Chapter 77 – You Think PCL’s That Easy to Bully?
“Wow, Captain, this is so cool!” Da Shu exclaimed, watching the trash talk livestream backstage. “But I look great too! That half-hour of early makeup was totally worth it!”
Xu Shaoqiu said, “Stop joking! The staff are here to hurry us up! Get on stage, quick!”
At the venue, the theme song blared at full intensity. A level 3 helmet spun on the giant circular screen as images rapidly switched: a bird’s-eye view of the island, the loess plateau of the desert, glorious moments from past champion teams, and highlights of this year’s players’ incredible plays from the group stage and elimination rounds. Each scene drew thunderous screams and cheers from the audience.
Accompanied by the host’s announcement, the contestants took the stage one after another, one team on each side.
Backstage, just before going on, Da Shu felt a long-awaited nervousness. He glanced at Xu Shaoqiu behind him.
“Brother Qiu, the screams are so loud! It sounds like there are several times more people than in the previous matches…”
Before Xu Shaoqiu could respond, Mi Li grabbed Da Shu and pulled him toward the stage. Da Shu kept muttering as they walked, “Did we change our noise-canceling headphones? If anyone shouts again—”
The next second, he saw the audience.
“Oh… my god…”
The packed crowd erupted into a deafening roar the moment they appeared. Everyone stood, waving their signboards. They might not all have been fans of the same team, but one thing was clear — a good portion of the signs were written in familiar Chinese:
[Go AVG!]
[I’m here! Who dares to bully me tonight?]
[These makeshift signboards are crude, but as long as you can read them, that’s enough. Go for it!]
[PCL competition!]
[Unique baby, go for it!]
[Solve, please continue the legend of the gods—]
[Tree destroys the opponent!]
[Milly goes on a four-game rampage!]
Ji Wei walked to his seat and paused. The neon lights reflected in his eyes, nearly bringing tears to them.
“Why are there so many people…”
He had expected to see some Chinese fans and had made certain assumptions. Xu Shaoqiu had reassured them the night before: with nearly 10,000 seats in the stadium, even with Lin Tao’s 1,000 tickets, the Chinese audience would still be a minority.
But as long as their fans were there, they would fight tooth and nail for them — no matter what.
The four AVG players stood on stage, taking in the sight. Nearly half the area was filled with familiar Chinese characters, and the cheers from that section almost drowned out the home team’s Korean fans.
“Wow,” Da Shu sighed. “Everyone’s really…”
Mi Li said, “This has to be the most-attended non-home game in PCL history.”
Yin Sijue nodded and led his teammates to their seats in front of the camera.
“We have to win — and show them.”
Once the equipment was calibrated, the first game began.
The pre-match trash talk had already heightened the atmosphere, and the number of people watching the livestream hit a new record high.
[“Damn it, why is it so laggy? I just saw the audience camera and it froze on me.”]
[“The people at the scene are awesome! They’re shouting louder than the background noise.”]
[“Koreans who said we have a small fan base — are you embarrassed now?”]
[“Someone posted on the front lines that the blogger giving out tickets had a truck carrying thousands of speakers to the venue entrance, and anyone who’s Chinese could get one. I’m dying of laughter.”]
[“Huh? You shouldn’t be allowed to bring those into the venue, right??”]
[“Yeah, they were all confiscated by the organizers later. But still, with that stunt, SOP fans probably won’t dare to yell anymore.”]
[“So cool… I’ve just experienced what it feels like to hook up with a rich guy.”]
[“The players are on the plane!”]
[“Wow, this is a great flight path!”]
The route on the island map ran from S City to Port P — only about 400 to 500 meters from AVG’s home port, Port G — making it an easy flight.
Mika: “The overall trajectory in the first round still leans west, but there are quite a few teams on the east side, so those teams will have to travel quite a distance to get into the circle.”
Yamy: “Yes, they should use a secondary jump point this round.”
Mika: “Of course, this route is a bit disadvantageous for UGC. We can see that the UGC players are currently planning to parachute from the east side and go straight for vehicles.”
As soon as the commentator finished speaking, the plane arrived near Port G. The four AVG players pressed the jump button and dove straight down.
Unexpectedly, three more teams appeared in the air with overlapping jump points!
During the game, Da Shu cursed, “Fuck, Your Daddy! Here we go again!”
Yin Sijue calmly commanded, “Drop where I’m marking. Set up your line and don’t get wiped out. If you can’t get a gun when you land, just run.”
Elsewhere, the four SOP players looked grim. Zone had been bombarded with comments from Chinese netizens on social media for the past two days, and his girlfriend had just broken up with him. He felt awful — all he wanted was to avenge his previous defeat and crush AVG.
Zone: “Hurry up! Remember to play DT and WNL when you land. Don’t team up illegally.”
Hunter: “Okay, brother.”
In the commentary booth, Mika’s eyes widened. “Are they trying to replicate their group stage strategy again? Are they trying to corner AVG at G Port?”
Yamy, holding back her anger, said, “As AVG’s opponent, this response is actually predictable. After all, against a team like AVG, if you don’t crush them early and let them farm freely, they’ll become incredibly hard to handle later.”
“The home crowd doesn’t have the advantage this time, so SOP can only use this tactic. It’s dirty, but it works.”
The audience booed when they saw several PKL teams showing signs of jumping toward G Port. They waved their signboards in protest, and curses filled the arena.
If security hadn’t stopped them, a few of the big guys would probably have rushed onto the stage to throw punches.
The next moment, the audience was shocked to see the map — the markers for each team’s landing points had suddenly shifted.
An unexpected scene unfolded—
UGC, who had been preparing to land at a jungle point to retrieve a car, suddenly changed direction. Several members turned mid-air and headed toward G Port as well!
Mika: “UGC? Are they also going to land at G Port? Aren’t they known for avoiding conflict?”
UGC, a team famous for their steady, strategic approach, rarely contested landing points. Even when they shared a jump point with SOP during the World Championship, they decisively switched from the airport to Zodiac, never choosing to engage in early-game fights with other teams.
However, this same team—normally averse to early-game battles—had decisively reversed course at the start of the Grand Finals, charging straight toward G Port, where four teams had already dropped.
Yamy’s voice wavered slightly with emotion. “They probably saw SOP heading toward AVG.”
In the game, Kelly gripped his keyboard, his eyes sparking. “Damn it, you guys want a brawl? Come on! Who’s afraid of who?”
The farm site was close to G Port. As the commentator had said, team leader KK noticed from the start that AVG was about to be trapped in the enemy camp and immediately decided to change their landing point.
“You’re not the only ones who can change landing points.” KK’s muscles tensed, ready to go. “Anyway, fifth place is still way behind us in points. So if we die, we die. Just kidding.”
“Do you really think PCL players are easy to bully?”
…
In previous tournaments, there had been two or three teams landing at the same spot, but never five all dropping in the same place.
If G Port had a soul, it could never have imagined becoming this popular—turning into the hottest landing zone on the island map.
Da Shu spotted the team approaching from behind mid-air and screamed, “Another one!!”
Ji Wei: “I see them too. That team suddenly changed direction. Most people wouldn’t do that. I think it’s…”
Yin Sijue: “It’s UGC.”
Mi Li: “F*ck, I’m really remembering this KK move.”
Yin Sijue: “When we land, UGC will be behind everyone else. Kill the one firing into the air first.”
Several players swooped down, and Ji Wei rolled onto a container, picking up an S12K.
Mika: “Unique’s got the shotgun! The ultimate weapon for early-game fights!”
Yamy: “Do you remember the All-Stars game where WEI used the shotgun to carve through Building C? That was such an exciting scene.”
Mika: “We’re only going to see more kills today! Two DT players just landed next to Unique!”
Ji Wei hid behind a container, sprayed one player sideways, but was immediately hit by another using an M16A4, dropping his health to half.
On the other side, Yin Sijue used his AK to spray three headshots in a row, helping Ji Wei finish off the DT player with the M16, and also hitting the WNL player—who was about to shoot from the crane—to low health.
Da Shu hadn’t found a gun and was hiding all over the lower district. After rummaging through three houses, all he had were two grenades and a crowbar. Just as he was about to be trapped inside the building—
He encountered Kelly, who had just landed.
Kelly picked up an SMG in the bathroom. With a few swift shots, he scattered the two WNL players and one DT player surrounding Da Shu, forcing them to redirect their focus.
The hunted Da Shu finally found a UMP9 in a new building and knocked down an SOP member who had been tailing him like a shadow.
[AVG_Tree] used UMP9 to knock down [SOP_Shot].
Meanwhile, KK had secured an M416 in the main warehouse and disrupted the positioning of several PKL players near container #3. The heavily damaged Milly finally managed to escape, crouching behind a crate while frantically bandaging himself.
Yin Sijue shouted, “Two more on me—still manageable! Milly, heal up! Unique, cover me!”
Behind them, SOP’s captain, Zone, was already flanking from the central warehouse, trying to catch Solve off guard.
Ji Wei switched his M16A4 to single fire and aimed at Zone’s head from the side—
[AVG_Unique] used M16A4 to knock down [SOP_Zone].
[AVG_Solve] used AKM to knock down [SOP_Hunter].
[AVG_Solve] used AKM to knock down [SOP_Flanker].
[Team Wiped]
Thus, the two Chinese teams—without any prior coordination—had together crushed the PKL squads’ attempt to deliberately target them.
Seeing their leader SOP eliminated, the remaining players from the other two PKL teams tried to scatter, but AVG had no intention of letting them go.
Da Shu, wielding his UMP9, fought his way back from the lower district, knocking down a DT member and, together with Milly, finishing off the last WNL player.
On the other side, UGC—seeing the Korean players nearly wiped out—quickly grabbed two jeeps near Georgopol and drove away from the chaos.
Helping them escape was genuine—but so was their rivalry.
UGC didn’t know Georgopol as well as AVG did. Better to run while AVG was still busy fighting, and they might as well take some loot and a couple of vehicles along the way.
The livestream camera lingered on Kelly driving away, a sly grin on his face, his bag holding the only two remaining bicycles in Georgopol.
The chat was already exploding with laughter—
[“Probably taking revenge personally”]
[“SOP finished last this round, boxed up right after landing LOL”]
[“Karma really hit back fast—hurt others, hurt yourself”]
[“Kelly even took all the bikes, I’m dying”]
[“Didn’t even leave a single escape route for his “teammates””]
[“Can’t even report them for illegal teaming now, huh”]
[“I’m shipping these two teams, aaaaah!”]
Near the containers—
After Ji Wei and Yin Sijue finished off the remaining Korean players, they finally realized: every single vehicle in Georgopol was gone.
Da Shu screamed, “Damn it! Those UGC bastards!!!”
Mi Li: “Wait — wasn’t there a bicycle in the big warehouse? Did you guys take it?”
“No; they probably carried it off,” Ji Wei said, dark lines creasing his face as he opened the map. “The circle’s collapsed onto Pochinki. Luckily we’re not that far from it…”
Yin Sijue sneered, “All the vehicles on the way into the circle have probably been knocked out by them. Get ready to run on foot.”
Seeing the circle wasn’t far, they looted Georgopol as fast as they could. When the safe zone started to shrink, Ji Wei led an ambush: they trapped some Vietnamese players pinned on the edge of the circle and successfully stole their car.
Unfortunately, they couldn’t find any fuel. The vehicle broke down halfway and was lost, and in the final circle AVG were wiped out by UGC at the edge — they took second place.
When the first match ended, AVG’s overall ranking remained third: 7 points behind second-place SNS and 13 points behind first-place SOP.
Although the final standings didn’t change much after that round, SOP and the other teams could no longer reasonably gang up on AVG.
After all, nobody could predict what the consequences of doing that might be.
When the match finished the players rose from their stations. Zone’s face was stone-cold; his eyes unintentionally met the new AVG member’s gaze, and he felt a chill.
The stage lights fell on Ji Wei’s pale profile, casting a faint shadow under his lashes. His deer-like eyes were cold and black, fixed on Zone.
You’re dead.