Chapter 1 The End of the Bug Fight

Time flew quickly. At midnight on May 16th, the preliminary queue for the Peak Battle was closed.

The Bug Fight had come to an end.

May 16th was a rest day for the competition, allowing players to take a break.

On the 17th, at dawn, the Cocoon Fight would begin. From the second round onwards, the competition would be held uniformly on a sleep-mode server, scheduled from 1:00 AM to 2:00 AM. Players not waiting in the login space when the match began would be considered to have forfeited.

Every match in the Cocoon Fight would be broadcast live. Players could watch any match on screens in the login space or meeting rooms. Those who liked excitement could also watch on the big screen at the game store. The main screen would select a popular match to broadcast, with two commentators from the game company providing commentary and analysis.

Xiao Tan's preliminary results were decent, but he didn't advance with a winning streak; instead, he played all fifty matches.

Although he had achieved a nine-game winning streak and defeated professional players like Bu Tiange, as Brother Jue had analyzed, encountering players who countered him was inevitable...

In the end, Xiao Tan's record was fixed at forty-two wins and eight losses. Anyway, according to Feng Bujue's theory, this record was definitely enough to qualify.

Because Xiao Tan had to work overtime for a week starting on May 8th, he had already finished all the preliminary matches on the 7th. During that week of overtime, he only played one or two scenarios in sleep mode each day, and basically didn't log in during the day.

During these seven or eight days, Brother Jue, Si Yu, and Bei Ling often queued up for team scenarios together. If they had friends online, they would invite them to reduce the probability of encountering strangers... After all, Brother Jue was now a celebrity, and he was always asked questions by random people.

It is worth mentioning that, just as the Peak Battle was in full swing... Dream Inc. quietly launched their second game—Crazy Thinking.

Of course, it was just a trial version. Currently, players could only play practice mode against opponents simulated by the optical brain. Versus mode had not yet been opened.

This was a card battle game in which players played the role of "Commander," equipped with a "Duel Disk" on their arm, leading their "Deck Master" and commanding monsters, traps, magic, and so on to battle.

The game could be directly switched to in the login space; after lying in the game pod and completing the neural connection, players only needed to select [Crazy Thinking] at the step of [Welcome to the game login space. The following are all game projects provided by Dream Inc. Please select a login].

Feng Bujue was right when he said that Dream Inc. had "great ambitions." The game pods, game helmets, and other hardware devices launched by Dream Inc. were all unique models, and all the games they launched were exclusively for their own hardware. Just imagine... if one day Dream Inc.'s game pods also began to be compatible with other companies' games, then the hardware launched by other manufacturers would have no competitive advantage...

…………

May 16th, 5:00 PM.

The list of three thousand people who successfully qualified for the Cocoon Fight was officially announced on the official website.

In fact, as early as an hour ago, every qualifier had received an email notifying them of their advancement, and it had also been highlighted in red. The system voice would also provide detailed prompts the next time they logged in.

In short, after the news was announced, it was truly a mix of joy and sorrow.

The forum, which had gradually stabilized recently, once again set off a frenzy of posting.

Posts like "Ah... thirty-five wins really weren't enough to advance?", "First a ten-game winning streak, then four consecutive losses," "Are you tycoons going to let anyone else live?"... some flaunting, some disgruntled, some making excuses... In any case, everyone who participated in the Bug Fight but failed to advance seemed to have deep-seated grievances. It was as if they had either been treated unfairly, or had occasionally performed abnormally or had bad luck.

But as that devil—Mr. Simon—once said: Victory is victory. Losers are nothing more than that; victory is strength.

The preliminary competition system was quite reasonable. The vast majority of truly strong players advanced. If you failed to qualify, you could only blame yourself for not being strong enough. Making excuses wouldn't change anything.

…………

At 8:00 PM that evening, the rules of the Cocoon Fight were also listed in detail.

The Cocoon Fight is divided into five rounds, with two additional rounds of playoffs.

The first round of the Cocoon Fight will begin at 1:00 AM on May 17th. Three thousand players will be randomly matched one-on-one to determine the winners' group and the losers' group, each with fifteen hundred people.

In the losers' group, the one thousand three hundred and eighty players with the worst preliminary results will be directly eliminated; the remaining one hundred and twenty players will enter the playoffs.

The first round of the playoffs will be at 1:00 AM on May 18th. The one hundred and twenty players with the best preliminary results in the losers' group will be randomly matched one-on-one with the one hundred and twenty players with the worst preliminary results in the winners' group. The losers will be directly eliminated.

The second round of the playoffs will be at 1:00 AM on May 19th. The remaining one hundred and twenty players in the first round of the playoffs will compete in another match. The sixty players who survive the two rounds of playoffs can join the winners' group.

The second round of the Cocoon Fight will be at 1:00 AM on May 20th. The one thousand three hundred and eighty players in the winners' group, plus the sixty players who passed the playoffs, a total of one thousand four hundred and forty players, will be randomly matched for matches. The losers will be directly eliminated.

The third round of the Cocoon Fight will be at 1:00 AM on May 21st. Seven hundred and twenty players will be reduced to three hundred and sixty.

The fourth round of the Cocoon Fight will be at 1:00 AM on May 22nd. Three hundred and sixty players will be reduced to one hundred and eighty.

The fifth round of the Cocoon Fight will be at 1:00 AM on May 23rd. One hundred and eighty players will be reduced to ninety.

At this point, the Cocoon Fight stage is over. The final ninety players will be merged with ten invited players to form the top 100 and enter the Butterfly Fight.

Basically... in this second round, to go further, you can't lose a single game...

These three thousand people are all experts who have been left behind after the great wave washes the sand. I believe they also understand that every game is crucial. If you make a mistake or stumble for a while, you can only pay for it yourself.

Of course, the competition system still leaves a glimmer of hope for the players.

Considering that top players may meet too early in the first round, two rounds of playoffs were set up, giving them a chance to make a comeback. At the same time, the playoffs can also test the weaker players in the winners' group.

In addition... there is the concept of "results," which is the most controversial topic. Currently, there are posts on the forum... some players who won thirty-seven games have advanced, but there are also some who have won the same thirty-seven games but have not advanced.

Regarding this, Dream Inc. provided convincing data. The system will make a comprehensive assessment based on each player's total survival value, physical energy value, combat time, and skill value acquisition in the fifty preliminary matches. This assessment will also be used when determining the playoff list. It is the basis for judging which player has better results in the case of the same number of wins.

…………

Dawn, May 17th.

Xiao Tan logged into the game in sleep mode, ready to face his first Cocoon Fight with trepidation.

If the preliminary round felt similar to a general 1v1 killing game, then this second round... is very different.

This is a live broadcast, and if the randomly assigned opponent is a well-known player, the match may even be put on the main screen of the store, and watched by hundreds of thousands of people under the commentary of commentators.

Xiao Tan has always been quite low-key since he was a child, and he hasn't shown his face much. At this time, he will inevitably be a little nervous.

However, these psychological stage fright reactions should soon be ignored when the real fight starts. Anyway, players can't see the audience or hear the commentary in the scenario; even if they are really selected and put on the main screen, they won't know.

For players, they just need to focus on the battle itself.

[Important reminder: The first round of the Cocoon Fight is about to begin. Please be prepared within -ten minutes- of game time. The countdown will end and you will be teleported immediately.] The system voice sounded at fifty minutes past midnight.

After the prompt, Xiao Tan only needs to open the game menu to see the countdown displayed at the top right.