Chapter 58 I'll Ask You, Are You Afraid?

"Yang Ma Television! Yang Ma Television! Hello, viewers! Today is June 17, 2017, and we are in Yawata City, Japan! Welcome to our live broadcast of the World Cup Individual Tournament, Round 5! I am your host, Wan Ming!"

The female host said loudly, "I am your host, Ye Xunyuan!"

Wan Ming's voice carried a hint of a smile as he also said loudly, "As you can hear, it's quite noisy around us. The atmosphere here is just too high!"

Ye Xunyuan, wearing a headset, said with a hint of excitement in her voice, "Today, right here in the Yawata City Stadium, four matches are about to take place!

Among them, two matches feature our Chinese athletes, namely, National Team Captain Hou Mingming, against Ciya's Hunting Goddess, Carmelita!

And Jiang Xiaopi, who is known as Jiu Xing Du Nai, against American player George Star!"

Wan Ming said, "Having reached the top 41 in the world, the competition venue has also changed from a university stadium to a provincial-level stadium, which can accommodate nearly 30,000 people! Listen to the cheers from the crowd! The match is still 30 minutes away, and we can already hear the national anthem being played!"

The camera turned to the stadium with 30,000 people, where the red sea filled half of it. Divided by the football field's center line, the entire eastern grandstand, a full semicircle, was a sea of red from top to bottom...

Red flags, red and white jerseys, red face paint...

Accompanied by expectant faces and inspiring cheers.

As the live sound was captured, viewers in front of their TVs heard the familiar song resonating in the skies of a foreign land.

This scene was the greatest support for Hou Mingming and Jiang Xiao.

The lovely Chinese people had turned this place into the home field for both of them.

There were no native Japanese players among the participants in the stadium today.

Jiang Xiao had reason to believe that if Japan hadn't imposed some restrictions on the ticketing process, the entire stadium might have been filled with red.

Jiang Xiao and Hou Mingming were both in the number one position, and both had matches in the morning session, so they were naturally stationed on the eastern half of the green field.

Listening to the inspiring song, Ye Xunyuan couldn't help but say excitedly, "This is truly a grand event. Since the start of the competition, there has never been such a massive support team. Already in the top 41 in the world, everything has changed."

Wan Ming: "Haha, indeed, we two are already reporting live for our fellow countrymen, aren't we? Speaking of which, Hou Mingming and Jiang Xiaopi's popularity is truly terrifying!

Here's a little inside information for everyone: a few hours before Xun Yuan and I entered, there were still large groups of Chinese spectators lingering outside the stadium. They couldn't buy tickets but were unwilling to leave, so they stood in the square outside, watching the match on the big screen."

Ye Xunyuan: "Alright, let's get back to the match itself. Since Jiang Xiaopi is in the second match, and due to the upgraded format, the second match won't officially start until 9 o'clock.

We've already asked the staff to invite Jiang Xiaopi to be our guest, and we just learned that he has accepted our invitation and is on his way."

At the same time, in the locker room, Jiang Xiao, who was "on his way," was sitting face-to-face with Hou Mingming, playing... rock-paper-scissors?

The two had been playing for almost five minutes, and Jiang Xiao hadn't won once.

Hou Mingming stared intently at Jiang Xiao's fist, and every time she counted to three, she would judge what he was going to throw based on the trend of his fingers, and quickly react and respond.

Jiang Xiao didn't have any countermeasures; he even consciously slowed down his movements slightly.

Hou Mingming was watching Jiang Xiao's hand, but Jiang Xiao was watching Hou Mingming's eyes.

Focused and serious, even in a simple game, her desire to win was terrifyingly strong.

For Hou Mingming, this seemed like a good game to train her brain's reaction, allowing her to remain focused and undistracted.

As Jiang Xiao's fist was once again defeated by Hou Mingming's paper.

Jiang Xiao said, "Alright, don't tire your brain out too much. Take a break. The team has ordered me to go to the live broadcast booth to say hello."

Hou Mingming stared at Jiang Xiao's fist and said, "Last three times."

Jiang Xiao said helplessly, "Alright, alright, let's just leave it."

Hou Mingming said stubbornly, "One last time."

Jiang Xiao: "..."

Hou Mingming: "Rock, paper... scissors!"

Hou Mingming used her swift reaction and threw scissors, while Jiang Xiao threw paper.

The corners of Hou Mingming's mouth slightly raised, and she even used two fingers to pinch Jiang Xiao's palm, making a "cut" motion.

"I'm leaving, see you later." Jiang Xiao shook off her hand, greeted Teacher Fang, who was nearby, and turned to leave the locker room.

He found the staff member who had come to meet him at the door, and Jiang Xiao followed him to the Chinese live broadcast booth.

......

"Ha, here he comes, Xiao Pi is here!" Wan Ming turned around and waved continuously at the area outside the camera's view, and the surrounding sounds obviously grew louder.

Outside the camera's view, Jiang Xiao walked through a sea of red, or rather, a boiling sea of red.

"Jiang Xiaopi!"

"Go, Jiang Xiaopi!"

"Jiang Xiaopi! I love you! Jiang Xiaopi!"

"Victory! Victory!"

Soon, Jiang Xiao, wearing the national team uniform, walked over, shook hands with Wan Ming, and greeted Ye Xunyuan.

Ye Xunyuan had an admiring smile on her face as she said, "I really didn't expect that you would actually appear here."

Jiang Xiao sat down between the two. The live broadcast booth had a special location in the northeast corner of the last row. Jiang Xiao didn't know much about this, and didn't know if this location was good or bad. From this angle, it had a overlooking effect, but the participating players would be relatively small.

Hearing Ye Xunyuan's question, Jiang Xiao smiled and said, "My match is here, of course I'm going to be here."

Ye Xunyuan knew that Jiang Xiao had misunderstood, and hurriedly said, "I mean, I really encountered you in the World Cup top 41 competition."

Jiang Xiao scratched his head and said, "Didn't I already say during the last interview that I came here to break the record?"

Ye Xunyuan nodded and smiled, "Yes, but at that time, you had only entered the second stage of the national team selection, and you weren't even a starter. You even asked me two questions."

Wan Ming, as an excellent host, finally found a chance to interject into the topic: "Ah, I remember those two questions!

'If I said I would enter the top eight and wear the battle robe to fight for the country, would you believe it?'

'If I said I would break the World Cup record for the best support player, would you believe it?'"

Ye Xunyuan said, "It seems that you have already completed one, and I hope you can complete the second."

Jiang Xiao nodded thoughtfully: "Since we've met again, let's keep the tradition of soul-searching questions. If I said now that I will enter the World Cup finals, would you believe it?"

For a moment, Ye Xunyuan was stunned.

Wan Ming knew that this was a live broadcast, not a rebroadcast, so it couldn't be edited or corrected, and hurriedly changed the subject, "Xiao Pi, we invited you here today to analyze the match. Hou Mingming's match is about to start, how much chance do you think Hou Mingming has of winning?"

Jiang Xiao thought for a moment and said, "If that Hunting Goddess wants to stand and trade blows with Hou Mingming, I personally think Hou Mingming will be the one standing at the end. But if this Hunting Goddess plans to use a spear for close combat, then it depends on her speed.

In the past four rounds of matches, the Hunting Goddess hasn't shown her close-range spear skills, but from her college-era data, her close-range skills are indeed not bad. In the end, it all comes down to speed."

Wan Ming: "Speed?"

Jiang Xiao nodded and said, "Yes, speed. To deal with someone like Hou Mingming, you can't just defend. So far, in the World Cup, there hasn't been anyone who can truly defend against her bombardment.

If you want to win, you have to attack.

Although Hou Mingming is classified as an Agility-Combat type, her attacking style should be classified as a Magic type.

She specializes in long-range output and control. The best way to deal with this kind of Magic type is to quickly close in and fight face-to-face.

Of course, if you have hard control like me, then that's another story."

Wan Ming: "..."

Ye Xunyuan said quietly, "Besides you, there are no support types in the entire roster. We can still find a few soft controls for interference and consumption, but where can we find hard control?"

Jiang Xiao grinned and said, "Even me, I have to fight her face-to-face. There's no doubt about that."

Wan Ming seemed to have gotten the hang of it and said, "So, Hou Mingming is a Magic-type output in Agility-Combat clothing?"

Jiang Xiao: "You can't say she's wearing clothing, after all, she is an Agility-Combat type. All her defensive skills and agility techniques are undoubtedly Agility-Combat."

Ye Xunyuan said quietly, "So, you're a support wearing Agility-Combat clothing?"

"Eh?" Jiang Xiao was taken aback and hurriedly said, "No, I'm a pure support, just a bit more capable of fighting."

Wan Ming: "..."

Ye Xunyuan: "..."

When the ten minutes were up, the staff immediately urged Jiang Xiao to go back. Jiang Xiao hurriedly bid farewell to the two.

Everyone waited anxiously for a long time.

The match between Hou Mingming and Ciya's Hunting Goddess finally began amidst cheers.

Since the interval between the two matches was lengthened, Jiang Xiao didn't need to wait outside, so at this time, he was held down in the locker room, looking up at the live broadcast on TV.

Poor Jiang Xiao, the match venue was right outside, but he could only stay here and watch the live broadcast...

On the field, the two archers were truly evenly matched.

Hou Mingming revealed the Star Map of the Serrated Bow (with blades on both ends), wearing a gold, red, and white national team uniform.

Carmelita revealed the Star Map of the Longbow, wearing a blue and white national team uniform. Her resolute facial lines were somewhat stiff, and her eyes were like an eagle's, incomparably sharp. Her long golden-brown hair was tied into a long ponytail, fluttering lightly.

The two sides were separated by half the field, frantically shooting at each other!

Hou Mingming shot a series of arrows straight at Carmelita's face.

Carmelita held the spirit bow and shot the arrows into the air. The hunting spirit arrows hung high and instantly showered down a rain of arrows, attacking Hou Mingming's area.

This kind of attack with speed and range was impossible to dodge unless you immediately dodged and ran away.

But Hou Mingming had no intention of dodging at all, and a series of arrows shot out rapidly from her hand. Waves of star power surged, causing her ponytail to flutter.

One special-effect arrow after another was mixed into the ranks of the tracking black feather arrows, shooting at Carmelita.

Hou Mingming even looked up at the arrows raining down from the sky while shooting.

Swish!

The next moment, Hou Mingming petrified, her whole body, along with the national team uniform, turned into stone and stiffened, enduring the opponent's attack head-on!

Dense spirit arrows struck Hou Mingming's head and limbs, causing cracks to appear on the petrified Hou Mingming statue.

After the rain of arrows, the stone statue shattered, and Hou Mingming drew her bow and shot arrows again.

On the opposite side, Carmelita's body flashed and moved. The tracking arrows darted around her. As Carmelita jumped high, the tracking arrows couldn't turn in time and shattered on the ground.

And those special arrows without tracking effects had long since disappeared.

In the high sky, Carmelita let out a Valkyrie's roar and drew her bow and shot again, rapid-firing, still in the high sky.

Hou Mingming shot arrows while looking up, but frowned slightly.

This time, she didn't choose to endure head-on, but quickly dodged.

Then, one spirit arrow after another shot out, but in mid-air, they suddenly opened into a large net, showering down on Hou Mingming.

One, two, three... At this speed, she couldn't avoid the fourth!

This should be an arrow with a binding effect, a control-type spirit arrow unique to the Ciya country.

Hou Mingming stopped and suddenly drew her bow and shot an arrow of blue feathers.

The next moment, the blue feather arrow that shot out of her hand instantly turned into a super giant arrow, carrying the fourth arrow net all the way back into the sky, even accurately shooting into the arrows hanging in the sky, directly shattering them.

The two traded moves and frantically shot at each other, having a great time.

But this wasn't a turn-based attack. While Hou Mingming was defusing the attack, Carmelita's next wave of attacks still came. This wave of attacks wasn't overwhelming, but just a short, dark red arrow.

It didn't even shoot Hou Mingming, but swayed ten meters in front of her, plunging into the ground.

The next moment, the green field around the dark red arrow was quickly polluted. The green turf quickly withered and spread around, eroding towards the location where Hou Mingming was standing.

Hou Mingming retreated rapidly, raised her hand and shot an arrow, a dark green arrow flew out rapidly, and then, a black feather arrow shot out again, chasing after the dark green arrow.

About 6 meters in front of Carmelita's left, the black feather arrow caught up with the dark green arrow and detonated it directly.

The next moment, green poisonous fog spread out, quickly sweeping around, polluting the enemy's half of the area.

At the same time, a semi-transparent arrow that spun extremely fast, even drawing an arc, came from Hou Mingming's left.

Hou Mingming turned around sharply, drew her bow and shot an arrow.

The next moment, this semi-transparent arrow directly transformed, instantly turning into Carmelita herself!

Carmelita let out a battle cry, ducked, and rushed towards Hou Mingming.

Hou Mingming's crystalline lips, with bright lipstick on them, corners of her mouth slightly raised, smiling unrestrainedly, heroic and compelling.

She didn't fear at all, holding the war bow, she actually went up to meet her head-on!

The spirit bow collided with the war bow.

Oh my god!

Archers are fighting in close combat!

Why doesn't the Hunting Goddess use a spear? Why?

In the locker room, Jiang Xiao couldn't care less. He held his head in his hands and watched the TV screen blankly.

Jiang Xiao kept repeating two words: "Damn... Damn... Damn? Damn!"

......

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