Ch5 - Straight Through the Heart

Xiyan Snowy Mountain.

Qiu Yu silently lurked within a section of city ruins close to the top of the mountain.

Since he had entered the ruin’s combat zone, he hadn’t used his bow and arrows much, mainly relying on a machete and a dagger to eliminate players when meeting on a narrow road. As long as he targeted them, none of the players would live for long—eventually, he would find and trace their tracks and end them with a single strike.

In this game, Qiu Yu was like a leopard released into the mountains, the hunter at the apex of the food chain. 

As more and more audience members arrived in the broadcast room, the barrage’s tide also began to change:

[Although I can’t understand the anchor’s operations, I am currently shocked.]

[? Why do you need to parkour up the walls here, can’t you just follow the path around it? Did I ignore something?]

[If I didn’t remember wrongly, god Mu once played the Snowy Mountain map, and he also flipped up the wall here. He seemed to say… that this place shows up in a sniper’s scope if they were in the opposite building or something.]

Just as Qiu Yu flipped himself over the ruin’s wall and tucked himself behind cover, Mu Feibai, behind a narrow gap on a nearby mounted platform, moved his line of sight away from his scope.

“Tsk!” He lowered his voice as much as he could, yet his tone carried a smile, “Are they born in the year of the eel? Not even giving me a chance…”

In his broadcast room, the barrage became even more unscrupulous:

[That’s what you’re like when you’re playing! Do you still have the face to complain about others?] 

[They’re probably also professional, right? To make you want to snipe but not be able to, that’s definitely no amateur.]

[How many times is this now? I remember that person’s hairstyle, how many times has god Mu seen him but not gotten an opportunity to snipe? Hahahaha god Mu… so you also have today!]

[For some reason, I’m suddenly anticipating god Mu flipping the car in this rank-deciding match hehe.]

[Anticipating +1] 

[Flip the car, flip the car! I wanna see him wash his hair in a handstand!]

Mu Feibai put away his gun and rubbed his nose.

“If you’re not giving me a chance then don’t, I don’t want it anyway.” He didn’t get angry, but rather proudly hmphed, “Just wait until I exterminate the other two teams, and then I’ll go play with him for a little.”

After speaking, he turned to leave the sniping spot, moving in the direction opposite Qiu Yu. 

Five minutes later, the players’ PDA refreshed—

Current no. of remaining teams: 2.

Current no. of surviving players: 2.

Qiu Yu watched the player he’d just hunted vanish into bits of light and slowly rose, looking towards the gloomy skies beyond the ruins. 

We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.

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In this tense atmosphere, the barrage refreshed at a speed almost invisible to the eye.

[Ok, I’m sure now, the competition god Mu’s training account is definitely this one!]

[Holy fuck, is this a battle of gods?] 

[Omigosh, anchor, your opponent is god Mu! Are you nervous!!!]

Qiu Yu glances over at the bullet screen in the corner of his vision, catching Xu Qingqing’s series of “AHHHHHH”s just before it was drowned out amongst countless other lines of the barrage.

He wasn’t actually unfamiliar with the title “god Mu”.

Not to mention that the original body regarded god Mu as his idol, Xu Qingqing also mentioned him more than once just within a couple of days Qiu Yu had transmigrated over. It was to the point that he didn’t even need to intentionally search for it and fragments of memory would float to the surface of his thoughts. 

Mu Feibai— “god Mu”, the publicly-acknowledged ultimate war god in the entirety of “Century’s Finale”, and also the Star Alliance game fans’ most eligible bachelor.

Since he entered the Youth League at age 16, he was favoured by professional teams for his outstanding fighting skills and battlefield awareness. After leading the Star District Youth Team to victory for two consecutive years, he was scouted by the veteran e-sports club, the “Eagle Riders EWG”, once again bringing the team to take down two consecutive firsts in the professional league’s Star Alliance Cup.

This was Mu Feibai’s third year of playing in Century’s Finale’s pro league, and everyone was waiting for him to break the Star Alliance Cup’s “three straight wins” cursed—until today, there hasn’t been a single team that could take home three consecutive championships.

Qiu Yu lightly blinked his eyes. 

Judging by the original body’s memories of Mu Feibai’s broadcasts, the other was indeed a battle genius. Whether it was shooting or close combat skills, he could be considered a top-notch elite soldier even in Qiu Yu’s old world, the post-apocalyptic wasteland.

He’s not easy to deal with.

Therefore this cannot be delayed any further.

Once the miasma approaches, both parties would be forced to face off in the fully open, coverless central square, and Qiu Yu couldn’t 100% guarantee a win. 

Now, it was a game between the hunter and the hunted.

Qiu Yu flipped open his PDA to check the miasma’s advancement, before quickly shoving it back into place. Rising, he crept along behind the wall towards the central square.

At the same time, Mu Feibai, who was hunched behind a corner, raised his hand and lightly knocked twice on his earphones.

Older fans in the broadcast room immediately explained: 

[Oho, he’s going silent.]

[god Mu is really getting serious now, going fully silent in a rank-determining match!]

[The opponent is worth it. Definitely a professional player.]

Indeed, Mu Feibai didn’t say anything else, merely placing bullets one by one into the magazine. He took out the bayonet hidden behind his waist and slowly secured it at the end of the barrel. 

This was more mainstream gameplay in “Century’s Finale”, combining assault rifles and bayonets, suitable for both long-distance and close combat, especially in more complex terrains. Even though survival mode didn’t provide any control-type props such as smoke grenades or flash bombs, Mu Feibai had the ability to dominate the battle using a single gun.

At this time, a comment suddenly appeared in the barrage:

[god Mu’s definitely got this in the bag, that other anchor had always been using a bow and arrows and a knife, he didn’t pick up anything else!]

While Mu Feibai didn’t see this comment, the barrage immediately exploded with comments: 

[Holy fuck! Where’s the mods?]

[Whoever you are, are you frickin sick? Don’t you even know, as audiences, it’s forbidden to reveal the opponent’s situation during the game?]

[Kick them! If you don’t block these types of people, are you waiting to celebrate the New Year with them?]

The bullet screen in the corner of his vision was scrolling incessantly, Mu Feibai couldn’t ignore it even if he wanted to. 

Frowning, he looked over just to catch the moderators banning an audience member from the room, before sending three of the same warning: [It’s absolutely forbidden to even raise the opponent’s situation during games! Violators will be banned! Forever!]

Almost at the same time, Qiu Yu’s broadcast room also suddenly grew livelier due to a comment:

[Anchor be careful, god Mu’s using an assault rifle and a bayonet, both maxed out at three stars. When I just left his broadcast room, he was hiding in the ruins to the east of the central square.]

[???] 

[What is happening? Why is there someone revealing the opponent’s position?!]

[Fuck! Is someone going to deal with them?]

Qiu Yu glanced at the bullet screen, unconsciously wrinkling his brows. He didn’t try scrolling through all the comments to report the audience’s ID and neither did he say anything, only raising his hand to silence all the comments.

And then he flipped over some ruins, walking with nimble steps towards the eastern side of the central square as mentioned in the barrage earlier, bow and arrows in hand and a machete at his waist. 

Two minutes later, Qiu Yu stopped before a half-collapsed wall.

The bowstring in his hand was pulled taut, an arrow resting steadily by the tips of his fingers, but he wasn’t aiming anywhere in particular. Instead, he calmly spoke, “Just then, someone exposed your location to me.”

Behind the wall, Mu Feibai immediately changed his position, hiding behind another gap in the wall the moment he heard the first syllable of his opponent’s speech, raising his rifle to aim toward the source of the sound.

Only to hear the calm voice continue speaking, “This wasn’t a fair hunt, therefore, I’ll give you two minutes to change positions. The next time we meet, one of us dies.” 

The barrage in Mu Feibai’s broadcast room was shocked.

[Holy frick! He’s one of a kind!]

[Isn’t this the pride of professional players? Though the barrage exposed the enemy’s situation, he didn’t take advantage of god Mu, and even chose to verbally expose his own position?]

[Am I the only one who thought that their voice sounds really nice? So soft and milky ah, it’s the voice of the Omega of my dreams!] 

The barrage scrolled quickly, urging Mu Feibai to hurry and switch positions.

However, Mu Feibai paused in place for a moment, before lightly laughing, “Heh, there’s only you and me left in this game. We’re going to meet no matter what, so why not just battle it out right here?”

As his voice fell, he raised the rifle, carefully inching along the ruins toward the source of the voice.

Even after a while, there was no response from the other side. 

Mu Feibai was more familiar with this map than his living room at home, quickly meandering around the short wall to the other side, alertly pointing the barrel of his gun towards—

There was no one behind the short wall.

Who knew, the next moment, a speeding arrow suddenly struck him from behind!

Mu Feibai’s expression immediately changed, lunging to the side in a roll to avoid the arrow while pointing the gun muzzle towards the arrow’s source. He almost took out the nimble silhouette in one shot—but ultimately his opponent emerged unscathed. 

An arrow pierces into the collapsed wall, dispersing a cloud of dust.

Accompanying it was a crisp answer. “Sure then.”

Their confrontation lasted no more than a second, yet it was more exhilarating than any of the previous killings.

After a second of pause, the barrage in each of the broadcast rooms quickly started scrolling again: 

[Awesome!]

[This opponent’s pretty gutsy too, daring to proactively ambush god Mu and even escaping unscathed?]

[Giving full marks for this content!]

Mu Feibai was currently going fully silent, hence he didn’t speak to interact with the barrage. Cautiously, he raised his rifle and continued taking the initiative of an attack, moving in the direction the opponent previously showed himself. 

Qiu Yu sat with his back leaning against a piece of rubble, ripped open his first aid kit, and sprinkled an entire bottle of hemostatic medicine onto the bleeding wound on the side of his stomach before speedily wrapping it in gauze. Due to the effect of the medicine, his wound quickly healed and his hp stopped dropping, slowly recovering once more.

Holding the empty medicine bottle in his hand, he paused to listen for a moment before raising his hand and throwing it out, away from the rubble.

The bottle collided with a stone column, instantly shattering into pieces.

The moment the bottle shattered, Qiu Yu quickly tumbled away from his original position. 

A bullet sped towards him, leaving a hole where he had just been sitting against the piece of rubble—the opponent didn’t fall for it.

Seeing he didn’t hit the target in one shot, Mu Feibai immediately withdrew.

The next moment, a figure flashed nearby, before immediately disappearing behind another pile of ruins.

At the same time, Mu Feibai raised his gun, ready to shoot—only to hear the sound of someone falling to the floor. 

But it was still too late.

The swift arrow arced in the air soundlessly, following an extremely tricky trajectory, grazing the edge of Mu Feibai’s cover before slamming into his chest, piercing straight through his heart. The immense momentum made him stumble a couple of steps, before his body fell uncontrollably, face first, to the ground.

His vision faded into a grey screen, while the barrage was scrolling at almost unreadable speeds.

Mu Feibai lay in the game cabin. He raised his hand to his chest, feeling the remnants of pain. 

After a moment, he slowly raised a corner of his mouth and chuckled, “…how interesting.”