Tempest of the Stellar War

 “What, you think I’m scared? Alright, as the senior here, today I’ll teach you a lesson. I bet that our Earth team wins the group battle. If Falcon team wins, I’ll eat a milk carton for every 1 million!”

Old Deer shook his fist.

Yao Ailun feigned astonishment. “Old Deer, I was only joking. You’re already getting on in years. If you’re forced to retire because of this, I’ll be left lonely.”

The previously uninterested crowd perked up. The broadcast had declined to 2 million viewers, but if each person smashed a milk carton, Old Deer would still have to eat 2.

“Little Lun, allow me to offer you a wise saying?”

“I humbly accept your teachings.” Yao Ailun was the very poise of humility.

“The oldest ginger is the spiciest.” Old Deer said profoundly. “I’ll leave those words here. The Falcon team is sure to lose. Who dares to challenge this!”

Old Deer actually shouted this out. In an instant, audience interest returned, the stream count rising to 3 million. The milk cartons flew thick and fast as well. Of course, everybody knew that Old Deer had done this to raise Prince’s team’s morale.

The Prince team members were not sure whether to laugh or cry. Old Deer was asking for it now. “Leader, we don’t even have a chance of winning. What is he playing at?”

“This isn’t encouragement, this is pressure!”

Prince smiled. “Who said we’re fighting in this match?”

They were confused. “Our team has an adviser. This team battle will be left up to him.”

“Adviser? Who? Then, which of us is going up?”

“None of us are going. He alone will be enough.” Prince laughed. They stared at him with surprise in their eyes. Had their leader succumbed to provocations? He seemed out of sorts.

The opponent was the first ranked team in all of Manalasuo. Alone?

It almost seemed it should be the other way round instead – their whole team going up against one of Manalasuo’s.

In the VVIP spectator zone, some of the more experienced ones were beginning to smell a rat.

Old Deer was nicknamed the Cao Cao [TL: infamous Chinese general] of the cyberworld. He was the epitome of wile and cunning. Clearly Manalasuo’s standard was a cut above. What was he playing at?

“Something about Old Deer’s look is different. Where have I seen that before?”

“You don’t say. It’s really a little… This feeling. Oh! I can’t say it, but for some reason I’m getting excited.”

“Look at Old Deer’s hand. His fingers are constantly clasping and unclasping. This habit…”

Amongst the VVIP, many were Old Deer’s loyal fans, who had followed him throughout many years. Of course, a significant portion of it was the Skeleton era.

When the Manalasuo side heard the news, they were equally bemused. The Earth, beat them?

Eating milk cartons?

They were really asking for it now.

“Comrade Old Deer here has opened the tables now. What are you waiting for, my brothers? Fight on, youths!” Yao Ailun bellowed excitedly.

But his performance was just a little off. People were beginning to feel like something was off. Could it be?

Immediately, innumerable audience requests flooded in to know the Earth’s fighting line-up for the last match.

Old Deer and Yao Ailun exchanged glances. It was time.

“There are still 10 minutes left to the last group battle. The Prince team has had a small change. The team adviser is going to fight in the last match. He wants to take on all 5, alone.”

Yao Ailun still kept the suspense going, but a wave of anticipation rolled into the entire broadcasting room.

Against such a strong team like Manalasuo, and to dare to take them all on alone, there was only one person in the Earth zone!

Old Deer spread his arms. “For the last match, let us welcome the Prince team’s candidate. It has been too long.”

Saying thus, even Old Deer was moved. It was the same for him. A former opponent.

An ID lit up, that had left countless players despairing.

Skeleton is now online.

Manalasuo’s side had not yet figured out heads or tails of the situation. Were the Earth team really willing to let bad turn to worse? This was, after all, an official exhibition battle. They wouldn’t really…?

The team members were in an uproar, and ready to abandon the match. If it was not for the Solar System’s stellar performance in IG, they would not have come here. They had been thrashed, and now to belittle them? Abandon match!

APP still kept his cool. From the time he had come to Earth for the invitational battle, he had felt the respect and hospitality from Earth. Even when the Earth team lost, the audience were still overwhelming in their encouragement. Such an atmosphere was rare to see in the larger zones, where only victories were cheered.

APP’s gaze inadvertently landed on the broadcast count. As a professional player, exhibition matches used popularity to determine the prize money. As the popularity rose, the winning amount would definitely follow. When the match had first started, it had peaked at 6 million, a startling figure. But as Earth’s team lost, the number had fallen off a cliff. This…

APP rubbed his eyes. Damn, how many zeroes were there?

What was this, 15 million…

How was this possible? Were the Earthlings masochists?

The other members had also caught on to their leader’s strange manner, and noticed the rapidly ascending numbers. Furthermore, a larger number directly entered VVIP status… and VVIPs were considerably more expensive than VIP. Unless it was the finals of a major competition, many viewers would not be willing to spend this kind of money.

They looked at each other. What were the Earthlings doing?

Had they really all rushed here for this person?

That was too unbelievable, wasn’t it?

Those that knew that Wang Zheng and Skeleton were one and the same numbered only a few, and APP and his team were definitely not in the know. Although Wang Zheng had not entered CT for more than a year, but IG news had been discussed widely on many forums. Many incredible legends spoke of Wang Zheng’s leadership bringing the Solar System team to glory. Even if the official news had been sparse, but the hobbyists’ gossip was unstoppable.

This had filled even more people with anticipation.

Skeleton must be even stronger than before. But exactly what was he capable of now?

Old Deer and the rest had spoken lightly on purpose, as though unsuspecting. They still had to buy a little more time, otherwise the commentary would fall apart.

Many griped that Old Deer had played it too dirty this time. Although he clearly knew Skeleton was coming, but he had still opened such a betting table, luring countless people in. But such complaints were done in good humor. While they griped, they were also fully supportive of the Manalasuo team.

Even APP and his team could hardly believe it. Had the Earth audience lost their minds? Their support rate had actually risen to over 90 percent. Were they really wishing for this person to lose?

“Leader, is this guy really so hated?”

“Something’s wrong. It seems like the Earthlings are belittling us.”

“Boss, it’s broken past 20 million!”

They exhaled through their teeth. They were excited now. Such a scale was beyond their imagining. Clearly, this had attracted all the hobbyists in the Solar System.

Wang Zheng did not need much preparation. Since it was an old friend of Manalasuo’s, Wang Zheng promptly chose the Gold Wheel mecha.

Till date, no mecha could match Gold Wheel in terms of sustained attack power. Even Phantom King fell off in comparison. This mecha gave Wang Zheng a challenge and joy to operate. He really hoped more new mecha like this would be made.

Since the opponent was Manalasuo, then he would use this mecha as a sign of respect to his guests.

Seeing Wang Zheng’s choice, APP and his team’s jaws collectively dropped. IG’s biggest discovery had been Manalasuo’s Gold Wheel mecha. Not just within Manalasuo, but the entire galaxy’s strongest countries had returned to scrutinize this mecha. This was a mecha that was notoriously difficult to master, but once mastered, became a superb killing machine. In Manalasuo, the pick rate for this mecha was comfortably in the lead, but it was seldom used in practical battle, because the controls were too difficult.

The opponent had already started his mecha familiarization.

Wang Zheng wanted to compare the difference between CT and reality. It would definitely be different, even if it was the same Gold Wheel mecha. Wang Zheng found out that the CT difficulty was considerably lower. It helped in controlling the wheels, and to Wang Zheng this was no problem at all.

The view count broke 20 million, with over 70 percent in VVIP status. Many had directly tuned in to VVIP, because they had witnessed the miracle of the Wind God, but not this Manalasuo mecha before.

“Boss, are we fighting, or not?”

APP smiled. “Why would we not? Since the opponent has so much confidence, let’s test the Earth’s secret weapon for ourselves!”

Both sides entered preparation for battle.

Team battle map – Zager’s Thorny World.

A classic complex team battle terrain. Both red and blue teams each had an energy source they needed to protect. The energy source was protected by a high-powered laser tower. What was different about this team battle map was that, in this world, there were a large numbers of Zergs, which created a volatile interfering factor.

Such maps were often classified as easy, normal, or difficult.

And this was unquestionably a difficult map. What this meant was that only seamless support and cooperation would see them through the Zergs’ interference. Otherwise, just the Zerg spawn itself would see them go down in flames.

APP was smart about this. The Earthlings had dared to only send out 1 person to fight them, belittling them thus. Such an opponent could not possibly exist. But as the challenger, they were in no position to say so. In that case, they would set the opponent an unanswerable question.

Showing off came at a heavy price.

The view count continued to climb. Old Deer and the rest were a little at a loss.

They had been happily anticipating this battle, but they had not foreseen that it would turn out like this. The Manalasuo leader was indeed a cruel person.

The Gold Wheel mecha was classified as a fighter mecha, with no scouting capabilities. To avoid the nests purely on ability was impossible. In such a difficult map, this was not so much a team battle as a coordinated full army battle.

They had originally anticipated a spectacular 1 v 5 from Skeleton, but it seemed like the opponents had no intention of giving them that opportunity.

This was APP’s retaliation.

Prince and his team frowned. The battle had descended into an embarrassing situation. The opponent had easily maneuvered Earth into a dilemma…

“Keke, Leader APP, are you really going to choose this map?” Yao Ailun could not hold it in anymore. Was there a need to be so brutal? There was no way to play this. How could they be so heartless even in a 5 v 1?

APP smiled mildly. “We of Manalasuo take competitions very seriously.”

Reading between the lines: You Earthlings started the joke, we’re just going along with it.

Yao Ailun was nobody’s fool. His comment had ended the conversation. He believed that Wang Zheng could handle a 1 v 5, but now…