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Du Ming had recovered his usual form. His performance was slightly better than usual, aided by the fact that he was somewhat excited today. But what about Tang Rou? She worked as hard as always. She never let her guard down, regardless of the situation or the opponent.

The publicized bet for a 1v3 had already passed, but in Tang Rou’s mind, she still hadn’t achieved her goal of a 1v3!

Even though she was the anchor in the group arena, and there weren’t three opponents for her to beat up, Tang Rou always played with the mindset to do so.

Du Ming switched suddenly from making extraordinary blunders to making extraordinary plays. This large variation did catch Tang Rou off-guard, but her mental state wasn’t affected.

Strive for victory.

Tang Rou would always have this mentality. Regardless of whether her opponent was weak or strong, regardless of whether her opponent was blundering or playing beautifully.

Du Ming used the chat, thinking that Tang Rou would now acknowledge his skill. Unfortunately for him, Tang Rou didn’t consider anything along those lines.

Bring him down! That was the only thing she was thinking. If Du Ming knew that his goddess’s attitude towards him was so single-minded, who knew how long he’d be depressed for.

Thankfully he didn’t know, so he felt some satisfaction that his goddess could witness him playing better than his normal skill. However, when he said ”The battle has only just begun!”, Tang Rou definitely hadn’t just begun. While Du Ming considered this a reset and an opportunity to regain the upper hand, Tang Rou maintained her rhythm and clung onto any opportunities to launch attacks.

Du Ming thought that typing some words in this situation would be no big deal. He still underestimated Tang Rou’s drive for victory, and also her tunnel vision for it.

She had zero intentions of chatting with Du Ming. The words that Du Ming thought were no big deal actually caused him to momentarily lose initiative.

Tang Rou was once again given the role of the aggressor. Magic emanated from and swirled around Soft Mist, while she wildly charged towards the gates of victory.

Du Ming didn’t expect to be suppressed so soon. Even though his mental state was quite steady right now and he defended well, Tang Rou’s offensive also felt more concentrated than before...

This tireless attitude was really indistinguishable from that time....

Du Ming’s mind started wandering again, rewinding to the Allstars Weekend from two years ago, when his team Samsara was hosting. A beautiful newbie was fortunate enough to get the chance to challenge him. Berserk Blade Master Du Ming didn’t want to be cruel and pick on this pretty girl. Turns out the pretty girl was cruel and picked on him, promptly destroying him when they fought.

Du Ming had been anxious. Disregarding the rules, he quickly issued another challenge which he won. The girl then accepted and won again! Du Ming felt ashamed and restless at the time, and with no regard for anything else, kept fight fight fighting… Then he somehow summoned God Ye Xiu, who tore him a new one.

Du Ming was very bitter at the time. He was very bitter that the newbie made him lose face big time. But now… thinking back, why did he feel a sense of sweet nostalgia?

What would have happened at the time if it wasn’t for the meddling Ye Xiu? What would have happened if they kept fighting? Du Ming even started fantasizing about how the story could have continued…

Boom!

Magic gathered in front of Moon-Luring Frost’s chest and exploded loudly. His guard had been broken through!

Crap!

Du Ming realised that his concentration had slipped yet again. Facing this matter, it really was hard to control his own emotions! Du Ming hastily controlled Moon-Luring Frost to try to salvage the situation, but he was too late. Tang Rou would never let an opportunity slip, and Du Ming was met with an intense wave of attacks. This formed a complete offensive when combined with the previous wave of attacks. Moon-Luring Frost was thrown around by the magical explosions, and his health dropped in chunks...

”Next time, I definitely won’t lose!!!” Du Ming called out.

”Still yelling… He couldn’t be more embarrassing if he tried!” Samsara’s players did not know whether to laugh or cry. Du Ming’s performance really was unacceptable. It was fortunate that Samsara still had a big advantage. What if this was the deciding match? What if this match was the championship finals? This kind of unstable performance would render his entire team’s effort for naught.

Du Ming returned from the stage. Samsara’s players put away their laughing and joking faces they had during the match and switched to looking at him with austere expressions.

Du Ming lowered his head. Of course he knew where his problem laid. He did take control of the situation at some points, but somehow it slipped from his grasp in the final moments of the battle.

”I…” Du Ming wanted to give a reason for his failure, but it was embarrassing to open up about subjects such as crushes.

”You played rigidly, and your concentration was off,” said Jiang Botao.

”Yeah.” Du Ming nodded. He couldn’t argue against that.

”Our captain is very angry. He said you didn’t put enough importance on the competition; when the whole team was working hard for victory, you were too engaged with your own thoughts. If this were the championship match and we lost the points because you were distracted and we ended up losing the championship, what would you do?” Wu Qi said.

Du Ming raised his head in surprise. ”The captain said that much?”

”Yeah, the captain’s rage induced many words,” Wu Qi said.

Du Ming rolled his eyes. Wu Qi was definitely just trolling. However, the words may have been nonsense, but idea behind it was not. What if Samsara really lost their chance at three consecutive championships because of him? When Du Ming thought about this, he suddenly felt a wave of fear. This really should not have happened… Du Ming raised his head and watched the replay from his match. 70% of his play in this match was trash.

”As someone with experience, I know this is quite difficult for you. But you need to learn to control it. No matter what happens, it should not affect your performance on stage,” Samsara’s Cleric player Fang Minghua said. In esports, the average age of the players was very young. There was a big pile of players who were still in their teens, and very few were married. But Samsara’s Fang Minghua was one of the few who was.

”I will…” Du Ming nodded his head.

On stage, the final battle of the group arena was about to start. Samsara’s captain Zhou Zekai had already entered the stage, and the countdown for the start of the battle quickly began.

”That win came pretty easily…” On Happy’s side, Fang Rui expressed his opinion as his team were discussing the match that just concluded.

”Yeah. That kid from Samsara is very inconsistent,” Ye Xiu said.

”Wasn’t Du Ming the one who lost to little Tang twice in the All Stars Weekend two years ago? I bet he lost his calm today after seeing her! Hahaha!” Chen Guo laughed.

”Probably!” Ye Xiu nodded. Du Ming’s crush was completely known to the people at Happy, whom he had never interacted with.

”This match…” Chen Guo looked at the stage and the loading bars for the two characters, and didn’t know what to say.

Even though Tang Rou had just won, there was a period where Du Ming performed above expectations. After that, there was also a steady period where he defended well. Du Ming still managed to grind down some of Soft Mist’s health, which now sat at exactly 50%. Now, she was to face the number one in Glory, Zhou Zekai.

”Can she win?” Chen Guo felt her heart leap. If she really won, surely Tang Rou would become a hero? Even Happy fans who didn’t like her would relish in the fact that she defeated Zhou Zekai with 50% health, since this was glory that belonged to all of Team Happy. If it was like this, then everyone would slowly change their opinion of Tang Rou. It would only be a matter of time before they started liking her again.

A sense of belief brewed within Chen Guo’s mind. She also felt the change of atmosphere from the viewers. Their disinterest when Tang Rou entered the stage melted away. Expending 50% health to deal with Du Ming was nowhere near enough to establish confidence in anyone, but it did give them a sliver of belief. The player currently on stage was not like the viewers. She would not lose her fighting spirit just because she had to face Zhou Zekai.

She was pushing her limits. She worked hard to bring one down, and there was no doubt in anyone’s mind that she would continue to work hard; maybe she would work even harder to bring down the next one. Zhou Zekai, the number one in Glory, would make many players lose part of their will to fight before the fight even started. To them, losing against him was almost an expectation.

No one could see this attitude at all on Tang Rou. She was just a rookie. If she lost here, not even her haters would be able to make a big deal out of it. But Tang Rou herself carried the air of someone who wouldn’t forgive herself for losing. Once again, she charged forward, poised for victory, with no regard for anything else.

The first to attack was Cloud Piercer.

A fight between a ranged class and a melee class would always start off advantageous for the ranged class. The dance between the two opponents consisted of the melee class attempting to close the distance and the ranged class attempting to maintain it. At the start, it might seem one sided the ranged class uses the melee class for target practice, but as soon as the melee class got close, they could potentially reverse the ranged class’s advantage in one fell swoop.

Charge, charge forward! Soft Mist darted around through the hailstorm of bullets. A Sharpshooter was a subclass that has perfected the art of shooting. It didn’t have the same fancy array of armaments compared to its three cousin subclasses. It only focused on guns and bullets. Its skills revolved around various methods for shooting.

Quick shots, spread shots, dual wielding, chains. The Sharpshooter had the most shooting styles and stances. The hailstorm of bullets they unleashed was a true bulletstorm. There was little smoke and explosion, just bullet after bullet whizzing past.

Can she make the charge?!

Soft Mist advanced in what was probably the strongest bulletstorm of the Alliance. Every step forward seemed that much more difficult.

Cloud Piercer’s health was still full while Soft Mist’s continued declining. However, she seemed like the one with an advantage right now, because the distance between the characters that determined life and death was shrinking slowly but surely. Her health was not being wasted.

Charge! Destroy him!

Gradually, this voice appeared within everyone’s heads. At this moment, they forgot who the opponent was. They forgot their mindset that losing to this opponent was only normal.

”Charge!” a shout suddenly erupted in the stadium. Soft Mist finally covered the whole distance. With 17% health remaining, she managed to charge directly up to Cloud Piercer’s face.

”Destroy him!” Happy’s fans had long forgotten about their previous cold shoulder of Tang Rou, and hollered madly.

Although Soft Mist’s remaining health was low, sometimes a melee class could decide the outcome of the battle in one direct confrontation with a ranged class. The two sides would had vastly different fighting styles and had huge differences in strength at different attacking distances.

But…

Bang bang bang bang…

Cloud Piercer continued shooting. Even though Soft Mist was next to him, he used the Sharpshooter’s Taijutsu skills. Cloud Piercer began directly trading with Soft Mist.

Gun Fu…

This wasn’t a skill described by the game. Rather, it was a high-end technique invented by the players themselves by mixing and matching skills. Most in the online game could only use Taijutsu. Gun Fu was a technique that only pro level players could achieve. Because of its immense difficulty, it was still difficult to gain an advantage using Gun Fu against a pure melee class. It mostly just prevented Sharpshooters from being helpless once locked in close combat, unlike other long ranged classes.

Right now, Zhou Zekai showed off his Gun Fu. Legs, knees, elbows, as well as bullets… they entered into a brawl with the spear that was in Soft Mist’s hand.

It could be seen that even Zhou Zekai using Gun Fu could not suppress Tang Rou. His skill only carried him that far. Gun Fu was indeed very sophisticated, being very swift and accurate. However, it still lacked a melee class’s ferocity. Its sophistication could not suppress this wave of ferocity.

He might have been able to deal significant damage, but the ability to control and limit the opponent was too weak. This was the drawback of Gun Fu.

However, the difference between the health of the two characters was far too large.

When Soft Mist got into attack range, her health was 17% compared to Cloud Piercer’s 100%.

Zhou Zekai’s Gun Fu was indeed more skillful; the Great Gunner Cloud Piercer’s equipment was also much stronger than Soft Mist’s.

Therefore, even though Zhou Zekai’s Gun Fu could not suppress Tang Rou’s Soft Mist, he could just rely on trading health. Everyone know that the victory this round still belonged to Zhou Zekai.

In the end, this was the reality.

After getting close, Zhou Zekai chose to fight head-on against Tang Rou with Gun Fu. Tang Rou could only reply by fighting head on. She already got that far, there was no second option.

Finally, Soft Mist fell. That tiny sliver of belief did not bear fruit.

However, that was only this one time. What about next time? What would happen next time?

Cloud Piercer still had 75% health remaining.

During the explosive melee, Soft Mist’s 17% health managed to trade away 25% of Cloud Piercer’s.

What if Soft Mist entered the battle with full health? Starting at 100% and paying a 33% gap-closing tax, how much damage would she able to do with the remaining 67% health?

98.5%! So close to 100%! If Soft Mist started on full health this fight, she would only be 1.5% health from victory. Maybe she really could have done it?

Of course, if it was a fair fight where both started on full health, Zhou Zekai probably wouldn’t use Gun Fu to force out the ending, rather he’d seek a chance to keep the distance. Regardless, this theoretical calculation still let people see hope.

With hope, there would be belief.

For Tang Rou, there was a belief that she could defeat Zhou Zekai!

Happy lost the group arena. However, when Tang Rou left the stage, she heard applause for the first time in a long time. Applause directed towards her.

Tang Rou smiled.

She could bear the coldest reception and continue walking forward with her head held high.

However, support and encouragement would always allow one to feel happiness.

”How amazing!” Du Ming exclaimed, upon seeing the atmosphere change throughout the stadium. Then he met the eternal stares of all his teammates.

”Using Gun Fu to crush a Battle Mage, how amazing! Captain, I’m your biggest fanboy!!” Du Ming hollered at Zhou Zekai as he left the stage.