Chapter 164 Fifth Round and Butterfly War

In the early hours of May 23rd, the fifth round of the [Cocoon War], also the last round of this stage, began.

At this point in the competition, the element of chance could almost be ignored. Every player remaining was undoubtedly a powerhouse.

Wang Tanzhi's opponent in this round was a professional player from the "Deities" studio. Although this brother wasn't as formidable as the Four Heavenly Kings of Deities, he was by no means an ordinary character; his strength was definitely comparable to that of a celebrity player.

Not long after the random assignments were made, this match was selected by Dream Inc.'s staff as the "Focus Battle of this Round" and placed on the main screen of the mall, broadcasting live across thousands of mall dimensions.

Feng Bujue had already guessed this would happen, as the ID [Wang Tanzhi] had been discussed all day on the forums. Although the sensation wasn't as great as when Jue Ge's name was announced on the list of invited players, it still attracted considerable attention.

An unknown character was able to eliminate Seven Kills, who was ranked sixteenth on the combat strength leaderboard? Who is this person? Which studio is he from? What methods did he use? What specialization does he practice?

In an instant, rumors flew everywhere, and many players who knew Xiao Tan, and even more who didn't, popped up one after another, posting their opinions about him...

The recordings of Xiao Tan's past matches also saw a surge in clicks. Apart from the one where he advanced by default, the other three became the focus of discussion.

By this point, no one was questioning Xiao Tan's strength anymore, and the advancement by default seemed unimportant. Looking back... in Wang Tanzhi's three matches, two were one-hit kills, showing he didn't need a second strike to kill... And his duel with Seven Kills was even more impressive. Especially the final minute of the battle... it was undoubtedly the highest level of play in the game so far.

In summary, it was only natural that Xiao Tan's fifth-round match was placed on the main screen.

However, the process of this match was not as exciting as people imagined. Because... the two only fought for three minutes from beginning to end, and the outcome was already decided.

Wang Tanzhi won calmly, winning so easily that the process seemed quite uninteresting. Many people even suspected... was his opponent a little too weak...?

But... there was also a small group of people who saw something different in this match. Those at the very top of the game had already listed [Wang Tanzhi] as one of the opponents they least wanted to encounter...

***

Two a.m. on the 23rd, as the [Cocoon War] officially came to an end.

The list of the top 100 players in the first Thriller Paradise Peak Tournament was officially released, including ninety powerhouses who had been selected through layers of screening and ten seeded players.

The subsequent [Butterfly War] would begin in the early hours of May 25th, also in Sleep Mode. This stage only had one round, and the fifty winners would advance to the final stage—the "Peak Tournament."

The biggest difference between the [Butterfly War] and the [Cocoon War] was that the battle list would be decided and announced in advance...

Although the matching was based on randomness, the difference between this advance randomness and the temporary randomness when queuing... was like heaven and earth.

The battle list had already been announced in the early hours of the 23rd, which meant that... players had nearly forty-eight hours to prepare before the [Butterfly War] started. During this time, the participants, or the teams behind them, could do many things. Such as investigating the opponent's information, studying their match recordings, acquiring targeted equipment or skills, and so on.

This arrangement naturally caused a great reaction among the players. The forums were once again filled with rumors, and many conspiracy theorists became active again, pointing out that Dream Inc. was helping studios harm casual players with no money or power...

It was undeniable that Feng Bujue, as a casual player, had become a disadvantaged group under these rules. And the most troublesome thing was that he had to win...

Firstly, he was wearing the halo of an "invited player," making him the target of public criticism. A crushing defeat would inevitably lead to gossip. Secondly, he could now be considered one of Woodys' subordinates, a veritable member of the Hell Frontline, the Dark Vanguard. If he couldn't even complete the first step of this first task, it would be too embarrassing.

Therefore, Jue Ge was quite concerned about this competition.

But... the actual situation was much more severe than imagined. Because Feng Bujue's opponent in the [Butterfly War] was also an invited player—[Xu Huishang].

As mentioned earlier, although this Xu Huishang was anonymous on the combat strength leaderboard, this did not affect her status as a celebrity player.

Let's talk in detail about the reasons for this...

First of all, she's a beauty, a great beauty in real life; secondly, she's a professional player, and the number one expert in the "Red Sakura" studio.

Based on these two points alone, it was normal for her to be famous.

No matter what era it is, the words "beautiful female player" can always attract attention. Of course, people usually don't have high expectations for the gaming skills of so-called "beautiful female players"...

But Xu Huishang was different. She was the first female player in the history of esports to win an international championship. Whether there will be anyone to follow is unknown, but she is definitely the first...

Long before joining the Thriller Paradise game, Xu Huishang was already a superstar in the gaming world. In terms of popularity, Order's "Zui Sheng Meng Si" and the Four Heavenly Kings of Deities all had to step aside. Jianghu's Dao Jian Xiao was not worth mentioning, and Ice Emperor's Host Club was like dust...

In terms of looks, [Yan Mo], also a female player, was no weaker than Xu Huishang in strength, and her appearance in real life was not bad. But standing next to Xu Huishang, she basically became a nobody...

With Xu Huishang's conditions, it would be more than enough to enter the film and television industry. Several well-known brokerage companies had already tried to sign her. Various veteran talent scouts have made it clear that, based on her image and temperament, she could go straight to Hollywood, the next Bond girl would be hers, and she would definitely be the leading actress. Even if she went to be a vase, the audience would still buy it.

But Xu Huishang resolutely chose to develop in the gaming industry. Even though being a celebrity player was much less profitable than being a celebrity, and even though it was very difficult for women to succeed in this industry, she didn't care. With absolute strength, she has won many honors and has become a recognized top player.

Perhaps it was because of Xu Huishang's dedication to the gaming world that she had no fewer fans in the gaming circle than any film and television star, and she had many die-hard fans. It can be said that she is a queen-like existence, unique in the gaming world.

It was obviously very bad for Feng Bujue to encounter such an opponent...

From an off-field perspective, Xu Huishang had more than a million supporters. And the ID [Feng Bujue] was an urban legend... The world has heard many legends about him, but almost no one has actually seen him... let alone supported him.

In terms of objective strength, Jue Ge was ranked second on the combat strength list, and Xu Huishang was ranked fourteenth. Both were among the top twenty powerhouses and were also invited players. At least according to the system's calculation method... the gap between them was not so great as to be disparate.

Furthermore, Xu Huishang was a well-known professional expert. As the saying goes, a great reputation is never undeserved, and Jue Ge himself did not expect the other party to be weak.

Perhaps the only relatively fair point was in the area of "pre-match intelligence gathering." Since neither of them had participated in the [Cocoon War], neither of them had left behind match recordings. As for character information (main weapons, equipment, skills, combat style, etc.)... Feng Bujue was just a casual player and had no reliable channels to investigate the other party's information; and Xu Huishang, although she had the information support of the studio, "Red Sakura" was helpless in dealing with Feng Bujue's situation...

In short... this game had many highlights, and the outcome was unpredictable.

Dream Inc. also announced in advance without hesitation: this battle would be placed on the main screen and broadcast with the highest priority.

This [Butterfly War] attracted the attention of countless people. Too many questions would be revealed in this battle...

Who exactly is [Feng Bujue], the guy who suddenly jumped to second place on the combat strength list? Even Xu Huishang was very curious about this...