The next day, Ji Siyue woke up past eight o'clock.
The match was set to start at nine, so Ji Siyue jolted upright in bed and rushed upstairs without even washing her face.
The other five players were already sitting in front of their computers for the final preparations. When they saw Ji Siyue coming, they all waved at her. She then calmed down and went aside to wash up.
By the time she came back from washing, the match had entered the preparation stage, and their live - streams were also on.
This match was an unprecedented grand event. Due to the Bai Yu incident before, people were highly concerned about it. Although the lawyer's letter had been sent out, it didn't have much of an effect in the end.
Most importantly, the opponents of the GH Team were mostly old rivals. Especially Landu, who was now extremely aggressive. They were the long - standing enemies of the Hornet!
This time, they were finally going to clash. From every perspective, it was the most eye - catching match!
The official live - stream was even pushed to the homepage recommendation of the platform. Some former professional players also came out to say that they would follow this match, and some even openly supported their favorite players.
The match hadn't even started yet, but it was already extremely popular.
Ji Siyue also grabbed a computer and watched the live - stream from the side.
This time, the official had made some changes.
To prevent a recurrence of the previous situation, the official specially installed a program on the players' computers. It could match the players' real - time operations based on the key presses on their computers to ensure that no one was cheating. They also added computer screen recording. From every aspect, it was impossible for anyone to cheat this time.
Although Ji Siyue saw that the official had made such good preparations, she felt a bit desolate inside.
When did it come to the point that players had to prove they weren't cheating in a match? Wasn't the original intention of playing this game supposed to be out of love?
Ji Siyue thought like this, but she didn't say anything and just watched the live - stream intently.
To be honest, Ji Siyue was actually very much looking forward to this showdown.
Because of the conflict with Qin Chengyao some time ago, she hadn't been coming to the base every day to keep track of the situation. She also had no idea what tactics they had chosen.
So, for this match, Ji Siyue was even more nervous than the players themselves. This wasn't just a simple match...
The first match officially began!
The GH Team's strategy in the first round was the same as in their previous match. It was more of a probing one, because they had never faced this opponent before. Even though they had a good understanding of them, they couldn't be sure that the opponents didn't have any secret weapons.
Both sides were extremely cautious, and there was no such thing as being “cautious enough”.
Qin Chengyao picked his most familiar character, a white - robed gunfighter. There was also an assassin, a side defender, and a support.
The opponent's lineup was quite similar to theirs. Neither side had an obvious advantage. So, in this situation, it all came down to the players' operations.
Qin Chengyao: “Xing Xing! Come in front of me. There are two guys on the other side trying to take me out. I can't guarantee my own safety!”
“Okay!”
Xing Xing replied and controlled his support character to jump in front of Qin Chengyao.
But as soon as he jumped over, the two opponents rushed over and went straight for the support!
The damage from their two ultimate skills was no joke. The support's health bar almost hit rock bottom instantly!
This sudden change left everyone on the scene a bit stunned.
Fortunately, at the last moment, Qin Chengyao used his ultimate skill to restore health and targeted Xing Xing with it. This barely pulled Xing Xing's health back to over half, and then he applied a continuous healing buff, which gradually restored Xing Xing's condition.
This change shocked almost everyone on the scene.
The commentator even exclaimed in the live - stream chat: “The cooldown of these two ultimate skills is at least 120 seconds. Is it really worth using them simultaneously to take out a support? Or is this their new strategy?”
Xing Xing looked extremely frustrated after almost being taken out, but with Qin Chengyao's comfort, he quickly adjusted his mindset.
Ji Siyue watched intently from the back, looking calm but also a bit confused.
She was also a bit puzzled about the opponent's strategy. Was it really worth using two ultimate skills at the start of the game just to take out a support?
When the battle reached around seven minutes, Xing Xing had almost been taken out five times, and his mindset was on the verge of collapsing.
Since the support was almost taken out again and again, Qin Chengyao had to keep using his healing skills on him.
After doing this several times, Qin Chengyao's skills were running low, and the health bars of the other players in the team were also getting low. The gap between the two teams in terms of advantage and disadvantage was gradually widening.
It was only at this moment that Ji Siyue understood what the opponent was up to.
From the very beginning, they had started their strategy. They targeted the easiest player first, trying to break his mindset and make him make mistakes. Even though the other players in the team were constantly comforting him, it wasn't easy to pull his mindset back in a short time.
Xing Xing was still quite young and didn't have much combat experience. After winning a few matches with Qin Chengyao before, it was inevitable that he would be a bit overconfident. Now, after such a setback...
He had started scratching his head and looked in a really bad state.
Ji Siyue walked over to a nearby computer, put on the coach's headset, and said, “The opponent's current strategy is to focus on breaking one of our players' mindsets. Stay calm, Xing Xing.”
Xing Xing knew that many people were watching him. If he didn't calm down, he might embarrass the whole team. But sometimes, when your mindset collapses, it's really not easy to stay calm.
“I also want to stay calm, but they just keep targeting me. I don't want to drag the team down...”
“What nonsense are you talking about? We're a team, a group. If the captain should be protected, why shouldn't you be? Adjust your mindset. We still have a chance to win this round. Come to a meeting during the break for the next round.” After saying this, Ji Siyue took off the headset and went back to the sofa, holding her laptop to watch the live - stream.
After hearing this, Xing Xing also started to actively adjust his mindset.
Unfortunately, it was too late. The gap between the two teams had already widened significantly. In the end, the GH Team lost to the Junchen Team in the first round.
There was a fifteen - minute break between each match. Ji Siyue immediately went back to the computer desk, put on the headset, and held a meeting with the players.