[“Hahaha, I can’t stop laughing. Even through the screen, you can feel the Silver Coins’ helpless sarcasm.”]
[“Emphasizing, has a Milk birthday on December 8th, might be tested on it in the future.”]
[“The Career fans are really anxious; if they can’t get a good ranking in this round, it might be game over for them. Why do I feel like they don’t have any mental pressure at all?”]
[“Actually, from God Yu’s performance, I sense a strong conviction.”]
[“Heh, does Yu Weize ever not get carried away? What use is his conviction? Just wait to be eliminated! With that attitude, really!”]
[“Why eliminated? They can display affection as they please. Some people are too broad in their interference.”]
[“Hehehe, in esports, there’s no love. If you want romance, don’t come and play esports.”]
[“Oh look, the neighboring team is all coming over. Let’s watch the show.”]
Inside the Starry Sky Internet Cafe’s live broadcast room, the conversation from the team voice chat was being broadcasted through the first-person perspective, catching the attention of netizens with a wave of fluctuations, as expected.
However, immediately after, everyone’s attention was diverted to the tense situation at hand.
Through Seven Silver Coins’ lenses, the approaching figures of the three professional guilds—Rattlesnake, Crusaders, and Blood Roses—were gradually being captured.
Even Jiang Shi hadn’t expected that these three powerful guilds would make such a unanimous choice at this time. However, instead of showing any urgency, there was a hint of anticipation in their attitude. “What’s up?”
Han Yuze also casually followed along, chuckling, “Let’s see who comes up first.”
Gentleman Fan grasped the meaning behind their words, sighed softly, expressing a bit of sympathy, “You’ll enjoy the fruits of your labor, or not.”
A chuckle arose simultaneously from both sides.
Gentleman Fan shook his head slowly in the midst of this tacit understanding.
The fact that these two could get along was probably the greatest fortune in this holographic age.
In the meantime, the teams from the three professional guilds had successfully met on the plaza below.
They had all arrived from three different directions, obviously not expecting such a coincidental encounter. At this moment, with the three formidable teams facing each other, they stood their ground, staring at each other across the space, no one making the first move.
It’s said that a triangle is the most stable shape, and in this situation, it seemed unassailable.
Having clashed on the battlefield for so long, they had already thoroughly understood each other’s tactics.
As the saying goes, the mantis stalks the cicada, unaware of the oriole behind. No one wanted to give their opponent a chance to sit back and reap the rewards.
A quiet breeze occasionally swept through the towering floors, lifting some dust from the ground.
In the midst of the silence, Return to Spring’s Skillful Hands finally broke the ice, “What a coincidence, everyone’s come to find Seven Silver Coins?”
There was a hint of a rhetorical question in these words, but Serpent’s Curse symbolically responded, “Yeah, want to team up?”
Though asked nonchalantly, those few words caused a slight jolt in the minds of the Crusaders on the other side.
Compared to secondary tournaments like the Nianhua Cup, alliances were more commonplace in the Century Cup. According to incomplete statistics, Blood Roses and Rattlesnake had collaborated many times before, openly conducting transactions that were quite harmonious. Although these circumstances mostly occurred after the second round of the matches, it didn’t mean that alliances wouldn’t be considered in the first round.
If these two guilds truly came to an agreement in such a casual manner, the unlucky ones wouldn’t just be Seven Silver Coins. In comparison, the Crusaders, who were currently also on the plaza, might become the first cannon fodder in the alliance of these two powerful guilds, especially without Yu Weize leading them. While their overall experience might be slightly inferior to the other two guilds, in normal circumstances, they wouldn’t have much interaction in such a difference in generations. However, the current situation compelled Akdas, the newly appointed commander, to step forward and mediate, “Two esteemed seniors, coming here obviously is to deal with Seven Silver Coins. If we consider teaming up, we could consider joining forces together.”
When this was said, there was no immediate response from members of the other two guilds, but it directly caused an uproar among the audience in the stands.
Whether it could be done or not, the situation where these three guilds joined forces against one guild often only occurred during crucial breakthrough matches.
Moreover, it was only in situations where an extremely powerful guild was far ahead in points that such open and blatant targeting would occur.
But what was happening now?
Seven Silver Coins, a team that could be eliminated at any time if they didn’t perform well in this match, and these three guilds were being asked to collaborate? The phrase that would come to anyone’s mind at this point would be—what capability and qualifications do they have?
But in reality, regardless of Seven Silver Coins’ performance in the previous two matches, the fact that these three guilds independently converged to target them actually provided the answer.
At least in the eyes of the players from these guilds, Seven Silver Coins was indeed worthy!
According to Return to Spring’s Skillful Hands’s thinking, despite the lackluster performance in the previous two matches, just the idea of having Yu Weize and PoisonedMilk on the team made them feel that keeping this team was like having a ticking time bomb, which could explode at any moment. If they could eliminate them directly through this match, it would be a complete resolution of future trouble. What was unexpected was that someone else also shared the same idea.
The Crusaders were one thing, but what intrigued Return to Spring’s Skillful Hands was when Rattlesnake became associated with Seven Silver Coins.
Listening to the back and forth between the two guilds, they gave a wry smile and lightly tugged at the corners of their mouth, “Such enthusiasm, somewhat surprised. However, there’s a straightforward question now: is this alliance just to team up against Seven Silver Coins and then dissolve, or do we all stay together to deal with other teams? If it’s the former, it’s a bit of making a mountain out of a molehill, but if it’s the latter, how will we handle the distribution of boss kills after dealing with them? Who gets what final rank? Let me state our stance first; we also don’t want to give up these points, as we are competing for the top breakthrough score.”
With that sentence, it silenced the other two guilds.
Quite coincidentally, Blood Roses and Rattlesnake currently occupied the first two positions in the total score rankings, making them the hot favorites to advance in the first round of the Century Cup.
With their competitive relationship, forming an alliance for a team on the brink of elimination was unlikely. No one was willing to concede their rankings.
As for the Crusaders, they had even fewer options.
Though not as dangerous as Seven Silver Coins, their ranking was in a precarious situation. Giving away points wouldn’t differ much from marching toward the cliff edge.
All were crafty enough to know that the chances of this alliance succeeding were slim. However, even though they knew the odds, none were willing to break this façade by speaking up.
So, the situation circled back; none wanted to expose this vulnerability first.
The scene once again fell into deadlock.
Just then, everyone caught the whistling sound of a slicing wind.
Already on edge, the long-strained pace of the three teams had almost simultaneous reactions from their long-range players.
The next second, a miniature mechanical device was instantly shredded and fell heavily to the ground, completely silenced.
Members of the three guilds: “…”
There was no need to question; everyone knew that such an opportunity couldn’t be allowed to slip away without taking advantage of it.
After a brief moment of thought, almost simultaneously, the three guilds made a unanimous decision: “Attack!”