Chapter 19 April 19th, Midnight

The quarter-finals of the Peak Tournament S3 began on time.

Because it was the semi-finals, and out of consideration for viewership and respect for advertisers, the two matches were staggered; [Hell Frontline] and [Order] could rest for an extra day in this round, playing again on the 20th. Tonight, [Garbage Alliance] and [Gates of Paradise] would face off.

...

[Loading Complete]

[Peak Tournament S3, Semi-finals]

[Venue: Cangyun Mountain]

When the members of both teams entered the viewing space, this system voice rang in their ears.

Immediately after, came the announcement: [The match will begin in thirty seconds.]

The vanguard battle saw [Pegasus Over the Sky] and [Suriel] transported to the battlefield.

Everyone was familiar with Little Ma; as for Suriel... from his appearance, his face was like that of most casual players, a slightly handsome modification of an ordinary person's face; he wore a black and white outfit and showed no signs of any weapons or equipment. It was difficult to judge what type of player he was.

Because this match was being conducted under the effect of an "Artifact," from the moment they entered the battlefield, the [Garbage Alliance]'s [Philosopher's Stone] effect, "Turning Stone into Gold"... had already begun its countdown.

At the moment the barrier disappeared, exactly thirty seconds would have passed. That meant that at the instant the fight officially began, all of Suriel's equipment and skills would undergo a "value upgrade"; moreover, under the buff from [Gates of Paradise]'s [Amulet], the degree of this upgrade would be further enhanced, potentially rendering most of Suriel's skills and equipment useless.

Of course, according to Honghu's analysis, there were countermeasures to this restraint; the opponent only needed to adjust their items and skills before the match, bringing some items with very low equipment requirements to the fight... Although doing so would reduce their combat power quite a bit, it was better than bringing a bunch of unusable junk.

[...Two...One...Fight!]

The countdown quickly ended, and the barrier vanished with a sound.

In this kind of one-on-one battle, Pegasus Over the Sky usually didn't retreat during the preparation phase; and Suriel, clearly, didn't take a single step back either.

As soon as the battle began, the two engaged in close combat.

The audience all thought that what followed would be a world-shaking, exhilarating fight...

But, the reality was...

Buzz--

With a strange hum of energy surging, Suriel's eyes emitted a bizarre, eerie light.

And Pegasus Over the Sky, who was being stared at by him, was like a still frame in a movie—frozen in the middle of a forward rush, not moving at all.

...

"As expected... is it this development again..." At that moment, Gui Xiao, who was watching the match in the conference room, muttered with a rather solemn expression. Judging from his tone, the scene before him wasn't surprising to him at all.

"Still can't see anything?" Raw Fish Fillet asked from the side.

Clearly, they were not discussing [Gates of Paradise] for the first time.

"Ah..." Gui Xiao nodded, "Completely unable to observe, can only roughly guess their abilities through the performance of third parties..." He paused, then looked up at Pegasus Over the Sky in the live broadcast, "For example, right now, judging from Pegasus's data, his physical activity has been suppressed by some kind of ability, even his energy activity has been restricted, and the cost for Suriel to activate this ability seems to be just 'continuously looking at his opponent'."

"Hmm..." Raw Fish Fillet pondered, "Judging from the match records so far, all seven members of their team have demonstrated this kind of 'unreasonable' skill; without a doubt, these abilities of theirs are all reusable, permanent skills..."

"The key... isn't how strong their abilities are," Meng Jingchan interjected at this point, "but 'where the hell did these guys come from'."

He paused for a few seconds, took a puff of his cigarette, and continued, "Regarding the blocking of Gui Xiao's 'data perspective,' it's actually understandable... After all, the player base of Thriller Paradise is huge; even a guy like Feng Bujue who can copy other people's skills exists, so it's normal for a few players who can 'counter data perspective' to appear.

"It's just... in one team, seven players with related IDs all possess this ability, and they themselves all possess super-first-class combat power, the probability of this happening is terrifyingly low.

"What's even weirder is that these seven experts seem to have been created out of thin air like Bosses; with our [Order]'s connections, we can't find a single player who has had contact with them in any script... We also can't find any posts or replies from those IDs on the game forums... This is almost impossible for non-professional players."

"So, what you mean is..." Ye Zhi sensed the implication in his words, so she asked.

"Fuu--" Meng Jingchan exhaled a puff of smoke, "This team is probably somehow related to Dream Inc."

"Are you saying that they are colluding with people inside Dream Inc.?" Ye Zhi asked again, "Using some kind of cheat developed by the game company itself? Or directly modifying the data?"

"No, that's not what I mean," Brother Chan corrected, "Over the past year, Dream Inc.'s work style and execution have been obvious to all... If some of their internal employees colluded with outsiders to cheat, this team would have been investigated and disqualified long ago, and none of those insider employees would have been able to escape; now, since this team has made it all the way to the semi-finals without being investigated, then it means that Dream Inc. thinks there is no problem with them, and it is even possible... that this team is actually supported by the official behind the scenes."

Hearing this, Wu Si Can Xuan turned his head in doubt and asked, "This explanation makes sense from the existing results, but what is the 'motive' behind it? Why would Dream Inc. insert such a team into the competition? What benefits would this bring to them?"

"That's what I can't figure out either," Brother Chan replied, "If you say they are 'creating stars'... these seven members of Team Paradise are all as low-key as escaped convicts, they don't look like they want to be famous at all; if you say they took money to 'sell the championship'... how much money would it take to get Dream Inc. to do something like this? To be honest, I personally feel... that Dream Inc. is not a company that treats players like sons, they are a company that treats players like grandsons and capital like great-grandsons..." He shrugged, and continued, "The only hypothesis I can think of now is... that Dream Inc. inserted such a strong team into the competition, in order to use their hands to eliminate certain teams or players..."

...

In the process of their conversation, on the battlefield, the "vanguard battle" had already ended.

Pegasus Over the Sky, who had been frozen from the very first second of the game, had been trying to break free from his restraints, but ultimately failed.

A moment later, Suriel, feeling that he had "observed enough," could only sigh lightly and say, "You do have some unique personal charm, and you also have some potential and talent in certain areas, but in this final selection, having only those is not enough for you to pass... Being unable to escape from the 'Evil Eye's' confinement shows that you have not found a way to escape from the 'biological' level on either the 'strength' or 'spiritual sense' paths, so the result is self-evident..."

As he spoke, he slowly raised his head, looked at the sky, and said to someone, though it was unclear who, "Sorry, you're not qualified."

After saying that, the strange light in his pupils reappeared, and merely by "looking" at Pegasus Over the Sky, he turned him into white light.

This victory or defeat ended in this confrontation that resembled an afk and these inexplicable lines.

The audience, the commentators, and even those players who had been eliminated in the previous dozen or so rounds... were basically all dumbfounded; only a very few people, and some non-human, higher-level beings, understood what Suriel had said.

In any case, the score became one to zero.

Next was the "mid-game battle."

After a brief rest, [Raphael] and [Gabriel] of [Gates of Paradise], and [Honghu] and [Seven Kills] of [Garbage Alliance] appeared on the field.

If Pegasus Over the Sky's "elimination" seemed a bit inexplicable and stifling, then these two could be considered to have laid down more "obediently."

Under the premise of being restrained by the Artifact, Raphael and Gabriel stood there for a full minute, enduring the attacks of two opponents. During this time, Honghu and Seven Kills also used their ultimate moves and soul intent, but they failed to kill even one of them.

This couldn't help but make Honghu feel like, "Did I choose a fake Artifact? Equip a set of fake equipment? Use a bunch of fake skills?"

Of course, not only him, but Seven Kills and the audience also thought the same...

A minute later, the two received the evaluations of "skill ends here" and "ambition lies only in self-cultivation," and were then instantly killed by the two from Paradise with one move.

At this point, at least the audience unanimously recognized one thing—the members of [Gates of Paradise] were probably all monsters of Gui Xiao's level.

Looking back at all the matches in S3 so far, it was indeed only in Gui Xiao's match against Shiva that there was a scene of "allowing a top expert to attack at will for a minute and then easily counter-killing."

Previously, because the opponents faced by [Gates of Paradise] were mostly second-rate combat forces, and the most powerful one they encountered was [Red Cherry] without Xu Huai Shang in charge, the players' perception of their "upper limit" of strength was still relatively vague.

But now, when they met [Garbage Alliance], they still showed that suffocating composure and desperate combat power. This... was not something that ordinary "strong" could describe.

If it weren't for Dream Inc.'s consistent tough attitude, and the team's low-key attitude that made it impossible to slander them, at least 90% of the players would have believed that they were cheaters, even without evidence.