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Won?

Lost?

The two players onstage were somewhat dazed.

Lu Boyuan had been extremely smug when he came up to battle, but the battle had unfolded vastly different from his expectations. He never thought that he would experience this kind of battle before. He won. He had finally cleaned out Boundless Sea’s 22% health. But his instincts still half-expected Boundless Sea to flip up in the next instant and scurry into the mass of NPCs, landing a skill upon Chaotic Cloudy Mountain in the next second out of nowhere.

He was still completely on alert. It wasn’t until GLORY flashed on his screen, until his camera view was changing, displaying his Chaotic Cloudy Mountain going through the various victory poses.

This was a moment that would normally inspire pride in any player. But right now, Lu Boyuan wasn’t feeling any of that. Even he couldn’t describe his current mood. He only stared at the screen, watching his Chaotic Cloudy Mountain finish the victory poses. The screen then exited the battle, and the wait for the next player began.

He won.

Next player.

Only now did Lu Boyuan suddenly have this kind of feeling. Only now did he suddenly feel like this victory was real.

Next player!

Lu Boyuan knew that he should already be paying attention to the transition to the next match, but his brain couldn’t stop. His mind was still flashing with the scenes from the match that had just ended. Fang Rui’s Boundless Sea seemed to be rolling once again…

Of course, Boundless Sea could no longer perform any rolls. Fang Rui stared at that grayed out world displayed after his character died for several seconds before finally standing up.

He walked out of the competitor booth. The stadium seemed very quiet. He looked at the large display screen: Lu Boyuan won, Fang Rui lost.

In the end, he’d still lost.

Fang Rui lowered his head and quietly walked offstage.

The stadium was quiet, and he was very quiet as well. This was unlike his usual self. Normally, he would be inflated with pride after victory, and after a loss he would adopt a “wise person reflecting a thousand times can still make a mistake” attitude.

What’s more, his performance today couldn’t be considered a loss at all. He had fallen to Lu Boyuan in the end, but before this, he had defeated Zhou Zekai, fiercely killed Samsara’s unstoppable momentum. The significance of this one victory was already extraordinary, and then afterwards, he had used 53% of Boundless Sea’s health to wipe away 84% of Lu Boyuan’s.

Even though there wasn’t much worth analyzing in this process, everyone saw one thing clearly: perseverance, perseverance toward victory.

Fang Rui, this dirty player, chased victory without ever looking back. This match he played might not have been pretty, it might not have been nice to look at, but this perseverance and pursuit reached people’s hearts.

Unfortunately, his perseverance was stopped by Lu Boyuan’s sudden explosiveness. Everyone felt the same as Lu Boyuan in his competitor booth, they still hadn’t recovered, their heads were still filled with the images of Boundless Sea rolling and weaving through the crowd of NPCs. It wasn’t pretty, but it left a deep impression.

In this silence, Fang Rui walked back to Happy’s player area. Everyone swarmed up to him, and he bravely forced out a smile. He in fact wanted to show off and act cool like he normally did, but after walking all the way back here, he suddenly felt like he didn’t even have the spirit to be dirty anymore.

Fang Rui sat back down in his seat, stretched his legs, stretched his arms. Chen Guo handed him a towel, and he leaned against the back of his chair and placed it over his face.

It was over…

It really felt like his competitive state had left him.

He had already done everything that he could. So why did he still feel so unsatisfied?

What “work hard and you’ll have no regrets”? Words like that were just to fool people, weren’t they? He still wanted to keep working hard. The team round hadn’t even been played yet!

The towel was cold, but Fang Rui felt like his covered eyes were burning hot.

Ding ding ding…

Suddenly he heard the alert of a text message. Fang Rui could tell that it was his phone. He truly was in no mood to check, but his teammates were right there, and ultimately, he didn’t want everyone to realize that he was acting strange. He wasn’t going to be able to play the team competition, but being unable to play, and not being sent to play, the difference between these things was still quite great.

As Fang Rui wiped the towel over his face, his other hand picked up his phone.

“The match isn’t over yet, and neither are you.”

Lin Jingyan.

This guy…

Fang Rui was stunned. He didn’t immediately look for Lin Jingyan, because he knew that even though this guy had already retired, he wouldn’t let Glory leave his line of sight so easily. No matter in what corner of the world he was now, he would be watching this match for sure.

But, that was all.

Because he had truly said goodbye to this all. Because for him, all of this was truly over.

Fang Rui had no reason to talk about anything being “over”!

Because the match was still ongoing, and his own professional career was still ongoing.

Fang Rui turned his head and watched Tang Rou walk onstage. This was already Happy’s final player, and Samsara, including the still-alive Lu Boyuan, still had three players left.

“Looks like we have to 1v3,” Fang Rui muttered.

“Yes, that’s the only way,” Ye Xiu said gravely, his arms folded.

1v3. Logically, a pro player could never expect a 1v3. They couldn’t set a 1v3 as a requirement for victory.

But right now, Happy’s players held this conviction. They didn’t hide their expectation in front of Tang Rou, because they knew that this woman would never be held back by pressure. Of Happy’s remaining players, if they had to choose one person who they thought could complete a 1v3, it would be her.

As she stepped onto the stage, Tang Rou breathed deeply.

1v3?

The reason she had been criticized harshly this entire season was related to this.

She was a bit embarrassed of how rash she had been initially, but no matter what, the greater the difficulty, the more she wanted to conquer it. This was the core of her character. 1v3 was a challenge that she always wanted to complete, but the team’s victory always came first. And right now, the team’s victory and whether or not she could complete a 1v3 were intrinsically tied together. This overlap lifted Tang Rou’s battle spirit even more.

Seventh round of the group arena. Happy’s fifth player Tang Rou against Samsara’s third player Lu Boyuan.

The match began.

Tang Rou’s Soft Mist immediately charged forward.

This had always been her style, and Lu Boyuan’s Chaotic Cloudy Mountain was only at 16% health right now, so there was even less reason for her to hesitate or stall.

By now, Lu Boyuan had finally walked out of previous battle.

Tang Rou, Soft Mist.

He saw the player he was about to face. This wasn’t a meeting that deserved surprise. After the four previous players, leaving Tang Rou to anchor was an arrangement within expectations.

And Tang Rou’s style was very clear. She came onstage not just to knock down the opponent before her, but the one after, and the one after, her goal would forever be to kill all.

1v3. This was the crazy promise she had once made, and because she had failed it, her name was dragged through the mud.

And now, she was faced with a situation where victory required her to complete a 1v3.

She must be very excited!

Lu Boyuan could think of this point.

Because he and the rest of the pro players could tell, this girl aimed for a 1v3 not to prove how strong she was, but because she simply enjoyed this kind of challenge. That was only the regular season, and there were only three players in the group arena, so a 1v3 was the most that could be done. If the regular season group arena had five players, no one would find it strange if this girl shouted a 1v5.

Many people thought there was something wrong in her head, yet many others felt that this was an honest courage.

1v3, 1v5, these were viewed as difficult, nigh impossible. But every pro player had dreamed or imagine of completing such a thing.

But they would only think about it, they wouldn’t hold any serious hopes toward it. Yet Tang Rou treated this as a challenge, and worked hard to try and fulfill it.

However, right now, she was fighting for her team’s victory, a higher and more responsible goal. It wasn’t like before, where she had been fighting for a careless promise.

1v3!

In this moment, Tang Rou didn’t think at all about that previous promise. All she thought of was victory!

For victory, Soft Mist charged forward.