Chapter 331 - 313: The Dust Gradually Settles

Chapter 331: Chapter 313: The Dust Gradually Settles

Ling Xiaoru and Chu Yiwei were also very happy.

Because they had both participated in today’s competition.

Now it was time to eat.

After dinner, they would take a shower and have a good night’s sleep. They needed to be ready to welcome the top 10 finals tomorrow.

...

「The next day.」

At seven in the morning, not long after Li You got up, Ling Xiaoru and Chu Yiwei also woke up.

The thought of the top 10 finals today made them too excited to sleep any longer.

The three of them went downstairs together. Shortly after they opened the shop’s doors, customers began to arrive one after another.

Apparently, Ling Xiaoru and Chu Yiwei were far from the only ones too excited to sleep.

"Morning, Boss! A large bowl of beef noodles. And a bowl of wine."

"Drinking this early in the morning?"

"HAHAHA! I get excited just thinking about the competition today, so I feel like having a drink. I never drink in the morning usually."

Li You laughed, showing that he understood.

More and more customers filled the shop. After arriving, everyone ordered noodles right away.

Although they could have had breakfast at home before coming, everyone clearly preferred to eat noodles here.

A bowl of noodles wasn’t expensive, after all.

Seeing others drinking, some people suddenly felt like having a drink too and ordered some wine.

Beef noodles with wine didn’t seem like a bad combination.

Wang Ge Fei, Lu Xiangyun, Liu Bowen, and the other top 10 contestants also arrived early.

They couldn’t sleep either.

Since they couldn’t sleep, they figured they might as well come here early to warm up.

Today’s opponents were all experts. Whoever made the fewest mistakes might just become the champion.

Their feel for the controls was crucial.

Time slowly ticked by to nine in the morning, and the venue was already as bustling as it had been yesterday.

Everyone was excitedly discussing who had the best chance of becoming the champion.

A little while later, Jiang Caidong, Liang Heng, the Wei Ping family, as well as Liu Xu, Xiao Yue, Zhang Rui’Er, and others arrived. Xia Xiaoyue, Mu Qingye, and their classmates also showed up.

The venue grew even livelier.

Amidst everyone’s anticipation, the time slowly reached 10 a.m.

The top 10 finals officially began.

The top 10 finals used a point system. Each person had to face the other nine contestants twice.

For these two matches, the Player 1 and Player 2 positions would be swapped.

Each win earned 3 points, while a loss earned 0 points.

In the end, the rankings would be determined by the total points, from highest to lowest.

If there was a tie in points, a tie-breaker match would be held for the corresponding rank bracket.

The rules of the competition were quite simple.

To win the championship, or even just to get a higher rank, one had to win as many matches as possible.

Once the competition started, every match was incredibly exciting, and the entire audience was having a blast.

As one match ended after another, the rankings of the 10 contestants became clearer, yet they were also constantly changing.

Wang Ge Fei, with a perfect record of six wins and 18 points, was temporarily ranked first.

Lu Xiangyun, with five wins and one loss in six matches for 15 points, was temporarily tied for second place with another contestant who also had 15 points.

The center of attention, Mu Qingye, had won three and lost three of her six matches, earning 9 points and temporarily placing fifth.

...

The contestants’ points and rankings kept changing, and the atmosphere in the venue grew increasingly tense.

All the spectators in the audience could feel this tense atmosphere.

They became tense as well.

But along with the tension, they also felt a great deal of excitement.

This was why you had to come and watch the competition in person, to experience the atmosphere firsthand.

If you just sat at home waiting for the results, it would be impossible to experience this kind of tension and thrill.

The competition continued, and the atmosphere became more and more tense and thrilling.

Finally, all the matches were over, and the contestants’ rankings were set.

Of course, they were only temporarily set.

Because there were ties.

Wang Ge Fei and Lu Xiangyun were tied with 48 points each, sharing first place.

A contestant named Chen Dong was in third place with 42 points.

Then, two other contestants were tied for fourth place with 36 points each.

Mu Qingye had 30 points, ranking sixth.

There were no ties for the seventh and eighth places that followed.

Finally, Liu Bowen, who had entered the top 10 as a dark horse, was tied for ninth place with another contestant, both having 9 points.

In other words, the final ranks for Chen Dong (3rd), Mu Qingye (6th), and the contestants in 7th and 8th place were now set.

Meanwhile, Wang Ge Fei, Lu Xiangyun, and the other four tied contestants had to play tie-breaker matches for their respective rank brackets.

This meant that Wang Ge Fei and Lu Xiangyun would face off in a championship tie-breaker.

The winner would be the champion, the loser the runner-up.

The two contestants tied for fourth would play a tie-breaker for fourth place.

The winner would rank fourth, and the loser fifth.

Finally, Liu Bowen and the contestant tied with him would play a tie-breaker for ninth place.

The winner would rank ninth, and the loser tenth.

A ten-minute break.

The tie-breaker matches would begin in ten minutes.

The six contestants participating in the tie-breakers used the time to adjust their condition.

Meanwhile, the four contestants not in the tie-breakers completely relaxed.

’It’s finally over.’

Regarding their results, the four of them felt a mix of slight regret and satisfaction.

Chen Dong, who took third place, was a member of Liu Xu’s foodie group chat.

He also had the best result of anyone in the group.

Because neither Wang Ge Fei nor Lu Xiangyun were in the group.

There were two others from the group: one ranked seventh, and another who was about to play a tie-breaker against Liu Bowen for ninth place.

The three of them didn’t have the best overall performance, but securing a third-place finish was still quite good.

It was just a shame that the champion didn’t come from their group.

Chen Dong posted in the group chat, "I’m so sorry, I couldn’t bring home the championship for everyone. I only managed to get third place in the end."

Everyone in the group was naturally disappointed that the champion wasn’t one of them.

But it was no big deal. Third place was an excellent result and not easy to achieve.

The results of the other two members were also impressive.

Although their ranks were on the lower end of the top 10, they were still absolute standouts among all the competitors in the tournament.

So, the group members were already very happy.

"It’s a shame we didn’t get the champion, sure. But you guys were amazing. We’re proud of you."

"That’s right. And now, let’s all cheer for Yuan Hao. Hope he can beat Liu Bowen in the tie-breaker and take ninth place."

"Yeah, let’s cheer for Yuan Hao together."

"..."

Yuan Hao was the contestant set to face Liu Bowen for ninth place. Seeing the encouragement from the group, he said, "Thanks! Thank you all so much. I’ll give it my all."

Liu Xu, Xiao Yue, Zhang Rui’Er, and other group members who were at the venue also cheered for Yuan Hao in person.

At the same time, they were of course congratulating Chen Dong and the contestant who placed seventh.

Third and seventh place really were excellent results.

Xia Xiaoyue, Yu Wei, Ling Xiaoru, Chu Yiwei, and the others were also congratulating Mu Qingye.

Sixth place was a pretty good result.

And Mu Qingye herself was very happy.

Although she had missed out on the championship, she knew her skill level wasn’t quite high enough to win. She could give it her all to challenge for the title, but she had to accept failure with grace.

Mu Qingye was truly very satisfied with sixth place. In fact, it had already exceeded her own expectations.

Li You also congratulated Mu Qingye. In his view, her result was also quite impressive.

Afterwards, Mu Qingye said to Li You, "Boss, if you host this kind of competition again, I want to participate."

Li You said, "There will definitely be more competitions. But the game won’t be *The King of Fighters ’97* again. It’ll be another fighting game. For example, *The King of Fighters ’98*, or maybe *Street Fighter*, *Double Dragon*, and so on. Do you know how to play those?"

Mu Qingye replied, "I can play all of them, sort of. But I haven’t played them much, so my skills aren’t great. I’m a little better at *The King of Fighters ’98*. Actually, *The King of Fighters ’98* is more balanced."

Li You nodded. "That’s true. It’s also why many people consider *The King of Fighters ’98* to be the more classic title."

While the two of them discussed games, everyone else at the venue was excitedly talking about the upcoming tie-breaker matches.

Especially the championship match between Wang Ge Fei and Lu Xiangyun.

When the top 10 finals first started, everyone had wondered if there would be a situation where the championship would be decided by a tie-breaker.

If that happened, it would undoubtedly be the most anticipated, most prestigious, and most valuable match of the entire competition.

And now, it had actually happened.

This was a pleasant surprise that left everyone at the venue incredibly excited.

Everyone was discussing the upcoming match.

The anticipation was palpable!

However, the first tie-breaker to be played was the match for ninth place between Liu Bowen and Yuan Hao.

Now, the match had begun.

The match used a "first to three" rule. In other words, whoever won three rounds first would be the victor.

The excitement level of this match certainly couldn’t compare to the much-anticipated championship showdown.

However, everyone was still watching with great excitement.

This tie-breaker, as well as the upcoming one for fourth place, were seen as warm-ups for the final championship match.

There wasn’t a big difference in skill between Liu Bowen and Yuan Hao.

So, after four rounds, the score was 2-2, with each having won two.

The next round would be the decider.

Whoever won would be the first to reach three wins and secure the victory.

Even though it was only a fight for ninth place, both contestants clearly coveted the spot.

The atmosphere was still tense.

All the spectators were tense, too.

Soon, the fifth round ended, and Yuan Hao managed a narrow victory.

And with that, the ninth and tenth place rankings were finally decided.

Yuan Hao took ninth place, and Liu Bowen took tenth.

Yuan Hao celebrated joyfully.

Everyone at the venue, including Wang Ge Fei, Lu Xiangyun, Chen Dong, and others, congratulated him.

Of course, while congratulating Yuan Hao, they also comforted Liu Bowen. Tenth place was still an amazing achievement.

Liu Bowen thanked everyone, saying that although the result was a pity, he was already very satisfied just to have made it into the top ten.

The crowd gave him a round of applause.

Next up was the match for fourth place.

The rule was still "first to three."

After another exciting and tense match, the result was decided.

The fourth and fifth place rankings were set.

Naturally, another round of congratulations erupted from the crowd.

And next, it was time for what everyone had been waiting for, the most highly anticipated event of all: the championship match.

...