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    ## Chapter 103: The Final Battle! It’s About to Begin!

    “First, let’s give a warm round of applause to the representative of the Asian Competition Association!”

    “Vice President of the China International Digital Entertainment and Electronic Association, Mr. Jiang Yingcai, to give us a speech!”

    Applause echoed through the stadium.

    The representative of the winning team gets to give the speech.

    Jiang Yingcai strode towards the dazzling stage, his heart pounding with excitement.

    Eight years!

    Eight full years!

    After the League of Legends, Golden Wind had finally brought the Crown Award back to China!

    And he, once again, would be giving a speech as the representative of the Asian Competition Association!

    Despite the fact that the distance from his guest seat to the center of the stage was less than fifty meters, he felt as though he had walked through eight years of spring, summer, autumn, and winter.

    As he stepped onto the stage, he turned his head and looked towards the manufacturer seats.

    Today, all the manufacturers participating in the Asian Competition Association were present.

    Although the light was dazzling, making it difficult to distinguish which young talent was the one he was looking for amongst the throng, everyone could understand who he was looking at with a smile and a deep look in his eyes.

    Everyone knew what that meant.

    In a short time, the old chairman of Huayu Digital would step down.

    And the only candidate for the position in Huayu Digital was him, Jiang Yingcai.

    The weight of this single glance was self-evident!

    The applause thundered through the hall as Jiang Yingcai stepped onto the stage and began his speech.

    The speech was very formal, as it represented Huayu Digital, and indeed the Asian Competition Association as a whole.

    Jiang Yingcai first spoke about the origins and purpose of the Asian Competition Association, then reviewed the history of previous events.

    Finally, he offered words of encouragement to the manufacturers who had not won, and also wished the Association well in the future.

    As the flashbulbs popped and the applause continued, the DJ’s voice rang out again: “Thank you very much, Mr. Jiang Yingcai, for your speech.”

    “Now, please announce the winners of the conference and present the awards!”

    The entire stadium fell silent.

    Although everyone already knew who the champion of this Asian Competition Association was, the moment of the announcement was still thrilling.

    Jiang Yingcai nodded, his smile widening.

    He placed the speech he held in his hand on the lectern and retrieved the envelope from behind it.

    He tore off the seal bearing the Asian Competition Association logo, pulled out the gilt-edged paper inside and unfolded it:

    “I announce…”

    “The winners of the sixth Asian Electronic Sports Developers Conference, ‘Best Esports Game Crown Award’ and ‘Best Esports Game Designer Award’ are…”

    “PUBG! Gu Sheng!”

    The crowd erupted!

    The home-field advantage was undeniable!

    The roar of jubilation was deafening, like a tidal wave sweeping through the stadium!

    Under the guidance of the spotlights, the eyes of tens of thousands gathered on the man in the gray-blue suit with the Mickey Mouse watch on his wrist, standing under the side curtain of the stage!

    The flashbulbs popped incessantly, the scene resembling a starry sky.

    Truly the focus of all eyes!

    Gu Sheng had indeed participated in many large-scale press conferences in his previous life, but this was the first time he had encountered such a scene with tens of thousands of people.

    He felt a mixture of excitement and nervousness!

    He touched his watch and walked towards the stage with a smile, his steps firm, waving to the stands.

    He reached the stage, shook hands with Jiang Yingcai, then bent down to put on the gold crown and received the scepter that Jiang Yingcai handed him with both hands.

    A new king was born.

    The mountain below roared, and the sea around him was filled with subjects named Golden Wind.

    The two shook hands and posed for a photo, then Jiang Yingcai left the stage, leaving Gu Sheng alone.

    “It’s not plastic, huh?”

    The first thing Gu Sheng said made the entire stadium laugh:

    “The first sentence of my acceptance speech was that I felt very excited to receive this weighty award.”

    “I was worried that the actual award would be disappointing compared to my expectations, but luckily, the organizing committee really went all out. It’s quite heavy.”

    A simple little quip, and the audience was in stitches.

    Gu Sheng weighed the scepter in his hand: “That makes my opening statement a lot less stressful.”

    “Receiving this weighty award, I feel very excited…”

    The crowd erupted in cheers and applause.

    Below the stage, Shen Miao Miao looked at the man who was talking eloquently, constantly eliciting cheers and applause from the crowd. Her eyes were filled with smiles.

    Her big eyes were almost turning into crescents, and the corners of her mouth couldn’t help but rise.

    He looks so good in that suit.

    That watch is also perfect.

    Hehe.

    My taste in picking things is really good!

    Just as she was reveling in her satisfaction, she heard Chu Qingzhou cough softly beside her, nudging her with her elbow:

    “Hey, you should probably calm down. Your expression is pretty… out there. There are reporters taking pictures.”

    “Huh? What?”

    Shen Miao Miao was startled, her eyes widening:

    “What… what do you mean? What’s wrong with my expression? My expression is fine!”

    “Can’t I praise my game director? If it weren’t for him, Golden Wind wouldn’t be where it is today, right?”

    Heh.

    Even Chu Qingzhou, a highly cultured and intelligent lady, couldn’t help but snort with laughter after hearing Shen Miao Miao’s grand pronouncements.

    “You call that praise?”

    Chu Qingzhou rolled her eyes:

    “Your eyes were practically turning into strings of drool.”

    Shen Miao Miao’s face turned red instantly.

    Like a boiling kettle, steam puffed out of the two buns on her head:

    “That… what kind of thing is that to say?!”

    “Are you being polite?”

    “How can you say… say that about your boss?!”

    Seeing Shen Miao Miao’s flustered state, Chu Qingzhou quickly raised her hands in surrender:

    “It’s the lighting, I saw wrong. Okay, I saw wrong.”

    “That’s… that’s right!” Shen Miao Miao nodded: “It’s all because of the lighting, I didn’t… I didn’t… ”

    “Yes, yes, yes,”

    Chu Qingzhou chuckled, shaking her head slightly:

    “It’s the lighting, you didn’t… you didn’t…”

    “It’s just… no… it’s just… no…”

    Shen Miao Miao tapped her fingers, muttering to herself.

    But she dared not look up at the man on stage again, the one who was wearing a crown and holding a scepter, radiating brilliance.

    From childhood to adulthood, she had never dated, and no one had ever pursued her.

    Not because she was unattractive.

    On the contrary, it was because her beauty and halo were too dazzling.

    The pursuit relationship between men and women actually has a threshold.

    Those who are too poor and those who are too rich are both hard to find a satisfactory partner.

    Perhaps the only difference is that one is not dared to be pursued, and the other is not dared to be pursued (no typo).

    Shen Miao Miao herself had good natural conditions. She was like a delicate porcelain doll, and her father was a business tycoon with powerful connections.

    Even if some young hoodlum dared to make a move, they had to think twice about whether their bones were hard enough to withstand a beating from the thugs under Shen Wanlin.

    So, over the years, countless people might have had a crush on her, but none had the courage to stand before her and confess their feelings.

    Not a single one.

    Yes, as of now, Shen Miao Miao, a twenty-three-year-old, had gained all her knowledge about love from TV dramas and stories from her friends.

    She didn’t understand her own feelings.

    She didn’t want to think about her own feelings.

    She’d just be an ostrich.

    Ostriches are the best.

    Yeah.

    Thinking this, Shen Miao Miao scratched her face, then looked up again, acting like she was stealing a glance.

    First, she looked around cautiously.

    After making sure that no one was paying attention to her, she sneakily directed her gaze back to the stage.

    “…Finally, Golden Wind will continue to move forward, bringing more novel ideas and more fun games to all players.”

    “We will never stop exploring.”

    “Because we…”

    “Are born this way!”

    And then, the entire stadium roared with applause!

    Immediately after, the lights went dark!

    [wu—emmmm—]

    [wu—emmmm—]

    A soft humming, like that of a church choir, came from the speakers.

    It carried a hidden, immense power, like the calm before a storm.

    Then, a voice accompanied the hum:

    [Will you hold the line (你是否会坚持底线)]

    [When every one of them has given up and given in (当每个人都放弃或屈服之后)]

    Power gathered, accumulated, and brewed in the hum.

    Snap!

    The spotlights flashed back on!

    There, on the stage, stood a man with a microphone and a denim jacket, golden short hair.

    Behind him were three others: a guitarist, a bassist, and a drummer.

    The moment this band appeared, the cheers and screams that had just subsided came back with a vengeance!

    The roar of cheers came again!

    If Gu Sheng and Golden Wind were the known surprise of this closing ceremony, then the live performance of Imagine Dragons was the second booster after the surprise!

    The entire stadium erupted in cheers!

    At the same time, the PUBG closing ceremony special promotional film played on the surrounding screens!

    The grand spectacle of a hundred people parachuting.

    The interweaving of guns and fire, the struggle between life and death!

    Precise sniping from miles away, close-range instant kills!

    Teammates helping each other up in smoke, enemies whizzing past on dirt bikes outside the smoke.

    The booming sounds accompanied by music, the storm was coming, the thunder was rolling.

    Carpet bombing exploded from one end of the horizon.

    Then—

    It came in waves!

    The lights in the stadium came back on, the stage was engulfed in flames, the mountain below roared, and on stage!

    Dan Reynolds’ distinctive screaming voice rang out!

    [And you’re standing on the edge face up ’cause you’re a— (你正站在边缘抬起头来,因为你——)]

    [NATURAL!!! (生来如此!!!)]

    The familiar “Natural” blasted out, and the overwhelming power ignited the scene like a lit fuse!

    The crowd went wild!

    Even Gu Sheng couldn’t help but stand up and cheer along with everyone else!

    Awesome!

    No wonder it was such a big event!

    He had known before that the organizers of the Asian Competition Association’s closing ceremony would invite a heavyweight guest band, but he hadn’t expected it to be Imagine Dragons!

    No wonder Jiang Yingcai had specially changed the last sentence of his acceptance speech to – We are born this way.

    There was a reason for it!

    The atmosphere was electrifying!

    With Dan Reynolds’ final “Yeah you’re a NA-TU-RAL!” the crowd reached a second peak of excitement!

    Then!

    The DJ announced:

    “Ladies and gentlemen! I announce!”

    “The PUBG Asian Invitational Exhibition Match…”

    “Starts now!”

    Hum, whoosh!

    As the sound of the plane’s engine roared through the Bird’s Nest, one hundred sensory pods in the stadium lit up with iridescent light at the same time!

    Simultaneously, all the players participating in the match blacked out and left the spawn island.

    “Whew – Master, I’m a little nervous,”

    Tuanzi’s voice, with its familiar Hunan accent, echoed through the team chat.

    “It’s okay, little scene. We’re gonna get that chicken today!”

    Coach Ma’s voice followed.

    Yes.

    The teams participating in the grand finals today included the golden chef duo of Coach Ma and Tuanzi.

    Of course, they had very little to do with the fact that they were able to make it to the grand finals, mainly due to the two other fierce warriors in the team – Liu Pei Jia and XTT.

    茄子, needless to say, was an old FPS player, having played from the CS era all the way to the CrossFire era. Although he was a little rusty nowadays, his fundamentals were still there, and he was very strong.

    As for XTT, he was similar to Tuanzi, a 00后 streamer who became famous through live streaming as PUBG became popular.

    One day, 小黑, another member of the 茄子 team, couldn’t stream, so XTT was lucky enough to get matched with 茄子’s team.

    And then!

    With his insane headshots and cool tactical thinking, he showed off in the live stream and became a sensation overnight!

    At his peak, even though viewers knew that sensory pods, due to their enclosed structure, could not be used for cheating, they still demanded that Golden Wind investigate XTT!

    Because the 00后 kid’s gunplay was simply beyond the imagination of most players!

    Eventually, after three rounds of investigation by Golden Wind, the company announced the results, finally quelling the players’ doubts.

    This, of course, made XTT even more popular!

    One ace, one veteran, and two chefs.

    This oddly wonderful team came together, stumbling through the tournament with wins and losses, but ultimately made it to the Bird’s Nest.

    And just like them,

    Today, many more magical teams had gathered.

    Even though,

    These 25 teams from all over Asia were all temporary combinations, mostly streamers, and their combat power was definitely not as good as the professional teams.

    But this was an exhibition match!

    For the audience in the stadium, the exhibition match just needed to be exciting!

    And the teams on stage did not disappoint the audience.

    Y City, residential area.

    Whoosh!

    Streamer DaNeng closed his umbrella and rolled, landing on the rooftop. However, as he reached the pile of supplies, he couldn’t help but mutter to himself.

    The pile of supplies had bullets, meds, and a machete, but no guns.

    And,

    To make matters worse, a Japanese streamer who had landed on the other side of the rooftop at the same time had found a pistol.

    The two looked at each other. DaNeng’s expression was complicated, and then he turned and ran!

    Bang! Bang bang bang!

    Gunshots rang out in succession behind him.

    At the same time, the Japanese streamer’s arrogant laughter could be heard from behind: “Hahahahahaha, west side!!!”

    DaNeng’s blood sputtered repeatedly, and his HP instantly dropped by half!

    Seeing that he was about to be killed before he could even get started, DaNeng had a flash of inspiration. He ran to the edge of the roof, and then jumped off!

    With a bang, he grabbed the window ledge of the building across the street, flipped over and smashed through the window, rolling inside!

    Seeing this, the crowd cheered, and the commentators exclaimed how awesome the parkour was!

    However!

    Before DaNeng could breathe a sigh of relief!

    Thump thump thump!

    Suddenly, footsteps came from downstairs.

    It turned out that the Japanese streamer’s teammate had arrived. Their landing spots were very close, and they could perfectly ambush DaNeng with a little communication in the team chat!

    I’m screwed…

    DaNeng cursed inwardly, pushing open the door on his left and diving into the room, calling for his teammates to come and support him as quickly as possible, while trying to find a gun to defend himself.

    However,

    His luck seemed to be terrible today. Even after searching the small room inside, he still found nothing!

    Meanwhile!

    The footsteps outside were getting closer!

    DaNeng’s mind raced.

    Now, he only had less than ten HP and a machete.

    There was no way he could hold out until his teammates arrived.

    In less than two seconds, the enemy who was chasing him would kick down the door and kill him, who was defenseless without a gun.

    What should I do?

    Thinking this, DaNeng looked at the machete in his hand…

    “Desperation!”

    The commentator’s voice rang out in the stadium:

    “Even though our player, DaNeng, used some incredible parkour to dodge the enemy’s first wave of attacks, we can see that another Japanese player has already reached the door outside his room.”

    “And DaNeng’s teammates are too far away to provide any effective support!”

    “Could this be the first blood of the match?!”

    As he spoke!

    With a bang, the Japanese player kicked open the door, aiming his submachine gun at the small kitchen in the house!

    Because the room had no windows, and there was no sign of DaNeng in the main living room, the only place DaNeng could be was in the kitchen!

    However!

    Just as he was about to pull the trigger, a dull thud could be heard!

    Buzz – clang – whoosh!

    To the Japanese player’s shock, a black machete flew out of the corner of the kitchen!

    The machete bounced off the door frame, then, in the blink of an eye, bounced in front of him!

    Chopping!

    The blade slammed into his neck, blood spurted out, and the Japanese player collapsed on the spot, turning into a box!

    “Ohhhhhhhhh – First blood! Incredible first kill!”

    After a brief moment of surprise, the commentator’s screams could be heard!

    “DaNeng actually used the game’s precise physics engine to bounce the knife out while hiding himself!”

    “I bet this Japanese player is now yelling a warning to his teammates!”

    “What kind of warning?” Another commentator chimed in.

    “Warning his teammates – A Draven on the second floor! Don’t come near!!!”

    Hahaha –

    The commentator’s witty and humorous response made the audience in the stadium roar with laughter.

    This imaginative first kill kicked off the curtain for this exciting exhibition match!

    As the match went on, more and more outrageous plays emerged!

    There was Dongzhu Kaige, who deliberately blocked the bridge but was too scared to show his face, only daring to stick the barrel of his gun out of his cover and fire randomly. He was known as the “Bridge Guard of Honor!”

    There was Coach Ma, who yelled “God dragon descending!” and jumped down from the second floor, trying to pull off a landing kill, but was instead sniped from the air. He was known as the “God Farmer Descending!”

    There was also Piao Lao Shi, who chased a poison cloud for miles, finally found a vehicle to get in, and just when he was confidently declaring the end of the game, he was wiped out by a bomb in the next second. The viewers were amazed and exclaimed, “Don’t worry about whether he ate chicken, just tell me if the game’s over!”

    All kinds of good and exciting plays appeared one after another!

    The exhibition match was full of highlight reels, and the atmosphere in the stadium reached one climax after another!

    Finally!

    As the seventh poison circle refreshed, and the last Southeast Asian team was blocked outside the poison circle by the Japanese team.

    The situation in the stadium reached its most tense moment!

    Only three teams left!

    Three-member Chinese team!

    Two-member Japanese team!

    Four-member full squad Korean team!

    Even though there were only two poison circles left.

    Everyone knew that once the poison circle finished counting down and shrunk again.

    The Chinese and Korean teams would have to leave their cover and charge towards the Japanese team, who were in the safe zone.

    And in this open plain, such a charge would be tantamount to suicide.

    This was the final circle.

    The final battle was about to begin! —

    PS: Please vote for this chapter with your monthly ticket~

    (End of Chapter)

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