Chapter 85 The Final Battle
Unlike their initial underestimation of their opponents in the first match, this time they underwent intensive pre-match training. Lin Yuzheng had plasters on his elbows and his calves were covered with bruises from bumps and scrapes during training.
Although Lin Yuzheng stubbornly remained silent, Zeng Ge knew how much he was looking forward to winning the championship.
The previous incident of hiring trolls for Pei Jiahang had a negative impact on YXG, and they desperately needed a victory to shut up the audience.
YXG had previously won the main league championship for five consecutive years. The Star Government poured countless promotional resources into their team, practically turning them into gods of the league. Nobody wanted to fall from that position.
Even the team manager attached unprecedented importance to this final, and specially applied for a sum of money from the big boss to promote the final.
Before arriving at the venue, the team manager patted his chest and assured the players that this time there would definitely be no situation like last time where only JR team support items could be seen in the footage.
The venue was right in front of them. Zeng Ge gently patted Lin Yuzheng's hand, comforting him not to be too nervous.
He got out of the car first and greeted the crowd in front of him.
But when he saw what was happening in front of him, he almost wanted to shove himself back into the car.
...Very well, this time it's not just JR team cheering on the sidelines, but he'd rather be hit and go back to the last time.
On the high wall opposite the platform, large promotional posters for JR and Juke covered the entire wall, while the advertising space bought by the YXG team manager was placed in the lower right corner in a pathetic way, giving the impression of trying to save face but failing to compete with the other side.
If YXG's banner hadn't appeared at all, it wouldn't have mattered; at most, their team wouldn't have participated in the competition. But having both teams' support banners displayed one above the other on the same wall is practically a public execution.
Lin Yuzheng was standing right next to him, and the two of them were awkwardly facing the advertising wall together.
Zeng Ge caught a glimpse of Lin Yuzheng's face, which was as black as the bottom of a pot, and heard Lin Yuzheng mutter, "What a terrible manager, more trouble than he's worth."
He sighed softly and reached out to ruffle Lin Yuzheng's hair.
As the drone swept across the area, hundreds of millions of online viewers also noticed the advertising wall—
[YXG, why don't you recharge some money? There are four rich young masters here, it looks really shabby.]
[Laughing so hard I almost choked. You're going to pay all four of them to work here?]
[Sorry, only JKC doesn't hesitate to spend money on advertising. JR team has only earned a little over 1 billion RMB in prize money so far, and their operating costs are more than ten times that.^^]
[...The comments are so anti-intellectual! Is this your first time watching a mech league? Fun fact: tournament experience is much more important than you think. So many dark horse teams have lost in the finals due to their mentality over the years.]
I know you guys are jealous, always bringing up off-field stuff, but our YXG is just more experienced and plays more steadily, hehe.
[We know you guys are the dark horse, but sorry, we YXG are the ones who beat geniuses.]
[+1, I feel so sorry for Zheng, his lips are all white, he must have been training extra these past few days. Baby, you are a sweet, soft, juicy little jelly, born to be in a noble team and loved by your teammates. Go home and rest well after winning the championship, my baby QAQ]
[...my eys!! my eys!! Ugh, you need to pay me to read this.]
[I hate that I read too fast. After finishing it, I feel like I've atoned for all my sins in my next life. I hate ugly people more than anything... Even if you're Ling Han, I can tolerate you. At least you're a handsome young man.]
[Could Brother Fang possibly allocate half of his publicity budget to ban this kind of vulgar language? If he posts this kind of thing again, I'm seriously going to report my coordinates to the Trisolarans.]
The next second, the comment disappeared quickly from the live stream's message board, and a notification popped up saying "This user has been banned."
[Thank you, Mr. Fang. This episode seems to have been the most effective use of the publicity budget.]
This is the first time I've felt so grateful for the power of money.
As the two teams made their appearance on the tower, the players returned to the preparation area and entered the cockpit one after another.
In order not to fall behind in terms of hardware, the YXG team also purchased a batch of new mech outer plates and hand materials.
The logos engraved on the outer panels of these new mechs are even larger than those when the new energy mechs were first released. These manufacturers have unanimously printed the name of Juke in a larger and bolder font on the outer panels, and the density of the brand logos makes it look like a luxury item.
Zeng could only try his best to keep his attention away from this.
As the countdown ended, the five of them flew out of the tower at the same time, encouraging each other in the team voice chat.
Even disregarding these off-field factors, they are still confident of winning the match.
Their study group repeatedly reviewed the video recordings of JR's matches after entering the main league and found that JR didn't have many tricks up their sleeve; all the players were playing almost entirely based on their individual skills.
This kind of team is actually easier to counter. As long as you focus on targeting JR's core damage dealers, the other positions will basically be unable to hold their own.
The game had barely begun when Zeng Ge took the lead, charging straight at Cheng Che, who was positioned in a crucial long and short blade location, abandoning other neutral resources on the map.
However, Cheng Che was like a boss in its second phase of berserk mode, his long blade swinging at an impenetrable speed.
Most of the attacks landed on Zenger. A slight, dull itch came from the junction of the nerve connections, and he cried out in pain. The durability of the mech's outer plate was quickly exhausted.
It took two rounds of attrition warfare to finally wear down Cheng Che, but during this time YXG had missed out on too many resources. They failed to acquire either of the two dragons, and their next move was practically a slow death.
To make matters worse, the team manager had no idea that their initial casualty count would be so high.
To save money, the team only bought twenty sets of the new mech outer plates. They originally expected that they could last until at least the second round, but they were all sold out after only half of the first round. From then on, they could only use the old outer plates in stock.
The match had only been going on for twenty minutes, and while the audience might still be waiting for YXG to pull out some other killer move, every player knew in their hearts—
Their cause is lost.
Zeng Ge silently opened his mouth slightly.
He felt waves of emptiness emanating from the very bones of his body; he could barely sense the existence of his limbs, and his movements were severely distorted.
He had only one thought in his mind: he had to persevere, because maybe things would turn around soon.
In terms of strategy, JR is still a rookie team and is definitely not stronger than these veteran players who have been playing for many years. As long as the competition is not over, they still have a chance to turn the tide.
But the situation was clearly worse than he had imagined. In the second round, the difference between the outer plates of the new and old mechs gradually widened.
The durability of the two outer plates is completely different. Zeng Ge could even clearly feel that the old version of the ordinary outer plate was more likely to transmit pain, which made the already one-sided battle even worse.
Zeng Ge's eyes widened in horror as he experienced for the first time what it meant to be powerless to reverse the situation.
Meanwhile, Fang Zhuo sat leisurely inside the virtual pod, selecting the option to follow Ling Han's perspective in the virtual pod settings.
He felt as if he were truly in the mecha arena, and opened the system's built-in live stream on the main interface.
Unlike the entertainment industry world, in the OL33 Mech League world, three operators bought exit cards to escape. There are many discussions about this world on the forum, and everyone is guessing which expert the main system will send to resolve the plot deviation here.
[Holy crap, it's you, mahjong master! Is this a mech competition from the main perspective? Can I have some fun instead? [Donate 1 point]]
[The imperial court has distributed disaster relief grain. There's a big shot's management log in the upper right corner of the live stream; I'm going to devour it! [Donate two points]]
[Some people only know to complain about plot errors, but the real gods have already started to confront me head-on. Luckily, Brother Fang isn't my rival (facepalm) (wipes sweat) (laughs with lingering fear)]
[Can anyone understand the game situation? Is this a guaranteed win?]
The live stream chat was still buzzing with heated discussion, and the commentators had already spoken up:
"The second game of the main league finals has only been going on for eighteen minutes. Unlike the first game, JR team used a five-man gank on the second team this time, and the game ended too quickly..."
"YXG's only surviving long and short blade player, Lin Yuzheng, is still desperately trying to hold on, but he can't stop JR's speed in destroying the base! We can congratulate JR team in advance on winning the Star Alliance Mech Main League championship."
"This new team, which has only been together for one season, has shown us true resilience and ended YXG's five-year reign. I can boldly declare that the league has ushered in its new god."
On the screen, YXG's high ground collapsed, while the two commentators continued to thank Giant Interactive for sponsoring the match.
Almost simultaneously, the system emitted a long broadcast—
[Congratulations, host! You have achieved the achievement 'Winning the Main League Finals']
[Congratulations again, host! You have achieved the achievement 'Total team kills exceed 1000']
[Investment Target Number Seven: Pei Jiahang]
[Initial valuation: 2,160,000]
[Current Value Assessment: 37,100,000,000]
[The return on investment has exceeded 100 times; the above fields can be freely unbound]
[Based on the settlement results, Investment Slot 11 has been opened for the host. Please keep up the good work!]
[Congratulations, host! You have obtained the rare title 'Dark Empire']
[You are a raider with a drawn bow and arrow; you have defeated the knight who once symbolized justice and purity, and established a new dark kingdom.]
[This title is earned by defeating the sole protagonist of the original dimension when there are over 300 million online players.]
[Total earned during this live stream: 78 points, one basic medical pill, and three short-term stamina pills]
[Livestream Level Calculation: lv7]
Fang Zhuo stepped out of the virtual reality pod and was greeted by Tao Tao's warm embrace.
Although Tao Tao has been coaching for many years, he has never led a team to win the main league championship. This championship is of unprecedented value, as they crushed the former champion team with absolute strength.
Without a trace of luck or chance, the second round ended swiftly in just twenty minutes after employing the five-on-two tactic.
The entire preparation area was filled with loud cheers. The logistics staff had prepared large bouquets of fresh-cut flowers in advance, and the petals were scattered in the air, creating a dreamlike scene.
After experiencing overwhelming joy, Tao Tao even began to shed tears.
Amidst the jubilation, Fang Zhuo's terminal beeped twice.
Just one minute ago, the league officials, together with the Star Government, released the investigation results of two major incidents on their official website.
The official statement was written in an extremely cold tone, accusing Platinum Technology of secretly modifying the test parameters of the capability testing equipment commissioned by the company for more than five years by leaving a backdoor.
The committee was quite rigorous, and even included the specific trends of parameter adjustments in the subsequent images.
The second investigation result concerns the malicious incident of obstructing the return of mechs at the competition venue some time ago. The official did not release the investigation video, but instead briefly described the extent of a player's involvement in the incident and imposed corresponding suspensions and fines.
Very good, the league committee will seize the opportunity to dump oil.
All the contestants have just left the cockpit and haven't received their terminals yet. Zeng Ge will soon face questions from reporters in the live interview room.
Barring any unforeseen circumstances, this is likely to be Zenger's last time attending a post-match press conference.
Fang Zhuo still holds other evidence that could completely destroy Zeng Ge.
Opening the chat history with Jiang Yu, Fang Zhuo pulled up the investigation report sent by a third-party financial institution.
He took a few screenshots of important images and personally posted the report on the homepage of Giant Interactive's StarNet account.
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