Chapter 102 The Next Round's Opponents

Ten a.m., November 6th, Thriller Paradise game world, Wang Tanzhi's conference room.

"Hey~ Brother Jue, you're here." Seeing Feng Bujue walk into the conference room, Xiao Tan put down his snacks and waved to greet him.

"Why is it just you? Where's Xiao Ling?" Feng Bujue noticed that only Xiao Tan was in the room, so he asked.

"She has a job interview this morning, so she probably won't be online until the afternoon," Xiao Tan replied.

"Interview?" Feng Bujue questioned. "With her family background... does she even need to go for interviews? She could just go to her own family's company and be a leader."

"You can't say it like that..." Xiao Tan replied, "My family has quite a few businesses under their name, but aren't I still working for someone else?"

"Hmm... that's true." Feng Bujue pondered.

Xiao Tan then added, "Besides... the unit she's interviewing for is a government department, and it's said that her grandfather is a leader there..."

"Alright, alright, alright..." When he heard the three words "her grandfather," Feng Bujue already knew where Xiao Ling was going for the interview. He immediately interrupted Xiao Tan with a quick and impatient tone, "I already know where she's planning to work, you don't need to say any more."

"Huh?" Xiao Tan was stunned for a moment. "I don't even know, how would you know?"

"Ask your wife yourself, don't ask me about this." Feng Bujue didn't want to explicitly tell Xiao Tan about the Ninth Division.

"Oh..." Xiao Tan responded, then seemed to remember something. "Right, Brother Jue... Xiao Ling and I haven't registered our marriage yet, calling her 'wife' and stuff..."

"What?" Feng Bujue interrupted him again, asking in a rhetorical tone, "You wouldn't dare not marry her?"

"Uh..." Xiao Tan replied almost without hesitation, "I wouldn't dare..." He paused. "Of course, it's not a question of daring or not, I'm just waiting for the right opportunity to bring it up..."

"Okay, stop!" Feng Bujue stopped Xiao Tan from continuing. "I'm not going to give you advice on this, it's a matter between you two." After saying that, he immediately changed the topic. "Let's talk about our opponents in the next round of the competition."

"Eh?" Xiao Tan replied, "You're talking about it now? Aren't we waiting for Sister Yu and Sister An to come?"

"Your Sister Yu went home to visit her parents, as for my editor..." Feng Bujue shrugged. "It's precisely because of some things I said in the first match that she's busy..."

"It's about the Corpse Blade matter, right?" Xiao Tan replied.

"Yeah..." Feng Bujue said, "The legal department of Corpse Blade Studio said... as long as I'm willing to make a public apology for the 'untrue statements' I made in the match, they won't pursue the matter."

"Damn! So arrogant?" Xiao Tan showed a look of indignation. "They still want to 'pursue' it? Do they think it's reasonable for them to give their employees drugs?"

"Heh... it's not a matter of whether it's 'reasonable' or not." Feng Bujue replied with a relaxed tone and a smile, "They're not reasoning with you, they're talking about the law..." He paused for half a second. "Legally speaking, I publicly spread negative information about Corpse Blade without any evidence and caused considerable impact. So they can sue me for defaming their reputation and demand compensation for the corresponding losses."

"What do you mean 'no evidence'?" Xiao Tan was still unconvinced. "If people from the judicial department intervened to investigate, wouldn't the truth come out?"

"Ha!" Brother Jue chuckled dryly. "Is the 'yamen' your family's business? Do you understand that in civil litigation, whoever makes the claim has the burden of proof? If the investigation was as easy as you say, I'd go to court every day to sue people, say whatever I want, and let civil servants knock on other people's doors for me every day."

"According to what you're saying..." Xiao Tan said, "Does that mean you're really going to apologize?"

"How~ could~ that~ be~" Feng Bujue's tone was full of ups and downs when he replied. "The prerequisite for me to apologize is that I really did something wrong..." He paused for a second. "...and I don't have the ability to cover up or reverse that mistake."

"You can just say you'll never apologize." Xiao Tan said with narrowed eyes.

"Who said that? I often say 'sorry,' okay?" Feng Bujue said.

"The kind of 'sorry' you often say... is never meant to be an apology..." Xiao Tan retorted, "It's more like the tone of saying 'Sorry, I'm a cop'... it sounds like you're setting up a death fLAg for the other person."

"Don't worry about those details." Feng Bujue changed the subject with a classic piece of nonsense. "In short, I won't meet the demands made by Corpse Blade." As he said that, he touched his chin. "I consulted Ouyang Jian about the various technical details and aftercare methods for this 'extortion' yesterday. He told me in his dual capacity as a professional and a friend... this deal is doable."

"Ah?" Xiao Tan was a little confused when he heard this. "What 'extortion'? Corpse Blade's behavior is at most 'intimidation,' they didn't ask you for..." He stopped halfway through his sentence, something suddenly flashed through his mind, and he immediately widened his eyes and exclaimed, "...Wait a minute!"

"Wait what, wait..." Feng Bujue replied weakly, "You stop halfway through your sentence... you want me to wait for what?"

"Hey!" Xiao Tan exclaimed, "You're thinking of extorting them?"

"Is that so strange?" Feng Bujue said as he struck a pose like a European lyrical poet reciting a poem, reciting with deep emotion, "I remember~ in that place where dreams die... extortion~ is my only entertainment and spiritual food~"

"First of all, you think... 'school' is the place where dreams die." Wang Tanzhi's mouth twitched as he repeated Brother Jue's words word by word. "Secondly, you think the shadow you brought to countless people in your childhood was just a side effect of your entertainment activities; Thirdly, you're thinking of... extorting the other party under the premise that you may be sued by the other party and lose..."

"Yeah, that's a good summary." Feng Bujue nodded and calmly admitted.

"So... is Ouyang Jian your lawyer or a criminal consultant?" Xiao Tan then asked.

"Of course he's a lawyer." Brother Jue replied in a matter-of-fact tone, "If there wasn't 'attorney-client privilege,' we wouldn't be so unscrupulous."

Xiao Tan held his forehead and shook his head, too lazy to say anything more to them. "If you two are ever thrown into jail... remember not to ask me to testify."

"Don't worry, if there's a case that can get us both arrested, the lightest sentence would be life imprisonment." Feng Bujue laughed, "You don't need to testify for us, just go get a tattoo."

"Why would I get a tattoo for no reason..." Xiao Tan stopped talking, then suddenly realized something and continued, "Oh... and then come help you break out of prison, right? I spit on that!"

Brother Jue smiled. "Okay, let's not talk about this, we've gone off topic again..." He grabbed the snacks that Xiao Tan had placed on the coffee table and ate them without any pretense. "It doesn't matter if it's just the two of us, I'll tell you about our opponents in the next round of the competition first..."

…………

Zero o'clock, November 7th.

The second round of the Aozhan Sijie (Fierce Battle Across Four Realms) competition began on time.

In this round, the opponents of the [Hell Frontline] team were the [Double Roam] team. This team was similar to the [Useless Alliance], a team composed entirely of individual professional players. The captain and vice-captain of the [Double Roam] team were also two well-known individual professional players, with IDs [Zi You] and [Qing You].

In terms of skill, these two weren't bad, but compared to gods like Zhao Ying Wang and Hong Hu... they were still a notch lower.

However, what Zi You and Qing You were most praised for was their seamless "cooperation" ability.

They were twins, and fraternal twins at that. The older sister, Zi You, served as the captain in most games, while the younger brother, Qing You, had always been her supporter. Years of cooperation combined with the unique tacit understanding of twins allowed them to be invincible in the game, their combined combat power far exceeding the "one plus one" effect.

In addition to the two siblings and the substitute coach, the other two members of the Double Roam team were also experts who had been famous in the gaming circle for a long time. Here, although I don't have the urge to come up with names for these two extras, I hope everyone understands... there won't be too many weak links in a team that can make it to the second round of the playoffs, so the strength of these two is beyond doubt.

Now, let's talk about Hell Frontline...

After their overwhelming performance in the first round, Feng Bujue, Wang Tanzhi, Si Yu Ruo Li, and Bei Ling Xiao Gu, the four starting members, had undoubtedly become the focus of the event. The brilliance of the four wasn't inferior to that of those professional star players.

Most valuable was... although they had left behind some S2 competition footage, each of their performances was unfathomable, with unknown limits...

Therefore, in this second round of the playoffs, although Hell Frontline didn't face a seeded team, they still attracted a lot of attention. Whether it was their new fans or studio personnel who wanted to investigate the enemy's situation, no one wanted to miss the performance of the Hell Frontline team.

However...

As if to mock these people, Feng Bujue, the most interesting captain, had actually... put himself on the bench in this second round.

…………

On the other hand, another strong matchup in the second round of the playoffs... was about to be staged.

That was—[Useless Alliance] vs [Warring States Second Team].

Whether it was a coincidence or fate, Hong Hu had indeed faced off against that Toyotomi Hei in the competition in less than two days.

Whether Hong Hu taught the other party how to be a person, or the Warring States Second Team slapped the former in the face... it depended on the outcome of this match.

[Useless Alliance]

[Useless Uncle, Level 50]

[Hong Hu, Level 50]

[Zhao Ying Wang, Level 50]

[Juan Meng Huan, Level 50]

[Bi Laoshi, Level 50]

[Please select the game mode your team wants to join.]

[Confirmed, please select the spectator for this battle.]

The lineup of the Useless Alliance team was also quite luxurious. The four main players were undoubtedly top players, each with an S-level specialization. Their substitute, [Bi Laoshi], like most substitutes on other teams, served in a "coach"-like role and almost never personally took the field.

Therefore, the spectator they chose this time was naturally Bi Laoshi.

[Confirmed, your team has entered the queue and is waiting for your opponent to be ready.]

[Matching completed, coordinating neural connections, script is generating...]

[Loading begins, please wait.]

"The flames of war have just subsided, the fierce battle begins again without waiting. All the stars gather in the four realms, with heroic sentiments soaring beyond the nine heavens."

[Loading completed, welcome to Peak Showdown S2 - Fierce Battle Across Four Realms.]

[This mode provides a script introduction and has a chance to trigger side hidden quests and special worldviews.]

[Script victory reward: Advance to the third round of the playoffs.]

[The script introduction will be played soon, and the competition will begin immediately after the playback.]

After a familiar voice prompt, the opening CG appeared in front of the players.

It was the sea, a sea of ​​oily green.

The sea shouldn't be this color, but at this moment, the sea that the players saw was like this.

Whoosh--Whoosh--

The sound of the wind and the sound of the waves came one after another, sounding like a suppressed wail.

[The cause of the incident was that a group of scientists confidently stated... that they had solved the planet's energy crisis.]

As the narration sounded, the camera moved slowly forward along the surface of the sea.

[But they were wrong...]

[The "special bacteria" they created failed to turn water into oil, but instead became an energy disaster.]

[Those "special bacteria" turned all the liquids they came into contact with into a greasy, toxic mixture that was completely useless to humans.]

[The water supply agency was the first to be paralyzed, followed by rivers and lakes...]

[In the end, even the sea could not escape.]

When the narration reached this point, a coastline suddenly appeared in the CG picture...

[People's lives have not only not improved, but their living space has been constantly compressed due to the lack of water resources.]

[Today, human figures can only be seen on some small islands at sea...]

The opening CG ended here. The four players of the Useless Alliance regained their ability to move on an orange beach. At the same time, a familiar system prompt sounded in their ears - [Main quest has been triggered].

The four opened the game menu and took a look. The task bar clearly showed [Kill the four members of the "Warring States Second Team"].

"Everyone... although it may seem a bit emotional to say this now..." In the next second, Hong Hu was the first to speak to his teammates, "However, I still want to say..." He paused. "For some personal reasons... in this match, I hope you will 'absolutely follow my arrangements' and help me eat the opponent with my strategy..."