Chapter 356: The Finals and the Upcoming New Year

Seeing a Flash Silver Tank crawl out of Brenna's Tank Factory, Yikeshi'er knew her plan to suppress Brenna had failed.

There was no benefit in a head-on clash at a time like this, so she decisively controlled her units to Retreat.

However, she did not run all the way back, choosing instead to linger in front of the Gate of Brenna's base.

Only that Flash Silver Tank with low health puffed black smoke all the way back into the base, waiting for the not-yet-completed Repair Factory.

"This won't do."

In the player preparation area, Yun Mu shook her head as she watched Yikeshi'er's operations.

Although a low-health Flash Silver Tank was of little use, if she just pulled it back like that, Brenna would be left facing only two Flash Silver Tanks! Yikeshi'er's fourth Flash Silver Tank was still seconds away from reaching the battlefield, and Brenna clearly would not let this opportunity slip by.

Sure enough, upon seeing Yikeshi'er's low-health Flash Silver Tank return home, Brenna immediately had her own Flash Silver Tanks and Executors press forward.

At the same time, inside the Tank Factory, the second Flash Silver Tank finished production.

The number of Flash Silver Tanks was equal, and she had the support of Executors—the advantage was hers!

Brenna struck decisively, scaring Yikeshi'er into hurriedly ordering her Flash Silver Tanks to Retreat.

Brenna's troops followed closely in pursuit, and the momentum of the two sides had suddenly reversed.

This situation lasted until Yikeshi'er's Flash Silver Tank reinforcements arrived.

The two sides thus remained deadlocked in the middle of the map.

But Brenna was undoubtedly at an advantage, because she had one more Mining Vehicle than Yikeshi'er.

This also meant her development speed would be faster.

In the game Old Days Front, even an advantage of a few seconds was extremely important, let alone being ahead by one Mining Vehicle!

Brenna was in no hurry at all, beginning to climb the tech tree step by step.

On the other side, Yikeshi'er's operations were much the same, only unlike Brenna, her Resource Points were not very abundant.

In other words, she was supply-blocked.

With no other choice, Yikeshi'er could only temporarily halt the production of Flash Silver Tanks and spend all her money on climbing the tech tree.

In any case, with the fog of war, Brenna couldn't know the specific situation at her home... or could she? Watching Yikeshi'er's military strength, which hadn't increased from the very beginning, Brenna couldn't help but feel a bit suspicious.

Although she couldn't see the scene inside the fog of war, and logically Yikeshi'er might be hiding troops in a place outside her vision, she believed it was more likely that her opponent simply had no money to mass-produce units.

Using the Radar skill to scout the vision, although it could only illuminate the area around the opponent's base, it was enough for Brenna.

Seeing that Yikeshi'er had built a Combat Laboratory just like her despite her poor economic development, Brenna instantly concluded that there were not many units at her opponent's home.

As for her, she hadn't stopped the production of combat units while climbing the tech tree! Fourteen Flash Silver Tanks—the advantage was hers!

No need to wait for the Combat Laboratory's research; now was the time to march! F2A!

Ura!

Brenna pulled the Executors from her base, and all combat units charged directly toward Yikeshi'er's defensive line.

In just one wave, the six Flash Silver Tanks Yikeshi'er had guarding the center of the map were destroyed.

"Surrender, I surrender!"

Yikeshi'er pressed the surrender button without hesitation; she had lost this match.

In fact, if she hadn't retreated at the start and had instead chosen to continue massing troops to suppress, she might have been able to defeat Brenna.

But there were no "ifs"; a loss was a loss. Yikeshi'er adjusted her mindset, preparing to face the second match.

This time the map was a small bayonet map, with a fairly narrow area.

There were only two square landmasses in total, connected by two relatively rugged mountain roads in the middle, while the remaining terrain was all ocean.

The map was distributed symmetrically, and both sides' spawn points had only one small Zhenxi Kuangmai and two Zuijing Pingtai, with an initial capital of ten thousand.

With just this amount of money, it was definitely impossible to develop to the late game.

The two roads in the middle were too rugged, and it was clearly impossible to place buildings on them.

The roads were also too narrow for Flash Silver Tanks to attack, as they would be lined up and picked off by the opponent.

So, one either developed a navy, or one could only... "Ta-ta-ta-ta!"

The Executors of both sides kept Shooting on the narrow attack road, neither willing to Retreat a single step.

This was where the importance of equipping skills for Executors was demonstrated; Yikeshi'er forced Brenna's Executors back with unstoppable momentum and then continued to push forward.

Brenna hurriedly built walls to block the exit, intending to change her strategy.

She hadn't expected Yikeshi'er to have also equipped her Executors with the Hand Grenade throwing skill, and before long, the walls she had built were destroyed.

With no other choice, Brenna could only choose to surrender.

This map was simply too unfriendly to her.

Why couldn't one check the map before deciding which skills to bring?

Brenna felt the competition format of Old Days Front was not very reasonable; if possible, she hoped the Joy Company would modify the competition process.

As for now, since it was the first time such a competition was being held, it was normal to lack experience, so she wouldn't hold it against them.

The third match began quickly.

This time, the playstyles of both sides were relatively conventional, and nothing seemed strange.

And this kind of match was exactly what Brenna excelled at.

Relying on her rich experience in operations and late-game handling, she finally managed to crush Yikeshi'er's troops at the fifteen-minute mark without any danger, winning the match.

One last match remained; as long as Brenna won once more, she would be able to advance to the top five.

Yikeshi'er pursed her lips at this moment, silently beginning the fourth contest.

This time, the two of them fought for nearly thirty minutes, and almost all the Mining Field on the map were mined to exhaustion.

The back-and-forth contest between the two sides made the audience at the scene gasp in exclamation.

And at the commentary desk, the two commentators were not at all lethargic from the long match time; instead, they became increasingly spirited, describing the situation on the field with rapid-fire speed.

In the end, Yikeshi'er was still one move short; after being ambushed by Brenna, her main force was wiped out, and she lost the match.

"Whew."

Yikeshi'er walked out of the Duel Pod and let out a long sigh of relief.

"Well played." She walked up to Brenna and gave her shoulder a firm pat.

"You played well too," Brenna responded with a smile.

The two chatted and laughed as they returned to the preparation area, a scene noticed by many spectators at the venue. The female commentator, who had originally wanted to take the opportunity to drink some water, saw this and didn't even bother; she hurriedly said, "Mechanical Gear and Jinmao Shiwan shared a smile after the match ended. It seems they both consider each other worthy opponents."

"Well played, you two," Yun Mu said, standing up and clapping when she saw Brenna and Yikeshi'er return.

"Haha." Yikeshi'er gave a dry laugh and said nothing.

But soon, she thought of something: "There's only one match left today, right?"

"That's right," Yun Mu nodded. "Now only the first and second seeds haven't faced each other yet."

Talitaluosi and... Butter Fried Fish.

Wasn't it said that the matches and pairings were completely random? How did it happen that the final match was exactly the first and second seeds?

But to say it was intentionally arranged didn't seem very reasonable either.

Who would make the number one and number two ranked players fight right from the start?

"No need to watch, the winner is definitely Talitaluosi," Vivian suddenly spoke up at this moment.

She placed one hand on her chest and said quite confidently, "Talitaluosi won't lose. He still has to help me teach that guy called Teacup a lesson."

This girl... Yun Mu raised an eyebrow. Although she also believed Talitaluosi wouldn't lose, seeing Vivian like this still left her speechless.

Talitaluosi being strong has nothing to do with you, why are you the one acting so proud here?

Of course, she was just complaining to herself in her heart; she didn't have any malicious intent.

The match began quickly.

The map for the first game was very well-suited to Butter Fried Fish's playstyle.

It was not only large but also easy to defend and hard to attack, very suitable for developing into the late game.

Butter Fried Fish equipped the Command Center with the Fortress transformation skill, and combined with defensive structures like the Combat Bunker and Anti-aircraft Turret, he blocked every path of attack, making it as solid as a rock.

However, Talitaluosi used his superb troop-splitting techniques to constantly harass and erode Butter Fried Fish's territory and units from every direction.

This playstyle of his was certainly steady, but it had a quite fatal flaw.

That was using too many Resource Points on defense, so there wasn't much money left to use for attacking.

Although one could win by taking advantage of the defender's convenience to constantly drain the enemy's economy and strike at their morale while enjoying oneself, but... what if the attacker could gradually cannibalize his defensive structures without suffering any losses at all?

In that case, defense would just be simple defense.

It was destined to be unable to achieve victory.

Facing Talitaluosi's multi-line operations, Butter Fried Fish was beaten into a state of panic, completely unable to handle the situation on every battlefield simultaneously.

Finally, at the twenty-five-minute mark, he was beaten to the point of exhaustion and had to choose to surrender.

"Truly an impressive match; both are players with quite distinct personal styles," the male commentator picked up his water cup and moistened his throat.

"Yes, the two are just like spear and shield, constantly showing us the art of offense and defense," the female commentator continued, following the male commentator's lead.

"This was just a one-sided beating, wasn't it..." Yun Mu thought to herself, listening to the two commentators.

If Talitaluosi wanted to, he wouldn't have given Butter Fried Fish any time to develop into the late game at all.

And even if he let him develop into the late game, the result would just be a waste of a little more time.

If he couldn't win in this situation, there was no need to keep watching.

In less than eight minutes, Talitaluosi cleanly and efficiently defeated Butter Fried Fish and successfully advanced.

The speed was so fast that even the male commentator, who had prepared not to drink water and was ready for a long-drawn-out "bladder match" with the two duelists, was somewhat surprised.

But it was only somewhat surprised.

He quickly reacted, announced the end of today's matches, and announced the subsequent match schedule.

It would be tomorrow, at the same time as this morning, still using the random draw method. The successfully advanced players would determine the final Champion—all in one day! And after the finals, the Old Days Front would also hold activities related to the New Year.

But that didn't have much to do with Yun Mu and the others.

After all, the reason she and Brenna were participating in the competition was just to acquire knowledge regarding Prosthetic Modification.

Come to think of it, while sailing on the sea, Brenna once had the idea of spending money to have the Federation company perform the body modification for Elena.

But in the end, she gave up on it.

First, the Federation company only knew technology related to Magic Energy; once away from the Federation, if they couldn't replenish Magic Energy, then even if Elena was successfully resurrected, it would be meaningless.

Second, she didn't trust them; it was best to leave such important matters to herself.

It was hard for her to fully trust that bunch of money-grubbing guys in the Federation.

"Speaking of which," while walking on the way back, Yun Mu suddenly thought of something. She turned her head to look at Brenna: "The first day of the New Year is Brenna's birthday, right?"

"Hm? Yes, my birthday is indeed on January 1st." Hearing her words, Brenna came back to her senses.

"Well, if only we could save Elena before then," Yun Mu revealed a faint smile on her face. "That way Elena could make it to the birthday party."

Brenna knew that Yun Mu was feigning optimism to comfort her; perhaps she had been misunderstood by Yun Mu just now when she was distracted.

"She will make it," she said.

Even though she herself had no confidence at all.

"Oh, right." Just at this moment, Yun Mu seemed to have suddenly thought of something.

She looked at Brenna and chuckled: "Although it might be a bit early to say this, but... Happy Soul-Returning Night!"

Soul-Returning Night is a holiday of the Frost Kingdom, held on the 32nd of November every year.

It is similar to a combination of Earth's Christmas and Halloween. It is said that on the night of November 32nd, the souls of the dead return to the human world to spend the night before the end of the cold winter with their friends and family.

Like Earth's Halloween, people in the Frost Kingdom wear all kinds of monster costumes on Soul-Returning Night so that those returning spirits won't feel out of place.

It's just that it lacks the part where children ask adults for candy, which also made Yun Mu realize that this place is not Earth.

No, it should be said.

If it were Earth, there wouldn't even be a November 32nd, haha.

Actually, Yun Mu was quite interested in the Soul-Returning Night of this world, but it was a pity they were currently in the Beastkin Federation and probably couldn't go back. Wait, she seemed to have a way to go back.

She had experimented with the Ultra-long Distance Teleportation of the Divine Blood Pendant herself, but she had not yet reached a conclusion on the question of whether it could transport people along with her.

It should, be possible, right.

(End of this chapter)