Chapter 1545: Distance

 Nomyummi  Editor: Nomyummi

When Zhang Jiale high-fived Lin Jingyan, the intensity of the crowd reached a peak. Zhang Jiale also waved his hands towards the audience. Then, he began calming himself down to steady his emotions.

Su Mucheng wasn’t someone who could be beaten just by being enthusiastic.

Su Mucheng had joined the Alliance in Season 4. In that sense, Zhang Jiale, who had joined in Season 2, could be considered her senior. The beginning of Season 4 was the when Ye Xiu and Excellent Era were at the peak, having won all three prior championships. However, several Excellent Era players had retired in that summer. Everyone was watching Excellent Era attentively, wondering whether they could fill in these gaps.

Then, Su Mucheng, a beautiful girl, entered their sights.

In terms of publicity, Excellent Era had succeeded.

Just having a female player join the team was enough to bring about much discussion from the public. But for pro players who cared about winning the championship trophy, whether or not this female player had the skill to back up her addition to the team was their main concern. She had to compete with those at the peak of Glory and stand alongside the most troublesome player in the competitive scene.

Soon afterwards, everyone quickly noticed the astonishing synergy between Su Mucheng and Ye Xiu. It was as if they had been practicing together as partners for many years. Later, they discovered that Su Mucheng and Ye Xiu had a long history together, so it made sense that the two would have a certain understanding of each other already. Some people even joked that Ye Xiu had truly deep schemes, raising a Glory partner for himself starting from when they were children.

From then on, the Golden Partners were born, and since it was a male and female duo, many people thought of them as lovers. There were even many pro players who were jealous. Partners with a girl, and a beautiful one at that, how could that bastard not be having the time of his life?

Unfortunately, despite being acclaimed as Glory’s Best Partners, they were unable to defend their championship title.

In Season 4, it could be blamed on the rookies not having enough experience. However, the ones who had stolen away Excellent Era’s crown was a team that had been assisted by a rookie. The three peats, Excellent Era, had been eliminated by Tyranny. Under the protection from the rookie Zhang Xinjie, Tyranny overthrew Excellent Era’s dynasty.

Then, Season 5, Season 6, Season 7…

Every year, the two remained as the Best Partners. There was no debate over it. Their synergy together was unmatched. But what about their achievements? Excellent Era was getting worse and worse each year.

As the core of the team, the Best Partners were the first to be picked at. The world had recognized Ye Xiu’s incredible skill long ago. One Autumn Leaf still looked as powerful as ever. Then, the question became: did the issue lie in Su Mucheng?

As a result, controversy gradually surrounded Su Mucheng, and her looks seemed to be the main focus of the attacks. All sorts of malicious words were thrown at her, and to this day, the debate hadn’t completely disappeared.

“If that really was the case, then things would be easy!”

The moment the two characters loaded into the map, Zhang Jiale had this thought.

Su Mucheng had changed. To players like Zhang Jiale, who had observed her as an opponent for many years, they could feel this change.

The former Su Mucheng focused on synergy and coordination with Ye Xiu. Because of this focus, her options would often lean more towards sentimentality than rationality. At the same time, it also made it so that she lacked autonomy. Of course, it wasn’t to the point where the outside world would fault her for it, but the flaw still existed nonetheless.

This flaw had gradually begun to improve after Ye Xiu’s retirement. She had lost the target of her coordination and synergy. She had lost her partner of many years. Perhaps Su Mucheng had no choice but to make adjustments. However, these adjustments had made her stronger. After joining Team Happy and returning to Ye Xiu’s side, she didn’t go back to the previous Su Mucheng, who only focused on synergy and coordination with Ye Xiu. She had assumed a completely new stance to fight alongside with Ye Xiu once again.

She was different. She was better!

Those familiar with Su Mucheng as an opponent quickly became aware of her improvement. As the season progressed, the skill that she displayed was becoming more and more formidable. It was because she was adapting to her new team. Even though Happy had Ye Xiu, the others were new teammates. It wasn’t until she completely assimilated herself into this new environment would her true skill be displayed.

It had been an entire season and half the playoffs, yet no one knew if she had reached her peak. All they knew was that throughout this entire season, she had been constantly improving. Whether or not she had a breakthrough in the future was also uncertain.

They had noticed her evolution long ago, and they should have strangled it long ago!

Zhang Jiale sighed. The match had begun. Dazzling Hundred Blossoms played around with the ammunition clip of his gun as he rushed forward.

Su Mucheng didn’t delay either. Dancing Rain set out quickly as well. The two were sprinting towards the center as if they wanted to be the first to reach it.

Encounter!

The two soon noticed each other. Even though both were long-ranged classes, Launchers had the highest range out of any class. Only the Sharpshooter’s Thunder Snipe skill could outrange a Launcher’s attacks. However, Sharpshooters couldn’t just rely on this one skill to fight with Launchers. It was a high-level skill. Once it was used, it would be on a long cooldown and couldn’t be spammed.

No class could contend with a Launcher’s range. When fighting against a Launcher, the distance had to be pulled closer. The difference between classes was just how much distance.

Dazzling Hundred Blossoms had not entered his effective firing range yet, when Dancing Rain had started attacking.

Boom!

Fire spouted out as the attacks arrived. But at such a far distance, there was quite a bit of time for him to dodge. At this distance, it usually wasn’t too big of a problem for most classes to avoid Launcher attacks. However, when trying to close the distance, you could easily tell that with every step, the threat of the Launcher’s attacks increased. When the firing line of the Launcher was reached, it became even more difficult to get past the heavy artillery fire.

Su Mucheng had let Tyranny experience a special skill from her, three intersecting firing lines. Tyranny had called it a “Snowflake” firing line.

Trying to break past Su Mucheng’s firing line was extremely difficult. As a result, last round, Lin Jingyan didn’t bother trying and took advantage of the ruleset.

What about Zhang Jiale?

After Dazzling Hundred Blossoms dodged Dancing Rain’s attack, he threw a grenade, not far from him, just three steps away.

Boom, the grenade exploded. Fire and smoke lifted up limestone into the air. Dazzling Hundred Blossoms seemed to flicker and turn hazy in the light. Then, a second and third grenade followed.

The explosions overlapped, and Dazzling Hundred Blossoms disappeared. He was using his Hundred Blossoms style as cover while he approached.

Boom boom boom!

Explosions rang continuously. Light and shadow spread, making it impossible to figure out Dazzling Hundred Blossom’s location. What’s more, he wasn’t moving in a straight line.

Ta ta ta ta ta!

Dancing Rain took out a Gatling Gun. Bullets flew and swept across the light.

“She knows a bit!”

Zhang Jiale saw the Gatling Gun and knew that Su Mucheng had done some research on his Hundred Blossoms style. After all, the two had fought against each other for many years. This time, they would be meeting in the playoffs. How could she not prepare herself for Zhang Jiale’s famed playstyle?

Unfortunately, it wasn’t enough!

If the Hundred Blossoms style could be destroyed so easily, how could it have become famous?

Dodge!

Dazzling Hundred Blossoms dodged the Gatling Gun’s bullets, and it didn’t seem to affect his own attacks in the slightest. In the blink of an eye, the wave of light pushed forward another length. Suddenly, the light burst out like fireworks. This final display was the most brilliant and the most blinding. In that instant, everyone watching in the stadium were bedazzled by the light.

This sudden blossoming was no longer to hide him. The thorn hidden by the cluster of flowers shot out.

Bang bang bang bang…

The automatic pistol’s firing speed was above the commonly used Sharpshooter revolver. Sharpshooters commonly used revolvers because they could dual wield, allowing them to fire twice as many shots. It was what allowed them to suppress other Gunner classes.

Sharpshooters could dual wield automatic pistols as well. It would give them astonishing firing speed, but very few chose to do so because automatic pistols were considered magic weapons. On the other hand, Spitfires often used automatic pistols precisely because most of their attacks dealt magic damage.

Ice Bullet!

The Ice Bullet dealt ice damage. Every bullet had a layer of dull blue light emanating from it. Frosty air floated around it. As the bullet flew forward, it left a trail of crystals.

One after the other…

In a short moment, innumerable trails had concentrated together. After the class advancement skill “Ammunition Expansion” was raised to max level, special one-time bullets like Ice Bullet could be stored up to 20 times. In an instant, all 20 bullets were let out. Kaka. Dazzling Hundred Blossoms finished switching ammunition clips. Before the light completely dissipated, he rushed out.

Bang bang bang bang bang… another round of gunfire. This time, the bullets left a fiery red trail: Blazing Bullets.

Dazzling Hundred Blossoms had already entered his attack range, so he immediately launched his offense. Even though his firepower wasn’t as powerful as Launcher’s, he could attack much faster. His magic bullets would trigger special effects on contact as well. Zhang Jiale didn’t fear a fight at this distance.

As for Su Mucheng?

Kakaka and then a support fell to the ground. She placed her heavy cannon onto it, while she stood behind it, her two hands holding it stably.

She didn’t run.

Su Mucheng had Dancing Rain use Mounted Gun again. Last round, she had hidden it in the lava and used it to destroy Lin Jingyan’s plans. This time, she made no secret of it.

Wind began gathering around her cannon. Although the Ice Bullets hit her one after another, the wind roared out all at once!

It was another Level 75 skill.

Hurricane Cannon!