Chapter 19

"Here is the earliest video footage I could find about Zhou Xian. It's the match where Zhou Xian fought against Zhang Taihao."

Inside the Tiantian Society, Li Zheng handed a data disk, similar to a USB drive, to Ying Tianlong.

"I didn't know this before, but I never expected that this guy named Zhou Xian actually defeated Zhang Taihao. Hmph, I thought Zhang Taihao was the biggest threat in this competition."

As Ying Tianlong spoke, he took the data and played the video.

"What kind of weapon is this guy using?"

As soon as the video started, Ying Tianlong saw the large knife in Zhou Xian's hand, which looked like a door panel.

"Who cares, anyway, no matter how powerful the weapon is, it will be restricted in the competition mode."

After saying that, Ying Tianlong focused on watching the match.

However, as the match between Zhou Xian and Zhang Taihao continued, Ying Tianlong's expression became increasingly strange.

"This guy named Zhou Xian is indeed very skilled with the three major movement techniques, but his awareness is far inferior to Zhang Taihao's. He clearly won by taking advantage of Zhang Taihao's unfamiliarity with him..."

Ying Tianlong's eyes were filled with disdain.

Seeing Ying Tianlong's disdainful gaze, Li Zheng couldn't help but sneer: "Don't rush, this is just the earliest match. I have more footage that I think you might want to see."

"More?"

Ying Tianlong opened the second video, which was still a match between Zhang Taihao and Zhou Xian.

"This is internal footage from the Longmu Society. I doubt they know that their Silver Moon Hall was hacked by me. No, Zhang Taihao probably figured it out, otherwise, he wouldn't have upgraded the Silver Moon Hall to the latest Plus version in just a few days."

Ying Tianlong opened the video with a puzzled look.

The scene in the video was almost the same as before, and the two players' equipment was not much different. In fact, Zhang Taihao had even upgraded to better gear.

But as the video progressed, Ying Tianlong's expression became increasingly grim.

Comparing Zhou Xian's movements, Ying Tianlong clearly noticed that compared to the first match, Zhou Xian's current state was completely different. Not only had his combat awareness improved significantly, but his operations had also reached a terrifying level.

"Using Lion's Roar and the wall to create a restriction, that's really impressive..."

Mo Xie was also watching the video.

Using Lion's Roar and the wall to create a restriction wasn't the issue, but the fact that Zhou Xian used this technique against Zhang Taihao indicated that Zhou Xian had, to some extent, approached his level.

"What you're saying isn't the key. The key is this guy's powerful intuition and positioning ability. For the Soul Command system, this ability is the most fatal," Li Zheng hit the nail on the head.

"Exactly," Ying Tianlong said solemnly. "The Soul Command system uses the gap between the system and consciousness to perform a special, deceptive superpower. But if Zhou Xian can dodge my attack at a critical moment, then the next moment, my real body might be hit. In the game world, I could deal with such players in minutes, but in the competition mode, it's really difficult."

That was the most terrifying part.

"So, what do you plan to do?"

Li Zheng squinted at Ying Tianlong.

"...I heard that there have been quite a few car accidents at our school recently..." Ying Tianlong squinted back at Li Zheng.

"You might not know, but on the first day, I arranged a small accident, but unfortunately, it failed." Li Zheng shrugged. "And I suspect they already know something. If I'm not mistaken, they might even be trying to catch us in the act."

"So, you've gone too far. It's just a middle school tournament, do you realize how many bizarre things you've done?" Mo Xie shook his head at the two conspirators. Although he was also hired to support Ying Tianlong, Mo Xie felt terrible about these two unscrupulous guys. However, he had initially tacitly approved of the plan, hoping to reduce some pressure, but he didn't expect them to go this far.

But now that he was on the bandwagon, what could he do?

"What should we do?" Hearing Li Zheng's words, Ying Tianlong seemed a bit panicked.

"Let's not move against them for now. I checked the match schedule, and the Longmu Society is unlikely to face us before the semi-finals. If other teams can eliminate them, that would be great. If they make it to the finals, Zhang Taihao's background is mysterious, and we might not be able to touch him, but the other four, if we can get three of them disqualified... wouldn't that be enough?"

Hearing Li Zheng's words, Ying Tianlong's eyes lit up.

"Good, let's do it. Li Zheng, this is up to you." Ying Tianlong left the Tiantian Society, leaving Mo Xie and Li Zheng behind.

"Li Zheng, what are you really planning? Making things so complicated, even if we win the championship, it won't mean much, will it?"

Mo Xie was very confused by this bizarre situation.

"Hehe, you can stay in the 'Legendary World' era if you want. The world has already changed. Do you think this boring and monotonous daily life will continue?"

Li Zheng laughed coldly and also left the Tiantian Society.

"Pervert."

Mo Xie looked at Li Zheng's back with disgust and cursed under his breath.

...

"July 6th, nothing special happened today." After a day of matches, Zhou Xian didn't notice anything unusual. The Tiantian Society was almost completely quiet.

Could this be the so-called "butterfly effect"? When he changed a small thing, it triggered a series of drastic changes?

However, it wasn't until dinner when Lai Yiming analyzed the situation for the Longmu Society that Zhou Xian understood the specifics.

"The preliminary rounds are over, and we are now in the top 32. Starting tomorrow, we will have the 32-team group stage to select the 16 qualifiers. The top ten seed societies will also join the competition... Of course, that's not the most important thing. I just checked the Tiantian Society's data, and they are in a completely different group from us. If they advance, the earliest we could face them is in the semi-finals, so we don't need to worry about them for now."

Hearing Lai Yiming's analysis, Zhou Xian finally understood.

Due to the preliminary matches and the order of play, the Longmu Society and the Tiantian Society, which were originally supposed to be in the same four-person group, had changed.

"Everyone, I also noticed something when I went to fill out the forms today." Li Chuyu, sitting next to Zhou Xian, spoke up: "The president of the Longhu Society was taken away by the police today for allegedly fighting with a branch member, Wang Dalai, and leaving him in a vegetative state. The main branch of the Longhu Society's president may not appear."

Xu Tianyun was puzzled when he heard Li Chuyu's words: "Wang Dalai? I think I've heard that name somewhere."

"Wasn't it the incident a few days ago when the ambulance came to the D-area dormitory?" Tao Shan recalled: "I remember the student's name was Wang Dalai."

"…Is this a coincidence?" Lai Yiming immediately thought of a possibility.

"What is the mastermind trying to do? This is too scary," Xu Tianyun felt that the competition had completely changed. Now, more than one person realized how extreme the actions of the masterminds were. However, no one knew what the masterminds were planning. The conspiracy was still brewing in the dark, and this uneasy feeling made Zhou Xian feel very uncomfortable, as if something ominous was about to happen.

"Don't think too much, this is just someone manipulating things. Wang Dalai's coma wasn't caused by external force, and the investigation of the Longhu Society's president is just because someone framed him," Zhang Taihao pushed his glasses. "However, the Longhu Society's president probably won't be back before the finals, in other words, the Longhu Society is destined to be out."

"Zhang, how do you always get such powerful intelligence?" Tao Shan was surprised.

"I've arranged for my maid to monitor recent events at Zhongzhou Academy and the surrounding area 24/7. This kind of thing is naturally within my grasp."

Zhang Taihao's maid, named Liuli, was young but had already completed her university studies. In every sense, she was as powerful as Zhang Taihao.

"What should we do next?" Tao Shan asked.

"Wait and see," Zhang Taihao said: "As long as you don't do anything stupid, you won't get into trouble."

Although his tone was a bit harsh, since Zhang Taihao said it, the members of the Longmu Society could only nod.

Although they didn't know much about Zhang Taihao's background, this rich guy should still have some power.

"Alright, since that's the case, let me talk about our next opponents," Lai Yiming stepped forward: "In the 32-team group stage, we probably won't face tough enemies, but if we make it to the top 16, we will face Senior Huang Yingyue. If we can beat them, we will face the Esports Society... if they haven't been eliminated. We'll judge the semi-finals based on the situation."

"That's it."

Although everything was a mess, all they could do now was to wait and see.

Zhou Xian looked at the members of the Longmu Society and suddenly had a bad feeling.

These people probably didn't realize how dangerous the situation was behind the scenes.

After all, they didn't know what would happen in the original "history."

"But even if I tell them, they won't believe me..."

Although many people enjoy reading fantasy novels, few would believe that such things could happen in the real world. Even if the evidence were presented to them, many would still not believe it. After all, it was too fantastical.

However, Zhou Xian still wanted to find an opportunity to at least explain the current situation.