Chapter Twenty-One

Amidst applause from the entire audience, Qiao Yifan quickly returned to the contestants' seat.

Zhou Qiao stood up and raised her hand to Qiao Yifan.

Qiao Yifan was taken aback.

Zhou Qiao grabbed his wrist with her other hand and lifted it up, then gave him a high five: "You're really something, taking on two people at once!"

Ye Xiu called out to her, "Xiaoxiao, don't let the younger generation outdo you."

Zhou Qiao walked towards the competition stage, waving her hand with her back to the crowd to indicate that she had heard them.

The Nightless Marquis respawns on the map, facing off against the Demon Swordsman from the Immortal Slayer team.

Although Zhou Qiao had previously demonstrated amazing gun skills, the Demon Swordsman was even more wary of her sniping, and took the initiative to move towards the high ground on the map at the start of the match.

Zhou Qiao did not disappoint, reaching the high point on the map and setting up his sniper scope.

As the challenge progressed to the semi-final stage, those who remained were not simply relying on luck. The Demon Swordsman constantly changed his speed, sometimes crouching and sometimes rolling, successfully maintaining his stealth status under the Nightless Marquis's eight-times scope.

After waiting for three minutes and still not seeing any red-named targets in his field of vision, Zhou Qiao put away his sniper rifle and left the high ground.

Several intra-team matches were conducted using this published map, so Zhou Qiao could practically know which way to go with her eyes closed. After experiencing several times of hiding upstairs only to be caught and beaten up by Zai Shui Yi Xia or Jun Mo Xiao, she knew exactly which path would allow her to disappear from her sight.

Because the cover was so perfectly concealed, it ironically exposed their presence.

The Lord of Never Night began to move.

The audience began to stir, with fans of Jade Dynasty expressing their regret that the Demon Swordsman had failed to corner the Nightless Marquis on the high ground.

The commentator was unaware that Zhou Qiao's departure was to locate the Demon Swordsman, but still praised her choice: "The Zhuxian player was already very close to the Xingxin player's position, and at this moment, Bu Yehou chose to give up the high ground, which was very decisive. If they had insisted on occupying the high ground and were blocked by the Demon Swordsman, as you can see, this environment would have been very disadvantageous for the Sharpshooter."

Zhou Qiao mentally calculated the magic swordsman's stamina.

Five minutes into the match, the opponent has been advancing stealthily within her sight. Although she doesn't know the stamina boost from the new equipment in Jade Dynasty, she can deduce that the Demon Swordsman's stamina is running low.

The Undying Marquis slashed straight toward the area where he had identified the Demon Swordsman, and after quickly passing through two alleyways, he successfully caught sight of the Demon Swordsman's back.

At this moment, the two were twenty body lengths apart. A Barrett sniper shot blew him in the head. The Demon Swordsman, who had turned around decisively after hearing the noise behind him, was unable to dodge in time and took the bullet head-on. The bullet pierced through the Demon Swordsman's forehead and took away nearly half of his blood.

After the brief stun caused by being sniped disappeared, the Demon Swordsman rushed towards Nightless Marquis. The Swift Wave Sword, flashing with white light, moved slightly faster than the Demon Swordsman's body. Nightless Marquis jumped back and, although he still took the attack, he successfully recovered and dispelled the stun buff.

Street fighting is a limitation for sharpshooters, but the Nightless Marquis also used the buildings to dodge many of the Demon Swordsman's attacks. Because of the map's architecture, the Demon Swordsman was never able to fully deploy his Wave Sword Formation, which instead left the Nightless Marquis with an opening to escape. The Nightless Marquis's health was decreasing, but the Demon Swordsman's health and mana bars were decreasing much faster than the Nightless Marquis's.

The commentator was very excited: "Both sides have a deep understanding of the map environment, but without a doubt, Zhou Qiao is more adept at utilizing it. Nightless Marquis once again dodged the Flaming Wave Sword by using the building! The Demon Swordsman instantly casts the Circular Wave Sword! This wave sword hit! Nebula Wave Sword! The level 75 ultimate skill is spread out like this, and Nightless Marquis takes full damage! Nightless Marquis is controlled! The Demon Swordsman rushes forward to attack, can he turn the tide? ... Unfortunately, the Sharpshooter has once again widened the distance between himself and the Demon Swordsman, and the Demon Swordsman is already low on health."

"The match is over, and Happy has won this game."

The fifth player from the Zhuxian team has entered the game map.

Zhou Qiao is typing on the public channel.

Marquis of Nevernight: Have you ever calculated my CD clock?

Chen Guo noticed that Xiao Jie's expression was somewhat bewildered, just like hers.

Ye Xiu leaned back in his seat and explained to Chen Guo, "Xiaoxiao played for a long time last game and even took a hit from a Demon Sword's ultimate skill, but her skill cooldowns are almost all off now."

Ye Xiu's implication was that Nightless Marquis's Barrett sniper rifle was off cooldown.

Chen Guo understood.

It wasn't that she favored her own teammates, but rather that Zhou Qiao had indeed demonstrated exceptional skill in the shooting role.

The ammunition expert and the Nightless Marquis met in the alley. He was shot in the head and a flashbang was thrown out at the same time. Zhou Qiao started firing wildly with the white screen on his face. Bullets poured out of the muzzle. Zhou Qiao did not control the trajectory of the bullets, but judging from the sound effects of the hits, a small portion of them hit the target.

After the blinding effect of the flashbang wore off, Nightless Marquis used his dual control to cancel the Barrett sniper cooldown, flick-scoped, and got another headshot. Then his vision was shrouded in smoke.

Since Zhang Jiale became famous for his "Hundred Flowers" style of play, many ammunition expert players have tried to imitate his operation, but unfortunately no one has been able to replicate it yet.

Smoke grenades don't have the same control effect as flashbangs. Nightless Hou raised his hand and fired, knocking down the impact grenade thrown by the ammunition expert in mid-air.

Another grenade was thrown low into the air, and Nightless Marquis took it down again. However, this was a shrinking grenade, and Nightless Marquis was hit by the shockwave and slammed into the wall, where he was controlled. The ammunition expert threw out random grenades, and Nightless Marquis took the full brunt of the ammunition expert's level 70 ultimate skill, causing his health bar to drop rapidly.

Chen Guo was a little nervous. After being hit by two sniper shots, the ammunition expert in Zhuxian had less than 30% health left. She didn't expect that the Nightless Marquis would be counterattacked by the ammunition expert.

Wei Chen clicked his tongue: "This map is too friendly to ammunition. If we switch to that flower, wouldn't we be able to control it to death?"

These words made Chen Guo even more nervous, fearing that Zhou Qiao would make a mistake.

Sun Zheping glanced at Wei Chen but didn't say anything.

The Nightless Marquis raised both hands simultaneously, the muzzle flashes particularly noticeable in the smoke.

Shoot with both hands.

Gunshots rang out continuously as the sharpshooter activated several skills in succession, turning the alley into a maze of bullets. Earlier, after the ammunition expert had controlled the Nightless Marquis, he couldn't help but close the distance between them to facilitate his attack, but he failed to take down the Nightless Marquis in one go. Now, he was discovered by the Nightless Marquis's dense barrage of bullets and could not leave.

The Undying Marquis depleted the last bit of the ammunition expert's health bar, even though he himself was already at low health.

The word "Honor" popped up on the screen again.

When Zhou Qiao left the stage, the entire audience erupted in applause.

Xiao Jie's expression was very unpleasant.

Although Zhou Qiao is only the third player for Happy, and there are three more legendary players behind them, if the Ammunition Expert can send off Nightless, then they will face less pressure in the team competition.

He thought it that way, and he said it aloud.

Zhou Qiao blinked, feigning a surprised expression: "Great writer, you really don't think I won by luck, do you?"

If Bu Yehou hadn't managed to keep her health above 60% when facing the Demon Swordsman, she wouldn't have recklessly engaged the Ammunition Expert in an alley. At the very least, she would have moved the battle to an open area that had been previously devastated by the Demon Swordsman.

If she doesn't deal 70% damage in two shots, she won't use those ammunition experts' grenades or handguns whose effects aren't immediately apparent; instead, she'll maintain distance and harass from afar.

A sharpshooter's range is still longer than that of a munitions expert.

However, Zhou Qiao did not reveal these calculations.

She simply placed two fingers together, pressed them against her brow, and waved them at Lu Shilin, the priest who claimed to be the core of the Zhuxian team: "Looking forward to your performance."

Xiao Jie took a deep breath and said to Ye Xiu, "Your team members are still too young and impetuous."

Ye Xiu laughed and said, "She is indeed still young."

Xiao Jie: "Hopefully, the upcoming matches will show her that it's not a good thing for young people to win too early."

"You didn't make any arrangements for the team competition, did you?" Ye Xiu asked in surprise.

Xiao Jie's face stiffened: "What do you mean?"

Ye Xiu sighed: "I'm just worried that the league will think this new format isn't good enough, and then change it again for the finals, which would be a real headache."

Zhou Qiao gave Ye Xiu a thumbs up: "We still need you to take care of our face!"

Happy's team roster for the competition has been revealed: Ye Xiu, Sun Zheping, Zhou Qiao, Tang Rou, and An Wenyi will start, with Wei Chen as a substitute.

Characters spawn on the match map.

Jun Moxiao, Zai Shui Yi Xia, and Han Yan Rou walked in the front row, adopting a head-on attack attitude. Xiao Shou Bing Liang walked behind the three of them, while Bu Ye Hou followed behind Xiao Shou Bing Liang and quickly disappeared.

After the Nightless Marquis disappeared, Lord Grim and the other two separated. Little Hands in Cold Light followed behind Lord Grim, who did not have the class change bonus, and the two echoed each other.

Zhou Qiao typed in the private chat channel.

The Undying Marquis: It feels like a long time coming.

Lord Grim: Control yourself. There's no healing god chasing after you to heal you anymore in the Alliance.

Marquis of Nevernight: You're talking nonsense. Xiao An is the new god of healing.

Marquis of Nevernight: Xiao An, that guy surnamed Ye looks down on you. Release him later.

Marquis of Nevernight: Anyway, he can heal himself.

My hands are cold: I think my self-awareness is pretty accurate.

Unnight Marquis: We've spotted the enemy. They're in an X formation, with the priest in the middle.

The Undying Marquis: Wow, this feeling of being surrounded by stars is so enviable.

Jun Moxiao: Report the location.

Marquis of Nevernight: (XXX, XXX)

Marquis of Nevernight: You are so cold to me.

Sleep in another summer: I'm done.

Jun Moxiao: Okay, Xiao Tang, follow along.

Marquis of Nevernight: Hurry up, I can hardly control my urge to pull the trigger.

Jun Moxiao: Hold on a little longer! I'll be there soon!

Lord Grim dropped Little Hand Cold and used his movement skill to speed up his way to the location reported by Lord Nightless.

Zai Shui Yi Xia and Han Yan Rou approached the Zhu Xian team from the left and right respectively, quietly lying in wait. Bu Ye Hou also put away his sniper rifle and moved closer.

Once Lord Grim arrived, the battle began.

The Berserker and Battle Mage charged fiercely into the X formation, tearing the formation apart. The attacks of the four initial attackers from Zhuxian fell on Zai Shui Yi Xia first, but Han Yan Rou did not immediately go to support Zai Shui Yi Xia. Instead, she continued to attack the Priest. Lu Shi Lin adjusted his position and stood within the protection range of his teammates.

He typed in the public channel: Is this your tactic?

However, he couldn't send the message because Lord Grim's Cloud-Catching Hand pulled him out of his teammates' protection.

The Nightless Marquis followed and levitated the priest.

Ye Xiu was confident in Zhou Qiao's basic skills, and Lord Grim abandoned the priest and rushed towards the swordsman of Jade Dynasty.

Zhou Qiao did not disappoint Ye Xiu's trust. He kept up with the gun and shot the priest to death in the sky. During this time, he did nothing except cast an instant healing spell on himself to barely delay his own logout.

The priest was taken away, and Wan Jian Gui Yi was unable to come to the rescue in time. In order to break through Han Yan Rou's obstruction, the skills were used even more unrestrainedly on the battle mage. When the besieged berserker's health dropped to almost half, a fully casted Great Healing spell was cast on Zai Shui Yi Xia.

When Xiaoshoubingliang arrived, Zhou Qiao had already taken down the priest of Zhuxian with a single sniper shot and then turned his gun on the swordsman.

The healer was wiped out in one wave, and after the Happy team wiped out the four members of Zhuxian, they took out the sixth member, the Ammunition Expert, who had rushed to the scene, ending the match.

Lu Shilin stormed off the stage, furious. Zhou Qiao, seeing his contorted face, couldn't help but laugh: "Great Priest, I'm sorry, your tough talk has backfired."

Lu Shilin looked at her, his eyes red.

Then he did something that no one expected.

Lu Shilin grabbed Zhou Qiao by the collar and pulled her in front of him, just like Jun Moxiao used his Cloud-Catching Hand to capture the priest during the competition.

An Wenyi watched as Zhou Qiao was dragged away from in front of him, then realized what was happening and went to stop him.

No one expected Lu Shilin to make a move. In the ensuing scuffle, Ye Xiu, who was standing at the front, shouted, "Yan Yu! Stop!"

Yan Yu stopped abruptly, but her foot remained on Lu Shilin's side, her tone cold: "Let her go."

In a fit of anger, Lu Shilin made a move, but feeling the pressure from Yan Yu, he swallowed hard, released Zhou Qiao, and Yan Yu also withdrew her leg.

The security guard then realized that the person who was originally sitting in the audience had bypassed him and appeared in the players' seats, which was undoubtedly a dereliction of duty on his part.