, his eyes glowing and he was so excited that he spoke incoherently: "I'm a fan, Queen, and I love you! I've put all my points on the King's Guild!"
Hearts smiled with a wry smile, "Really? Thanks for liking it, but boys still need to keep a little wife book for themselves."
This audience nodded shyly and obediently, stammering, "I, I will, Empress!"
"What brings the Queen here to watch the game?" This spectator cautiously inquired, "Aren't you supposed to be preparing for the mid-season tournament?"
Hearts looked at the screen in the middle of the viewing pool and whispered, "No Kings Guild game today, so I'm sneaking out to see the others play, but I'll have to go back later."
"There's a killer sequence today."
The spectator wilted in the flesh, his voice dejected: "Is the Queen, is she going back to watch the Spades game?"
Hearts beamed, "Yeah."
The audience member looked like he was on the verge of tears, he likes Hearts, but it's an open secret in the game that Hearts is after Spades, and Hearts mentioning Spades to his face clearly hurt the 'husband fan'.
The audience next to him saw that this viewer was about to cry, so he hurriedly changed the subject: "What was it that the Queen just said that the rookie team of the Wandering Circus was so strong because of the tactician?"
"I thought it was these newcomers that were so strong." This audience member glanced afterwards at Liu Jiayi, who was sitting next to Bai Liu, "...... like the little witch."
Hearts' gaze falls lightly on the young witch's back: " Jiayi is strong, yes, but she also has the highest instability in the team, and I've had a lot of trouble balancing her instability."
"Newcomers have that problem, so in the tournament newcomers are a ticking time bomb and every now and then a mistake will come along and set the game off."
"It's easy to get these new guys to win, the hard part is winning all the time."
Hearts' gaze shifts to Bai Liu's back: "It's something only a tactician can do, balance the inconsistency of the players."
"The stronger the newcomer, the harder it is to balance the inconsistency, and it's a very impressive thing that the Rangers' tactician has been able to absorb the inconsistency of so many newcomers."
Hearts exchanged his cheek-resting hands in an idle, languid gesture, his eyes filled with a misty glow.
"I like a man who uses the whip well, and I would have liked him if I hadn't met Spades first."
The fan audience next to her was indignant: "But he pulled a dirty trick and stole your little witch from the Queen!"
Hearts' burgundy eyes rolled and swept this audience member with an afterimage.
The audience was subconsciously silenced by the look Hearts gave them.
Hearts shifted his eyes to the big screen again, his tone light.
" Jiayi was not taken from anyone."
" Jiayi chose to go with him of her own accord and I didn't get to keep her, I came here today to see Jiayi play too, don't say such things in front of me about treating Jiayi like an object, I don't like it."
A spectator next to her hugged her chest and grunted disdainfully, " Queen Hearts, after all this time, you still can't get away from looking at men when judging tacticians?"
"A good-looking man with a good whip has to be a class above the others with you?"
Hearts lifted his eyes to look over and took a moment to respond as if in a daze, "You're the Tactician of the Frenzied Lamb?"
The man sneered and said rather smugly, "It seems that the Empress still remembers me, and I am considered to be in her eyes?"
Hearts smiles gently: "I don't really remember, I don't remember men who were ugly and lost to me."
The man stood up in a fury, then sat down with restraint the next second and sneered with a twisted expression, " Hearts, don't get cocky, I'll have your bitch ass after I make it out of this pre-season."
"Like this?" Hearts smiled unconcernedly and cocked his head, his long burgundy hair falling, "How about you win one first Bai Liu and let me see?"
" Bai Liu ?" The man looked extremely disdainful, "Only someone like you who would be confused by appearances would think Bai Liu has tactics, in my opinion, this man is nothing more than a killjoy and a clown, a tactician of the lowest order."