The Rolling Stones Team was a star-studded squad, both in its lineup and its reputation.
By comparison, the Myriad Spirits Team was far less impressive. None of its five Awakeners had much of a name worldwide.
Yet the result of the second quarterfinal took everyone by surprise.
The Rolling Stone Team fought a grueling battle but ultimately lost the best-of-five series 2–3.
Bai Xiaowen watched the match too. The ruthlessness of the Myriad Spirits Team's Southeast Asian players—their desperate, bloody style of fighting—left a deep impression on him.
In terms of raw strength, the Rolling Stone Team actually had the edge.
Unfortunately, the Myriad Spirits Team was something of a mystery. It had revealed little of its abilities, unlike the famous Rolling Stone Team, whose match recordings were all over the internet.
Of course, the Myriad Spirits Team had shown every card it held in this match. Those five games would surely become the focus of the Mifflin Team's research, and the team would no longer be quite so mysterious.
At 3:00 p.m. Beijing time on February 15, the match between the White Phoenix Team and the Kshatriya Team began.
The Beijing venue was packed, and countless viewers across China watched the livestream.
The Kshatriya Team came from the India Division. As everyone knew, Indians had a reputation for relying on cheats—and for boundless self-confidence.
Before the match, the Kshatriya Team had made plenty of noise online.
Its captain, Ajay, declared that although the White Phoenix Team had finished first in Group D, it was still a new squad made up of youngsters. Its lack of experience in major tournaments was a fatal weakness.
Asked to predict the result, Ajay answered with confidence that seemed to come from nowhere. "Three-zero. It has to be three-zero. I've already started studying our