Chapter 1 A Major Scoop

"Hey! Brother Jue, there's big news today!"

On the evening of September 20th, when Feng Bujue logged into the game, he immediately received a communication request from Wang Tanzhi. As soon as the connection was established, Xiao Tan excitedly blurted out this sentence.

"Ah... I know. Starting on the 23rd, all remaining matches of [Heroes Gather] will be broadcast live (viewers with neural connection devices can watch the live broadcast, and Dream Inc. has opened a dedicated server that supports third-party hardware login to watch the live broadcast) and recorded (supports online and other media users to watch, and viewers can order first-hand match recordings on legitimate platforms)." Brother Jue replied calmly, seemingly having already seen the related news.

"Eh? You already knew?" Xiao Tan responded, slightly disappointed.

"Isn't that obvious..." Feng Bujue chuckled. "You're treating something the whole world knows as breaking news?"

He was right. Although the news had only been announced that morning, by that evening, it had become old news that everyone knew.

"Hey, hey... Didn't you say, 'I'm mostly rushing drafts when I'm not online'?" Xiao Tan retorted. "I thought you didn't have time to browse the game forums."

"I didn't browse them." Brother Jue replied in an indifferent tone. "I just keep the Dream Inc. official website and forums open, refresh the page every few hours, and take a quick glance."

"Heh heh..." Xiao Tan chuckled dryly, too lazy to argue with this guy. "So... I've been pondering something all day..." He took the opportunity to change the subject and asked, "Now that the matches are being broadcast, will our team's strength be exposed?"

"Actually, it won't affect us much," Feng Bujue replied. "There are tens of thousands of teams participating in the competition. Anonymous teams like ours don't get much attention. Even if someone happens to watch one of our matches and realizes we're strong... it doesn't matter, because thousands of match recordings are generated every day. If viewers don't know the team name... they can't possibly find our other matches among the vast number of recordings.

"Of course... there are ways to investigate, if you really want to. First, you'd have to input all the S2 match recordings from n consecutive days into a computer. Then, using one of our team's matches as a benchmark, you'd digitize and conceptualize all the various images of us in the script. Next, you'd have the computer screen using a certain pattern, using a binary perspective to find every team that performs similarly. That would narrow down the scope a lot; but considering the huge base of participating teams, plus the inherent flaws of fuzzy searches... the final identification work still needs to be done manually, and it's not guaranteed to be 100% accurate."

"Can you put it more simply..." It wasn't that Xiao Tan didn't understand, but he knew... behind every long-winded explanation from Brother Jue, there was often a more direct version. The former was used to explain things to ordinary people and show off, while the latter... was a condensed version of Brother Jue's wisdom, specifically for smart people or complete idiots.

"In short," Feng Bujue smiled and continued, "Unless you have a well-resourced large game studio, or a hardcore programmer-gamer group, it's impossible to identify a strong, anonymous team from so many others."

"Wouldn't it have been easier if you'd said that in the first place..." Xiao Tan responded.

"It would be best if you could figure things out for yourself and not ask me in the first place," Brother Jue replied.

"Tch..." Xiao Tan knew he couldn't win an argument with himself, so he immediately said, "Alright, let's not talk about this anymore." He paused. "Oh... right, Xiao Ling is going home for the night and won't be online, so don't wait for her when we queue up later."

Since the Hell Frontline team's habit was to queue up for two matches in a row around midnight for the preliminaries, the match on the 20th had already been completed in the early hours of the day, so it didn't matter if she wasn't online that night.

"Speaking of... Miss An seems to be 'in the game' right now..." Feng Bujue said, while checking the social tab. "She's been working really hard lately..." At this point, he paused for a second, and continued in a slightly dissatisfied tone, "As for Ruoyu... she probably won't be online for a while. Hmm... there's a TV show she likes to watch tonight, and she insists on watching the live broadcast with commercials."

"Then why don't... the two of us queue up first?" Xiao Tan suggested.

"No, I have an appointment tonight..." Feng Bujue refused. "He logged on just as I was saying this to you." He licked his lips, his expression changing slightly. "Wait for me to take care of this matter... and I'll contact you again."

…………

Twenty minutes later, in a certain script.

This place was a plain, without rocks or sand, with firm soil and solid ground.

The time was noon, without mist or rain, with light clouds and a gentle breeze.

Under the soft sunlight, two figures walked from two different directions.

They were two players, two players who had agreed to fight in a [1v1 Slaughter Game].

"To be honest, I'm very surprised." When [Shiva] came within five meters of his opponent, he stopped and spoke first. "Even at this very moment, now that you stand before me, I still find it unbelievable."

"Why?" Feng Bujue asked with a smile. "Because I don't seem like the kind of person who would proactively challenge someone?"

"Not 'don't seem like,' but definitely 'not'," Shiva replied.

"Heh heh..." Feng Bujue smiled even more. "It just goes to show that you don't understand me at all..."

"Oh?" Shiva questioned. "How so?"

"There's no question of seeming like or not, or whether or not it is..." Feng Bujue paused for half a second, then continued, "I can be any kind of person..." He spread his hands, revealing an evil smile. "Because I am not any kind of person."

"I see..." Shiva also shook his head and smiled. "Alright... let's end the philosophical discussion here." As he spoke, he summoned his spiritual energy weapon - [Heavenly Dance Hourglass]. "No matter what kind of person you are, or if you are even a person... as long as you ask for battle, I will naturally accompany you to the end."

"Heh..." Brother Jue also silently took out [Death Poker]. "Judging by your excited state... you must have been looking forward to this battle for a long time."

"The improvement you can gain from practicing with your familiar teammates is ultimately limited," Shiva replied. "You should also be well aware of this."

"Yes," Feng Bujue nodded in agreement. "Since you're also an understanding person, then I'll be blunt..." His expression turned serious. "Shiva, you are very strong. The reason I'm fighting you is to force out my own limits and break through them."

"Hmph..." Shiva sneered. "The same to you."

"Very good, then..." Feng Bujue said the last half of this sentence as his figure flashed. "...Let's begin!"