Players are coming, fortunately I have a time travel simulator

July 3th, 14 p.m.

The first game of the day, the team competition between Deep Blue and Candy Super Sweet begins.

This match was seen by many as a preview of the finals. Both teams featured roaming gunslingers: two from Deep Blue and one from Candy Super Sweet. Deep Blue's star player, Jinse, was at the top of the rankings and a star player opposite the game's protagonist, Wayne Stewell, earning her a significant international following during this tournament. Meanwhile, Candy Super Sweet's Tangshan was a veteran powerhouse, a top-three carry in the world in Destiny. His only regret was never winning a championship, earning him the nickname "The Uncrowned King."

Perhaps due to the surge in popularity of the Tang and Song poetry and lyrics cross club, after entering the quarterfinals, there was an additional session of making tough remarks before the game.

Tangshan was once a teammate of XB and learned his trash talk from him. He immediately released his ultimate move: "Get the blue dye ready. Next, we will beat the deep blue into blood red, and punch it to bleed."

Jinse retorted, "Your title (Uncrowned King) is quite good. I hope you can keep it."

On the commentary stage, today's guest, XB, and Shui Gaohan, who had just finished his match, laughed and gave a thumbs-up. Even Zhou Ning couldn't help but burst out laughing. Similar to Yan Wuye's nickname, Tangshan Big Brother's reputation was that he was always one step away from the championship. He'd previously won three consecutive games in Destiny, and once, he'd won two games in the finals before coming back from a 2-0 deficit to win 3-0. He was also known for his stubbornness. He'd never won a final, but he'd never lost a verbal duel; he was known as the esports woodpecker.

The map for this match is Jason Nat's Haunted House, the same dungeon Zhou Ning had been strategizing on when he first crossed over. This map is generally recognized as the most balanced, but the melee strategy is dominant.

The map is very small, with a total of 32 sacrifices. When the sacrifice progress bar is full, the level 60 neutral unit Marion will be summoned. It will release the group attack Banshee Wail every once in a while. It can be regarded as an unexpected factor of this map, but it affects both sides equally.

After the match began, both teams engaged in a series of terrain destruction to gain access to each other. While Candy, with their dual Meteorologists and Lanling King masks, was incredibly successful, Deep Blue played cautiously, taking every step carefully. However, this map was relatively small, and with only a few walls to push, they could see each other, so a fight was inevitable.

The first wave of head-on combat soon broke out between the two sides. In the corridor near the middle, the roaming gunmen of both sides met each other and looked at each other in bewilderment. The scene was very awkward for a while.

At this time, Jinse, who was at the end of the team, showed world-class judgment. The moment he saw the opponent, he immediately performed a dodge shot, which had an invincible frame of about 0.3 seconds. At the same time, the opponent happened to use the [Ghost Hand Grab Throw], and the grabbing animation appeared, but he grabbed nothing. Instead, he was seized by the Wind-Chasing Thunder Fury that activated the Dalmatian Fruit from the side and got crazy output.

At this point, both Meteorologists began chanting, filling the sky with dust and fog. Compared to a single-weather lineup, the super-sweet double-Meteorologist lineup allowed for a more convenient combo: lightning, heavy rain, and strong winds. The meteorological trifecta quickly wreaked havoc among the Deep Blue crowd, creating a dazzling display of light and shadow. Deep Blue's Meteorologists could only rely on the rapidly falling temperature to condense frost on the ground, slowing the enemy down.

There's a term in Apocalypse that says a team's strength depends on how well it focuses and splits. Focusing means concentrating everyone's damage on a single enemy, aiming to quickly reduce their numbers and gain a superior advantage. Splitting, on the other hand, means using skills to interrupt the enemy's damage when a teammate is being focused on, or using your own tankiness to help spread the damage.

In the previous life, Deep Blue was the best club at removing fire. When the scene was extremely chaotic, Brother Tangshan put on the shield given by the priest, jumped into the field with a slash, and at the same time activated the effect of Lanling King's mask, and directly attacked Jinse.

At this time, most ordinary players would directly use Psychic Counterattack to interrupt, but Jinse relied on the passive skill of Shadow Cloak to withstand several hits, fighting and retreating, until her teammate used Intimidating Roar to terrify Brother Tangshan, and she still maintained her output calmly.

She also used her trump card at this time. Her devil fruit ability was the Giraffe Fruit. She instantly changed from the lowest altitude in the field to the highest altitude.

"The short girl, no, the tall girl's hand is steadier. Her evasive shooting should have cooled down. Moreover, she is holding a razor in her hand at this time. A powerful roaming gunner must always be able to do things with ease." XB had just picked up a glass of water, but was suddenly shocked by the scene in front of him and sprayed it all over the floor.

"Did you do it?" Shui Gaohan asked a soul-searching question.

"Haha, let's see again. Brother Tangshan used [Heart of Iron] to break free in half a second, ran back one step and charged to stick to Jinse again. Only then did Jinse use the mental counterattack! It's so damn stable." XB abruptly changed the subject and started rapping at a very fast speed.

A series of wonderful attacks and defenses by both sides triggered cheers from the stands. Brother Tangshan's warrior points were different from those of others. His strength and agility were relatively balanced, and his movement speed was very fast. His set of warrior combos was smooth and there was no gap at all in his movement. If it weren't for Jinse's extraordinary performance in this game, he would have died long ago.

It's a pity that their offensive seemed to be full of momentum, but the first casualty on both sides came from Candy Super Sweet. Deep Blue sent out a rare five-range lineup in this game. They seized a gap by constantly splitting fire and focusing fire, and killed the opponent's meteorologist Master Guo in seconds.

And this was the deciding factor in this game. Although Brother Tangshan performed very fiercely and still killed Jinse and the Deep Blue Twins of Zhufeng Thunder Fury, at this time, Candy Super Sweet had lost four people and was unable to turn the tide.

In the end, Brother Tangshan replaced another player, and his own health was also at the bottom, turning into a streak of white light and dying. Candy Super Sweet regretfully lost and left the competition early.

Tangshan Big Brother was defeated in this match but still achieved honor. In the post-match interview, he still displayed his esports woodpecker's tough character: "This match is not because the opponent is too strong, but because the opponent has one more roaming gunner than us. Xingyue has three roaming gunners. Shorty sister, don't get too proud too soon. I'll wait for you at the commentary desk."

Jinse and her teammates gave him a thumbs up and then went downstairs.

The two commentators were already accustomed to Brother Tangshan's stubbornness, so they could only chuckle and give an awkward but polite smile.

The match between Deep Blue and Candy Super Sweet can be considered a small upset. In the other three games of the team competition, Tang Shi Song Ci defeated Violet and advanced to the semi-finals, thus achieving their goal.

Nirvana faced off against the American Brand and won easily. In this match, Alex didn't even use his trump card, and Nirvana won easily at the cost of two deaths.

Xingyue faced off against Saudi Arabia's Xinyue. The two teams had similar names but very different strengths. Xinyue was one of the two teams with hunter professions, and they also had a special profession, Shaman. As a result, in this game, Xingyue demonstrated what it meant to shoot at random with a gun. The game ended with a burst of gunfire.