119: Chapter 118 Dramatic Battle

In reality, when the two teams met in the battle zone, the air seemed to freeze for a split second.

Five Silver Grade Houseboats were scattered on the sea, separated by about three hundred meters of open water.

Two observers from the Revival Society, each piloting a small boat, hovered on either side of the water.

The moment Yang Yue saw the opposing lineup, her footsteps halted.

Then, she smiled.

It wasn't the kind of smile used for greetings. It was the smile one wears when finding out a Christmas gift is exactly the limited edition item they had been longing for—surprised, joyful, and possessing a certainty of "as expected."

She turned her head to look at Yang Hang.

Yang Hang had his hands in his pockets and returned her look with a dismissive glance.

On the bow of the opposite ship, Instructor Liu Qiang's expression became slightly unnatural for an instant.

Han Feng had been saying something to him, but his voice suddenly cut off when he also saw the people on this side.

The bootlace Chen Yang was twirling in his hand stopped in mid-air, and Zhao Lei's folded-arm posture stiffened for a heartbeat.

A trace of awkwardness flashed across all four of them almost simultaneously.

But it only lasted for a flash.

Instructor Liu Qiang recovered first, his lips even curling into a slightly pitying arc, like an elder looking at a stubborn Junior, with that expression of "You didn't listen to advice back then, and look at you now."

"Captain Ye Shuang, those people on the other side..." Chen Yong withdrew his gaze and furrowed his brows.

Fang Rui didn't speak, but his gaze swept back and forth between the two teams twice.

Captain Ye Shuang looked at Yang Yue, her tone gentle: "Yue Yue, did you know them before?"

Yang Yue put her hands on her hips and tossed her ponytail, crisp and decisive.

"I do. They were the group my brother and I were originally in. Unfortunately, we were rejected for being beneath their high standards, so we had to go out and find a team ourselves."

She pointed at the opposite side.

"Then we met Captain Ye Shuang, and I'm actually quite grateful to them. Otherwise, how could I have met such wonderful people as Captain Ye Shuang, Big Brother Chen Yong, and Big Brother Fang Rui?"

"Then we certainly must thank them."

Chen Yong grinned, and Fang Rui's eyes curved into a smile.

Captain Ye Shuang laughed: "Yue Yue still has the sweetest mouth. In that case, I must thank them too; otherwise, how could I have two such outstanding teammates like you and your brother?"

She glanced at Yang Hang, who shrugged with a calm expression.

On the opposite ship, Han Feng's hearing was clearly quite good.

He turned his head and curled his lips.

"Little Sister Yang Yue, you can't say it like that, right? Our team only had one spot left, and Instructor Liu originally wanted to keep you. It was you who insisted on dragging your brother along, so we had no choice but to—"

Yang Yue ignored him and shifted her focus, her gaze sweeping toward Instructor Liu Qiang.

"Instructor Liu, just how powerful my brother's talent is, you'll find out after the fight. By then, you will definitely regret not taking him."

The people on the opposite side looked at each other.

Han Feng was the first who couldn't help it and scoffed aloud.

"Little Sister Yang Yue, do you know that we are the No. 6 seed in this Top 1000 Selection? The betting odds in the livestream room are one to seven."

He shook his head, his expression sincere to the point of being earnest, "Instead of fantasizing about beating us, you might as well hurry to the livestream room and bet on us to win. At least you'll earn a few karma points, so it won't be a wasted trip."

"Captain Liu." Captain Ye Shuang's voice cut in.

Gone was her previous gentle softness; her tone was flat and crisp.

"I admit your team is very strong, but is there any need to look down on other teams like this?"

She looked straight at Instructor Liu Qiang, neither humble nor arrogant.

"It lacks the bearing of an official Revival Society team."

Instructor Liu Qiang finally spoke.

He first turned back to glance at Han Feng, frowning: "You, shut up."

Han Feng immediately shut his mouth.

Instructor Liu Qiang turned back to look at Captain Ye Shuang, his expression calm.

"Han Feng is not a member of our Revival Society and cannot represent the Revival Society."

He paused for a beat.

"But he was right about one thing. Our team was missing a person at the time, and since Little Brother Yang Hang's talent didn't suit us, it was normal not to take him. It's free team formation, after all; this captain has always valued strength above all else."

Captain Ye Shuang nodded, indicating her approval.

"Naturally. Captain Liu Qiang, shall we begin? The referees are getting impatient."

Instructor Liu Qiang didn't waste any more words and nodded.

The two referees withdrew from the field, simultaneously raising their flags to signal the ten individuals to open their personal Numerical Panel viewing permissions.

After some operations by the two referees, the ten people's health bars were scanned through the magic sea compass and simultaneously displayed in a limited-permission livestream room on the Fate Platform.

After the referees signaled that the display was successful, Captain Ye Shuang took a deep breath and looked at Chen Yong and Fang Rui beside her. The expressions of all three were tense, showing both nervousness and seriousness.

"Yang Hang, Yang Yue, in a moment you—"

Before she could finish, Yang Yue confidently waved her hand, flashing a tiger tooth at her.

"Don't worry, Sister Shuang. We will win!!!"

Looking at the unwavering certainty in the eyes of this eighteen-year-old girl, Captain Ye Shuang opened her mouth, but ultimately it turned into a wry smile.

Chen Yong scratched his head. Fang Rui pursed his lips.

Yang Hang, however, was behind them where they couldn't see, and he seemed to nod silently in agreement.

Fate Platform livestream room. Number of viewers: 47 million.

In the split-screen window of the livestream where Captain Ye Shuang's team and Instructor Liu Qiang's team were battling, the crowd of watching survivors had been watching from the moment the two teams met until now, when the battle was about to begin.

They naturally saw and heard everything from the exchange between the two sides, and most of the survivor viewers who were unaware of the previous interactions between Yang Hang, Yang Yue, and Instructor Liu Qiang and the others learned that the two sides actually had such a history.

"Holy crap, so Yang Yue and Yang Hang were originally part of Instructor Liu Qiang's team! They were rejected and kicked out!"

"So Instructor Liu Qiang thought this Yang Hang's talent didn't suit him?"

"The No. 6 seed is indeed qualified to pick people; I don't think Instructor Liu Qiang has any issues. This survivor with the Little Luck Technique is indeed not famous, and hasn't shown any strength, so it's normal not to pick him."

"The person above is right, but is there a need for such a high-and-mighty attitude? It feels so arrogant; I don't like it."

"Why does this Han Feng like to suck up to Instructor Liu Qiang so much? I feel awkward even through the screen."

"But look at Yang Yue's expression at the end; that girl isn't panicking at all."

"What's the use of not panicking? The gap in strength is right there."

"It's a pity for Young Miss Yang Yue; after this fight, she'll be eliminated, and we won't see her later."

"Sigh, what a pity."

"Stop sighing! The betting pool closes in thirty seconds! Hurry up and bet on Instructor Liu Qiang to win! It's free karma points, brothers!"

"I'm going for it! Betting fifty karma points all-in on Iron Fist Vanguard!"

"One hundred!"

"I'm betting three hundred! That's enough to eat well for a month!"

"Is anyone betting on Captain Ye Shuang to win?"

"Yes, the odds are one to seven."

"Does anyone actually buy that?"

"Some guy bet two hundred; probably just betting for fun."

"Or a fan supporting them with love."

"Anyway, I'm not betting. The No. 6 seed crashing out in the first round? Keep dreaming."

The betting pool was sealed at the last moment.

Under the gaze of tens of millions of survivor viewers in the Fate Platform livestream room, Captain Ye Shuang's team, where Yang Hang was located, officially clashed with Instructor Liu Qiang's team.

However, just when everyone was expecting Instructor Liu Qiang's team to strongly suppress Captain Ye Shuang's team...

the battle scene of Captain Ye Shuang's team retreating steadily and struggling to support themselves did not appear as everyone wished.

Instead, a scene appeared that left them confused, then bewildered, and finally turned into horror and shock, with some even exclaiming that it was a "fixed match."

In the livestream, after the two referees gave the order simultaneously, Captain Ye Shuang's side and Instructor Liu Qiang's side immediately displayed their strength and began to fight.

Captain Ye Shuang spread her arms, and deep green Poison Fog spread from around her, wrapping around the sea mist and rolling towards the opposite side, covering the sky and earth.

At the same time, Yang Yue activated Water Control, and six water tornadoes rose from the sea, wrapping the Poison Fog in the core of the water columns and whistling towards Instructor Liu Qiang's fleet.

Fang Rui gathered power in the rear, with three illusory arrows condensing on his bowstring. Chen Yong activated his Full-Body Steel Bones and stood at the very front.

On the opposite side.

Instructor Liu Qiang let out a loud shout, his Aura exploding from the soles of his feet, red steam rising from his body, and his muscles rapidly expanding, instantly turning into a small muscle giant.

Han Feng waved his right arm, and three wind blades whistled, cutting towards Captain Ye Shuang's Poison Fog water columns.

Chen Yang stomped his feet on the deck, and a Ground-Quaking Ripple spread along the sea surface, raising a row of two-meter-high waves that crashed toward Captain Ye Shuang's team. Wu Kai pushed his hands forward, and a faint three-colored halo enveloped the four of them, with the Light of Amplification fully activated.

The momentum was terrifying.

And then—

A strange thing happened.

Han Feng's three wind blades whistled out, their trajectory straight and the angle tricky, visibly slashing toward Captain Ye Shuang's ship.

They missed by two centimeters.

The three wind blades flew past the outside of the ship's side, cutting three white waves on the sea, and the splashing water even wet the tips of Yang Yue's boots.

But they just didn't hit the ship.

The horizontal wave raised by Chen Yang crashed toward Captain Ye Shuang's team, the two-meter-high wall of water looking terrifying.

But the next moment, an inexplicable undercurrent surged from the bottom of the sea, deflecting the direction of the horizontal wave by five degrees.

The wave passed through the gaps between the five ships, and not a single drop of water splashed onto the decks.

The livestream room went silent for three seconds.

"???" "The wind blades missed by two centimeters?" "The wave missed?"

And on Captain Ye Shuang's team's side—

Fang Rui's three explosive arrows were fired simultaneously.

Although the three explosive arrows fired were extremely fast.

Instructor Liu Qiang's side still managed to shift the position of their Houseboat at the first moment by leveraging Chen Yang's waves and the propulsion of the Silver Grade Houseboat itself.

Just as they were inwardly smug that Fang Rui's attack was nothing special and had been easily dodged by them, the flight trajectory of the arrows was slightly corrected in mid-air by a sea breeze of unknown origin.

The first one hit the gap in the deck of Han Feng's ship, blasting a bowl-sized hole. The second pierced directly through Zhao Lei's shoulder, causing his health bar to jump down a notch. The third nailed directly into Instructor Liu Qiang's instep, pinning his foot to the Houseboat deck while he was in a daze.

Every shot hit.

The comments started to get restless.

"Wait a second—" "Is Captain Ye Shuang's team this accurate? Not a single arrow missed?" "How come Instructor Liu Qiang's team hasn't hit once?"

In the next three minutes, this strange situation intensified.

Every attack from Instructor Liu Qiang's team—wind blades, shock waves, Han Feng's close-range thrusts—was off by just a little bit. One centimeter, two centimeters, at most no more than five centimeters. It wasn't completely off, but precisely scraped past with a hair-raising accuracy.

And every counterattack from Captain Ye Shuang's team—Poison Fog, water tornadoes, arrows—hit with precision. Not a single one was off.

Instructor Liu Qiang's health bar was being slowly but steadily whittled down. Han Feng's ship was overturned halfway by the water tornadoes, and it was only thanks to Chen Yang's timely intervention that it was prevented from capsizing completely. Zhao Lei's hardened skin was covered in Captain Ye Shuang's Poison Fog, and although he was holding on for now, his complexion was visibly turning blue.

Instructor Liu Qiang saw that the situation was not right, so he stopped probing and decided to make a move himself to decide the outcome in one blow.

"Send me over, finish them!"

Chen Yang understood immediately and directly activated his full power in Ground-Quaking Ripple, breaking through Yang Yue's water defense line, forcibly sending Instructor Liu Qiang's ship into the defense line of Captain Ye Shuang's squad, while simultaneously resisting Yang Yue's control of the water waves to escape further away.

Although he could only control it for a very short time, it was enough.

Instructor Liu Qiang's eyes were only seven or eight meters away from Captain Ye Shuang's Houseboat, and without hesitation, he leaped.

His body traced an arc in the air, aimed precisely—at the side of Captain Ye Shuang's ship.

But the next moment.

He missed by four centimeters.

His fingers grazed the edge of the ship's side, his fingernails scratching a white mark on the Silver Grade wood.

He fell straight into the sea.

With a "splash."

The livestream room went dead silent for a second.

Then the comments exploded.