Seeing Sun Xiang walk towards the player booth like this, the pro players were stunned.
It wasn't that they were suspicious of this player, but … the referee hadn't announced who would be coming out for the match yet, but Samsara's Sun Xiang was actually walking towards the player booth like this?
This was a form of exposure.
Because of the randomness of the third round of the playoffs, the players were all arranged on the spot. As a result, the first player to go on stage and the second to go on stage was like a game of rock, paper, scissors. The competition didn't allow this sort of flaw to appear, so the normal process was for the two sides to report their players first, and then the referee would confirm it and announce it on the big screen. Then, the player would go on stage and be verified by the referee.
The normal process was like this, but for the sake of the atmosphere, the referee would often announce the player list when the player went on stage. In reality, the player list had already been decided before that. Otherwise, if one side stood up first, the other side would look and say, oh, this person, then we'll send this person up …
And now, Sun Xiang had exposed this problem. Happy hadn't reported his player list yet, but he was already walking towards the player booth. Happy's arrangement towards Sun Xiang's appearance wasn't against the rules at all. It was a huge advantage.
As for Samsara? It couldn't be changed anymore. Jiang Botao had already reported his player list to the referee.
This was a very big oversight! Sun Xiang, this guy, actually made such a low-level mistake in such a crucial match before the official match even started?
The pro players were familiar with the competition and were sensitive to the rules, so they immediately noticed that Sun Xiang's actions weren't right, but the normal audience didn't have such sensitivity. They were still clapping and cheering for Sun Xiang's appearance!
Could it be that this was a scheme?
Seeing that the Samsara players on stage didn't react to Sun Xiang's actions, the pro players couldn't help but think of this possibility. Sun Xiang being the only one making a mistake was fine, but there was no way Samsara's players didn't notice this problem, right? But to say that this was a scheme, their reactions didn't seem like it. Even if they were pretending, they would at least pretend to be annoyed by Sun Xiang's actions, right? Then, after Happy came up with a specific plan, he would suddenly switch people. Sun Xiang was just taking a stroll on the stage, which wasn't against the rules at all.
This was the type of situation that should have happened, but Team Samsara didn't seem like it. Team Happy did not have much of a reaction either. Ye Xiu walked over to the referee and reported the first contestant. Then he walked over to the competitor booth.
Happy that Ye Xiu was in the starting lineup. Even though Samsara's lineup had been exposed, it was still an arrangement that everyone could easily think of. After that, Sun Xiang and Ye Xiu entered the competitor booths one after another.
Magnanimous and confident!
Samsara displayed the aura of a champion team. They didn't try to curry favor outside of the arena like everyone had expected. They openly sent out their starting player and walked into the competitor booth.
There was no conspiracy.
Was there really no conspiracy?
"If there's no conspiracy, then there's a conspiracy," Team Blue Rain's Yu Wenzhou suddenly said.
"Or in other words, if you think there's no conspiracy, then there's no conspiracy. If you think there's a conspiracy, then there's a conspiracy," he continued.
Xiao Shiqin nodded. Wang Jiexi also nodded. Zhang Xinjie didn't say anything, but no one said anything else.
Even more people were at a loss. After thinking hard, some of them finally came around. They all felt like their brains weren't enough to process the situation.
"What a dirty heart …" Those who were able to understand the twists and turns of the situation couldn't help but sigh. At this moment, the referee announced that the first round of the group arena had officially begun.
The map loaded in. The characters entered.
It was a narrow and winding canyon. Sun Xiang's One Leaf Of Autumn spawned at the northern entrance, while Lord Grim spawned at the southern entrance.
Behind the two characters was usually the boundary of the map. At this moment, the broadcast gave a close-up of the two characters' backs.
The so-called "map border" behind the two characters was actually a military camp set up by two groups of NPCs. A wooden sign was erected at the entrance, and the words were clearly written on it in large letters: "Military Restricted Area, Death to Trespassers!"
The spectating players immediately understood. The boundary of this map was like a cliff, an abyss. It was a place where characters would suffer damage as soon as they entered. This sort of setting of boundaries wasn't new in Glory maps, but in this map, it was just one of the settings that had been set up in such a way.
But would this kind of scene be like a cliff or an abyss, where once you fell, there was no way out? No one knew. In such an important match, it was even more impossible for them to personally test it out. If they wanted to test it out, they would think of a way to send their opponent's character in. At this moment, after Ye Xiu and Sun Xiang discovered this setting behind them, they immediately had their characters move far away.
And then Sun Xiang's One Leaf Of Autumn steadily moved forward. Even though Ye Xiu could have Lord Grim use the Myriad Manifestations Umbrella's ninjato form to climb the cliff, he handled it the same way as Sun Xiang did. He also had Lord Grim steadily move forward.
The two players' opening moves were practically the same. One went from north to south, the other went from south to north. They both looked around, left and right. If it weren't for the fact that their equipment was completely different, it would have been hard to tell who was who.
Finally, the two characters gradually approached the center. There weren't any twists and turns here. The two players quickly saw their opponents walking towards them.
The two players' movements immediately became cautious.
There were no twists and turns. The so-called meeting on a narrow path meant that there was no way to avoid a direct collision.
They got closer, step by step.
Lord Grim's attacks could reach far. At this moment, they had already entered his attack range. However, Ye Xiu didn't rashly attack. He maintained this rhythm and had Lord Grim move forward step by step.
As for Sun Xiang, he definitely wouldn't make a move. Battle Mages needed a certain amount of close combat to be able to display their full strength. However, as the distance closed, he gradually had a choice. For example, with Dragon Breaks the Ranks, he could break through the distance between the two characters in one attack. However, Sun Xiang didn't make a move.
Not only didn't he attack, the two suddenly began to move diagonally, one to the left and one to the right, as if they had agreed to it beforehand.
The vertical distance between them was about to be erased, but the two suddenly moved diagonally, increasing the distance between them.
Were these two planning on letting each other pass and continuing to figure out the map?
Seeing this scene, many people subconsciously began to think that this was the case. However, the pro players knew that this sort of scouting wasn't necessary. If it was for the players outside of the match, they had the same omniscient view as the spectators. They shared the scouting information in the match. As a result, the part where Lord Grim hadn't set foot in, Happy understood it through Sun Xiang's view as well as One Leaf Of Autumn's. The only one who didn't understand it was Ye Xiu himself.
In the same way, Sun Xiang had personally walked through half of the map, but the other half was still unfamiliar to him.
Under these circumstances, would they let each other pass and continue to understand the other half of the map?
No pro player would have such a harmonious and friendly thought. At this moment, for their opponents, this half understanding and half being unfamiliar was their advantage and disadvantage. As a result, the moment they met, their plan was to force the other side into the half of the map that they were familiar with and the other side was unfamiliar with.
As a result, the two didn't make a move. As a result, the two characters drew closer and closer. They were both looking for an opportunity to lead the other side into the half of the map behind them.
However, neither of them found it because they were both attentive, careful, and flawless. This made the two's movements seem like they had a tacit understanding, but in reality, neither of them had forgotten the fact that the other was their opponent. They were only paying attention to each other's movements because they were looking for an opportunity. As soon as they found an opening, an opportunity to exploit, the two wouldn't hesitate to destroy this tacit understanding.
The vertical distance between the two characters had been completely wiped out, but the horizontal distance had been pulled apart by six units due to the diagonal movement of the two characters. The two characters had their backs to the mountain wall. They didn't look around anymore, only focusing on the opponent in front of them.
Movement stopped. Confrontation.
Six units of distance. For Lord Grim, there were too many skills he could use to attack the other side. For One Leaf Of Autumn, this was also a distance he could attack first. Because of the length of a Battle Mage's weapon, the attack range of a Battle Mage was a bit further than fists and swords.
However, the two still didn't move. They just stood there facing each other. There was no movement. The hand speed statistics were all zero. The two hand speed curves didn't change at all, slowly flowing through the statistics displayed on the big screen.
One second, two seconds … …
There was no movement, but that didn't mean that there wasn't a strain on their minds. The two were highly focused. The rhythm wasn't just slow, it had completely stopped. No one knew who would attack first. Everyone only knew that in such a static confrontation, it would be very difficult to break the balance first. After all, the game wasn't real. As long as there was no movement, the characters could maintain this posture for many years. And if there was movement, there might be an opening. There were many experts on the sidelines, but they were all at a loss as to how to perfectly break this absolute silence.
No one would have thought that these two would be able to confront each other to this degree. In order to avoid openings and eliminate openings, they continuously simplified, reduced movement, and reduced speed.
Finally, they reached their limits. They reached the end.
No movement, no openings.
This wasn't just a situation anymore. It was a realm, a realm that only pro players could understand.
It was very difficult to break from the inside. There was only one external cause, and that was the referee's intervention due to "player inaction." But in reality, this confrontation wasn't inaction. It was the inability to do anything. There was no movement, but in reality, the confrontation was endless. This was a confrontation of spirit. If the referee really broke it because of "inaction," it would lose some of its beauty. Fortunately, today's map coincidentally had another external factor other than the referee.
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