Chapter 296: The Competition Begins
Chapter 296: The Competition Begins
As Li Wu stepped down from his grand entrance, he felt pleased with himself, but many others were on the verge of tears.
The Ministry of Education officials were caught off guard by Li Wu's unexpected move.
The one who suggested Li Wu's speech was now wishing he could find a place to hide.
However, he was still better off than the members of Li Wu's team, especially the Hengheng Monster Wu Wei and Su Lan, who were close to tears.
Ever since Li Wu declared everyone present as garbage, they could sense the change in the atmosphere, with all the competitors' gazes turning hostile.
Each of them seemed ready to pounce and teach them a lesson.
After all, Li Wu was a seed player, and no one could challenge him until the top 32.
While many knew they had no chance against Li Wu, the prospect of taking out his teammates was very real.
In this tense atmosphere, Su Lan was the first to crack.
"What do we do now? Can we still distance ourselves from Li Wu?"
As Su Lan and her teammates worried, Zhao Li from the Jiangnan University team stood up.
Seeing Zhao Li rise, Su Lan and Wu Wei were momentarily stunned, then their faces lit up with hope.
They believed that the mature and reliable Zhao Li would explain that Li Wu's arrogance had nothing to do with them.
What they didn't notice was Zhao Li's flushed face.
This young man thrived on such dramatic gestures.
As he stood, he roared, "Our captain is right! All of you here are garbage.
If you have any objections, come at us! The Jiangnan University team is ready for all of you!"
Zhao Li pulled Su Lan and Wu Wei to their feet.
The two were almost in tears.
They frantically signaled to Zhao Li: 'Bro, are you sure we won't get beaten to a pulp with this bold move?'
Unfortunately, the excited Zhao Li was too caught up to notice their gestures.
To make matters worse for Wu Wei and Su Lan, the Hengheng Monster also stood, patting her ample chest and daring the other contestants to come forward.
This woman's mind was elsewhere.
In an instant, the mood shifted from fear to excitement.
Seeing everyone else standing, Dudu also rose, following the crowd.
The entire arena was now buzzing with anticipation.
The other contestants glared at the Jiangnan University team with fiery eyes.
Wu Wei and Su Lan were certain they were in deep trouble; they might not even be able to stand on their own.
On the other side, Li Wu was quite satisfied with the outcome.
Although this display of arrogance seemed forced and contradicted his humble and polite nature, he felt it was necessary for the development of Jiangnan University.
The Hengheng Monster and her teammates were relatively weak.
Without some special measures, they would struggle to gain attention.
If they were to be featured in recruitment advertisements, they needed exposure, and now they had everyone's attention.
The traffic was exploding!
As long as they performed well, Jiangnan University's enrollment for the year was secured!
"It's up to you now! Show them what you've got!"
As Li Wu anticipated, the preliminary round of the University League began shortly.
A total of 66 universities participated, forming 66 teams with 396 players.
Excluding Li Wu, the only seed player who advanced directly to the top 32, there were 395 contestants left to compete for 127 spots.
With an elimination rate of nearly two-thirds, the preliminary round was indeed brutal.
Of course, the cruelty of the competition lies with the contestants. For the audience, their focus is solely on the spectacle of the matches.
In this year's University League, besides the excitement of the games, there's an additional point of interest.
During the opening ceremony, how far will the Jiangnan University students go in their grand display of prowess?
Soon enough, the official website released the match information.
Jiangnan University's details were among the first to be revealed.
First up, Li Wu, who directly advanced to the Top 32 without playing.
Then there's Dudu and Zhao Li, who also had a bye in the first round.
This wasn't due to any behind-the-scenes manipulation.
In the preliminary round, all Senior Summoners were given a bye.
After all, the gap between Senior Summoners and regular Summoners is significant. Having them compete against Summoners would be an overwhelming mismatch.
In the 1v1 battle, the outcome was clear!
So, it's best to separate the strong from the weak, letting the noobs fight first, and then pitting them against the stronger players.
There were 112 students with a Senior Summoner (with a Leader-rank Summoned Beast) or above.
The remaining 284 non-Senior Summoners drew lots to determine their matches.
Therefore, in the first round of the preliminaries, the most anticipated match was between Wu Wei, Su Lan, and the Hengheng Monster.
The first of the three to compete was the Hengheng Monster.
His opponent was a university student whom Li Wu didn't know well, but he caught a glimpse of their strength.
The opponent's Leader was 3-Star, one rank higher than the Hengheng Monster.
Li Wu watched their match, a typical noob-versus-noob battle.
After over 100 rounds, the Hengheng Monster barely secured victory.
Next up was Wu Wei, who surprised Li Wu by swiftly defeating his opponent in just five rounds, claiming an easy win.
Finally, it was Su Lan's turn.
He got lucky; his opponent was a 2-Star Leader.
Their strengths were on par, but Su Lan had one more Summoned Beast, and he easily won with his bird and dog.
In the first round, all Jiangnan University students advanced.
However, the audience was not impressed by their performance.
Especially with the Hengheng Monster and Su Lan, one barely scraping by and the other relying on numerical superiority, neither displaying a decisive victory.
With such performances, they couldn't live up to the boasts they had made.
After the first round, people started to chatter.
Some even boldly claimed that the Hengheng Monster and Su Lan wouldn't make it past the second round.
And just as these voices emerged, the second-round match information for Jiangnan University was released.
Upon seeing this, both the audience and the contestants seemed to have sealed the fate of the Hengheng Monster and his teammates.
All three of them had bad luck.
Their opponents were all Senior-level Summoners.
In a Senior vs. Senior match, defeat was certain.
As the audience and other contestants witnessed their matchups, Li Wu and his team clearly realized that the real challenge had begun.
These next three matches were crucial for Jiangnan University.
The university's recruitment success this year largely depended on the outcome of these battles.
If they performed well in these matches, Jiangnan University's recruitment for the year would be secured.
But if they didn't...
Well, even if they didn't perform well, there was still Li Wu to save the day with his grandstanding.
However, performing well would be ideal!
...
I'll be working on clearing up the plot and aim to deliver more chapters next week, striving to reach the top 10 in the overall power ranking.
(Chapter End)
Chapter end
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