Fantasy Westward Journey: Return to 2005

Chapter 1431: Second round starts, a tough draw
After watching Xilang and his group enter the lounge, Fang Yun and the others looked at each other, and then quickly returned to the exclusive lounge in Bianliang City.

As for what just happened, everyone kept silent in tacit agreement.

The reason is very simple. As long as you are not a fool, you can more or less see some clues from the confrontation just now.

It is certain that Bianliang City will let up, otherwise given the state of Gusu City, they would be considered amazing if they could last even 13 rounds, let alone 5 rounds.

But doing this kind of thing is one thing, and saying it is another.

As an official staff member, how could Xiaoqing not see the trick?

It's just that this behavior is generally beneficial to the competition and the official, so as long as nothing is said, she is happy to pretend to be confused.

Back in the lounge, Fang Yun picked up a bottle of water from the coffee table, unscrewed the lid, and drank it while sitting down in front of the computer to watch the game.

At this time, except for the duel between them and Gusu City which ended early, the duels between the other three groups were still intense.

No, strictly speaking there are two groups.

Another team, the 2008 team led by Abai, was already coming to the end of their match against the Deyang Confucian Temple team.

Facing the billion-dollar family that is a dark horse, Deyang Confucian Temple has fielded its best players this time.

But unfortunately, the gap in hardware between the two sides is real.

What's more, when Abai faces Mingxiang, as commanders of the same level, the gap between them can be basically ignored.

The two sides are evenly matched in tactics, but there is a huge gap in hardware.

The Deyang Confucian Temple team led by Ming Xiang ultimately failed to withstand the pressure and was defeated by 2008.

Until the 18th round of the battle, Deyang Confucian Temple, which was struggling to hold on, did not get any chance. Instead, because of its poor condition, 2008 found a chance to make the final decision.

Finally, the fairy caused flying sand and rocks to cover the sky and the sun.

The Deyang Confucian Temple, which was already in ruins, could no longer hold on. The remaining troops were all wiped out and it was completely defeated!

"Oh my! The winner is decided!"

"This demon king, Yaojing, is really fierce. I feel that Deyang lost this round entirely because of him."

"Deyang is not bad. I didn't expect them to perform so well against 2008."

"To be honest, this offline tournament is much more entertaining than the previous two."

"That's right. It was quite surprising that Bianliang City and Gusu City fought for 13 rounds. I didn't expect that 2008 and Deyang Confucian Temple fought for nearly 20 rounds. This was unthinkable before!"

"Although it may not be nice to say this, but... the reason why the game was so tense is not because the lineups of Bianliang City and 2008 were too conservative?"

"That's right! In this round of 2008, the only one who can really fight is the Fairy. The Fairy is half a fighter, and the others are just auxiliary. They were able to take down the Deyang Confucian Temple in 18 rounds. It's already outrageous..."

As the 2008 showdown with Deyang Confucian Temple came to an end, the audience in the audience seats and online viewers could not help but start talking.

It was beyond everyone's expectations that Bianliang City took 13 rounds to "hardly" capture Gusu City.

I never thought that in the 2008 group against Deyang Confucian Temple, the two teams would set a new record and the game lasted a full 18 rounds.

This felt absurd to the audience who had originally predicted that there would be two speedrunning games.

When did Bianliang City become so different from 2008?

You know, whether it was Bianliang City which reached its peak as soon as it debuted, or 2008 which emerged with three consecutive jumps.

Almost all of their previous matches were controlled within 10 rounds, and any time they exceeded that would be written off as a big deal.

To put it bluntly, the previous performances of these two teams were so outrageous that they spoiled the audience's appetite.

But today, whether it was because of the unfamiliar environment or something, the first round of matches lasted more than 10 rounds, and 2008 even took almost 20 rounds to finally win the game.

Such a huge gap immediately triggered a lot of discussion on the spot and in the forum, and even extended to whether they had become worse or others had become stronger.

Of course, anyone with a discerning eye can see that the reason why Bianliang City and 2008 won slowly was mainly because their lineups were too conservative.

But this reason cannot completely convince everyone. After all, these two teams did not have many top-level combat forces before, but they were still able to speed through every game.

Compared with their previous superb performances, their performance in this All-Star Game has indeed regressed.

Fortunately, the discussions outside the venue did not affect the audience.

After the competition, Abai, along with Chen Fan, Li Qing and others, left the stage behind everyone from Deyang Confucian Temple.

Ming Shen was still smiling when he went on stage before the game, but now his face had turned gloomy before he even completely stepped off the stage.

He thought that he might lose to 2008, but he didn't expect that the gap in actual strength between the two sides would be so big!

From the beginning to the end, it was clear that we were on par with the opponent in terms of tactics.

But because the opponent had superior hardware, Deyang Confucian Temple could only passively withstand the pressure. Not to mention grabbing the rhythm, they couldn't even fight back.

The most important thing is that it’s okay that there is a big gap between the teams, but why is he Abai so powerful?
It was obvious that he was already a lost dog at the beginning, but such a person could actually rely on a billionaire family in such a desperate situation. Do you think you are the male protagonist of a cool novel?

Simply put, he meditated and became sour.

As high-spirited as the people were when they drew the lots, as aggrieved the Deyang Confucian Temple is now.

After losing to 2008, everyone in Deyang Confucian Temple had no time to adjust their mentality. They just wanted the first round of matches to end quickly and then immediately proceed to the draw for the second round.

In the first round, they avoided Bianliang City and met 2008 instead. Their luck was really bad.

It is impossible for people to be unlucky all the time, so they want to start the second round of draws as soon as possible, hoping to draw a weak team to vent their anger and wash away the shame of the first round.

As the victorious party, A Bai and his companions saw that the Ming family had no intention of talking to them, so they were too lazy to try to please them and quickened their pace to overtake them and returned to their lounge.

At the same time, in the lounge of Bianliang City.

"It's a win at last."

Fang Yun and his group were not surprised by 2008's victory.

Even people like Shouye and Huang He who had accounts in 2008 were somewhat dissatisfied.

They were already a little unhappy with Mind's secretive instigation, but it took Abai a full 18 rounds to defeat the opponent.

In the words of Beast Master, when dealing with these fleas, you should go all out from the start and teach them a lesson they will never forget!

However, Fang Yun has a different opinion on this.

Abai's style is conservative, and since it is the opening match of the offline competition, it won't hurt to play it steady and cautious.

As for winning a little slowly, that was not a problem at all. After all, didn't their Bianliang City take 13 rounds to "hardly" capture Gusu City?
Sometimes, being more cautious is actually a good thing for yourself and the audience.

In this way, the four teams returned to their respective lounges after the game. They gathered together to review the details of the previous game, while watching the other two groups' games through the screen in the lounge. Time passed by unknowingly.

40 minutes later, as the other two groups of players came to an end, A Zi took the stage again as the audience looked on with eager anticipation.

"After nearly an hour of fierce fighting, the first round of the All-Star Offline Quarterfinals has come to an end."

After coming on stage, Ah Zi didn't hesitate to report the results first, and then said: "Then next, due to time constraints, we will immediately start the second round of the quarterfinals draw!"

As she spoke, she turned sideways and stretched out her slender arm toward the backstage, signaling the contestants who had been drawn to come on stage.

This year's offline competition still uses last year's rules. The top eight finals will adopt a three-round single round-robin system, with each round limited to 90 minutes. After three rounds, the four teams with the highest points will automatically advance.

This competition system with short time and few games can be said to be a great test of each team's ability to withstand pressure and tolerate errors.

Because if you lose one game, you will most likely have to depend on other teams if you want to advance to the semi-finals.

If you lose two games, you can be directly declared out.

Therefore, for some weaker teams, their own performance is secondary in this round-robin tournament. The most critical factor is whether they can successfully avoid strong teams such as Bianliang City 2008.

Under the expectant gaze of the audience, the first contestant finally came on stage.

"Oh my god, Brother Cheng?!"

"Wow, Brother Cheng actually came up to draw lots. I've never seen anything like this before!"

"What does Qiancheng want to do? It seems like he has bad intentions."

"Qiancheng! If you have the ability, come and try to beat our Mingxiu Garden. I will definitely make arrangements for you!"

"Fuck you, Lao Mu! Which bastard is trying to change the pace of our Mingxiu Garden?"

"Hahaha, he took the initiative to increase the intensity for Brother Pi, he must be a true fan without a doubt!"

“God bless you, please don’t let our Zhu Zi Fang be picked…”

Fang Yun's appearance on stage greatly exceeded the audience's expectations. After all, this guy has been in the industry for so long, and the old audiences know his character very well.

To put it nicely, this guy is low-key, but to put it bluntly, he is just a lazy guy.

For Qiancheng, he would never stand up if he could lie down. For example, when has he ever personally participated in something like drawing lots?

So after seeing him personally go on stage to draw lots, some sharp-eyed viewers immediately noticed something was wrong.

Could it be that this guy wants to arrange someone personally?

Soon, under the excited and puzzled gazes of the audience, Fang Yun walked over to the lottery pool, swiped his hand in it, and immediately took out a small ball.

When everyone saw the number on the ball in his hand, including A Zi, their eyes widened immediately!
"Fuck, number one again?!"

"There is a conspiracy! This is definitely a conspiracy!"

"Stop insulting my intelligence, okay? Does Bianliang City still need to engage in shady dealings?"

"It's over! Number 8 is picked again. I wonder who will get number 8 this time."

"I see that the person behind Cheng Ge is Xilang. Do you think he will draw number eight again?"

"Are you stupid? Do you understand the principle of avoiding the same group? Even if Xilang draws number eight again, it will be useless. It will be automatically replaced."

Seeing that Fang Yun actually drew ball number one again, many people subconsciously shouted that there was something fishy going on.

But when they thought about it, based on the strength of Bianliang City, unless the Saiyans came, who would be worthy of letting them play dirty tricks?

So after realizing this, everyone understood that it was all just a coincidence, and became even more curious about who would draw the number 8 ball next.

Under the expectant gaze of the audience, Fang Yun drew the lots and stepped down, and Xilang followed him up.

To everyone's regret, Xilang failed to create any show effects and drew the mediocre number 3 ball.

As soon as he drew the lot and went down, the third contestant immediately followed.

Time passed quickly as the eight teams lined up to draw lots.

Not long after, as all seven contestants had finished drawing lots, the audience was suddenly stunned.

"No... no one has drawn the eight ball?"

"Strange! So weird!"

"What the hell, hurry up and figure out who else hasn't drawn the lottery yet!"

"It seems to be... Deyang Confucian Temple?"

"What the hell?!"

"How the hell... how could it be me, Da Deyang?!"

“Hahahahaha! I can’t hold it in any longer!”

"I can only say it's amazing! There are only three rounds of round-robin matches, but Deyang actually faced 2008 and Bianliang City one after another. How big of a sin is this?"

As the audience listed the other groups, they found out that the only one left was Deyang Confucian Temple.

Everyone, one by one, couldn't hold back and burst into laughter!
No one knew what sin the Deyang Confucian Temple had committed. In just three rounds of the round-robin tournament, they failed in the first two rounds.

Losing in the first round in 2008 had already put them on the brink of elimination.

As a result, we encountered Bianliang City again in the second round. Given this situation, we can basically congratulate them in advance and go home for the New Year.

While the audience was laughing, Meditation finally came on stage.

At this time, of course, he knew that there was only ball No. 8 left in the box. In other words, whether he drew or not, he had already won Bianliang City.

Because of this, he was almost losing control of his facial expression at this time, with a cold face throughout, and pulled out the only remaining number 8 ball.

"Uh... Deyang Confucian Temple drew ball number 8 and will face Bianliang City in the second round of the round-robin match this afternoon!"

Seeing Mingxiang with a cold face taking out the No. 8 ball and waving it in front of her eyes, Ah Zi felt a little embarrassed and said quickly: "Then our second round of draws will come to an end. At one o'clock in the afternoon, we will officially start the second round of the round-robin match!"

After saying that, she glanced at the back of Meditation who had already left the stage, then immediately put away the microphone and left the stage.

Since the first round of the game started at 10 o'clock in the morning, it was already noon after the first round of the game.

This time was definitely not suitable for the competition, so after A Zi stepped down from the stage, the audience left in an orderly manner while chatting about the results of the draw, preparing to go to nearby restaurants for lunch.

The contestants backstage had already eaten the lunch prepared for them by the authorities.

"I didn't expect that, Mr. Cheng, you are so amazing. You said you would beat Deyang and you beat Deyang!"

After eating the delicious lunch, Shouye looked very satisfied and teased Fang Yun who had just returned.

Hearing this, Fang Yun just shrugged casually, then picked up his lunch and started eating.

He did go for Deyang at first, after all, he had not forgotten Mingshi's previous instigation.

But he also knew that it was unrealistic to accurately draw Deyang Confucian Temple among so many balls, and he would just be trying his luck.

But unfortunately, he was too lucky, or rather, Deyang Confucian Temple was too unlucky.

Deyang Confucian Temple will encounter their Bianliang City in the second round. Just looking at the reactions of Shouye and others, you can tell that nothing unexpected will happen.

Meditation on them in the afternoon, will be a punishment...

However, compared to the confrontation with Deyang, Fang Yun actually cares more about Abai.

According to the result of the draw just now, Bianliang City and Deyang Confucian Temple collided with each other, while 2008 led by Abai collided with Mingxiu Garden.

Those stupid fans clamored to build a Bianliang city before, and although they failed in the end, it seems like... it doesn't matter now?
------

Goodbye, Mr. Akira Toriyama.

(End of this chapter)