[FLOTG] Chapter 21: Misunderstanding

The crowd froze. No one expected a kill-stealer to appear at the last second, and even more so, they didn't expect this person to be Maple Moon's captain, Song Xue-Yang!

<Shattered Snow>. This ID had set the world record of 1500 metres for the furthest range for Precision Sniping of a sniper. Although the pro team he led had only finished fourth in the national tournament and had not qualified for the global finals, the sound of his gun was a nightmare for all pros.

If the team had been dumbfounded earlier, now they simply wanted to slap themselves to see if they were dreaming.

Guan He and Song Xue-Yang... two great gods who currently represented the highest calibre of swordsman and gunner within the nation were actually right here before them right now at the same time. Were all the great gods so free?

And then, the group realised the situation and felt rather speechless. Captain Song, you're pretty famous, you know. Don't you think it's embarrassing to kill-steal like this?

But someone did not feel embarrassed at all, and was even rather blatantly gleeful about it.

He requested to join the party and leapt off the wall. As he landed gracefully, he did not forget to gloat: [ Double Kill! ]

Neither Guan He nor Shen Huai said anything at all. They successively clicked to resurrect at the nearest resurrection point and then sprinted back. Without any prior discussion, they both synchronously initiated combat mode, their blades heading straight for Song Xue-Yang.

―― Soul Steal - Reaper's Mark - Backstab - Pierce - Wild Blade Dance!

―― Sword Flash - Sword Draw - Wave-Stepping Sword - Sun-Moon Sword Ray!

All the specials and ultimates they didn't manage to unleash earlier rained down on Song Xue-Yang, and the sniper who had coolly kill-stealed before this collapsed in a deluge of swords and shadows.

The two attackers sheathed their blades in unison and then typed out:

[ What are you doing here? ]

[ What are you doing here? ]

Song Xueyang gave a sour tsk as he watched them move in tandem as if they were mirror images.

Still, even as Shen Huai and Guan He sent out their question, they both realised Song Xue-Yang's intention.

They had begun fighting as soon as they met, and since they were considered to be in a hostile state, they were unable to see the details of each other's equipment and skill points. Now that they had joined forces to attack, their teammate's equipment ratings were automatically displayed on the right side of the screen

Guan He's Imperial Water Dragon set was equipment of the highest level in the current S5 competitive season, with defence and HP bonuses that no regular equipment sets could match. Guan He did not want to rely on an equipment advantage in his confrontation with Ash Wing, so he had removed his body armour.

If Shen Huai had won the fight, it would not be a fair win; if he lost, he might become a laughingstock.

A match involving professional players could never hide from the eyes of the audience. Any result here would run the risk of being subject to public opinion, which could be steered by those with an agenda. This fight really shouldn't have a clear winner or loser.

Song Xue-Yang was thoughtful and decisive. Shen Huai knew that Song Xue-Yang had acted for his sake, but he was still a little miffed at the moment he was killed.

Guan He had known that his actions weren't appropriate, but he really couldn't stand to PK someone with the advantage of his high-level equipment. He had originally planned to stop in the middle of the fight once he got his answers, but his fighting spirit had been stoked by Shen Huai's fierce counterattack, and he began feeling like he was in an official professional battle. Now, in retrospect, he was glad that Song Xue-Yang had appeared in time.

Song Xue-Yang chuckled as he climbed up from the ground. [ Do me a favour, Captain Guan. WanGe is my friend. ]

The crowd's breath hitched as they suddenly realized that Guan He and Song Xue-Yang's simultaneous visit might not be because of this conflict concerning the two guilds, but simply because of <MuWanGe>!

Song Xue-Yang sent Guan He a private message at the same time. [ How is our new member? ]

Guan He frowned. [ Is he Ash Wing? ]

[ What do you think? ]

Guan He understood. Honestly, he was already pretty sure of it halfway through the fight with the assassin. There was no one else but Ash Wing who could connect skills so smoothly and deal such terrifying damage as an assassin.

He had come over initially to test whether this assassin hanging around Song Xue-Yang was Ash Wing, and now that he knew the result, he accepted it very calmly.

[ How did you manage to sign him? ]

Song Xue-Yang shamelessly continued to act pitiful. [ If you know, won't you poach him from me? Maple Moon does not have as many reserves as Primo Wolf. My training room is so empty, I don't even have enough for a 6v6. Sun Yuan was just poached away... you all can't keep targeting us to steal from. ]

Guan He felt a little uncomfortable. Although it was understandable for a player to choose the better team, as a captain himself, he disliked the idea of poaching people behind a team's back. If Ash Wing hadn't chosen a team yet, he would of course try to entice him over, but since Ash Wing had already joined Maple Moon, he wouldn't poach him from another team.

Moreover, just the thought of being able to face Ash Wing in an official game left him with no regrets at all.

He responded: [ Congratulations. See you in the games. ]

Song Xue-Yang grinned. [ You mean, see you in the finals. ]

He had a hunch that Maple Moon would have the best line-up this year since its inception. They would definitely make it further than the top eight in next year's tournament.

The two players had been chatting for about half a minute, but the two bickering parties in the group still hadn't fully wrapped their minds around the latest developments.

Captain Song said that this assassin was his friend... friend...

And his friend had fought Captain Guan to a draw...

So, this friend = Maple Moon's new team member? This great god with amazing skills who had been lurking beside them all this time was actually a pro player?

Suddenly realising that they had learned a shocking secret, the group hardly dared to speak.

Shen Huai did not realize that Song Xue-Yang had labelled him as Maple Moon's with his carefully engineered series of actions. He and Song Xue-Yang had always had a good relationship and the two of them often appeared together. So, other than feeling annoyed at the name "WanGe", Shen Huai did not sense anything amiss.

Guan He typed into the party chat. [ I just came to spar. ]

In other words, he wasn't planning to intervene in any grudges.

Song Xue-Yang explained: [ I heard about the matter from the guild leader. Miss, you must have misunderstood, right? I was the one who chose this WanGe account, and it has indeed changed hands. How about I give you a share of the value for the weapon? ]

<Drunken Snow> was by now completely incoherent with excitement. Her profile status already proclaimed that she was Song Xue-Yang's fan, and now that her idol's avatar was standing right in front of her and talking to her, even if she was usually arrogant and bossy in the game, she couldn't help but react rather shyly.

But when she saw Song Xue-Yang mentioning "a share of the value", her face turned white.

[ I don't want it. ] After saying this, her character disappeared as she went offline.

<Ride the Wind> was still unhappy. [ Heh, so different because you have a backer now. Chasing beggars away with money? ]

<Chaotic Rain> from their party cried out: [ <Ride the Wind>! ]

A conversation icon popped up above their heads at the same time. They were clearly discussing something in private chat, and then <Ride the Wind> also went offline without saying another word.

After that, <Drunken Snow>'s clan members logged off one after another, leaving only <Chaotic Rain> behind, who stammered: [ Ssorry... Captain Song. Sorry WanGe, Desert North, One Leaf Skiff, Falling Sleet. Guild Leader, we'll come online and withdraw from the guild tomorrow. ]

She disappeared after that as well, the sudden reversal in attitude completely bewildering.

Guan He still remained within the party. He had had a great fight with Ash Wing tonight and couldn't help but convey his admiration.

[ You play very well. ]

<Phantom Wolf>'s eyes nearly fell out of his sockets when he saw those words.

This was Captain Guan, who has always been strict and austere! Even when he gave his speech at the banquet to celebrate his team winning the National Finals this year, he had only said "not bad, continue to work hard", but this Captain Guan was now giving such high praise as "play very well"?!

If the members of Primo Wolf heard about this, they would probably want to take turns to fight this assassin.

The others didn't feel it as much as <Phantom Wolf>, but they could still tell that for the cold and dispassionate Guan He to say something like this, the level of this assassin was absolutely beyond doubt.

Shen Huai saw his chance. Guan He obviously already knew who he was, and since he was interested in joining Primo Wolf, he immediately said: [ Primo Wolf has always been a team I really want to join. ]

These words were expressed quite directly, so in Shen Huai's opinion, if Guan He had the slightest intention of taking him into his team, he would definitely take this opportunity to throw Shen Huai an olive branch.

When Hai Xing saw this, he frantically rushed to grab the keyboard, but he was stopped by Song Xue-Yang.

He glared. "How can you be so calm? If Ash Wing joins Primo Wolf, he'll become our enemy!"

Song Xue-Yang laughed softly and then said confidently, "Don't worry, Guan He won't agree."

"How can that be?! That's Ash Wing, you know!" Which of the top eight teams didn't want to recruit him into their team? Even if they did not have a suitable spot on the team for him, they still wouldn't want to see him enter an opponent's team.

Song Xue-Yang did not reply to that, but just as he had said, Guan He's response was rather indifferent. [ I see. Thank you. ]

Hai Xing's eyes went wide and he twisted his head around to look at his laid-back captain in consternation. "Why?"

Song Xue-Yang propped his chin on one hand, his fox eyes curved with a smile. "Because Guan He is under the preconceived notion that Ash Wing is already in Maple Moon. In his eyes, this statement was just Ash Wing expressing his regret for not being able to join Primo Wolf."

Ash Wing was a man of few words, but he was very tenacious about his decisions. It would be almost impossible to stop him from letting Primo Wolf know of his intention to join them, so Song Xue-Yang could only manipulate things from Guan He's side. Once Captain Guan rejects Ash Wing, getting Ash Wing to join Maple Moon would be half-accomplished.

He had lurked beside Ash Wing with an alternate account, finishing off the Primo Wolf guild members with his signature ultra-long range sniping from the top of Cloudfall Peak, precisely in order to attract Guan He's attention. He wanted everyone to know that he and Ash Wing were very close.

Sorry about this, Captain Guan.

I must have Ash Wing.

Shen Huai was a little disappointed to read Guan He's words, but he also understood that Guan He wasn't planning to accept him.

This was not surprising. Professional teams nowadays had extremely stable rosters, and they also had plenty of reserve players in their training camps. Thus, it wasn't just a matter of a player being strong enough to make the team — There were also other issues to consider, such as compatibility with the team, whether the audience would accept the roster change, and financial expenses. The more powerful the team was, the more factors that had to be considered.

Primo Wolf was an indisputably powerful team; Guan He, as the captain, must have had his considerations.

Shen Huai would not force the issue, but he did feel that it was a pity.

Even after Guan He and <Phantom Wolf> left the party, <One Leaf Skiff> was still rather dazed. [ After fighting for so many days, everything is settled with just a simple sentence from God Snow? ]

Shen Huai figured that Song Xue-Yang must know some inside story that they didn't. [ What did <Drunken Snow> and her friends do? ]

Song Xue-Yang revealed the truth. [ <MuWanGe> got that weapon from a chest after playing through a dungeon with <Drunken Snow>'s clan. ]

Once he said that, the crowd managed to piece together the full picture.

It turned out that while <Ride the Wind> was away, <Drunken Snow> and friends decided to go clear the Gunner Queen's dungeon. As <Drunken Snow> and clan's equipment were all pretty good, they decided to randomly invite a passerby to join them, and this passerby was the original owner of this assassin account. Under the game settings, when a boss died, it would drop the same number of treasure chests as the number of players in the party who cleared the dungeon. Although there wasn't a rule dictating how many chests one person could open, the customary rule was for everyone to just pick a chest, and whatever you obtained would depend purely on your luck.

<Drunken Snow>'s clan never imagined that the little assassin who had just joined them for that day would be so lucky... By opening just one chest, she managed to obtain the latest gold weapon of the season, and it just so happened to be for an assassin. <MuWanGe> bound and equipped it to herself instantly.

Complete weapons at the start of any competitive season were highly valued; one could be sold for almost six to seven hundred RMB. <Drunken Snow>'s clan members were envious, and when they thought about how the assassin hadn't even contributed much damage and had only managed to clear the dungeon because of them, and yet had still managed to get a finished weapon... they clamoured for a share of the value.

<Drunken Snow> stated that the work behind obtaining the weapon was all theirs, so at least 400 RMB should be given to them. However, <MuWanGe> only gave them one million gold coins, which was equivalent to 100 RMB. The conversation between the two sides deteriorated and soon devolved into a chase and run.

<Drunken Snow> was a minor celebrity in the game, and she began going around and crying about how <MuWanGe> had cheated her out of her finished weapon. Subsequently, <MuWanGe>'s outnumbered clan was killed so many times that they quit the game. The disheartened <MuWanGe> finally gave up and put her account up for sale on the trading platform. <Drunken Snow> thought that no one else knew the true story besides <MuWanGe> and her own clan members, so as long as her clan was unified in their lies, <MuWanGe> would be unable to seek justice anywhere.

Unfortunately, Song Xue-Yang had already investigated thoroughly and knew the full story. If this had truly been a shady account which had a history of scamming others, he would never have let Ash Wing purchase it and get his hands dirty.

After learning the truth, the group could only sigh. There were just too many people who relied on numbers to bully others these days, twisting facts to turn things on their head.

Now that this matter was cleared up, <Falling Sleet> began yelling excitedly: [ God Snow! God Snow! God Snow! I'm your fan! ]

<Shattered Snow>: [ I don't want underage fans. ]

<Falling Sleet>: [ QAQ God Snow, I'm an adult! I just play a loli character in-game. ]

Shen Huai glanced at the chat. <Falling Sleet> and Song Xue-Yang were both in this party right now, so it was probably a dual play situation. And now the two characters were even talking to each other... Song Xue-Yang can't think that this little act will convince Shen Huai, right?

Continuing to trick him wasn't very nice.

Shen Huai stared at the screen for a moment and then the corners of his lips quirked. [ Why don't you two PK each other? ]

ryuxenji: Apologies. Didn't have time to update over the weekend as I was travelling for a funeral, and there was very spotty internet there. Hope you all enjoy this chapter.

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Next: Chapter 22: The Best Present

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