Chapter 115: Dark Horse

With a commanding 6:1 lead, the Fish-Loving Cat team had little chance left in the second half. Before long, the match concluded at 8:3, with Baishi advancing to the third round. During the ten-minute break, the Baishi players all rose and returned to the lounge to strategize for the upcoming game.

Meanwhile, Li Xin slipped away alone and stood by the outdoor fence, lighting a cigarette. He expected someone to come backstage looking for him—this was his deliberate way of avoiding them.

As he anticipated, Zhou Yang from the Fierce Tiger team soon appeared.

“General Manager Jiang, where’s Yi Ran?” Zhou Yang asked.

“He’s not here; he went to the restroom,” Jiang Chuxue replied with a playful smile. Zhou Yang was quite handsome, after all.

Zhou Yang paused, then smiled ruefully. “Alright then, please pass my business card to him. I’ll be waiting for his call.”

Was he extending an olive branch on behalf of the Fierce Tiger team?

Jiang Chuxue accepted the card with a smile, and Zhou Yang took his leave.

Naturally, he exited through the passage leading to the rest area. As a world champion, he had many fans, and leaving through the front door would likely result in being blocked.

Once inside his car, Zhou Yang immediately pulled out his phone and dialed a number. The call was quickly answered.

“Hey, Old K, I discovered a remarkable strategist today. Did you know? His command style bears many similarities to Dawn’s. I suspect he might actually be Dawn himself.”

“What? Dawn?” came a surprised whisper.

There was a brief silence as Old K pondered. Soon, he responded, “Impossible. Dawn is seriously ill, you know that. He can hardly stay on the field for long.”

“Exactly, and that’s the second thing that surprised me,” Zhou Yang frowned, his expression serious. “He plays with even more passion than Dawn, and he’s been in two consecutive matches, with a third ahead. His physical condition must be fine. So, he’s not Dawn.”

“My guess is he either knows Dawn or is Dawn’s superfan. I’ve already passed on the card. I think we should recruit him.”

“Yes, if even you praise him, we should definitely try to bring him over and nurture him,” Old K agreed, then hung up.

At this moment, inside the hall, everyone was resting: some went to the restroom, some smoked, and others ate. In the second half, Baishi’s command had shifted to Li Gang, but it wasn’t as exhilarating as before. Still, Li Gang had learned much and no longer played so rigidly.

Almost everyone was curious about this new Baishi recruit. Even the leader of the viivi team intended to pay him a visit but was stopped by Ma Tao.

Ma Tao believed this dark horse, rising so suddenly, seemed not overly passionate about the game; otherwise, how could he have been so unknown before?

One can offer an olive branch, but timing is everything—too early or too late, and it could backfire.

The team leader pondered and found this to be true.

In the VIP seats, at the upper right corner on the east side, a girl raised her brow, watching Gao Tianhao with a strange feeling. Tianhao came from a wealthy family and was a well-known scion in Suhai City. Handsome and talented, he was a genuine diamond among young men. Now a junior at Suhai University, he excelled in engineering and carried himself with calm confidence.

But what was going on today? Why was he so restless, his eyes flickering with excitement and barely containing his eagerness?

After much thought, the commentator announced the third game was about to begin. The girl could no longer hold back and gently poked Tianhao’s waist.

“What’s up?” he asked.

“What’s wrong with you today?”

“Nothing much.”

“You’re acting strange—Fish lost, but you don’t seem sad at all; instead, you look thrilled,” she said, expressing her confusion.

Tianhao quickly gave a subtle signal with his eyes. She understood immediately, covering her cherry-red lips.

He glanced around cautiously, seeing no one paying attention, then leaned close to her ear and whispered, “Biyun, I… I know him.”

“Know who?” Biyun was puzzled, her big eyes bright and captivating.

“The Baishi team’s Yi Ran,” Tianhao replied mysteriously, as if revealing a world-shaking secret.

“What? Him?” Biyun almost gasped aloud.

She was genuinely stunned, as if she had just heard a particularly special piece of information. Everyone recognized Yi Ran’s strength—today marked his meteoric rise, and his future seemed limitless. Even the viivi team didn’t know his background, yet Tianhao claimed to know him!

“How… how do you know him?” Biyun asked, her voice trembling, heart pounding.

“Well…” Tianhao hesitated awkwardly.

After a pause and a sip of water, he recounted the story of their encounter in the field to Biyun in detail. By then, her face had flushed bright red with excitement.

As a game streamer, she seemed to see a golden path to a fortune empire unfolding before her.

The third match officially began.

Baishi team versus the Grasshopper team from JH City.

Grasshopper was the dark horse emerging this year from JH City, rising unexpectedly in the local qualifiers and forcefully advancing to the finals. They defeated the old powerhouse of JH to claim the championship and advanced to the provincial finals. Though they failed to continue their miracle here, the five players’ exquisite teamwork and precise marksmanship drew serious attention from many teams and won a considerable fan base.

Both teams favored an aggressive, passionate playing style, promising an even more thrilling match.

The game mode: Bomb Defusal, Black Town map.

Black Town, a classic map in CF (CrossFire), bore witness to countless fallen gunslingers’ memories and the glorious days of the game. Although CF’s popularity had waned amid newer games like League of Legends, when people thought of CF bomb defusal mode, Black Town was the first that came to mind.

It was an emblematic battleground.

In merely 23 minutes, Baishi decisively defeated the dark horse Grasshopper, advancing to the final elimination match.

It was past noon, the usual lunch break, yet of the more than two thousand spectators in the hall, few left.

This was because Baishi’s team leader, Jiang Chuxue, proposed starting the final match immediately, foregoing the break.

The announcement shocked the entire venue.

Two hours and twenty minutes was not a long time for an esports competition. In fact, when matches were tight, a single bomb defusal round could last over an hour.

The fact that they were fighting four continuous matches was truly admirable.

If it were just one team, it wouldn’t be so remarkable—matches at this level could easily last two or three hours.

But Baishi faced four different teams, each with distinct styles and tactics. This tested not only their adaptability but also the players’ mental resilience.

“Heh, Baishi is really soaring to the heavens now. Think they’re gods just because they won three matches? The last one is the toughest,” someone remarked.

“Baishi is too bold, refusing even the official rest time,” another said.

“You don’t get it. They want to keep the momentum, the fire in their hands and their coordination. What if they rested and lost that edge? How could they play then?” a voice reasoned.

“That makes sense,” others agreed.

Both supporters and skeptics debated fiercely, while the VIP front row of wealthy executives also discussed among themselves.

“President Zhao, isn’t this a bit inappropriate by General Manager Jiang?” Sun Yang frowned.

“President Zhao, should the team rest for a moment?” Duan Rulong quietly asked, worried about the players’ fatigue.

President Zhao merely smiled faintly and replied, “It’s fine. I trust General Manager Jiang’s judgment.”