Chapter 72:
It was Saint’s home stadium but Free still had a lot of fans. In the huge stadium, the number of fans on both sides was evenly matched. When Free arrived at the venue, they headed for the lounge. On the way there, pa.s.sing through the corridor that had access to the main stadium, Chen Huo pushed open the fire door and looked out. “Aren’t the fans being too enthusiastic for just a regular season game? The number of lights today is a lot more than usual.”
Puppy followed and also took a look around. He said sourly, “d.a.m.n, we’re already this far and that sign for Yu Sui’s still so big. Did his fans rent a truck to bring it in? For a regular season game?”
“Calm down. Yu Shen’s fans are just doing what’s normal.” Zhou Huo basked in secondhand glory. He explained in a very understanding manner, “They’re not doing it because it’s a regular season game. But Yu Sui’s fans must have been worried about Angel Sword’s popularity and their home court advantage. They must have been afraid that the number and scale of the opposing team’s banners would overwhelm Yu Sui, so they came prepared.”
Zhou Huo took a glance and was very satisfied, “Very good. Yu Sui has the most fans, Shi Luo and Angel Sword have about the same. As for the rest… if you look in the corners and squint real hard, you’ll be able to see fans for the other players. Pretty good.”
Puppy felt it wasn’t good at all. He headed to the lounge with a sigh.
As usual, Zhou Huo went to sign in, and Free’s players, trying to fish in troubled waters were socializing with the make-up artists, trying to avoid having to go through make-up.
After make-up, pre-game confirmations, after all the preparatory work was complete, everyone took their peripherals and went to wait at the backstage corridor. When the host called them up, they went on stage, bowed to the fans amidst their cheers and headed to their own gla.s.s room to test their peripherals.
“Angel Sword is very popular…” Puppy said enviously while plugging in his peripherals, “And almost all of them are female fans. Just listen to their cheer… Tsk tsk, so gentle.”
Chen Huo, the striker with a lot of tough guy fans, was also a little envious. “It can’t be helped. Most fans who play medic are female fans.”
“Really?” Yu Sui tapped the keyboard and said uncertainly, “My fan base is so big, I haven’t really counted. Maybe.”
Shi Luo was already used to his team mutually attacking each other’s mentality before each game and was no longer surprised by it. He put on his headphones and said, “Just as we agreed in the lounge just now, we’re going to play this how we usually play against Saint?”
In the shared voice channel, Yu Sui gave an “en”.
It was the only thing they could do. When the team was first established, they had a few practice matches with Saint, but it wasn’t long before Saint’s manager made it clear that they wouldn’t be playing against Free anymore.
They haven’t played against Saint for a long time. They didn’t know what the Angel Sword was hiding. They didn’t know if they were going to go all out now, or whether they were going to be conservative and wait for the playoffs before hitting Free with their unique skills. Right now, they could only rely on Saint’s latest games as basis for their a.n.a.lysis.
Saint’s recent games were really lackl.u.s.ter. They still played conservatively. They didn’t rush to the front in the early stages. Oftentimes, when they met three-on-three with the other team, they withdrew quickly, simply choosing not to fight.
They didn’t play three-on-three, but their three front line players liked to catch the lone wolf who was off to one side, clearing the fog. They’d play three-on-one, and kill off that lone player. Because they had a G.o.d-level nurse, Angel Sword, no matter how extreme that lone wolf fought, it was absolutely impossible for him to make off with any of their heads. After a few such fights, Saint’s front row players would have enough heads to upgraded their equipment. And the team they played guerilla warfare with, even if that team had cleared away more fog in the initial stages, still wouldn’t have any kills.
The way that game was set up, players who couldn’t get any kills couldn’t upgrade their equipment. They would have no choice but to carry on using their primary equipment. No matter how much economy was left, it was useless, there was nowhere to spend it on. Their overall equipment would lag behind Saint’s.
Saint even relied on this gameplay of theirs when they played against IAC a few days ago. They didn’t give a single head to IAC the entire game. The IAC’s four players struggled with their primary equipment in the middle and late stages of the game and were completely crushed by Saint’s advanced equipment. Even in the later stages, their front line was cut apart without them getting even a single kill. The game ended early.
Both teams have entered the game map. While the countdown was counting down, the two commentators of this regular season match were still predicting whether Saint would chose guerilla warfare for this match.
“I think it’s very likely that they will still use guerrilla tactics.” Commentator A said, “They fought against other teams by overcoming hardness with softness. To fight against Free, they’ll need to avoid the edge. As we all know, Free’s front row probably has the strongest output. After all, they have Whisper, the a.s.sa.s.sin-type medic.”
“It should be like this.” Commentator B smiled, “Then we might as well guess who Free will use as bait. Now there are two paths in front of Free. The first is for their front row players, their medic and two strikers, to work as a group. They won’t let one of their strikers go to clear the fog so as to prevent their lone striker from being caught by Angel Sword, but then here comes the problem…”
Commentator A laughed, “That’s tantamount to surrendering the side of their map on a silver platter, and serving up Puppy to be surrounded by the other party as well. Compared to a striker, a sniper is actually more afraid of being trapped by a team of three. A striker could still let out a round of gunfire, but a sniper wouldn’t even have time to change bullets.”
“Then this will be a test of Puppy’s investigative ability. He needs to immediately locate Saint’s front row team and get their team to come to the rescue as soon as possible.” Commentary B said, “I think this is still feasible. When it comes to spying enemies, our Puppy Shen can definitely be ranked in the top ten in the league, right? He can hide himself and report to his teammates so that they can cooperate as soon as possible.”
Commentator A nodded, “This is also one way to break Saint’s guerrilla style. The game has started. Now, let’s see what Free decided to do.”
The countdown was over.
Free had discussed how to play against Saint’s guerrilla warfare a few days ago: They were going to sell out Puppy.
Since Yu Sui and Chen Huo have been teaming up the longest, most of the time when the game just started, Yu Sui would go to the front with Chen Huo, and Shi Luo would go around to clear the fog. They tried with the training team earlier. Neither Shi Luo nor Chen Huo could handle single-line combat. Free also wasn’t greedy. They weren’t asking a lone striker to go out there and come out with a kill; they just wanted the striker to escape the one-on-three situation without giving away his own head. But multiple experiments later, they still weren’t sure. Saint had been training in this guerrilla warfare method for a long time. If they run across it, it would be a fatal blow.
Puppy reluctantly agreed to let them use him as a bait. They would use his commands to control the map. Free’s three man front line team would act as a group and launch a surprise attack on Angel Sword’s group.
This countermeasure Free has tested with NSN, and the success rate was quite high.
But less than a minute after the game started, Free felt that something was faintly wrong.
Saint seemed to have forgotten what the words “guerrilla warfare” meant. They came straight to the center of the boundary between the two maps.
Puppy was no longer needed to monitor the rear. Saint’s movements were so loud, Shi Luo could hear their footsteps in the front row.
Free’s front line players didn’t need to say much. They met them directly head on. The firepower of these three against another team’s two strikers and one medic was nothing to scoff at. Saint rushed in too fast. Neither of the two sides could even clear out any fog. The two teams stuck to the edge of the map and fought there.
A straight demarcation line lay across the very center. In your own eyes, the opponent’s map was full of dense fog. A single touch and you would die. Both sides were very careful when moving. They both relied on sound to judge the opponent’s position. Among the sparks of gunfire, a horizontal slash from Yu Sui’s dagger scratched Saint’s two strikers. At the same, he took damage from two bullets. Yu Sui’s photon shield shattered. At the same time, Shi Luo and Chen Huo shot down one of Saint’s strikers.
The advantage fell to Free, but before they could take advantage of it and give chase, matters took on a sudden unfavorable turn. Yu Sui was. .h.i.t by a sniper on his right shoulder and his blood bar instantly bottomed out.
The sound of the sniper rifle was loud in his ears. Yu Sui quickly used Shi Luo as a shield to retreat two steps and use the rock as a cover. He frowned, “Did their sniper already make his way here?”
Puppy, who had been honestly performing his roles as bait, was also taken aback, “Their sniper came over? You haven’t cleared out the fog and I can’t see anything. Firing back would be a waste of bullets, Let’s withdraw?”
No one waited for Puppy to finish speaking. Yu Sui’s blood volume had dropped. Chen Huo had already retreated instinctively. Shi Luo, who had blocked the sniper’s aim for Yu Sui, automatically brought up the rear. He took Chen Huo’s role to pressure their opponents and ensure the other two’s retreat. After they two had withdrawn, Shi Luo also retreated behind the rock. By then, his blood has also reached bottom.
“Four people.” Shi Luo quickly changed magazine, “…They do have new tactics.”
Both sides really had been playing too closely. Now, it was impossible to retreat. The other team had already locked on to their position. If they exposed their heads, they were going to die. Yu Sui immediately replenished Shi Luo’s shield, and then replenishes the blood for the three of them. However, he had just healed Shi Luo, when Saint’s first purification dish had been placed. Saint showed them no mercy and rushed up once again to the cleared area.
“Aiya, f*ck me?!” Chen Huo couldn’t believe it, “Why’s Angel Sword being so fierce all of a sudden? He doesn’t have that kind of temper!”
Shi Luo furrowed his brows, “…Are you really that scared of a three on three?”
After his blood had been replenished, Shi Luo didn’t delay for even half a second. He took up his gun and immediately sent over a sweep of bullets. He tilted his head and fired. He was instantly shot on his left shoulder. His photon shield was broken again. At the same time, Chen Huo opened fire. However, the two of them still weren’t able to take down Saint’s sniper who had made his way over. Saint’s striker that they’d killed off had been resurrected and had also rejoined his team.
Saint’s two strikers took Shi Luo’s head together. They were completely being suppressed. Saint was now playing four-on-two against Free.
Shi Luo was waiting to be resurrected. Puppy hurriedly said, “I’ll go up.”
“No need.” Yu Sui said without even thinking, “It’d be useless.”
Yu Sui no longer wasted any resources and didn’t even give himself and Chen Huo a shield. Before he could even finish speaking, Saint’s second purification dish has already been placed successfully. The four of them directly surrounded Yu Sui and Chen Huo. Yu Sui and Chen Huo pushed their skills to the extreme and took out one of Saint’s strikers. Afterwards, they were both killed.
Puppy was still in the back row. The other three had reemerged in the resurrection stone. Saint took advantage of this opportunity to instantly clear up a large portion of the map.
Saint’s positioning when they placed down the purification dishes was also very tricky. Puppy wanted to take this opportunity to attack but he couldn’t get a good angle.
Chen Huo hadn’t had time to completely process it yet. He was too surprised to utter a word. “This is…this…”
Shi Luo said lightly, “It’s also guerrilla warfare.”
“Guerrilla warfare specifically targeted for us .” Yu Sui said softly, “Four-on-three. In the first place, we’ve always favored a bold approach. But we can’t beat Angel Sword’s healing. They’re also not afraid of getting killed. If they die, they’ll mend. With Angel Sword providing milk, our overall blood volume can’t compare to them and it will be slowly used up.”
“Saint was said before to be the ultimate team, an expert at overcoming hardness with softness.” Shi Luo had been resurrected. He had just gotten a kill and was now rapidly upgrading his gun accessories. “Now, they’re relying on Angel Sword’s unmatched skills as a milktank to keep fighting against us. They won’t withdraw even if they’re beaten. When they have the advantage, they won’t quit while they’re ahead. They just deal with it and continue to consume us. It is useless for us to just output when it’s three to four. With this amount of blood, sooner or later, it will bottom out.”
Under normal circ.u.mstances, the front-row collision of other teams was basically a charge then a fight. Saint has now developed this new gameplay for Free. They weren’t afraid of being beaten. Anyway, they had a natural blood bank in the form of of Angel Sword. .
“This really isn’t easy to play against.” Puppy wasn’t provoked. Even now, he still hadn’t revealed his position. “This lineup is really set against us, who came up with it…”
Shi Luo frowned slightly, “The next time we clash, I’m gonna hit the Angel Sword first. He’s too annoying.”
Yu Sui said nothing.
Just now, Saint had been very careful about their positioning. They always kept Angel Sword at the back. It was too difficult to target him. Not to mention, during that wave of fighting, Angel Sword had managed to get auxiliary points. He had already upgraded his photon shield and there was now an added layer to his blood.
Yu Sui knew that there was no longer any hope of winning this match. But this round was always going to be broken, they should just make use of the rest of the game to figure out different way to dismantle this move of Saint’s. Yu Sui nodded, “OK.”
The three front row players were much more conservative this time and they tried to beat Saint’s defensive position. But their early disadvantage was too great. After several unsuccessful attempts, Saint pushed forward step by step. After Saint wiped them all out, Saint quickly destroyed Free’s resurrection stone and made off with the game.
Puppy had almost no room to play in this game. When ‘defeated’ was displayed on the monitor, Puppy frowned severely and said in a low voice, “F*ck.”
Chen Huo’s expression also wasn’t very nice to look at. He shook his head.
Expression as per usual, Yu Sui got up and picked up his jacket that had fallen on the gaming chair and headed backstage.
Shi Luo had long thought that Saint would have cooked up a scheme to fight against his team and he been mentally prepared. Being suppressed that badly, although his heart was sinking, but it wasn’t that bad. Shi Luo took off his head earphones. As soon as the soundproof headphones were taken off, the voice of the stadium commentators and the noisy cheering of the fans rushed to his ears. By coincidence, the two commentators were comparing the two medics, Yu Sui and Angel Sword.
Commentator A was speechless, “I had guessed that Saint would have some wonderful moves for this match, but I didn’t expect it to be so targeted. Really, this set of play was definitely tailored for Free.”
“Not only was it tailor-made for Free, but it was also tailor-made for Saint.” Commentator B laughed, “Look around. Where else could you find such a capable medic? Only Angel Sword could have resisted this kind of endless fighting.”
“What bad luck for Free. We were worried before that other teams, especially teams from other divisions, would also learned how to use this to play against Free, but now, we see that our fears were groundless. Where else can you find a medic who’s so good at adding blood?” Commentator A praised. “Really, after watching this game, I suddenly have a little more hope for the World Championships. In our division, not only do we have the league’s no. 1 medic Whisper, but we also have the league’s best milktank medic, Angel Sword!”
Commentator B smiled and nodded, “Indeed, putting it that way, I’m really not so anxious anymore. Free’s fans also have nothing to be terribly worried about. Think about it this way, we have in our region, medic twin stars!”
Shi Luo had already walked to the backstage corridor entrance. Hearing the phrase “Medic twin stars”, Shi Luo stopped in his tracks, and a touch of hostility flashed in his previously indifferent eyes.
Yu Sui, who was walking in front of Shi Luo, was startled when he heard the commentary. He subconsciously turned his head to look at Shi Luo. Their eyes met. Yu Sui pursed his lips and he cursed in his heart.
Free’s players returned to the backstage lounge. Zhou Huo hurriedly to comfort them, “What bad luck. There was no way. There was no problem with your performance.”
Old Qiao nodded, “There was nothing wrong with your play just now. We already knew that Saint was targeting us. It would be advantageous for us to understand this now instead of later. But, Puppy.”
Old Qiao looked at Puppy. “Did you hesitate in the early stages? If you had approached immediately, you might have been able to show your abilities.”
Puppy was unhappy because he knew he hadn’t played well. Zhou Huo was worried that Puppy would bring his emotions to the next round. He interrupted and said, “We shouldn’t be blaming Puppy for this, should we? Who could have guessed what kind of tactics Saint had in store?”
“If I don’t say it now, he might still hesitate in the next game. You know this yourself. Even half a second hesitation might be enough to cost us a game.” Old Qiao’s face remained unchanged. He turned to Zhou Huo, “Moreover, don’t worry about him. He’s World Championship player. He can digest this much.”
Zhou Huo looked at Puppy anxiously, but saw that Puppy’s face was as usual; completely different from how he looked like when the match had just finished.
Puppy sat lazily on the sofa in the lounge, “I did hesitate in the early stage of this game. It’s okay to scold me. Don’t worry…What storms have I not weathered through before that I would be affected by a regular season game?”
“Angel Sword is not friendly at all. He was all nice and gentle when we were teaming up. He was all nice in front of me but he was hiding something like this behind my back.” Chen Huo, who’d looked completely irritated just now, has already a.s.sumed his usual expression. Puppy lay paralyzed on the sofa next to Puppy but he didn’t forget to scold Angel Sword, “d.a.m.n. You really can’t trust the nice ones.”
For World Championship-level players, even their sulks would only last a few seconds. Given their rich compet.i.tion experience, they’re able adjust their mood immediately so that it wouldn’t negatively affect their next game.
Zhou Huo felt relieved.
However, Yu Sui, who was drinking some water off to one side, couldn’t rest a.s.sured.
While he drank his water, Yu Sui took note of Shi Luo, who had just entered the lounge. He took notice of his expressionless face as he chewed gum, Yu Sui’s heart felt a little heavy.
The commentary may have just been to appease Free’s fans, or it may have been the commentator’s sincere appreciation at seeing their region so strong. In any case, they definitely hadn’t meant anything by it.
But while the speaker certainly meant nothing by it, the listener definitely drew meaning from it.
Yu Sui had always been able to capture Shi Luo’s emotions very accurately, so Yu Sui knew that something was wrong before the commentator had even finished speaking.
Moreover, Yu Sui knew very well that Shi Luo wasn’t feeling jealous.
It was true that Shi Luo was a big bag of vinegar even when he was still a minor, but Yu Sui clearly understood that the disturbance in Shi Luo’s mood at the moment definitely wasn’t because of jealousy.
This would be easier if it were jealousy.
Yu Sui knew exactly why Shi Luo’s mood had changed.
Yu Sui put down the mineral water bottle and let out a sigh.
This industry was too quick to replace the old with the new. This was true for the commentators and this was also true for the fans.
Many people have forgotten that the first pair of medic twin stars, were someone else.
One was the league’s no. 1 medic and the other was the league’s no. 1 medic subst.i.tute.
Yu Sui took a deep breath and controlled himself to stop thinking about the past. If he dwelled on it too much, Yu Sui’s own emotions were going to pose problems in the next game.
The people in the lounge were discussing ways to deal with Saint. After a while, their break time was over. The staff came to knock on their door, signaling for Free to get ready. Yu Sui put on his uniform, “You go guys first, I’ll have a word with Shi Luo. ”
Yu Sui had resignedly accepted that he would need to adjust the little boy’s emotions. But Shi Luo has never liked showing weakness. If he tried to console him in front of everyone, it was easy to add fuel to the fire. Yu Sui has already thought about it, about what he should say once these people leave? In the end, he could even give Shi Luo a kiss and it would almost…
Shi Luo, who had already got up, said instantly, “No need.”
Yu Sui looked up at Shi Luo, surprised.
“I,” Shi Luo paused and said in a low voice, “I might not be a world-cla.s.s player, but I should learn to adjust my emotions without your help.”
Shi Luo turned his head to look at Yu Sui. His expression had returned to normal. He looked at Yu Sui and blew a big chewing gum bubble.