Chapter 1027: Seize the Competition
Shen Jian walked off stage in a daze. The Excellent Era fans booed due to their discontent for the first time this match. Previously, Xiao Shiqin’s 1v3 didn’t need to be said. All the boos had been meant for Happy. Afterwards, Qiu Fei and Sun Xiang lost, but the crowd didn’t react as harshly. The performances from Qiu Fei and Sun Xiang weren’t bad. The fans didn’t even look at the results. They also cared about the process.
Shen Jian’s performance clearly didn’t make them feel satisfied. It was just that compared to the boos towards Happy, the boos from the Excellent Ea fans were still much more polite. Amidst these boos, there was even some applause to encourage their team’s players.
Shen Jian returned to the bench with his head drooped down. Tao Xuan patted his back and said a few consoling words before telling him to go rest. Tao Xuan was still the boss of a veteran team. He naturally wouldn’t be so childish as to lose his temper like Jade Dynasty’s Xiao Jie.
Excellent Era’s final player was about to come on stage. Everyone stretched their necks waiting for this person to go up. Whether it was intentional or not, Tao Xuan stole a glance at Happy. On Excellent Era’s side, Su Mucheng stood up.
As expected......
Chen Guo thought to herself.
No one mentioned the possible conflict. Would Su Mucheng represent Excellent Era today? And now the truth had finally been revealed.
Su Mucheng glanced at Happy’s side. Her gaze didn’t expose too many things. She turned around and walked towards the player booth. On the other hand, Tao Xuan suddenly turned his head to look at Happy. No, to be more accurate, he looked at Ye Xiu. His eyes seemed to be filled with delight as if he were making fun of him.
What’s that supposed to mean?
Chen Guo didn’t understand. She turned her head to look at Ye Xiu and saw an expression she had never seen before on his face. Is that anger?
Yes, anger!
Even after Ye Xiu was kicked out and painted black by Excellent Era, he had always stayed calm. He’s angry? Why? Because Su Mucheng was sent out?
Chen Guo felt like that wasn’t the reason. Tao Xuan’s expression when Su Mucheng went out was probably why Ye Xiu was angry. Chen Guo was still pondering over it, when she saw Ye Xiu stand up and walk over to Excellent Era’s bench, to Tao Xuan.
Tao Xuan was still sitting down. He didn’t move and simply raised his head slightly. He looked at Team Excellent Era’s former captain. They were once good friends, who got to know each other in game. At that time, they were like brothers that had gone to hell and back together. Afterwards, he raised enough money to form a team and he pulled over his brother to become his team’s captain. The two gradually stopped calling each other brothers and now, the two had become enemies.
"What’s the meaning of this?" Ye Xiu had restrained his anger. He looked at Tao Xuan as calm as ever.
"I hope she’ll give a good performance." Tao Xuan smiled, while giving an irrelevant answer.
"So it’s like that." Ye XIu seemed to have gotten the answer he wanted and returned to his seat.
Chen Guo really wanted to ask, but... she was too afraid to. Ye Xiu no longer showed any anger like before, but his expression was gloomy. This was also an expression that she had never seen on him before.
"Calm down." Wei Chen suddenly said.
"Mm." Ye Xiu nodded his head. He didn’t argue back or question him. He simply nodded his head, saying that the current him wasn’t calm at all.
Ye Xiu wasn’t calm?
Chen Guo felt like something must have happened. But what? Chen Guo looked at Wei Chen. She knew that he should know the answer. She used her eyes to tell Wei Chen, he could either die or explain the situation to her.
"Ahem....." Wei Chen was attacked by her glance. He gave a cough and then scooted over.
"Do you know why Su Mucheng was put last?" Wei Chen said.
Sure enough, it had to do with Su Mucheng.... Chen Guo thought to herself, but was there some sort of special meaning in it?
"Excellent Era is doubtful of Su Mucheng, but that they can’t openly say that. After all, Su Mucheng is very popular. Just look at the crowd’s reaction." Wei Chen said.
Yes, the stadium was already cheering. Shen Jian’s embarrassing performance didn’t wipe out their passionate cheers for Su Mucheng. She was only walking on stage and the crowd was going wild.
"So she’s been placed last." Wei Chen said.
"Why?" Chen Guo still didn’t understand.
"For one, this is their treat to the fans. If you look at how Excellent Era ordered their line up for the group arena, they planned to finish the group arena with three players, so the chances of Su Mucheng coming out is very small. However, she’s at least a part of the line up, showing that they trust her. As for placing her last, that could be explained as a safeguard. This is completely reasonable." Wei Chen said.
"Mm." Chen Guo nodded her head in understanding.
"But if the situation arises and Su Mucheng needs to come out on stage, what then? She carries the burden of Excellent Era winning the group arena. Each and every move of hers will be watched with rapt attention. If she truly has ideas of sandbagging, I’m saying if!!!" Wei Chen said sandbag, Chen Guo’s expression changed, so he immediately stressed the word if, "Then if anyone notices it, her reputation... will be completely destroyed."
"F*ck!" Chen Guo suddenly became angry. She shot a death glare over to Excellent Era’s side. Unfortunately, no one was looking at her.
"I’m just saying if. Of course, you and I believe that Su Mucheng is a professional so she wouldn’t do that. However, in such a sensitive match, even if she doesn’t sandbag, if she loses, she’ll most likely arouse the suspicions of others. For a match, a first impression holds more weight than the details. Any mistakes she makes could be viewed as sandbagging... so for Su Mucheng, she can only win. She cannot lose. If she loses, she’ll be affected negatively." Wei Chen explained everything very thoroughly. After saying this, he put up his guard, making sure that their bold boss wouldn’t flip a table over and try to murder someone.
What he didn’t expect was that, after he finished explaining, Chen Guo didn’t react aggressively like he thought she would. Chen Guo watched as Su Mucheng walked onto the stage; her expression was filled with bitterness.
Su Mucheng didn’t want to win this match, but she had no choice but to. What type of conflict was going on inside her?
Chen Guo didn’t know if Su Mucheng was aware of Excellent Era’s intentions. After hearing Wei Chen’s words, she felt like it wasn’t really hard to figure that out, but even so, it was thanks to Tao Xuan leaking out such a delighted expression that Ye Xiu and Wei Chen realized it. If not, no matter how shameless the two of them were, they might not have thought much of it.
From this view, Su Mucheng might realize this despicable plan. What would she do to resist?
Would she directly type GG and leave? Use this type of reckless way against Excellent Era’s coercion? Even though Chen Guo would feel great if that happened, the aftermath would be very worrying for Su Mucheng. Because the consequences were just like Wei Chen said, a complete loss in reputation. No matter the reason, a pro player was not allowed to violate the competitive integrity of the esport. It was for this reason that Excellent Era dared to treat Su Mucheng this way.
The current Chen Guo couldn’t bother with getting angry at Tao Xuan. She also understood why Ye Xiu was so quick to restrain his anger. It was because the person everyone was concerned about was about to face this difficult situation. Was there time to worry for her? Who was in the mood to split their attention towards Tao Xuan?
What would she do?
Seeing Su Mucheng walk on stage and load in her character, Chen Guo’s heart leapt to her throat.
Then, the match started. The two characters loaded into the map. Chen Guo watched Su Mucheng’s Dancing Rain carefully and finally let out a sigh of relief.
Su Mucheng at least didn’t say GG.
The two characters moved. Sun Zheping’s Another Summer of Sleep went straight for the center of the map. Su Mucheng’s Dancing Rain moved more tactfully and quickly reached a place that Li Yibo called "an excellent sniping spot".
Launchers had the longest range out of all 24 classes. Utilizing the terrain, hiding, and constantly kiting the opponent with long-ranged attacks was the usual strategy, especially against an extremely aggressive player like Sun Zheping. This method of kiting could wear away the opponent’s mental state and health. Su Mucheng should be using this method to covertly attack.
This was Coach Li’s analysis, but the crowd saw Su Mucheng’s Dancing Rain stand up on the wall with her heads held high and the cannon on her shoulders. She didn’t seem to have any intentions of hiding. She completely exposed herself on the high grounds and started firing at Another Summer of Sleep.
Li Yibo’s mouth dropped wide open. He had experienced a hundred battles, but this time, he couldn’t save himself because Su Mucheng’s slap to his face was too quick. As soon as he finished saying that she would hide, she stood up heroically and started firing. This pose was less like taking the initiative and more like shouting out loud "I’m attacking!!"
Chen Guo hadn’t given up on listening to the commentators. When she saw the huge difference between Su Mucheng’s play and the commentator’s analysis, her heart suddenly thumped.
Su Mucheng didn’t directly go so far as to say GG, but was she planning on boldly sandbagging to slap Excellent Era’s face?
Artillery fire instantly covered Chen Guo’s mood. The heavy suppression made it impossible for the aggressive Sun Zheping to charge at her directly.
Under the pursuit of artillery fire, Another Summer of Sleep ran behind a wall, planning his next step, when an enormous force lifted him up from behind. Another Summer of Sleep was overturned along with that wall from Su Mucheng’s barrage.
"Excellent Era... are they planning on fighting force with force against Sun Zheping?" In the crowd, Team Tiny Herb’s three pro players could see the pros and cons of that strategy.