DSF Chapter 105

The moment the results of the group stage draw were announced online, everyone was in an uproar.

Because the draw results were so dramatic that it was hard to believe.

Except for Zero from the Chinese region, PYP from the Korean region, and CENZA from the European region, almost all the teams recognized for their strength were squeezed into Group B.

This meant that teams that should have gone straight to the semi-finals were forced to play in the elimination rounds.

Although strong teams could still advance from the elimination rounds, it was clearly a drain.

As soon as the news spread, the forums were buzzing with discussions.

【Zero is so lucky, is this a lottery win?】

【This is just the beginning, the road to the championship is still far!】

【Ah, Zero fans, your luck is unbelievable. The strong teams aren’t even there, it’s so easy to get points.】

【The strong teams aren’t there? Is this confidence from the East Asia Championship? Who doesn’t know that the European and Korean regions have the strongest overall strength? Don’t you think the East Asia Championship is just a show?】

【A show? Isn’t that just blatant lying with eyes wide open?】

【Isn’t it? The rivalry between teams in Korea is particularly intense. In the East Asia Championship, they mess with the teams, so it’s entirely possible they’re putting on a show!】

【Haha, but isn’t the relationship between Bing Shen and Han Shen not so good? Did they also act?】

【What’s wrong with that? Didn’t they livestream together on New Year’s Eve? Besides, even if that person isn’t Han Mo, Yan Yibing made it very clear.】

【Be realistic, only the total points of the three days of competition in the elimination rounds matter. Do you think Zero will fall into the elimination rounds?】

【Who knows what they’re arguing about. It’s obvious that both Zero and PYP have smoothly advanced. What does it have to do with their points?】

…

However, no one expected that the seemingly harmonious Group A, in the eyes of the audience and the commentators, would turn out to be the bloodiest and most brutal.

Before the start of the match, in the opening video, Xie Feng was still joking.

Xie Feng: “In Group A, there’s only our team Zero, so there’s actually no suspense. Everyone can relax. The next day’s Group B will probably be a painful slaughter!”

Lemon: “That’s right, but we still hope Zero can bring everyone an exciting performance. After all, Bing Shen has been in the industry for eight years, and winning the World Championship has always been his dream.”

Xie Feng: “That’s right, Bing Shen, fighting!”

As soon as the match started.

On the Erangel lower city route, Zero and PYP both chose to jump to P City at the same time. Choosing P City was one thing, after all, it’s a large area with many players, but their jumping points happened to be only two houses apart.

Before they even landed, they spotted each other.

Actually, everyone knew that in a situation where the advantage was not obvious upon landing, it was not wise to rush, but rather to quickly equip oneself.

But they were too sensitive to each other’s skin colors, almost instantly sensing each other’s presence.

With new grievances added to old ones, PYP picked up a gun and launched an attack on Zero.

Zero had no choice but to retaliate.

The difference in strength between top players was not too much, but in this chaotic confrontation, both teams suffered heavy losses.

Zero was on the defensive, slightly at a disadvantage. After a hard-fought battle, only Yan Yibing was left hiding on the second floor of a building, with severely insufficient bullets and drinks.

PYP was left with only two people.

Kim Taeran and Han.

But before they could launch an attack on the lone sprout Yan Yibing, other teams in P City heard the intense gunfire and rushed over, gleefully harvesting the equally under-equipped PYP duo.

The match had just begun, the first circle hadn’t even shrunk yet, and PYP was completely wiped out, leaving only the pitiful Yan Yibing in Zero.

Yan Yibing dared not make a sound, so he could only sit quietly in the room, listening to the Thai team loudly sweeping through the city.

This match was too troublesome.

For points, he had to play conservatively from now on, and with inadequate equipment, he couldn’t risk engaging in gunfights, or else it would mean certain death.

Fortunately, the Thai team searched around, looted the equipment of Zero and PYP members, and happily ran off to the safe zone.

Yan Yibing still didn’t dare to move.

He knew that these circle-running LYB would pause at the mountaintop to continue aiming at anyone who might run out of P City.

He was still at the mercy of others’ guns.

He frequently checked the time, and when he couldn’t wait any longer, he jumped out of the window and down the stairs, eager to, at the fastest speed of his life, re-sweep the several boxes.

There were also many good pieces of equipment that the Thai team didn’t need, so they were left behind. Yan Yibing searched through them and started running towards the circle.

He first ran towards the place where vehicles usually spawned.

As expected, he saw a motorcycle with its tires blown out.

This was a common tactic, leaving no chance for others to escape.

Fortunately, Yan Yibing didn’t expect to get lucky and find a car himself.

He stored away his gun and continued running towards the hill.

The safe zone slowly approached until it passed his body.

Relying on his ample experience and precise calculations, he ran into the circle with a sliver of health left, not caring about anything else, first lying on the grass to heal, and only after fully healing, began moving forward with difficulty.

In this match, he only got three kills, but managing to survive until the final circle earned him some extra points.

In the first match, Zero ranked tenth in total points, while PYP ranked thirteenth.

Kim Taeran’s face was so dark it seemed to drip ink.

He hated Zero, he hated the Thai team, and he even hated his own bad luck.

Yan Yibing was also very annoyed.

He really wanted to stand up and tell PYP, can’t you guys calm down a bit? Can’t we all just develop a little without getting into fights?

But that was clearly impossible.

In the second match, with the flight path from P Port to K Town, both Zero and PYP coincidentally chose to jump to the School.

Now there was time to loot, but the School area was limited, and everyone wanted to grab a spot, so it inevitably led to another bloody fight.

However, there was also a European team jumping to the School at the same time, and there was another team in the dormitory building across from them.

Yan Yibing saw the kill information from PYP and very sensibly refused to engage in conflict with them.

Taking Song Tang and the others out of the school, they drove around to the hill behind the dormitory building, first clearing out the Japanese team in the dormitory building.

Occupying the dormitory building area, it became much more comfortable to aim at the School.

Yan Yibing lay on the rooftop, calmly setting up his gun. With a 4x scope, as soon as a PYP member poked their head out, he shot through the helmet, securing a kill.

【Zero-ICE used the 98K sniper rifle to eliminate PYP-han】

Kim Taeran immediately realized that Zero was nearby and in an advantageous position.

The dormitory wasn’t a very concealed location, and it was easy to be guessed.

Yan Yibing pulled back slightly, concealing himself.

Song Tang: “Captain, they’re trying to escape.”

Yan Yibing: “Hmm, since we haven’t lost anyone, let’s take them down one by one.”

Xu Rui: “Captain, no one’s spotted behind the hill, it’s safe.”

Yan Yibing remained silent, squinting slightly and loading his gun.

But the next moment, bullets rained down towards him. Yan Yibing furrowed his brows, instinctively tilting his head to dodge.

At the same time, from somewhere, PYP got hold of a motorcycle. Two people rode off towards a direction away from the dormitory.

The one left behind was to cover the escape of the other two teammates.

Yan Yibing coldly snorted, “Song Tang, Haifeng, clear the vehicles!”

He pretended to peek out, baiting the opponent’s bullets before quickly gaining the upper hand. Pre-aiming with the 98K at the school windows, he shot as soon as the enemy showed their head, knocking them down.

This kind of gunfight purely tested both sides’ endurance, calmness, and absolute strength.

Yan Yibing breathed a sigh of relief as he saw his target go down.

Song Tang: “They’ve gone too far., Kim Taeran escaped!”

Though Yan Yibing felt a bit regretful, he quickly regained his composure. “If they’ve fled, they’ve fled. Let’s stick to our pace.”

In this round, Zero was very lucky, getting a total of ten kills and successfully winning the chicken dinner.

Their points surged to sixth place.

As long as they maintained their position within the top eight, they could smoothly enter the semi-finals, so their pressure wasn’t too high.

However, after two rounds, PYP was still in tenth place.

Third round, Northern Flight Path.

For some reason, Zero, PYP, and CENZA all landed at K Town.

The three major strong teams had almost exhausted each other in the first circle.

Everyone’s faces turned grim as they looked at their points. CENZA slipped to second place, Zero dropped to eighth, and PYP fell another spot.

Xie Feng: “Oh my god, what’s going on in Group A? Is today a nightmare for the top teams?”

Lemon: “I can already imagine what the audience will say. It’s as if they’ve conspired to give other teams a chance.”

Xie Feng: “I’ve never heard of jump points overlapping to this extent. But luckily, Zero has been consistently in the top eight, so entering the semi-finals shouldn’t be a problem.”

Lemon: “But the gap with the ninth-placed Thai team isn’t that big, there’s still some risk.”

In the fourth round, fortunately, no one collided again, and several teams made it to the final circle, but PYP seemed a bit reckless due to their poor performance in the previous three rounds and ended up being harvested by CENZA.

This round was won by CENZA, pushing them back to first place, while Zero performed decently, climbing up two spots.

In the fifth round, Zero got caught outside the play zone all the way, their vehicle got blown up, and they were eventually consumed by the poisonous gas.

In the sixth round, Zero fiercely secured the chicken dinner, while Yan Yibing managed to collect fifteen kills. When the match ended, Zero ranked fourth, but there was a considerable gap between them and the first-placed CENZA.

Instantly, the esports forums were flooded with mocking posts.

【Is this it? A team of Zero’s caliber ranking fourth in Group A? Falling behind CENZA by that much?】

【Forgive me for being blunt, but isn’t ICE getting too old for this? Have you seen anyone still playing at 26? And what’s even more ridiculous is that Zero is still relying on him.】

【Let’s be honest, it’s clearly because Zero and PYP had overlapping jump points and exhausted each other too much, allowing other teams to pick them off, right?】

【But isn’t strength needed to pick off others? Both Zero and PYP are lacking.】

【I’m a bit disappointed too. With just one Chinese team, they couldn’t even make it to the top three.】

【Any normal person would know it’s just bad luck, but only the trolls are blind to it. Speechless. Can’t believe how toxic the forums are.】

【Seriously, with such heavy exhaustion, isn’t it a tactical issue with Yan Yibing?】

【I’m slowly typing out a question mark here. Isn’t the coach the one who devises the tactics?】

【Yan Yibing is the commander, right? Why shift the blame to the coach?】

【Exactly, all the fame goes to your Bing Shen, and all the blame to the coach. What a convenient way to benefit.】

【Anyone with eyes can see that ICE’s operational rhythm is off. Jumping to K Town in the third round, I’m facepalming.】

【Haha, the two great gods Bing Shen and Kim Taeran both chose K Town, and it’s just you, a bullet screen coach, who thinks that K Town is a bad choice.】

【This is the World Championship, not a national tournament. Is it fun to mock our own players? Even foreign forums are laughing at us!】

Apart from Zero’s disappointing performance, PYP seemed to have overlooked the auspicious timing. They spent the initial rounds mutually consuming each other with Zero, and in the later rounds, they fell victim to the toxic zone, ultimately landing in ninth place and having to fight in the elimination rounds.

Team owner Kim Heesun Jr.’s eyes were nearly popping out. If she were a bit superstitious, she might have suspected her team of being hexed.

How come when she personally watched the match, PYP achieved their lowest historical result?

With the first day’s matches over, Yan Yibing felt exhausted all over, his shoulders aching faintly.

But fortunately, they didn’t have to go to the elimination rounds, with four days of rest time ahead.

As the competition concluded and the lights dimmed, players slowly left their seats. The big screen kept replaying highlights of the match, but no one had the mood to watch anymore.

Today, they probably wouldn’t even feel like reviewing the matches.

Rationally, they knew that their performance was just a result of bad luck, and their skills hadn’t diminished.

But emotionally, it was still hard to accept.

Especially for Yan Yibing, although he didn’t say it, he still held hope for the matches.

He is already 26 and always wants to give his career a perfect ending.

Walking towards the backstage corridor, stepping on the dry rubbery white mat, he finally regained his composure.

The fluorescent lights in the corridor were glaringly bright, reflecting off the translucent mat, making it too dazzling to open one’s eyes.

The stairs sloped downward, leading directly to the first-floor lounge.

Yan Yibing’s fingers tapped on the iron railing absentmindedly, his gaze fixed on the exit not far away, where a cool breeze was blowing.

Just as they reached the door of the lounge, the other teams watching the match, as well as the coaches of various teams, happened to come down the stairs.

Kim Heesun was angrily scolding Kim Taeran in rapid Korean that was too fast to understand.

It was clearly inappropriate to scold someone in front of all the other teams, especially when Kim Taeran was the captain.

But Kim Heesun was used to being domineering, and her temper was always fiery. Kim Taeran turned red and then pale under her scolding.

Kim Taeran glanced up and caught Yan Yibing’s eyes, shooting him a resentful glare.

Yan Yibing calmly returned the gaze, then averted his eyes, turned, and lifted his leg, intending to go to the rest area to grab a cup of coffee to clear his mind.

Unexpectedly, Kim Taeran also strode over in Yan Yibing’s direction with large steps.

Under the bright lights, he also wanted to enter the lounge, but that determined and swift pace was clearly directed towards Yan Yibing.

The officials strictly prohibited players from engaging in physical and verbal conflicts, but this boundary was difficult to define.

There were still those who would vent their anger on the verge of that boundary. As long as it wasn’t too obvious and didn’t cause major consequences, even with surveillance, it wasn’t easy to determine.

The door to the lounge isn’t wide, two people can enter side by side, but if someone walks right in the middle, the person behind will inevitably bump into them.

Yan Yibing walked towards the lounge first, naturally not leaving a gap intentionally.

Song Tang, Xu Rui, Fu Haifeng, and Sun Tianjiao, who had just come down the stairs, all saw what Kim Taeran was doing.

Sun Tianjiao was the most sensitive. Frowning, he subconsciously shouted, “Hey…”

He was just about to run over when he saw someone walking out of the lounge, naturally blocking Kim Taeran’s path. With a calm demeanor, they lifted their eyelids, stared coldly for a few seconds, then wrapped their arm around Yan Yibing’s back and casually handed him a cup of hot coffee.

“Master, are you thirsty? Have some.”

Han Mo calmly protected Yan Yibing, isolating him from Kim Taeran.

Being blocked like this, Kim Taeran could only stop at the doorway, his previously angry momentum dissipated, leaving only a sullen feeling in his heart.

Sun Tianjiao, who hadn’t made it over in time, exclaimed, “???”

Ding Jun, who didn’t understand why Han Mo left early, “……”

Yan Yibing let him embrace him, took the hot coffee, tentatively touched it with his lips, felt the temperature was just right, and then took a big sip.

The coffee with extra milk and sugar was fragrant and sweet.

The sugar stimulated the cerebral cortex, producing a pleasant dopamine.

He felt much better.

Sun Tianjiao was puzzled, “Why is Han Mo in the lounge? Didn’t he go to watch the match?”

Ding Jun murmured, “He did, but he left early.”

Sun Tianjiao asked, “Why did he leave early?”

Ding Jun replied, “Maybe to… make coffee?”

Sun Tianjiao laughed, “Oh hahaha, you startled me.”

Ding Jun: “You didn’t fucking set out to get Bing Shen to come to me and poach people, did you?”

Sun Tianjiao: “I was just about to ask you.”

Ding Jun: “Emmmm…”

Sun Tianjiao: “Emmmm…”

He vaguely felt that something was wrong.

Han Mo was too protective of his zuzong.

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