Chapter 32 The Eighth-Place Battle Becomes More Crucial

With six rounds left in the tenth season, the fight for the top eight suddenly became fierce. Everyone originally thought that after 301's strong rise replaced Team Howling, the top eight were more or less settled. No one expected Team Howling to resort to such a ruthless trick, using a man-to-man marking tactic to suddenly sing a triumphant song in the team competition.

Since defeating Blue Rain in the twenty-sixth round, Team Howling had successively defeated 301, Misty Rain, Void, and Hundred Blossoms.

A weakling?

It was really hard to mention that nickname now. It's just that everyone still had doubts about whether Team Howling's set of tactics was just a flash in the pan for a few rounds, or whether it would continue to be strong.

At the end of the broadcast of the thirty-second round, the commentators and guests expressed sympathy for the harsh schedule that Team Hundred Blossoms would face next. But when everyone looked again, Team Howling's upcoming schedule wasn't easy either.

Team Howling's opponents in the last six rounds were Thunderclap, Wind Howl, Everlasting, He Wu, Happy, and Tiny Herb.

Among the six teams, three were in the top eight, making it very difficult to fight.

But even more hellish was 301's schedule. Their opponents in the last six rounds were Miracle, Samsara, Tiny Herb, Blue Rain, Limitless, and Happy.

This schedule was simply suffocating. Howling only had to fight three of the top eight, while 301? It could simply be summarized as the top four.

And in the match list of these two teams, there were two teams that appeared repeatedly: Tiny Herb and Happy.

Team Tiny Herb currently had 224 points, ranking fourth, 20 points ahead of Howling and 301, a relatively stable lead. But what about Team Happy? Team Happy looked a little unsettling. They currently had 212 points, only eight points ahead of those two teams. If they didn't gain an advantage in the direct confrontation, they might really be pulled down. Hundred Blossoms behind them was also watching closely. If Hundred Blossoms performed well and made a comeback, it wasn't impossible for them to kick Happy out of the top eight.

Happy's opponents in the last six rounds, besides Howling and 301, who they had direct confrontations with, were Void, Minute, Misty Brightness, and Thunderclap.

The opponents weren't weak either, especially Thunderclap, who was also one of the teams trapped in this quagmire. Team Thunderclap, currently with 211 points, had one point less than Happy. Their match schedule for the last six rounds was Howling, Misty Rain, Happy, Hundred Blossoms, Samsara, Miracle...

Another very harsh schedule.

After analyzing the situation of the last six rounds, everyone was stunned. Of the five teams involved in the fight for the top eight – Happy, Thunderclap, Howling, 301, and Hundred Blossoms – not a single one had an easy schedule, and there were many confrontations between them. Among the five teams, no one dared to predict at this time which team would be eliminated in the end.

Happy's boss, Chen Guo, had been feeling anxious and sleepless since the thirty-second round.

She originally thought that Happy had no pressure to enter the playoffs, but who would have thought that it would end up being so difficult and intense? It was said that recently, Happy had been playing quite well. After sending Luo Ji and Wei Chen to practice, they would sometimes lose 1 or 2 points, but victories of 9 or 8 points were also very beautiful! The only setback was against Misty Rain on the road, where they lost 9 to 1 in a big victory for the other side, and in an instant, the teams behind them narrowed the score. Perhaps it was really because the other teams had been performing too well and too strongly recently.

In the thirty-third round, Happy challenged Team Void on the road.

Team Void had been left behind by the top eight by 28 points. Under normal circumstances, they would probably announce their abandonment like Misty Rain. However, the fight for the top eight was currently a quagmire. Who knew how many teams would be completely crushed and collapse?

Void didn't want to give up, but their schedule, when counted, was also tear-inducing. In the last six rounds, they still had to fight Happy, Hundred Blossoms, Zhao Hua, Wind Howl, Blue Rain, Tyranny...

However, enthusiastic fans of Void had drawn a particularly beautiful blueprint for them. According to this fan's plan, Void would use the power of two consecutive home games to beautifully defeat Happy and Hundred Blossoms, the direct opponents in front of them. Then, they would try their best to seize points from Zhao Hua and Wind Howl. After that, after four rounds, the situation might already be clearer, and at this time, although Void had to face Blue Rain and Tyranny, these two teams would definitely have secured their playoff spots, and might even let their main players rest appropriately to prepare for the playoffs. It might be very easy for Void to score points from these two teams.

This post called "Void's Rhythm of Counterattack" was subsequently pushed to the top and became popular. Some people ridiculed it, but others supported it. After all, the analysis inside wasn't without basis. Void's schedule seemed devilish, but the last four rounds might not be too difficult to fight. The same could be said for other teams. If they met the top four teams in the end, it wouldn't necessarily be a hard fight. And the arrangements for the top four teams at this time couldn't be said to be letting the water go. After a season of hard struggle, in a situation where the overall situation had been decided, giving the main players more opportunities to rest and wait for the playoffs to erupt was also a very scientific arrangement.

Therefore, the matches in the 33rd and 34th rounds were really crucial. And since enthusiastic fans of Void had pointed out a clear path for them, they couldn't drag their feet, could they? They themselves shouted the slogan that in the next two home games, they must fight for victory and leave a glimmer of hope for entering the playoffs.

The debates, comments, and analyses from all sides made Chen Guo feel anxious and worried. Especially when she saw that Happy's training arrangements didn't seem to have any particularly deliberate adjustments, it made her feel even more uncertain. She actually wanted to say something. At this critical time, should Wei Chen and Luo Ji also take a break? After all, getting into the playoffs first was the most important thing!

But looking at the recent rhythm of training and preparation, Ye Xiu didn't seem to be planning to change his original intention.

Should she go and say something?

Chen Guo hesitated, because expressing this kind of attitude at this time had a very obvious sense of distrust towards those two. Although it was a fact that the strength of this old one and this young one was a little weaker, taking them out at this critical moment would probably make them feel very uncomfortable, right? Perhaps Ye Xiu was also concerned about this, so he couldn't speak up?

If those two guys could be more proactive, then everyone would be happy. But looking at Wei Chen's unscrupulous appearance, Chen Guo really didn't dare to hope for too much. However, Luo Ji wasn't Wei Chen after all. He had a clear understanding of himself and a good understanding of the situation. At this time, in the pre-battle meeting for the 33rd round, when Ye Xiu continued to arrange for him to play, Luo Ji suggested whether they should adjust first.

He was really sensible! Chen Guo was very touched. He didn't care about his personal gains or losses for the sake of the team. What a good child. In comparison, Wei Chen was a bit annoying.

What Chen Guo didn't expect was that Ye Xiu rejected Luo Ji's suggestion very simply.

"The current situation is very serious, but the playoffs will be even more serious. You want to hide from the current situation, then what about the playoffs?" Ye Xiu said.

"Uh..." Chen Guo wanted to say "At least guarantee entering the playoffs first," but after opening her mouth, she still held back. All along, she had only listened in on the tactical meetings, and at most asked questions when she didn't understand something, but she had never made suggestions or given advice. She knew how capable she was and didn't want to be the kind of idiot who directed experts. And this time, Chen Guo felt that it wasn't about tactics, but about an attitude. She wanted to say something, but the words came to her lips, and she didn't know if it was because of a long-standing habit or what, but she seemed to swallow them back subconsciously.

But Ye Xiu seemed to already know what she wanted to say. He turned his head to look at her and said, "Our goal is to win the championship! We need to have the courage to face any situation. Luo Ji, you're the same. This kind of match is even more of a training for you. After this round, you still have to be prepared to play in the team competition."

"This is just a small scene, calm down, calm down!" Wei Chen said in an old-fashioned way.

Chen Guo was speechless, but at least she knew that Wei Chen wasn't really unscrupulous at such a critical moment. He understood what kind of choices Happy should make at this time. Letting him and Luo Ji play wasn't an opportunity for ordinary teams to train rookies, but to really let them play a role in the playoffs. So from the beginning, Happy wasn't just letting them play in some irrelevant garbage time, but from now on, they would let them play and realize their value. Because they would be facing the playoffs, they had to have the courage and belief to take responsibility from now on.

"I understand." Luo Ji was still uneasy, but he understood the principle. Uneasy? Nervous? Pressure? It didn't matter if he had these, because letting him play was to let him get used to this uneasiness, nervousness, and pressure. There were still six rounds left. He should carefully cherish this opportunity. How could he retreat?

"Send me out to play!" Luo Ji expressed his determination, but his tone was still a little off due to nervousness. He was really afraid, very afraid that the 1 or 2 points, or even more points, that he lost would ultimately lead to Happy not entering the top eight. However, he had already shown his determination to face the difficulties. He was overcoming all of this.

"Okay." Ye Xiu nodded. "Just follow the original arrangement. Work hard and strive for this victory, so that Void's so-called rhythm of counterattack ends here."

"Ha..." Laughter came from the conference room. Obviously, the people at Happy had also seen that recent popular post. A team that should be said to have the most slim chance of entering the top eight had actually become the most watched. It had to be said that people now were just curious and hoped to see the slim chance become a reality, which was the so-called miracle.

After the meeting, everyone went to pack their things. In the afternoon, they would take a flight to X city. After Ye Xiu watched everyone leave one by one, he turned and went to Happy's logistics and technical department.

Guan Rongfei and several technical personnel who had been recruited by Happy were working nervously.

Pseudo silver equipment!

This was the final definition that Ye Xiu and the others had for their 80-level orange equipment concept. After all, as long as the equipment came from the equipment editor, the final words would definitely be silver. However, because the attributes were consciously weakened by one level to be closer to the same-level orange equipment, it was finally defined as pseudo silver equipment by everyone.

Happy's material reserves weren't enough to provide more level 75 silver equipment either. Next, they would prepare to use pseudo silver equipment to fill in. However, pseudo silver equipment wasn't something that could be produced just by thinking about it. Jumping directly from level 70 to level 80, this level-skipping was achieved through more material accumulation in Guan Rongfei's research. The Myriad Manifestations Umbrella itself required a large amount of materials, but other equipment didn't, so at this time, they had to find a way to modify the design drawings and add more materials without destroying the equipment's attributes, while directly pushing it to level 80. This was the main difficulty in the research of pseudo silver equipment. And this had been proven to be feasible. Happy's current research work was to see how many pieces of pseudo silver equipment they could produce.