Chapter 200
Chapter 200 – Final Game of the Regular Season (1)
The competition between teams in the Miracle League became particularly fierce. There were only two weeks left in the second round. In other words, everyone had two last chances to gain a ticket to the playoffs.
The Wind Colour was firmly ranked first and had already confirmed their place in the playoffs. To the surprise of many reporters, the performance of the Ghost Spirits team was extremely good. The Lou Zhang combination showed increased understanding and they assassinated many strong teams. They could actually reach the second place in the rankings.
The third was Time and Canglan was fourth.
Flying Feathers was temporarily ranked fifth but they were only one point behind Canglan. As long as their performance in the next match was excellent, they would surpass Canglan.
In addition, the sixth place Red Fox also had the possibility of competing for the playoffs. Their next opponent was Cheetah. If they get win with a big score of 3:0 then they would have an opportunity to compete for the playoffs.
***
On the leaderboard, the third to sixth places weren’t fixed and the atmosphere became tenser.
In the past few days, the members of Canglan had been in closed door practice, especially the four newcomers. Li Cangyu played with them one by one, pointing out their shortcomings in the game. Fortunately, the four little ones were energetic and carefully listened to Li Cangyu’s guidance.
In a blink of an eye, a week passed and the second last week of the regular season kicked off.
Many reporters made predictions before the match. There were a few key dramas to watch this week. There was the match between the fourth ranked Canglan and fifth ranked Flying Feathers, a match between the first ranked Wind Colour and third ranked Time and the match between the sixth place Red Fox and the Cheetah team. This was the last chance for the Red Fox team to enter the playoffs.
Before the matches began, fans of the teams sent thousands of cheering messages on the Internet.
In the Canglan Support group, many fans were praying that Old Cat and Vice-Captain Bai would have good luck this year and that they didn’t lose in the crucial matches.
The owner Shasha sent a private letter to Li Cangyu, saying: [Cat God, we will support Canglan no matter what. Don’t feel psychological pressure and prepare well for the next match!]
The short message made Li Cangyu feel moved. He responded with a smiley expression. [Rest assured, we will.]
***
In the first round of the regular season, Canglan used the advantage of the home team to pick three arena games and win over Flying Feathers. Now that it was an away game, Li Cangyu couldn’t use this extreme method. Therefore, many reporters weren’t optimistic about this match.
Flying Feathers home game definitely wouldn’t be as good and Su Guangmo wasn’t likely to be polite to Canglan.
As the reporters expected, Su Guangmo directly chose three team battles!
Captain Su had prepared for a team battle for one week, researching a variety of maps and tactics. The result was that Cat God chose three arena games and he almost vomited out blood. Now that it was Flying Feathers’ home match, he directly selected the team battles that they were most powerful in.
The difference was that Li Cangyu already expected this.
He had long knew that Su Guangmo would use this method and Canglan had been preparing all week for the team battle. Therefore, Li Cangyu was very calm when he saw the screen.
The map chosen by Su Guangmo was a city square. This was the map that Flying Feathers often used during team battles and the stability was the highest.
Due to the characteristics of the Flying Feathers’ melee members, they were destined not to be too good at complicated maps. The wider the field of vision and the more spacious the map, the more Yu Pingsheng’s giant axe could wave around and cause the most powerful damage.
In the most crucial part of the regular season, the home choice of picking a stable map was the most sensible approach. It was easy to be overturned by the other side so Su Guangmo definitely wouldn’t give Canglan a chance.
This way, it would be more difficult for the opponents to fight. It was because the open map made it easy for Yu Pingsheng to divide the battlefield and control Li Cangyu’s pets. Then Su Guangmo would intercept him.
The Flying Feathers team played in a remarkable manner. Canglan’s remote members were pursued by the Su Yu combination and Flying Feathers relied on the home advantage to win two games in a row!
The score was 2:0!
The last game was particularly important and the Flying Feathers were frantically cheering. The venue was filled with excited shouts and the enthusiasm of the fans was obvious even from the soundproof rooms.
The Canglan fans watching in front of the TV were a bit nervous and many people had wet eyes. Some fans with poor psychological quality were already crying. If this game was lost, Canglan’s season was over. It would be really dangerous.
In the third game, the Canglan team changed strategies. Li Cangyu didn’t play and let Zhang Jueming be the commander. To everyone’s surprise, Old Zhang was very powerful today and actually dragged out the team battle for a full 25 minutes. Finally, they relied on a wave of perfect cooperation to defeat the Flying Feathers team at home!
2:1!
This score made many Canglan fans feel more comfortable. However, Canglan didn’t win and it would certainly have an adverse effect on the rankings.
In the post-match interview, a reporter stood up and asked Li Cangyu for the reason behind the change in commanders. Li Cangyu replied calmly, “The Su Yu combination is really strong. I was targeted by them and couldn’t do anything on this map. I decided to make a bold attempt and changed to Old Zhang. The facts proved that he is very reliable.”
“Today, Flying Feathers won 2:1 and Canglan’s ranking fell. Canglan was originally ranked fourth and now you are fifth. Cat God, aren’t you feeling a bit frantic about this? Canglan only has one match left!”
Li Cangyu smiled. “It is useless for me to be anxious. Moreover, your words aren’t necessarily correct. Canglan might’ve lost 1:2 to Flying Feathers but we aren’t necessarily ranked fifth.”
The reporter was surprised and took out the scoreboard. “Canglan was originally in front of Flying Feathers. Now that you lost this game, won’t you be behind Flying Feathers?”
Li Cangyu explained, “The other matches aren’t over yet. The standings might change. Of course, we still have a chance to compete and I will definitely grasp it.”
He was talking about the matches between Wind Colour and Time and Red Fox and Cheetah in the afternoon.
The reporters finally reacted. If anyone lost 3:0 then a lot of points would be deducted! In other words, if Time lost 3:0 then they might fall out of the top four.
***
That evening, the rankings really shuffled. It was because Wind Colour actually played 3:0 against Time at home!
This score made many Time fans want to cry.
Ling Xuefeng arranged the tactics and selected a map with many obstacles to personally stare at Tan Shitian. Then he sent Qin Mo around with his spiders and snakes to repeatedly interfere with Cheng Wei’s casting. He completely broke up the Tan Cheng combination.
The tactics of the Time team meant it was very easy for them to be targeted. Tan Shitian was the strongest mobile fort in the league but he was very fragile. Once he was tangled up with Ling Xuefeng, only half of Time’s firepower could be played. Today’s Time had bad luck. Their chances of a counterattack were blocked by obstacles and they didn’t get even one point.
They lost 0:3 and had many points deducted!
The Red Fox team also didn’t score many points from Cheetah, resulting in Red Fox failing to qualify for the playoffs.
The few female players didn’t shed tears. Liu Xiang stated very calmly, “There are many excellent teams in the Miracle League. We did our best to get this far and will work hard again next season.”
Yang Muzi said, “Red Fox might be eliminated but we will still play well in the next game. Audience members who like the Red Fox team, please continue to pay attention to us. Thank you for the support.”
The great performance by the female team was also acknowledged by the reporters. They lost the season but they didn’t lose their ambition. They were female players but they were also proud!
***
This week’s matches finished and the top five in the rankings became Wind Colour, Ghost Spirits, Flying Feathers, Canglan and Time.
Originally, the points of two or three teams were close. Time had a huge lost and directly fell from the top four. Cheng Wei was depressed and wished to climb over to Ling Xuefeng and bite him.
Tan Shitian looked relaxed and wrapped an arm around Cheng Wei’s shoulder. “Don’t be discouraged. There is still the next match. If we kill your idol then we will enter the playoffs. Are you confident in killing your idol?”
Cheng Wei didn’t like the joke at all. He was a bit stupid but he knew exactly how hard it was to play against Cat God.
In fact, Tan Shitian also knew the difficulty of this match. It was impossible for Li Cangyu to give Time any points at home.
Looking back at today’s match, the four newcomers of Canglan were now very stable and even cooperated many times. They didn’t rely on Li Cangyu like they did in the beginning.
The fastest one to grow was Xiao Han. It was probably because he was abused by Qin Mo and became determined to surpass Qin Mo. He recently worked very hard and his talent wasn’t bad so he found a way to break through his bottleneck.
Zhuo Hang’s progress was also fast. He admitted his hand speed wasn’t as good as Chen Anran but he found a way to combine his fastest hand speed with an effective attack to achieve the best results.
Li Xiaojiang and Gu Siming also found their own style with the help of Li Cangyu. Xiaojiang became more confident. Gu Siming was still impulsive but at least he wouldn’t be hot-blooded and run forward, leaving his teammates behind. He was gradually settling down as the front row of Canglan.
The Canglan team won and lost in the second round but everyone reached a consensus that the overall strength of the Canglan team was steadily improving under Cat God.
***
In the blink of an eye, the last weekend of the Miracle League’s seventh season started. Red Fox, Pure Cleansing and Cheetah were destined to be out while Wind Colour and Ghost Spirits were certain to advance. The remaining teams of Flying Feathers, Canglan and Time were all uncertain.
Flying Feather’s opponent was Ghost Spirits and they had to go to Shenzhen to fight. It wouldn’t be easy to win points.
Time’s away match with Canglan was also the focus of attention.
These two matches would determine the finalists in the playoffs. The faces of the players were calm but many of them were inwardly tense.
Canglan’s four teenagers were very nervous. They always felt that they would drag down the team if they played badly. Meanwhile, the captain Li Cangyu was drinking team in the waiting room in a relaxed manner.
Xiao Han saw him drinking the team and couldn’t help asking, “Master, aren’t you nervous?”
Li Cangyu laughed. “If being nervous will let me achieve victory then I must be nervous seven or eight times. In fact, nervousness will only have a negative impact on the outcome. Why should I be nervous?”
Xiao Han was stunned. He was a bit dizzy by the complex Chinese and scratched his head as he thought about the meaning of this sentence.
Bai Xuan came over to sit next to Li Cangyu and whispered, “For so many years, you couldn’t get into the playoffs or were eliminated in the first round. It felt like both of us are cursed. You really won’t mind if you can’t get the prize this year?”
Li Cangyu patted his old partner on the shoulder and whispered, “Don’t think too much about it and just play well. It will naturally be a good thing if we can make it into the playoffs. If we can’t enter then it might be the last match of our career. Why not perform well and enjoy it?”
Bai Xuan was startled and couldn’t help admiring Li Cangyu’s mindset.
Xie Shurong was sitting behind them and overhead it. He couldn’t help smiling as he said, “Cat God is right. Enjoy this game. It is the end of the seventh season and let’s show the audience members how handsome our players are.”
Everyone, “…”
The four teenagers turned to look at him. Bai Xuan made a disgusted expression of ‘I don’t know him’ and Old Zhang laughed happily. Li Cangyu looked at Xie Shurong with appreciation.
His words actually relaxed the atmosphere.
At this moment, his phone lit up due to a text message from Ling Xuefeng. “Come on, I am waiting for you in the playoffs.”
Li Cangyu couldn’t help smiling. He put away his mobile phone and stood up. “Come, treat this as your last match and enjoy it!”
They had to fight back because it was really their last chance.