Chapter 571: Chapter 81: Misstep

The doctor said “two weeks of observation”, which means half a month, almost fleeting in an instant.

No, not “almost”, it really was fleeting in an instant. By the time he came back to his senses, he had already been discharged, and his work and life had resumed their normal course.

This was too fast, and his intuition told him something was off.

Trying to recall the two weeks after regaining consciousness, he was shocked to find that he had no memory of it whatsoever.

It was like a dream… A dream?

When he came back to his senses again, he found himself in the training room of the club, and someone next to him was calling him,

“Captain, captain?”

“Oh,” he cleared his throat and looked at the assembled team members, saying, “Next week we play against the Purple Lightning team.”

“The tactical system of the Purple Lightning team is very clear, four minus one. Although Storm, the captain, is nicknamed Demon Blade, his tactical style is detached from the rest of the team.”

“Ripple Sword can instantaneously teleport to any corner of the battlefield at any time. As soon as Brother Da Yu finds a tactical hole in our defense, he’ll teleport to that spot, break through, and then the whole Purple Lightning team will coordinate with Brother Da Yu’s positioning, directly cutting through, scattering, and destroying our team.”

“Given the instant cast, no cooldown, and low mana consumption of Ripple Sword, conventional marking won’t be effective against Brother Da Yu, otherwise they wouldn’t have made it their main strategy. Therefore, we must abandon traditional marking and instead use the Iron Bucket strategy.”

“The Iron Bucket strategy means that every character in the lineup must have some ability to deal with close combat. Of course, before the final results come in, all players must still train together and keep a tight lid on the strategy…”

“Captain!” someone asked, “With the Iron Bucket strategy, do we not bring a healer?”

“Of course we bring a healer,” he put down the materials in his hand, “The so-called close-combat readiness doesn’t mean to literally block the enemy’s melee attacks face-to-face, but to have some control abilities to withstand melee attacks until support from others arrives. For example, the Life Sequence’s growth of plant vines, the Spirit Body Sequence’s possession and takeover, or the Mind Sequence’s forceful control…”

Are the captain’s comments about the Life Songster Bloodline? The team members present were all somewhat baffled. In our Star team, we have two healers; Old Zhang is an Undead Witch Doctor, and Little Zheng is on the technical path of Synthetic Medical Profession; we don’t have a Life Songster, right?

Amid their bewildered stares, he quickly caught himself and corrected,

“I was just making a comparison. Old Zhang, be ready to use your Undead Sequence’s Voidification ability at any time, activating it when Brother Da Yu attacks you to negate his damage.”

“Also, summon a large number of Death Spirits to squeeze the remaining members of the Purple Lightning team’s positioning. Since their Brother Da Yu roams outside the team all the time, we are essentially fighting five against four on the front lines, and with Old Zhang’s Undead Summoning, it becomes 5+n against 4, giving us an absolute advantage in numbers.”

“This way, Brother Da Yu will necessarily focus on Old Zhang to disrupt his tactics, meaning as long as we protect Old Zhang well, Brother Da Yu will be restrained by us.”

“What if Brother Da Yu ignores Old Zhang?” someone questioned.

“Then we go for the Strong Kill,” he replied, “Ripple Sword emphasizes Assassination and is not highly efficient in terms of damage output. As long as Brother Da Yu gives up restraining Old Zhang, we can ignore Brother Da Yu’s harassment and go all out to exchange blood with the enemy.”

“Old Zhang’s healing techniques are no worse than the enemy’s, and my Star Nine Forms, in terms of damage efficiency alone, can completely surpass Ripple Sword. Plus, with the numerical advantage, they can’t outlast us in attrition, so Brother Da Yu certainly won’t let Old Zhang roam free.”

“In other words, our tactic this time is centered around healing,” someone summarized.

“That’s right,” he nodded and said, “But at the beginning of the match, we need to disguise it, make our core look like the weak point to lure the enemy into our trap…”

Everyone nodded in agreement, and as he looked around at the crowded room, he suddenly felt a slight discomfort and dissonance.

Why are they all men?

He quickly realized again that it was normal for esports teams to have more men; it would be abnormal for there to be more women than men. Not to mention the dream he had during his hospital stay, where there were eight women and the only man was himself…

Casting off all distractions from his mind, he went over the devised tactics one more time and asked,

“Any more questions?”

“No more questions,” the team members said in unison.

“Then everyone go train,” he clapped his hands to signal for everyone to disperse. “Deceit, help me hand this tactics plan to Coach Ye.”

“Got it!” Deceit eagerly took the documents from his hands, about to leave, but then his shoulder was held back.

“Deceit.” His intuition was becoming clearer. His own memory…

Not just the memory, the people, and things around him, even this whole world were problematic, something was off.

“What’s up, Captain?” Deceit asked, puzzled.

“Who’s been managing the team while I’ve been hospitalized for the past six months?” he inquired.

“Oh, that was me,” Deceit said.

“You?” he looked at Deceit skeptically. “With your frivolous and flirty nature, you could be the captain?”

“Why can’t I be the captain?” Deceit showed an indignant expression as if feeling underestimated. “In the team, aside from you, Captain, I have the longest experience, you know?”

“My bad,” he dodged the point and probed again, “So how has our team’s performance been over these past six months?”

“Not bad, just average,” Deceit said after a moment’s silence.

“Something seems off with you, Deceit?” He immediately spotted another doubt. “Usually, wouldn’t you confidently pat your chest and say, ‘Although it was tough, we continued to fight under your leadership’?”

“Cough, you really look down on me, huh?” Deceit awkwardly responded. “Under my leadership, the team can’t maintain a winning streak?”

“The entire Star team’s playing style is centered around me mastering the Star Nine Forms,” he said earnestly, seeing that Deceit hadn’t slipped up yet. “If I were absent for a long time, the core couldn’t suddenly switch to you, it should switch to Little Zhao, who was designated to take over my position, thus avoiding having to overhaul the entire tactical system.”

“But as Little Zhao’s skills aren’t up to par yet, the Star team would undoubtedly have to prepare to lay low for a season; maybe even announce closure to not participate in the competition, to prevent a losing streak from affecting the sponsors’ expectations of the club.”

“However, a Star team in a slump and laying low wouldn’t have enough appeal for me coming here. So you ‘setting’ the Star team to be completely unaffected is undoubtedly the greatest flaw in this dream.”

“Think about it, me being the core and absent for half a year, and the Star team hasn’t shut down or gone under? You guys are seriously underestimating the importance of me being the core.”

“Captain…” Deceit showed a helpless expression of not knowing what to say, but he didn’t let it go and instead pulled out his trump card:

“From the very start, you all have been calling me Captain. I ask you, what’s my real name?”

Deceit: ………..

“Can’t say it, right?” Aske smirked. “The reason this dream doesn’t know my real name is because…”

“From the moment I crossed over, I strangely forgot it!”

In his hand suddenly appeared a longsword, which he thrust straight at the caught-off-guard Deceit.

However, the scene quickly froze, and then everything shattered apart.