The group walked toward the Wandering Circus meeting room.
Wang Shun followed behind Bai Liu, glancing back from time to time at the small warehouse whose door remained tightly shut. "Is Mu Ke really going to be okay? It's extremely difficult to regain clarity after being forcibly merged with someone else's memories."
"He's fine for now," Bai Liu replied lightly. "He'll handle it himself."
"And if he can't, I will." He paused. "For now, give me the recent report."
Only then did Wang Shun reluctantly relax. Hugging a stack of folders to his chest, he hurried forward and opened the conference room door for Bai Liu.
Bai Liu inclined his head slightly in polite thanks.
Wang Shun placed the documents neatly on the long table and pulled out the main seat. Bai Liu sat down. Liu Jiayi, Tang Erda, and Mu Sicheng took seats along both sides of the table.
Standing at the end, Wang Shun opened his system panel. A massive translucent interface unfolded in midair, like a projected presentation.
"First," Wang Shun began formally, "let me go over the league structure."
"The league is divided into three stages: pre-season, mid-season, and playoffs."
"The pre-season is what we're about to enter. It consists mainly of newly formed teams with little foundation, as well as weaker veteran teams. The format is random matchups—each round, you face a randomly assigned opponent. Win, and you advance. Lose, and you're eliminated."
"The top two teams—the champion and runner-up—advance to the postseason challenge. All other pre-season teams are eliminated."
He tapped the panel, and the slide shifted.
"The mid-season uses a round-robin points system."
"Participants include the top 30 teams from last year's league rankings, plus the two teams that advanced from last year's pre-season—32 teams in total."
"There are 496 matches in total. Each team plays every other team once, 31 rounds. Each round includes singles, doubles, and a team match."
"A win in singles earns 1 point. Doubles earns 3 points. Team matches earn 8 points."
"After all 496 matches, the top eight teams by total points advance to the playoffs. The bottom two teams are disqualified from next year's mid-season and must return to the pre-season. Their slots go to this year's pre-season champion and runner-up."
He offered an example.
"For instance, last year's pre-season champion was the Killer Sequence. This year, they don't need to start from the pre-season and can directly enter mid-season. Meanwhile, the two teams that ranked lowest in last year's mid-season must begin again from pre-season."
Wang Shun's expression grew serious.
"What I'm about to report next is critical. Although most pre-season teams aren't particularly strong, there are two teams you must be cautious of."
"They're the two teams eliminated from last year's mid-season."
"One is called Russell Cemetery. The other is Furious Lambs."
He clicked again. A dark, ominous cemetery emblem appeared on the panel.
"This is Russell Cemetery's insignia. The year before last, they ranked 12th. Last year, they ranked 8th in the mid-season and entered the playoffs. During the challenge round, they were drawn against the Killer Sequence."
Wang Shun exhaled slowly.
"I think we can all guess the outcome. The Killer Sequence won—but at a high cost. One member died, and Spades was severely injured, nearly fatally. It was a brutal victory."
Mu Sicheng frowned. "Wait. If Russell Cemetery made the top eight and entered the playoffs, they shouldn't have been eliminated from mid-season, right? Why are they back in pre-season this year?"
Wang Shun's gaze lingered on the cemetery emblem.
"It's complicated."
"In the challenge stage—commonly called 'Ten into Eight'—the pre-season champion and runner-up randomly challenge two of the eight playoff teams."
"If the challengers win, they replace those teams in the playoffs. If they lose, the original eight proceed."
"The two teams that lose in the challenge compete for 9th and 10th place."
"After losing to the Killer Sequence, Russell Cemetery entered the ranking match for 9th and 10th. During that match, their tactician made a critical error. The entire team was wiped out."
Silence fell over the room.
Mu Sicheng subconsciously glanced at Bai Liu.
…A tactician really does determine everything.
"Russell Cemetery ultimately placed 10th," Wang Shun continued. "By rights, they could have participated in this year's mid-season. Instead, they voluntarily relinquished their qualification and chose to restart from the pre-season."
The panel shifted to team data.
"Russell Cemetery is nicknamed the 'Double Cannon Team.' The reason is simple: they immediately forfeit singles and doubles upon entering the league—firing two blanks—and focus solely on team matches."
"Because they abandon individual matches and produce no standout performers, they have no star players. In Russell Cemetery, individual players are not important."
Wang Shun brought up a column of figures. "These are their league casualties over the years."
Mu Sicheng's eyes widened. "Last year alone, over 80 deaths in mid-season?!"
"Yes. In 31 matches, they lost 82 players—an average of 2.64 deaths per team match. And that's after forfeiting singles and doubles."
"Why so many?!" Mu Sicheng was genuinely shaken.
Bai Liu studied the data calmly. "Their core tactic must revolve around tailoring skill usage to specific opponents, correct?"
Wang Shun looked at him. "Yes. Russell Cemetery prepares over 500 reserve members each year."
Bai Liu nodded faintly. "Most of them are new players."
"Correct. Most have never participated in the league. Even in their match against the Killer Sequence, their lineup was almost entirely rookies."
Mu Sicheng turned toward Bai Liu, baffled. "How did you figure that out? What does that even mean?"
"A high rookie turnover rate. High casualties. Forfeiting individual matches. No star cultivation. Full focus on team battles." Bai Liu looked at him evenly. "It's clearly a sacrificial strategy."
Mu Sicheng blinked. "What strategy?"
Bai Liu pulled a blank sheet of paper between them and wrote a single word: [Skill]
"Among every batch of new players, the first to clear a game gains a skill identity," Bai Liu explained. "For example, mine is Poor Wanderer. Yours is Capuchin Monkey Thief. Captain Tang's is Withered Rose Hunter."
"Our personal skills derive from these identities. Sometimes one skill. Sometimes several."
"These identities are generated based on a player's core desires. Different desires produce different skill identities—and therefore vastly different abilities."
"However, high-quality skills—those that are powerful, scalable, and practical in league play—are rare. Most players' skills are either poorly suited for combat, lack growth potential, or are situational and awkward."
"Players who possess all three advantages are extremely scarce. That's why major guilds aggressively recruit them."
He glanced at Mu Sicheng with a faint smile. "Like the King's Guild did with you."
"Don't bring that up," Mu Sicheng muttered irritably. "But what does that have to do with Russell Cemetery's insane casualty rate?"
"It has everything to do with it," Bai Liu said softly.
"As a middling guild with no star players and limited appeal, Russell Cemetery cannot compete for high-quality recruits."
"So they recruit in bulk."
He wrote another word: [Targeted]
"If they can't win through quality, they compensate with quantity."
Mu Sicheng shivered. "But only five players can field in a team match! They can't just use human wave tactics!"
"Five rookies with second-tier skills facing a top guild," he muttered. "No wonder people die."
Wang Shun shook his head.
"On the contrary. Despite their high mortality rate, Russell Cemetery's team-match win rate is extremely high."
He switched the slide again.
"According to last year's data, excluding the singles and doubles they forfeited, Russell Cemetery played 31 team matches."
"They won 29."
"Their team-match win rate was 93.55%."
"They lost only twice—once to the King's Guild under tactician Hearts, and once to the Deer Hunter under the Killer Sequence's tactician, Reverse God."
Mu Sicheng stared at the number, stunned. "…That win rate is outrageous."