Chapter 98

On the day of the final, the two teams arrived at the final venue early in the morning.

Unlike for a usual regular season game, the two teams had already visited the stadium and done a dress rehearsal the day before. No other people were allowed to use the stadium. The players’ spare peripherals too were placed in the stadium and adjusted the day before. The teams’ logos were also posted on their respective lounges a few days ago. Compared with the regular season and semi-final matches, the overall arrangements had improved by several levels.

Perhaps they’d been influenced by Team Saint’s display of self-sacrifice or perhaps it was because the relationship between the members of the NSN and Free has always been close or perhaps it was because they didn’t want to put too much pressure on the two teams before going to the World Championships but the air around this season’s finals was not filled with the smell of gunpowder. Gone was the fans’ usual posture of being irreconcilable adversaries. Regardless whether they were ordinary players or fans of either teams, most people had a very gentle disposition before the game. Normally during that period after the audience has entered the stadium but before the game starts, fans of the two teams would be chanting slogans and cheers, trying to outdo the other. This time, these yelling noises were gone. After NSN fans shouted some cheers, Free’s fans didn’t try to rally their forces to yell their own cheers louder. They merely shouted a few cheers as well and then stopped.

“Today, Yu Sui’s girlfriends and Shi Luo’s older sisters are so gentle.” The assistant referee was coming to Free’s lounge to ask for Zhou Huo’s signature. Hearing a few shouts from the fans outside, he stopped unexpectedly and said, “NSN fans actually dared to shout their cheers first? Normally, your fans wouldn’t tolerate this. When did they suddenly have such good tempers?”

Zhou Huo signed one by one on the pages for the manager in charge. Pretending innocence and disinterest after success, he smiled, “Our fans have always had very good tempers. They would never get into some meaningless cheering one-upmanship.”

The assistant shrugged. He glanced at Yu Sui and Shi Luo who were reading the coach’s notes together not far away. He whispered to Zhou Huo, “Now, they’re standing aloof from worldly strife? When you played against the Bison in the regular season before, your fans overwhelmed the other team’s fans so loudly that we couldn’t even get proper audio. All we could get were audio from your team.”

Zhou Huo said in his heart, can it be the same for those they have old enmities with?

Zhou Huo signed everything he needed to and smiled, “We’re making less trouble for you guys, right? Isn’t that good?”

“Of course it’s good. But when it comes to the world stage, we don’t mind you giving us more trouble.” The assistant referee winked and smiled. “Fans in foreign competitions are amazing at boo-ing the competition to mess with their morale. Don’t be bullied by them, you hear?”

“Certainly.”

Zhou Huo sent off the assistant referee and walked in front of the players who were relaxing with their eyes closed. “How is it? No problems, right?”

“What problem could there be?” Chen Huo said with a relaxed expression. He said helplessly, “Don’t think we aren’t nervous enough. It’s f-ing NSN who isn’t nervous enough, alright? That little brat Wawa even contacted me last night and asked me if we wanted to eat out after the competition. He even asked me what we wanted to eat. I swear, doesn’t Old Gu care about this? We’re going to compete in a match, okay?! What does he think he’s doing playing ‘happy families’?”

“Really, in all my years of playing this is the first time I’m playing a final with such a low smell of gunpowder. It’s good enough that we don’t have any enmity between us but getting along so well like we’re in-laws is just too much.” Puppy glanced at Shi Luo and tsk-ed. “I don’t understand why Wawa is so at home with our team, it’s like he considers it as half his home.”

Shi Luo’s expression froze. He pretended to not understand that Puppy was insinuating that Wawa was Yu Sui’s brother-in-law. He took Old Qiao’s coaching notes and looked down.

“What nonsense.” Old Qiao was the one who hated it the most when the older ones bullied the little ones in the team. He pushed Puppy’s head down to prevent him from messing with Shi Luo’s mentality, “Isn’t harmony good? Isn’t it less pressure on you? You think we’ve got this match already in the bag. Don’t you know how ugly it looks when you talk big before the game only to lose it?”

Puppy sneered. “Lose?”

“Don’t be arrogant, just play according to your experience from the regular season.” Old Qiao hurriedly wrapped up this topic and turned to Chen Huo, “Did you already agree to Wawa?”

“No, how could I agree? Didn’t Yu Sui book a hotel in Hangzhou?” Chen Huo said innocently. “Didn’t you say we were going to Hangzhou for a vacation after the game?”

Old Qiao was completely unware of the situation. He turned to look at Yu Sui. “You booked a hotel?! How many days did you book it for?”

“Three days.” Yu Sui’s expression looked completely at ease. “It takes less than an hour to go to Hangzhou by high-speed rail. So, it’s not like you’d disagree, right?”

“It doesn’t matter if I agree or disagree, just please tell me in advance.” Old Qiao frowned. “Which dates did you book it for? Who did you discuss this with?! Although there is a holiday after the finals, you&#k2026;”

Zhou Huo reminded in a low voice, “The nine-thousand a night villa suite in that hotel you have mentioned before. The one you’ve always wanted to stay at. That classical type one that fits the aesthetics of the elderly like you.”

“But you, but you...” Old Qiao’s anger fell to half in an instant. Position not quite stable, he said, “Then, you still should have discussed it with me. I could have scheduled another practice match, now, you...”

Zhou Huo again whispered, “Members of the team will also be reimbursed for any other expenses throughout the process.”

“If it’s all reimbursed... Then what...” Old Qiao’s voice became smaller and smaller, “Ah... Well, it’s not out of the question to take a break once in a while.”

Chen Huo and Puppy smirked.

“Why did you think of going to Hangzhou? Tired of staying in Shanghai? This city can’t hold you anymore?” Old Qiao still didn’t understand, “Although I want to go to Hangzhou for a few days too...”

Yu Sui’s expression was relaxed: “I was afraid you were getting bored at the base. I discussed it with Zhou Huo a few days ago. After the finals, all the staff will be on paid leave and the team members will go to Hangzhou for vacation.”

“That’s okay then.” The more Old Qiao thought about it, the more excited he became. He still hid his happiness though. Frowning, he said, “You should be thinking so much when the game isn’t even over yet! Focus! There’s still half an hour before we need to be one stage. Either look at the notes or take a short nap. Don’t just think about vacationing. Isn’t it more fun on vacation after we win rather than after we lose?”

“That’s right.” Chen Huo sat up straight and snatched Old Qiao’s notebook from Shi Luo’s hand, flipping through it. “It’s better to win...”

Puppy leaned on Chen Huo to read the notes. Seeing that no one was paying attention to him, Shi Luo picked up his mobile phone to search for Hangzhou hotels.

Yu Sui was sitting next to Shi Luo. He saw what Shi Luo was looking at a glance. He whispered, “Looking for where you’re going to sleep with me?”

Shi Luo quickly put away his phone. He looked around and pretended not to hear him.

Yu Sui rubbed Shi Luo’s head: “Relax, you’re just nervous.”

Shi Luo pressed his lips tightly and didn’t say anything. Inwardly, he said, ‘No kidding! You’re all thinking about the World Championships and I’m the only one who’s still worried about that bet’.

Half an hour passed quickly. Everyone got up and Zhou Huo patted each of their shoulders. “Just play normally. Don’t be nervous but don’t relax too much either. Even if you lose, you’re headed to the World Championships. But winning would be considered handing in a perfect test paper for our region. Jia You”

Everyone left the training room one by one and walked to the stage with the staff’s guidance.

The final venue was more than ten times larger than the semi-finals venue. Before Free even exited the backstage, they already heard the cheers of the fans that crashed down like a tsunami. Chen Huo jumped slightly and said with a smile, “Here it comes, here it comes... ...I’m getting excited.”

After the introductions of the team, the two teams entered their respective glass rooms. After checking that there was nothing wrong with their peripherals, Yu Sui gave the final confirmation to the referee and the game officially started.

The first game officially began.

While waiting for the countdown to finish, Chen Huo was surprised. “Do you really want to bully Wawa? To be honest, I don’t quite understand. Wawa and Shi Luo are good brothers, right? And he can also be regarded as Yu Sui’s half apprentice, right? You’re normally so nice to him. How come you throw that all out the window once the matches start?”

Shi Luo said coldly: “You’re overestimating me. I once killed Wawa thirteen times in a game.”

“We aren’t just specifically targeting him getting scared when he sees Yu Sui. It’s better to use him as a breakthrough point.” Puppy said leisurely. “That little Wawa who played against Saint was so fierce. He’d been hiding things from us. My hands would itch if I didn’t bully him a bit.”

“Wait, this isn’t right.” Chen Huo suddenly realized something and frowned. “Aren’t we always messing with our team morale before a game? Why did we start talking about Wawa today? Don’t you guys want to attack me?”

“Why so cheap? As you wish then.” Yu Sui adjusted his mic and said lightly, “They had a pre-match voting to predict who would win today’s game. We and NSN were evenly matched; 50-50.”

Before Yu Sui’s voice fell, a few laughs from Chen Huo and Puppy could already be heard in Free’s voice chat.

The referee who was listening in Free’s team chat gave them a surprised glance. He didn’t understand what was funny, nor did he understand why a 50-50 win rate was a blow to their own morale.

“50-50...” Puppy nodded slightly, “Okay, let’s go.”

The countdown ended, and the two teams rushed out of their own resurrection stones.

Free used their usual style of play. Yu Sui and Chen Huo attacked the front while Shi Luo went to the side and Puppy controlled from the rear.

NSN originally had their three front row players separate but when they found that there were only two people on Free’s side when they first clashed, they quickly called back Xinran, their striker who’d been clearing another path to the side, to came over and help them fight three on two. They were planning to beat down Yu Sui and Chen Huo at the opening stage of this match.

Puppy in the back quickly reminded, “I saw the bushes on the west move. Xinran’s arrived.”

Shi Luo had already quickly connected the two purification vessels. Hearing the message, he asked, “Do you need me to go there?”

Yu Sui said: “No need.”

Yu Sui had hardly finished speaking when Wawa’s had already been cut to half amidst sparks of lightning. Chen Huo followed with a burst of gunfire to collect Wawa’s head. He continued a series of bursts to take out Gu Gan as well. Xinran, who was incoming, found that it was too late to withdraw. When he tried to take Yu Sui’s head in exchange, he was shot by Puppy from the distance.

In the Free team’s voice, Yu Sui gave a soft ‘tsk’.

There were three heads during the beginning stage, but Yu Sui didn’t get even one.

“Don’t blame me.” Puppy reloaded. “You two were blocking from the front and you didn’t give me any other angle. I actually wanted to scare him and force him to move towards you guys. I didn’t expect little Xinran to panic. He didn’t move and I got his head straight away instead. Really, Yu Sui, you have no one to blame but yourself. How long has your side-kick spin kill been useless? Why did you use it on my tile?”

Yu Sui drew back and mended his condition. “Psychological warfare. I was going to hit their morale.”

“Stop the chatter or Old Qiao will explode when get off the stage.” Chen Huo said, putting down the purification dish against the fog. Without backing up to find a bunker, he waited for the purification dish to take effect. He placed another one two steps to the side. “I bet Rod wouldn’t dare to snipe me.”

Their three front row players were all gone. Rod didn’t want to expose his position in advance. The front was full of fog and he wouldn’t catch anyone. He could only watch as Chen Huo and Shi Luo cleared paths.

Free opened a beautiful game with a two against three match up. It was a heavy blow to an opponent’s morale to be able to kill more of their players with fewer of theirs. In order to avoid the problem of uneven consumption of resources between the two strikers, after the first wave Yu Sui had Shi Luo and Chen Huo switched places.

Yu Sui and Shi Luo hadn’t been teaming up so many times just to flirt. After a season of polishing, Shi Luo and Yu Sui’s cooperation when attacking head-on had attained something close to perfection. On the other side, ROD saw Free’s strikers were going to change positions and hurriedly reported it. Gu Gan wanted to prevent them from changing positions. When they came apart with each other, Gu Gan wanted to surround and press down on them. Little did he expect that he would be caught by Shi Luo as soon as he made his way to the front row. Shi Luo took out Xinran and Wawa with continuous bursts of gunfire. Gu Gan retreated behind a bunker.

Yu Sui command came quickly. “Don’t move. Place the purification dishes and I’ll heal you up. Chen Huo, go on your own. After five purifications, no matter if anyone is minding you, come and change positions with Shi Luo.”

“OK.” Chen Huo nodded and asked, “Shi Luo, did you calculate our consumed economy?”

“I did.” Shi Luo secured his position and set down the purification dish. “You consumed more than I did, weak sh*t.”

“Aiya, brat.” Chen Huo laughed, “Laozi, got one more kill that you did, get it?”

“Shut up.” Puppy reminded them. “They’re going to surround you, Fire.”

Chen Huo wasn’t that bent on arguing. He hurriedly retreated and glanced at his battle statistics: He had just put down exactly five purification dishes.

Chen Huo smiled. “Yu Sui, did you calculate their resurrection time? You guessed that they were going to target the lone player?”

“Their frontal assault was destroyed in the early stage. How else would they play if they didn’t go for the lone player?” Puppy hasn’t exposed his position yet. He didn’t need to move and constantly kept a look out at the situation on both sides. He couldn’t help but sigh, “But I still want to give a word of praise...Yu Shen is Yu Shen, an expert even at being deceitful. You calculated the time really accurately.”

“I’m going to take that as a compliment.” Yu Sui asked Puppy, “Did they already clear the edges of the map?”

After a moment, Puppy confirmed, “After Fire left, they started to clear it up. Should we surround them?”

“No.” Yu Sui said quickly. “They can’t clear as fast as we can. Continue.”

Chen Huo rendezvoused with the two and the two strikers placed the purification dishes together, forcing NSN to return to the frontline to defend. This was what Yu Sui was waiting for. Before Gu Gan could stabilize their positions, they targeted Wawa. The three quickly disposed of Wawa. Free already occupied the front of the map and occupied a dominant position. This time they didn’t give NSN’s strikers the chance to retreat. At Chen Huo’s expense, they once again wiped out the NSN’s three frontline players.

“ROD hit you, it couldn’t be helped.” Puppy said, “but I know his position now and fired a blind shot at him. He won’t dare to rear his head now. Go and clear the fog.”

By the time NSN’s players made it back to the front line, Free had already attacked the city and seized territories. NSN was beaten from the beginning. They almost had not chance of turning the situation around. After another 15 minutes, NSN was crushed and Free took the first game victory. It took less than twenty minutes to win the game.

At the end of a game, the fan commenters couldn’t quite react.

Commentator A for the game shook his head: “This game was played too fast. As we all know, during the regular season, Free played against strong teams like NSN and Saint... it seems that they didn’t crush them this badly then.”

Commentator B hesitated and said, “Free didn’t actually come up with any new tactics but they were more aggressive as a whole. They just performed better. NSN’s early mistakes were also quite obvious.”

Commentator A nodded. “Maybe they were just able to outperform themselves on the spot; maybe NSN made mistakes, but maybe... our previous expectations for Free still weren’t big enough.”

“Some teams are like this. Faced with strong opponents, they become strong too.” Commentator A sighed lightly. “I’m inclined to think that we were underestimating them. Free seems to have been reluctant to show off during the regular season. Would you consider that as a team of three-time champion players kidding around with you?”