41: 16 to 8

“You!”

Yang Lai immediately grew anxious.

Earlier, his serious analysis of both sides' Healing and output made her mistakenly believe he intended to focus fire on her cards.

But that guy just feinted!

“My apologies, I’ll definitely use a skill next round.”

Shi Li’s expression was sincere.

“I don’t believe your nonsense!”

Yang Lai was smarter this time.

However, when the next round arrived, she still chose to have the Iron Feather Owl perform Defense.

For her tanky strategy, this was a very damaging move.

Because playing the Defense hand card meant the Iron Feather Owl lost its own Healing ability.

At the same time, because she played Defense, she couldn’t play Healing, further losing Healing ability.

But Shi Li had his Stone Demon activate its Defense skill, then played 1 Healing card on it.

The Red Blade Maiden still used a normal attack and didn’t use a skill.

The HP of the first row cards on both sides immediately showed a huge disparity.

“Didn’t you say you’d use a skill?!”

Yang Lai was a bit exasperated.

If only the Red Blade Maiden had activated her skill, she would have had a chance to instantly kill the defending Iron Feather Owl.

“I only said I’d use a skill, but I didn’t say which card would use it.”

From this perspective, Shi Li indeed hadn't lied.

“While the tanky strategy is viable, what it fears most is the opponent having the output capability to instantly kill a full-health card.”

In the player seats, Fang Jinghai began to analyze: “Not having a sword to use and having a sword but not using it are two different concepts.

In this card game, the Red Blade Maiden’s tactical deterrent is more significant than her actual output value.

This Shi Li knows how to play cards.”

He even had the idea of facing Shi Li in a card game.

It was a pity that the gap in their ranks was too large; the other party was only Gold 4, not enough to make him serious.

With the Red Blade Maiden’s pulling tactics, Shi Li subsequently defeated Yang Lai with an easy, overwhelming force.

He didn’t even reveal his trump card, finally using Crimson Blaze to trade for his opponent’s trump card.

As a result, he, like Gong Ping, successfully entered the top 16.

During the lunch break, Principal Principal Su, beaming with joy, met with the two of them.

“Excellent, very excellent!”

“With two people entering the top 16, it seems the hope of breaking the record this time is truly great.”

“Don’t worry, as long as you can enter the top 8, I will definitely not treat you unfairly! Hahahaha!”

Compared to the principal’s encouragement, Shi Li was actually more concerned that entering the top 16 meant qualifying for a tryout at Jiangnan University.

The subsequent 16-to-8 round actually involved even more luck.

Because the probability of both of them drawing Fang Jinghai and Liang Dan would increase.

This was not only Shi Li and Gong Ping’s thought but also the thought of the other top 16 players.

However, in this round of drawing lots, a very dramatic result occurred.

That was Liang Dan’s divine draw; she actually drew Fang Jinghai!

And the first match was between these two people!

Such a drawing result naturally caused all the spectators present to erupt.

Because in everyone’s eyes, this was equivalent to the finals being played out early in the 16-to-8 round, and the winner would definitely sweep through and claim the championship!

Although this was only a city-wide mock unified exam, in previous years, the champion of the mock unified exam was almost always the top scorer in the city's college entrance examination.

For students of this caliber, even the Education Bureau would not hesitate to invest.

Therefore, the rewards for the mock unified exam champion were definitely generous.

Not only was there a high cash prize, but also a chance to obtain a three-star character card!

“Who do you think will win?”

In the player seats, Gong Ping looked at Shi Li.

“Everything is uncertain before the match begins.”

Shi Li did not jump to conclusions: “But at least we can carefully observe the winner’s deck.”

Soon, the duel between the two began.

Their card game was somewhat different from previous games.

Both sides had a 2-column, 4-row card grid, and all 8 card slots were in hidden card mode.

Among them, 2 regular card slots were “fake hidden,” meaning empty cards.

Liang Dan was the first to reveal her two first-row cards.

One of them surprised Shi Li a bit.

Because it was actually a two-star Stone Demon, and even its entries were exactly the same as his Stone Demon.

However, this was not difficult to understand; the Crude Stone Demon, as a basic card outside of the initial set, was not difficult to acquire, so its popularity was very high.

Moreover, the two-star Stone Demon had a high cost-performance ratio, and the combination of the “Sturdy” and “Defense” entries was quite practical.

The other was a Chasing Wind-type recovery card.

The advantage of this combination was that the Chasing Wind card could attack while charging.

At necessary moments, it could restore the Stone Demon’s HP, extending its damage-taking rounds.

So, from this layout, Liang Dan’s trump card was undoubtedly hidden in the column where the Stone Demon was located.

As for Fang Jinghai’s first revealed card, it surprised Gong Ping.

Shadow Mage

Wise, 30 points, two-star

Attack 30, 100/100, 50/50

Abundant - Passive: Shadow Mage’s energy cap +10

Mana Shock - 30 Energy: Shadow Mage attacks 1 target, with a Stun effect (T2)

“His Shadow Mage is exactly the same as mine!”

He shouted loudly, as if owning the same card as the “number one” was an honor.

“His is a genuine two-star, not your pseudo-two-star from doping.”

Shi Li mercilessly exposed him.

“Never mind that, just tell me if it’s a two-star on the card table or not!”

Just as Gong Ping was refuting, suddenly cheers erupted from around them.

Looking up at the big screen, they saw that the second first-row card Fang Jinghai revealed actually emitted a purple light.

“It’s the purple light representing a three-star card! Fang Jinghai has finally pulled out his three-star card!”

“He’s never shown this card before, it seems he’s getting serious!”

“This means he recognizes Liang Dan as an opponent!”

The audience exclaimed one after another.

“Besides you, I doubt anyone else in this unified exam could make me bring out this card.”

Fang Jinghai smiled faintly.

As the purple light receded, a barbarian holding a giant axe and wearing animal skins emerged.

“Look! Even this card of his is exactly the same as mine! He copied my deck!”

Gong Ping became even more excited.

Barbarian Warrior

Berserk, 30 points, three-star

Attack 30, 130/130

Abundant - Passive: Barbarian Warrior’s HP cap +30

Melee - Passive: When Barbarian Warrior attacks a humanoid card, attack power +10

Slam - 30 HP: Barbarian Warrior attacks 1 target, dealing an additional 30 damage (T4)

Although the base of the card was the same, the entries were completely different from Gong Ping’s Barbarian Warrior.

“Liang Dan is taking the sustained survival route, while Fang Jinghai is using 1 Wise + 1 Berserk, taking the early burst route.

From the cards, Fang Jinghai completely counters Liang Dan.”

Shi Li stroked his chin, giving his judgment.

…