Chapter 1524: Referee Decision

 Nomyummi  Editor: Nomyummi

Desert Dust was in the middle of throwing out a punch, when Fang Rui’s Boundless Sea escaped.

Desert Dust retracted his fists and turned around. His unchanging expression had nothing to do with Han Wenqing’s state of mind, although at the moment, Han Wenqing’s expression was as heavy as his character’s…

Many people might not have found any problems with his previous punch, but Han Wenqing knew clearer than anyone else that his punch had been too slow.

This wasn’t a mistake. Han Wenqing knew that his punch needed to chain together faster, but there was nothing he could do. Perhaps if it were five or ten years ago, that punch would have been unavoidable and would have definitely hit his opponent, but now…

Some things couldn’t be accomplished with just effort. For the current him, it was truly difficult to keep up such a fast pace. When he slowed down just a tiny bit, an opening appeared, and Fang Rui immediately grasped it.

What fast reactions…

Han Wenqing sighed. Even if he refused to give up, he couldn’t help but feel how he was past his prime.

He was past his prime, but he didn’t hesitate.

Desert Dust turned around, facing Boundless Sea. Han Wenqing was already preparing for his next wave of attacks.

It hadn’t been easy for Fang Rui to get Boundless Sea to escape. He didn’t dare provoke Han Wenqing so easily anymore. Boundless Sea swayed left and right, drawing in his opponent’s attention, waiting for an opportunity.

But Desert Dust unexpectedly stepped back.

Everyone was shocked.

If Desert Dust had charged forward, even if it was at a bad timing, no one would have been surprised because that was Han Wenqing. Going against the flow, daring to face the dangers, he had done it far too many times.

But he retreated…

Fang Rui hadn’t shown any attempts at an attack, yet he chose to retreat. Perhaps Han Wenqing had realized something. However, retreat had never been a part of Han Wenqing’s toolkit.

But Boundless Sea’s swaying suddenly stopped as well.

What’s going on? Everyone felt like the pace of this match had suddenly turned strange. And the only ones who understood what was going on were the skilled experts.

“To think things would go this way. How boring,” Ye Xiu mumbled.

“What do you mean?” Chen Guo asked. She needed an explanation.

“Fang Rui’s purpose in having Boundless Sea sway left and right was to repeatedly display his intentions to attack. In a high-level confrontation, you have to determine what options are available depending on how the opponent moves. Although Fang Rui’s movements look simple, if they go on for awhile, it’s very exhausting for Han Wenqing,” Ye Xiu explained.

“So you’re saying, Fang Rui was planning on wearing out Han Wenqing?” Chen Guo said.

“Yes,” Ye Xiu nodded his head, “But he probably didn’t think that he could just sway his way to victory. With Han Wenqing’s personality, once Han Wenqing saw through his intentions, he thought that Han Wenqing would try to break through it by force. He was baiting Han Wenqing to continue with his fast-paced offense, but it looks like Han Wenqing simply decided not to take it and retreated.”

“So what if he retreats?” Chen Guo asked.

“By retreating, he widens his vision and opens up more space between them. That way, he can observe Boundless Sea’s movements from a more general perspective, which requires less of his attention,” Ye Xiu said.

“Oh… then why not just have Boundless Sea move forward and keep swaying?” Chen Guo said.

“Then all he needs to do is keep retreating. It’s not like he’ll be forced into a corner. Fang Rui’s move has no value anymore. Insisting on it isn’t stylish at all,” Ye Xiu said, but when he looked back to the stage, “Well, it looks like I underestimated his shamelessness.”

Stylish?

How could the master of playing dirty care about something like style?

Fang Rui didn’t hesitate to do something unstylish. It was just like Chen Guo said. Boundless Sea pressed forward and continued to sway left and right, baring his claws like a crab.

Just as Ye Xiu said, Han Wenqing simply continued to retreat.

The viewers who understood what was going on looked at Fang Rui disdainfully for being so boring. The viewers who didn’t understand were confused. Could Boundless Sea’s swaying be the start of some sort of trump card? Something threatening enough to force Han Wenqing to retreat?

One side advanced, while the other side retreated. Desert Dust moved along an arc to make sure that he wouldn’t be pushed to the edges of the map. The two continued like this, and not long afterwards, they had went around half the map.

“He’s really become patient!” Ye Xiu sighed. If this was the Han Wenqing of the past, Desert Dust would have certainly charged over to punch his opponent by now.

“What’s going to happen if they keep going round and round in circles?” Chen Guo asked.

“The referee will intervene,” Ye Xiu said.

“Fang Rui’s not planning on continuing until the referee makes his move, is he?” Chen Guo said speechlessly. She understood why a player like Fang Rui wasn’t suited to be the core of a team. This was too shameless!

“He’s testing Han Wenqing’s patience,” Wei Chen spoke up.

Ye Xiu nodded his head. Fang Rui knew that Han Wenqing was dealing with his threats with ease, but if he insisted on continuing with his threats, then that was probably his plan. Fang Rui was using his shamelessness to tear down Han Wenqing! Pressing forward like this was boring and unstylish, but if Han Wenqing followed along and kept retreating, he didn’t look any better. Seventy percent of the shamelessness was coming from Fang Rui, but the other thirty percent was from Han Wenqing cooperating with him. Han Wenqing probably disdained doing something like this, so Fang Rui refusing to give up was intentionally provoking Han Wenqing to act.

However, it looked like Han Wenqing was quite tyrannical in terms of his bottom line. They had went around half the map, but Desert Dust’s footsteps were as steady as ever. It seemed like he had no intentions of breaking this stalemate. Had he really decided that he would bring down this fight to the lowest point with Fang Rui?

Those who understood the fight had mixed feeling about Han Wenqing. The Alliance’s symbol of a hot-blooded hero was also going to stoop this low?

After half a circle, they went around another half a circle. The two had now circled around the entire Arena. The pace for a two minute match had finally been broken, but no one would have expected it to be done in such a shameless method with Han Wenqing joining in on it.

After going around an entire circle, Fang Rui had no trouble keeping up the shamelessness. Boundless Sea continued to sway freely left and right. It looked like he would have no issue going for another hundred circles. As for Han Wenqing? If he really did go around a hundred circles with Fang Rui, the image that he had upheld for ten years would be completely destroyed. That was what the people who understood what they were watching thought.

What would happen next? Everyone had mixed feelings. Finally, when the two started their second circle around, the envoy of justice, the referee, couldn’t endure it any longer.

“Please display a proper competitive attitude.” A system notification appeared.

“Haha,” Fang Rui laughed as a reply to the referee. Boundless Sea immediately paused, followed by a punch from Desert Dust.

“Fuck, how despicable!!” Boundless Sea went flying. Fang Rui typed furiously. A yellow card lit up, along with with punches and kicks.

Everyone was wide-eyed.

Fang Rui very rarely had the opportunity to call others despicable. Usually, he was the one being despicable. But this time, honestly speaking, Fang Rui was right…

He unexpectedly seized the moment Fang Rui was responding to the referee’s call to attack.

The Glory competitive rules never stated that the two sides needed to immediately stop when the referee made a decision, but the referee decision would definitely influence the fight in some way. During this time, the players would make certain adjustments.

Han Wenqing decisively launched his fiercest attacks, strike Fang Rui while he was responding to the referee with a “Haha”

This was most definitely a dirty move. Fang Rui had even used it at the start of the round. He had sent a message to Lin Jingyan, who wasn’t even playing, in an attempt to distract his opponent and use that as an opportunity to attack.

And now, Han Wenqing had used the referee’s decision instead.

“Han Wenqing… um…” Pan Lin didn’t know what to say.

“What rich experience! He anticipated that the referee would intervene. The moment the referee intervened, there would be a change in tempo, and he used this opportunity to attack,” Li Yibo didn’t hesitate, immediately explaining the situation to Pan Lin. He made it sound like the move from Han Wenqing wasn’t a dirty sneak attack.

Li Yibo used to be from Tyranny, after all. Han Wenqing had been his captain. This time, Li Yibo clearly showed his bias in defending him.

“Ah… yeah, what rich experience, to anticipate even something like this…” Pan Lin instinctively agreed with Li Yibo.

“In the end, Han Wenqing won the battle of patience. Fang Rui wasn’t focused enough, even responding to the referee with a “haha”. This superfluous act led to him losing the initiative,” Li Yibo was playing favorites today. After praising Han Wenqing, he criticized Fang Rui. His words were correct though. It was just that he intentionally overlooked how dirty such a move was.

“He should… be able to win…” Pan Lin said.

Strikers were exceptional at close combat. It was common for them to kill their opponents in one go after getting close to them. Fang Rui had been able to escape from Han Wenqing previously, and this time? By launching a sneak attack when Fang Rui’s attention was elsewhere, he put himself in a very favorable position. Fang Rui, who had been baiting Han Wenqing, had been mentally prepared initially, but when the referee decision came, he indeed got careless. Because of the referee announcement, his previous plan stopped there. He hadn’t thought that Han Wenqing would actually take advantage of the referee to launch his offense that he had been waiting to do…

Whether or not a move was dirty had never been something Fang Rui was concerned with. When he cursed at Han Wenqing’s despicableness, Fang Rui had been upset with himself. To think he would overlook the possibility of launching a sneak attack when the referee came to a decision. His own dirty playstyle wasn’t dirty enough!