Chapter 1 The End of the First Round

The first round of the playoffs had come to an end, with all four matches decided within two rounds. Samsara, Tyranny, Happy, and Tiny Herb advanced to the final four.

Among them, Samsara, Tyranny, and Tiny Herb were the teams ranked in the top four during the regular season. Only Happy successfully reversed their position from sixth place, eliminating the Blue Rain team, who were third in the regular season. This match, especially the second round at Blue Rain's home venue, sparked the most intense debate.

The individual competition was acceptable, as Blue Rain clearly made arrangements based on the map selected at their home venue. In the end, they only fell behind step by step because Ye Xiu completely disrupted their deployment targeting him.

However, the team competition drew a torrent of criticism to Blue Rain. Even after the first round of matches had ended, this match was still the most discussed.

At this time, the Blue Rain team had already begun their vacation. Regarding the final round of the playoffs, their captain, Yu Wenzhou, said everything he needed to say during the press conference.

Next up were Tyranny versus Happy, and Samsara versus Tiny Herb. The playoffs entered an even more tense and fierce stage, and these four teams naturally had no time to relax.

Tyranny Club.

The team competition between Blue Rain and Happy at Blue Rain's home venue, which drew a lot of criticism, was not reviewed by the Blue Rain team after the match. However, the Tyranny team had already taken out the match recording to study it on the third day after the match. After that match, studying this team competition became the main focus of the Tyranny team's preparations for the playoffs.

And what they would be studying at this time was naturally not the eliminated Blue Rain, but Happy. Happy, whom they would face in the next round of the competition, had played so well at Blue Rain's home venue that Blue Rain was criticized beyond recognition.

The critical voices from the outside world were, in their view, also incomprehensible. Of course, they weren't idle enough to defend Blue Rain; what they were concerned about wasn't Blue Rain.

Happy. Three days of research and discussion were focused on Happy, because this match revealed too much information, too much that wasn't available in previous matches, or wasn't as clear.

The entire team was gathered in the tactical meeting room, and the replay of this match was being projected. They had watched it repeatedly, breaking it down countless times over the past three days, but none of the Tyranny players showed the slightest impatience. Their expressions were as focused as if they were in the middle of a match.

Standing in front of the projection screen was Zhang Xinjie, their vice-captain, the strategist of the Tyranny team, and the tactical planner. He was also facing the projection screen, watching the match footage with everyone in silence.

The two teams refreshed and set off. The viewpoint in the picture was completely focused on the Happy team's side.

And the match recording that had been studied continuously for three days was no longer the original file. Now… the Happy five were maintaining their forward movement when suddenly, Mu Yu Chengfeng, one of the five characters, was marked with a red circle that flashed a few times.

The viewing did not stop because of this, because everyone had paid attention to this part many times.

Su Mucheng.

After joining Happy, many people felt that her performance was not as brilliant as it had been in the past. At first, they thought that she had just come to a new team and needed to adapt to new teammates and new roles, but after a whole season, everyone didn't feel that Su Mucheng's performance was particularly amazing.

But these three days, in Tyranny, Zhang Xinjie put forward a very affirmative conclusion.

Su Mucheng's performance was very amazing, but her amazingness was digested in the details.

The marking of Mu Yu Chengfeng during the opening positioning was to emphasize her positioning and adjustments in the formation. This can't be seen by looking at a single character; it needs to be seen from the overall picture.

At the instant the red circle appeared, Baozi Invasion and Boundless Sea both had a slight deviation in their overall movement.

This deviation wasn't because the two weren't in sync, but because the two characters encountered insurmountable obstacles in their straight-line movement and had to make slight changes in direction.

A matter of course, an ordinary action.

However, Su Mucheng also adjusted accordingly.

Mu Yu Chengfeng, who wouldn't encounter any obstacles or crash into trees, adjusted her position after Baozi Invasion and Boundless Sea went around the tree.

The picture froze.

Happy paused at the positional structure of the two characters going around the tree and Mu Yu Chengfeng's slight adjustment.

"A seemingly unimportant detail, but this maintains the absolute integrity of the Happy formation," Zhang Xinjie said, turning around to face everyone.

"This kind of action has been consistently carried out throughout the match, and we will mention it later. The purpose of this point is to make everyone aware that Su Mucheng would subconsciously do this kind of action in a completely unimportant place," Zhang Xinjie said. "If I were to find a suitable explanation, I think that the current Su Mucheng is no longer Ye Xiu's best partner, but the best partner of the entire Happy team."

After three days of research and discussion, this was the first time Zhang Xinjie had given such a clear statement.

"She's more comprehensive and more team-oriented," Lin Jingyan said. As veteran players, they were all familiar with Su Mucheng. After Zhang Xinjie gave this definition, they immediately compared it with the former Su Mucheng as a reference and immediately felt the difference.

The former Su Mucheng, if not only had Ye Xiu in her eyes, was certainly not balanced enough in terms of coordination. Her focus on Ye Xiu's decisions led to the fact that her talent was not maximized.

Because perhaps sometimes, Ye Xiu wasn't the best choice for her coordination. Coordinating and supporting other players in the team could open up the situation even more.

And now, this problem had disappeared.

The match footage quickly reached the point where the two sides made contact. Blue Rain went downwind and launched a strong attack, and Happy was instantly scattered. At this time, Zhang Xinjie switched the viewpoint to Su Mucheng's first-person perspective.

Looking at this first-person perspective, everyone seemed to be immersed in the tense and fierce match.

Su Mucheng's first-person perspective was constantly moving, and some things that had repeatedly appeared in the frame were sometimes far, sometimes near.

Then suddenly, it froze.

It was Zhang Xinjie's selected freeze-frame.

In the frame, Blue Rain's dual sword masters had already broken into the formation. Their cooperation was so exquisite that even Ye Xiu couldn't resist it.

Where was Su Mucheng at this time?

She had all of this in her field of vision, and she had the opportunity to help Happy stabilize the situation, but she didn't…

Su Mucheng's viewpoint was often paying attention to Yu Wenzhou's Swoksaar's movements.

"What would the former Su Mucheng do?" Zhang Xinjie asked.

The veteran players were silent.

The former Su Mucheng would probably be cooperating with Ye Xiu at this time, facing the challenge of Blue Rain's dual sword masters together!

But what about the current Su Mucheng?

"Happy's disarray here is planned. Su Mucheng's response is in line with Happy's plan at this stage. If she had joined forces with Ye Xiu to face Blue Rain's dual sword masters, it would have been difficult for this kind of situation to occur later," Zhang Xinjie said.

The Tyranny players, who had studied the recording for three days, were of course very clear about the later situation. Happy sought order in the chaos, and Blue Rain, who had disrupted Happy's formation, eventually struggled to get out as if they were stuck in a quagmire. Of course, this was inseparable from the efforts of every member of Happy, but the role Su Mucheng played in it seemed very meaningful after the Tyranny team analyzed it for three days.

"Blue Rain didn't monitor Su Mucheng carefully enough," Zhang Xinjie said, while the projection screen cut to a clip of video, scene after scene. It was in this match that Su Mucheng repeatedly used Mu Yu Chengfeng's long-range advantage to intersperse and interfere with Blue Rain's plan implementation. And Blue Rain, who didn't closely monitor Mu Yu Chengfeng, didn't have any effective control, allowing Su Mucheng to play extremely comfortably.

This sentence can be regarded as Zhang Xinjie's criticism of Blue Rain's performance in this match. And this is something that has never appeared in the noisy voices of the present. However, Zhang Xinjie, who noticed this, didn't show any pride. This was also a clue they had concluded after carefully studying and analyzing for three days. Su Mucheng's transformation was very fragmented, and it was difficult to detect without such careful sorting. Zhang Xinjie was just glad at this time, glad that there was such a match to provide them with this fragmented information.

"It seems we have to keep a closer eye on her," Zhang Jiale said at this time.

"Cover her line of sight!" Zhang Xinjie said, looking at Zhang Jiale.

There was no need to say too much between old players. Zhang Jiale took the initiative to open his mouth at this time because he was already clear that he was the most suitable person in the Tyranny team to cut off Su Mucheng's connection with the entire Happy team. Dazzling Hundred Blossoms had long-range attack capabilities, and the Hundred Blossoms style of play could interfere with Su Mucheng's judgment, whether it was covering Mu Yu Chengfeng or covering the overall situation.

A tactical arrangement was set down in this way. Outsiders probably wouldn't have thought that the first person in the Happy team that Tyranny would single out for strict supervision would be Su Mucheng, who didn't seem to attract much attention in Happy.

And this wasn't the only conclusion that Tyranny had studied for three days. The match recording continued to play, and soon it reached the stage where the two sides were fighting in a chaotic mess. Baozi Invasion was once attacked by Blue Rain, but after several conversions, Baozi Invasion and Boundless Sea jointly kidnapped their healer.

What exactly was Happy's purpose in choosing Baozi Invasion to play in this match?

This was another question that Tyranny had been analyzing for the past three days. The choice of players and characters best reflected the team's intentions. Baozi, such an erratic and unstable player, was the least liked by Zhang Xinjie, who strived for rigor. Compared to Yu Wenzhou, he was more concerned about how Happy would use this kind of player who might stab themselves at a critical moment.

With Ye Xiu's support, this was a problem that Yu Wenzhou discovered on the field, and Tyranny also quickly noticed. However, this only meant that Happy had a certain ability to digest the hidden dangers of Baozi's instability. What was the purpose of Baozi's appearance had nothing to do with this. Could it be that he was on the field to consume Ye Xiu's attention?

As the match recording progressed to the kidnapping of Blue Rain's healer, Soul Speaker, the projection screen turned into a collection of clips again.

A collection of clips of Baozi Invasion attacking Soul Speaker.

Conclusion: Baozi's appearance was to target Xu Jingxi's Soul Speaker. The rogue class had many means of interrupting skills, and the guardian angel, who was good at defense, had many defensive means, which needed a rogue class to restrict.

The picture froze on the stage where Baozi Invasion directly released a Overlord's Fist to knock down Soul Speaker.

"Isn't it exaggerated?" Zhang Xinjie said, pointing to this scene. "But if it wasn't so exaggerated, if Soul Speaker used a Guardian Virtue or an Angel's Radiance at this time, the situation would be broken."

"This Bao Rongxing, he feels very active in doing this kind of thing…" Feel… Zhang Xinjie never does things based on feelings. He is so rigorous that he can only say such ambiguous words at this time. He really can't grasp Baozi.