After the end of the second round, only 720 players were left in the Battle of the Cocoon, and Wang Tanzhi was one of them. After that battle, Brother Long reached out to Xiao Tan to discuss their match. Long Aomin was not someone who would hold on to grudges, and he was a gracious loser. He did not resent Xiao Tan. If anything, he admired Xiao Tan’s out-of-the-box tactic, and he almost clapped for Xiao Tan. He didn’t though. That would have been awkward.
After all, Blade Edge was not a business. There were no requirements and qualifications that needed to be complied with in determining a member’s final ranking, so it did not matter whether Brother Long lost the tournament. Their match gained quite a bit of traction online. Because Brother Long sent Zen Dream into the redemption round in the first round, many players saw him as a dark horse. One round later, the ID Long Aomin, which was just starting to become famous, was revealed to have been eliminated.
Messages like “I told you… Long Aomin won the first round out of luck” started to gain traction on the forum. Those who started these conversation threads, however, had not seen any of Brother Long’s matches before. If they had done any research, they would not have come to hasty conclusions, which they only based on their limited observations. Of course, there were quite a number of people who watched Wang Tanzhi’s battle against Long Aomin. Most of them were watching it for Brother Long, but they did not expect the battle in the tunnel to end like that… and in such a dramatic manner as well.
Xiao Tan completed an assassination that could have been seen as a classic before thousands of audiences. Luck may have played a part in it, but like what Feng Bujue said, since he came up with this plan and even risked himself by executing it, he won the match fair and square. But compared to the fame Brother Long enjoyed after winning the first round, the ID Wang Tanzhi was not much talked about in the forum. Looks like most still thought he had won the round just out of pure luck.
At 1 AM of the 21st of May, the third round started. Like the two previous rounds, Xiao Tan prepared in his log-in lobby. It was that familiar system notification.
“The first round of Battle of the Cocoon will start soon. Your data will be input in 30 seconds. Please do not leave the log-in lobby. Ten seconds countdown before logging in. Ten, nine, eight, seven…two, one.”
After the countdown ended, the opening did not arrive. After about five seconds of silence, Xiao Tan started to think that something was not right. Suddenly, the system announcement came popped up.
“Suitable match not found. You pass this round. Congratulations on moving through to the next round.”
“Huh?” After Xiao Tan heard that announcement, he was rather flustered. He reacted after about a few seconds. “Someone has missed their queue?”
The obvious answer was yes. This was such a coincidence. Of the 720 players in the third round, one came late. The reason being his wife went into labor. He was by her side at the hospital the whole day, so he did not go online. If two players had been absent, the system could have paired Xiao Tan with someone else, and it would have worked out normally. But since only one player was missing from the picture, there were only 719 players, and one had to be left unpaired.
And Xiao Tan was the lucky player.
Five minutes later, when he arrived at Feng Bujue’s conference room and told him what happened, Brother Jue only had one thing to say. “Your luck is just legendary… If you give me twenty percent of your luck, I will sell everything I own tomorrow and hop on the first plane to Macau.”
In any case, that was how Xiao Tan sailed through the tournament into the Top 360. Just like that. On the second day, what happened to him was much talked about in the forum. Many other accounts posted, signifying that they stood on the moral high ground. They lambasted Dream Inc. on the forum. There were many threads, and they were framed in different ways, but the core of the message was that it was unfair. “This is so unfair! The system should have paired him with someone from the redemption round, and the winner should have proceeded to the next round!”
Those who were not easily fooled knew these were dummy accounts of those hired by some not-so-high-class gaming studios. They wished for their eliminated players to have a second chance, so they saw this opportunity as their saving grace. They spent money to buy support and stood on the side of vindication and justification. They stopped at nothing to create chaos and anarchy, attempting to pressure the game company into caving to their demands. However, they had no idea who they were messing with.
Dream Inc. was not a normal gaming company. They were not easily fazed by slander and public pressure, and it had become their business practice. If a player was unable to participate in the battle due to external factors, they were disqualified. That was something written in black and white in the rule book. As usual, Dream Inc. ignored the dummy accounts.
Therefore, after failing to get what they wanted from Dream Inc., the angered “players” turned their attention to Xiao Tan. The poor guy was unlucky to be chosen as the scapegoat. He now had a target on his back. If he performed well in the fourth round, then they would have nothing to say, but if he died in one shot, his loss would be fodder for the dummy accounts and would be reason enough to attack him again. By then, threads like “If XXX was given a chance to fight in his place, XXX would have won!” or “Dream Inc. would rather let a noob player pass but refuse to give a chance to those with real talent. Where is the fairness in the world?” would definitely flood the forum.
At 1 AM on the 22nd of May, the fourth round started. After the countdown, the system recited the opening in a strangely formal way. “The pupa in the cocoon hibernates for three nights in the forest, spinning the smoothest silk into the hardest carapace.”
“Download complete. You are currently playing Tournament for the Best—Battle of the Cocoon.”
“This mode does not have a scenario introduction, no side/hidden quest or unique world view.
“Reward for winning the scenario: Join the winners’ group.”
“Main quest has been triggered.”
“Kill your opponent.”
Xiao Tan was teleported to a barren and dark plain. The ground under his feet was firm and where vegetation refused to grow. He looked around, and the plain stretched to the horizon. There was no obvious landmark around.
The moon hung high in the sky.
Two figures stood facing each other.
A familiar face appeared in Wang Tanzhi’s sight. Without checking the game menu, Xiao Tan recognized his opponent—Seven Kills. And Seven Kills remembered this man wearing the assassin outfit.
This map provided neither of them with an advantage, and there was no external factors to influence the battle like the train in the battle of the tunnel. Both of them knew that.
Seven Kills was good friends with Brother Long, and this was not his first time facing Xiao Tan. Therefore, to expect him to let his guard down was impossible.
The moon lit up the ground for a thousand miles, and the air seemed tense and menacing.
The winner would move forward, and the loser would be forgotten in the dust. There was no return, and no one would bow down.
Hmm… This kind of map and this kind of opponent… looks like this is not going to end well for me. Xiao Tan adjusted his breath and thought to himself. He looked at his hands. Why am I shaking from excitement? Is it because deep inside my heart I am yearning for this kind of battle?