Assassin, Don't Be Too Arrogant [E-sports] - Chapter 4

Su Ze and Zhong Yuyi both replied with “OK” at the same time. After starting their streams, they entered the game’s main interface together and immediately received Wen Zhe’s invitation.

Su Ze: “Coming, coming! Hey, isn’t this YAO?”

Zhong Yuyi: “YAO? Is that the one from the video we just watched? The ‘YAOYAO Check It Out’ thing?”

Before Zhong Yuyi could finish, Wen Zhe tapped his microphone lightly: “That’s enough.”

Su Ze/Zhong Yuyi quickly fell silent: “Yes, Captain.”

Jian Yao facepalmed, realizing he had become so popular because of that video from just half an hour ago!

He glanced at the man in the video and noticed the other was also looking at him, which left him feeling somewhat flustered.

Meanwhile, Wen Zhe recalled the scene from their afternoon training session—

“Xiao Yi, do you know YAO?” Su Ze’s sudden outburst made Wen Zhe, who had been resting with his eyes closed, frown slightly. He then heard Su Ze continue: “He’s seriously so interesting!”

“I know,” Zhong Yuyi pulled his gaming chair over to sit beside Su Ze. “That super-sarcastic secondary commentator.”

“Yeah, yeah! I’ve watched his streams. When he’s not commentating, he plays games, and he’s really good at them.”

Listening to their conversation, Wen Zhe pushed off the ground with one foot, sliding his gaming chair over to the two of them. He held out his hand, still squinting.

Su Ze and Zhong Yuyi exchanged glances, then simultaneously placed their hands in Wen Zhe’s palm. Unexpectedly, Wen Zhe turned his hand and slapped theirs away, glancing sideways at them. Zhong Yuyi, whose hand was on top, suffered the greatest blow.

“Captain!”

“I’m not your witness,” Wen Zhe spread his hand out again. “What I meant was, let me see.”

“Oh, that’s what you meant… Here.”

Su Ze placed his phone in Wen Zhe’s hand. As Wen Zhe took it, Su Ze’s “commentary” continued beside him: “Captain, look at this reaction speed, these moves—isn’t he amazing?”

Wen Zhe automatically tuned him out, focusing intently on the video.

Jian Yao’s playstyle was extremely aggressive, very similar to Wen Zhe’s own style back in the day—almost as if he had studied it specifically.

However, Jian Yao was an assassin, while Wen Zhe was a warrior. A warrior’s playstyle could only minimize the margin for error, whereas an assassin could effectively capitalize on those opportunities.

It had to be said, Jian Yao’s approach was quite impressive.

With that thought, Wen Zhe snapped out of his reverie and clicked to start matchmaking. He wanted to see Jian Yao’s skills firsthand.

Outside of official tournaments, the game followed a BO1 format for players. Maps were randomly selected from the four seasons—spring, summer, autumn, and winter. Each map had a horizontal coordinate range (-180 to 180) and a vertical coordinate range (-60 to 60), with a 1:10 ratio to the actual in-game distance. Players’ field of view ranged from -180 to 180. The game randomly assigned attackers and defenders, with the Guardian Spirit’s coordinates generated randomly and moving along random paths, represented by a star icon on the in-game minimap.

[Match Found]

[Current Map: Winter]

[Attackers: AFG.Wzhe (Warrior), AFG.Sze (Tank), AFG.Zyy (Marksman), Jyao (Assassin)]

[Defenders: FG.1 (Warrior), FG.2 (Tank), FG.3 (Marksman), FG.4 (Assassin)]

Su Ze was taken aback: “What team is FG?”

“FG is the trending team in the ‘Chaser’ game lately. It’s said they’re formed by a bunch of rich young masters, and during the transfer period, they plan to see which team can’t hold on anymore, then buy their spot to enter the professional league.”

Jian Yao continued replying, “1/2/3/4 are their team rankings. The accounts won’t change until the transfer period ends. The person behind each account will be selected through training to become the final owner of that account, and all players will wear masks, never revealing their true faces.”

The room fell silent, and a blush gradually spread across Jian Yao’s face—

“Sorry, I…”

Su Ze interrupted, “You know all this?!”

Zhong Yuyi chimed in, “We had no idea at all.”

Out of the corner of his eye, Wen Zhe saw the person on the phone screen glance quickly at him and replied, “I’m not clear about it either.”

[The server’s top ‘intelligence officer’ is no joke.]

[How come the pros don’t know? Was the info blocked?]

Wen Zhe watched these comments quickly scroll by. Indeed, he had heard of FG but had never encountered them in the game.

The information wasn’t as detailed as what Jian Yao knew. Perhaps someone was secretly blocking it, not wanting others to find out.

“Never mind. Our professional ethic is to take every match seriously.” Su Ze flexed his fingers. “Captain, what’s the strategy?”

“Proximity principle. Those who are closest to each other should gather first. Those farther away should move toward the closer ones and report positions at all times. After pairing up, head toward the Guardian Spirit. Avoid encounters if possible on the way. If unavoidable, stall. Tanks take damage and hold the front line. Marksmen should avoid getting too close to the battlefield. Assassins look for opportunities to secure kills.” Wen Zhe faced the phone camera. “Can you do it?”

“No problem.” Jian Yao, not feeling the gaze, stared intently at the computer screen, a faint smile on his lips and a wild glint in his eyes. “Let’s finish this quickly and make them drop in rank.”

“Good.” Wen Zhe noticed his newfound confidence, different from before, and felt quite expectant.

[Trust our YAO’s assassin!!]

[Let FG see YAO’s secret weapon.]

The four entered the game. A vast expanse of white and a blizzard made it impossible for them to see the situation clearly.

“This is the worst part of Winter Map—makes me feel like I’m blind. Who knows, someone might stab me in the back…” Su Ze complained.

“Less chatter about non-essential info. Listen for footsteps.” Wen Zhe reminded him.

Winter Map—the most difficult map in the Four Seasons series.

Not only does it add a “Cold Resistance Bar” below the health bar, but players can also snatch clothing from opponents on this map.

Players’ own clothing provides no “warmth” effect in this map. They can only obtain clothing from randomly generated treasure chests scattered across the map. Each chest contains at least one and up to four pieces of clothing, all completely random. You might even see mascot costumes or other amusing outfits.

Of course, they don’t provide complete warmth either, and players are forced to wear whatever they open.

Wen Zhe’s glorious history of opening a “beggar outfit” was still fresh in his memory. Not only did it fail to keep him warm, but the system also treated it as torn clothing, causing the Cold Resistance Bar to deplete faster.

Once the Cold Resistance Bar is completely depleted, it starts reducing the player’s health. So, whether you get clothing from treasure chests, “strip” it off enemies, or convince opponents to “willingly” hand it over—all are viable options.

“Start calling out positions one by one. (-40, 100). Guardian Spirit coordinates (40, 20) moving west.” Wen Zhe took the lead.

Su Ze: “(120, 40).”

Zhong Yuyi: “(80, 30).”

Jian Yao: “(-20, 100).”

Su Ze: “Captain and Yao, you two are pretty close.”

Zhong Yuyi: “Ah, enough talk. Stay alert, let’s regroup quickly.”

Jian Yao glanced at the map. They were about 120 meters apart and would likely meet soon.

“You two aren’t far either—less than 200 meters—but…” Jian Yao looked at the river separating their positions on the map. “Actually, it’s quite far, like the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl.”

“Hahahaha,” Su Ze laughed. “Don’t panic. It’s just a river. I’ll show you my skills later.”

“Stop bragging,” Zhong Yuyi interrupted. “Don’t end up diving headfirst into an ice hole.”

“Tch, don’t you trust me?” Before the words faded, Su Ze flicked his mouse, dodging an attack, and looked toward the source of the skill—only white mist. “Someone at 30 o’clock, probably a shooter.”

He cautiously moved in that direction to test, and the opponent aimed and fired at him again.

“Looks like they’re dead set on me.” Su Ze controlled his character to glance to the right. Across the vast icy river was Zhong Yuyi’s location. “Xiao Yi, look up toward -100. I’ll put on a show for you. Get ready, folks in the livestream!”

[Recording 1 ready!]

[Recording 2 ready!]

[Recording 3… wait! Not ready yet!]

Su Ze first feinted forward, then side-stepped and leaped down the moment the opponent reloaded. “Let me show you—a support’s shield isn’t just for taking damage!”

He pulled the shield from his back and hurled it into the distance. Using his character’s jump and his own agility, he stepped across the shield one stride at a time, performing “Treading on Waves” mid-air.

On the final step, Su Ze landed heavily on the shield, skidding to a sideways stop on the ice.

Cool. That move was just too cool.

“How was that? Cool!” Before Su Ze could finish, the shield beneath his feet took a hit.

The shell ricocheted and struck his butt. “Wow, still trying to get me from behind!”

He looked toward the shore and vaguely spotted someone with “FG.3” above their head aiming a pistol at him. Unfortunately, the white mist interfered, and all the bullets hit the ice. “Nyah nyah, can’t hit me!”

People really do love to show off…

Zhong Yuyi watched Su Ze’s figure in the distance, who even took the time to say goodbye to his opponent.

Wait! Without a second thought, Zhong Yuyi sprinted toward the ice. Seeing it might be too late, his hands moved faster than his mind on the keyboard. “Green Vine, go!”

Green Vine was the string of Zhong Yuyi’s bow, a gold-tier equipment material obtained together with Su Ze during a dungeon run. It could be combined with a crossbow when needed, or used creatively by the player.

For Zhong Yuyi, it was both a weapon and a rescue tool.

“Huh…” Su Ze suddenly realized he was being bound and dragged toward Zhong Yuyi’s location. “What’s wrong, Xiao Yi?”

No sooner had the words been spoken than Su Ze watched the ice he had just left instantly shatter, turning into a massive ice hole. His body involuntarily shivered. “Xiao Yi… thank goodness you were here… that was brutal.”

“Are you okay?” Jian Yao asked anxiously.

“I’m fine, just that someone wanted to look ‘cool and frosty’.” Zhong Yuyi glanced at Su Ze beside him. If not for his own instinctive reaction, it would have been a 3v4 situation now.

“Heh heh, sorry, sorry.” Su Ze scratched his head sheepishly. “Reporting to the captain, we’re assembled. We’re heading toward the Guardian Spirit now.”

“Good, stay alert to your surroundings. Don’t underestimate the opponents.” Wen Zhe controlled his keyboard, leaping down from a tree to dodge a hunting trap thrown from not far away. “The enemy assassin is at -115 direction.”

Jian Yao kept an eye on the -115 direction while continuing to move toward Wen Zhe. “So that leaves the enemy warrior and tank.”

Before the words could fully settle, a flash of sword light shot toward him. He immediately slammed on the brakes, rolling across the snowy ground.

In the white mist, two figures emerged.