Chapter 975: Gun Fu
Translator: Nomyummi Editor: Nomyummi
Cough cough cough cough…...
Wei Chen's remark sent Team Happy into a fit of coughs. Everyone used this method to dodge the question. They all refused to answer it. However, Gods were still the mightiest. The look on Ye Xiu's face didn't change. He calmly replied back: "You typed pretty well."
"Hahaha, that's what I meant." Wei Chen laughed, sending Team Happy into another fit of coughs.
The individual competition was over. Team Happy won all three rounds, taking three points for themselves. Having not won any points in the individual competition, Team Mysterious Fantasy needed to win either the group arena or team competition. As for Team Happy, after winning these three points, the group arena wasn't as stressful. The deciding battle would definitely be the team competition.
But since Team Happy needed to win more than 8 points to qualify out of groups, they already knew that they needed to win the team competition, so their mentality was no different than before. Winning all three points in the individual competition made their morale soar. As for Team Mysterious Fantasy, after two losses in the individual competition, the third round made a turn for the better. When things moved to the extreme, they could only move in the opposite direction. In the third round, Wei Chen beating their player in such a manner made Team Mysterious Fantasy furious. Under the instigation from the experienced Zhang Yiwei, their morale ignited once more. It was only a pity that this third player could only become a sacrificial pawn for Zhang Yiwei's morale boost. At this moment, Zhang Yiwei didn't have the time to console this player.
The break between the individual competition and the group arena was rather long. After both sides made their preparations, they went into battle once again. The fires of the competition grew increasingly stronger.
"Okay, Team Mysterious Fantasy versus Team Happy. The second round's group arena will soon start." On the broadcast, advertisements would be played during the break time. Just before the group arena began, the broadcast returned to the program and the commentator began his work once again. In the previous battle, the commentator practically didn't utter a word near the end. Usually, this could be considered as a broadcasting accident, but it was unprecedented this time. The commentator didn't speak when he was meant to. It seemed like Wei Chen's super shamelessness had stunned everyone. Everyone understood the commentator's reaction and forgave him.
"The players on both sides have now entered the stage. On Team Happy's side, the first player to go out is Bao Rongxing. This player is the definition of a rookie. He'll frequently make extremely low-level mistakes. Who knows what type of performance he will give in a crucial match like today's? On Team Mysterious Fantasy's side, the first player to go out is Tang Xing. This arrangement is a little unexpected! As Team Mysterious Fantasy's captain, Tang Xing cold be considered their team's best player. According to the usual convention, this type of player should be the last one in the group arena. I wonder why Team Mysterious Fantasy made such an arrangement. We all know that Team Mysterious Fantasy has their own dedicated coach to guide them. There should be a reason for this arrangement. We'll only be able to figure out what his intentions are from watching the match. Okay, the match has officially started."
The commentator had been awkwardly silent in the previous round. It was as if his words had been transferred to this one. He talked non-stop as soon as he started.
'The characters on both sides are moving forward. Neither of them are employing any tactical moves. Are they planning on directly confronting each other?"
"Oh, Tang Xing has changed his pathing. He's started to take a roundabout route. It looks like he's planning on catching his opponent off guard."
"Okay, Tang Xing has successfully circled around to the side of his opponent. Bao Rongxing hasn't noticed him yet."
"Tang Xing is moving closer step by step. He can already start attacking at this distance! But Bao Rongxing still hasn't noticed him. He's still moving forward like before. That shouldn't be happening. It's already been this long and he hasn't encountered his opponent. Shouldn't he know that the opponent isn't just charging forward?"
"Tang Xing is by Steamed Bun Invasion's side. He still hasn't attacked... Uh, at this moment, I think many people are thinking the same thing as me. Remember the second round of the individual competition? Is Tang Xing planning on using this method to fight eye for an eye?"
"Oh, he's not doing that! Tang Xing has attacked. He's taken the initiative." As the commentator shouted, the two sides started their first exchange.
Tang Xing's character was a Sharpshooter. It was the class that their coach Zhang Yiwei once used. Zhang Yiwei also placed a lot of hope and expectations on him because of this. Under his guidance, hints of his past self appeared in Tang Xing's playstyle.
Gun Fu!
This was what Zhang Yiwei had been most proficient in. After become the coach for Team Mysterious Fantasy, he had done everything he could to help Tang Xing. He could be considered one of the rare bright spots in this weak team.
Gun Fu didn't mean that the Sharpshooter would go up close and start brawling, but it also didn't mean that the Sharpshooter would move too far away from the opponent either. The crux of this playstyle revolved around the four words "having room to maneuver". What exactly this entailed depended on every player's skill level.
Tang Xing's Gun Fu maintained about 5 units from the opponent to freely move around. It was a rather ordinary level for Sharpshooters proficient at this playstyle. He was very far away from a top God like Zhou Zekai, who maintained about 3 units .
One unit was the length of one step taken by a character moving normally, so Gun Fu was usually divided into X Steps. How many steps was the best depended on each player's preference, but those who could use Three Steps Gun Fu could also easily do Five Steps Gun Fu. However, those who could only use Five Steps Gun Fu would find it extremely difficult to do Three Steps Gun Fu. Every step required a faster reaction time and higher technical skill.
Tang Xing had limited talent. After receiving Zhang Yiwei's guidance, he became specialized at Gun Fu. Unfortunately, he could only reach Five Steps and couldn't go past it. There was nothing Zhang Yiwei could do about that. In the past, his Gun Fu had also only reached Four Steps. He couldn't advance any further. He was fully aware of the helplessness of lacking talent, so he couldn't demand Tang Xing to breakthrough to Four Steps. He could only have him continue improving his utilization of Five Steps Gun Fu.
Five Steps Gun Fu was more than enough to deal with a rookie like Bao Rongxin.
Tang Xing's Sharpshooter rushed forward and quickly entered a five step radius. Zhang Yiwei nodded his head in satisfaction at Tang Xing's skillful Gun Fu.
Steamed Bun looked somewhat panicked after being ambushed. It looked like he had no plans on resisting. Steamed Bun Invasion stumbled about from Tang Xing's Sharpshooter. Running away seemed to be the only thing on his mind.
Zhang Yiwei laughed loudly. That was too much of a rookie's reaction. He had no idea what to do when caught unprepared. He didn't have the experience to make any subconscious decisions. The only thing he could do was run.
"I truly don't understand why you keep using a player like him again and again." Zhang Yiwei looked towards Ye Xiu.
"What's the problem?" Ye Xiu asked back.
"What the problem? Do I really need to point it out?" Zhang Yiwei saw Steamed Bun Invasion's sorry figure.
"I think the problem is with you. Isn't running away the correct way of dealing with Gun Fu?" Ye Xiu said.
The smile on Zhang Yiwei's face suddenly froze.
Ye Xiu's words were simple, but he understood his meaning. In more professional terminology, running away translated to constantly moving and altering the distance between the two sides.
The crux of Gun Fu was distance. If Tang Xing controlled the distance, Gun Fu's characteristic of freely maneuvering around would be fully utilized, but if he couldn't control the distance, Gun Fu would be disrupted, giving the opponent an opportunity to counter attack.
Steamed Bun Invasion was running and stumbling while being chased by Tang Xing's Sharpshooter. That along with him clearly being a rookie made it difficult to connect it with tactics. After listening to Ye Xiu's words, he looked more carefully. Steamed Bun Invasion was running away like a dog, but he was successfully dodging attack after attack. Because Tang Xing needed to chase his opponent, he was unable to control the distance between them.
Is he intentionally moving like that? Zhang Yiwei looked left and right. He couldn't help but think it didn't seem to be the case. If it was intentional, why did it need to look so ugly? But then again, this kind of ugliness would very likely lower Tang Xing's guard. From the individual competition, it could be seen that Team Happy's players didn't care about their images at all. They had no intentions of trying to gain the crowd's favor. They used whatever methods they could to win.
For a team like that, pretending to be a fool to make the opponent lower his guard was as easy as pie.
Tang Xing! Don't fall for it! Hurry up and see through it!!
Zhang Yiwei started to worry. He had placed Tang Xing first to establish a psychological advantage because he knew that Team Happy certainly put God Ye Qiu last in the group arena. If the two sides fought evenly in the first two rounds, God Ye Qiu would determine the winner of this group arena. Even if they had their most outstanding player Tang Xing go last, Ye Qiu wouldn't be afraid of him at all.
Thus, he might as well just put Tang Xing first and hopefully have him beat more Team Happy players. That way, they might be able to have their remaining two players face Ye Qiu. Wouldn't a 2v1 give them a psychological advantage?
But now, Tang Xing might fall into a trap. How could he not worry?
"Not good!"
He was roaring at Tang Xing in his heart to notice, fearful of the consequences, but then, an opening appeared in Tang Xing's Gun Fu. Zhang Yiwei, who was also an expert at Gun Fu, and immediately noticed it.
And closely following it, a brick whistled by.