San Tian Liang Jiao

Chapter 437 Butterfly Battle

Chapter 5 The Fifth Round

At dawn on May 23rd, the fifth and final round of the Cocoon War began.

At this stage of the competition, the element of luck could almost be disregarded. Every player who remained was undoubtedly a strong one.

Wang Tanzhi's opponent in this round was a professional player from the studio "Zhū Shén" (Deities). Although this fellow wasn't as formidable as the Zhū Shén Four Heavenly Kings, he was by no means ordinary; his strength was certainly comparable to that of a celebrity player.

Not long after the random pairings were made, this match was selected by Dream Inc. staff as the "Focus Battle of the Round" and broadcast on the main screen of the mall, live-streamed across thousands of mall dimensions.

Feng Bujue had already guessed that this would happen because the ID [Wǎng Tànzhī] had been debated all day on the forums. Although the sensation he caused wasn't as great as when Jue-ge's name was revealed on the list of invited players, it still attracted a considerable amount of attention.

An unknown person was able to eliminate Qī Shā, who was ranked sixteenth on the Combat Strength Rankings? Who was this person? Which studio did he belong to? What methods did he use? What specialization did he practice?

For a time, rumors flew, and many players who knew Xiao Tan, and even more who didn't, came out to post their opinions...

The recordings of Xiao Tan's past matches also saw a surge in views. Apart from the round he skipped, the other three became the focus of discussion.

By this point, no one questioned Xiao Tan's strength anymore, and the skipped round seemed unimportant. Looking back... in Wang Tanzhi's three matches, two were instant kills; he truly didn't need a second strike to eliminate his opponents... and his duel with Qī Shā was even more breathtaking. Especially the final minute of the battle... it was undoubtedly the highest level of play in the game so far.

In summary, it was only natural that Xiao Tan's fifth-round match was broadcast on the main screen.

However, the course of this match was not as exciting as people imagined. Because... the two only fought for three minutes from start to finish, and the outcome was already decided.

Wang Tanzhi won calmly, so easily that the process seemed quite boring. Many people even suspected... was his opponent too weak?

But... a small number of people saw something different in this match. Those at the very top of the game had listed [Wǎng Tànzhī] as one of the opponents they least wanted to encounter...

…………

At two o'clock in the morning on the 23rd, as the Cocoon War officially came to a close, the list of the top 100 players in Thriller Paradise's first Peak Tournament was officially released, including ninety strong players who had been filtered through each round, and ten seeded players.

The Butterfly War, which would follow, would begin at dawn on May 25th, also in sleep mode. This stage would only have one round, and the fifty victors would advance to the final stage – the Peak Tournament.

The biggest difference between the Butterfly War and the Cocoon War was that the matchup list would be decided in advance and announced...

Although the matching was based on randomness, the difference between random pairings made in advance and random pairings made on the spot... was like heaven and earth.

The matchup list had already been released on the morning of the 23rd, which meant that players had nearly forty-eight hours to prepare before the Butterfly War began. During this time, participants, or the teams behind them, could do many things. For example, investigate the opponent's information, study their match recordings, acquire targeted equipment or skills, and so on.

This arrangement naturally caused a great reaction among the players. The forums were once again in an uproar, and many conspiracy theorists became active again, pointing out that Dream Inc. was helping studios to harm casual players who had no money or influence...

Undeniably, Feng Bujue, as a casual player, was at a disadvantage under these rules. And the most troublesome thing was that he had to win...

First, he was under the spotlight as an invited player, a target of public criticism. If he was defeated in one battle, he would inevitably be ridiculed. Second, he could now be considered one of Woody's subordinates, a bona fide member of Hell's Frontline, Dark Vanguard. If he couldn't even complete the first step of this first task, it would be too embarrassing.

Therefore, Jue-ge was quite concerned about this match.

However... the actual situation was much more serious than imagined. Because Feng Bujue's opponent in the Butterfly War was also an invited player – [Xù Huái Shāng].

As mentioned earlier, although this Xù Huái Shāng was anonymous on the Combat Strength Rankings, this did not affect her status as a celebrity player.

Now, let's go into detail about the reasons...

First, she was a beauty, a great beauty in real life; second, she was a professional player, and the number one expert of the "Red Sakura" studio.

Based on these two points alone, it was already normal for her to be famous.

No matter what era, the words "beautiful female player" could always attract attention. Of course, people usually didn't have high expectations for the game skills of so-called "beautiful female players"...

But Xù Huái Shāng was different. She was the first female player in e-sports history to win an international championship. Whether there would be successors was unknown, but she was definitely the first...

Long before joining Thriller Paradise, Xù Huái Shāng was already a superstar in the gaming world. In terms of popularity, Order's "Zuì Shēng Mèng Sǐ" (Drunken Life and Dreamy Death) and the Zhū Shén Four Heavenly Kings all had to step aside. Jianghu's Sword and Sabre Laugh didn't need to be mentioned, and the Ice Emperor Host Club was like dust...

In terms of looks, [Yán Mó], also a female player, was definitely not inferior to Xù Huái Shāng in strength, and her appearance in real life was also good. But standing next to Xù Huái Shāng, she basically became a passerby...

With Xù Huái Shāng's qualifications, she was more than capable of entering the film industry, and several well-known brokerage companies had already tried to sign her. Various experienced talent scouts had made it clear that with her image and temperament, she could go straight to Hollywood, and the next Bond girl would be in the bag. A female lead was guaranteed, and even if she was just a pretty face, the audience would still buy it.

But Xù Huái Shāng resolutely chose to develop in the gaming world. Even though being a star player was much less lucrative than being a movie star, even though it was very difficult for women to stand out in this industry, she didn't care. With her absolute strength, she won many honors and became a recognized top player.

Perhaps it was precisely because of Xù Huái Shāng's dedication to the gaming world that she had no fewer fans in the gaming community than any movie star, and many of them were die-hard fans. It could be said that she was a unique, queen-like existence in the gaming world.

Feng Bujue encountering such an opponent was obviously not good...

From an off-field perspective, Xù Huái Shāng had millions of supporters. As for the ID [Fēng Bù Jué], it was an urban legend... People had heard many legends about him, but almost no one had actually seen him... let alone supported him.

Objectively speaking, Jue-ge was ranked second on the Combat Strength Rankings, while Xù Huái Shāng was ranked fourteenth. Both were top twenty players, and both were invited players. At least according to the system's calculation method... the gap between them was not so large as to be overwhelming.

Furthermore, Xù Huái Shāng was a well-established professional player. As the saying goes, "a great reputation is never undeserved," and Jue-ge himself didn't expect his opponent to be weak.

Perhaps the only relatively fair point was the "pre-match intelligence gathering." Since neither of them had participated in the Cocoon War, neither had left behind any match recordings. As for character information (main weapons, equipment, skills, fighting style, etc.)... Feng Bujue was just a casual player and had no reliable channels to investigate the other party's information; while Xù Huái Shāng, although she had the information support of her studio, "Red Sakura" was helpless against Feng Bujue's situation...

In short... this match had many highlights, and the outcome was difficult to predict.

Dream Inc. also openly announced in advance: this battle would be broadcast on the main screen with the highest priority.

This Butterfly War attracted the attention of countless people. Too many questions would be revealed in this battle...

[Fēng Bù Jué], who exactly was this guy who suddenly rose to second place on the Combat Strength Rankings? Even Xù Huái Shāng was extremely curious about this...