Chapter 184 Rushing the Limit

Mo Fan was pushing his limits, but the reason a limit is called a limit is because it can't be broken through in one go. Improving skills and awareness isn't like grinding for equipment in an online game, where one day you suddenly get lucky, get a drop, and your strength immediately increases. These things can only be accumulated little by little through day after day, time after time of training and practice. Breaking through a limit is the same; it's not as simple as suddenly having a whim one day, saying you want to break through, and then breaking through with one big push.

Mo Fan was pushing his limits, pushing without regard for anything. He really did play at a level that he hadn't shown in normal training. But breaking through a limit isn't like getting equipment either, where once you get it, you have it forever. Suddenly breaking through once is one thing, but being completely familiar with it is another. In short, it still depends on accumulating little by little.

Being able to defeat Sun Xiang, even with Ye Qiu's One Autumn Leaf at 72% health, was already a remarkable breakthrough for Mo Fan. Facing Du Ming, he still wanted to continue, still stubbornly and even more frantically challenging his limits again and again. But at this point, his condition was obviously failing. Although he repeatedly created surprises for Du Ming, Du Ming would quickly turn the situation around. Ruiren Tirelessly's 14% health couldn't withstand him messing around too many times. Finally, Ruiren Tirelessly fell, and Du Ming's victory can be said to have been without risk. Mo Fan's performance gave him the feeling that he dropped the ball at a crucial moment.

It seems that defeating Sun Xiang took a lot out of him, but in this match, he still fought so fiercely...

Although he was a rookie, Du Ming silently developed a sense of respect for Mo Fan. This kind of tenacious player, no matter where they are, whether they win or lose, is worthy of respect.

Mo Fan went off the stage, and sure enough, his face showed fatigue. For him, it was mainly mental fatigue. Repeatedly focusing and exploding like that, repeatedly tensing his spirit like pulling a bow to its limit, was completely reckless.

"Too reckless," Ye Xiu said, looking at Mo Fan.

Mo Fan also silently glanced at Ye Xiu, but said nothing and returned to his seat. Qiao Yifan handed him a bottle of water. Mo Fan was slightly stunned, then took it and nodded to Qiao Yifan to show his gratitude.

What on earth is this guy thinking? No one knew. The only person who could communicate with him a little was Su Mucheng, but even Su Mucheng mostly just told him things and never learned his thoughts.

"Talk to him more!" Helpless, this matter could only be left to Su Mucheng, to guide that guy who didn't like to pay attention to people.

At this time, the third player to appear in Xingxin's individual competition had already stood up.

Tang Rou, the defender general of Xingxin since the One Against Three Incident. As soon as she stood up, the atmosphere in the arena cooled down a bit. Even at this point in the season, Tang Rou's popularity was still at a freezing point. Even her home crowd was lukewarm towards her, so one can imagine her situation in the entire fanbase. What's more, Xingxin was now left with only her, while on the other side, there was Du Ming's swordsman, Wu Shuang Gou Yue, with 91% health, and after him, there was an even fully healthy Zhou Zekai, the Glory number one player, Zhou Zekai.

There's no way to fight.

Everyone thought so. Even if the individual competition was declared a victory for Samsara at this point, probably no one would care.

But Tang Rou ignored all of this. Standing up and accepting her teammates' blessings, she firmly walked towards the stage. Even if she heard occasional boos from the sidelines, she wouldn't care. In their home stadium, Xingxin's supporters were already giving her face out of consideration for the team. If this were an away game, Tang Rou would be like a public enemy as soon as she appeared. She could endure that kind of situation, so the silence in the home stadium was like applause to her, something to be grateful for.

This home atmosphere was really a bit strange and oppressive. The Samsara away players felt a little uncomfortable, looking around and observing the attitudes of the Xingxin fans. Of course, they also knew why it was like this, but they didn't expect it to be so serious. Even in their own fan base, which was always the most protective, Tang Rou would receive such cold treatment, while their support for Xingxin was so enthusiastic. It was truly a strange phenomenon.

Everyone knew too well what such a situation meant for a professional player, but this girl was still persevering in such a situation.

Samsara had studied Tang Rou's matches. After the One Against Three Incident, the biggest change in Tang Rou was that she was no longer the vanguard in the individual competition, but changed to the defender general. Other than that, there were no changes. On the field, she was still aggressive and unstoppable. Her popularity was frozen, but her strength was still steadily improving. Among the rookies who joined the league this season, she was undoubtedly an outstanding one in terms of strength. If her age wasn't a bit on the older side for a newcomer, it could be said that her future was limitless. Coupled with her outstanding appearance and temperament, countless people really felt sorry for her.

Gradually, some voices were raised, hoping that everyone could treat a rookie player with tolerance. However, there were always some people who kept harping on it, especially Ruan Cheng from *Esports Times*, who was now a professional hater of Tang Rou. When writing any commentary, he would try his best to bring Tang Rou out and bash her. However, more importantly, Tang Rou herself didn't say anything about it, which was why many fans were annoyed with her. Everyone felt that she knew she was wrong but refused to admit it, that she was stubborn. Some even insisted on linking this with Tang Rou's appearance, generating some self-righteous and unpleasant remarks, such as "beauties are spoiled" and "beauties are abusing their privileges." The support ultimately couldn't pull Tang Rou out of the ice water.

However, what frustrated these voices the most was that they couldn't attack Tang Rou based on her performance in the arena. After the One Against Three Incident, Xingxin entered a crazy winning streak, with the worst score being 9 to 1, and even when they lost to 301, the score was 4 to 6, and the 2 points from the individual competition were still obtained. With a complete victory in the individual competition, Tang Rou, the defender general, had a performance that was undeniably flawless in terms of results during this period. As a result, they could only nitpick and talk about "the rationality of skill usage," something that was subjective and depended on who was looking at it.

They had been craving substance for a long time...

And right now, facing Samsara, as the defender general, Tang Rou was facing an incredibly difficult situation, so difficult that even those who had been craving substance for so long believed that if Tang Rou lost here, it probably wouldn't count as substance.

Facing nearly two opponents, one of whom was Zhou Zekai, losing was simply too reasonable.

After Tang Rou entered the player booth, the atmosphere in the arena changed slightly, and some buzzing noises could be heard. People were chatting, discussing, and gossiping, as if everyone had stopped caring about the upcoming match. Because they didn't like Xingxin's player, because they had already decided the result of this game.

There were no cheers, and even the people who were paying attention to the match became very, very few at this moment. Only the Samsara supporters were still cheering loudly, happy that they could finally win back two points in the individual competition.

The match began. The applause that would usually be offered at this time became sparse.

"Is this because... Zhou Zekai?" Chen Guo said with a wry smile, feeling the embarrassing home atmosphere.

Tang Rou had indeed become unpopular, but when she was on the field, she still represented Xingxin after all. Fans might not like her, but they couldn't help but expect Xingxin to win. So as the defender general, she would sometimes receive some encouragement.

But this time, Xingxin's supporters seemed to have completely given up on her.

Chen Guo knew that there was only one reason for this: the fans believed that Xingxin could no longer win.

Why?

Because Samsara still had nearly two players, a big advantage.

Also because one of the two Samsara players was Zhou Zekai, the Glory number one player.

Zhou Zekai was so strong that he could not only boost the morale and confidence of his own team, but he could also influence the attitude of the opposing fans even before he entered the game.

"With Zhou Zekai here, we won't win..."

Being able to force the home fans to have this kind of mentality, Chen Guo now had a very deep understanding of Zhou Zekai's strong position in the league.

Chen Guo was a little angry with these fans, but during the Spring Festival event, the fans' enthusiasm proved that they had very high expectations for Xingxin. Perhaps they couldn't be blamed too much. They could only blame Zhou Zekai for being too strong, and... Tang Rou was too unpopular. Perhaps if Xingxin replaced her with another player, the fans would still try to cheer and encourage her.

"Sigh..." Chen Guo sighed. Tang Rou's persistence made her feel even more helpless than Zhou Zekai's strength. This girl didn't have the slightest bit of "Rou" (gentle) in her appearance. Was that name meant to be ironic? Chen Guo secretly mocked Tang Rou's famous father.

The match began without anyone paying attention. The players in the arena didn't know the audience's reaction. Du Ming was particularly looking forward to this match. From the start, he controlled his character, Wu Shuang Gou Yue, and showed off even more moves than in the previous match.

"I really didn't expect to meet in an official match," Du Ming said in the channel.

Tang Rou returned a smiling expression.

"Let's fight with all our strength!" Du Ming said heroically.

"Of course," Tang Rou responded. Han Yanrou rushed out, and Du Ming's Wu Shuang Gou Yue also met her head-on. The two characters gradually entered each other's view, without avoiding or using the terrain. They collided directly.

Tang Rou was someone who had once embarrassed Du Ming, and greatly embarrassed him.

During the All-Star Weekend's player challenge segment, he had lost to a player who came on stage to challenge him, and lost twice. For a long time, he was the laughingstock of the industry. But his opponent was just a player. He was a professional player, so he couldn't chase after an ordinary player and say he was going to get revenge, right? Du Ming could only admit his bad luck and feel depressed for a while.

Until that player who had defeated him seemed to be becoming a professional player, and now, he finally stood on the same stage as Du Ming.

Revenge? It had been two years, and Du Ming really didn't have that intention anymore. But he hadn't forgotten about it either. So one day, when he found out that Tang Rou was also entering this circle, he couldn't help but pay more attention to her. And this one was really not an easy person. Not long after officially entering the professional circle, she caused a sensation in the circle with a One Against Three Incident, as if she were the protagonist.

But later, she didn't complete the One Against Three and even broke her promise and cheated. For a time, the protagonist became an antagonist, and everyone shouted for her to be beaten.

Du Ming was dumbfounded. Not to mention anything else, she was really a very individual girl, and she was also very beautiful.

He had almost forgotten his old grievances. Du Ming had gradually developed a good impression of this girl he had been following, especially after the One Against Three, when Tang Rou was so miserable in the circle that Du Ming felt sorry for her just watching.

He really wanted to support Tang Rou, but... what was his position? In Samsara, after counting the four All-Stars, then the assassin Wu Qi, the cleric Fang Minghua, it was only then that they could count him. When it came to sensitive events, reporters would ask Samsara players for their opinions, but it was never his turn.

When he saw Zhou Zekai hum and haw about this matter for a long time, finally humming out a strange "very strong," Du Ming really wanted to punch his handsome face flat.

Very strong your sister, very strong! What was very strong?

Du Ming had never been so anxious for Zhou Zekai's terseness.

During that time, Du Ming's state could be described as being hung up about it. But he soon realized that his worries were unnecessary. Tang Rou, although her popularity plummeted, her performance was actually more stable. During the next stretch of the schedule, Xingxin was even more outstanding than Samsara.

Du Ming immediately admired this girl even more.

Finally, it was the twentieth round of the match. Samsara and Xingxin met again, and this time, Du Ming and Tang Rou had the opportunity to meet on the field.

Du Ming was a little excited, and the Samsara players off the field were also discussing animatedly.

Du Ming's attention to Tang Rou was no secret in Samsara. How could someone as skilled at communicating with people as Jiang Botao not see that this guy was simply playing at having a crush?

"This guy excitedly rushed up with his sword. I think he looks like he's in good shape! Does he want to express his love for the goddess by killing the other guy?" Wu Qi said, looking at Du Ming's performance, which was far beyond his usual level.

"He's trying to get her attention by showing himself off, right?" Jiang Botao was indeed good at understanding people's hearts.

"Elementary school level childishness!" Fang Minghua sighed.

"Oh my god!" Someone exclaimed. The Samsara players all held their foreheads and lowered their heads in silence.

Wu Shuang Gou Yue, who had pounced up excitedly, was slammed to the ground by Han Yanrou's Circle Swing.

"Is he already kneeling?" Lu Boyuan covered his eyes with his hand, peeking at the field through a crack.

"No..." Zhou Zekai said.

"Careless!" Du Ming shouted in the channel.

"I'm so embarrassed..." The Samsara players said one after another.

"He won't even shout 'I love you' or something later, will he?"

"In that case, let's sell him while the transfer window is still open for two days!"

"Sell him to Xingxin?"

"That would be right up his alley!" Everyone laughed.

On the field, the battle continued...