Translator: Nomyummi Editor: Nomyummi
This confrontation had everyone on the edge of their seats. Even neutral viewers who were indifferent to both teams felt exceptionally anxious right now.
But the most anxious were still those audience members directly affected by the atmosphere of the audience, as well as the players of the two teams who’d been sitting in the player areas for a while now. When Zhou Zekai broke through the class design barrier and controlled Cloud Piercer to wield his bullets like swinging blades, the stadium had gone wild. Countless people had jumped up, cheered, hollered! Samsara’s power reached its peak, and even the Samsara players on the sidelines had burst into smiles.
They were very strong, strong enough to directly push Zhou Zekai into number one, but they weren’t blindly confident. Competition had wins and losses, and even Zhou Zekai couldn’t win every single match he was in. Zhou Zekai had stumbled in front of seemingly weak opponents before. And the opponent he now faced was Ye Xiu, the Glory Textbook, the former number one.
It wasn’t until Zhou Zekai demonstrated this absolutely powerful stance that the Samsara players allowed themselves to relax, revealing smiles that anticipated victory.
They relaxed, but Happy grew even more anxious.
To be able to use gun attacks as close combat attacks, the ferocity that Zhou Zekai demonstrated was clear and earthshaking. Any Glory fan could feel it.
In this moment, Chen Guo hoped she was wrong. She hoped that her judgment would once again became a joke, because her skill level wasn’t high enough.
But when she looked at everyone else, Wei Chen, Fang Rui, the shock written on their faces was the same as hers.
Unfortunately, this time she wasn’t wrong. Unfortunately, Zhou Zekai was truly strong enough to shock everyone present.
But Chen Guo refused to give up, she continued to search everyone’s faces for some reassurance, one after another. But nothing, there was nothing, everyone’s faces were grim, it was like one punch after another telling Chen Guo that there was nothing optimistic about this situation. She looked around in a large circle, all the way until she saw Su Mucheng, sitting on her other side.
And here, she saw an expression different from everyone else’s.
There was shock, yes. But aside from that, she didn’t seem as grim as everyone else. In Su Mucheng’s expression, Chen Guo saw a sort of… grief?
Was Su Mucheng already feeling grief for Ye Xiu’s imminent defeat? This person, who knew Ye Xiu better than anyone else, did she have a clearer prediction of the situation than everyone else?
“He hasn’t lost yet!” Chen Guo suddenly said. Even though the situation wasn’t looking good, as long as Lord Grim still had a drop of blood left, she would hope a miracle.
“Ah?” Su Mucheng responded automatically, as though she’d been lost in thought and was suddenly jolted awake. Her expression instantly became very calm.
“Yes, he hasn’t lost yet,” she said to Chen Guo. After recovering, her face now brimmed with energy, with the unwavering trust in Ye Xiu that she always had.
“He won’t lose!” Chen Guo said firmly. “Hasn’t lost yet” became “won’t lose.” This was a wish, a hope, a trust.
But there really weren’t many who could do the same.
In the live broadcast, Pan Lin and Li Yibo already declared Ye Xiu’s death, and were going back and forth discussing Zhou Zekai’s deadly skill.
“Because of this, Glory might have to undergo a massive rebalancing in the next update,” Pan Lin chuckled. His tone was carefree, as though there were no tension in the battle in front of them right now. In his mind, this battle had already ended.
“Yes, this really is a game-changer. Compared to forcing the Alliance to change its rules, forcing the Glory developers to change the game’s design is much more drastic,” said Li Yibo.
“Yes yes, he really is too strong.” Pan Lin had used this phrase “too strong” countless times by now.
Yes, too strong.
But “too strong” didn’t mean invincible. It was only “too strong,” not “the strongest”!
The bullets traced blade-like paths in the air, and amidst it all, Lord Grim suddenly tilted his body. The Myriad Manifestations Umbrella in his hands came apart into two pieces, tonfa form, and at the same time his body trembled!
Reinforced Iron Bones!
Lord Grim didn’t dodge, instead suddenly using this skill. Instantly, countless bullets landed directly upon his chest, as though many slashes were cutting into him again and again. Blood spurted, Lord Grim continued to step forward. He charged through the blood filling the air, his umbrella again shifting to another Fighter class weapon, the claw, and his right hand swiftly thrust forward.
Cloud Body, Strangle!
Cloud Piercer hurriedly retreated.
It might have been a step backward or a jump backward, but no one would know. Because this Cloud Body, this Strangle had come so quickly, so suddenly, Zhou Zekai had made the inputs, but Cloud Piercer didn’t have the chance to display the movement. Lord Grim’s right hand was already tightly gripping his throat.
Everyone was stunned.
How had the elegant and game-changing Great Gunner been caught by a crude Strangle just like that?
But, this didn’t affect his attack, did it?
Everyone could see that although Lord Grim had rushed forward to seize Cloud Piercer, Cloud Piercer’s twin revolvers were still tightly pressed against Lord Grim’s body.
Strangle could restrict the opponent’s movement, but not their attack. Right now, Zhou Zekai didn’t even need to aim in order to fire like crazy. In this moment, how much of Lord Grim’s health could he destroy?
Peng!
A dull sound. A gunshot?
No, it was Lord Grim bashing his head directly against Cloud Piercer’s. Immediately, blood began streaming down his forehead.
Headbutt!
A Brawler skill. Only the street-dwelling Brawlers would use anything as weapons in a scuffle, even their own heads. This was how they survived the violent street life.
Zhou Zekai’s vision swayed, but even so, Cloud Piercer’s revolvers were still steady, and the sound of gunshots was as strong as ever. But Lord Grim’s knee was already connecting with Cloud Piercer’s abdomen, the force of the impact bending his entire body in half.
Knee Attack!
Under the effect of this half-grab skill, Cloud Piercer finally had no way of maintaining his posture. When his body bent, his arms naturally came down, and his bullets swept the ground.
Then, there was an Elbow, coming down heavily upon the back of Cloud Piercer’s lowered head. As Cloud Piercer crumpled downward, Lord Grim’s other hand was already forming a fist, and an Uppercut sent him back into the air.
Strangle, Headbutt, Knee Attack, Elbow, Uppercut…
They were all Brawler skills, and aside from Headbutt, the other four were all sub-Level 20 skills. Yet the combination of these attacks managed to break Zhou Zekai’s remarkable technique.
Those shouting and cheering earlier now seemed as though a fist had been shoved in their mouth, rendering them speechless.
Chen Guo was excited.
No wonder this was Ye Xiu. As expected of Ye Xiu. This was the Ye Xiu that never let her down.
“Amazing!” she shouted.
“It is.” Su Mucheng smiled gently. Just like how she wasn’t too panicked before, right now she didn’t seem too excited.
When she had seen Zhou Zekai’s exceptional technique earlier, she had indeed gotten somewhat lost in thought.
She thought of her now-deceased older brother Su Muqiu, also using a Sharpshooter, also possessing incomparably elegant skill and technique.
At the same time, she couldn’t forget that shock when his Sharpshooter Autumn Tree had been sent sprawling to the ground by Ye Xiu’s One Autumn Leaf.
“Fuck!”
That was the only time Su Mucheng had ever heard Su Muqiu swear. For someone like him with such beautiful technique to lose like this, he was surprised, flustered, and exasperated.
“Could your fighting be any cruder?”
Su Mucheng still remembered the mockery that Su Muqiu had often thrown at Ye Xiu. The two of them had never gotten tired of fighting back and forth, using all sorts of classes and all sorts of characters.
Su Muqiu had even specifically gotten a little notebook to write down the win-loss record between the two of them. He gave it to Su Mucheng to take care of.
“Don’t look!” Ye Xiu had wanted to see it, but he never got permission.
“We’re basically tied, there’s nothing to look at.” That was what Su Muqiu always said, but Su Mucheng, as the one holding the notebook, of course knew that Ye Xiu was always in the lead. They had that youthful spirit of always wanting to outdo the other. Su Muqiu certainly wasn’t keeping track of the win record because he wanted to display his failures. But unfortunately, in the end, he had been unable to tie the score.
The notebook had been taken away with the rest of Su Muqiu’s belongings, but Su Mucheng would sometimes think, if they had managed to continue playing, play all the way until now, play for these ten years, then what kind of record would that notebook hold?
Who was Glory’s greatest?
Everyone had an answer in their heart, and because of emotional bias, this answer would never be universal. Ye Xiu, for example, always felt that if Su Muqiu were still alive, he would definitely be Glory’s greatest player. This thought was tangled up with feelings of loss and regret toward the one who had passed away.
But in Su Mucheng’s heart, the greatest was Ye Xiu. Even though she also missed Su Muqiu, she still believed this, because this was what her brother told her: Ye Xiu, the greatest.
So, in this attention-catching match between Glory’s number ones, from the very beginning, Su Mucheng had had an answer in her heart. No matter what the result was, her answer wouldn’t change.
As soon as he was sent into the air by the Uppercut, Cloud Piercer was already readjusting his aim. Zhou Zekai’s reaction was both fast and accurate. While in midair, he couldn’t see Lord Grim at all, but based on his experience and awareness, the dual revolvers in Cloud Piercer’s hands fired down shot after shot.
Bullets rained down, that was truly the only way to describe it. The bullets that came out of his guns were all aimed in different directions, with a slight adjustment in angle after every shot. The bullets instantly poured out, covering the maximum possible area.
But, so what?
Ye Xiu ignored them entirely. Lord Grim’s chest remained upright as he welcomed the bullets that rained down, and continued to attack!
Because the distance was close enough, because the two characters were almost right on top of each other.
Even if Zhou Zekai could rely on his exceptional technique to turn Cloud Piercer’s bullets into blades no matter what, he couldn’t change the fundamental design of the game.
The priority of long-range attacks couldn’t compare to that of close-range. Turning firepower into bladework, no matter how beautiful it was, it couldn’t control a situation as solidly or securely as true close-range attacks.
This was the most basic of principles.
Or, in other words, this was the crudest of principles.
