CH 7

This silhouette wasn’t unfamiliar to Lin Xiao. It wasn’t because he was impressed with the youth that year, but because he was in the previous host’s most paranoid memory even after rebirth. This person’s entire autobiography was already branded into his mind and could be recalled from memory without doing any additional internet research. 

From a certain perspective, it could be said that without this person, the current ‘Lin Xiao’ would not exist.

Just viewing from beyond the screen at this time, there was a kind of hidden emotion that came from the previous soul’s memory.

Lin Xiao couldn’t understand how the original owner thought of this person as gentle and considerate. He was portrayed so bright and charming just like a living Virgin Mary. Lin Xiao decided to view this person seriously and objectively and sure enough, beauty was truly in the eyes of the beholder. At the very least, the aura that this person gave off could hardly be considered warm.

The man in question at that moment just sat there motionless, only allowing his slender white fingertips to tap the table casually. He wore the same black uniform as his teammates next to him, the white undershirt beneath was a little out of place, revealing half his collarbone. His side profile enhanced the sharp lines of his face that connected to a pair of delicate shoulder blades. His long peach coloured eyes slightly narrowed, clearly carried a look of impatience.

In the stadium not far behind, a multitude of LED cards were held up high by some enthusiastic fans, the fonts gleamed—

<The Queen of Kings 1will dominate rivers and lakes for generations to come!>,

<My husband Jing, I will always support you!>, 

<BlackRose, with my husband here our team is invincible!>, 

<Queen, I want to give you a monkey!> 2

…He felt that there was something wrong with this particular sign.

The commentator followed up with some snarky comments in response to the ‘queen’ fans, meanwhile the camera switched back to the game as it officially began.

In previous years’ matches, both Shen Chang and Zhang Fengu had their fair share of victories between each other. On the list for <Most Troublesome People to Play Against>, after votes were tallied, they were both far ahead and secured spots in the top five.

The reason both were selected was undoubtedly because of their similar ‘data analytic’ combat style. As long as a player had a duel with either of them, even with little or no experience, one could glean their fighting style and before long, come to a painful realisation.

Although both were data analysers, they had their own unique style.

Zhang Fengyu, who was currently the most educated player in the league, had an IQ so high, it was enough to shock anyone. It didn’t matter the type of equipment an opponent chose to play; after a few blows and collisions, he could make a precise judgement of the enemy’s artifact value provided it didn’t exceed the 1.5 mark, and in turn calculate the damage output to two decimal places. This was ‘bit accuracy’3.

The real horror was that after playing a single round, he could completely memorize the numerical data of his opponent’s equipment. In other words, no matter who was playing against him, all equipment matching strategies were only applicable once. This caused teams to avoid fighting solo with him in order to guard their various tactics.

Shen Chang, on the other hand, focused more on the control and calculation of the micro-operations of both sides. He could usually give a detailed play by play of matches, while noting each map’s advantages as well as infer an opponent’s change of rhythm in a battle based on terrain while calculating both sides’ control frequencies which he then manipulated to secure more kills.

From a certain perspective he was more suitable to be teammates with than Zhang Fengyu.

As soon as both parties appeared, the atmosphere became more lively as if mountains and seas that represented the fans of both teams were roaring at each other causing the scene to become chaotic.

According to previous practice matches, Shen Chang and Zhang Fengyu were players who liked to test each other out, they would advance with some small-scale collisions first. Unexpectedly, both characters began fighting without saying a single word the moment they met, both wanting to have the upper hand. Seeing this the audience became stunned. The cheers went silent for a moment before exploding several times higher than earlier, as if trying to capsize the entire roof.

“I really didn’t expect that the vice captains of both sides would be really fired up today!” Chen Xiaoyan, the new commentator said, a little stunned.

“Nowadays there are numerous rookies playing in the league with several new teams constantly joining. It seems that the old members of each team are under a lot of pressure. The vice captains of both teams are using the stage to subconsciously transform their respective teams. This won’t be an issue. It’s actually quite easy.” Xu Qingli in the commentary section was not surprised by this and continued to report objectively. 

Lin Xiao looked at both players attacking each other on the screen, his eyes narrowed as his gaze fell on Shen Chang, whose expression was serious. Based on results in recent years Black Rose had become even more difficult to beat. Nonetheless, Xu Qingli was right about one point. Both players were doing what they could to change their respective teams, but would they really be transformed? 

Seeing that the summoner Season Rain finally collapsed under repeated assaults, he murmured quietly. “He is still a bit too anxious.”

The words [VICTORY] and [DEFEAT]popped up in the center of the screen for each side. Both screens were deliberately shown to the audience one after the other which caused a lot of joy and tears from the fans for their respective teams. When the two players shook hands courteously, they said a few words to each other; unfortunately the cameras were too far away to record what they had said. Afterwards, both men returned to their team’s benches. 

Queen-This is You Jing’s nickname in the league. Fans call him Queen You, Queen Jing, Queen of Jings, Queen of Kings etc.

‘I want to give you a monkey’- It literally means what it says. The persons wants to give birth to a monkey for the other party, however it is often used by fans to express love to their idols.

Bit accuracy- This is calculating and giving answers in decimals place. The more decimal places the more accurate the data. 

When Shen Chang sat down, You Jing gave him a gentle pat on the shoulder, maybe out of regret or comfort, but there was no other reaction.

After Shen Chang’s defeat, the current score for both sides stood at 1:1, and the players for the third individual match came on the court accompanied by cheers. However, after the start of the game, Team Liuyun used the head start given in the previous match to win the next game, and were finally in the lead with a score of 1:2.

The rules for the individual match stated that players who had already participated were not allowed to play again in team matches.

And so, Black Rose team chose to send the twins, Xu Yichen and Xu Yiming to cooperate with Liu Zeshen who operated the knight Greener Pastures. Together, they’d form a more aggressive combination of attacks while Liuyun’s team had the magic swordsman Yan Lingjiang’s Yan never leaves a trace 1 as the main force, along with a shadow swordsman and a healer, creating a stable formation.

The fact that the Black Rose didn’t send out a certain healer made everyone puzzled. Being the top Cleric operator in the entire league, You Jing’s talent could not be questioned. Although the game was lost in the end, the trio’s dazzling skills and effort made their fans satisfied.

Everyone’s attention was now on the final 5v5 team battle. Especially since the current score was 1:4, it wasn’t too late to make a complete comeback which was the difference between the final victory and defeat. 

At this time, the employee who kept trying to sneak peeks at the match finally couldn’t help himself and stopped pretending to work. He came over with an angry expression. “Black Rose team is a bit weak this year. It’s only the beginning of the spring competition and they’re about to lose this round too!”

Lin Xiao’s fingers shook his cigarette lazily and responded without thinking, “We won’t lose.”

As if responding to Lin Xiao’s careless comment, under You Jing’s tactical command and Shen Chang’s finely tuned data analysing skills, Liuyun team’s pincer attack2 ended in failure.

After the formation broke completely, the slain members were unable to get back to their team’s original rhythm after respawning and were chased by the Black Rose team members; each one defeated was another drop of blood. They successfully got 5 kills, getting the crucial 5 points needed to win the game.

The game ended with Team Black Rose vs. Team Liuyun scoring 6:4 respectively.

The young man stared at the end scene in amazement, and looked at Lin Xiao blankly. “Brother, how did you know Black Rose would win?”

Lin Xiao glanced at him and let out a faint “Oh”. “Well, although both sides were trying to change their own style and find their own rhythm, Shen Chang is after all an unparalleled support player when it comes to team competitions. As long as the Liuyun team continuously creates new strategies, they won’t have enough time to familiarise themselves with them. Remember, our team’s You Jing specialises in catching such loopholes, right?” He took a pause then glanced at the screen with a slight smile. “As for the previous games losses, wasn’t Black Rose used to this by now?”

Although the young man didn’t understand a word of what was said, he felt as if he’d just listened to something very profound and became stunned. 

The boss walked out from the backroom with an ugly expression. “Why don’t you replace this old computer? It’s so damn outdated! The hard drive that it needs is so old that it’s out of stock. You would have to order it elsewhere. I made a call just now and it will take two or three days at most to arrive.”

“Oh, it doesn’t matter anyways, I’ll come back in two days.” As a poor person with absolutely no funds to purchase a computer, of course Lin Xiao would not mind this arrangement. 

He glanced back at the laptop screen and it showed the two teams shaking hands at the end of the match. The face values of these players were so high, they caused all the women at the venue to scream uncontrollably.

Recalling the match, Lin Xiao frowned lightly. For pro players like You Jing, there were several mistakes made that shouldn’t have happened.

The scene switched and showed You Jing picking up his backpack with his right hand, as his eyes flashed imperceptibly.

If my memory is correct, this person should be left-handed.

Yan here means wild geese and when used together with the other characters gives the idiom ‘Geese leave no trace’ He replaces the Yan with his Yan to mean he attacks without leaving a trace. Hence it now reads Yan never leaves a trace.

Pincer attack – The pincer movement, is a tactic in which forces attack both flanks (sides) of an enemy formation at the same time.