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Chapter 1038: Emergency Substitution

Panda Novel

Everyone was struck dumb.

In the group arena, Excellent Era had only won one point. This was already inconsistent with the expectations of many people, but what about now? Unexpectedly, Team Happy continuously held the initiative, dominating the whole way, whereas Excellent Era was forced to constantly run for their lives. Just looking at the current situation, just who was the powerhouse here? Who was the grassroots team?

Many in the audience had wanted to see Happy emerge victorious, because it would be an exciting upset. However, seeing the scene before them, it really did seem inconceivable. Yet, this was something they were looking forward to, so obviously it would be something that made them excited. The stadium wasn't only made up of Excellent Era fans; this wasn't Team Excellent Era's home ground.

Only, these audience members, who wanted to see Happy succeed, couldn't really be called Happy's fans. Truthfully, they only wanted to see a major upset. Thus, they wouldn't act like Happy's true fans and recklessly cheer for the team. Since Happy's chances really weren't optimistic, this kind of cheering could easily end with them getting their faces slapped. False fans would obviously be willing to risk this.

Except now, Happy had actually grasped an advantage during the team competition. These spectators, who were only looking for an upset, were also beginning to stir. Those who were more hot-blooded had already started cheering. Gradually, the others followed suit, expressing what they truly wished in their hearts. They too began loudly shouting encouragement. On the flip side, Excellent Era's fans, seeing their team's passive movements, could only sit stupidly.

Originally, they had been prepared to cheer to add to Excellent Era's beautiful performance. Now, with the team acting so passively, it would be more like sending help at the darkest hour.** They weren't mentally prepared for this! Thus, in that instant, the stadium was suddenly filled with loud voices cheering for Happy, drowning out the voices of Excellent Era fans who had been distracted. It seemed like ages before they reacted, desperately raising their voices to cheer for Excellent Era.

Often, cheers from fans in the stadium would be a sort of catalyst for the players on stage. However, Glory was an exception to this, because the players would be completely sealed within their player booths. They weren't able to hear anything going on in the stadium. Although the reasoning behind this was simple, the fans' wishful thinking still caused them to believe that their cheers would somehow transfer strength to their players. At the same time, the pro players didn't do anything to deny this. Even if they couldn't hear any of this support, it wouldn't do them any good to betray their fans good intentions.

At this very moment, the stadium echoed with two equally powerful cheers, yet on stage the situation didn't really change.

"Heal! Heal!"

Truthfully, Xiao Shiqin's directions were a bit redundant. At times like this, it wasn't as if Zhang Jiaxing could still just sit and watch! He had long since controlled his Cleric Woven Shadow to heal Successive Strike. Unfortunately, he was a bit late, because Happy's side also wasn't just sitting back and doing nothing. Besides Wu Chen's Dawn Rifle, Ye Xiu's Lord Grim was also harassing him non-stop. Zhang Jiaxing had already expended the cooldowns of all of his instantaneous skills. While his chanting skills were off cooldown, the problem was he couldn't find any opportunities to use them. He was constantly interrupted, as if he was dancing from excitement.

"Protect! Protect!"

Zhang Jiaxing also yelled out in the chat.

However, this reminder was just like Xiao Shiqin's earlier reminder to heal. How could Xiao Shiqin not know to shield the Cleric? Of course he knew, but he couldn't do anything. This was because they were currently faced with the existence of an uncontrollable factor ... Team Happy had more people.

Yes, more people. This advantage had been personally cultivated by Ye Xiu from the start, until it reached an utterly heartless degree. Zhang Jiaxing's heals weren't enough. Xiao Shiqin's cover fire wasn't enough. And these two definitely weren't any ordinary players! Zhang Jiaxing was the main healer of Excellent Era, a powerhouse team, and Xiao Shiqin was an All-Star! He had just showed off his military might during the group arena, gracefully retreating off stage when he knew he was finished. Except now, when facing against all of Team Happy, these two seemed to be completely stuck.

But even in a situation like this, as long the two persevered, it wouldn't all be for nothing. Every so often one of Woven Shadow's skills would find an opening and heal a little. Furthermore, Shen Jian was still doing his best to struggle and break free. Although everyone was on edge, at least they still had hope. Yet Xiao Shiqin and Zhang Jiaxing were constantly sending each other warnings in the team channel. The true use of the channel was seen here.

With this kind of shouting, it could be seen that Excellent Era was truly in a dire position. Sun Xiang and Qiu Fei began accelerating without any regard for future consequences. For example, even a Dragon Breaks the Ranks was brought out and used as a movement skill. The broadcast switched to a close-up view of the map, showing the two characters moving at a breakneck pace. The audience could see that the time it would take for these two to reach the battlefield could be measured in seconds.

Missing just one final step?

At this moment, this sentence appeared in everyone's minds.*** If these two Battle Mages reached the battlefield in time, they could definitely reverse the situation. Team Happy's characters were really a bit disappointing; at a crucial moment like this, their damage output was really too low. If these characters could stand shoulder to shoulder with the ones from a powerhouse like Excellent Era, perhaps Shen Jian would have been killed already.

Beautiful tactics. Beautiful execution. But in the end, would they lose it all because of useless characters?

At this moment, the silhouettes of One Autumn Leaf and Combat Form could be seen on the horizon. Looking at Successive Strike's health and doing a few quick calculations, Xiao Shiqin quietly let out the breath he had been holding. At the same time, he felt ashamed. Just a while ago, when he was still in Team Thunderclap, he had lost many matches because of this kind disparity in character strength. Back then, he had often fantasized about having a powerhouse character within his grasp. But now, he finally achieved that dream, and he was instead relying on the brute force of the characters. It looked like Happy's beautiful display would soon be thwarted, but right now Xiao Shiqin felt disgusted. This kind of brute force was what he had admired for so long before. But now that he was truly winning only because of this, he couldn't feel any joy.

Happy's characters ...

As Xiao Shiqin wistfully looked at these characters, he was suddenly startled.

What's going on? How come there were only four characters on Happy's side?

Where's the Cleric? Where was Little Cold Hands?

In his haste to protect Woven Shadow and save Shen Jian's Successive Strike, Xiao Shiqin had neglected such a huge change! Now that he suddenly discovered it, his heartbeat quickened, and his mind quickly mapped out this entire region.

Not good!

Xiao Shiqin's Life Extinguisher suddenly rushed forward like a melee character. This move caused Zhang Jiaxing to jump with fright.

Was this the beginning of a counterattack?

But Sun Xiang and Qiu Fei still hadn't reached the battlefield! And even if they had, as a Mechanic, there was no reason for him to jump to the front lines like this!

In the end, Zhang Jiaxing was also stupefied.

A shadow of a person flew into the attackers' encirclement. Yet this character originally shouldn't have appeared.

Steamed Bun Invasion!

Unexpectedly, it was Steamed Bun Invasion!

"When did he appear?" It wasn't just the harried and preoccupied Xiao Shiqin and Zhang Jiaxing who had failed to notice. Even the spectators, with their omniscient view, had been so focused on the fight that they hadn't paid attention to the fact that Happy had actually switched out a player.

At this moment, there was no time for a replay. Steamed Bun Invasion had suddenly joined joined the fight, immediately using Strangle. However, in a crucial moment like this, Happy had actually managed to complete a character substitution?

Cleric Little Cold Hands had withdrawn. Brawler Steamed Bun Invasion had joined the fight.

Happy no longer had the damage output of four characters. They now had five!

It was only after realizing this that Xiao Shiqin had recklessly charged forward. He knew that against the damage output of five characters, Successive Strike wouldn't be able to last until One Autumn Leaf and Combat Form arrived. He needed to charge in at this moment in order to disrupt the setup.

At this very moment, Happy didn't have a healer either. If they took this opportunity to focus their attacks on one character and managed to take out a lot of health, with the support incoming from Sun Xiang and Qiu Fei, perhaps they would be able to swap again.

Just as Xiao Shiqin made this decision, he saw the Myriad Manifestations Umbrella in Lord Grim hand shake ...

Tears streamed down Xiao Shiqin's face ... In his moment of desperation, he had once again forgotten this unspecialized character. An unspecialized's healing capabilities were still weak, but ... no matter how small a mosquito was, it was still flesh. On a professional stage, even a tiny bit could mean the difference between victory and defeat. With him here to heal the team, Happy could likely sustain until they found the chance to switch their healer back in. After all, this position was quite close to a support zone. It was only after Xiao Shiqin become conscious of their current position, after he mapped out the area in his head just now, that he finally realized Happy's intent. However, his realization had arrived a bit late.

Steamed Bun Invasion had joined the fight, and Team Happy's damage output had immediately increased by a level. Every time Xiao Shiqin's Life Extinguisher rushed over, he was blocked by Lord Grim. His ultimate decision to do everything he could to disrupt the situation had also fallen to pieces.

It wasn't possible for Ye Xiu to kill him in an instant, but blocking him and obstructing his disturbance wasn't a problem.

Boom!

Another round of explosions occurred. Shen Jian's Striker finally fell.

After an unbearably bad performance during the group arena, Shen Jian became the first to fall during the team competition. But from a fair point of view, this time, it wasn't really his fault. Facing this kind of trap, any player would find it hard to cope. It was regretful, but competition was just this cruel sometimes. This kind of situation had happened to him, ending his performance in this match here. He hadn't made any eye-catching plays and was even the first to be killed. As far as those who hadn't bothered to ask about the sequence of events were concerned, this was basically the worst performance of the match.

However, up until now, had anyone really performed poorly during this team competition? No, everyone had worked hard to bring out their individual skills, but in a fight, there would always be a winner and a loser. Shen Jian very much regretted being the first one out. He could definitely be called the most unlucky player tonight. WIth this being the most important match of the season for Excellent Era, his performance was really too terrible. Shen Jian sat paralyzed in his seat, as if he could see himself returning to the time when he had been a substitute player.

Translator's Thoughts

Nomyummi Nomyummi

TL Note: **The first idiom used, 锦上添花, means to add flowers to embroidery, or to decorate something that is already perfect. The second idiom, 雪中送炭, means to send charcoal in snowy weather, or to provide help in a time of great need.

***The "phrase" mentioned here is actually a chenyu, 功亏一篑. Literally translated, it means that in the process of piling up many hills (usually nine) of dirt, one bucket is missed. Basically it means to almost finish something, but end up missing by just a tiny bit, the last step. -Veriquity

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