The tablet that had been abandoned in favor of hot pot continued to loyally broadcast the match.
ZWG executed a pincer move from both sides. On the right flank, FD’s movement was flashy and unpredictable.
The camera switched to Zhuo Fan from BZ. Through his four-times scope, he tracked FD from afar—but never found a clean shot.
Meanwhile, Tang Chen and Zhang Taining covered each other and came face-to-face with Spider King and Zhemei, who were charging up!
Tang Chen’s armor shattered, and he was knocked down by Spider King.
But he had contributed plenty—his concentrated fire on Zhemei allowed Zhang Taining to successfully knock Zhemei down in return!
Spider King emptied all forty rounds from his magazine and immediately switched weapons.
FD, who had flanked from the right, rushed in. The two of them began collapsing onto Zhang Taining together!
[Ahhhhh! I cannot watch this!]
[BZ is done. The skill gap is still too big.]
[ZWG really is a championship team. Their strength is insane.]
Huopao sighed. “This round… BZ’s two players are probably finished.”
Little Sweet Pepper nodded. “Yes, it is basically decided.”
Just as she said that, Zhang Taining, fighting to the last breath, managed to knock down Spider King—then fell himself.
[BZ is gone.]
[What is BZ’s last player doing? Daydreaming? Why is he not pushing in a situation like this?]
[That former ZWG player is trash. Cannot even provide fire support…]
The moment that comment floated by, the broadcast seemed to respond on cue and cut to Zhuo Fan’s perspective.
In the crosshair he had been holding steady—
A figure finally appeared!
[! Tang Chen and Zhang Taining crawled deliberately to lure ZWG into Zhuo Fan’s sniping range!]
[Damn! They still have not given up? No way, no way, no way?]
[I think it is still over. ZWG already knows Zhuo Fan’s direction.]
At the BZ base—
Tang Chen’s face was calm. “Keep crawling. Zhang Taining, go—keep crawling.”
Zhang Taining, who was already crawling, felt something was off.
He was crawling, yes—but hearing Tang Chen say the word crawl out loud felt strange.
“Shut up. Do not let me hear you say crawl again.”
He could not resist snapping back.
?
Tang Chen stared at him. “At a time like this, you care about whether I say crawl? I am crawling too! We are both crawling—what are you hung up on…”
“Enough, enough. Stop talking. We are about to crawl ourselves to death.”
He truly could not stand this guy.
Zhang Taining cut him off impatiently.
Right on cue—
Green smoke rose from his character on screen. He was eliminated.
Zhang Taining immediately tossed his phone aside and ran behind Zhuo Fan to watch.
“!”
Tang Chen glanced at his own sliver of remaining health, tossed his phone too, and rushed over.
They arrived just as Zhuo Fan pressed the trigger.
[BZ-Zhuo Fan used 98K to eliminate ZWG-FD.]
“Holy—!”
Tang Chen jumped up and shouted.
His hand slapped Zhang Taining’s back so hard that Zhang Taining stumbled forward.
“Hey! You cursed! Brother Xie, I am reporting him!”
Zhang Taining’s eyes widened as he raised a hand.
Xie Liu was watching the match intently.
“Reporting is useless. You are the only one whose contract forbids swearing. Hold it in.”
…
Damn it.
Zhang Taining cursed silently in his heart, then could not resist moving closer to Xie Liu to watch the official stream.
At that moment, the entire chat was stunned.
[???? What just happened? How did Zhuo Fan suddenly snipe him?]
[Wait—BZ has two left, and ZWG only has one now?]
[What happened? Someone explain!]
Watching the confused reactions, Zhang Taining could not help glancing back at Tang Chen’s smug little face.
He looked all proper and harmless, but the guy was sly.
Zhang Taining recalled what Tang Chen had said before the match.
[Our strength is definitely not enough. But the key point is—we absolutely cannot let Brother Zhuo be looked down on! Everyone knows how strong he is. So we are going to use an ultimate secret technique!]
At the time, Zhuo Fan had asked innocently,
[What strategy? Can we win? If we can win, I will definitely cooperate.]
And Tang Chen had replied—
[Win? Of course not! But we can make it look like you lost when you actually won! We are booking a face-slapping moment. What do you think, Brother Zhuo?]
Zhang Taining narrowed his eyes slightly.
On screen, BZ’s last remaining teammate had finally located ZWG-DIY, while Zhuo Fan repositioned and fired another long-range shot.
Unfortunately, DIY had sharp awareness. Their plan to gift Zhuo Fan another head did not succeed.
The match ended soon after, with DIY chasing down Zhuo Fan.
…
Tsk.
Zhang Taining watched the defeat screen, yet the corners of his mouth lifted.
Because Zhuo Fan had secured MVP for the match.
That was exactly the outcome he and that little idiot Tang Chen had wanted.
The official stream quickly displayed the post-game results. Huopao and Little Sweet Pepper stared at the stats in disbelief.
“Uh… as expected, ZWG won the match. However, BZ’s Zhuo Fan still took MVP. That is… honestly surprising.”
Huopao spoke quickly, clearly shocked.
Was this the result BZ had been aiming for?
Little Sweet Pepper, who had industry backing and spoke more frankly, leaned forward slightly.
The tablet that Happy Hotpot had abandoned was still faithfully streaming the match.
ZWG flanked from both sides. On the right, FD’s movement was slick and showy.
The camera cut to Zhuo Fan of BZ. Through his 4x scope, he had been aiming at FD from a distance, but he had not found a single chance to fire.
Meanwhile, Tang Chen and Zhang Taining covered each other and ran straight into Spider King and Zhe Mei head-on.
Tang Chen’s armor was shattered, and he was knocked down by Spider King.
But he did not go down for nothing. He focused his fire on Zhe Mei, helping Zhang Taining successfully knock Zhe Mei down as well.
Spider King emptied all forty rounds in his magazine and immediately switched to another gun.
DF, who had wrapped around the right, rushed over, and the two of them surrounded Zhang Taining at once.
“Ahhh! I cannot even watch anymore, Q U Q.”
“…The two BZ players are definitely dead. Their skills are still lacking.”
“ZWG really deserves their championship title. They are seriously strong.”
Huo Pao sighed.
“This round, BZ’s two players are probably done for.”
Little Sweet Pepper nodded.
“Yes, they are basically finished.”
The moment her words fell, Zhang Taining desperately knocked down Spider King, then collapsed to the ground himself.
“BZ is done.”
“What is the last BZ player even doing? Sleepwalking? In a situation like this, and he is not coming over?”
“That so-called secondhand player on BZ is trash. He cannot even provide basic fire support…”
Just as that comment scrolled past, the screen seemed to respond in perfect timing and switched to Zhuo Fan’s perspective.
In his long-held crosshairs, a figure finally appeared.
“! Zhang Taining and Tang Chen are baiting ZWG into crawling into Zhuo Fan’s sniper range!”
“Damn! They still have not given up? Are they serious?”
“I think they are done for. ZWG already knows where Zhuo Fan is.”
At the BZ base.
Tang Chen’s face was completely calm.
“Keep crawling forward. Zhang Taining, move. Keep crawling.”
Zhang Taining, who was indeed crawling, felt something was off listening to that.
I am crawling, sure, but hearing that word come out of Tang Chen’s mouth?
“Shut up. Do not let me hear you say the word crawl again.”
He could not resist snapping back.
A question mark practically popped over Tang Chen’s head.
Tang Chen looked stunned and speechless. “At a critical moment like this, you are worrying about whether I say crawl? Besides, am I not crawling too? We are both crawling. What are you hung up on…”
“Enough, enough. Stop talking. We are about to crawl to our deaths.”
He really could not stand this Tang Chen.
Zhang Taining cut him off impatiently.
Right on cue.
On the screen, green smoke rose from his character. He was boxed.
Zhang Taining immediately tossed his phone aside and ran behind Zhuo Fan to watch.
“!”
Tang Chen glanced at his own sliver of remaining health, then also threw down his phone and rushed over.
The moment they arrived, Zhuo Fan pressed the trigger.
“BZ-Zhuo Fan used a Kar98K to eliminate ZWG-FD.”
“Holy shit!”
Tang Chen jumped up and shouted.
He instinctively smacked Zhang Taining on the back, nearly knocking him off balance.
“You swore? Brother Xie, I am reporting him!”
Zhang Taining glared with wide eyes and raised his hand at once.
Xie Liu was focused on the match!
“Reporting will not help. You are the only one whose contract forbids swearing. Hold it in.”
…
Damn it.
Zhang Taining cursed inwardly, then could not help running over to Xie Liu to watch the livestream screen.
At this moment, the entire audience was stunned.
“What just happened? How did BZ’s Zhuo Fan suddenly snipe someone?”
“Wait, what? BZ has two left, and ZWG is down to one?”
“What happened? Can someone explain?”
Zhang Taining looked at the baffled comments and could not help turning to glance at Tang Chen’s smug little face.
Tsk. He looked all proper and harmless, but the kid was scheming as hell.
He recalled what Tang Chen had told them privately before the match.
“Anyway, our strength really is not enough. But this time, the most important thing is that we absolutely cannot let Brother Zhuo be looked down on! Everyone has seen his skill, so when the time comes, we will execute an ultimate secret technique strategy!”
Back then, Zhuo Fan had asked him innocently,
“What strategy? Can we win? If we can win, I will definitely cooperate.”
And how had Tang Chen replied?
“Of course we cannot win! But we can make it look like you lost while actually winning! We are booking a satisfying slap-in-the-face moment. What do you think, Brother Zhuo?”
Zhang Taining narrowed his eyes slightly. Then he saw BZ’s other teammate finally scouting near ZWG-DIY, while Zhuo Fan had already set up at long range and secretly taken a shot.
Unfortunately, DIY had strong awareness. Their plan to feed enemy heads to Zhuo Fan did not succeed in the end.
The match quickly ended with DIY chasing down Zhuo Fan.
…
Tsk.
Zhang Taining watched the screen that clearly showed their defeat, yet the corner of his lips still curled upward.
Because Zhuo Fan had taken the MVP of the match.
That was exactly the result he and that little fool Tang Chen had wanted.
The official post-game broadcast appeared quickly. Huo Pao and Little Sweet Pepper looked at the stats and were stunned.
“Ah… As we can see, as expected, ZWG won the match. However, BZ’s Zhuo Fan also successfully secured the MVP of this round. This is really unexpected.”
Huo Pao delivered rapid commentary, shock evident in his voice.
Was this the outcome BZ had aimed for?
Little Sweet Pepper, backed by her own platform connections, spoke even more bluntly.
“We all know that before the match, ZWG’s Spider King publicly said that BZ’s Zhuo Fan was their discarded secondhand goods and that his strength was lacking. And now, in this match, it was Zhuo Fan from BZ who took the MVP. You could say this is a direct slap in the face to Spider King.”
Her explanation immediately cleared up the confusion for many viewers.
“666666. Even in defeat, BZ has honor!”
“Damn! Who came up with this idea? A genius! I was honestly staring at Zhuo Fan’s camera the whole time to see if he was really that bad. Who would have thought? He played insanely well! And that sniping was seriously good! With shooting like that, ZWG said he was not good enough?”
“ZWG may have won, but they lost a lot of face. Especially Vice Captain FD. He clearly knew where Zhuo Fan was set up, yet he still was not careful and got taken out. That was seriously embarrassing.”
At the ZWG base.
Spider King ripped off his headset and jumped up in anger.
“I told you he was sniping us, I told you! Could you not have taken a detour? If nothing else, use the car as cover!”
FD pressed his lips together, his face dark.
“Did I not throw several smokes? Who could have known?”
Spider King was furious.
“What is the use of smokes? Did you forget that the thing he is best at is judging exactly where you are inside the smoke? To him, what is the difference between having smoke and not having smoke?”
FD froze, then frowned.
Was Zhuo Fan really that good?
He felt momentarily lost. Why did he have no impression of that at all?
On the other side, Captain Qi Gaochang’s expression was equally grim.
“That is enough. Stop talking. Get ready for the next match and take the MVP back.”
He stood behind FD, his tone low and chilling.
“You know what to do this round, right?”
The hairs on FD’s arms stood up. A chill ran down his spine.
“I understand.”
In the matches that followed, ZWG turned the tide completely and hardly gave Zhuo Fan any chance to snipe them.
Almost every game became a straight head-on clash.
The two commentators gradually noticed ZWG’s new playstyle. They spread their hands, feeling there was not much left to explain.
As expected, the five practice matches ended quickly, one after another.
By then, Yin Chen and Zong Cheng had finished their hotpot.
Suppressing a satisfied burp, Yin Chen felt incredibly happy.
So even though BZ lost all five matches, his mood did not sour.
And besides…
“That idea was probably Tang Chen’s, right? He is quite clever. BZ lost this time, but in many people’s eyes, ZWG is the real loser. That little scheme was used very well.”
Zong Cheng looked at him, equally satisfied.
Tang Chen?
He finally took a glance at the screen.
And saw that the barrage was filled with discussions about Team BZ.
What was going on?
Zong Cheng blinked in surprise.
“My feelings are so complicated! ZWG crushing BZ five to zero is strong, sure… but I cannot stop thinking about Zhuo Fan’s MVP in the first match. I am going crazy!”
“Brother, you are not alone. BZ’s tactic was actually really good. They used Zhuo Fan’s MVP in the first match to mess with ZWG, forcing them to be cautious of his sniping and avoid vehicle fights in every round after. They won, but it looked so stifled. It feels like they only won because BZ’s players are still young and not fully developed. If someone could properly coordinate with Zhuo Fan’s sniping, ZWG might have been in real danger.”
“Honestly… I cannot stop thinking about how Spider King publicly said Zhuo Fan was not good. This is not good? If he is not good, why were you playing so cautiously around him?”
Zong Cheng understood.
And he was surprised.
Tang Chen’s little brain could come up with something like this?
“Tsk. Some people really have no shame.”
Yin Chen suddenly spoke.
“What happened?”
Zong Cheng leaned over skillfully.
“ZWG-King: This practice match was decent for ZWG. Aside from not anticipating BZ’s ‘tactics’ at the start and taking a small loss, five to zero fits ZWG’s name. But Team BZ seems to be relying entirely on our former player? If your strength is not enough, you resort to shady tricks? Heh.”
Fans who had felt stifled by ZWG’s uncomfortable playstyle immediately felt better.
“Ahhh! My King is so handsome! Exactly! BZ was just relying on sneaky tactics. If they have guts, fight head-on!”
“Exactly! But it does not matter. Five to zero. Does BZ even deserve to hold the keys?”
“Trash team. I doubt we will even see them in next year’s spring split. I am deleting them from my brain right now!”
“Heh.”
Yin Chen let out a cold laugh, fingers flying across his phone keyboard.
“DYX–Big Shot: I heard ZWG said Zhuo Fan is not good? After watching the first match, I would say he was worth more than the price. Also, in esports, are there really teams that do not use tactics? No way. You are not serious, right?”