When the schedule becomes tight and life becomes fulfilling and busy, time will fly by as fast as if it had wings.
In the blink of an eye, the battle preparations had passed the halfway mark, and a significant gap in readiness had emerged between the major teams. Sabretooth, a top-tier team with the strongest reserves in all areas, had fully utilized their entire team's resources, becoming the only team to successfully complete a raid. It took them a week and a half to clear the massive 25-player dungeon, the Galoran Ruins, and to even gather enough 1480-grade gear for five players, they even embarked on a second round of raiding. Their efficiency and workload were astonishing. Team Polaris, a team that had been struggling with old habits, was completely deprived of talent and had no chance of conquering the Galoran Ruins. However, thanks to the creative genius of Lin Mingfei, Polaris was the first to see the situation clearly, cut their losses, and braved the public outcry to conquer the PvX holy land, the Scorpion Eye Trench, despised by all other team members. They also utilized a mechanic Easter egg left behind by the game's official developers to complete an alternate equipment build for the entire team. The process was truly thrilling, full of twists and turns, and attracted widespread attention.
In comparison, other teams had neither the huge and solid manpower and material resources of Sabretooth, nor the clear thinking and pioneering and innovative spirit of Polaris. Most of them had to settle for the second best after a period of fruitless efforts, changing their tactics and imitating Polaris to choose alternative equipment. So they all went to the legendary Scorpion Eye Trench "grunting and coughing", but then they realized belatedly that the hall of pvx that they had always despised was not so easy to conquer. They basically fell from one dire straits into another.
So far, Sabretooth and Polaris have the best combat readiness among all the major teams, but for some reason, compared to Sabretooth who is working hard to clear the second round of dungeons just to get enough equipment for all members of the team, the atmosphere in Polaris team seems much more relaxed.
Honestly, all five members of Polaris are very satisfied with their current gear. While their 1500-level gear has a few extra, insignificant stats, its overall gear score is higher than others, and the required stats are perfectly balanced. In the arena, those who are aggressive are incredibly aggressive, while those who are resilient are also incredibly resilient. It's practically an ideal state, so they don't dwell on whether to explore new lands or engage in combat. Fans believe that Polaris' daily routine is simply to diligently train in the arena.
With Sabretooth Tigers struggling to complete their second round of raiding, and their miserable struggles in Scorpion Eye Trench the day before yesterday, the five members of Polaris rarely encountered any comparable professional teams in the arena. They only occasionally matched up with decent streamers or amateur boosters, often winning by crushing them. Their fearless dominance in the arena delighted the fans watching in their livestreams, and Polaris's popularity soared during their preparations, earning them the top spot in the official "Most Anticipated Team" poll.
As their popularity soared, He Youjin's business became prosperous. Various brand endorsements extended olive branches to them, and He Youjin was overwhelmed. The sponsors who originally cooperated with them were afraid that they, the fat sheep that had accumulated strength over time, would run away with others, so they took the initiative to double the sponsorship fees, which made He Youjin smile so hard that his mouth was crooked.
Over there, Polaris had just won ten consecutive games in the 5v5 arena. Zhou Yanjun stretched and said, "This is too damn easy to beat! I haven't even done anything yet and I'm already winning again. Wang Ling's player level now is really nothing compared to back then. Damn, who can stop me?!"
"Stop being so frivolous!" Lin Mingfei slapped him on the back of the head and said gravely, "In two days, you've encountered no more than a handful of professional teams, and you even lost against Shadow. How dare you say, 'Who can stop you?'"
"The encounter with Shadow was a complete mistake! The main reason was that Xia Xiaotong didn't even cross the line with mmdou! That's why he died suddenly at the beginning." Zhou Yanjun said.
"It's not an exaggeration to say that mmdou is the best wizard now. In terms of personal level, he is better than Sabretooth's Goblins. It's just that the coordination within the Sabretooth team is better." Bo Yu analyzed calmly.
"That's right." Shi Ya nodded. "Mmdou's wizard's playstyle is actually very similar to some hunters'. He's very good at switching targets and bursting out, and he's very sneaky. If you don't understand him well, you'll easily be led by him. So it's not all Xia Tong's fault."
"It's indeed not all Xia Tong's fault." Lin Mingfei said lightly: "It's the problem of our entire team." He turned around with his hands in his pockets, his brows slightly furrowed, and his three-dimensional jaw slightly raised. This posture always brought out the pure masculine pressure on him to the extreme, forming a feeling of looking down on the world, forcing everyone to obey him. He first looked at Zhou Yanjun: "You knew that mmdou was a burst-type wizard, why did you switch to a nurse in the middle?" He looked at Bo Yu again: "If you hadn't missed that control at the beginning, Xia Tong wouldn't have been forced to show up to control their knight." Finally, he looked at Shi Ya again. Shi Ya shrugged and said: "You don't have to say it, I reflected on it myself. I was a little panicked in the middle wave. I thought you were going to die, so I gave you the damage reduction skill. It overlapped with your "invisibility", so I didn't have the skills to protect Xia Xiaotong later."
Lin Mingfei shook his head. His words made the entire team wilt like a frost-bitten eggplant.
"In a nutshell, the word 'mistake' doesn't exist in the dictionary of holographic esports. What is a mistake? It's a lack of practice intensity, a lack of strategic consideration, a panicked misjudgment, a slight error that leads to a huge loss." He said earnestly, "What kind of opponents have we faced recently? They're individual teams, entertainment anchors. I believe that the teams we defeated before, whether it was Hulu or Rainbow, didn't treat us with a completely serious attitude. They looked down on us. I believe that after we go out, no team will still face us with that attitude. Have you ever thought about what kind of situation we would face if they gave it their all?"
There was complete silence.
"What's more, we won't just be facing off against the Calabash Team, the Nine-Headed Bird Team, and the Rainbow Team. We'll also be facing the Shadow Team and the Sabertooth Tiger Team. You just saw the Shadow Team, they're really strong." Lin Mingfei let out a breath. "And next week, we'll be playing a training match against last year's champion team, the Sabertooth Tiger Team."
As soon as he said this, the other four people raised their heads at the same time, their eyes became bright and filled with solemnity.
"So don't get too carried away." Lin Mingfei changed the subject and smiled. "You are all geniuses. Geniuses fear not getting carried away the most. And the duel between geniuses is more about comparing details. I believe that what I said today will not bring you pressure, but only motivation. So, take a break, we will review it later."
"But we won the previous few games, why do we need to review them?" Zhou Yanjun asked in confusion.
"If it takes 20 minutes to win, we'll see how to win it in 10 minutes. If it takes 10 minutes to win, we'll see how to kill the opponent right from the start and force them to retreat." Lin Mingfei said: "In e-sports, there is no limit to strength."
Sometimes, in the eyes of outsiders, Lin Mingfei is like an abnormally strong competitive robot. He is strict with the team and even more so with himself. He can keep his mentality and remain indifferent when he is at his lowest point, and remain rational and precise when he is in the cloud. Therefore, he can always lead the team to find the right direction in the twists and turns of the road.
The review meeting chaired by him seemed to have opened the door to a new world for the people in Polaris. All of them, like Xia Tong, held a small notebook in their hands and wrote several thousand words of analysis and discussion on the game video that was repeatedly replayed on the holographic projector. Later, they found that the same routine could lead to different outcomes when facing different opponents. They had to choose the one that was most beneficial to them in the shortest time, which was not just a matter of skill proficiency.
This is probably the fun of Wang Ling Game, and it is also the goal that all holographic e-sports players pursue throughout their lives.
As time passed, Sabretooth soon completed the second and third rounds of dungeon exploration. Their entire team had changed into 1480-grade high-end equipment, becoming a truly elite force with attributes comparable to Polaris.
As the first and only team to successfully open up the new 25-person large-scale dungeon, the Galalan Ruins, Sabretooth's name and team totem were listed on the secret realm honor list in the Wangling game. From then on, all players who played this dungeon would know that the first team to clear this secret realm was Sabretooth, which was an unparalleled honor.
Sabretooth's fans shared the same joy and celebrated with the whole nation on the forum, but then they encountered the P team's fans who were also dominating the forum and singing and dancing for Polaris team's "n consecutive wins in the arena".
Fans of both sides looked at each other's hot topic posts and confronted each other for a while. The more they looked at each other, the more they disliked each other, and then, as expected, they started fighting.
While eating, Lin Mingfei took some time to browse the forum and expressed his feelings expressionlessly:
"To be honest, sometimes I really don't understand what they are talking about."
"What? Finally, there are fans willing to fight for us???" Zhou Yanjun's reaction was completely different from his.
"What? Do we have fans now?" Xia Tong's reaction was even more outrageous.
Lin Mingfei raised her chopsticks and looked at the two of them with a puzzled expression. After a while, she said, "Sometimes I really feel that all this is unreal. Your reactions make me feel that our team is still going to wither."
"It's mainly because fans are so fickle these days." Bo Yu sipped his soup and commented objectively, "Just half a month ago, when we were still playing Scorpion Eye Trench, they wouldn't even come to our livestream."
Lin Mingfei looked at the heated posts on the forum, looking like an old man looking at his phone on the subway.
"What did you see? Your face is so distorted?" He Youjin came over curiously to take a look. Lin Mingfei was about to turn off her phone in a panic, but she was still a step too late.
"Judging from his facial features, God Z is more durable than God D!" He Youjin loudly read out the title of the already popular post.
Lin Mingfei: “…”
Shi Ya sighed sadly, "I have to say these Omega fans have really paid too much to carve out a space for you."
Lin Mingfei: "...That's not necessary."
He Youjin let out a long sigh: "Oh my god, can you even see that?" Then he shifted his gaze to Lin Mingfei's face in a serious manner.
Lin Mingfei was so frightened by his gaze: "...What the hell are you looking at? Of course you can't see it, okay!"
He Youjin: "...So you can't last as long as him?"
Every time this happened, Xia Tong would actively participate in the discussion, showing a strong desire to learn: "What? What kind of wine do you want to drink? Why don't you drink as much as Dylan, Zero?"
Lin Mingfei's forehead jumped suddenly, feeling her dignity as an alpha being stabbed, like a large cat with its fur standing on end. "Are you kidding? Of course I can outlast him! Just look at Dylan's face full of acne scars and you'll know he has liver and kidney yin deficiency, okay?"
Xia Tong clapped her hands excitedly: "Then take me with you next time when you go out for drinks!"
He Youjin was choked: "Cough cough cough..."
Lin Mingfei: "...Can we skip this topic?"
Bo Yu picked up a piece of food with his chopsticks expressionlessly and concluded like a philosopher: "I said, our club needs a blender."
Zhou Yanjun's assessment was even worse: "I think it would have been more practical to tape up the dwarf's mouth beforehand."
Generally speaking, this topic is not suitable for children, so everyone tacitly skipped it. However, in Sabretooth's club, a group of people were furious about the controversial remarks made by the netizens.
"I realize Polaris is really getting carried away." The goblin pounded the bar counter and gritted his teeth. "Didn't they just cheat a little and come up with an outfit no one had ever seen before? What's so great about that? They're praising it like they've taken home a trophy."
"I'm afraid they gave a considerable sum of money to the authorities." Dylan said with a gloomy face and a cold laugh.
The two of them made the atmosphere in the base stagnant and depressing. Robin King, Mo Lan and Yoyo didn't know how to interrupt for a moment. They were afraid of angering Dylan again. After all, Dylan had been really moody recently.
After a long time, Yoyo opened his mouth and tried to talk to Dylan about the team arena training, but Dylan stood up unexpectedly and walked towards the training room alone without looking back.
After he entered the training room alone and slammed the door, Yoyo turned back hesitantly and asked Mo Lan, "Should we play the game with him?"
"Forget it, I don't think he wants to train with us." Mo Lan folded his arms in frustration and said unhappily, "Dylan has been getting harder to please lately. Goblin, I've noticed you're a bitch. And you still have to be so shameless to stick to him? Can't you see that I'm so fed up with you?"
The goblin felt a little aggrieved: "I——"
"Oh, who made him so good? If I could carry the whole game, I would probably be very cool too." Yoyo sighed, holding his chin with his hands.
"You? Even if you carried the whole game, you wouldn't be so arrogant." Mo Lan rolled his eyes and said, "It's a matter of personal character."
"Alright, stop talking. Do you still want to play the team competition together?" Robin King said in a deep voice, "Anyway, we are just playing together for a few years. After retirement, we will go our separate ways. No one owes anyone anything."
"Old Wang, please don't say that. I still want to be friends with everyone..." Yoyo pleaded softly. He turned and tugged at the corner of Mo Lan's jacket: "Brother Lan, don't be angry with Dylan. Let's go to training together."
Mo Lan let out a long breath, feeling a little helpless: "Forget it, why bother with him? Let's go." He was about to turn around when he saw Zhao Xin hurriedly walking in from outside the door.
"There's a problem with the official server, and the live streaming plug-in has been attacked by a malicious program. To prevent account data leakage, please don't log in to the game for now." Zhao Xin said.
"But Brother D just went to the training room." Yoyo said, "Should we ask him to log off?"
"He's already in the game?" Zhao Xin asked in surprise.
"Based on the speed our base is going... they should have already made it up." The goblin spread his hands and muttered quietly, "If we hadn't been arguing, the whole team would have already made it up."
"The operations department said that we are not allowed to log in and out at will now. Forced offline will damage the driver of 'Cocoon'. Forget it if he goes online. You guys can chat here and wait for the official server maintenance to be completed." Zhao Xin sighed.
Dylan was in a bad mood. After logging in, he found that there were actually few people in the game. He clicked on the live broadcast plug-in and found that the live broadcast room could not be opened.
This is such a long-lost peace and quiet.
Dylan let out a long breath, and with an idea in mind, he went to the Sabretooth Tiger training camp.
Ever since the start of the preparations for the competition, and the repeated announcement that live streaming would begin as soon as he went online, he hadn't had the chance to practice the rumored "close-range triple sniping" move. But in his heart, he still refused to give up and didn't believe in the myth of "esports European Emperors." It was all bullshit.
"I don't believe I can't repeat all three shots." He muttered to himself angrily, walked to the target and loaded his gun.
"Bang"
No.
"Bang"
Still missed.
"Bang"
Dylan's hand trembled, and suddenly he heard two sarcastic laughs.
"So the 'Esports King' really exists?"
Dylan was startled. It felt like someone had grabbed his shirt by the collar and poured a basin of ice water on him. The hairs on his body stood on end. He turned his head and saw a tall, thin man coming out from behind the camp's prop shed.
"Ping Shuai?!" Dylan's face turned pale: "Why the hell are you here?!"
"You can do it, why can't I?" The wizard in the gray robe laughed coldly and sighed meaningfully: "As expected, only Zero can perfectly replicate the close-range triple sniper attack."
Dylan's cheeks cracked in shame and anger. "It seems you miss your old master? What? Regret betraying your Zero? Why don't you just go back to your Polaris? We Sabretooth won't keep you, but I'm afraid Polaris won't want a loser like you either."
Ping Shuai wasn't angry either. He tilted his head bonelessly, like a zombie drained of blood. "I don't care. I have nothing right now anyway. Those who are barefoot are not afraid of those who wear shoes. But you, D Shen, are different. I just secretly recorded it. If everyone knew that your D Shen's three amazing shots were really just due to your extraordinary luck, how would they view you?"
Dylan's eyes bulged out. "You!" He paused, then said viciously, "I don't care if I can do a close-range triple sniper attack or something like that. I won't use that move in the game anyway, and I can still win!"
"No one cares whether you win or not, least of all me. It's just that your image is now tied to those three terrifying shots. Everyone says you're sharp, that you remain calm in the face of danger. They use this to distinguish you from your teammates, to separate you, to elevate you to a higher status. Therefore, your commercial value is precisely reflected in this. But if all this is just a fluke, a bubble and an illusion, how low do you think your value will drop?" Ping Shuai said coldly, "Any one of your teammates could replace you and become the next god."
"Fuck your mother!" Dylan couldn't bear it anymore and started cursing.
"I have been very kind to you. I chose such a special moment to tell you this. You should be thankful that all the live broadcast plug-ins are now turned off." Ping Shuai said in a deep voice.
Dylan was stunned for a long time. He took a deep breath and regained some rationality in his mind: "What do you want?" He said while suppressing his anger.
"My requirements aren't high." Ping Shuai stretched out a finger and shook it: "I want to be a Sabretooth Tiger."
Dylan's pupils contracted slightly.
"Although goblins are stupid, they are many times sharper than you. Why do you think you should be on our team?" He laughed sarcastically.
"Why? Because I have evidence that you are the 'Emperor of Esports'?" Ping Shuai smiled nonchalantly without getting angry.
Dylan's breathing stagnated. He bit his tongue and said, "You have to know that I'm still a substitute. It's not up to me to decide. It depends on the results of the game—"
"But you can decide the results of the match, right?" Ping Shuai suddenly smiled. "I know you're going to play a training match with Polaris next week."
"You want Polaris to win?" Dylan's breathing gradually became rapid and his fists clenched.
"I don't want Polaris to win, I just want Goblin to give up his position." Ping Shuai said lightly, like a venomous snake spitting out its tongue. "The specific arrangements will depend on how you, the sharp God D, operate. I believe you can do it."
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