1233 Thunderclap’s Secret Weapon

After the early season ended, all sorts of twists and turns started appearing.

Blue Rain, Wind Howl, Misty Rain, and Void, these powerhouses all experienced different degrees of setbacks. In comparison, Tyranny, who had a disappointing start, stayed firm in this smoke-filled battlefield.

Tyranny had only obtained 47 points in the first 8 rounds, tying with Hundred Blossoms for 7th and 8th place, right at the edge of the playoffs zone. But in their next seven rounds, Tyranny obtained 58 points. Not only did their performance not decline, it went up.

Of course, a part of that was because Tyranny's opponents weren't that strong. However, facing these mediocre opponents, Tyranny won quite a few 10-0s and 9-1s. The points they should have gotten were gotten. That was the sort of air they gave off. On the rankings, they had quietly climbed to 3rd place.

Placed ahead of them was Tiny Herb with 106 points. They had the same consistency as Tyranny, rarely losing points against weak teams. However, against strong teams, Tiny Herb faltered. The other top five teams, Samsara, Blue Rain, Tyranny, Thunderclap, could bump into Tiny Herb in the regular season, the playoffs, or the finals.

But in these fifteen rounds, Tiny Herb always lost to these four teams, whether it was their home or away game.

If you said that Tiny Herb's strength didn't belong there, then that would be false. If you looked closely, you would see that in these four rounds, the final point tally was always 4-6.

This meant that Tiny Herb always won two individual competition rounds and the group arena, but lost in the team competition. If Tiny Herb had won the team competition, their matches against these four teams would have been 9-1.　　

Team competition...

Tiny Herb's weakness seemed to be obvious. It looked like there was something stopping them in the team competition, stopping them from beating the top teams. From the statistics, people discovered another surprising fact. Tiny Herb had yet to lose a group arena. Even in their 2-8 match against Void, their points had been through the group arena.　

Apart from Tiny Herb, no one else had achieved such a feat this season.　　

The strengths and weaknesses of many teams had been exposed. While everyone was discussing these enthusiastically, they could not ignore Happy's existence.

Samsara had never lost the team competition, Tiny Herb had never lost the group arena, as for Happy? One person had never lost an individual round!

Ye Xiu. He had retired, returned, and then switched classes, but his performances on stage were as eye-catching as ever. After getting swept 0-10 in Round 1 against Samsara, Ye Xiu started playing in the individual competition, becoming a stabilizing piece for Happy. From then on, no matter if it was a loss, this 1 point had never left Happy's pockets. Before, Ye Xiu had always stayed hidden, never appearing on camera. After returning to the scene, even though he wasn't particularly great for the media, he at least didn't completely avoid them, though it was hard to say if that was a curse or a blessing.

Another week quickly passed, and 12/20 welcomed the Glory Pro League's sixteenth round. The most hyped match was Happy versus Thunderclap, the two most surprising teams this season, were chosen without question as the highlight match.

Thunderclap was in 4th place with 104 points, while Happy was in 6th place with 98 points, a difference of only 6 points. This round was Happy's home game. If they did a good job, they could pass Thunderclap in just one round. But if they wanted to do a good job, beating Thunderclap in the team competition was necessary. Up until now, Thunderclap had only lost to Royal Style in the team competition. In all of their other matches, they always won the team competition. Even down 5-0, they had won, tying the score. And the the team they had tied was Team Blue Rain, who had the Master Tactician, Yu Wenzhou.

Just how mysterious were Thunderclap's team tactics? Many people were curious and had even studied this issue. At the moment, opinions differed, and when Xiao Shiqin was interviewed, he simply smiled and gave three words as a reply: believe in yourself.

What was that supposed to mean? Was that his philosophy? Was that the way to a psychological win?

Not many approved of his reply, so everyone continued to analyze Thunderclap's mysterious tactics. Confrontations between Master Tacticians were always the best research material, so this match would bring in more valuable data. Happy's Ye Xiu, may be the current 1v1 King with a 14 round win streak, but don't forget that this old general was also one of the four Master Tacticians.

"You guys are doing well!"

"Back at you."

After a quick greeting, the two teams went to their own sides. As the two most surprising teams this season, each knew how the other felt. Thunderclap's captain, Xiao Shiqin, could be considered as having the deepest impression of Happy before the season. He had fought against Happy in a bitter struggle in the Challenger League. In particular, the group arena 1v3 had nearly killed Happy's heart, but in the end, Happy was the one to have the last laugh. Excellent Era lost in the Challenger League finals, and Xiao Shiqin, who had risked everything to run to the Challenger League in hopes of a better future, looked like an idiot. There had been no lack of mockery thrown at him.

Xiao Shiqin should hate Happy very much, no?

This was also a popular pre-match topic. As a result, as soon as the broadcast started, the camera zoomed in on Xiao Shiqin, hoping to catch something, especially during the greetings between the two teams on stage before the match. The camera spent nearly 70% of the time focused on Xiao Shiqin's face. When Xiao Shiqin shook Ye Xiu's hands, the cameras locked tightly onto him. The crowd fixed their eyes on his expression and held their breath.

Murderous spirit!

Let's see some murderous spirit!

The drama loving people hoped to see some sparks.

But all they saw a very normal and warm smile.

He's hiding it well!

The drama loving people didn't believe that Xiao Shiqin bore no hatred towards Happy. Since they couldn't see any murderous spirit on him, that must mean Xiao Shiqin was hiding it. Afterwards, even when Xiao Shiqin was just wiping his glasses, his actions were interpreted in all sorts of ways. It was like everyone suddenly became body language experts.

The individual competition began, and Happy's first player would be...

Ye Xiu, Ye Xiu again.

Everyone knew that Ye Xiu always went out first. In that case, it was easy to come up with a strategic plan to counter him.

But did that matter?

Ye Xiu's 14 consecutive wins was the best answer.

It didn't matter. Even if you knew Ye Xiu would be the first player sent up and prepared a countermeasure, it was no use. The winner would still be Ye Xiu.

Was that because the ace players defended the group arena for those 2 points instead of 1?

These were some people's opinions, and it was a valid reason. However, arranging the lineups was up to every team. If you're going to send your ace player for the group arena, then who are you to blame for not getting that one point in an individual round? This sort of perspective had a bit of sour grapes feeling to it.

As for Thunderclap? Who would they send?

Thunderclap performed spectacularly in team competitions, but in the individual competition and group arena, their performances weren't too noteworthy. Apart from Xiao Shiqin, no one else in their team was particularly eye-catching. They probably didn't have anyone for Ye Xiu, right?

A name popped onto the screen. Thunderclap's first player in the individual competition was...　

Mi Xiuyuan.

Not a sound could be heard. Everyone looked at Xiao Shiqin, and then started whispering to each other.

Mi Xiuyuan? Who was that?

The crowd was discussing this question. The reporters were hastily looking at their data. On the broadcast, Pan Lin had been predicting who Thunderclap would send onto the stage and when the answer was revealed, he said "Ah, so it's Mi Xiuyuan." After that came silence. He was also caught off guard. Who the fuck was this?

"Mi Xiuyuan… a new rookie this season?" Li Yibo was flipping through his data as he said earnestly. He had a "in the end, nothing can trouble this senior" look on his face.

"Ah… before, it seems like…" Pan Lin was also looking through his data, "he's never appeared on stage before." He finally confirmed it.

"Yes," Li Yibo said.

"But this round, facing Happy and the 1v1 king Ye Xiu, Thunderclap sent him up!" Pan Lin's voice started rising.　　

"Yes."

"Why? Could he be a secret weapon?" Pan Lin said. The camera zoomed in onto this rookie, who was pulled aside by captain Xiao Shiqin. The two people looked in one direction. The camera followed their line of sight to Ye Xiu.

"Xiao Shiqin is personally giving him instructions. What has he come up with to beat Ye Xiu? Yes, let's look at Mi Xiuyuan. His class… Assassin. Ah, could he be looking for a one hit kill?" Pan Lin started displaying his imagination.

Xiao Shiqin finally finished talking with Mi Xiuyuan. The young player stepped onto his first match on stage.

This was truly an amazing first appearance on stage. The broadcast gave him quite a few close-ups. Everyone instantly took note of this new Thunderclap rookie.　　

He was the secret weapon prepared for Ye Xiu! Everyone thought to themselves. They sucked in a deep breath of air and looked forward to the match.

After 3 minutes 42 seconds, Mi Xiuyuan returned to his seat.

Accounting for about 2 minutes to walk to his player booth and then about 1 minute to walk back to his seat, this match took precisely 58 seconds, not even a minute.

Mi Xiuyuan lost.

There were no hidden killing moves nor a one hit kill. The two players loaded into the small 1v1 map chosen by Ye Xiu and then quickly came across each other. Ping ping pong pong, Mi Xiuyuan's Assassin died.

Secret weapon?

A super killing move?

The entire world wanted to laugh.