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“Qiao Yifan versus Song Qiying. This could be considered a battle between rookies, no?” Pan Lin remarked as he watched Qiao Yifan walk onto the stage.

“Pretty much!” Li Yibo nodded his head.

Qiao Yifan was no longer an invisible nobody. As Happy moved towards the spotlight as a dark horse, he became recognized as one of their outstanding players. His past had been dug out long ago. Thus, people with certain amounts of authority in the scene like Zuo Chenrui, who disliked Tiny Herb, often used Qiao Yifan as an example to criticize Tiny Herb for being so blind as to letting go of an incredible talent.

Qiao Yifan’s plays had caught the attention of many. Some even felt sorry for him: this was his first time standing on the professional stage, but because he had been registered with Tiny Herb previously, he could not be considered as a first year rookie and could not contend for the Best Rookie title.

If not…

People like to talk about what ifs. Qiao Yifan himself never cared about these what ifs though. He was extremely happy with his place in the team.

He had switched classes to a Phantom Demon, but he had ample opportunities to go onto the stage. He was often given opportunities even in the 1v1 competitions, which weren’t too suitable for Phantom Demons. This feeling of being valued was something he had never experienced before at Tiny Herb.

He had received quite the attention. Several teams had even privately contacted him, attempting to recruit him.

Qiao Yifan refused all of them without any hesitation. No team or promises could move him because he would always remember, in his time of greatest need, who the person who had extended a hand to him was.

Qiao Yifan didn’t have any resentment towards being ignored, but he attached great importance to being valued.

He hoped that he could stay with Happy to realize his dreams.

The problem was that his dreams were being realized too fast.

Because of Qiao Yifan’s past experiences, he didn’t have high aspirations and was extremely cautious. His initial thoughts were to start over with Happy and become a pro player, one small step at a time.

Yes, his initial goal had been set very low. He didn’t want to give up Glory, and he wanted to continue being a pro player; that was it.

But now, he stood on the playoffs stage, and his team had even smoothly made it past the first round.

His dreams were coming about too too fast to the extent that he was caught unprepared. What was his new goal now? Champion?

Was it really not a joke?

When reality hit him, Qiao Yifan had truly felt a bit dizzy. The seniors at Happy had kept on blabbering about being the champions, but Qiao Yifan always just felt like they were just trying to encourage the team, even if this sort of encouragement was ridiculous! But were the seniors at Happy really the type to keep repeating the same joke?

It turns out that it wasn’t a joke.

It turns out that I just didn’t have enough confidence in myself!

It turns out that we really do have the ability to fight for the championship trophy!

As the playoffs grew nearer and nearer, Qiao Yifan adjusted his frame of mind.

Because he realized that Happy truly did intend on walking the difficult path to become the champions.

Apart from feeling bewildered, he also felt excited.

I need to work even harder, so I don’t become a burden to the team in our path to become the champions. He kept on reminding himself these words.

And now, he was about to stand on the stage alone to pave the way to Happy’s victory.

Qiao Yifan took in a deep breath. He walked onto the stage and couldn’t help but look back towards his team. His captain, Ye Xiu, had his arm raised, giving him a big thumbs up.

“You’re far better than you think you are!”

Ye Xiu had said these words to him before he went up.

This wasn’t the first time Ye Xiu had said these words to him. The way Ye Xiu said it would always fill Qiao Yifan with energy and confidence.

He couldn’t let down his seniors or the team’s hopes.

Qiao Yifan turned back and went into the player booth. He swiped his card, and his character loaded into the map. The opening was the same as all the other ones, the two characters headed towards the manor, one towards the front, one towards the back.

Song Qiying chose the exact same route as the previous fight, which made his scouting much more efficient, quickly filtering through room after room.

Qiao Yifan went in through the front door of the manor. He didn’t make any unexpected moves and started moving through room after room too.

One Inch Ash moved much faster than Song Qiying’s River Sunset, though. It seemed that he had a target location that he wanted to reach as fast as possible.

After going through the front door of the manor, One Inch Ash entered the main lobby. Past that, there were numerous hallways interspersed with rooms, 17 in total, serving various purposes.

Qiao Yifan’s One Inch Ash went past two hallways and four rooms. When he reached a spot that he was satisfied with, One Inch Ash stopped.

Then, he slashed apart the door that he had just went through.

Then, the door in front and on the right…

All three doors in the room were cut apart by One Inch Ash. Afterwards, he leaned against the wall, his sword raised.

“Is he… waiting?” Pan Lin asked.

Li Yibo frowned.

It could be considered as waiting, but it was a bit different from how it was usually done. By cutting down those doors, QIao Yifan was giving himself away, especially since the rooms in the manor weren’t cut-off from each other. Song Qiying, who was scouting around, clearly heard the noise, and three times at that.

Qiao Yifan was lying in wait, but it gave off the smell of bait.

Wasn’t the bait too obvious? With Song Qiying’s cautious nature, he wouldn’t rashly charge towards that area.

Song Qiying wouldn’t be rash, but he wouldn’t ignore it either, shrinking back and cowering wasn’t Team Tyranny’s style. River Sunset headed towards there.

Boom!

River Sunset also broke apart the doors as he rushed into the room to the right of One Inch Ash’s room. The splintered wood from the door flew everywhere as Song Qiying observed his surroundings, quickly getting a picture of the room’s interior. He didn’t see anyone, but he could see the door that had been cut apart.

His gaze immediately shifted towards that room. Qiao Yifan’s One Inch Ash was quietly moving towards that door, but after a few steps, he stopped moving. He had his sword raised in front of him, ready to attack at any moment.

The sword’s name was Snow Stripe, a streak of white hidden amidst a dark purple light.

River Sunset’s footsteps slowed the closer he got. When he was almost at the door, his footsteps had practically stopped.

The two players were clearly young rookies, but in this match, they seemed to have the caution of old generals. The tension in the crowd could almost be felt. This situation, where the two sides were separated by just one wall, had taken place before in the fight between Ye Xiu and Zhang Jiale. It was just that this time, the door was already destroyed. The two sides were just one step apart from seeing each other.

One Inch Ash raised his tachi, Snow Stripe, slightly. He could already feel that Song Qiying’s River Sunset was right in front of the door. Light started to swirl around his blade. The contrast between the light and that streak of white appeared even more distinct.

One Inch Ash started casting, preparing to set down a ghost boundary.

As for River Sunset? He seemed to hesitate when he reached the door and then suddenly retreated.

The audience couldn’t understand. But because of the previous round, Tyranny’s fans weren’t going to question Song Qiying anymore. They believed that Song Qiying was a true Tyranny hero. No matter what move he made, they wouldn’t think it was because he was timid. Tyranny’s heroes never cowered.

He retreated two steps and then moved horizontally, swinging his fists.

Pai!

His fist smashed into the wall. Everyone cried out in surprise. They thought that a repeat of the match between Fang Rui and Zhang Jiale would happen again, the wall breaking with a single punch.

The camera zoomed in onto the wall, a bit of the wallpaper could be seen coming off.

As for the wall itself? Not even a tremble…

Immediately afterwards, a second punch came out.

Punch after punch.

River Sunset kept on punching the wall. These were all normal attacks, which didn’t consume mana. But at the same time, the attack power was pitifully low. Trying to breaking through the wall like this would require who knew how many punches. But Song Qiying didn’t care. He just kept on punching.

After several punches, he moved to a different position and then continued his barrage.

People were beginning to see his intent.

Hadn’t Qiao Yifan broken down the three doors? Now, Song Qiying wanted to bring down the entire wall.

It was quite a bold idea, but the execution was a bit brutish, just using normal attacks to punch the wall until it broke.

The two sides were only separated by this wall. How could Qiao Yifan not hear what was going on? Song Qiying didn’t care though. He had made his decision, and he would go through with it.

The ghost magic swirling around One Inch Ash’s tachi, Snow Stripe, gradually dimmed.

Pa, pa, pa, pa…

He could hear the sound of the punches hitting the wall.

Qiao Yifan quickly realized Song Qiying’s intentions. For a moment, he was in a daze.

The other side unexpectedly wanted to break down the wall. This sort of cautious yet bold move was completely outside of Qiao Yifan’s expectations.

Should I go around, or should I stay and wait?

There were only two choices. One Inch Ash leaned against the wall, feeling the tremors from the punches.

Stay!

Qiao Yifan made his decision.

Even if his opponent dispelled this trap with such a brutish method, Qiao Yifan felt like waiting would still be advantageous to him.

Happy’s players knew how much damage the walls could take because this was the map that they had chosen.

They had a certain level of understanding of their opponents. They had a rough idea of Song Qiying’s attack power.

In that case, how many punches would it take for River Sunset to break down this wall?

It was better to have a conservative estimate. That way, he could make plans beforehand. If it was necessary, he could finish off the wall himself and take the initiative.

One Inch Ash stopped leaning against the wall. He retreated back a few steps, his sword directed towards the wall.

I’ll wait! I’ll decide the winner of this fight here! Everyone could see his plans.

Pa, pa, pa, pa…

The sound of punches hitting a wall echoed throughout the stadium.