After a night's rest, the morning of the tournament's third day arrived in the blink of an eye.
The lounge was nowhere near as crowded as it had been over the past two days. With most of the competitors eliminated, the whole room felt empty. Apart from Xia You and his friends, everyone left seemed weighed down with worries, and even their voices had unconsciously grown much softer.
Having successfully advanced, they felt both pressure and hope for what lay ahead.
They had already made the top sixteen. With just a little more effort, they might become the Hero of the Sea and gain both fame and fortune. How could they not feel excited and nervous?
One thing was consistent, though: ever since learning that Xia You was the Indigo Conference champion, they had kept their distance. No one wanted to come over and chat; they merely cast cold glances his way from time to time!
Their hostility was almost visible. Clearly, they already regarded Xia You as their biggest rival!
Xia You paid it no mind and continued laughing and chatting with Ash and Misty.
But Ash and Misty's good mood vanished as soon as the matchups were announced.
When the Cup Tournament staff posted the bracket on the wall, the three went over to look together and discovered that Ash and Misty would actually face each other in their next match!
The expressions on both their faces froze!
What rotten luck.
Given the choice, both would have preferred to achieve a better result before battling a friend, rather than deciding the winner and loser as early as the round of sixteen.
All they could say was that fate really had played a nasty trick on them.
Their feelings were complicated. This also meant that one of them was