The King's Avatar

Happy progressed one level further in the group arena. It seemed that Fang Rui had achieved these two victories very easily, so easily that it was almost scary. After two battles, Boundless Sea had only lost 17% of his health!

This… was the pace to a 1v3!

The crowd took a while to process this, but when Wind Howl's Lin Feng exited the player booth and left the stage with his head lowered, the crowd finally recovered and suddenly exploded with cheers.

He still had 83% health left, and Wind Howl's core God Tang Hao had already appeared in the individual competition. There was a big chance for a 1v3 in this group arena today!

The crowd looked toward Wind Howl's player area. Who would be Wind Howl's group arena anchor?

After several moments, the shouting in the stadium seemed to quiet down a bit, as Wind Howl's anchor stood up: Liu Hao.

Liu Hao had entered the All-Stars this season, meaning that his popularity wasn't bad. More importantly, this was City H, and one year prior this was still Liu Hao's home stadium. Much of the crowd today had come here in the past and watched his matches in person. Seeing Liu Hao come onstage, everyone hesitated. Yesterday's teammate becoming today's opponent, this was what players had to face. Yesterday's idol becoming today's obstacle, this was what fans had to face.

At this sort of time, the crowd's mood would become very complex, and the hopes for a 1v3 were pulled back. This was the cruelty of the professional league, occasionally leaping out to bite.

Liu Hao's steps were firm as he walked toward the stage, and he even paid tribute to the crowd, waving his hand toward them. As an away team player, this was practically asking for contempt, but Liu Hao evidently knew that his relationship with this crowd was different. His attitude actually won over quite a bit of the crowd. Toward this away team player, the home crowd actually gave him some applause.

But Liu Hao was nowhere near as confident as he appeared.

They'd already lost two players, and they'd only taken down 17% of the opponent's health. If Wind Howl wanted to win, he would have to accomplish a 1v3…

Liu Hao didn't have such dreams. In his view, this was already a group arena that Wind Howl had no way of winning. To him, what he absolutely needed to do was defeat Fang Rui, at least prevent the other side from completing a 1v3. Otherwise, it would simply be far too embarrassing for both him and Wind Howl as a whole.

But this opponent still had 83% health…

Liu Hao's mood was a bit heavy. As soon as he entered the player booth, that air of confidence and elegance he'd projected for the crowd instantly vanished. He carefully examined the state of the keyboard, mouse, and other such things, before finally logging on.

The third battle of the group arena began. Happy still had Fang Rui, but Wind Howl was already on their third and final player.

"Now that I'm here, if I don't 1v3, everyone will be so disappointed!" When the battle began, Fang Rui already boldly expressed this.

"Haha, what a nice imagination!" Liu Hao replied.

"But you're even more screwed. You'll have to 1v3 if you want to win this group arena, right?" Fang Rui said.

Liu Hao couldn't say anything. Just now, he had wanted to use his words to draw the crowd's attention to the question of whether or not Fang Rui could 1v3. With this, if he won and blocked Fang Rui's 1v3, he could be put in the role of a victor. Wind Howl would still lose the group arena, but everyone would put the blame on the first two players for not doing well, and he, who stopped Fang Rui's 1v3, would still have a bit of the air of a hero.

But who would've expected Fang Rui to be so quick with his words? With one sentence, he exposed the truth of the difficult situation he was in.

Just defeat Fang Rui? That was far from enough. Right now, he was the one who actually bore the heavy responsibility of completing a 1v3. Liu Hao's plan of diverting the crowd's attention hadn't even been implemented before Fang Rui shattered it.

"How about it? 1v3, have any confidence? I can say that I sure do!" Fang Rui was still chatting away. Not only had Liu Hao's goal of redirection failed, Fang Rui was forcing everyone's attention onto this issue of 1v3 like crazy. He had confidence? Of course he did, 83% challenging 100%, any player in this position would be extremely motivated. But Liu Hao? 100% against 283%? His heart was broken.

"1v3? In your dreams!" Liu Hao was helpless. He could only continue to present himself as someone who would stop a 1v3, and not someone who had to carry out a 1v3.

"Hehe, I should say in YOUR dreams! Or is it that you don't even have these dreams? If that's the case, I say, stop wasting time and just GG!" Fang Rui said.

Now that their conversation had reached this point, it was practically grinding away Liu Hao's spine. This was Happy's home stadium, but there were a number of diehard Wind Howl fans following along with the team. They couldn't bear to see such mockery anymore. In such a situation, they could understand if Liu Hao lost the match, but ultimately everyone still had a sliver of hope for a miracle. Seeing Fang Rui's attack now, Wind Howl's fans instantly exploded. They hoped that their vice-captain Liu Hao, upon whom the team had heavily relied this season, would fight back back for them, initiate a powerful counterattack 1v3 in this Happy stadium, and humiliate the opponents.

"1v3!!!" Wind Howl's diehard fans became fired up, cheering and yelling encouragement for their vice-captain. But instantly, their shouts overlapped with the "1v3" shouts from the Happy fans. Wind Howl's shouts were a bit more vigorous and exuberant, as they wished so desperately to see this humiliation. But with their shouts, Happy's fans couldn't sit still. The battle was already at this point and they still wanted to see a 1v3? Ridiculous! And so, Happy's shouts of "1v3" reached a new peak, attacking the Wind Howl fans. There were more of them, and so they quickly smothered the away team fans. But Wind Howl refused to yield. Even if their sound was drowned out, it wouldn't stop them from continuing to shout.

This was their trust and hope in Liu Hao and Wind Howl!

Liu Hao, sitting in the player booth, had no idea. If he did know, he probably wouldn't be moved, he would probably start crying from the the motivation of these fans.

1v3? Can't everyone be logical here? How was he supposed to 1v3 under these conditions? The opponent's first player still had 83% health!

Liu Hao didn't know, and so he didn't think that much right now. He only prepared to defeat Fang Rui, at least stop Happy from 1v3ing, and then he would definitely be understood by the fans. He had no idea that, because of Fang Rui's trash talk, Wind Howl's fans had already expressed even higher expectations for him.

As the two of them bickered through the chat, they were already approaching. Fang Rui continued to play dirty, and there was no sign of Boundless Sea. After watching two matches, Liu Hao had already grasped a few key points of Fang Rui's usage of this map. Right now, he paid close attention as he moved his character, choosing positions carefully. For now, he hadn't found Boundless Sea, but Fang Rui also couldn't find a good chance to attack. The two were at a stalemate.

"What's wrong, still not attacking? Can't find an opportunity? If you continue to hide like this, watch out for a yellow card!" Liu Hao also began a trash talk offensive.

"I'm right behind you!" Fang Rui said.

"Haha." Liu Hao wasn't that naive.

"I really am right behind you!" Fang Rui still said.

"..."

"Behind you!"

"Behind you!"

Fang Rui suddenly channeled Huang Shaotian and actually continued to spam these two words nonstop in the chat. Liu Hao was irritated, but the more irritated he was, the more he didn't dare to turn his character around. The more Fang Rui yelled this, the more he felt that the danger would come from anywhere but behind him. Liu Hao carefully controlled his character to move, looking left and right. But there was no sign of Boundless Sea, only Boundless Sea's spam.

"Behind you!"

"Behind you!"

Liu Hao suddenly felt nervous.

This guy, with his nonstop spamming, was he actually going to launch a sneak attack from behind, but using reverse psychology to make him too scared to look behind him?

I'll take a look! Just one glance, fast, nothing will happen!

Liu Hao once again carefully checked in front of him and to the left and right, and then with a sudden flick of his mouse, his camera view quickly spun around, scanning the surroundings behind him. No Boundless Sea. Liu Hao let out a breath, and his view quickly returned to the original position.

Spirit Reaches to the Rainbow!

At this moment, Boundless Sea attacked. His position had indeed been right behind Liu Hao's character. How could such a fast glance be enough to check behind all the possible spots of cover? Fang Rui, as soon as Liu Hao finished glancing around and let himself relax, launched his charged Spirit Reaches to the Rainbow!

Qi energy was silent, but the charged Spirit Reaches to the Rainbow carried the character with it. The sound of the air colliding and splitting around him instantly resounded.

Liu Hao instantly smelled that something was wrong. He didn't even bothering turning around again, he just directly had his character roll and dodge. With his fluctuating mood, going from tense to relax to suddenly tense again, his controls would naturally be unsteady. Fang Rui seized this one moment. The Spirit Reaches to the Rainbow carried the qi and the character blasting forward. The rolling Spellblade, Liu Hao's character Absent Sun, was directly hit by this attack.

It was very rare to see blood from a Qi Master attack!

Bright red sprayed from Absent Sun's mouth. This was typically the sign of heavy internal injuries. The attack didn't stop there - Fang Rui continued with his familiar flurry of brutal and powerful attacks, and Absent Sun's initial 17% lead was quickly erased.

The cheers of the Happy fans reached a new high.

For the fans to put in the effort, they had to see the player's results. Only a beautiful performance could ultimately ignite the fans' support. Fang Rui slaughtered his way toward a 1v3. Liu Hao? Everyone saw how he was sent spinning in circles from Fang Rui's trash talk attack. Not openly mocking him too much was already a sign of his special relationship to this crowd.

But even if the fans were nostalgic, Fang Rui was already continuing his trash talking.

"I said so many times that I was behind you, why didn't you believe me? How many times do you want me to say it? Give me a number!" Fang Rui continued to enrich the contents of the chat channel.