Volume 4 - CH 14

Book 4: The Return of the King

Chapter 14

The final round was still a round-robin.  

The best teams would play the final matches at the end.

After all other teams left the arena, the large screen displayed only

two teams sitting face to face.

Even K&K and Buff didn’t have such line-ups.  All 10 players were

ranked in the top 20. Unfortunately, even though Taotao’s team couldn’t

directly compete against SP as those in the top 10 had essential differences

from those in just the top 20.

Ai Qing looked at the large screen as it switched to a view of the game.

Countdown began.

She turned to look at the big boy with pink hair.  He had already lost his

carefree expression and was focused at the computer screen and the

players sitting across from him who were rubbing their fists ready to

swallow him whole.

She cleared her throat.

She had forgotten to remind them not to go too far.

The three second countdown began.

The game mode: Escape

The rules for this game mode:

1. If any one of the bandits gets on the helicopter to evacuate within

2. Whichever team wipes out all five members of the opposing team

within 30 minutes, wins.

Uhm, it was a mission focused on firepower.

Ai Qing pushed up the glasses on her nose.  She saw that Taotao’s

team had been chosen as the bandits.

The game began.

When the match started, the entire audience was surprised by what

they saw on screen.

It was…...the Roman Colosseum.

All five SP players spawned at the bottom level of the colosseum.

There were broken walls and debris everywhere.  It was the dead of

night and quiet. There were npc soldiers patrolling and small fires

caused by incendiary bombs strewn around every corner. Slide blew a

whistle lightly in the earphones.  “Beautiful map.”

“Captain, let’s sweep.  Don’t wait.” Following impatiently swapped

between a knife and a gun.  “It’s a perfect night for murder under the

cover of night in the howling wind.”

All laughed.  “Damn, are you the captain or Slide.  Where do you always

get this nonsense from?”

“Don’t sweep.  Find the helicopter directly and wait for them there.  Look

at your minimap and climb up from the cardinal directions.”  Slide quickly

instructed tasks, “I’ll accompany the mortar.” Inin immediately muttered

Slide was amused.  “Who wants to protect you.  Pairing up is just life

insurance.  Even if those three die, the enemy still can’t wipe us both out.”

After all, Slide and Inin were the highest ranked among them, as was

their skill.

Inin was delighted.  “Oh, oh.”

The npc soldiers on this map attacked indiscriminately.  In other words,

whenever npc soldiers encountered either Slide’s or Taotao’s team, they

would open fire.  So Slide’s team not only had to find their opponents and

prevent them from getting on the helicopter, they also had to avoid the npc

soldiers.

Five people dispersed into darkness within seconds.

Large ruins like this was the most challenging to a person’s ability to control

the keyboard and maneuver their character.  It required everyone to be a

master at keyboard control. Within three minutes, all five of them reported

back in the team channel that they had all climbed up to the platform.

Slide:  “Search your quarter of the circle and report back.”

Following:  “Ok.”

All:  “Alright.”

Bug:  “Ok.”

By encircling the evacuation zone without any gaps, then the location of the

helicopter would eventually be found.

Slide squatted behind the broken walls and watched the beams of the far

away searchlights sweep over.  He quietly somersaulted forwards. Together

with Inin, they kept going prone, somesaulting forwards, and turning sideways

to avoid the three beams of light.

Just as he began to grow a little absent minded, he saw the helicopter and

His breath suddenly became heavy.

Blood reddened the goggles.

He had been shot.

“156, 74.”  Slide blurted the coordinates immediately.

He stepped back into cover.

He’d lost a chunk of his health, down to 70%.

“Speed.”  He spoke simply and sat down to change his knife to a sniper rifle.  

From his position under the moonlight, he had a clear shot at the helicopter.  

Perfect.

Anybody who exposed themselves trying to get on the helicopter would be

within his killing range.

Inin set up with a sniper rifle to cover any blind spots.

It was silent.

Because Slide had been shot, the spectator view only showed their area.  

Only him and Inin could be seen on screen. Following his eyesight, the

audience of the whole stadium could only see the helicopter and it’s

continuously spinning rotor.

Following and All were there after a dozen seconds.

Bug was still on the way there.

Inin pulled out a hand grenade and put away his gun. Together with Following

and All, they moved towards the helicopter from three directions.

The moment a gun opened up, he threw the grenade and followed by a

large explosion.

All five opponents dispersed, tumbling away from the explosion.

Following and All rushed over and killed two with knives very quickly. Before

the rest of the enemies could even defend each other, Following and All had

already flanked them from the east and west.  Another hand grenade soon followed.

The sky lit up from the explosion.

Taotao took his chance and ran to the nearby helicopter under the cover of

heavy smoke.  He threw out a grappling hook.

Without hesitation, he pressed the key to take off.

The rotors began to speed up and the helicopter took off with the Taotao

hooked on tight.

His two feet were already leaving the ground……

The red dot of a sniper rifle swept over his forehead like a ghost drawing a

circle around him.  Finally, the red light stopped at the rope.

Slide curled the edge of his lips and pulled the trigger.

A split second later, the rope broke and Taotao crashed back on the ground.  

He rebounded immediately and reached for the ladder of the helicopter. There

was another red dot, after two gunshots, Taotao fell back down onto the ground again.

He crawled up in disbelief and looked around.

He was shocked by the accuracy of the SP sharpshooters.

He was also shocked by how easily they were toying with him.

Within a short ten seconds, Taotao’s four teammates had all been fragged.  The

five SP players put away their guns and walked towards him in the darkness.

A line of small characters displayed on the computer screen.

Slide:  “Come on.  Let’s get to know each other formally.”