Superstars of Tomorrow

“What does survival mode mean? Was there such a mode in past special guest matches? Is it newly added?”

“Does this mean that our entire team of 20 will team up to fight one?”

“And as long as one person survives, we win?”

“Exactly which side does this favor?”

“The special guest this time is really going overboard. What is Fiery Bird going to give him? Smart Equipment? Or a super weapon that can wipe out a large area?”

Everyone in team 9 was puzzled.

When Fiery Bird turned the special guests into a BOSS, the age, reflexes, familiarity of operation, knowledge of maps and experience of the special guest would be taken into account. But, what the hell was this survival mode?!

“That means to say, this special guest will have to exterminate our entire team? That’s way too overboard!”

“Did this special guest play as an assassin before?”

“The map is jungle. Concealment is easy, and there are also dangers.”

Jinro put on his game face. “Alright, let us study and make plans on how we should play tomorrow.”

Because the mode was out of their expectations, the members of team nine spent a slightly longer time discussing that night.

The next morning, the competition venue was packed. Every single action by these celebrities in the gaming circles brought cheers and excited shrieks from the audience.

The members of team 9 were all renowned within the gaming circles and had many fans. Besides those watching live, there were also many more fans watching through live stream platforms.

Of the twelve grayed out special guest silhouettes displayed on the large screen, eight had already been unlocked. Over the past two days, these eight special guests had triggered delight amongst fans and were hotly discussed.

Today was the third day of the special guest matches. There were four guests that had yet to appear. Fiery Bird had kept this information under tight wraps. Entertainment reporters hadn’t yet been able to uncover any news. Everyone could only make blind guesses over what they knew.

Before the first match of the third day, the members of team 9 had a brief period after the morning’s interactive activities to condition and prepare themselves.

In the rest lounge, Jinro even gathered the team for a pep talk.

“Captain Jin, are you worried? This mode is too strange,” someone asked.

“Regardless of what mode was selected, we can face it no problem. The person I’m afraid of isn’t here, so I’m not worried.” Jinro was brimming with confidence.

He wasn’t being blindly arrogant. Jinro indeed had the ability. There was no need to doubt a steadfast captain who had led his team to stay near the top of the leaderboards for so long. With all that Fang Zhao had taught him and his accumulated experience and skills, he had the confidence to deal with anything.

Furthermore, a captain had to express confidence to his team even if he had no confidence.

As he recalled his good fortune in the All-star Match up to this point, Jinro calmed down.

However, team 9’s vice-captain Bruce grabbed at an important point in Jinro’s words. “The person you are afraid of? Are you talking about Fang Zhao?”

Jinro also didn’t hide this fact. “Everything is fine as long as Fang Zhao doesn’t come. I’m not afraid of anything else.”

He didn’t feel that being afraid of Fang Zhao was anything to be embarrassed about. After all, he wasn’t the only one afraid.

“Is it true that all you SilverLight members are afraid of Fang Zhao?” a copper skinned female team member asked. Because her skin was dark, she had chosen a dark-skinned in-game character and people affectionately called her “Black Sis”.

“Black Sis, you don’t understand.” Jinro’s expression turned serious. “The Fang Zhao in ‘Battle of the Century’ is especially vicious. You will understand if you get the chance to encounter him in future. For now, you can try asking people who have faced Fang Zhao, but they might not necessarily be willing to talk about it.”

Jinro didn’t think that what he said was exaggerated. He had encountered so many people, but Fang Zhao was the only one that gave him a strange feeling that he had no idea of deciphering. The Fang Zhao in “Battle of the Century” simply didn’t give anyone the chance to breathe. The “Point-sweeping Demon” moniker really wasn’t an exaggeration.

Upon arriving at the competition venue, Jinro glanced at the special guest seat. The seat was covered up, and it was impossible to see the person inside.

Everyone got into position and the match started.

For this match, the in-game setting was a forest. It was a forest from the Period of Destruction. Besides being overwhelmingly green and luxuriant, there were all sorts of brightly colored venomous plants and variations of mutated beasts that could camouflage. Thus, this map was filled with danger.

However, for this special guest match, Fiery Bird had already changed the environment settings and lowered the degree of danger.

But, it was also because of this that the members of team 9 were more cautious.

The environment becoming easier meant that the BOSS would be harder to deal with. They would have to put more thought into fighting this BOSS… or perhaps, find a place to hide for thirty minutes?

Jinro and the others had already come up with a plan to deal with this scenario last night.

Upon entering the game, the twenty members of team 9 split up into small groups and separated.

“Move out according to the plan! Don’t let the opponent control the tempo!” Jinro said.

A minute passed.

Ten minutes passed.

The split up groups picked up emergency supply bags and stronger weaponry. Someone even found a stealth suit in an underground chamber.

The spectators watching the match were also baffled.

“So, this is a forest treasure hunt?”

“Survival mode… is actually this simple?”

Schwarzer felt sour watching from the viewing terrace. He recalled how he had been beaten so miserably in the first match. Watching Jinro and his team have a leisurely treasure hunt, Schwarzer mused, “Is this just my fate?”

However, at this moment, Jinro wasn’t that relaxed.

They hadn’t even seen any trace of the BOSS up to now! They didn’t even know whether the opponent was man or beast!

“Special guest, are you online?!” someone in team 9 shouted cheerfully.

After all, this was an exhibition match and it wasn’t so serious. Being cheeky to lighten the stifling atmosphere was alright.

However, these ten minutes of non-activity had indeed made many team members relaxed.

“Wouter! There’s a small little thing in front!” a teammate shouted from a short distance away.

Team 9 had a gamer called “Wouter” whose nickname was “Legendary Dart Master”. In the game, he was like a ferocious panther. While it couldn’t be said that his darts never missed the mark, his accuracy was at least ninety percent. But, in real life, he was a fatty and would need some luck to even hit one out of a hundred darts.

Darts? No, he only had fat.

Of course, the ability of this “Legendary Dart Master was still very strong in game.

A mutated beast half the size of a human appeared. After hearing his teammate’s shout, Wouter threw a dart casually.

The mutated beast fell to the ground without a squeak.

The teammate gave Wouter a thumbs up. “Not bad, the Legendary Dart Master’s forte indeed.”

“It wasn’t me!” Wouter checked his surroundings carefully. “I was about to do a fancy triple dart throw and didn’t intend to kill it with one dart!”

Mutated beasts that were slain in game would disappear. And, before this slain mutated beast disappeared, Wouter discovered a broken dagger lodged in this mutated beast’s neck.

Cold sweat flowed down Wouter’s back. He turned on his communicator to contact his teammates. “The Boss appeared…”

However, his vision turned black, and a “You have been eliminated” notification appeared.

Wouter, who had been disconnected: “???”

I have been eliminated?

How did I get disconnected?

Jinro had also realized that there was one less member online, and he suddenly felt uneasy.

He glanced at the time. Ten minutes and thirty seconds had passed since the match started.

After the initial ten minutes of peace, the first person had been eliminated after thirty seconds.

Thirty seconds later, the second person was eliminated.

Another thirty seconds later, the third person.

…

In three minutes, six members of team 9 had been eliminated in succession!

It happened at every thirty second interval. It was extremely precise, like a set tempo.

This tempo isn’t right!

Outside the game, the SilverLight team members were watching from the viewing terrace.

“Still that same operation.”

“Still that same feeling.”

Schwarzer was no longer sour. He rubbed his chest while rejoicing. “I have a frightening guess.”