Chapter 1 The Third Round of Bloody Battle and Top 32

On the morning of November 9th, the battle reports for the third round of the Bloody Battle of the Four Realms had been released, and the top thirty-two for the Peak Brawl S2 were also finalized.

Three things were worth mentioning after this round.

First, of the remaining thirty-two teams, only the [Hell Front] and [Trash Alliance] were not run by studios. Considering that all four main members of the [Trash Alliance] were professional players... [Hell Front] became the only non-professional team left in the competition.

Second, as of this round, all teams from the Corpse Blade Studio had been eliminated. Although they sent the most participating teams of all the large studios, they didn't occupy a single spot in the top thirty-two.

Third, on the morning after the end of the third round of the rematch, Dream Inc. suddenly announced an unexpected message on its official website.

Before this announcement was released, most individuals or groups following the competition, including Feng Bujue, believed that the finals of the Peak Brawl S2 would begin after the rematch teams were eliminated down to two. However, this prediction... was completely overturned by Dream Inc.'s actions that morning.

According to the official information, this Peak Brawl S2 rematch—the [Bloody Battle of the Four Realms]—would end after the "Top Four" were determined. And the final—[Ragnarok], would be a free-for-all involving four teams.

This news was like a stone thrown into a calm lake... the competition strategies of the major studios were instantly disrupted. What originally required winning four more rounds to advance to the finals now only required winning three more rounds. And the various uncertainties in the finals also increased exponentially. As a result, a series of collection, calculation, deduction, and adjustment work... emerged out of thin air.

Of course, for Feng Bujue and Honghu, the pressure from this sudden situation wasn't too great. Because they didn't have the support of studio resources behind them, which meant... there wasn't much room for adjustment. No matter how much the upcoming format differed from what they expected, all they could do was make minor pre-match adjustments as they saw fit.

***

November 10th, 8:00 AM, the match list for the fourth round of the rematch was announced.

Among the sixteen matches in this round, four could be called focus battles—

First match: Hell Front vs. Deities Second Team.

The reason this match would become a focus was simple, because everything related to "Hell Front" was now a focus.

Due to their low-key performance in the preliminary round, Jue-Ge and his team's explosion in the rematch seemed particularly dazzling. Each of the three rematch matches was a complete victory, and such a record was enough to make them the recognized number one dark horse.

In addition, the members' strength, personality, looks, etc., also earned the Hell Front team considerable popularity. Even if this popularity was mixed with many fans of Feng Bujue who had the psychology of cult followers...

---

Looking at the second match, Warring States First Team vs. Starlight First Team.

The reason these two teams became a focus was mainly because the information about them was very valuable to collect.

As mentioned earlier, Warring States Studio was a foreign studio that joined the game after S1. The local players and studios were not very familiar with their various aspects. Apart from the fact that all the main members were Japanese players, what was certain at this stage was that... the [Warring States First Team] had also easily advanced with a perfect record all the way, and their strength was very solid.

As for their opponents, [Starlight First Team], there was no need to say more... the "Arsenal's" matches, even if ordinary players didn't watch, the various studios would have to take a look. Maybe the current main player in their team would become your main player in the future.

Also, [Pegasus Galloping in the Sky], the S1 champion, was also in the team. The "mysterious prize" he obtained in S1 was still a matter of much debate... Although Jue-Ge and a few others knew that what he got couldn't be used in the game at all, this matter wasn't made public...

Therefore, many studio investigators were still wary of the reward that Little Ma got in the last competition, and were closely monitoring his every move; as if it would be abnormal for Little Ma not to take out one or two nuclear bombs or release a few *Genki Dama*-level (Spirit Bomb) skills...

---

Next up was the third match, Ice Emperor vs. Order First Team.

Believe it or not, in the eyes of the outside world, Ice Emperor was a strong team with the hope and ability to defeat the Order First Team. In terms of record, both teams advanced with a perfect record in the preliminary round, and both maintained a seemingly not-fully-exerted state in the rematch stage.

Although most people still believed that the Order First Team had a better chance of winning, they didn't think that Ice Emperor had no chance at all. Anyone who had watched the live broadcast or video of both sides' matches felt that the process of this match would be quite a stalemate, at least not one-sided.

---

Finally, there was the fourth match, Red Sakura First Team vs. Order Second Team.

In a sense, all of the [Red Sakura First Team]'s matches were considered focus battles. There was no need to elaborate on Xuhuai Shang's personal popularity, and her three teammates were all beautiful female players of extremely high caliber. Such a team naturally wouldn't lack spectators in every match.

And the [Order Second Team] they encountered in this round was undoubtedly a strong enemy.

Among all the professional teams that entered the rematch, only Order and Deities had "second teams" that were considered to have the strength to win the championship. This... was the foundation of the "industry's top". Regardless of whether the Red Sakura team acknowledged it, there wasn't much of a gap between their second team and their first team, at least they were on the same level.

Therefore, this match might also become Xuhuai Shang's farewell performance in S2...

***

November 10th, 11:55 PM, Hell Front Conference Room.

"Alright, you all understand the deployment for this match, right?" Feng Bujue sat at the head of the conference table, chewing potato chips and speaking to his teammates with a lazy expression.

In the past twenty minutes, he had explained in detail all the key points that needed to be paid attention to in the next match, and the only reason he did so was that he had decided to be a substitute.

"Understand is understand..." Miss An was the first to respond, "But... this is already the fourth round of the rematch, is it really okay for you to let me play?"

"Don't worry, there's a reason for my arrangement." Feng Bujue replied with a smile, "Although your specialization level and character level are slightly out of sync, your strength is still very strong, so there's no need to be so humble." He shrugged, "Besides... you finally got out of those Corpse Blade troubles, you should vent a little, shouldn't you?"

"So I have to thank you for that?" An Yueqin replied with narrowed eyes, "However, you still haven't told us... how exactly you handled that matter..." She paused, "Seriously... you did do something illegal, right?"

"Yes, I did." Two seconds later, Feng Bujue actually replied in a calm tone.

"Huh?" An Yueqin was also stunned, "You actually admitted it..."

"Admit it then." Feng Bujue replied, "Even if I don't admit it, you're all thinking that way in your hearts, right?"

"Yeah." Xiao Tan immediately nodded very straightforwardly in response.

Ruo Yu and Xiao Ling remained silent and did not comment.

In the eyes of these spiritual ability users, the authority of "law" was indeed limited. In fact, not to mention those who possessed supernatural powers like them, even someone like "Jiang Daode" viewed the law from a very different angle than the average person.

And someone like Feng Bujue... who already had some antisocial tendencies before meeting Woody, was now obviously in an even more unscrupulous state.

"Then that's that." Feng Bujue continued.

"What do you mean 'that's that'..." An Yueqin looked at Jue-Ge with some concern, "I don't want the author I'm responsible for to be criminally detained during the company's promotion period."

"Don't worry about that." Jue-Ge said, "It's impossible for me to be arrested."

"Where do you get your confidence?" An Yueqin asked.

"Go home and ask your great-grandfather." Feng Bujue replied casually, resting his head on his hands.

"Hey! I'm worried about you, what's with that attitude?" An Yueqin replied somewhat angrily.

"I'm serious." But Jue-Ge replied, "You can go home and ask your great-grandfather... that is, Professor An Si, the founder of Si Rui Group... he will explain to you... why I have this confidence."