“So, he chose to voluntarily expose his location,” Passing Rain commented inside the conference room. “Brother Long is being awfully confident with himself.”
Laughing Soul corrected, “Or perhaps… because he is familiar with Xiao Tan’s fighting style that he believes fighting head-on is more advantageous to him.”
Passing Rain turned to Feng Bujue to ask, “If it was you, how would you deal with this fight?”
“Hmm… I will use some wire and grenade to make a conspicuous trap and then right behind that obvious trap, I will use a second grenade and the military shovel to lay down a more hidden trap. Then on the wall behind the trap, I’ll write ‘why so serious’?” Feng Bujue replied instantly. “After doing all that, I will cut off the lights in the tunnel or break all the nearby lightbulbs and all that’s left is to wait.”
“Somehow I feel like there was an unnecessary step in there…” Passing Rain was finally infected by the illness of mocking Brother Jue as well.
“That’s enough. Back on the match please,” Laughing Soul interrupted them. Her gaze had not left the screen.
…
At that moment, the system used a split screen to follow Wang Tanzi and Long Aomin’s movement. After Brother Long gave that shout, he quieted down and focused on his hearing. He wished to use his hearing to capture his opponent’s movement, but other than the echo of his own shout, he heard nothing else. Xiao Tan reacted calmly. He knew where his advantage was and knew the condition that his opponent was trying to draw him into. Therefore, he chose the direction opposite from the source of the shout and ran down it.
Fighting head-on was definitely Long Aomin’s specialty. He was particularly good at defensive maneuvers and his skills were design to hinder agile-based players. Brother Long could ignore the niggling damage that normal blades would deal on him. He could use the shield or his own body armor to deflect the attack. Facing skills that would deal medium-level damage, he would counter with defensive skill. Even if his defense was broken, he wouldn’t suffer too much loss in Life Points. Other than that, Brother Long had a passive skill from the Medic skill. His equipment and outfit were all leaning toward the self-recovery element. If the attacker’s damage or intensity slowed down, and he was given a breather, then his Life Points would auto-recover…
If the opponent were a fighting type opponent that used hammers, staffs, or even bare fists, Brother Long might be pressured slightly because the attacks would come with some impact damage. But for players with bladed weapons, their attack style mostly revolved around stabs and lunges. Their individual damage wouldn’t be high and most of the time they would not break through his defense. Therefore, in a normal battle, what Long Aomin needed to do was to ensure that he did not carelessly expose any opening. As a shield player, he would exhaust his Stamina Points far slower than an offensive player. The longer the battle was dragged out, the greater the advantage he would have in terms of Stamina Points.
The perfect example was his match with Zen Dream. The latter was unable to break through his defense and was cornered into the passive role. When he realized the strategy that Brother Long was employing, it was already too late… At that juncture if he stopped… Brother Long would auto-recover his Life Points. If he continued his assault… His own Stamina Points would run out soon enough. Caught in an impossible position, Zen Dream was sent packing by Brother Long.
If they met up again, Zen Dream would throw everything he had at Brother Long and hope to break through his defense while he was still in his optimum state. Alas… a match was a match. There was no do-over. Of course, Xiao Tan was not going to make the same mistake Zen Dream did. From the start, he knew Long Aomin’s tactics, so his plan was clear—assassination.
“Hmm… There is no response, and he makes no sound…” Brother Long waited for two seconds and thought, Based on my knowledge… Xiao Tan only has one hidden skill and he needs a crowd to use it. In this environment… As fast as he is, he will be discovered once he tries to get close to me.
He thought for a while and predicted. This kid, Xiao Tan, might not be as crazed as Brother Feng, but he is not an idiot. With his understanding of my ability… he will come up with a plan of his own…
Long Aomin soon arrived at the correct prediction that his opponent was running away from him. He mumbled, “So he doesn’t wish to come and face me head-on… but it does not matter.” He appeared at ease. He selected a random direction and walked down it.
…
“Oh… the man is not as brash as I thought.” Feng Bujue suddenly gave this critique that came out of nowhere.
“What have you noticed?” Passing Rain asked.
Feng Bujue replied, “Regarding Brother Long’s earlier shout…” He leaned against the back of the chair and turned to explain to Passing Rain, “It appears like it has exposed his location but actually… it was a very invasive tactical decision.”
“How did you come to that decision… Leader?” Laughing Soul could not get the connection that was made.
Feng Bujue said, “Think about it… Brother Long is not afraid of bladed opponents; he also knows that Xiao Tan wouldn’t be able to one-shot him from a distance. Therefore, even if he exposes his location, he will not worry about being sniped.”
“Then wouldn’t it be the same if he did not shout?” Passing Rain asked.
“Wrong.” Feng Bujue shook his head. “There is a difference.” He raised his finger to point at Xiao Tan. “He now knows the location of his opponent.” He then pointed at Long Aomin, “But he does not know his opponent’s location.”
Laughing Soul snapped her finger. “Oh! I get it now!” She said, “AFK-like behavior!”
“Indeed…” Passing Rain got it as well. “Xiao Tan is voluntarily moving away from his opponent, but Brother Long… Since he does not know Xiao Tan’s location, no matter where he is moving, he will be seen as looking for his opponent by the system.”
“Aiz…” Feng Bujue sighed, “Even you two need my reminder to realize this difference. That kid… well, I don’t feel optimistic for him.”
“But… the system will take some time before it marks anyone as showing AFK behavior, right?” Laughing Soul asked.
“Time is a factor, and the two other factors will be his intention and action.” Feng Bujue explained, “In terms of intention, to put it plainly… consciously, Xiao Tan has to be doing something that he believes will be helpful in defeating his opponent. If that is the case, even if he dug a hole in the ground and climbed into it, slept directly on the rail, or running away like he is doing now, it would appear as AFK-like behavior. The best example is what he did in his previous match. Even though it did not help anything when he was swinging the elevator booth, in his mind, he believed that he was doing something productive.” He paused. “But now he is just running away without any main intention. He only knows that he needs to stay away from his opponent but has no idea what to do next. Well, to ensure that he is not marked as AFK-ing, he will have to act soon…”
“The only action that he is doing now is running away…” Laughing Soul concluded.
Feng Bujue shrugged. “Indeed. So… we can only hope that… This is part of the plan that he has already formulated inside his head.”
…
“Jesus, I have nothing~” Xiao Tan mumbled as he walked forward. “I’ve been walking for 10 minutes already, and I haven’t seen the end of the tunnel or figured out a way to deal with Brother Long. Then, I’m just fleeing?” He hugged his head and squatted down. He scratched his head, yammering, “If this continues, I’ll be deemed as AFK-ing soon…”
“Think, think, think, think…” Xiao Tan said to himself. He stood up to pace. “One hit KO, one hit KO…” He repeated this again and again like a mantra as he scanned his skill tab and inventory. “It has to be fast and strong enough… and I only have one chance… Brother Long’s shield skill and counter skill can stop me from following up the first strike and the tunnel is too narrow for me to kite him… If I can’t finish this in one shot, it’ll be dragged out and not good for me.” The more he thought about it, the greater the despair. If not for the thought that his match might be broadcasted, Xiao Tan might be rolling on the ground already.
“I can only hope that Brother Long will be rammed into a train, can’t I?” Xiao Tan sighed. “But with the condition of this tunnel, you won’t get hit by the train if you stick your body close to the wall…” His assessment was not wrong. Even if the train really arrived, when the train passed through the tunnel, there were still more than 10 centimeters between the two walls and the train itself.
As long as the player stood to the side and leaned fully against the wall, they would not be hit. “Furthermore, there is no guarantee that the train will come from Brother Long’s side. If it comes from this side…” When he thought about that, suddenly he was struck by inspiration. As mentioned earlier, even though Xiao Tan was not as good as strategizing as Feng Bujue, when he was ‘inspired’, his plan would awe even Brother Jue.
At that moment, perhaps it had to do with his innate instinct. A very maddening idea that would have made the best gambler proud appeared in Xiao Tan’s mind…
…
“I’ve been running at 60 percent maximum speed already and I still see no exit… looks like the system does not plan for the players to leave this tunnel.” At this point, Long Aomin could confirm that he had chosen the direction opposite from Xiao Tan. “So, I’ve picked the wrong side…” He sighed. “Phew… but Xiao Tan should be coming back as well. If not, he will be marked as AFK-ing.” He turned around with that thought. “Then I better go back to meet up with him and finish this duel.”
Wu! Korokoro!
At that moment, from the far end of the tunnel came the sound of a train running on tracks. Soon, a large locomotive engine appeared in Long Aomin’s sight. Brother Long naturally had considered a train running through the tunnel. Seeing this, he swiftly moved to the side of the wall and leaned into it.
“An old-fashioned steam train, huh… But it is moving quite fast.” Brother Long turned his face around to look at the approaching locomotive.
Suddenly, his expression changed. In just two brief seconds, Brother Long took on the expressions that expressed confusion, shock, and panic…
“Beep!” Long Aomin cursed before adding with urgency, “This is ridiculous! How did he get up there!”