Chapter 309 - 221: Unassailable
"No need."
Su Zhi lightly tossed a card. "Shanda University Affiliated School won’t reveal their true strength in the first few rounds. They’ll most likely stick to the lineup we saw in the exhibition matches. This is to prevent other teams from devising strategies against them too early."
Liu Yuhang raised his hand and asked curiously, "So we’re doing the same? We can’t go all out from the start?"
"That’s right. Professional Beast Tamers are actually masters of managing their energy and stamina."
Su Zhi snapped his fingers. "Of course, we still need to keep an eye on things. Even though we’re here playing cards, I’ve already sent Yu Bao’s Stand-In out. We won’t miss any key information."
"WOOF!" Yu Bao pushed up the sunglasses on its nose and put on a reliable expression.
’I, Yu Bao, am infallible!’
"Alright, let’s continue... Huh?? How are you two already out?"
"I’m so stupid, seriously. I shouldn’t have used a Negate on my own Out of Nothing..."
"..."
While Liu Yuhang was being mercilessly mocked, the battle on the stage outside was proceeding in a completely one-sided fashion.
Vast and Mighty and No Silver Party Team clashed on the stage, but the result was always the members of No Silver Party Team being completely wiped out within minutes.
Although all the teams here were the best from their respective cities, Shanda University Affiliated School was the leader of the entire Shanyou Province, so the two were on completely different levels.
Basically, whenever a team faced Shanda University Affiliated School, they could only treat the match as a learning experience, like paying tuition for a lesson.
Meanwhile, the atmosphere at the venue was clearly biased toward Shanda University Affiliated School.
Every time a Pet Beast from Shanda University Affiliated School used a Skill, a tidal wave of cheers would erupt from the stands, subjecting the opposing Pet Beasts to both physical and psychological torment.
On one hand, this was naturally because Shanda University Affiliated School was stronger and more popular.
On the other hand, Shanda University Affiliated School was located in the provincial capital of Shanyou Province, so naturally, more tickets were made available to people associated with them.
What seemed like a fair competition was, behind the scenes, also a contest of the economic development levels of the various cities.
"GU!"
In the end, the first round of the team competition concluded with Grey Gu’s Skull-breaking Iron Claw sending a Cyan Armor Spider flying. This was the third singles match, and the total time elapsed was less than half an hour.
"Vast and Mighty" achieved a clean three-to-zero sweep against "No Silver Party Team," and the opposing team’s second doubles and third singles players didn’t even get a chance to appear.
The losers retreated dejectedly, unnoticed and uncheered.
Amidst the frenzied applause and gazes of the crowd, the group from Shanda University Affiliated School walked off the stage with great fanfare, waving goodbye to the people in the surrounding stands.
The life of the strong is just that plain, unremarkable, and ostentatious.
When his gaze inadvertently fell on Yu Bao in a corner of the stands, Chen Xinghao froze on the spot, his mouth twitching.
’You took a Spectator Magic Potion too?’
One of his teammates saw it too and scanned it with his phone. The scanned Energy Value was only a few hundred—it was a Stand-In.
"(⌓‿⌓)" Yu Bao realized it had been spotted, so it smiled and gave a polite greeting.
’Nice match, you guys!’
"..." Chen Xinghao ignored it and led his team toward the rest area.
’This little thing must have been sent by Su Zhi to scout for information. Too bad for them, Shanda University Affiliated School has no intention of revealing its main players in the opening matches.’
’See you in the finals, you bumpkins!’
"We saw Shanda University Affiliated School end their first match of the day with unstoppable momentum! The players from Shanda University Affiliated School are all so full of vigor!"
The host smiled and passed the microphone to Ke Yan. "May I ask the chief judge for his evaluation of this match?"
"Shanda University Affiliated School showed extreme aggression in this match. We can see that even when facing an opponent with a considerable gap in strength, they didn’t let their guard down but went all out. This is also a form of respect for their opponent."
Ke Yan said after a moment of consideration.
"As the leading school in Shanyou Province, Shanda University Affiliated School has always gathered the best students from all over Shanyou, so the teams they cultivate are naturally invincible. Barring any surprises, they should basically make it to the finals and represent Shanyou in the national team tournament."
The host nodded in agreement. "It seems Shanda University Affiliated School truly is a traditional powerhouse! In that case, Instructor Ke Yan, do you think they can win the championship if they make it to the finals?"
Ke Yan paused, the image of that rebel flashing through his mind.
"That’s hard to say... After all, the other teams are very strong too. And a dark horse might emerge, right?"
The next few matches were also quite intense, but compared to the crushing victory of Shanda University Affiliated School, they seemed less visually stimulating.
It’s like eating a meal: if you have a salty dish first, the lighter dishes afterward will seem bland and uninspired.
Shanda University Affiliated School’s early appearance was unfortunate for the later contestants. The crowd’s cheers were less enthusiastic, and the players tended to fight more methodically, making it difficult to pull off any brilliant, spur-of-the-moment moves.
"Ah~ I’m falling asleep. Who’s up next?"
"Mmm, didn’t check. Too lazy to look. They’re all pretty much the same anyway."
"Is it just me? Why does it feel like they’re fighting so limply, with no spirit at all? Are they even trying, those skinny weaklings..."
"You can’t really blame them. It’s not that they’re playing badly, it’s that Shanda University Affiliated School played too well..."
The matches went on one after another, and before anyone knew it, it was time for the final match of the day.
Generally speaking, unless you were a seeded team, getting the last slot was not a good draw. After watching all the other teams compete, the audience’s attention was already saturated, and it would be hard to capture their interest unless the match was exceptionally brilliant.
However, for Su Zhi and his team, it wasn’t a big deal. It was just the selection tournament; as long as they qualified, it was fine.
Text scrolled across the electronic screen:
[Selection Match 08: Su Zhi and His Friends vs. The Yeah, You’re Right Team]
"I’m dying, what kind of ridiculous team names are these!"
"Can the teams at least try to sound like human beings when picking their names..."
"These two team names are pretty interesting! I was getting tired, but maybe I’ll watch one more match."
"Hey, it’s Su Zhi! The champion of the Huai City league! He was so sick back then!"
"Uhh, sorry, where is Huai City?"
"..."
Seeing the two facepalm-worthy team names, the audience’s scattered attention started to refocus. After all, people are just here for the laughs.
Su Zhi also felt helpless. An entire team of six people, and all six of them were terrible at naming things. In the end, they all pushed the task onto him, so he had to bite the bullet and come up with something...
But after walking onto the stage, both Su Zhi and his opponent were left speechless.
"Why is it you?"
Su Zhi looked at Xu Jianzhi across from him, not knowing whether to laugh or cry.
After parting ways at summer camp, the two had added each other as friends but hadn’t been in touch for a while.
"I didn’t see you during the training sessions before, so I thought you weren’t coming!"
Xu Jianzhi smiled wryly and shook his head. "There was some trouble with my relatives, so I was busy for a while and couldn’t make it to training. But I still have to compete!"
"So you’re from Yu City. I always thought you were from Xin First Middle School..." Su Zhi said with some emotion upon seeing his opponent’s entry information.
To his shame, Su Zhi didn’t even know there was a place called Yu City in Shanyou Province... just as most of the audience didn’t know there was a place called Huai City.
"That’s just how it is for us from small cities," Xu Jianzhi said with a bitter smile.
"Let’s see your Pet Beast, Brother Shu. I watched all your exhibition matches. Even though I’m destined to lose to you, I’ll still give it my all for my team!"
Su Zhi nodded. "Alright!"
A Light Blue Beast Taming Array and a silver Beast Taming Light Array lit up simultaneously on both sides of the stage—
[Pet Beast: Black Wood (Blast Rock Rhinoceros)
Attribute: Earth Element
Race: High Level Elite
Real-time Energy Value: 2790]
-----------------
[Pet Beast: Shan Bao (Flash Gold Sparrow)
Attribute: Gold Element, Space Element
Race: Low Level Elite
Real-time Energy Value: 2540]
"MOO?" Black Wood blinked, looking at the little thing opposite it with a puzzled expression.
"CHIRP!" Shan Bao bowed politely.
’Please guide me, great master!’
Xu Jianzhi’s gaze was a little complicated. "You’re sending out Shan Bao? I thought that since you’re the first singles player, you’d use Yu Bao."
Su Zhi smiled in response. "Shan Bao is very strong too. Compared to Yu Bao, she needs more real combat experience."
On the other hand, this was also a consideration of his opponent’s strength. Although Black Wood had already evolved into a Blast Rock Rhinoceros, its Real-time Energy Value wasn’t very high, indicating it had just evolved recently. This fight was winnable.
"That’s true... Even if you lose, it doesn’t matter. You have a strong team to back you up. That must be nice."
Xu Jianzhi sighed with emotion, cast aside his extraneous thoughts, and focused his attention on the arena.
The battle between the first singles players had officially begun!
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