Chapter 913: To Chase or To Not Chase
Translator: Nomyummi Editor: Nomyummi
Without Shen Jian in the way, Ye Xiu and Steamed Bun easily escaped. However, they had now completely revealed their ident.i.ties to Excellent Era’s team members. They had escaped, but escaping cleanly wouldn’t be so easy now. Xiao s.h.i.+qin and the other two team members were following closely behind. At the same time, Sun Xiang knew which direction they were heading in and was trying to intercept them.
The map had a total of 20 stockings. Ye Xiu and Steamed Bun had stolen 11. They instantly became the leaders on the scoreboard. Such an abrupt rise left even other players feeling satisfied.
Of course, those other players didn’t have any pressure on them, so if they really did meet anyone with stockings, they would certainly give it a try no matter how powerful you were.
Ye Xiu and Steamed Bun kept on running. Xiao s.h.i.+qin’s group chased after them from behind. As they ran, they ran into quite a few other players.
These players saw that not one of these characters didn’t belong to a team with stockings. Who cares if you were running at the front or the rear. Whoever was easier to target would be the target!
As a result, there were people attacking Ye Xiu and Steamed Bun, and there were people attacking Excellent Era as well. Normal players didn’t pose a threat to either side, but neither side was willing to stop to fight with these normal players. As Ye Xiu and Steamed Bun ran and Xiao s.h.i.+qin’s group chased, more and more players gradually joined the pack. All of them had been stumbled upon along the way. Even if they failed to stop them, they didn’t give up and continued to give chase.
Normal players couldn’t control their stamina as well as pro players could. As everyone continued to run, the normal players started to lag behind. However, there would always be other people making up for them. This situation lasted for a full five minutes.
The route that Ye Xiu and Steamed Bun and took was too random. If not, Xiao s.h.i.+qin would have predicted their pathing and sent people to intercept them. However, the two were running too carefreely. If they themselves didn’t know where they were going, how could anyone hope to predict their pathing?
Unable to make any predictions, Xiao s.h.i.+qin could only update Sun Xiang and Shen Jian with their coordinates. With their coordinates constantly changing and without conforming to any sort of patterns, having Sun Xiang and Shen Jian catch up to them became quite troublesome. In the end, they just became two other pursuers chasing from different directions.
It was true that Xiao s.h.i.+qin’s group couldn’t antic.i.p.ate their targets’ movements, but such randomness made it a compet.i.tion of speed. Normal players who couldn’t control their stamina well might fall behind, but for pro players, no one was much better than the other in terms of fundamental skills. As a result, Ye Xiu and Steamed Bun couldn’t throw off Xiao s.h.i.+qin’s group, which was why it ended up with everyone running around for five minutes. Then, a system announcement appeared. The 20th stocking had been picked up.
Who knew which corner of the map the 20th stocking had been sp.a.w.ned, so that no one was able to find it until now, but after someone had picked it up, all 20 stockings had an owner. The system finally began counting down from 120 seconds.
According to Excellent Era’s usual strategy, if their total stocking count didn’t meet their expectations, they would drop a stocking to stall for time, but in their current situation, Xiao s.h.i.+qin suddenly felt his heart thump.
No one would stop them from dropping a stocking, but the problem was that they had so many players following them. If they dropped one, someone from behind would pick it up immediately. Very little time would be bought. As for dropping it and then picking it up, this apparent hole in the rules had been specially patched. The system would not fall for that trap.
"This is also Ye Qiu’s scheme!" Xiao s.h.i.+qin felt annoyed. No wonder the other side just kept running aimlessly. It seemed like they were already satisfied with their 11 stockings this round and agreed to let the round end here. They might approve, but Excellent Era didn’t! Could they catch up to those two in two minutes?
Let alone whether they could catch up, even if they did, Xiao s.h.i.+qin wasn’t confident they could end the battle within the 2 minute time limit.
"Should I find somewhere to drop a stocking?" His teammate Zhang Jiaxin understood their current predicament.
"It seems like that’s all we can do." Xiao s.h.i.+qin said.
"Okay, I’ll be going then." Zhang Jiaxin said. His Cleric immediately split off from the other two and ran somewhere else.
The players following behind saw their targets split up. Which side had the stockings? According to common sense, that Cleric was charging out unaccompanied, so he probably wasn’t the one protecting the stockings, but what if this was a reverse psychology trap?
This question was never-ending loop. They were still running and didn’t have time to think carefully. Some believed it to be a reverse psychology trap, while others didn’t. Thus, the group of players split up as well.
Those who continued chasing Xiao s.h.i.+qin’s group did so mainly because Ye Xiu and Steamed Bun were too grandiose. So as long as they still had the stamina, they would keep following closely. Zhang Jiaxin’s goal was to find a place with no one around to drop his stocking. He obviously wouldn’t be so honorable. He lured a bunch of pursuers and ran around. After running along a route that he had planned, he quickly lost his pursuers.
After Zhang Jiaxin ditched his pursuers, he needed to find a remote area to throw his stocking. He couldn’t throw it somewhere easy to find. Otherwise, the amount of time gained from it would be pointless.
Zhang Jiaxin hadn’t thrown his stocking yet, when Xiao s.h.i.+qin suddenly noticed something strange.
Ye Qiu and Steamed Bun had been running quite vulgarly the entire time, but they seemed to have suddenly switched strategies.
"Watch them closely!" XIao s.h.i.+qin reminded w.a.n.g Ze, but when he gave his warning, he suddenly noticed that something wasn’t right!
Excellent Era originally had five players. After running around for so long, right now weren’t he and w.a.n.g Ze the only ones who would be fighting against Ye Qiu?
"Wait. This isn’t good!" Xiao s.h.i.+qin thought of this and immediately called out to w.a.n.g Ze.
"What’s wrong?" w.a.n.g Ze’s Sharpshooter had been moving with Aerial Fire the entire time. Rhythm was important for Aerial Fire, and he had been maintaining it perfectly. He felt rather sad to stop when Xiao s.h.i.+qin told him to wait.
"This isn’t right." Xiao s.h.i.+qin said.
"What’s not right?" w.a.n.g Ze said.
"If we continue chasing, it’ll be troublesome." Xiao s.h.i.+qin was quite confident in his deduction. With Ye Qiu’s boldness, would he be afraid to fight a 2v2?
Seeing how Shen Jian had instantly died, Ye Xiu’s existence must cause a huge amount of psychological pressure on Excellent Era’s players. They were two people, but in Ye Qiu’s eyes, they might only be 1.5? Or 1.2?
"But if we don’t chase them, we’ll be caught." w.a.n.g Ze looked ahead. Ye Qiu and Steamed Bun were gradually getting farther away. When he looked behind, the various teams were gradually getting closer.
After being reminded, Xiao s.h.i.+qin also looked back and suddenly felt his head hurt.
In their eyes, there was Ye Qiu and Steamed Bun, but in the other players’ eyes, their targets were him and w.a.n.g Ze. If they continued chasing, they might fall into Ye Qiu’s trap. If they didn’t chase, they needed to figure out some way to escape from the other players. Even though the pressure wasn’t huge, it would require time. During that time, did Ye Qiu have anything in store for them? Even if he didn’t, that amount of time would be enough for him to disappear without a trace.
The more difficult the choice, the quicker the choice needed to be made. Xiao s.h.i.+qin knew this and after a quick calculation, he finally clenched his teeth: "Continue chasing!"
Ye Qiu wasn’t the only one with courage. Xiao s.h.i.+qin was able to lead a mediocre team like Team Thunderclap to the playoffs every season. Their journey definitely hadn’t been through extreme caution. Their achievements had come with risks that paid off. And the person who made these risky decisions under huge pressure was Xiao s.h.i.+qin.
In comparison, how could this trifling event count for anything?
XIao s.h.i.+qin made his decision. He no longer hesitated. His Mechanic could also use Aerial Fire, but now that he knew that he might run into trouble with Ye Qiu up ahead, Aerial Fire would be too reckless considering that he would only be able to see behind him and would be unable to pay attention to what was up ahead. Xiao s.h.i.+qin immediately began running with his two legs. On the other hand, w.a.n.g Ze continued to move using Aerial Fire. With Xiao s.h.i.+qin, they would have their eyes on the front and back, allowing them to see the entire situation.
"Around the corner! Adjust your line of sight."
Up ahead, Ye Qiu and Steamed Bun went around a corner and temporarily disappeared from everyone’s view. It was a commonly used tactic to get away from pursuers, but the two had rarely done so previously. If Xiao s.h.i.+qin had known they would do this, then he could observe the surrounding terrain and make some predictions. Right now, he still needed to guess a bit, but more importantly, he needed to be on guard.
The awareness by the two players were on point. When they turned the corner, they were prepared. Both characters held their guns out. w.a.n.g Ze’s Sharpshooter opened the path and leaped out. It didn’t matter if there were no opponents or not, he fired randomly. Xiao s.h.i.+qin’s Mechanic flew into the air with Rotor Wing and coordinated with w.a.n.g Ze, but when they rushed out, they saw the other side hadn’t set up an ambush. They were still running for their lives! This was also the advantage of using the terrain to escape. The ones escaping didn’t need to worry about ambushes, but the ones chasing needed to. Guarding against an ambush wasted time. They might be guarding, but there might be nothing to guard against.
Xiao s.h.i.+qin wasn’t inflexible. He glanced at the terrain. Their Excellent Era had come here before. This Master Tactician was very keen with the terrain and quickly outlined what choices the other side could make. He quickly notified the team. If the others could quickly come to the rescue, that would be the way of the king. If they could fight a 5v2, why fight a 2v2? This was Xiao s.h.i.+qin’s philosophy. If he had to fight on equal terms, then the mediocre Team Thunderclaps wouldn’t have been able to obtain such accomplishments.
"Got it!" Sun Xiang, Shen Jian, and even Zhang Jiaxin, who had gone to drop a stocking, replied in the team chat.
Just when Xiao s.h.i.+qin’s heart steadied. Two figures leaped out from the right. Those two figures didn’t give a greeting and directly attacked them.
Lower Your Head.
None Dare Attack!