Chapter 18: Ban Pick

In the studio, a faint darkness crept over Meng Xingyu’s face. If he weren’t mindful of the fact that this was live, he’d probably have smashed his phone on the floor already.

Wei Feng’s expression, by contrast, was quite calm—he even smiled. “Impressive. We underestimated them.”

Jiang Yuxi hurriedly chimed in, “There’s still one more round. We still have a chance to win.”

Meng Xingyu, who had been silent for a long while, suddenly said, “That’s right, we still have a chance. How about we make the last round a little more exciting?”

The last sentence was directed at the director.

The director didn’t play the game himself, but from the previous round’s outcome and the netizens’ reactions, he could guess that Zhu Huai had stolen the show.

Meng Xingyu was this episode’s heavyweight guest, meant to be the center of attention. And their team also had Wei Feng, who’d cost a pretty penny to invite. The director’s scale naturally tilted toward them.

Besides, stirring up drama had to go both ways to be fun—a one-sided stomp was boring.

Watching the heat climb and the viewer count swell, the director agreed to his request without hesitation.

The netizens in the livestream naturally saw the director’s troublemaking expression and couldn’t help feeling expectant.

Meng Xingyu’s expression finally improved a little. He smiled. “Let’s use Ban Pick mode.”

In Ban Pick mode, “Ban” lets you forbid the opponent from using a character, and “Pick” is choosing your own. Characters picked by one team also can’t be picked by the other. But 《Sword Shadow Martial World Mobile》 differs from other games—because its roster is limited, a ban only takes effect for the opposing team.

[I can guess with my toes that Meng Xingyu’s going to ban Hundred Flowers healer, Ghost Gate, and Longsword. Calling it right now.]

[Kinda feel like Meng’s being a bit underhanded…]

[??? Existence is its own justification. The devs made these rules—how’s that underhanded?]

[The truly underhanded one’s sitting over on the other side. Forgot how SYA disbanded, did we?]

[This is the Sword Shadow Mobile x Indoor Games collab stream. Take your fighting to Weibo. Scram.]

The staff quickly reset the game, and both sides entered the Ban phase.

The system randomly determined that Meng Xingyu’s team would go first.

Sure enough, the first ban was the Hundred Flowers healer—swift, decisive, without a second thought.

Zhu Huai: “Oh ho.”

Zhu Huai’s team’s turn.

Zhu Huai smiled. “Thanks to our opponents for respecting us. Let’s return the favor.”

Then he instantly banned Shu Sect.

[HAHAHAHA. You ban my ace, I ban your Orange Weapon. Fair trade.]

[Come on, let’s hurt each other!]

The color that had just returned to Meng Xingyu’s face sank again. The knuckles gripping his phone went faintly white.

Second round: Meng Xingyu’s team banned Ghost Gate.

He Chen: “!!! That’s too far!!”

Zhu Huai’s team banned Longsword.

Third round: Meng Xingyu’s team banned Longsword.

Jin Yuxian: “Ah…”

Zhu Huai’s team banned the Hundred Flowers healer.

[HAHAHAHA we ban each other’s Hundred Flowers to show mutual respect. If I can’t use this healer, neither can you.]

Ban phase over.

Meng Xingyu’s team bans: Hundred Flowers healer, Ghost Gate, Longsword.

Zhu Huai’s team bans: Shu Sect, Longsword, Hundred Flowers healer.

Meng Xingyu had banned every character Zhu Huai’s team had used last round.

He Chen wore an “it’s over” expression. “Brother Zhu, at least the three of us can keep each other company on the road to the Yellow Springs. Not lonely at all.”

Zhu Huai said, “Can I make a small request?”

“What?”

“When your fans burn paper offerings for you two, can you ask them to spare a little for me too?”

Jin Yuxian: “…”

He Chen: “…”

The fans: “…”

He Chen: “Ptui ptui ptui, bad luck—get out of here!”

After the Ban phase came the Pick phase.

Zhu Huai glanced at the characters sitting in the ban slots and said calmly, “They’ll probably pick Ghost Gate, Putuo, and Qianji ranged.”

“Why?”

“I have a feeling they’re going to copy our strategy from last round.”

[Dear, this is live. Don’t go setting up flags like that.]

[Copy your strategy? I’m dying laughing. Where’d they get such a big face?]

But as the Pick phase began and characters locked in one by one, the netizens grew restless.

First round:

Jiang Yuxi locked in Putuo Sect.

Zhu Huai locked in Beggars Sect.

Netizens: Standard play, no panic.

Second round:

Meng Xingyu locked in Ghost Gate.

He Chen locked in Kunlun.

Netizens: …Might still be salvageable.

Third round:

Wei Feng selected Kunlun, leaving it pending.

The bullet comments climaxed instantly.

[233333, Maybe-Not-Zhu got slapped again. Failed at being a show-off.]

[Scared me to death—even lottery drawings aren’t this exciting!]

[HAHAHAHA we’ve known Wei Feng plays a great Kunlun since round one. No way he’d pick Qianji!]

But before the mocking comments had finished scrolling, the Kunlun icon abruptly shifted before everyone’s very eyes—revealing Qianji’s distinctive, sultry female portrait.

Netizens: ???

[Holy fck… Zhu Huai must be the examiner who holds the answer key, right?]

[Damn, Meng Xingyu really is copying Zhu Huai’s approach from last round.]

[It’s over. I can already see every arena match becoming healer + Ghost Gate comps.]

[It’s obvious—someone in the crew definitely leaked info through the headsets. This is all scripted.]

[…Everyone’s drunk and you alone are sober. Sounds to me like you’re the one who’s still asleep!]

[In the vast sea of humanity, there’s always one who stands out through sheer idiocy.]

But it wasn’t over yet.

Third round:

Wei Feng locked in Qianji.

Jin Yuxian locked in Qianji.

?

Zhu Huai’s team—three DPS?

[Where’s the healer??? Putuo? There’s a perfectly big Putuo right there—are you just not going to pick it?]

[WTF, an all-cleaver lineup. Are you serious?]

[When it comes to causing chaos, we are serious!]

[Can’t wait!! What surprise are they bringing us now?]

The final team compositions:

Meng Xingyu’s team: Ghost Gate tank, Putuo healer, Qianji ranged.

Zhu Huai’s team: Beggars Sect melee, Kunlun ranged, Qianji ranged.

Meng Xingyu saw the characters Zhu Huai’s side had locked in and laughed.

“What’s this supposed to mean? Not even taking a healer—are you giving up?”

A puzzled look crossed Wei Feng’s face. “Careful. There might be a trick.”

The match began. Zhu Huai charged straight ahead with his two lackeys behind him. He Chen scrambled frantically toward the enemy while shouting, “Who do we hit, bro?!”

Zhu Huai: “Focus fire the Ghost Gate!”

He Chen: “Isn’t that the tank? Why are we hitting him?”

Zhu Huai said with complete justification: “Because he sucks!”

Noobs deserve to die???

The three of them piled onto the Ghost Gate and hammered away, skills flashing in a dizzying storm.

No matter how hard Jiang Yuxi tried to heal, he couldn’t make up for how genuinely, wholeheartedly terrible Meng Xingyu was—the man didn’t even know what his skills did. The Ghost Gate keeled over in no time.

Nobody was dealing with Wei Feng. He stood off to the side, outputting freely without pressure like a stationary turret, and quickly put down He Chen, the squishy little noob.

After Meng Xingyu’s character bit the dust, Zhu Huai and Jin Yuxian immediately charged Jiang Yuxi.

The little noob lay dead on the ground, shouting 666666: “Avenge me, bros! Charge!!”

But the bros failed to avenge him.

Jiang Yuxi’s Putuo was mediocre at best, but he could hold on for a few seconds—and a few seconds was all Wei Feng, third on the Expert Leaderboard, needed to go wild.

[Wei Feng defeated Jin Yuxian]

[Wei Feng defeated Zhu Huai]

[Zhu Huai defeated Jiang Yuxi]

A split second before dying, Zhu Huai took out the sliver-HP Jiang Yuxi with one basic attack.

A big “DEFEAT” appeared in the center of the screen.

The match ended. Meng Xingyu’s team defeated Zhu Huai’s team, 2:1.

Zhu Huai smiled apologetically at the camera. “Sorry to disappoint you all. No miracles.”

Jin Yuxian followed with a laugh. “Well, you did end up 1v5. You tried your best.”

He Chen was a sweet simpleton. “How is it 1v5? We clearly played 3v3.”

[Chenchen, mama begs you—less phone, more books. Look how silly you’ve gotten.]

[This Consort Xian has never seen her bro so adorably confused. The gap-moe is so strong I can’t breathe!]

[Not disappointed! They still got two kills without a healer!]

[The moment Zhu Huai’s team charged, I felt like I was watching the Three Snow Dogs, and I couldn’t stop laughing the whole time.]

[Watching from the start of the stream until now, I actually think Zhu Huai is a really nice person. Kind of feel bad for him.]

[…Here we go, Despicable Zhu starting a new round of image-washing.]

Wei Feng had single-handedly taken all three of the enemy’s kills, yet he couldn’t muster any excitement.

He’d stood off to the side, focused solely on output. No enemies harassed him. No one fought him. On the battlefield, it was as if he didn’t exist.

He couldn’t feel a single drop of the heat and adrenaline that competitive play should bring.

In contrast, over on Zhu Huai’s side, the trio had long stopped caring about winning or losing. Even in defeat, they lost happy.

He glanced toward Zhu Huai. That guy was always like this—happy no matter what, a temper so good it was almost unreal.

Wei Feng had seen Zhu Huai lose his temper once. That time, he’d thrown the entire company into chaos, even threatening to take the CEO down with him.

But he’d failed. And he’d been crushed since.

Bai Xiaoyun said regretfully to Zhu Huai’s team, “What a pity. With a healer, you might have won. Why didn’t you pick one?”

Zhu Huai smiled. “Because I knew we couldn’t win. Last round’s composition was already the best combo our team could field, and it all got banned. Since we couldn’t win anyway, we figured we’d just mess around and have as much fun as possible. Being happy matters most.”

Jin Yuxian said, “When Little Huai told me to pick Qianji, I was totally stunned. I thought it was some kind of dark magic.”

He Chen said earnestly, “I’m sorry. I held you guys back.”

Bai Xiaoyun was surprised by their good attitude and praised them. “To stay so optimistic even in an unfavorable position—that’s truly admirable. Now that’s the spirit of competition.”

On the other side, Wang Lian heaped exaggerated praise on Meng Xingyu’s team. “First of all, congratulations to Xingyu’s team on the victory! Wei Feng was incredible—he single-handedly took down all three members of Zhu Huai’s team. Worthy of third place on the Expert Leaderboard!”

Wei Feng smiled at the praise, but it seemed strained.

Then Wang Lian saw Meng Xingyu’s grim face and quickly added, “Thankfully, Xingyu’s Ghost Gate attracted all the enemy fire, creating an excellent output environment for his teammates!”

Those words only made Meng Xingyu’s face worse.

[HAHAHAHA isn’t the host embarrassed by his own spin?]

[Getting hammered down = attracting fire = creating a good output environment. No problem at all.]

[Ghost Gate seeking teammates: can create an excellent output environment for teammates. Interested parties, DM me.]

The director quietly held up his cue card offstage.

Wang Lian glanced at it and wished he could go blind and pretend he hadn’t read it.

After several deep breaths, Wang Lian said stiffly, “Before the match, both captains exchanged trash talk: 《Sword Shadow Mobile》 should be represented by someone who truly loves it, not used to hype oneself up. So, Xingyu, now—do you think Zhu Huai qualifies?”

Zhu Huai was appalled by the production team’s shameless bottom line—they were dragging the conflict right out into the open.

He glanced at the monitor at the edge of the stage. Sure enough, the bullet comments had already erupted into battle.

Cursing the production team, cursing the hosts, and cursing Zhu Huai.

【Disgusting】【White Lotus】【Idiot】—these words drifted past in droves, the production team not even bothering to filter or block them.

The faint smile on Meng Xingyu’s face twisted into a cold sneer. Looking at the host, he said, “Whether he qualifies isn’t for me to decide.”