1522 Snowflake Firing Line

A crushing defeat.  

Qin Muyun's playstyle might not have been as hot-blooded or as tough as Tyranny's fans would have liked, but winning with such dominance was still something that they enjoyed. Thunderous cheers greeted Mo Fan as he left his booth.

It wasn't his first time fighting against Qin Muyun. Last time, it had been the group arena too. Qin Muyun's Negative Nine Degrees only had 11% of his health left, yet it took Mo Fan's Deception nearly half of his health to finish him off. It could be considered a loss for Mo Fan.

This time, the two started the fight at equal health, and in the end, Mo Fan suffered a crushing defeat.

31%.

Deception had only taken out 31% of Negative Nine Degrees' health when he fell. Putting it nicely, you could call it one third of his health.

It was another loss against Qin Muyun. When he returned to his seat, hints of unhappiness could be seen in his usual poker face.

Su Mucheng, who could be considered as the person closest to him compared to everyone else on the team, patted his shoulders to console him. Mo Fan thought hard for a moment, but when he raised his head to say something, Su Mucheng was already gone.

"It's my turn," Su Mucheng called out to everyone before heading over to the stage. She was Happy's next player in the group arena.

Mo Fan stared blankly. He had just been about to say something, but...

"Have you got any questions?" Mo Fan suddenly heard a voice from beside him. Mo Fan turned to look and saw Ye Xiu looking at him.

Mo Fan turned his head back. He seemed to be struggling whether he should speak or not. Ye Xiu didn't say anything and simply waited patiently on the side.

"What should I do?' Mo Fan didn't turn to look at Ye Xiu, but he spoke up in the end.

"Learn from him," Ye Xiu replied.

"And then I can beat him if I do that?"

"Don't limit yourself to just the opponent. You have many opponents. The purpose of learning from him isn't purely to beat him, but for you to improve, so you can win more," Ye Xiu said. Qin Muyun could be considered a great wall for Mo Fan. The strengths that Qin Muyun had gained from going through Tyranny's training camp were things that Mo Fan lacked. If Mo Fan could use what Qin Muyun had for himself, his individual prowess would improve considerably. Just take Qin Muyun's talent at positioning and movement. If Mo Fan could take those for himself, his Fireworks style would certainly become more threatening.

Ye Xiu hoped that Mo Fan could understand this point, but Mo Fan was giving him the silent treatment again. Ye Xiu waited for a long time, but seeing that Mo Fan didn't intend on speaking again, he didn't pursue it.

"Give it a try!" Ye Xiu said before leaving. Mo Fan stared thoughtfully at the new round that was about to start.

The fifth round of the group arena would be Su Mucheng versus Qin Muyun, a battle between Gunners.  

The match began with the crisp sounds of gunshots and the loud sounds of cannonfire. As soon as the two entered the map, they began attacking their opponent from afar without needing to move.  

Launchers had a longer range than Sharpshooters, but it didn't matter in the Arena. Sharpshooters had a fast and explosive firing speed, so the gunfire from Negative Nine Degrees seemed denser and more concentrated. Sparks instantly blossomed all around Dancing Rain. As for Negative Nine Degrees? Her first artillery shell had only just exploded. Even though the artillery shell dealt AoE damage, Negative Nine Degrees had already escaped cleanly from it, all while keeping up a continuous stream of attacks.

Unfavorable!

For Happy, this was not a favorable map for Su Mucheng. Negative Nine Degrees moved and attacked without pause. His attack and defense didn't interfere with each other. Compared to Dancing Rain, his advantages were much more threatening. Qin Muyun even moved his Negative Nine Degrees closer to her. Launchers needed to play from a long range. But Sharpshooters? At close range, they had Gun Fu. Pushing closer to Su Mucheng would put pressure on her. In this map, she didn't have any ways to pull apart the distance between them. The Sharpshooter's Gun Fu might not be as sticky as other close ranged classes, but the amount of space it controlled was much greater.

What should she do?

Mo Fan had just been asking himself what he should do, and now he started to worry for Su Mucheng.

On the battlefield, a myriad of changes could happen in an instant. There was no time for her to wait patiently like Ye Xiu did when talking to Mo Fan. She needed to be decisive, and the answer she gave was: burst! 

Dancing Rain's attacks suddenly sped up several notches. The explosions from her bombardment instantly swallowed Negative Nine Degrees. Qin Muyun hastily had Negative Nine Degrees move away, but it was as if he had some sort of blinking target light on him. No matter what he did, Dancing Rain's attacks followed Negative Nine Degrees closely, refusing to let go.

Firing line?!

Some people could see it. This was the burst from a Launcher's firing line, but how could she do it at this distance? The firing line's distance wasn't limited by the player's skill, but rather the slow attack speed of Launchers. At too close of a distance, Launcher had no way of linking their attacks together. However, right now, it seemed like Dancing Rain was planning on breaking apart this predetermined limit.

"Why would she do this?" Pan Lin was stunned. Li Yibo felt his head ache. He had a vague feeling that he needed time to think and organize his thoughts, but today, the group arena between Happy and Tyranny was moving at such a fast pace. By the time he finished organizing his thoughts, it would probably be the next round, no?

"Her distance isn't fixed..." The pro players had more perceptive eyes. On Tyranny's side, Zhang Xinjie figured out the reason. Some of the more minute details might skip over a normal viewer's eyes, but not Zhang Xinjie.

"Su Mucheng is using burst skills for her first wave of attacks, borrowing the recoil to retreat. As she pulls away, she chooses skills that can link together to keep up a continuous offense." As a Gunner, Zhang Jiale was extremely acute towards this area.

"It can be considered a cross-shaped firing line, where the horizontal axis can shift freely!" Lin Jingyan said.

"It's not just that," Zhang Jiale said.

"Yes..." Lin Jingyan could see it too, "If it was a cross, it wouldn't be able to seal off Muyun's movements..."

"It's a variation using three overlapping firing lines," Zhang Jiale said.

"Three overlapping lines... like a snowflake?" Lin Jingyan displayed his imaginative capabilites. (Think of: *)

Snowflake Firing Lline!

Pan Lin and Li Yibo were having a headache. In the meantime, Tyranny had given Su Mucheng's technique a good name.

"The debate over whether Su Mucheng is a flower vase has reached an end," Zhang Xinjie expressed. This sort of technique was a masterpiece born from a Laucher's experience and intuition reaching the apex. It wasn't something that anyone could use.

"Didn't that debate come to an end a long time ago?" Zhang Jiale was puzzled. No one in the pro circle thought of Su Mucheng as just a pretty face.

"There has always been debate over it," Zhang Xinjie said.

"Alright..." Zhang Jiale didn't argue. He knew that this was Zhang Xinjie's meticulousness at work. If you had to look at things from his view, it probably wasn't possible for a debate to ever end.

"But... this match..." Lin Jingyan commented.

The match wouldn't end just because of this. Su Mucheng's performance was outstanding, but unfortunately, there was a limit to how far Dancing Rain could retreat. Her attack tempo should be be restricted soon.

"What if she goes again in reverse?" Zhang Jiale said. If Su Mucheng's changing firing line could retreat, then it could advance. All she needed to do was do things in reverse order. But after seeing their situation, Zhang Jiale found an answer: "Muyun has realized it."

Yes, Qin Muyun had noticed this possibility. His Negative Nine Degrees was being suppressed by the firing line, but his outstanding positioning negated much of the damage. He had avoided the attacks that would have interrupted his own offense. Qin Muyun was tenaciously continuing his attacks despite the suppression from the Launcher firing line. He kept up his pressure, waiting patiently for an opportunity. He had the same thoughts as the other Tyranny players. He was aware of the problems that Su Mucheng would encounter.

The end... for the Arena, that was the farthest distance away from where Su Mucheng had been at initially.

She's almost there!  

Qin Muyun watched Dancing Rain's every step. Would she make any changes before then? Qin Muyun didn't neglect this possibility. He made adjustments to prevent her from taking those options. Dancing Rain's only choice was to keep retreating.

There!

Dancing Rain made her last step. Her offense stopped there. Next it should be Negative Nine Degrees' turn to counterattack. Dancing Rain was cornered.

Boom boom boom...

Taking her final step, Dancing Rain gave one last burst. Su Mucheng clearly understood this point. At the last moment, she threw out everything she had.

"It's her final attack," Zhang Jiale sighed. Even though Su Mucheng was an opponent, he still felt sad about this one last burst.

"No!" This time, Lin Jingyan felt something was wrong.

"What is it?" Zhang Jiale had already relaxed. He wasn't as focused, so he hadn't caught it!

"Negative Nine Degrees doesn't have enough health," Han Wenqing, who hadn't joined in on the discussion, said.

Everyone was stunned, including Qin Muyun.  

Everyone had been paying close attention to Su Mucheng, Dancing Rain, her firing line, how many attacks she could make in this short amount of time.

She played beautifully, but the map was too small. The distance was too short. This was the limit of what she could do. 

That was what everyone thought, and they couldn't help but sigh. But everyone had neglected the fact that this limit was enough.

Because Negative Nine Degrees hadn't been at full health to begin with. He had lost 31% of his health to Deception.

From 69% to 0%, Dancing Rain was able to finish off Negative Nine Degrees with her final wave of attacks.

"We were tricked. The firing line before hadn't been her limit. She held back, so she could save up for this last final wave," Lin Jingyan said.

"Don't forget about her craftiness. She was Ye Xiu's Best Partner, after all." Han Wenqing noted.