Chapter 16 "Hey, Jue-ge, How's It Going on Your End?"

"Just deleting emails…" Feng Bujue replied weakly, clearly not idle.

"Haha… still not done?" Xiao Tan laughed.

He and Feng Bujue had communicated once at midnight, when the list of specially invited players had just been announced on the official website, and Jue-ge's mailbox had just exploded…

"About what I expected…" Feng Bujue said, "This time, I'm definitely famous. I've prepared myself to deal with thousands of emails every day for the next three days to a week…" He paused. "After a while, when the heat dies down, it might get better. But… I'm afraid I'll never be able to return to the ideal state of obscurity. I once heard Jian Shao (Kuang Zong Jian Ying) say that it's common for him to receive dozens of emails from strangers after logging in. My situation will probably become like that in the future…"

"I think countless people would kill for your treatment…" Xiao Tan retorted.

"Hmph… actually, being a seed player has its advantages. No need to fight in the preliminaries… so relaxing." Feng Bujue continued, "By the way, how did your first preliminary match go?"

"Sigh… I lost." Xiao Tan sighed.

"Oh." Feng Bujue sounded very calm.

"Hey! That's too cold a reaction!" Xiao Tan replied, "It's like it's normal for me to lose!"

"Losing one match isn't a big deal, is it?" Feng Bujue said, "The [Cocoon War] has fifty matches. As long as you don't lose four in a row and get eliminated early, it's not a big problem…"

"Easy for you to say… there are millions of players in this game, and only three thousand can enter the Cocoon War. And players who win fifteen consecutive matches at any stage of the Bug War will advance directly." Xiao Tan said, calculating in his head, "Players who complete all fifty matches, the theoretically best record is forty-seven wins and three losses… if you can't achieve fifteen consecutive wins, then you have to work towards this record to advance."

"Don't worry." Feng Bujue said, "Forty wins should guarantee advancement."

"Ah?" Xiao Tan was stunned for a moment. Based on his friendship with Jue-ge, he could judge a lot from the other party's tone, so when he heard this sentence, he knew that Feng Bujue was saying it with a relatively certain attitude.

"How do you know?" Xiao Tan asked, "Even the people inside the game company wouldn't be able to say for sure, right?"

"Speculation." Feng Bujue said.

"These two words… are they a complete answer, or some kind of summary…" Xiao Tan's mouth twitched.

Feng Bujue also knew what Xiao Tan meant, so he directly began to explain: "Let's start from the day of the public beta… in these less than twenty-four days, the number of people who can reach level thirty or above is limited. You say 'this game has millions of players', that's actually nonsense… those guys who don't meet the registration requirements can be ignored.

"Your competitors are the players who are above level thirty, have registered, and are not among the ten seed players. Those who meet these conditions are far from millions, barely breaking one hundred thousand is good enough… among them, there are also some who impatiently use double experience cards, or find someone to carry them (one of the regular businesses of game studios, four to five professional players carry one or two bosses through scripts, guaranteeing completion) to level up in order to participate. These guys are all experience feeders, and they can only fight among themselves. If they encounter those players who have practiced steadily, they are bound to lose, and it's only a matter of time before they lose four in a row and get eliminated.

"As for the situation of advancing with fifteen consecutive wins, although it theoretically exists, it's difficult in all fairness. Under the principle of absolute random queueing, anything can happen. In fifteen consecutive 1v1 matches, the winning streak will be interrupted as long as you encounter a strong player whose strength is higher than your own, or a player who counters your specialization.

"From a probabilistic point of view… the higher a player's ranking on the combat power rankings, the higher the chance of completing this feat. Players ranked after one hundredth, the hope of achieving fifteen consecutive wins is already very slim. So… at most, among the three thousand places, those who advance with consecutive wins… there will be about a hundred."

He paused here, then continued: "Most people need to play all fifty matches and then look at the win rate."

He paused again, then continued, "Now let's look at the theoretically best record you mentioned – forty-seven wins and three losses, that's basically a super high standard comparable to fifteen consecutive wins…"

"Hmm…" Xiao Tan responded thoughtfully.

"This time's competition system is not bad. The settings of advancing with consecutive wins and eliminating with consecutive losses will reduce the probability of you encountering players who are too strong or too weak." Feng Bujue continued, "Putting aside luck… normally, you play fifty matches, and the total number of god-like opponents and utterly trash opponents you encounter may not exceed five.

"In the remaining forty-five matches, you will be facing… opponents who are in the same strength range as you.

"As long as your PK level is slightly above average, your win rate cannot be lower than 50%, which is equivalent to already taking twenty-three matches. Whether you can advance… depends on how many you can win in the remaining twenty-two matches. And… in those luck-based matches, whether you encounter more god-like opponents or more utter trash opponents."

"Ah… in short…" Xiao Tan continued, "The situation for qualifying is much more optimistic than I thought."

"That's right." Feng Bujue continued, "In my opinion… the lowest baseline for qualifying may be thirty-five… or even lower, as long as you don't accumulate fifteen losses, there is a possibility of qualifying."

"Okay…" Xiao Tan was relieved a lot after hearing Jue-ge's analysis, "By the way, speaking of luck-based matches… do you know who my first opponent was?"

"Judging from your tone, did you lose to a strong enemy?" Feng Bujue said.

"It's Qi Sha! That Qi Sha from Long-ge's guild!" Xiao Tan emphasized.

"Oh…" Feng Bujue muttered, "That is indeed worthy of being called a god-like opponent."

"Thinking that you once won against that kind of guy, I'm not surprised at all that you entered the list of specially invited players…" Xiao Tan said.

The Cloak Scramble battle was the script that Feng Bujue boasted about the most in front of Xiao Tan, so the latter knew a lot about it.

"You… should be able to exchange a few moves with Qi Sha now, right?" Feng Bujue asked.

"I can, but I just can't beat him." Xiao Tan said, "I feel that the gap between me and you top-tier experts is still very large…"

"Heh… if it were ten years ago, you could beat the shit out of me…" Feng Bujue blurted out.

"Ah? What?" Xiao Tan asked somewhat inexplicably.

"Nothing… I'm just saying something off the top of my head." Feng Bujue was distracted deleting emails, and slipped up for a moment, he immediately covered it up, "I seem to have blurted out a line from a movie… don't mind it…"

"Oh…" Xiao Tan didn't think too much, and replied, "Well… then you continue deleting emails, I'll go play a few more matches and try."

"Go ahead, go ahead." Feng Bujue said, "Hanging up."

The two's communication was interrupted, and Jue-ge let out a long sigh, "Hoo… that was close…" he said to himself, "I was just thinking about encouraging him… I wasn't thinking when I spoke…" He stopped what he was doing, took a deep breath, and a few fragments of memory flashed before his eyes, filled with blood and wailing, "At that time… that kid was definitely crazy…"

…………

On the other side, at this moment, a 1v1 killing game was unfolding between two specially invited players. They were [Worthless Uncle] and [Corpse Blade the King].

Worthless Uncle's appearance was completely unkempt… a head of messy short hair, a stubble of a beard, wearing sunglasses, and dressed in a set of brown pajamas, with flip-flops on his feet.

Corpse Blade the King was wearing a green and black guild uniform, with a badge printed on the left chest of the clothes, the pattern was an exquisitely carved skull scimitar, with the black characters "Corpse Blade" written on it. The players in their studio basically had no characteristics, all with the same buzz cut, wearing uniform clothing, and the naming pattern was to add the suffix "Assault" or "the King" to the nickname.

On the maple leaf forest, the bright moon hangs in the sky.

The trees and night are distinct, and the killing intent is like a shuttle.

At this time, the two had already exchanged several moves, and one of them had already shown a sign of decline.

"What a joke…" Corpse Blade the King retreated while picking up a long halberd on the ground, it was a weapon that had been knocked out of his hand dozens of seconds ago…

"That should be my line, right…" Worthless Uncle spoke while still holding a cigarette in his mouth, "You are the number one expert of Corpse Blade, and at least a man in the top twenty of the combat power rankings, it's too outrageous to be this weak."

"You…" Corpse Blade the King had no expression on his face, but his heart was filled with shock and anger, he thought to himself, "I was just casually queueing up for a killing game to practice… but I encountered a monster… is this guy only fifth? Impossible… I've fought Zui Wo Chang Ran before, this Worthless Uncle is much stronger than Zui Wo Chang Ran…"

"I've heard some rumors about your studio, hoo…" Worthless Uncle exhaled a mouthful of smoke and continued, "You guys are using 'drugs', right?"

"I don't know what you're talking about…" Corpse Blade the King wiped away the blood from the corner of his mouth, using the gap where the other party was talking to him to adjust his breathing and look for opportunities.

Worthless Uncle just stood there smoking in a very casual stance, and continued, "Corpse Blade has always been firmly in fifth place on the guild combat power list, and you occupy the most places in the top twenty of the level list. But you, the number one expert of Corpse Blade… your actual combat ability is really shocking…" He sneered, and took another puff of smoke, "Is it some kind of drug that can suppress fear value… although it can't be completely controlled at zero, it should be able to keep the fear value in a low range. This way… you can ensure that you get an evaluation of 'Courage is commendable' or above every time you clear a script, and receive some experience rewards."

"Hmph… you should be careful when you speak, everything needs evidence." Corpse Blade the King also sneered, "You are also a well-known player, if you talk nonsense everywhere and damage our company's reputation…"

"Evidence… hehe… is that important?" Worthless Uncle laughed, "I'm just a freelancer who makes a living in the game as an individual… my words carry little weight, even if I personally see your people taking medicine before lying into the game pod, so what? You haven't broken the law." He shrugged, "A small character like me has no other strengths except being good at playing games. These big studios of yours can send me a few lawyer's letters, and maybe force me to be driven to despair and beg for mercy. I'm a person who stops working when my hands stop, I can't afford to offend you, and I don't have the time and energy to offend you." His tone was full of sarcasm, "The way I can fight you… is to beat you into meat paste in the game and put you in a cardboard box…"

"Too much!" Corpse Blade the King's anger rose again, "I'll make sure you don't return!" He roared, and the long halberd swung out three purple lights, piercing through the air.

Worthless Uncle flipped his palm and waved his sleeve, pushing out a palm lightly, and the power of the whole body formed a wall of air, and the purple light in mid-air was immediately blocked.

"It seems you can't launch any decent attacks." Worthless Uncle said, "Let's end you…"

As soon as the thought was settled, the skill was charged. Worthless Uncle took half a step forward and struck out a powerful palm, shattering the purple light, and rushed towards Corpse Blade the King's location.

"Hmph… I've got you." Corpse Blade the King couldn't make too many expressions on his face, which also gave him cover.

At this moment, he used a move called "Entering the Clouds Step",窜上半空, disappearing.

"Oh? Running away…" Worthless Uncle thought, "No… it's…"

Whoosh—the sound of breaking wind was faster than the player's thoughts.

The long halberd suddenly fell from above Worthless Uncle's left shoulder, and the tyrannical force instantly chopped off his entire left arm…

The battle situation changed drastically, and a single move reversed the situation.

Worthless Uncle's situation took a sharp turn for the worse, and Corpse Blade the King forced his opponent into a desperate situation with a simple hiding and moving skill.

…At least, he thought it was a desperate situation.

"Oh… it really hurts." Worthless Uncle said weakly, turning his head to look at the left arm that had fallen to the ground, his left hand was still holding a cigarette butt, "I haven't finished smoking that one yet…"

"Instead of the cigarette… think about yourself first!" Corpse Blade the King spun in the air, and the halberd's blade reversed, this time wanting to take Worthless Uncle's neck.

In this flash of lightning, Worthless Uncle made a move that confused the other party, he didn't dodge or evade, standing in place… only, his right hand quickly took off his sunglasses and threw them out…

With a puff… the head fell to the ground.

However, before Worthless Uncle's armless and headless "corpse" could fall down, on the other side, behind the sunglasses, another complete Worthless Uncle appeared.

"Interesting, right?" Worthless Uncle said, reaching into his pajama pocket and taking out another cigarette, calmly lighting it for himself, "Which position do you want to lie in the cardboard box?"

Looking at the opponent who had been resurrected in full condition in the same place, Corpse Blade the King felt a deep sense of despair. From the beginning of this battle until the previous move… he had exhausted all his skills, but the other party had resolved them in various strange ways every time, and the result was always unharmed…

The next second, Corpse Blade the King rage quit…

Worthless Uncle listened to the system notification ringing in his ears, exhaling smoke rings, "Hmph… rage quitting… seemingly the last means of preserving dignity, but in reality… this is precisely the reaction of the weak…"