CH 75

“It’s good to meet you.” When Yan Lingjiang spoke, he glanced at You Jin and rolled up his sleeves as if he was ready to go. “It would be even better if you could match up with me in whichever game you play today!”

Lin Xiao smiled and said, “I’m in the last game of the individual competition, so are you my opponent today?”

Before Yan Lingjiang could speak, Lin Xiao’s hand was already lightly shaken by the next person: “Coincidentally, your opponent is me.”

Lin Xiao Yi looked up and saw Zhang Fengyu’s face with a strict expression, and smiled faintly: “Ahhh, so it’s Vice Captain Zhang. That’s a bit of a problem.”

Zhang Fengyu laughed and dragged Yan Lingjiang by the collar as he was just standing there motionless, hindering the team’s advance.

Yan Lingjiang wanted to resist, but under Zhang Fengyu’s glance he hung his head resentfully and returned to the contestants’ seats, only to hear a playful voice asking: “Brother Yan, is he the old friend you mentioned?”

Tao Yaofei asked this while she was handing a bottle of water to Wen Shuqing. Although she seemed to ask casually, her clear, bright eyes were full of curiosity.

Speaking of which, she and Captain Wen were known to be childhood friends, the kind that took care of each other in their daily lives and even their meals.

So much so that some time ago, when the captain went to the doctor, she followed him every step. She didn’t even care about the team’s preseason game. If one didn’t know her strength, one would have thought she was just a confidant of Wen Shuqing.

Seeing this kind of scene, Yan Lingjiang felt a sourness in his chest, and he simply glanced over their heads, ignoring them. However, under Wen Shuqing’s questioning gaze, he had no choice but to answer: “That’s right, he’s the one I was planning to recruit to our team. He had always wanted to join a professional team, but for some reason, he suddenly joined Black Rose. He was actually allowed to play in such an important game, and he was not afraid that he would hold them back or something.”

As soon as his words were over, a coat fell from the sky and covered his head, and a big hand pressed firmly on the top of his head while Zhang Fengyu’s somewhat pensive voice was heard: “Hold them back? You underestimate that Lin Xiao a little too much. If you have such a line of thoughts, you will suffer in the future.”

The hand that Yan Lingjiang was about to push away lifted itself, and he stopped on the spot when he heard the words, muttering: “Vice Captain Zhang, maybe you are overestimating him? You must know that Lin Xiao used to have difficulty reaching even the third step of the ladder!”

Zhang Fengyu said, “Don’t base your assessment on your previous information. You should have seen all the videos of his matchups in the previous preseason, objectively speaking, do you really think his level is weak?”

Wen Shuqing interjected with a gentle voice, “He’s not weak, he is actually very strong.”

Yan Lingjiang fell silent after the words of his Captain and Vice Captain.

Weak? It really didn’t look like that.

Just looking at the videos of that ghost priest‘s sparring matches, how could one say that he was weak, in fact, he was so strong that it was frightening.

But what in the world made the ordinary Lin Xiao change so much? Was it because of that man…

Yan Lingjiang lifted the jacket off his head and glanced toward the Black Rose team. His eyes fell on the man who looked the most refined and elegant in the black uniform, and his expression subconsciously showed a bit of overt hostility.

Zhang Fengyu noticed his fighting rooster-like appearance, his eyes moved slightly, and he sat expressionlessly next to him.

…

The first match of the playoffs was the Black Rose team vs. the Scattered Clouds team.

As both were equally veteran first-tier teams, this opening match arrangement was very satisfactory for the audience and fans.

Knowing that the Scattered Clouds team maintained a steady pace of entering the playoffs in the preseason, even without Wen Shuqing, one could see its strength. Now that Captain Wen Shuqing had officially returned to the team, they were on a whole new level. As for the Black Rose team, although the performance in the early games was not very satisfactory, with the addition of new members, this giant team had half of the blood freshened and became very strong at the end of the preseason. It was enough to make everyone look forward to their performance.

If Wen Shuqing of Scattered Clouds and the new members of the Black Rose were a special arrangement for the two teams to preserve their strength in the preseason, then, the battlefield of the playoffs should be the brightest stage where they could fully display their strengths.

In the first individual match, Xiao Li of the Black Rose faced Yan Lingjiang of the Scattered Clouds.

When the match lists were displayed in the center of the big screen, a wave of murmurs rang out from the stage.

Xiao Li and Yan Lingjiang both used the same profession, magic swordsman.

In the past, someone ranked the professional players in the National League. At that time, whether the No. 1 magic swordsman should belong to the king Laughing Sky, an unaffiliated player with an aggressive and wild style, or to Yan Lingjiang, who had a sharp style of operation and was very popular, has always been a topic of dispute.

Moreover, although both were masters of magic swordsmen, because Yan Lingjiang was recruited into the Scattered Clouds team in his early years, so far, the two have not officially met.

As a result, the outcome of this battle has been directly promoted to the level of a national match by the good-willed people. Some people have even placed guessing bets in the live broadcast, and the prize pool was already very attractive.

Lin Xiao really didn’t expect that Yan Lingjiang, who had been in the team competition before, would be suddenly placed first in the individual competition. Turning his head to look at the man in the wheelchair on the opposing player’s bench, all his thoughts flashed by, and he felt a little sad when he watched Xiao Li go on stage, like saying goodbye to a brave man.

“What, do you think Xiao Li will lose?” You Jing’s calm voice came over.

“If he was facing other players, he might still have some hope, but against Wild Goose, it’s still uncertain.” Lin Xiao didn’t beat around the bush and exposed his thoughts straight away… “Wild Goose‘s battle style is not very fanciful. Although Boss Xiao is a good one-on-one player, it is difficult in terms of experience and coping strategies.”

You Jing smiled in a vague way: “You think highly of your friend.”

Lin Xiao glanced at him: “Captain You, let’s be reasonable. It has nothing to do with whether he is my friend or not. I’m just discussing the matter.”

You Jing: “Oh.”

Seeing his calm expression, Lin Xiao raised his eyebrows, and smiled: “Of course, the final victory belongs to us.”

You Jing: “Naturally.”

Xu Yiming, who was beside him, couldn’t listen any longer and finally complained: “Hey, hey, Xiao Li is still fighting hard in the arena. If he knew that you have given up on him like this, I wonder if he would cry and pass out in front of the computer.”

Lin Xiao cleared his throat: “Don’t worry, Boss Xiao is very strong, even if he faints from crying, he can still stand up.”

Liu Zeshen nodded: “Indeed.”

Xu Yiming: “…”

While they were talking, the arena erupted into a bloodbath, and moments later, after a fierce battle, Yan Lingjiang was temporarily ahead with the score of 1:0. Amidst the boisterous cheering of the Scattered Clouds team’s fans, the revived Xiao Li leveled the headcount ratio to 1:1 in a fierce battle. After that, the amount of blood left was finally no match for Yan Lingjiang’s second life’s full blood bar, and he eventually lost by 1:2.

The situation was not much different from what Lin Xiao had predicted. Overall, Yan Lingjiang’s style of play was too restrictive for Xiao Li. Although it was childish to decide who was the No. 1 in the National League just by winning or losing a duel, it was indeed a perfect opportunity if you compared just the two of them.

So, in the first individual match, Yan Lingjiang was actually sent to intercept Xiao Li’s battle. If this was indeed Wen Shuqing’s intentional arrangement, this man’s insight was indeed as impressive as the rumors said.

It was said that the Scattered Clouds team had two brains, one was Zhang Fengyu, who was good at calculating and analyzing, and the other was Wen Shuqing, who had an unparalleled view of the overall situation. And now, the two brains were gathered again, which was undoubtedly enough to give a headache to their opponents.

But admiration is just admiration. After all, the lineup configuration was only one of the factors that could affect the outcome of a battle. In the final analysis, the specific success or failure still required an overall power as the basis. It’s not that there was a problem with Scattered Clouds‘ power, but Lin Xiao was very confident about his current team’s overall combat effectiveness.

Xiao Li’s face was full of resentment when he came down, and he was obviously a little bitter about losing the game. As soon as he returned to the contestant’s bench, Liu Zeshen smiled and handed over a bottle of water, “Well played.”

Xiao Li glanced at him sullenly and didn’t bother to remove the arm skillfully placed on his shoulder. He raised his head and drank vigorously as if the mineral water was a strong wine.

Liu Zeshen looked at him amused, and, seeing that the bottle was about to be emptied, he handed him another bottle with a smile on his face.

Xiao Li’s complexion darkened instantly with this childlike coaxing.

Lin Xiao watched the interaction between the two with amusement and tactfully did not get involved. Seeing Shen Changyu was the second choice in the individual competition, he raised his eyebrows when he saw the match list on the big screen.

As expected…

You Jing asked as if it was a routine: “Then what do you think of this one?”

This time, Lin Xiao replied in a very relaxed and casual manner: “Vice Captain Shen is the better of the two and will definitely win.”

Once again, his speculation was verified. In only 15 minutes, Shen Changyu easily won the duel.

The Scattered Clouds team had sent a rookie player. He was very nervous in his first appearance in the playoffs and under Shen Changyu’s provocation, he made frequent mistakes. In the whole game, it was almost impossible to find some bright spots, and it looked like a scene of a car accident.

And this kind of battle just confirmed Lin Xiao’s guess. Putting Yan Lingjiang first in the individual competition was indeed a special arrangement to block Xiao Li. But it seemed that Scattered Clouds‘ strategic speculation estimated that Xiao Li would play first in the individual competition, Xu Yichen or Xu Yiming would play in the second game, and Shen Changyu would be last because Zhang Fengyu has also been assigned to the last position. In the end, in the real setup, none of the twins appeared in the individual competition, which completely messed up the rookie’s “preparations,” making his loss a bit ugly.

After this result, Lin Xiao just smiled, took off his jacket, threw it on the chair, and when he passed by Shen Changyu on the way to the stage, he gave him a high five: “Watch me now.”