Chapter 2 The Remaining Seven Hundred and Twenty

By the time the second round concluded, only seven hundred and twenty participants remained in the Cocoon of War.

Wang Tanzhi was among them.

After that match, Brother Long contacted Little Tan once to exchange information about the situation at the time. Long Aomin was indeed a very "ordinary" person; he was very open-minded about losing. He didn't feel any remorse at all. On the contrary, he greatly admired Little Tan's surprising tactics, almost clapping and cheering...

In any case, Blade was not a commercial game studio, and there were no ranking requirements for its members, so it didn't matter where Brother Long lost.

However, this match caused quite a bit of discussion on the forums. Because Brother Long sent Meng Jingchan to the playoffs in the first round, many players once regarded him as a dark horse in this competition. As a result, after only one round, the ID Long Aomin, which had just become somewhat popular, was revealed to have been eliminated...

"I said earlier that Long Aomin only won the first round by luck," this kind of view sprung up like bamboo shoots after a rain on the forums. In fact... 90% of the people who expressed these views hadn't watched Brother Long's match... not even either of the two rounds. They just read some posts and news, made some conjectures based on the results, and made some fallacies.

Of course, there were also quite a few players who actually watched the battle between Wang Tanzhi and Long Aomin. Most of them came to watch Brother Long, but they didn't expect the result of the tunnel battle to be like this... even more so that the process would be so dramatic.

Little Tan completed a classic kill in front of thousands of viewers. Although there was an element of luck involved, as Feng Bujue said, since he could come up with this idea and dare to take the risk to do it, then he deserved this victory.

It's just... compared to Brother Long's instant fame after the first round, the ID Wang Tanzhi was still lukewarm. It seems that most people still think he won by luck.

…………

At one o'clock in the morning on May 21st, the third round began.

Like the previous two rounds, Little Tan was on standby in the login space on time.

It was the familiar system prompt: [The third round of the Cocoon of War is about to begin. Your data will be loaded in thirty seconds. Please do not leave the login space.]

[Ten-second countdown before loading, nine, eight, seven... two, one.]

But... after the countdown ended, the opening remarks failed to arrive as scheduled.

After about five seconds of silence, just as Little Tan felt something was wrong, the system voice rang out: [No matching target found. You have a bye in this round. Congratulations, you have directly entered the fourth round.]

"Huh?" Little Tan was a little confused after hearing this prompt. After a few dozen seconds, he realized, "Did someone not line up on time?"

Obviously, yes.

Coincidentally, among the seven hundred and twenty players who entered the third round of the Cocoon of War, one person didn't come tonight. The reason was that his wife was giving birth... she was sent to the hospital in the evening, so he didn't go online at all tonight.

If there were an even number of players absent, the system could still complete the pairings, and then deal with the number becoming odd in the next round. But only one person was absent tonight, so... one player had a bye.

And Little Tan was the one who got the bye.

Five minutes later, when he came to Feng Bujue's conference room and told him about his direct promotion, Jue-Ge's comment was: "If I could get two-tenths of your luck... I'd sell all my assets tomorrow and buy a plane ticket to Macau."

…………

In short, Little Tan advanced to the top 360 so uneventfully.

The next day, the matter of the bye was hyped up, and many IDs that were obviously internet water armies adopted a righteous and stern posture and opened fire on Meng Company in various forums.

If you break down and analyze the arguments of these people, and then look at the core meaning, it boils down to "This is unfair! Someone who was eliminated in the playoffs should fight him! The winner advances!"

Anyone with a discerning eye could see that this was a farce orchestrated by some unscrupulous game studios who wanted their eliminated players to get another chance. These studios regarded the bye as a life-saving straw, and sent out a large number of guns for hire, claiming to be bystanders, pretending to be indignant, and making every effort to create public opinion, trying to put pressure on the game company.

But they obviously got the wrong target...

Meng Company is not an ordinary game operator; doing things their own way and letting others laugh and scold is basically their motto.

The rules already stated that if a player is unable to compete due to off-field factors, it is considered a waiver, and there is no objection at all. Therefore, Meng Company completely ignored those water armies.

So, after a whole day of fruitless noise, the gunners, who were exasperated, focused their attention on Little Tan, it could be said to be misplaced anger... In short, Little Tan was targeted. If his performance in the fourth round was good, then people would naturally have nothing to say; but if he seemed vulnerable, he would definitely become the main excuse for the sprayers to launch an attack after the game.

At that time... "If so-and-so had gone to fight, he would have definitely advanced!", "Meng Company would rather give a bye-getting trash a promotion than give a chance to a player with strength, where is the justice?" This kind of rhetoric is bound to erupt, which is already foreseeable...

…………

May 22nd, one o'clock in the morning, the fourth round of the Cocoon of War.

"Hidden in the deep forest, the silkworm sleeps three times, around the finger is the softness of a hundred refined steel." After the countdown ended, the system voice read out the opening remarks in a sonorous voice.

[Loading complete. You are currently participating in the Pinnacle Tournament - Cocoon of War.]

[This mode has no script introduction, no side hidden quests, and no special world view.]

[Script victory reward: Advance to the top 180]

[Main quest triggered]

[Kill your opponent]

Little Tan was teleported to a black wasteland. The ground was made of hard rock, with no vegetation; looking around, it was vast and boundless, without even a clear landmark.

A round moon hung in the sky.

Two figures stood proudly.

In Wang Tanzhi's sight, a familiar face appeared. Without needing to confirm through the game menu, Little Tan recognized the other party - Qisha.

Qisha also recognized the man in assassin attire in the distance.

It was clear to both of them that they couldn't play any tricks on this map.

Qisha also had a good relationship with Brother Long, and besides, this wasn't the first time he had met Little Tan. Therefore, it was impossible to expect him to underestimate the enemy.

A bright moon over a thousand miles, an immeasurable murderous intent.

The winner advances, the loser is eliminated. There is no retreat, and no one will give in.

"Ha... this kind of map, this kind of opponent... I'm probably doomed..." Little Tan adjusted his breathing and thought to himself, "But..." He looked down at his hands, "Why are they shaking with excitement... Could it be that deep down in my heart... I'm yearning for this kind of battle..."