912 No Hurry to Run Away

"What’s going on?" The Excellent Era players were collectively alarmed. Wasn’t he supposed to be blocking him? Why was he the one sent flying? Xiao Shiqin wasn’t at the correct angle, but who could be more familiar with a Mechanic than him? He immediately deduced that Shen Jian had been blown away by an Air Compressor.

"It’s Ye Qiu!" Shen Jian typed out while his character was still flying through the air.

"Ye Qiu!" Everyone was astonished. What a coincidence! To think they would actually bump into him.

"Steady!" As soon as Xiao Shiqin heard Ye Qiu’s name, he became even more calm. It was too easy for Excellent Era to lose their cool when facing Ye Qiu. It was a huge problem for the current team, no, the entire club. Just look at Shen Jian. As soon as he met Ye Qiu face to face, he had been sent flying. How could that happen to a pro player? He had clearly been distracted for a moment when he discovered that he was facing Ye Qiu. As a result, Xiao Shiqin reminded himself that he must stay calm if he encountered Ye Qiu.

He was just about to give another command and was about instinctively order them to stop him, but Xiao Shiqin was afraid that his teammates wouldn’t be able to keep their calm, so he changed it to steady.

"Ye Qiu! Hurry up and stop him!"

Xiao Shiqin may not have given the command to stop Ye Qiu, but Sun Xiang did it on his behalf. Sun Xiang was still on his way over from the revival point, but as soon as he heard Ye QIu’s name, he hated how he didn’t have eight Teleports, so he could arrive instantly.

"There’s no hurry. Let’s take it slowly." Xiao Shiqin hastily said.

"Don’t let him escape!" Sun Xiang continued to shout.

On Excellent Era’s side, apart from Shen Jian’s Striker, there was Zhang Jiaxin’s Cleric and Wang Zhe’s Sharpshooter. Along with Xiao Shiqin’s Mechanic, the four had surrounded Ye Qiu. It was just that Shen Jian’s Striker was a bit closer. Once Shen Jian’s Striker was sent flying, the formation seemed to widen instantly. Xiao Shiqin and the other two quickly contracted their encirclement. After Shen Jian’s Striker fell to the ground, he teched it with a Quick Recover and quickly jumped away.

Air Compressor had a very powerful Blow Away effect, but its damage wasn’t high. Shen Jian pulled himself together and prepared to block Ye Qiu. It turned out that he didn’t need to worry. Ye Xiu’s Mechanic and that Brawler had already pounced on him.

"This is..." Shen Jian said he was going to block them, but when he took a look at his opponents, was that still classified as blocking? The other side had come to kill him!

Seeing the other three’s positions, fighting a 1v2 for a short while couldn’t be avoided. Shen Jian originally had confidence in dragging out the 1v2 long enough for his teammates to arrive, but after knowing that one of the two was Ye Qiu, he immediately became nervous.

Can I do it?

Shen Jian was already doubting himself.

When Xiao Shiqin saw the actions of the other side, he immediately understood their intentions. The other side weren’t set on escaping. If they could kill off Shen Jian’s Striker in the passing, they wouldn’t mind doing so.

Shen Jian had stockings on him. Their team’s strength was more than enough to sweep the field for these event quests, so unlike normal player teams that needed to concern themselves with either pooling their stockings onto one person or splitting their stockings evenly among everyone, it didn’t matter who picked up the stockings. Their final stocking count was all that mattered.

So at this moment, Xiao Shiqin was certain that Shen Jian had stockings. He had no impression of how many stockings Shen Jian had. The other side wasn’t in a hurry to run and planned on attacking Shen Jian. Their goal was obviously those stockings on him.

"Too bold!" Xiao Shiqin thought to himself. Shen Jian was a pro player and part of the main roster for a powerhouse like Excellent Era. Even if he lost, it wouldn’t be too quick. Surviving until the three rushed over to rescue him should be a very easy task. He wasn’t going to die in a few seconds like a normal player, right?

In the end, Xiao Shiqin wasn’t able to understand the emotions tumbling around in Shen Jian’s heart. He had undying faith. Now, trouble had come and their first exchange shocked Shen Jian.

Slide Kick?!

Ye Xiu’s Mechanic, Listened Promise, had initiated with a Slide Kick. Shen Jian couldn’t understand. Slide Kick was a gunner skill pre-job advancement. All four classes could learn it, but Mechanics usually used it as a movement skill or to widen the distance between themselves and their opponents, but using it to initiate a fight and close the distance? He had never heard of it being used in such a way! He was a Striker, an extremely powerful class in close quarters. Mechanics had some level of close combat capabilities, but compared to a Striker, it was too illogical, no?

Ye Xiu was very experienced facing Strikers. In the Glory scene, if he claimed to be second in terms of experience, no one would claim first. How could he not understand such obvious reasoning?

So was this a trap?

Was this a new playstyle?

Or perhaps he was being looked down on?

Shen Jian thought too much. By the time he finished thinking, Ye Xiu’s Mechanic, Listened Promise, had slid to his Striker’s feet. Ye Xiu tossed a Mechanical Seeker robot from his mechanical box and it landed by his Striker’s feet like a brick. The seeker part of the skill was completely ignored. Ye Xiu directly had it explode on the Striker.

Bang!

Shen Jian’s Striker staggered from the explosion. Mechanical Seeker’s power wasn’t too great. Whether it could knock the target down depended on the situation. With his Striker standing firmly on the ground, it wasn’t enough to sweep him off his feet.

But Ye Xiu’s attacks didn’t stop there. His Mechanic, Listened Promise, raised his hands and followed up with a Machine Punch. Two gun shots followed. The combo finally begun.

Shen Jian’s brain was still whirring!

What’s this? It seemed like Ye Qiu’s Mechanic was using a Gun Martial Arts style? But a Mechanic’s close combat skills weren’t entirely close combat. They weren’t as agile as Sharpshooters. Could a Mechanic perform this maneuver as well? The chain of attacks just now wasn’t very tight?

Shen Jian was still a pro player. He subconsciously made some deductions. He saw that Ye Xiu’s combo wasn’t linked very well and instinctively moved. His Striker used a beautiful Whirlwind Kick. Sure enough, it directly interrupted the enemy Mechanic’s combo.

Shen Jian followed up with a Reinforced Iron Bones. This skill increased his defense immensely for 20 seconds, but usually, Strikers liked to use it when they planned on bursting the opponent. Because apart from increasing his defense, it also gave him 20 seconds of Super Armor.

With Super Armor, his character couldn’t be knocked down, knocked into the air, knocked back, interrupted, and so on.Under these conditions, he could forcefully lengthen his combo. It had a vulgar nickname: Rape**!

In reality, Super Armor wasn’t invincible. The character would be immune to status effects like being knocked down and being knocked into the air, but the character would still take the full amount of damage. As a result, the nickname, Rape, was only one way of looking at it. Sometimes, the character would lose more health than the opponent. However, the Striker skill Reinforced Iron Bones also increased his defense immensely and gave a Super Armor effect. It made this class’ Rape much more valiant. Every Striker liked to establish their dominance by using this skill.

Shen Jiang obviously didn’t have any intention of showing off and immediately felt that using Rape to fight a Mechanic for a short amount of time couldn’t be a better choice.

After he activated Reinforced Iron Bones and made his first strike, Shen Jian suddenly saw his character’s health deplete. The Super Armor had suddenly disappeared and changed into a Bleed effect.

Inject Poison!

Shen Jian reacted.

The other side had a Brawler! This despicable and dirty class had a skill like Inject Poison that could negate an opponent’s Super Armor.

He had just activated Reinforced Iron Bones, and yet the other side immediately used Inject Poison. If the other side hadn’t planned for this to happen, who would believe it?

The Super Armor was gone, but the increased defense from Reinforced Iron Bones was still there. However, his character no longer had the aura of a tyrant. His punch had been intercepted and nullified by an Airdrop. The enemy Mechanic and Brawler began attacking him full-force. Shen Jian struggled to survive. He saw an opportunity and used Cloud Body to escape, when he suddenly heard Ye Qiu’s voice: "Steamed Bun, move one step to the left."

Move one step to the left?

Such a detailed command was rarely seen on a pro team. If a battle had to be micromanaged to the smallest detail, then apart from the commander, was everyone else just a marionette?

Shen Jian was astonished! It was only after his Striker started moving with Cloud Body did he realize what that one step had done.

Steamed Bun’s Brawler moved one step to the left and just happened to bump into his Cloud Body…...

Strangle!

Steamed Bun had been prepared and took advantage of it. His Brawler, Rain, lifted his head and reached out to grip the enemy Striker’s throat. The Striker’s Cloud Body was blocked and was interrupted. Shen Jian had been a step slower, but his timing had been prompt. His Striker leaped backwards to dodge this Strangle. He raised his fists, ready to counterattack, but then he heard Ye Qiu shout: "Emperor’s Fist! Don’t go forward!"

Shen Jian’s heart turned ice-cold. His hand stiffened over his keyboard and he didn’t know what to do because in that instant, he was just about to use Emperor’s Fist.

He knows me too well!

Shen Jian’s Striker turned his head and saw this unfamiliar Mechanic character. In his head, an image of Ye Qiu and his smiling face appeared.

His habits. His weaknesses. This former captain knew it like the back of his hand. It wasn’t an understanding that could be gained from watching lots of his past fights and fighting against him. It was an understanding slowly formed from playing together for large amounts of time.

"Toss sand towards me!"　　

"Have Inject Poison ready!"

"Tiger Flips the Mountain!"

Ye Xiu’s pointers were mostly to warn Steamed Bun. He didn’t need to tell himself. His actions also took advantage of Shen Jian’s habits and weaknesses. A pro player of the main roster of a powerhouse was completely suppressed. Xiao Shiqin had thought that it was impossible for Shen Jian to die as quickly as a normal player, but it was currently happening. What’s more, it was faster than just Ye Xiu fighting a normal player 1v1 because this was a 2v1.

"Shen Jian died!" A notification telling them that one of their teammates had died. The other players on Excellent Era had no choice but to accept reality. Afterwards, three system announcements popped up.

"Not bad! Three stockings. It looks like our efforts weren’t in vain!" Ye Xiu nodded his head and called out to Steamed Bun. This time, they were running away for real.