My Points, Gone Just Like That?!
According to the lottery results, the opponent that the Fairy Tale Kingdom needs to defeat on the second day of the preliminary rounds is...
"--The team's name is [Hua Ling]--They look like a hastily assembled mercenary group."
Daniel held his tablet, carefully observing the team's characteristics.
Before the official match, there is a 45-minute preparation time after the lottery draw.
This period of leisure is when the two teams get to know each other and the coaching staff develops tactics.
If the first day's opponents were completely randomly assigned, a knightly duel between unfamiliar groups, then the second day's schedule was much more favorable. The coaching staff and athletes could directly review the previous day's match footage, using those precious forty-five minutes to analyze the enemy's elemental composition.
Simply put, it is --
--Find the strongest player on the enemy team, figure out how they score, and then use some dirty tricks.
The players' lounge was noisy and chaotic. The five friends from the Fairy Tale Kingdom huddled together, crowding around Sharks Chili and Daniel, staring at the two tablets for a long time. Ten minutes passed, the battle report was played twice, and they finally managed to glean some useful information.
Kaycee Gerrard could hear both languages, so she asked in confusion, "This doesn't seem right, does it?"
Xiao Min immediately added, "There are two Chinese people and three Japanese people in this group."
Hua Ling's personnel consist of four owners and one professional player. This club belongs to the local steel mill in Forty-One District, a sunset industry with little resources to support a team competing in the Moon God Cup. So they brought in this "fish-frying guy" to lead the team.
Sharks Chili explained, "This steel mill was originally a joint venture between Kanagawa Ichiban Steel Works and the Abyssal Railway Construction Department. Now it's broke, so it hired a professional player to lead the team."
We've seen professional jousters back in the Mimir Hot Spring Market.
--In the Red Stone People territory where American-style iaido duels are prevalent, there are bounty hunters who make a living from it.
Daniel continued, "This is a good thing. They have language barriers and historical animosity."
"Hey! Don't be stereotypical," Miracle Bro corrected him, "Our attitude towards our Japanese friends has always been..."
The captain hadn't finished speaking--
--Hao Bro immediately rolled up his sleeves.
"Where is our opponent?! I can't control myself! Coach! Can we ask the referee to start the match early?"
To his friends, it seemed like several symbols were popping out of Hao Bro's forehead.
If Teacher A Ling's Phoenix were here, it would probably mark a few combat buffs for this passionate young man.
[Ethnic Hatred: Rage increases by 90% at the start of battle]
[Impatient: You cannot control your anger, accuracy decreases by 30%, critical hit chance increases by 50%]
[Sudden Rise of Killing Intent: Your final damage calculation is increased by 1.5 times]
[The Allure of Genealogy: Damage and kill rewards will become stories passed down through generations]
In short, Shasha first calmed Hao Bro down for a while, and then talked to the team members about the key points.
"Judging from the Hua Ling Club's match reports, the most noteworthy high-value target in this team is this substitute player."
The tablet immediately displayed the contestant's information; she was a 24-year-old girl.
-- Seeing Sharks Chili blushed and immediately changed his tune.
"Oh no, I mean, the game boosting sister."
To be honest, Coach Shasha didn't expect that there would be a girl among the lone wolves in the professional team who hunted for extra money.
This is not about discriminating against women. According to the format of the Moon God Cup, these bosses who are looking for mercenaries need strong and powerful team leaders. First of all, this person must have a loud voice, be able to suppress disobedient team members with absolute strength and mental power in a short time, be able to cover up all kinds of weaknesses in the local team, and have enough courage to lead the team to victory on their own.
Female mercenaries face far more difficulties than their male counterparts when participating in the Moon God Cup. The first challenge is getting these unfamiliar teammates to obey; not everyone has the ability, like Teacher Su Ling, to break a teammate's ribs with a single kick and then instantly heal them.
That said, this female player's ID is quite interesting.
"Sharp Shooter Guozi?" A Hao was genuinely a bit bewildered when he uttered the name: "This is a mixed-race girl from Tokyo and Japan?"
"That's right, he's a half-Japanese, half-Chinese player born in Dongbai." Sharks Chili opened the player's details page, showing the team members the reinforcements that Hua Ling Club had brought in. "He speaks two languages, has team leadership experience, is a sharpshooter, ruthless, talkative, loud-voiced, and good-tempered—truly the best choice for Hua Ling."
"Why is she called 'Sharp Shooter Guozi'?" Xiao Min asked curiously. "Does she especially like jianbing guozi (Chinese crepes)? Then I'd call myself 'Wine, Vegetables, and Zi'!"
Before the words were finished, a heated argument erupted from the other side of the lounge, drawing the attention of almost all the members of the Fairy Tale Kingdom.
The team that had the conflict was their rival, the Hua Ling Club.
The attackers and sentries in the team were arguing heatedly, one in Chinese and the other in Japanese, cursing each other's parents, their eyes completely red with rage.
The two young men were face to face, their spittle practically flying into each other's mouths, with a tall woman, 1.82 meters tall, sandwiched between them—the team's star Sharp Shooter Guozi.
A woman's angry voice, uttering insults in both Chinese and Japanese, could be faintly heard, seemingly trying to mend this ethnic hatred.
"Stop talking! Stop talking!"
"Enough!! Enough, enough, enough! That's enough!"
"Quiet down!! The competition is about to begin!~"
"My fault! My fault! My fault! My fault! My fault! My fault! My fault! My fault! My fault! I couldn't fight five people at once, my fault!"
"That's enough for you two young masters! It's on me, it's on me, it's on me!"
"You guys had your fun yelling, but what about my points?!"
Even a powerful soprano voice couldn't drown out the roars of the two young men.
--Hao Bro finally understood why this sister's name was "Sharp Shooter Guozi." She was indeed brave enough to take the blame, shouldering the burdens that the young masters dared not accept.
Although we don't know what's going on with Hua Ling, they did win the game yesterday. But for the internal conflicts to escalate to this extent on the second day of the competition, it seems there really is a deep-seated rift within the team.
Just then, Sister Guozi finally couldn't take it anymore.
She rushed over to Sharks Chili, grabbing the two young men with her.
" --Shasha, you tell me!"
Sharks Chili was stunned. "Huh?"
Sister Guozi was furious, her dyed red and black hair fluttering due to the intense psionic energy fluctuations, as she shouted in her loud, old-fashioned voice.
"It's perfectly reasonable to miss when shooting from the yellow box to the blue box, right? Do you understand?"
Sharks Chili hadn't had a chance to reply yet.
The Sharp Shooter Guozi continued, "Going from the second floor to the third floor of the apartment building, taking the elevator is faster than climbing the stairs, because the emergency exit is eighty meters long and you have to open the iron gate and climb the stairs—it makes perfect sense, do you understand?"
Sharks Chili nodded blankly, agreeing with Sister Guozi's assessment. These were all standard judgments based on the Red Tower map.
Having earned the opposing coach's approval, Sister Guozi immediately turned around and reprimanded the two young masters.
"--Mine! Mine! Mine! Stop arguing! Do you understand? It's my pot! Stop fighting! I didn't explain myself clearly, you can fight all you want, I need to protect my points!"
In the sport of jousting, there is a crucial score used to evaluate the specific level of professional players. Their market value and salary are closely related to this score.
The reason why Sister Guozi cares so much about the two young men's attitude in the competition is because it is a way to integrate the team and improve team cohesion, which can increase the individual scores of the players.
This mix of Chinese and Japanese scapegoating did nothing to stop the two young masters' argument; instead, it unleashed an astonishing amount of energy from one of them.
"Sister Guozi! Let me tell you the truth," Hua Ling's attacker frankly admitted, "I've had my eye on this kid for a long time."
He paused for a moment, then realized that Sharks Chili and the rest of the Fairy Tale Kingdom were still watching, so he quickly changed his tune.
"I've been annoyed by this sentry who's living such a comfortable life for a long time! You're right! You're absolutely right! But have you ever thought about this!"
The attacker's eyes were piercing; his fighting spirit couldn't be extinguished with just a few words.
"When we start greeting each other's parents, it's not about two boxes of gunfire and moving apartments anymore! It's not that issue! You know?! This isn't over!"
Sister Guozi asked eagerly, "After you finish the competition, how about we set up a separate training room when you get back? Okay?"
"No way!" the attacker shook his head violently.
"Damn it!" the sentry exclaimed excitedly.
If it weren't for the rules of the game, these two players would have already started fighting.
The attackers and everyone in the Fairy Tale Kingdom shouted loudly.
"It's just a competition! You all, be the judge!"
"Sister Guozi, you only lost points! I lost my mom! -- I need to protect my mom now! You want me to wait? Wait until after the match to defend my family? Are you kidding me!"
Waiting for security personnel to escort the three Hua Ling team members back to the other side of the rest room.
--Sharks Chili hung open, his expression blank, as if he had suffered an extremely strong mental attack.
Xiao Min was completely baffled. "How exactly did they win the last game?"
Daniel and Hao Bro replied in unison, "We have no clue either."
Given Hua Ling's current morale, the match report from the last game seems quite surreal.
The little shark explained to the team members.
"The teams in the preliminary rounds were of varying quality, and it was clear that Hua Ling was facing a lot of weak opponents in the first round. It's not uncommon for Sharp Shooter Guozi like Guozi to be able to take on five opponents at once—this kind of situation is quite common in the preliminary rounds of the Moon God Cup."
"So, my fellow team members, you only have one opponent. If you can get all six of her points and eliminate her, you probably won't even need to lift a finger; the remaining team members will start fighting amongst themselves and giving up."
"After all."
At this point, Sharks Chili felt a mix of amusement and exasperation.
"The club only lost the game; they need to protect their loved ones!"
The match is about to begin--
Miracle Bro was still uneasy, almost like someone with paranoia, constantly watching the members of the Hua Ling team next door. He was afraid that these internal conflicts were just a smokescreen put up by the enemy. Sharks Chili could be careless, but as the captain, he could not afford to be careless.
Miracle Bro strained his ears, and the intense arguing lasted for more than half an hour. While holding a tablet and explaining the battle report of the Fairy Tale Kingdom to the team members, Sister Guozi loudly tried to persuade them with a voice as loud as the shouting and arguing.
The assistant referee came over to tell the players to get their guns ready, trying to help break up the fight. However, because the linesman was Korean, he was also reprimanded by both the Chinese and Japanese sides.
At this moment, Miracle finally realized that this was not a smokescreen; it was a bomb that the Hua Ling Club had planted in the team—it had already exploded, and even if Sister Guozi and Teacher Qiangjiang came, it wouldn't have mattered.
The entire match, from start to finish, was very fast.
There are only two details to pay attention to: every day during the first half of the preliminary rounds, the modular sandbox terrain surrounding the Red Tower will change. These complex building areas and wilderness areas will test the players' adaptability.
The battle report states that there is only one way for Sharp Shooter Guozi to win: she needs her teammates from Hua Ling to stay by her side, making her the most powerful offensive force, trading blows with the enemy, and simplifying the complex game.
She is indeed a high-value unit with ruthless skills and sharpshooting abilities. The members of Hua Ling can protect her health by 60%. In head-on firefights, she can eliminate enemies faster and win the game.
The teammates' argument stemmed from the previous match, where they fought over the two safe havens and the turning point at the Red Tower.
In Sister Guozi's opinion, these are not problems at all.
--When the two teams were shooting at each other, the Chinese athlete laughed at the Japanese athlete for not being able to hit the target. When they were changing positions, the Japanese athlete laughed at the Chinese athlete for running too slowly.
But the ensuing arguments were so intense that they completely drove people to madness, the team fell apart, and the entire morale system collapsed, beyond any morale-boosting tool to salvage the situation.
Hua Ling's coach isn't of mixed Chinese and Japanese descent, so he can't represent anyone, much less control these spoiled brats.
The Sharp Shooter Guozi, a woman, was seen by these hot-blooded young men as someone in an ambiguous position, someone they wanted to please and pursue. They wanted to prove themselves and show off their strength. Who was right and who was wrong was irrelevant to each other—the focus was on who was stronger.
The captain and coach of the Fairy Tale Kingdom are very sensitive to the game map. In this narrow and crowded map, there are very few routes that allow the five players to support each other, move quickly, stabilize their firing lines, and avoid friendly fire. And if all these conditions are met, the only way to reach the Red Tower is even fewer.
In response to these two points, Miracle and Sharks Chili specially prepared a large net for Sister Guozi.
The match lasted less than three minutes from start to finish.
All the members of the Fairy Tale Kingdom climbed to the rooftop and, without holding back, headed towards the central U-shaped oak plank road.
On the Hua Ling Club's side, the team's voice chat was filled with insults, rendering the sentry blind and the team members deaf. The vanguard Sharp Shooter Guozi, made a token struggle, having already anticipated the outcome of the match.
Upon reaching the long alleyway in the central building area, heading towards the strategic location of the Red Tower, they found themselves helpless against the gunfire from the rooftops—the worst possible gunfight environment of "high ground against low ground, hitting idiots."
The two commentators left on time without offering any meaningful commentary. It was a match with a huge disparity in skill, just like most of the matches in the preliminary rounds—nothing worth talking about.
With her teammates' cover, the Sharp Shooter Guozi had a chance to escape to the small supermarket. She sat on a plastic chair at the supermarket entrance, took a bottle of Coke from the counter, and began to drown her sorrows in the carbonated drink, letting out angry cries.
When the five friends from the Fairy Tale Kingdom arrived in front of this game booster, pointing their guns at her...
--She was still howling.
"What am I going to do about my points! All that work for nothing! All that work for nothing! Damn it! Why?!"