In a burst of light, Feng Bujue... won.

It was undoubtedly a narrow victory...

Qiu Fengse lost because... he died about half a second earlier than Feng Bujue.

Yes, just_we not only blew up Qiu Feng, but also shattered Brother Jue in the process.

In fact, it not only killed two players, but also destroyed the battlefield.

...The entire battlefield.

The center of the explosion was the point where Qiu Fengse's fist and just_we made contact, and the explosion's maximum range... was incalculable. If the barrier at the edge of the battlefield hadn't been there, who knows how far the light blast could have spread.

It's worth mentioning that this massive explosion revealed a piece of information that had never been discovered before – "the shape of the battlefield."

Because the energy released by just_we destroyed all matter, including the ground and the air, and continued to spread and fill the entire space... in the time before the light energy dissipated, if the audience zoomed out to a very distant perspective to observe (or watched the replay), they could see a capsule-shaped, upright luminous body in a dark void... and that was the outer contour of the battlefield.

Of course, most people didn't care about details like this, and the major media outlets didn't even mention it in their reports on the match the next day.

Entertainment media wants traffic. Without traffic, they don't even have the right to "speak for money." Instead of painstakingly writing a bunch of highly professional or detail-oriented technical articles, it's better to create an eye-catching headline... even if the content is meaningless, full of errors, or the traces of "paid promotion" are obvious, it doesn't matter too much... as long as it attracts people to click on it, it's a success.

In summary, the hottest report on the match the next day was titled: "Outrageous! Depraved! Facing His Old Friend, Feng Bujue Actually Used a Nuke."

"Heh heh..." Back in the spectator space, Feng Bujue crossed his arms and smiled smugly at his teammates, "See? Easy win."

"Do you even have any shame?" Miss An immediately retorted, "You clearly threw a doomsday item when you were on the verge of death and barely won by luck, okay?"

"Yeah... you clearly had many ways to win, but you had to show off some 'triple transformation' and almost screwed it up," Ruoyu added, nodding.

"Tch..." Feng Bujue still put on a stubborn act, "What do you guys know? It's all strategy! Strategy! You'll understand later."

Clearly, none of the six people present believed his "forced justification to save face." Even Xiao Tan just smiled wryly.

But what Feng Bujue said... was actually true.

During the match, when Qiu Fengse asked "Why did you have to use this kind of tactic against me?" Brother Jue didn't tell the truth, but his infuriating answer convinced Qiu Feng and the audience.

And after the match, when his teammates complained, Feng Bujue explained his true intentions, but no one believed him...

When someone gets to this point, it's really hard for people to "see through" them.

[The match will begin in thirty seconds]

Although the system took a particularly long time to repair the battlefield, it was still completed within five minutes. As the system voice sounded, the second "mid-tier battle" started on time and entered the "preparation phase."

As Feng Bujue had predicted, Shan He sent out Mocha Su and Qiang Si for this match.

Since Brother Jue had already anticipated the opponent's lineup, he naturally chose a lineup specifically designed to counter them, namely – Si Yu Ruo Li and Shi Shang Hua Jian. In other words... a traditional "swordsmanship expert + healing support" combination against an emerging combination of "super-strong machinery specialist" and "half-summoning, half-spiritual art support."

In terms of tactical diversification, strategic changes, and fault tolerance, the latter had an absolute advantage. On Shan He's road to advancement, Mocha Su and Qiang Si had repeatedly proven that... unconventional specializations combined with composite abilities often had miraculous effects against those old-fashioned combinations, and could even achieve victory against stronger opponents in certain extreme situations.

Even so, Feng Bujue sent out Ruoyu and Huajian, which shows... he was confident in this battle.

"They ran away..." Just three seconds after the preparation time had passed, Huajian, who was using the Asclepius Staff to give Ruoyu a "resurrection buff," watched the two figures running away on the other side of the barrier and muttered calmly.

"Ah... they ran away..." Ruoyu echoed casually, her expression calm.

Because Brother Jue had analyzed almost all the possible tactics the opponents could use before the match, the two of them weren't nervous at all.

"Judging by this... should we use Plan C?" A few seconds later, Huajian asked again.

"Hoo..." Ruoyu sighed, looking unmotivated, "We've already discussed it, so let's just use it..."

A minute later, somewhere on the battlefield.

"Strange... why haven't they come yet?" Qiang Si, who had already made preliminary preparations and was on high alert, looked at the empty plain outside the cover and couldn't help but mutter, "Even if they're coordinating with Huajian's movement speed, this amount of time should be enough for them to get closer."

"Hmm... using thermal imaging, it's also empty..." Mocha Su, who was standing next to her, was wearing a rather exaggerated beetle helmet and observing the front through the lenses on the helmet's eyes, "Could it be... they took some route we 'can't see'?"

"You mean..." Qiang Si said, turning her gaze to the ground in front of them.

"'Going underground' is just one possibility..." Mocha Su mused, "Don't forget that their guild also has a machinery specialist who's very strong... What if he created some tradeable spatial technology creation? Then Si Yu and Huajian might be able to come directly through a phase space or other transfer device..."

"I understand." Qiang Si nodded and immediately turned around, placing a surveillance summon behind them.

Their tension and caution were understandable. After all, one of their opponents was the "monster-level" Ruoyu. Once she got close, they could die in any number of ways.

Therefore, the tactical idea they were executing was – "fixed-point defense after creating distance."

When facing a "melee + support" doubles lineup, this tactic is undoubtedly very effective (shameless). Most melee-support combinations have relatively poor or non-existent long-range attack methods. Once these combinations encounter fortress-like defensive forces in a plain area with very little cover, they can easily find themselves in a helpless situation.

Because they had accurately predicted this... the two members of Shan He turned around and ran as soon as they saw the starting lineup of Hell Front.

In the previous minute or so, Mocha Su and Qiang Si raced against time... In the initial movement, they ran at their maximum speed without regard for stamina, striving to create as much distance as possible. Moreover, during the movement, the two of them were already preparing to "create" and "summon" separately. When they found a small hill suitable as a stronghold, they started "construction" without hesitation.

Mocha Su's Engineering Ant Legion Module can greatly increase her efficiency in building mechanical creations, while Qiang Si's summoning skills mostly rely on "materials" to implement, without spending too much time preparing (he refuses to summon in the same way as Zhao Ying Wang, who uses paper dolls).

The two of them cooperated quite tacitly. In less than a minute, they built a semi-circular metal cover wall half a meter high, blocking them from the enemy.

After they crouched behind the cover and set up the initial defensive firepower, the two entered a state of alert. At the same time... they also silently accumulated the number of mechanical and summoned creations using their respective skills.

It can be said that the longer the time dragged on, the more favorable the situation would be for these two.

Because the longer they waited, the more armed forces they could create... and because they had been constantly "building," they would never be judged as passive gaming, even if they stayed in place.

Seeing this, some people may think that this combination and tactic are too invincible (shameless), right?

Actually, no...

If they encountered a shooting specialization opponent, or a player with skills like Dragon Shattering Slash, this tactic would be no different from waiting for death. Furthermore, it wouldn't work against someone like Long Aotian, who can hold a shield and charge through the firepower.

In fact, even with the current combination of Ruoyu and Huajian, it's not entirely impossible to break this tactic. If Ruoyu used the maximum speed she could achieve to catch up and find the opponent's location as soon as the barrier disappeared, and then launched a sudden attack... then she should be able to gain some advantage during the weak period when the opponent's firepower network had just been laid out.

However, as of now, these assumptions are just assumptions.

One minute, two minutes...

It wasn't until a full five minutes later that Ruoyu's figure appeared on the horizon.

Five minutes is a very long time on the stage of the Peak Brawl... long enough to end a duel.

Such ample time was naturally enough for Mocha Su and Qiang Si to improve the defense capabilities of this "stronghold" to a very alarming level. Logically speaking, they should be relieved at this moment, but seeing Ruoyu appear alone made them suspicious.

"What's going on?" Qiang Si asked suspiciously, "We waited so long, and in the end, she just appeared in our sight so brazenly, and there's only one person?"

"Only one person can be explained... They may be guarding against us using sniping methods for long-range attacks, so they let Huajian, who is weaker in hand-to-hand combat, hide first," Mocha Su replied, "But... these five minutes are really suspicious... What exactly did they do during this time?"

Yes, what did they do?

Actually, they didn't do much. During this time, Ruoyu and Huajian simply combined some parts provided by Snow, added some relatively rare raw materials as catalysts, and made a very powerful small explosive device – the Smiting Compression Bomb.

[Name: Smiting Compression Bomb (Composite)]

[Type: Consumable]

[Quality: Perfect]

[Effect: Releases internally compressed high-concentration Smiting power (0.3 second delay after pulling the pin, kill radius of about 9 kilometers, this item cannot be placed in the knapsack after it is created)]

[Note: A multi-universe traverser from the planet Cybertron experimentally combined the military technologies of two universes after traveling through the Worms world, thereby spawning a batch of extremely lethal weapons. The Smiting Compression Bomb is one of them. Formatting the Smiting energy contained in the Holy Hand Grenade and compressing it into a cubic space with a side length of less than or equal to 15 centimeters can geometrically increase the weapon's destructive power.]

The practicality of this thing is very poor: First, it cannot be put back into the knapsack after it is "made into a finished product," so it can only be made in the script world, and it cannot be taken out after it is made. Second, the use of this compression bomb is similar to that of a hand grenade, which requires one to pull the pin and detonate it oneself, but its power is nuclear-level... which means that the user basically cannot escape the detonation range.

In a match, it's hard to imagine your opponent giving you five minutes to make this thing. Even if you really made it, it would just be a doomsday item.

However, if you know the other party's tactics and the actions they are about to take in advance, you can use it with confidence and boldness.

Currently, Huajian has run to a place ten kilometers away... The reason why she didn't appear is simple: to escape the range of the explosion. As for Ruoyu, holding an item that will most likely kill her too, wearing a "Resurrection Buff," she is trying to get close to the opponent's two members...

"Wait! She's holding something with a high energy reaction!" Soon, Mocha Su, who was observing with visual aids, saw something was wrong.

"What is it?" Qiang Si's question... strictly speaking, was useless.

"No matter what it is, I don't plan to let her approach us with that..." As Mocha Su spoke, the mechanical legion she had created around her surged forward, some rushing towards the target, and others activating various long-range firepower to suppress it.

Seeing this, Qiang Si immediately directed her various summons to follow up, and very vigilantly built an aura shield around herself and her teammate, just in case.

However...

"Sigh..." Ruoyu, who was far away, looked at the tide of attacks coming, just sighed softly and muttered to herself, "There are so many obstacles in the way, maybe I shouldn't go over there... Something with an explosion range measured in kilometers, a few hundred meters doesn't make a difference..."

Thinking this, she casually pulled the pin.

Judging from the later war report titled "Heroic! Tragic! Sacrificing Herself for the Team, Si Yu Ruo Li Resolutely Used a Nuke!", entertainment media actually has some integrity, mainly depending on who the protagonist of the report is...