Chapter 1 The Big News

"Hey! Brother Jue, there's big news today!"

On the evening of September 20th, when Feng Bujue logged into the game, he immediately received a communication request from Wang Tanzhi. As soon as the communication was established, Xiao Tan excitedly said this.

"Ah... I know. From the twenty-third, all remaining matches of the [Heroes' Gathering] will be broadcast live (viewers with neural connection devices can watch the live broadcast, and Dream Inc. has opened a dedicated server that supports third-party hardware login to watch the live broadcast) and recorded (supports network and other media users to watch, and viewers can order first-hand match recordings on genuine platforms)." Brother Jue replied calmly, seemingly having already seen the relevant news.

"Eh? You already knew?" Xiao Tan replied, slightly disappointed.

"Isn't that obvious..." Feng Bujue chuckled. "You're treating something the whole world knows as exclusive news?"

He was right. Although this news was only announced this morning, it had become old news that everyone knew by that evening.

"Hey, hey... Didn't you say 'I'm basically rushing manuscripts when I'm not online'?" Xiao Tan continued. "I thought you didn't have time to browse the game forums."

"I didn't browse them." Brother Jue replied in an ambiguous tone. "I just have the Dream Inc. official website and forums open, refreshing the pages every few hours, and glancing at them casually."

"Heh heh..." Xiao Tan chuckled twice, too lazy to argue with this guy. "Well... I've been thinking about something all day..." He shifted the topic, asking, "After the matches are broadcast, will our team's strength be exposed?"

"Actually, it won't have much impact on us." Feng Bujue replied. "There are tens of thousands of teams participating in the competition. Teams like ours that are 'anonymous' don't get much attention. Even if someone happens to watch one of our matches and discovers that we're strong... it doesn't matter, because thousands of match recordings are generated every day. If viewers don't know the team name... they can't find our other matches in the vast number of recordings.

Of course... there are ways to check if you really want to. First, you have to input all the s2 match recordings from n consecutive days into a computer. Then, using one of our team's matches as a benchmark, digitize and conceptualize the various images of us in the script. Next, let the optical brain filter through a certain pattern, finding every team that performs similarly from a binary perspective. This will narrow down the scope a lot; but considering the large base of participating teams, plus the inherent defects of fuzzy searches... the final identification work still needs to be done manually, and it may not guarantee 100% accuracy."

"Can you put it more bluntly..." It wasn't that Xiao Tan didn't understand, but he knew... behind every long speech from Brother Jue, there was often another more direct version. The former was used to explain to ordinary people and show off, while the latter... was a condensed version of Brother Jue's wisdom, specifically for smart people or complete idiots.

"In short," Feng Bujue smiled and continued, "apart from large game studios with sufficient resources, or hardcore programmers and player groups, no one can identify a particular 'anonymous' strong team from so many teams."

"Why didn't you just say that from the beginning..." Xiao Tan replied.

"It would be best if you could figure things out yourself from the beginning and not come to ask me," Brother Jue replied.

"Tch..." Xiao Tan knew he wouldn't win if he complained about himself, so he immediately said, "Okay, let's not talk about this." He paused. "Oh... right, Xiao Ling is going home for the night tonight and won't be online, so you don't have to wait for her when queuing for a script later."

Because Hell Frontline's habit of playing preliminary rounds is to queue for two consecutive matches around midnight, the match on the 20th had already been completed in the early hours of that day, so it didn't matter if they didn't go online that night.

"Speaking of... Miss An seems to be 'in the game' right now..." Feng Bujue said to the other party, while already confirming in the social bar, "She's been working really hard lately..." Saying this, he paused for a second, and continued in a slightly dissatisfied tone, "If Ruoyu is online... it should be a while later. Well... there's a TV show she likes to watch tonight, and she insists on watching the live version with ads."

"Then why don't... the two of us queue up first?" Xiao Tan continued.

"No, I have an appointment tonight..." Feng Bujue refused, "He's online right now as I'm talking to you." He licked his lips, his expression slightly changing, "Wait for me to deal with what I have at hand... and I'll contact you again."

…………

Twenty minutes later, in a certain script.

This place was a plain, without rocks, without sand, with firm soil and solid ground.

The time was noon, without fog, without rain, with light clouds and gentle breeze.

In the gentle sunlight, two figures walked from two different directions.

They were two players, two players who had agreed to fight in the [1v1 Killing Game].

"To be honest, I'm very surprised." When he came to five meters away from the other party, Shiva stopped and spoke first. "Even at this moment, now that you're standing in front of me, I still find it unbelievable."

"Why?" Feng Bujue asked with a smile. "Because I don't seem like the kind of person who would actively challenge others?"

"Not 'don't seem like,' it's simply 'not'." Shiva replied.

"Heh heh..." Feng Bujue's smile grew even wider. "It can only be said that you don't understand me well enough..."

"Oh?" Shiva asked suspiciously. "How so?"

"There's no such thing as seeming like or not seeming like, or whether or not it is the case..." Feng Bujue paused for half a second, and continued, "I can be any kind of person..." He spread his hands, revealing an evil smile, "Because I am not any one kind of person."

"I see..." Shiva also shook his head and smiled. "Alright... let's end the philosophical discussion here." As he spoke, he had already summoned his spiritual weapon – [Heavenly Dance Hourglass]. "No matter what kind of person you are, or whether you are a person or not... as long as you seek a battle, I will naturally accompany you to the end."

"Heh..." Brother Jue also silently took out [Death Poker]. "Judging by your excited state... you must have been looking forward to this battle for a long time."

"The improvement that can be gained from practicing with familiar teammates is ultimately limited," Shiva continued. "You should also be clear about this."

"Yes." Feng Bujue nodded in agreement. "Since you're also an understanding person, then I'll be frank..." His expression turned serious. "Shiva, you are very strong. The reason I'm fighting you is to force out my own limits and break through this boundary."

"Hmph..." Shiva sneered. "The same to you."

"Very well, then..." Feng Bujue's figure flashed as he said the second half of this sentence, "...let's begin!"