Chapter 1 The Curtain Falls

At one fifteen in the morning, the first semi-final match between [Hell Frontline] and [Red Sakura] came to an end.

The result: another flawless victory for Hell Frontline, with zero casualties.

Thus, [Hell Frontline], a team composed entirely of non-professional players, became the first to officially enter the finals.

Moreover… they had never conceded a single kill to their opponents during their advance. The only death they had suffered… was from friendly fire.

Their strength had clearly made them a major favorite for the championship.

…

Next, a three-minute break.

This “three minutes” naturally referred to three minutes in the real world.

In the game world, the next thirty minutes were for rest.

Even in sleep mode, watching over ten hours of matches could be tiring for the audience, so there was no need to rush into the second match.

This was the perfect time… to insert some advertisements.

In addition, the official Dream Corporation hosts (since this round of matches was split into different time slots, there were commentators; viewers watching the livestream could choose whether or not to listen to the commentary audio) also took this time to summarize the first match's battle situation.

What they said… was mostly content aimed at the general audience, nothing more than talking about the relative strengths of the two teams' members, their on-the-spot performances, and some after-the-fact strategic deployments.

Of course, they couldn't possibly say anything too profound, as revealing too much detail could easily expose the two teams' intelligence.

After about fifteen minutes of idle chatter, the online director felt it was enough and sent a signal to the hosts.

The hosting team then stopped talking about the first match and smoothly transitioned into pre-match predictions for the second match: [Trash Alliance] versus [Jianghu].

The semi-final matchups were all full of highlights, and this one was no exception…

First of all, [Jianghu] was already a well-known studio, a leader among mid-sized studios. Their reputation, word-of-mouth, individual player strength, and so on were all excellent. Many industry insiders believed… that if their company's size and organization were as large as Order or Deities, then the current "two-power struggle" might have become a "three-legged standoff."

And in this match, the [Jianghu] team's performance was also remarkable. In addition to the long-established "Dao Jian Xiao" (Sword Sabre Smile) duo, there was also the sibling combination of [Cai Bu Pa Ne] (Not Afraid) and [Bu Tian Ge] (Step Heaven Song). The former had only recently become a professional player, while the latter carried the halo of being a "former Stellar member." They had both proven their ability to join the ranks of the elite in S2 with their results.

Then there was [Trash Alliance].

Although this team had no studio background, all four of their main players were professional gamers who competed in the game under their own names, and they were all recognized as top players in S1, or even earlier.

The word "Alliance" perfectly embodied the form and spirit of this team.

And their path to promotion was, to some extent, very similar to that of Hell Frontline… In most cases, they won flawlessly, always giving people a sense of ease.

In summary, it was really hard to say who would win or lose in the clash between these two teams…

…

At one nineteen in the morning, the second semi-final officially began.

The script that the two teams randomly selected was a place called "Moving Maze."

This maze had the characteristic of constantly changing, and… the maze was full of all kinds of powerful monsters.

In addition, there were also two NPC forces from different camps operating in the maze, and they were clearly important figures who could influence the course of the battle.

In terms of personnel… the lineup of [Trash Alliance] was as solid as a rock. [Trash Uncle], [Honghu], [Zhao Ying Wang], and [Juan Meng Huan] were responsible for the match, while [Bi Lao Shi] was responsible for doing nothing.

But [Jianghu]'s troop deployment was somewhat unexpected. They sent [Wu Dao Ke] (No Sabre Guest), [Kuang Zong Jian Ying] (Crazy Trace Sword Shadow), [Cai Bu Pa Ne], and [Bu Tian Ge] to participate, but let [Xiao Wen Cang Tian] (Laugh Ask Heaven), who ranked highest on the individual strength list (within the team) and served as the "captain," be a substitute.

Outsiders didn't understand this situation, but Jianghu's higher-ups knew… that this was [Xiao Wen Cang Tian]'s own intention.

As mentioned earlier, Jianghu was a studio co-founded by the three members of "Dao Jian Xiao." They were not only online players but also real-world company operators.

Unlike Jin Fugui's "Ice Emperor," these three didn't have any rich fathers to "invest." They were standard self-made entrepreneurs… Under this premise, "spending money to hire people" to manage the company for them was clearly unrealistic.

In the early days of the studio's establishment, they were three people doing the work of eighteen people. From CEO to cleaner, the three of them did everything before they slowly made it…

Today, Jianghu's business was getting bigger and bigger. Although they no longer needed to clean the office or buy lunch boxes themselves, they had gradually realized… that the days of juggling both the game and operations were coming to an end.

Don't look at how Deities' [Shiva] was also a man who combined the identities of a studio boss and a player, but his identity was "Chairman." Apart from some major decisions, most of the daily affairs could be left to his subordinates.

But Jianghu's situation was different. They were currently at a turning point… If they wanted to further expand the company's scale, they had to make a decision…

So, [Xiao Wen Cang Tian] made his choice.

His plan was… to first "fade out," then "retire," and then focus all his work on the company's operations, striving to make Jianghu a top-tier studio within a year. Once everything was on track, he would consider whether or not to "come back" as a player…

Of course, he was also very clear… that in the e-sports industry, there were basically very few players who "came back" successfully; especially those projects that required physical strength and instantaneous reaction. Generally speaking… as long as a player was over twenty-five years old, their overall condition would start to decline. At this time, if they stopped systematic training for a period of time, their condition would probably never return.

Xiao Wen Cang Tian also thought… instead of letting fans sigh that Lian Po was old and lamenting the decline of the player's condition, it would be better to retreat bravely when the condition was still acceptable.

Xiao Wen Cang Tian didn't want to participate in this S2 competition in the first place; but in order to help the rookies and ensure that they could go further in the competition… he still took the time to participate in some preliminaries.

Now that the team had reached the semi-finals, he felt that the time had come.

Even if they won this match, there would only be one match left to play, so Xiao Wen Cang Tian simply didn't play this time.

Win or lose, this match would allow Not Afraid and Little Step to accumulate more competition experience. In the future… there might be more occasions where they would have to cope.

…

At two forty in the morning, that is, "thirteen and a half hours" game time, the results of the second semi-final were revealed.

This match ended with [Trash Alliance]'s victory.

Although it took longer than the first match, the process wasn't considered to be that close.

Honghu's calculations allowed Trash Alliance to borrow a very favorable "momentum," and Zhao Ying Wang's reconnaissance abilities with those summoned creatures could be called unsolvable.

Therefore, from an hour after the start of the game, they had always occupied the initiative in intelligence and strategy…

The members of [Jianghu], on the other hand, had been in a state of rushing around.

Logically speaking… in this situation, a little carelessness would lead to attrition or even a team wipe, but Jianghu still relied on its strong strength… to stubbornly support itself for more than a dozen hours.

But in the end… Trash Alliance still won without using its full strength.

Mysterious strength, mysterious limits, and like Hell Frontline… another team without a studio background had entered the finals.

…

Still a three-minute break.

The advertisers were waiting impatiently…

The hosts were also very busy. The players were resting, but they couldn't rest (during the competition, the hosts had many opportunities to rest by seizing the opportunity, after all, not every minute had content to talk about). The analysis and commentary in between matches couldn't be missing.

Although [Jianghu] lost, and lost quite badly, the hosts and viewers still had a high opinion of them. The two newcomers in the Jianghu team who had just emerged were also highly praised.

The result of this match also proved that sometimes… "losing badly" wasn't equal to "losing ugly." Maybe there was a gap in strength with the opponent, but as long as you tried your best within your own ability, you could still win respect even if you lost.

As for the [Trash Alliance] side, the hosts also offered a lot of praise. Under the instruction of the director, they had already begun to consciously compare this team with the previously completed [Hell Frontline]…

…

At two forty-four in the morning, the third semi-final began.

[Warring States] vs [Mountains and Rivers].

Before the match, the predictions for this match were almost one-sided… Even the official hosts, who should have maintained an objective and neutral attitude, revealed a kind of information in their words – [Mountains and Rivers] was probably in danger.

Indeed, [Mountains and Rivers] was also a very strong studio, led by Pikachu… oh no… led by [Qiu Feng Se] (Autumn Wind瑟) and with [Mo Cha Su] (Matcha Crisp) as the vice-captain. This Mountains and Rivers First Team could be said to be the "strongest in history."

But… after watching the previous rematch, even the analysis team of Mountains and Rivers believed… that the chances of defeating [Warring States] were very slim.

The analysis conclusion on the individual strength of the [Warring States] members was very pessimistic. Putting away those prejudices against foreign studios and objectively analyzing… the strength of the Warring States First Team was clearly at the level of Deities and Order.

Before entering the semi-finals, although their strength had been recognized by many parties, they were still underestimated for various reasons…

It wasn't until [Warring States] stood on the threshold of the finals that people seemed to belatedly realize… that their captain had defeated the defending champion in a one-on-one match; their path to promotion was a quick and decisive one, using force to break through skill; and to this day, their members had never lost in a single duel.

The reason why this First Team of [Warring States] studio didn't rank in the top ten in the preliminaries wasn't because their strength wasn't strong enough, but simply because their attitude towards strategy was almost "disrespectful." Most of the time, they didn't consider borrowing "momentum" at all, so in many matches… they won by facing the enemy team members and the NPC forces at the same time.

But in the rematch stage, their style changed slightly. Although it was only "slightly," they had indeed become cautious… At least they wouldn't ignore the power of the NPCs or rush into obvious traps anymore.

To defeat such a [Warring States], what [Mountains and Rivers] needed was a miracle…

…

At two fifty-two in the morning, the miracle didn't happen.

A match that lasted "eighty minutes" ended.

Qiu Feng Se had tried his best. Only half an hour after the start of the script, he had successfully obtained the strong support of the NPC forces. Then, he used ten thousand volts… oh no… I mean, he mobilized ten thousand troops (script forces, cold weapon armed) to encircle and suppress the enemy team's four members.

As a result, he found that each member of the Warring States team… had very rich "grass cutting" experience.

Each person averaged 320 enemies per minute, and could complete a thousand kills in three minutes. Four people were four thousand kills…

At this rate, a hundred thousand troops could only last for less than an hour and a half.

Fortunately… those hundred thousand NPCs weren't fools either. Seven or eight minutes later, when they found that the troop losses had exceeded ten thousand and the enemies hadn't shown any signs of fatigue… they decided to run away.

Otherwise… the audience would really have to watch nearly an hour and a half of grass cutting Musou…

As a result, the "momentum" that Mountains and Rivers had borrowed was wiped out by the opponent's "strength."

Seeing this situation, Matcha Crisp used a trump card that she had only intended to use in the finals – she used her S-level mechanical expertise to create a Gundam.

However, the four members of Warring States dismantled the Gundam with swords…

At this point, the match had lost its suspense.

…

In this way, the three matches were settled, and the three final teams had been determined.

The remaining final showdown will determine the final qualifying spot.

And the two sides of this match… were also enough to bear the responsibility of the finale.

[Order] vs [Deities].

The four words "Peak Hegemony" were the best interpretation of this victory or defeat.

However… just as people's blood was boiling, Dream Corporation suddenly poured a basin of cold water on it.

[Important Notice: Players, please note, players, please note… In order not to affect players' normal daily lives, our department has negotiated with the members of the two teams and decided that the fourth semi-final match – "Deities vs Order" will be postponed to tomorrow at midnight. Today's match is over.]