Xiao Shiqin issued the attack signal, and the team immediately launched. Ye Qiu, who had been at the rear of the team, leaped to the front at this moment and, together with Qiu Fei's Battle Mage, charged in the direction Xiao Shiqin indicated.

Knowing that there was only a Xiaochang hanging at a distance behind them, Team Excellent Era naturally wouldn't bother to be wary of their rear. The two Battle Mages advanced side by side and, in an instant, had already reached the location Xiao Shiqin had indicated.

Empty!

Another empty strike.

The so-called best ambush position that Xiao Shiqin had judged was completely empty.

"Could it be that Ye Xiu guessed that I would see this, so he deliberately didn't choose this position?" Xiao Shiqin inevitably began to ponder psychological possibilities.

As a result, Team Excellent Era hesitated again. Wu Chen's Xiaochang boldly moved a few steps closer, bombarding them wildly. Although it wasn't a powerful threat, the Excellent Era players still had to operate to dodge, which was always annoying, wasn't it?

Although Xiao Shiqin was thinking about strategic issues, he reacted immediately. At this time, the Excellent Era team member who could strike Xiaochang the fastest was Xiao Shiqin's own Sheng Lingmie.

Who knew that as soon as he started moving, Wu Chen's Xiaochang decisively retreated, without any hesitation.

Xiao Shiqin was helpless.

He had only learned about this opponent as a precaution. Although Wu Chen had hardly shown any performance in the Challenger League, fortunately, he had played in professional matches before, and Xiao Shiqin had found some information. Xiaochang was a player with a very solid foundation, but nothing else particularly outstanding. Xiao Shiqin hadn't made any specific precautions against him.

And now, it was this player who was creating trouble for them.

Not seeking merit, but seeking to avoid mistakes, Wu Chen operated his Xiaochang very carefully. He knew his own level. Facing Excellent Era, he didn't have the ability to become someone who could inflict powerful damage, but he could do this level of harassment.

Because this wasn't a difficult mission in the first place. Many professional players might disdain to take on such a simple mission. But Wu Chen wouldn't. He was an ordinary little player. He knew that his abilities weren't enough to shoulder many heavy responsibilities. In his opinion, this not-so-difficult mission was his opportunity to contribute his strength to the greatest extent, and he took it very seriously.

Executing a simple task seriously, the final effect was predictable.

Excellent Era was truly getting a little exasperated by Wu Chen's harassment.

The entire team definitely couldn't keep up with his speed. To fight, they could only split up their forces.

Xiao Shiqin had completely smelled Ye Xiu's intention, but… he had no choice but to make this passive choice.

Because the team he was commanding was no longer Team Thunderclap, which could lower its posture. He was commanding Excellent Era, the greatest team in the alliance's history, the only one to have established a dynasty. Even relegation hadn't erased the pride in this team's heart. They still thought of themselves as a dynasty team, and their fans also thought of them as the leading powerhouse in the league. Relegation was just an accident.

Such a team absolutely wouldn't allow themselves to show a low profile in the match. Even in a situation like relegation, they had become more sensitive and couldn't allow this situation to occur even more. To let Xiaochang surround them like a fly without driving him away, according to Xiao Shiqin's original intention, wouldn't affect the overall situation. Everyone could just dodge a little.

But because it was Team Excellent Era, if they couldn't even get rid of such a simple harassment, it would be impossible to convince the audience and the fans. Excellent Era needed not only victory, but also a strong and convincing victory.

They had to go…

Team Excellent Era adjusted their direction and chased after Xiaochang. But this time, they were no longer moving as a whole. Xiao Shiqin's Sheng Lingmie and Qiu Fei's Battle Mage used their maximum movement speed. They quickly closed the distance with Xiaochang, while Sun Xiang's Ye Qiu and Shen Jian's Striker, Lian Jin, guarded Zhang Jiaxing's Cleric, Zhi Ying, even more closely.

Xiao Shiqin was actually very uneasy in his heart. He knew that the situation Ye Xiu was hoping for had appeared, and that Excellent Era definitely had corresponding arrangements to deal with this situation. But there was nothing he could do. He was finally clearly feeling, for the first time, the situation where a powerhouse team had to do things they knew they shouldn't. During the Challenger League, doing this would also allow them to easily crush their opponents, but this time, they had finally encountered an opponent that would make them uneasy.

Seeing Sheng Lingmie and Battle Mage suddenly chase after him, Xiaochang ran away with all his strength, not bothering to harass them anymore.

"Slow down," Xiao Shiqin instructed in the team channel, mainly targeting Qiu Fei.

Going at full speed could allow them to catch up with Xiaochang faster, but it would also widen the distance between them and the other three members of their team. Xiao Shiqin knew that Happy would make a big deal out of this, so he would do everything he could to weaken the impact of this separation. He didn't go all out to chase after Xiaochang, but only used a speed that could keep up with Xiaochang, so that the distance widened between him and Ye Qiu and the other three characters would also be slower.

Xiao Shiqin was looking forward to Happy making a move sooner. But Happy just didn't.

The audience could see clearly. Happy's Lord Grim and the other four characters were following not far behind Xiaochang, originally preparing to respond. When Xiaochang retreated, the four characters quickly dispersed and positioned themselves, making ambush preparations. But soon, the four characters began to reposition again. They withdrew from their original positions.

Now, the deployments of both sides were finally clear. The commentators, Pan Lin and Li Yibo, finally dared to comment boldly.

"Happy wants to use Wu Chen's Xiaochang's harassment to force Excellent Era to split their forces," Pan Lin said.

"Well… in fact, Xiaochang's harassment isn't strong enough to force them. But Excellent Era seems to be very confident in solving it," Li Yibo said.

"Uh… Sheng Lingmie and Battle Mage's pursuit speed doesn't seem to be at full strength?" Pan Lin said.

"Well… they are trying to maintain the integrity of the team's formation as much as possible, not wanting to separate too much. It seems that Xiao Shiqin is very clear about Happy's tactical intentions," Li Yibo said.

"So Happy didn't launch an attack in this situation. Their deployed attack formation has shifted again," Pan Lin said.

"Why isn't Excellent Era more decisive? Using Ye Qiu and Battle Mage to charge forward, and Xiao Shiqin's Sheng Lingmie has the advantage of long-range attacks, so he can coordinate from the middle. Wouldn't it be better to pull the team into three levels so they can respond to each other better?" Li Yibo raised a question at this time, which seemed to be a more appropriate deployment than Xiao Shiqin's current response.

Pan Lin certainly couldn't answer this question. The audience, after hearing it, was more confused and thought that Li Yibo made a lot of sense. Why didn't a tactical master like Xiao Shiqin adopt a better response?

On the other hand, Chen Guo, on Happy's player bench, who often felt anxious because she couldn't understand the match, showed a rather smug smile after hearing this commentary.

"In the team competition with Excellent Era, the breakthrough point is here!"

When Ye Xiu said this during Happy's tactical meeting and then pointed to Xiao Shiqin's name on the tactical board with his finger, Chen Guo was extremely surprised. Although her level wasn't high enough, she was constantly pondering how they could defeat Excellent Era. When facing a stronger opponent, it was important to find the opponent's weaknesses. Chen Guo understood this principle after all. She thought of all sorts of possibilities, but never thought that Xiao Shiqin would actually be Excellent Era's weakness.

"Why?" Although Chen Guo didn't participate in the matches, she was very curious and asked the first question.

Because Xiao Shiqin's coordination with Excellent Era was far from enough.

This was the answer Chen Guo ultimately received.

Xiao Shiqin's background shaped his tactical style and play. But for a powerhouse team like Excellent Era, Xiao Shiqin's tactical style seemed a bit cramped. The meticulous, detail-oriented approach seemed a bit too petty for Team Excellent Era.

Xiao Shiqin had fully felt this after joining Excellent Era.

He had made adjustments, and the two sides coordinated very happily. But unfortunately, they hadn't encountered a real test, because the Challenger League was too low-level for Excellent Era. Any adjustment would seem incredibly successful and pleasant when viewed at the level of the Challenger League.

Only a strong enough opponent was a true touchstone.

Happy might not be considered a strong enough opponent, but they were the first real touchstone of any weight that Excellent Era had encountered so far.

The coordination between Xiao Shiqin and Excellent Era would be truly tested in this match. Problems needed to be solved on the field, and if they weren't solved well, they could expose even more problems.

Happy's tactics were so simple that they seemed naive, but they accurately targeted the conflict between Xiao Shiqin and Team Excellent Era.

With Xiao Shiqin's original style, he would ignore this kind of naive harassment. But after taking on the responsibility of Excellent Era, he had to find a way to solve it.

Knowing that there were tigers in the mountains, yet heading towards them – this was completely not Xiao Shiqin's style, but he had to use this approach to deal with the problem. He could only face it more cautiously, so that the final deployment he made was even less proactive and bold than Li Yibo's idea.

Because in the face of this tangled situation, Xiao Shiqin unconsciously showed his most familiar style.

He didn't want Team Excellent Era to perform like a small or medium-sized team, trembling with fear and acting cautiously.

As a result, he used another kind of carefulness to avoid the previous carefulness…

The Excellent Era team, divided into two small groups, pursued Xiaochang. But Xiaochang ran for his life, and the other Happy characters also retreated desperately. Xiao Shiqin lowered his speed, but Happy stretched out the time. In the end, the two small teams gradually pulled to a distance that he was very unwilling to see.

Even Pan Lin sighed for Excellent Era at this time: "Knowing this, Sheng Lingmie and Battle Mage might as well have rushed faster, at least they could have struck Xiaochang earlier."

"Is Excellent Era being too cautious? They are clearly much stronger than Happy, they can be more assertive," Li Yibo said. This time, he was really not wrong. Xiao Shiqin unconsciously reverted to his true colors when making deployments in difficult times.

Team Excellent Era seemed restrained under this style.