Chapter 359: The Critical Point About to be Breached

The match between Brenna and Talitaluosi began quickly; Yun Mu sat below the stage, watching the map sand table with a focused expression.

The map for this match was named 【Deep Water Bomb】; although the name contained the word "water," it was not a map that required fighting on the sea.

If one were to ask why, the answer was that there was only one piece of land on this map.

Even without relying on naval units, it was possible to reach the other side's base, though it was quite difficult.

This brings us to the overall structure of this map.

Viewed from an aerial perspective, the entire map appeared in an X-shape, with the most massive landmass in the center, divided into inner and outer layers by cliffs, with a rich Zhenxi Kuangmai located on the inner layer.

At the other four ends of the X were four random spawn points, each with a wooden bridge leading to the largest landmass in the center.

In the Old Days Front, bridges could be destroyed.

Once destroyed, they required repair workers to spend Resource Point and time to fix them.

As long as one destroyed the bridge at their own doorstep and played like a turtle, it was very difficult for the enemy's land units to attack.

If that were the case, wouldn't one have to use a navy to decide the winner? No, no, do not forget the large Zhenxi Kuangmai above the central landmass of the map.

Mining one load was equivalent to others mining two; with the same number of Mining Vehicle, the person who occupied the Zhenxi Kuangmai would develop at a much faster speed!

No one would allow their opponent to pocket this vast mineral vein.

Therefore, in the early stages of the match, both sides would definitely compete for this central Zhenxi Kuangmai.

And this was exactly what Yun Mu was worried about.

Talitaluosi's advantage lay in his operations, while Brenna was more skilled at late-game management.

If they were to compete for this central Zhenxi Kuangmai, Brenna would undoubtedly fall into a disadvantage.

This was like comparing one's own weaknesses to an enemy's strengths; it was a completely thankless endeavor.

But if she chose to give up the competition, Brenna would inevitably face unimaginable pressure before Talitaluosi mined out the Zhenxi Kuangmai.

In this situation, it was really hard to guess what choice she would make.

Yun Mu thought with some anticipation.

The match began; Brenna routinely clicked out two repair workers, then began building an Energy Plant and a Barracks.

After the Barracks was completed, she immediately dispatched a mechanical dog to scout the center of the map for vision.

Talitaluosi's operations were not much different from hers, and the two mechanical dogs eventually met at the Zhenxi Kuangmai in the center of the map.

Competing in operations with Talitaluosi was obviously meaningless; Brenna directly set a path, letting her mechanical dog take a detour to run toward the path the opponent's mechanical dog had come from.

Mechanical dogs could instantly kill small mechanical units, and these small units naturally included the opponent's mechanical dog.

As long as the operation was proper, it was not impossible for one mechanical dog to wipe out an entire wave of mechanical dogs.

If one lacked confidence in their own operations, it was best to let the mechanical dog avoid the opponent.

After all, no one would equip a mechanical dog with skills, and with both sides having the same speed, the opponent's mechanical dog could do nothing to you if you kept running.

Unfortunately, Talitaluosi had built a Combat Bunker in front of the bridge at his doorstep.

Brenna ultimately failed to see the situation inside Talitaluosi's base.

As for Talitaluosi's mechanical dog? She did not see it; it was likely hiding in some corner, and because of the fog of war, she could not find where it was for the time being, so she could only give up.

However, to prevent that mechanical dog from sneaking in to see the vision inside her base, Brenna still arranged a squad of executors in front of the bridge.

At the same time, in the fog of war, dozens of executors and two repair workers emerged from Talitaluosi's base, crossed the bridge, and began building an Ore Refinery and a Barracks in the center of the island.

Brenna seemed to have no intention of competing for the Zhenxi Kuangmai at all; after finishing the Ore Refinery, she built an Architectural Dock by the sea.

Then she used the dock to build an 【Amphibious Transport Ship】 and a 【Destroyer】 to escort the repair workers to the spawn island closest to her.

And she used the 【Destroyer】 to destroy the bridge in front of her base and the bridge on the nearest spawn island.

After the Amphibious Transport Ship arrived at its destination, it immediately began building an 【Ore Refinery】.

That's right, Brenna did not intend to compete with Talitaluosi for the Zhenxi Kuangmai in the center of the map.

Instead, she used the dock and the Amphibious Transport Ship to send repair workers to other spawn islands to build mining sites.

Although doing this could not compare to the Resource Point output of the Zhenxi Kuangmai, but! Hadn't she broken the bridges?

This way, even if Talitaluosi was very wealthy, it would be difficult for him to defeat her with land units alone.

And if he wanted to build a navy... Brenna's Destroyer would tell him what command of the sea meant.

Thinking this, Brenna controlled the Destroyer and headed toward the sea area near Talitaluosi's side.

However, the next second, she ran into Talitaluosi's Submarine on the sea.

The plane on the Destroyer suddenly took off and launched a round of bombing at the Submarine hidden under the sea.

And Talitaluosi's Submarine was clearly not a pushover; after being attacked, it immediately fired torpedoes at Brenna's Destroyer.

It turned out that the fourth building Talitaluosi built was also a dock.

And because Brenna did not compete with him for the central territory, he very smoothly took the Zhenxi Kuangmai.

It could be said he suffered no losses.

And with the massive funds provided by the Zhenxi Kuangmai, he could completely build land units while expanding his navy.

This was the most important point that Brenna had previously overlooked! In a situation where she could not compete for command of the sea, everything she had planned was impossible to achieve.

For this reason, she had even specifically built the dock the moment it was unlocked; she hadn't expected Talitaluosi to have built his dock at the fastest speed as well.

Come to think of it, if the opponent was Talitaluosi, how could he not understand the importance of command of the sea?

She had actually thought the opponent would build a Tank Factory and an Ore Refinery... she had underestimated him.

There was no possibility of winning this match anymore.

After a few tentative engagements yielded no results, and she was defeated because her production capacity was inferior.

Brenna shook her head and decisively chose to surrender.

"A pity."

Below the stage, Yun Mu shook her head with regret after seeing Brenna surrender.

In her view, on the Deep Water Bomb map, one must occupy at least one of either the Zhenxi Kuangmai in the center or the command of the sea to have any possibility of winning.

And Brenna, she didn't occupy either.

To explain the reason for this is actually quite complex, but to summarize it, it really only comes down to one word.

That is, "noob."

Brenna is more of a noob than Talitaluosi, so she couldn't win; it's that simple.

Although Yun Mu really hoped Brenna could win, looking at the current situation, there was probably no hope left.

She could only prepare herself to face Talitaluosi.

The second match began quickly, and this time Brenna was clearly much more serious.

She absolutely would not allow herself to make the low-level mistake of underestimating her opponent like in the previous match. It was precisely because of this mindset that she played this match quite cautiously, so cautiously that even Talitaluosi couldn't do much about her in the short term.

And in the subsequent exchanges, Brenna displayed astonishing resilience, successfully turning the tide in situations where it seemed she would lose the match several times, until the final wave pushed and leveled Talitaluosi's base.

"Finally, I won."

Looking at the victory icon for the match in front of her, Brenna let out a deep breath.

She had given everything for this match, and what it brought was, at that moment, at forty-five minutes and twenty-eight seconds, the victory.

She probably wouldn't be able to win the subsequent matches.

But... Brenna turned her head to look, her gaze seemingly able to pierce through the walls of the Duel Pod.

It wasn't time to give up yet; at the very least, she had to let Miss Yun see more of Talitaluosi's operations.

Thinking of this, Brenna's eyes became resilient once again.

She straightened her body, preparing to face the challenges of the final few matches.

Brenna's efforts were meaningful.

After nearly an hour and a half had passed, Talitaluosi finally defeated her.

At this time, the match score was 2:3, which meant that Brenna was actually only one match win away from defeating Talitaluosi.

It was a pity she still lost the final match, but that was something that couldn't be helped.

However, Yun Mu looked down at the Personal Terminal in her hand, the corners of her mouth slightly raised.

【She really tried her best, sob sob sob.】

【Those last few operations really made me cry.】

【She knew she couldn't win, but she still went for it, firing the ship cannons with tears in her eyes!】

【I am Miss Mechanical Gear's dog!!】

Hey, she couldn't pretend she didn't see that last barrage comment.

Brenna's dog should be her! Ahem, just kidding.

She is a cat, how could she possibly be a dog?

Was the joke supposed to be there!?

"Leave the rest to me." Standing up to greet Brenna, Yun Mu hugged her head and whispered softly: "Rest well, you've already worked very hard."

Thanks to Brenna's efforts, not only was Talitaluosi's stamina exhausted, but she also gained a deeper understanding of Talitaluosi's operational style.

She would never let down Brenna's intentions!

So, go ahead and lose, Talitaluosi!

【Map: Deep Water Bomb】

【Size: Neutral】

【Resources: Abundant】

【Player ID: Yun (Red) vs Talitaluosi (Purple)】

It was actually this map? Sometimes Yun Mu really doubted whether the show's official team would pull some small tricks, such as at this very moment.

The map for Brenna and Talitaluosi's first match was this one, and Brenna even lost; now that it was her turn, why was the first map still this one? But it didn't matter; regardless of whether there were small tricks or something else, she wouldn't lose.

Yun Mu had already thought of a strategy in her heart.

As soon as the game started, she first built two repairmen, then directly controlled the Command Center to ascend and fly toward the Zhenxi Kuangmai in the center of the map!

As for the repairmen left at home, they began to build structures, an Energy Plant and a Barracks, and after construction was completed, they surrounded them with walls.

Immediately after, the two repairmen caught up with the Command Center and arrived at the Zhenxi Kuangmai in the center of the map first.

And the mechanical dog that Talitaluosi used to scout for vision was also here at this time.

Then, then the mechanical dog was burned to death by the repairmen using a Flamethrower.

That's right, Yun Mu had equipped the repairmen with the Flamethrower skill; in close-quarters situations, these repairmen were even better at fighting than executors!

And after burning Talitaluosi's mechanical dog to death, Yun Mu let the Command Center land and began to build a structure, an Ore Refinery.

Didn't expect that, did you? She started by rushing to the center!

Command of the sea? What kind of thing is that? She had already moved the Command Center to the center of the map; no matter how awesome your units at sea were, could they even hit her? And relying on the Resource Point provided by the Zhenxi Kuangmai, she could completely develop technology rapidly and then attack with high-tech aerial units.

This way, even if Talitaluosi cut the bridge, it would have no meaning.

Of course, the premise of all this was that she had to defend this Zhenxi Kuangmai in the middle.

But do you remember?

When Talitaluosi was playing against Brenna, what was the building he immediately built after finishing the Ore Refinery? That's right, it was the Shipyard! This meant his Tank Factory would inevitably be one step slower than Yun Mu's, and the number of Flash Silver Tanks would definitely not be as many as hers.

Plus, since she was playing on home turf, it was almost impossible for Talitaluosi to take her down.

And in the early stages when the number of unit types was scarce, the opponent's specialty of splitting units for control was completely useless.

This match belonged to her, no, it belonged to her and Brenna, their complete victory!

Take this, Talitaluosi, this is the bond between her and Brenna!

From the moment she occupied the Zhenxi Kuangmai, she was already in an invincible position.

While Yun Mu and Talitaluosi were passionately clashing, far away on the other side, somewhere underground within the Federation.

On the Mainframe screen of the Old Legion, a blinding red light lit up once again.

【Erosion level increase detected. Current erosion level is—38.86%】

【Approaching critical threshold. The Legion is initiating combat readiness status!】

【System is booting up.】

Deep blue Magic Energy radiance was transported along the intricate energy circuits to every factory under the Old Legion.

Yet at the competition site of the Old Days Front, no one noticed that the liquid Magic beneath the energy pool had quietly subsided by approximately 0.1 millimeters.

"Has it already reached this point?"

The God of Decay and Necromancy Fen Yege stood atop the highest building in Feiluoka; beside him sat a woman who was savoring fine wine.

"Ah—is that thing about to make a comeback?" the woman said in a somewhat languid voice.

"Indeed," Fen Yege nodded gently, "Even buried deep underground, the aura remaining within those bones is about to dissipate."

"." The woman looked at Fen Yege with a puzzled gaze: "The one here is your true body, right?"

"Even my avatar is about to run for it, so why are you still staying here?" she said.

"For hope," Fen Yege replied with words that were somewhat inexplicable.

At least, that was how it seemed to the God of Wine and Victory.

(End of chapter)