Chapter 34
Chapter Thirty-Four
After Shen Xiao left the stage, he was naturally scolded mercilessly in the lounge. He probably knew what was going on, so he didn't say a word in rebuttal and just listened obediently.
After Yu Guangzhou finished scolding, he took a sip of water to moisten his throat and said, "Alright, you absolutely can't do that in the second half. The defensive side on this map has to play it safe! Got it?"
Shen Xiao said, "Yes—"
Yu Guangzhou then looked at Xie Wei, his tone softening considerably: "Xie Wei, how do you plan to defend in the next game?"
Xie Wei clearly had this idea in mind. When asked about it, he glanced at Xu Ziyan and said with a half-smile, "I remember there was a match where the medics flanked and the snipers cut off the backline, right?"
Since everyone's going to switch to medics, I'll put my medic in your backline. As the saying goes, the most dangerous place is the safest place. The enemy has one assault flank and another assault tanking the vehicle in the front. When we get to the enemy's backline, there's only one sniper and one medic.
Yu Guangzhou had just finished telling Shen Xiao to be more cautious when Xie Wei proposed this unconventional idea, leaving him speechless. He then turned to Xu Ziyan: "What does Ice think?"
Xu Ziyan blinked and said, "I think it's okay. YNG's two assault soldiers are very strong, but their sniper and medic haven't been in good form lately."
“…Alright then,” Yu Guangzhou said, “but this also means that our front line will need to rely on itself.”
Bai Chen, having witnessed Bai Ke's miserable state when Yuan Shaofeng and Meng Cang fled in terror, had witnessed it firsthand, since Bai Ke was in the second team. However, Shen Xiao had no idea what to expect and hesitated for a moment: "Healing to the enemy backline to cut them down? I trust Ice's skills, but we haven't used this tactic in scrims. Will it be effective if we use it temporarily?"
The preparation time for the second game was almost over when a staff member knocked on the door to remind them.
Xie Wei stood up, picked up his team jacket, and smiled at him: "Whether this tactic works or not depends on Xiao Shen."
Shen Xiao had spent the whole day making sarcastic remarks to others, and suddenly he was being sarcasticly retorted to, leaving him speechless for a moment. He nodded, which was taken as agreement.
Bai Chen was indifferent. Yu Guangzhou said, "Okay, let's do it this way. Let's go, let's go on stage."
TWG's sudden change of players is something that has never happened in the past few years. In addition, the incident involving Xie Wei and Xu Ziyan caused a great stir some time ago. Some fans did not believe it at first, but now that the "facts" are in front of them, they have no choice but to believe it.
[Clear out, Ice in?? What was TWG thinking? Are their management out of their minds?]
[Haha, I'd heard people say TWG was giving special treatment before, but I didn't believe it at first. Now, well...]
[Ice is truly amazing. He went straight from the youth academy to the second team, and from the second team to the first team. At this speed, even the Rockets would be ashamed.]
[Isn't TWG a top-tier team? How could they pull something like this?]
[Really? That's Shining Xie Wei! He's really going to get involved with an Omega??]
[I'm speechless. Why are there so many sour grapes? Ice won the rookie cup right from his debut, and he also performed very well in the second team. He clearly has the talent, so why does everyone say he relies on his physique?]
[To the person upstairs, this kind of talk might be acceptable if it came from other teams, but TWG's medic is Clear!]
[Just asking politely, how many world championships does Ice have?]
"TWG has made a substitution, this seems to be the first time in recent seasons, right?" Commentator A laughed, "It feels quite refreshing to see a new ID appear."
Commentator B said, "Well, I believe Ice left a deep impression on everyone at the last Rookie Cup. Let's look forward to his performance in the official competition this time."
Commentator A said: "That's right, alright, TWG vs. YNG, second game, map is Ellie Park, guard mission, attacking side YNG, defending side TWG, both players have entered the map, start the preparation time!"
The live stream camera moved, showing the expressions of the eight contestants one by one on the screen. The cheers from inside the stadium were deafening. Xu Ziyan lowered her eyes, making final adjustments, her mind as calm as still water.
Previously, there were many hiding places in Vinia Harbor, and the sniper position was relatively isolated and far away from everyone, so Xu Ziyan was relatively safe to sneak up on the enemy's back row.
However, most of Ellie Park is flat and open terrain that can be seen at a glance. Therefore, he must seize the best opportunity to appear; if he misses, he will look like a fool running into enemy territory and offering himself up for death, resulting in an immediate collapse.
Most importantly, this is an assault map, which means that Xu Ziyan must risk being sniped and prioritize eliminating the medics who will provide support for the assault, instead of just randomly healing his own assault team after eliminating the enemy sniper, as he did before.
...In this match, using this strategy is not the optimal solution.
However, in the mode where medical support is used to snipe and cut off the backline, the biggest protagonist is definitely yourself, who goes against the grain.
At the same time, this is something Clear cannot do; only Ice can perform like this.
The stage in front of him was built by Xie Wei and all his teammates.
It can only succeed; failure is not an option.
The game began, and Xu Ziyan, carrying a stun gun, skillfully made his way into a path in the bushes.
"Everyone says that Ellie Park is all about who can take down the backline the fastest, but I didn't expect that after TWG made their substitution, it would be Ice who does that job." Commentator A said with interest, "Some viewers who have watched TWG's second team's matches should know that the strategy of using the medic to control the position and then coordinating with the sniper to kill the enemy's backline was used by TWG's second team once before. At that time, they were facing the previous secondary league champion FTK's second team, and TWG won 2-0."
Commentator B said, "This strategy is indeed very effective at killing backline enemies. Most importantly, once someone is hit by the stun gun, they are almost guaranteed to die. It is much more efficient than rushing to the backline."
Commentator A said, "But I really didn't expect that TWG would put all the blame for the team's wins and losses on the rookie player Ice. The success of this strategy depends entirely on his performance."
Commentator B said: "YNG's players are clearly completely unprepared. Xuan has already started flanking, and another attacker, Mumu, is escorting the target from the front line—Ice has moved!"
The moment Mumu left the back row, Xu Ziyan quickly asked in the voice channel, "Is it okay?"
Xie Wei's affirmation came quickly through the earphones.
Without hesitation, he rushed forward and used a stun gun to immobilize the unsuspecting YNG medic. The sniper rifle fired without any gaps, and within thirty seconds of the start of the game, TWG had already secured the kill.
The kill was successfully achieved, but Xu Ziyan did not relax at all. He moved forward from his position and threw a healing potion to the two assault positions before hiding again.
This was the first time Shen Xiao had ever seen this tactic. He raised his eyebrows in surprise and whistled, "Impressive!"
He glanced at his already low health bar and sighed, "It's just a bit nerve-wracking, too exciting."
With YNG losing medical support and Xuan choosing to flank from behind, Mumu in the front line couldn't withstand the pressure and was also killed.
Without support from the front line, Xuan, who was flanking from behind, was surrounded from both sides and managed to take down two-thirds of Xie Wei's health before entering the respawn timer.
TWG's Bai Chen was taken down by YNG's sniper, but the one-for-three exchange meant that YNG's offensive rhythm was ruined.
Xu Ziyan returned to his team and fully restored everyone's health.
Having learned their lesson the first time, YNG was more cautious the second time. However, Xu Ziyan was experienced and had slippery footwork, and Xie Wei was constantly calling out his position from behind. The more YNG fought, the more they felt like they were playing hide-and-seek.
Finally, as YNG Medical was eliminated, Mumu and Xuan suddenly rallied, killing Shen Xiao and bringing Bai Chen to the brink of death. With their front line wiped out, Xie Wei was powerless to turn the tide and could only finish off the YNG sniper before retreating from the first checkpoint.
Xu Ziyan also failed to escape unscathed. After respawning at the respawn point, he threw a syringe to Bai Chen.
Seeing this, Shen Xiao feigned grievance and asked, "Why won't you give it to me?"
Before Xu Ziyan could speak, Xie Wei had already answered his question: "Because Bai Chen is more reliable than you. If you die from recklessness, so be it. But Bai Chen can stand there a little longer with the injection."
Shen Xiao said, "Ice! Where is the trust between teammates? Where is the compassion that medical professionals should have?"
Xu Ziyan said, "I have no compassion; I am a cold-hearted physician."
After being repeatedly rebuffed and given the cold shoulder, Shen Xiao finally said pitifully, "Bai Chen, why don't you talk about them?"
Bai Chen raised his gun and pointed it back at Mumu, then said, "Good luck."
Shen Xiao: ...Such a cold and insincere cheer.
The second checkpoint, also defended, is in the garden.
Commentator A joked, "YNG's medical staff probably never imagined that one day they would actually be able to breathe a sigh of relief when attacking Garden."
Commentator B said: "Yes, originally, due to the open field of vision, it was difficult for the medic to avoid being attacked from both sides by assault and sniper. But now, he can finally stop dealing with Ice who may appear out of nowhere, since there are no cover around him."
Commentator A said: "However, there is still a problem. Our thinking has been following TWG's Ice, but have we forgotten that TWG's forte is actually the combination of assault and sniping?"
Just as commentator A said, YNG had just recovered from Ice's elusive sneak attack when Xie Wei's accuracy, shooting one after another, made it impossible for YNG Medical to advance. YNG Medical had to guard against sneak attacks while also being wary of snipers in front. Under immense psychological pressure, he became more and more broken down as he fought, and finally completely lost control.
YNG's two attacks turned the tide, pushing the escort target to the second checkpoint; however, the countdown had already ended by then.
Cheers and enthusiastic congratulations from the commentators filled the arena: "Congratulations to TWG for winning today's match 2-0! Congratulations!"
When the results screen popped up, Xu Ziyan breathed a heavy sigh of relief. He glanced at his hands, which were still trembling slightly from the match.
Suddenly, a hand reached out from behind and gently squeezed his palm.
Xie Wei said, "Let's go, it's time to shake hands."
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