There was no doubt that FTW was in for a tough fight.

On the substitute bench, Asleep had woken up long ago and was staring intently at the screen.

The camera would occasionally sweep over, stopping on him for a moment.

The youth who was normally lazy and half awake was now leaning forward in his seat. He wasn’t wearing his team uniform, and his hair had been arranged casually. His black sweater was very wide, making his shoulders and waist appear very narrow. His eyes were direct, and his hands were close together, his index fingers supporting his chin. He looked attentive and serious.

There was no need to doubt it, and the fans in the scrolling comments started their shrill screams again.

“It’s Sleep God with his eyes open!”

“I feel that he’s watching Captain Fu. Look at that gaze, that appearance. it’s the little wolf dog gong that I love!”

“Sorry, my Captain Fu isn’t a shou.”

“Sorry, my Cong Yi never wears green hats.”

“Sorry, he’s clearly staring at Quiet!”

The players were all too good looking. The CP fans really couldn’t be blamed for getting too into their ships and starting another fight over them.

Of course, compared with the scrolling comments from tens of thousands of haters, this was just the tip of the iceberg and was quite wholesome in comparison.

The scrolling comments were already scolding heatedly, “What the hell is going on with FTW? Laozi put 50,000 betting coins on you, stand the hell up for me!”

“Haha, I knew that FTW was done for the moment that Quiet took the berserker thief.”

“What’s going on with FTW? Didn’t they see how TPT messed with 3U? How dare they come without any countermeasures?”

“His ego must be inflated. He probably thinks that his berserker thief’s better than Asleep’s.”

“I haven’t liked watching Quiet since a long time ago. Hurry up and mess up, what’s a newcomer acting so crazy for.”

How the audience was acting didn’t matter, what was important were the ten players in the field.

The game had gone on for nearly thirty minutes, and TPT was ahead of FTW by 7000 farm.

What did that mean?

Eurostar, who had the highest farm in TPT, had one more full piece of equipment than Wei Xiao, who was the one with the highest farm in FTW.

Even Wei Xiao’s farm was so far behind, let alone the farm of the others.

Little Ning had practiced his ice mage a lot recently. Although his mentality was a little broken, he was still good at freezing people. Other than Fu Li, he’d basically managed to freeze everyone else.

Oh… He hadn’t frozen Eurostar though. This brat was too good at surviving. Everyone in his family could die, but he, as a big treasure, had to continue living. It was unknown what he’d experienced to make him so afraid of death.

FTW’s state became weaker in the later stages.

It was already bad enough that their operations could be seen through, but there were also disadvantages in their line-up.

Based on FTW’s line-up that was stronger in the early stages, they’d have no way to fight once Eurostar was able to stand up fully on his own!

What to do?

Continuing on like this was just like sitting there waiting for death.

This wasn’t Wei Xiao’s style, nor was it FTW’s style!

Wei Xiao took a light breath. “Don’t think about anything. Just fight.”

Since the other side could basically guess what they were doing no matter what, they might as well just let loose and fight.

If they were going to be overcautious like this, then they might as well roll up their sleeves and go for it.

Ning Zhehan still felt guilty. “Um…”

Wei Xiao: “Don’t worry about anything. Just judge the situation according to your intuition.”

Ning Zhehan was stunned.

Wei Xiao: “Remember that time when we played against GOQ?”

Ning Zhehan suddenly saw the light. “I remember!”

Wei Xiao: “Find the feeling from that time.”

Ning Zhehan’s eyes lit up. “Okay!”

Everyone could hear his words. Yue Wenle and Tang Chen also understood him.

In fact, Bai Cai was a little confused. He was used to playing with Wei Xiao and cooperating with him had already become instinctual, so he couldn’t get into the same state as everyone else when they played against GOQ.

Later on, Chen Feng had mentioned it during the game replay review that he’d seen the shadow of Yan Jiang.

At the time, Bai Cai had been puzzled, because he hadn’t experienced it.

No matter how Ning Zhehan and Yue Wenle described it, he couldn’t feel this so-called ‘smooth and free’.

Beneath the stage, Chen Feng leaned back in his chair and relaxed.

Cong Yi noticed it. “It seems that FTW really can break through this game.”

Chen Feng: “It will be hard to turn things around in this match, but they’re trying.”

As long as it was effective, FTW wouldn’t be afraid of Fu Li’s calculations in the next two matches!

Cong Yi looked at the screen and could feel a sense of disconnect.

Asleep’s voice was low, “Stiff.”

Others may feel that this statement was vague when they heard it, but Cong Yi understood. What Asleep was saying was: FTW’s overall state was very rigid.

Indeed…

In the first half of the game, they could feel the tacit understanding that FTW had honed over the first half of the regular season, but this tacit understanding had been completely lost by the end of the game.

They seemed to be back in the same state they’d been in their first game of the regular season, back in that awkward breaking-in period.

The audience was all swearing, “Stupid FTW, their mentalities have collapsed!”

“Are they starting to send kills to the other side? If you don’t have any fighting spirit, then don’t play. What the hell is this.”

“Don’t play around with Laozi’s betting coins!”

“This is the God Q that you guys praise up to the skies. Let’s change his name to Waste Q, it sounds better.”

All the kings who had loud mouths filled up the scrolling comments. With that hand speed, they should be able to rush up into the 100 star rankings in Glory!

In the first game, FTW lost.

In the last group fight, Wei Xiao killed the arrogant and domineering Eurostar, but Fu Li charmed him and sent him back to the fountain.

In fact, the group fight had started off well. FTW’s farm was only behind by 1000, and there was a chance for them to turn the tables and win the match.

Unfortunately, their losses at the start had been too large, and they were still trying to find a feel for the pace of the game in the later stage. By the time they’d achieved some results, TPT had already won the game.

The good thing was…

This was a BO3 game. There was no need to panic after losing a match, they still had a chance!

Chen Feng came over, pulling down his headphones and attempting to cheer them up, “Not bad, you guys found a feel for it.”

Ning Zhehan spoke in a whisper, “We lost miserably.”

Wei Xiao stared at the screen. Coach, if they release the shadow thief, snatch it up.”

Chen Feng’s gaze grew sharp, “Okay.”

On the TPT side.

Eurostar was bold and elated. “5v5 is so satisfying. Just thinking about how I, Eurostar-star, actually had a chance to smear the grandmaster all over the ground.”

Fu Li released his mouse and picked up the thermos cup beside him. He spoke slowly and leisurely, “Ban the berserker thief in the next match.”

Eurostar blinked, “It shouldn’t be to that point…”

Fu Li: “Quiet has some skill.”

It was rare for Eurostar to see such a serious expression on his captain’s face. “… Let the shadow thief out?”

Fu Li: “Yes.”

Eurostar thought about it, then said, “There isn’t enough sample material. The nine light arcs aren’t as easy to target.”

Fu Li: “That’s why we need to collect samples.”

The second match started immediately. The BP segment went by faster than before, and it could be seen that both sides had ideas of their own.

TPT released the shadow thief, and FTW insta-locked it with their first pick. They weren’t ambiguous about it at all.

The scrolling comments were still kicking up a fuss, “There’s no use letting out the shadow thief. FTW’s entire state has already collapsed. Can Quiet even show off nine light arcs?”

“I think it’s unlikely.”

“Fellow brothers, listen to big brother: hurry and bet on TPT winning 2:0, you’re guaranteed to make a profit!”

There was a guessing and betting channel in Glory. The betting coins had no real value, but if players saved up, they could use them to trade for game props. This meant that players would really get into it.

“Okay! Laozi is going to use his life savings and bet on TPT shutting out FTW!”

“Don’t worry, just wait. You’ll make a fortune.”

There were others who were wailing, “I gave all my wealth to FTW before the match. Win for me!”

“I’m not betting on the scores, just betting on winning or losing. I don’t care about anything else, FTW has to win tonight!”

“Wuwuwu, I don’t want my betting coins, I just want my cubs to win the game!”

The audience watching offsite always deviated from the truth… by a lot!

Everyone was booing FTW, but the experts all knew that FTW was on the rise!

As soon as the second match began, Wei Xiao said to Bai Cai, “Follow Old Yue.”

Bai Cai: “Okay.”

Wei Xiao continued, speaking to the others, “Keep the same state from the last match.”

Ning Zhehan was still a little worried. “Will it work… Every player from TPT is very strong.”

Wei Xiao: “We’re not weak either.”

Ning Zhehan’s momentum soared up again, “Yeah!”

They weren’t weak either, or rather, it should be said that they were very strong!

They were FTW, last year’s champion team!

They were the number one team in their group, a team that had won nine out of their ten games!

Ning Zhehan was instantly injected with chicken blood and filled with energy.

Fu Li had already sensed the change in FTW after the end of the first match, and it only became more obvious in this game.

It was quite magical. He’d seen too many FTW games: the ones from the past seasons, the current games, the ones from the winter training camp, the ones during the regular season, and even countless training games.

He had analyzed carefully, pondered and dissected every game.

So, he was very clear on the habits of every FTW starter.

For example, how their mid-jungler linkage worked, how their bottom lane and support began their attacks, and even the way Tang Chen pushed towers…

With all these things in mind, Fu Li could easily analyze their rhythm and set up ambushes according to their movements.

They’d done so during the first half of the first game, catching FTW off guard and causing them to fall into a dangerous situation.

But soon, this team changed.

This ‘change’ was the most subtle thing.

They clearly had a sense of having trained with each other, and clearly had some stability when it came to their habits, but they were still able to go back to the state they’d been in at the start of the regular season.

Being able to do this was amazing, but did they think that they could win against TPT with this?

Too naive.

Wasn’t that just a big pit?

TPT wasn’t afraid of a team that had tacit understanding. How could they be afraid of a team that had no cooperation?

Fu Li wanted to use this opportunity to test out Wei Xiao’s shadow thief.

Unfortunately, it was only after the game that he understood why FTW dared to play like this.

Seven minutes into the game, in the bottom lane dragon pit, Fu Li commanded, “Ambush. The shadow thief will pass by.”

Eurostar: “I’ll hold Lele back.”

Fu Li: “Mm. Old Wu, come with me.”

Wu Si was TPT’s jungler, a very good blue collar jungler. “Okay.”

They squatted in the grass near the dragon pit and avoided being seen.

Sure enough, the shadow thief appeared five seconds later.

Fu Li: “Go.”

Wu Si was using the power thief. He didn’t hesitate to use a ground stab, wanting to catch the shadow thief and pull him over.

But who could’ve known that the shadow thief would react very quickly? It moved away from the ground stab and instantly entered stealth mode.

In this game, Fu Li had taken the fire mage. It wasn’t very agile, and it was also very squishy. He spoke unhurriedly, “Protect me.”

Based on Wei Xiao’s temperament, he would never retreat from a battle after a first encounter. He would definitely make his way around and aim for the c-position.

Wu Si was already protecting the fire mage, waiting with a ground stab. As long as the shadow thief came, he would control him to death.

But Wei Xiao didn’t go. Instead, he headed straight for the ancient creature.

Fu Li: “……”

Wu Si was stunned. “He…”

Fu Li spoke calmly, “Spread apart. He’s starting to stack up damage.”

If he wanted to brush out nine light arcs, he would have to stack up the damage. These stacks didn’t have to come from enemy heroes. It could also be built up by hitting jungle creeps.

It was just that the duration of the stacks was very short, and the player had to be very stable. Otherwise, the stack count would drop, and they wouldn’t even be able to think about brushing out a high arc count if they couldn’t build up enough damage and marks.

Wu Si found it astounding. “The wolves are so far away from the dragon. Does he have time to stack up damage?”

He did.

Fu Li: “As long as he’d long guessed that we’re here, then yes.”

His words had just fallen when nine light arcs exploded across the river. The huge attack range ensured that the fire mage with short legs wouldn’t be able to avoid it completely.

Less than one tenth of the total damage landed on Fu Li, but Fu Li’s health bar fell to the bottom.

Wu Si still had his movement skill and was able to hide further away. He didn’t lose any health, but…

He’d pulled away from the fire mage!

By the time Wu Si reacted to this, it was already too late.

The shadow thief landed after the light arcs. Its movement skill had just come off cooldown, and he shifted forward twice, taking away the helpless Captain Fu’s life.

System Announcement––

First Blood!

FTW. Quiet killed TPT.Auroral (Fu Li).

In FTW’s team chat.

Bai Cai: “Old Wei, beautiful!”

Little Ning reincarnated as a little fanboy. “Brother Xiao, how did you know that God Li would be there?”

Oh my god, could this be the legendary ‘I predicted your prediction’?

Sure enough, he was a real expert. Amaz…

Ning Zhehan’s worship hadn’t yet finished flowing through his blood when Wei Xiao answered him, “Accident.”

Ning Zhehan: “???”

Wei Xiao: “I was originally stacking up the damage to give the small dragon nine light arcs. Who could’ve known that I would encounter love on a street corner?”

After the game, Fu Li watched the replay along with FTW’s team chat, “……”

God Li had to drink three cups of black coffee with goji berries.

xiin: that coffee sounds really nasty