Chapter 31 – The Same Starting Point
Jokes and banter aside, the team kept one eye on the plane’s passenger activity. When parachuting into P City, Black—on recon duty—precisely marked the locations of nearby enemies.
Little Blue and Black, speaking in his thick Northeastern accent, swiftly eliminated the surrounding threats like a bolt of lightning.
At this point, the first slow zone-shrink had begun. The safe zone was located toward the top of the map. With both LAP and Xinghai aligned along a similar straight path, they were essentially starting from the same point.
Yang Sa didn’t waste any time. Two vehicles carried the four LAP members across the map, relying on map prediction to guide their route.
Meanwhile, Xinghai—still at the Nuclear Power Plant—wasn’t so lucky. The squads that had landed there were no pushovers; everyone chose that location to gain an early advantage. Rather than letting enemies develop, they’d opted to fight from the start.
In the heat of these consecutive skirmishes, Xinghai lost the chance to rotate early. By the time they finally drove away, they were already significantly behind.
By the time they passed the prison area, LAP was already wreaking havoc at the shooting range.
Unless something unexpected happened, the final battle would most likely take place in S City, which bordered the shooting range.
“They’re too fast. What do we do now?” Tangyuan asked worriedly, his chubby frame bouncing with each word. He truly was the emotional backbone of the team.
Shao Zhan, focused, listened to the roar of the plane engines through his headset. Then he turned the car in a new direction. “No rush. Let’s try something different this round.”
“You got it!” said Tangyuan cheerfully, swerving behind Shao Zhan’s vehicle while humming a little tune of his own invention.
In the passenger seat, Jiang Ranan, holding his gun, asked coldly, “Do you even know what strategy the captain’s planning this round?”
“Nope!” Tangyuan responded, his naturally upbeat personality on full display.
They took out two squads near the airdrop who had tried to third-party them. Then, under the cover of his teammates, Tangyuan drove straight into an area full of loot boxes. He came out beaming—looking every bit like a… well, a 300-pound happy man.
In order to retrieve that adorable little airdrop, the group actually veered off their original flight path.
But their leader, Shao Zhan, didn’t seem the least bit anxious. Leading the charge, he cut down anything in their way—be it gods or ghosts.
The Xinghai team surged forward like sharks swimming into shallow waters, clearing out every threat along their path.
This gave Tangyuan, who played the assault role, the time of his life. Even Jiang Ranan and the usually composed Zhuang Bai were pumped with adrenaline.
Xinghai kept a perfect balance between pace and precision. After wiping out the defenders of R City, their next target was S City—where LAP was based.
“Little punks, your daddy’s coming!” Tangyuan yelled into all-chat before they set off. He knew the enemy probably wouldn’t hear it, but he still shouted with unmatched bravado.
That punk Yang Sa had led LAP’s monkeys in wiping out the Jiangling team. Although they’d been avoiding Xinghai so far, one of the defeated teams had been Tangyuan’s friend. Today, he was determined to avenge his brother Iron Ox.
But Tangyuan’s burning fighting spirit was slightly doused when Shao Zhan suddenly took a detour. He trailed behind reluctantly, looking back with every step. “Captain, captain… aren’t we pushing S City?”
Shao Zhan stopped at a quiet little housing area at the foot of a hill and replied, “We are.”
Tangyuan wanted to say, “If we are, then why not just floor it and go?” But, intimidated by Shao Zhan’s aura, he only dared to mutter a silent complaint under his breath.
Shao Zhan, on the other hand, was completely unhurried, slowly picking attachments and fine-tuning his weapons.
Meanwhile, the battle in S City was growing fiercer. A new wave of attacks had broken out among teams trying to seize the high ground.
Amid the dense exchange of gunfire, a distinctly different sound wave cut through the chaos.
“Captain, it’s an airdrop,” said Jiang Ranan, who had sharp eyes and was scanning the full-view display for the plane. “Direction N. Estimated drop point… the back slope of S City.”
Shao Zhan slammed on the accelerator. He had originally planned to let other teams wear down LAP’s resources and gear, but now he sped off like a bullet.
He absolutely couldn’t let LAP get that airdrop—because he knew, if that person got their hands on a high-powered sniper and took the high ground, even with interference from annoying third parties, the odds of victory would dangerously start to tip.
While the previous attackers were launching a frontal assault on the buildings, Shao Zhan led his team in from the flank. They were suddenly sprayed with bullets from behind—by someone who was half ally, half threat—but luckily, it didn’t deal any lethal damage.
Once inside the housing area, their car rammed straight into a wall. Shao Zhan had no intention of sneaking in quietly.
He wanted LAP to know he was here. Xinghai was here. He wanted to shatter their thoughts of upgrading their gear.
Though ambushed by Xinghai, LAP’s formation didn’t fall apart. While suppressing enemy fire head-on, they split up to defend and managed to severely injure the vengeful berserker.
[LAP—Blue knocked down Starcraft—Keen with a Vector]
Freelancer Jiang Ranan immediately raised his weapon to retaliate and, under a hail of bullets, managed to rescue the downed teammate.
In the garage, secondary sniper Fat Tangyuan calmly assessed the situation. With precision strikes, he not only saved his teammate from danger but also took out LAP’s main firepower.
[Starcraft—Sweet killed LAP—White with an AUG A3]
“What the hell…” muttered Little Black, who had been the first to get knocked out in both matches. He clutched his cheek in disbelief. “Am I reverse cheating or something? Why do the bullets all have eyes and come straight for me?”
“Maybe,” said Little White, who had the ID Black, suppressing Zhuang Bai with gunfire while waiting for backup. He joked, “Maybe they just want you to go home early and keep your wife company.”
Little Black let out a wail, rubbing his curly hair. “Don’t mention such terrifying things during a match,” he said, clutching his chest. “You’re gonna give me a heart attack.”
“Heart attack or not, you’re dead anyway—won’t make a difference,” said Xiao Blue with malicious glee.
They were joking around, but in reality, Xiao Blue was barely hanging on. More enemies kept swarming the building they were defending, and his teammates were locked in brutal fights on the other side. Even if he wanted to help, he was completely pinned down.
Fortunately, Black came through—after repositioning to a better angle, he took down the lone Sweet, evening the odds to a 3v3.
Desperate to support his teammates, Xiao Blue glanced at their positions and asked, “Sa, why the hell did you run so far?”
LAP and their enemies were fiercely contesting a three-story coastal building—S City’s highest point. But Yang Sa had moved all the way near the church at the edge of the compound.
That spot was far from the rest of the team, with no support nearby. If he ran into enemies there, there was no way the others could come to his aid in time.
“Don’t bother him—Sa has something of his own to take care of,” said Xiao White –Black-, suddenly sounding like a wise sage instead of someone skipping warmups. “Haven’t you noticed? One member of Starcraft hasn’t shown up at all.”
“Mars.” Xiao Blue clamped a hand over his mouth, then frantically pulled the trigger, hoping the sound of his gunfire would cover his slip-up.
Black had no idea what to do with his jumpy teammate—but he didn’t have much time to think, because he now had to face two Xinghai pros on his own. Thankfully, Little Black, who had already been knocked out, was watching from the sidelines and could guide him. Maybe, just maybe, they could do something from the rear to put pressure on the opposing captain.
Yang Sa had no idea what his teammates were planning. Up on the second floor of the church, he crouched in a corner that gave him line of sight in two directions.
The plane flew across the horizon on its scheduled path, and the smoking airdrop began its slow descent.