Who would still start a business seriously after being reborn?

Chapter 570 A good start
At this moment, Mike Mohan, president of Blizzard Entertainment, chief event planner, and chief producer of the competition mechanics, stepped onto the stage and began to announce the competition rules.

The competition, which lasted for more than 20 days, was divided into three stages involving 234 teams.

Preliminary Rounds: Group Round-Robin Elimination

Double-elimination tournament: Two matches per day in the loser's bracket.

Finals: BO5 Ultimate Showdown.

When Mohan unveiled the rules of the competition, many viewers familiar with esports gasped in surprise.

Isn't this competition format a bit too cruel?

Putting aside the double-elimination tournament and the finals, the intensity of the preliminary rounds alone was beyond imagination.

The 234 teams were divided into 16 groups, with 15 teams in each group.

The group adopts a single round-robin BO1 format, and each team must play a total of 14 matches. Each player can participate in a maximum of 3 matches per stage.

The group stage consists of two groups playing all their matches each day, meaning that the 15 teams in each group have to complete 105 BO1 matches in a single day.

The top two teams in each group will advance to the next round of the double-elimination tournament.

Scoring rules: 3 points for a win, 1 point for a draw, and 0 points for a loss.

If the scores are tied, the head-to-head record is considered, followed by the net points.

This rule caused the air in the entire room to freeze.

"Isn't this intensity a bit too high?"

"Awesome, no wonder it's a world-class competition!"

"There's no point in watching these kinds of matches live; it's much more enjoyable to watch them on TV."

"You can't see the whole thing on TV, can you? Universal Vision's branches in various countries only broadcast footage of athletes from that country."

"Just focus on our own country's athletes, why bother with other countries?"

The audience members started discussing it.

While this competition format is fair, it takes a very long time.

To ensure absolute fairness in the grouping, all team captains went up on stage to draw random balls from the ball machine.

This process lasted for nearly half an hour. After all the team captains had drawn their random balls, the staff recorded their random ball numbers into the computer, and the electronic screen began to randomly group them.

"Old Eight, look at the group assignments!" Wang Hao, the vice-captain of the Momo team, stared wide-eyed at the group assignment information flashing on the electronic screen.

Sun Baxin also looked up at the group display screen hanging in the center of the arena.

Group D:
Huaxia: Momo Team

Germany: Grubby's Army
South Korea: Moon's Shadow
United States: Team 3D
……

"Hiss..." Chen Xiaofeng, a key member of the Momo team, also gasped and muttered, "The group of death, Bage! Grubby, Moon, Insomnia... It's like they've crammed half of the world's top 20 into this group, isn't it?"

"What's the rush?" Sun Baxin frowned. "Each country has three teams. It's normal to run into teams from South Korea and the United States. Anyway, it's a single-game BO1 match, so let's just go for it! Our goal is only one thing: to advance from the top two in the group!"

His voice wasn't loud, but it carried a ruthless and unruly edge that instantly calmed his young teammates.

As the team manager, Su Duo could only anxiously watch from the designated rest area outside the arena, her hands tightly clasped together.

This means that Sun Baxin's Momo team needs to complete 14 BO1 matches on the first day.

This is a tremendous test of physical strength, energy, and willpower.

There is no room for error; losing any crucial match could mean an early exit from the world stage.

"Match 1, Map: Turtle Rock, Momo's Human vs. Team 3D's Night Elf, please bring your players to the stage!" The referee announced loudly in both Chinese and English.

"They actually drew a human race..." Vice Captain Wang Hao frowned.

This draw was incredibly unlucky.

Humans are at a disadvantage in this version and can only rise to power in the late game, while Night Elves are a powerful race in the early game.

This battle is likely to end badly.

"I'll go first." Sun Baxin took a deep breath and went on stage first. They had to make a good start in this first battle because the whole country was watching the live broadcast.

Sitting in front of his gaming computer, he cracked his knuckles, making a slight clicking sound.

The screen enters a loading screen, and the map is Turtle Roc, a classic medium-sized symmetrical map from 2005.

The central spring on this map is a strategically vital location that military strategists must contend for.

"The game begins!"

With a shout from the referee, Sun Baxin's human race spawned at the 11 o'clock position on the map, while Ackerman's night elf Ze spawned at the 5 o'clock position.

At the start of the game, Sun Baxin immediately controlled the militia and infantry to rush towards the central fountain on the map. At the same time, a peasant was pulled out by Sun Baxin and headed straight for the possible neutral monster spawn point on the map to scout ahead.

Sun Baxin's Terran player chose a relatively aggressive but highly profitable opening strategy at the time: quickly expanding to a second base.

He invested almost all of his initial resources in building the sub-base, only constructing a small number of infantry defenses.

After the archmage stepped out of the altar, he led two foot soldiers and a water elemental directly towards the spring in the center of the map.

There are healing runes and valuable experience points there.

Soon, Sun Baxin's scout discovered that Ackerman's Demon Hunter was clearing out the mobs in front of his base.

Meanwhile, Ackerman's scouts also spotted Sun Baxin's Archmage leading his troops swaggering toward the spring, and he immediately realized that the enemy was planning a quick expansion.

The Demon Hunter immediately abandoned farming and used its high mobility to rush straight to the Human expansion.

"The Demon Hunter is here! He's going to harass the farmers!" In the rest area outside the venue, Wang Hao watched the live broadcast with great excitement.

Because the footage he saw was already 15 seconds late. According to the normal progress of the match, the Demon Hunter should have already reached Sun Baxin's location by now.

At this moment, Sun Baxin also realized Ackerman's intentions and immediately controlled the Archmage and footmen to try to intercept him. However, the Demon Hunter used the collision to make a flexible change of direction, forcefully bypassing the interception and rushing into the human's expansion base that was being built, and began to attack the peasants who were building it.

Sun Baxin frantically clicked the town hall with his mouse.

In an instant, the five miners put down their picks, picked up their hammers, and transformed into fighting militia, roaring as they charged toward the demon hunter.

This is the human race's signature defensive tactic: militia encirclement and slaughter.

The keyboard was pounding away at Sun Baxin, and his number of operations per minute instantly soared to over 280.

He precisely controlled the movement of the five militiamen, attempting to trap the Demon Hunter in the corner between the trees and the base buildings next to the expansion.

Ackerman was clearly a top-tier player; his Demon Hunter darted through the gaps in the militia like an eel, while constantly using mana drain skills to attack the Archmage, slowing down the human hero's level progression.

"Block his left side! Infantry block his right side!" Sun Baxin's brain reacted quickly, and his infantry arrived in time. Together with the water elementals and militia, they finally forced the demon hunter into a corner.

Soon, the Demon Hunter's health dropped rapidly.

"Beautiful! They've got them surrounded!" Su Duo cheered excitedly from the rest area outside the arena. However, just as the Demon Hunter was about to be surrounded and killed, Ackerman also displayed the reaction of a world-class player.

A green light flashed on the Demon Hunter's body.

It is a scepter for preservation.

This god-tier item instantly teleported the low-health Demon Hunter back to the Night Elf's main base.

"Damn it!" Sun Baxin couldn't help but swear.

It was just a hair's breadth away; such a perfect encirclement in the early stages was thwarted by a valuable item.

However, although the Demon Hunter was reduced to low health and sent home, his expansion base was also established.

Although the rapid expansion strategy was harassed, the expansion bases were successfully established, and an economic advantage began to be built up quickly.

Sun Baxin immediately adjusted his strategy, operating two mines and starting to mass produce units, while the Archmage continued to farm jungle camps with infantry and water elementals to level up.

Ackerman's harassment did not stop.

He used the Demon Hunter's high mobility and the intimidation of the Staff of Preservation to constantly patrol the edge of the human mining area, draining mana, killing lone peasants, and tying down Sun Baxin's attention.

This forced Sun Baxin to assign more farmers to become militia for defense. Although the economy was ahead, the speed at which his military strength was formed was slowed down.

As the game progressed into the mid-game, Sun Baxin, operating two mines, led an army primarily composed of musketeers and sorcerers, supplemented by a small number of spellbreakers to counter the Night Elf's magical forces.

Ackerman, relying on the Ancient of Knowledge, spawned a large number of archers and several deer, along with a level-up Demon Hunter and a Naga Siren who had just emerged from the altar.

The first large-scale team fight between the two sides quickly broke out at the fountain in the center of the map.

The target of the fight is the newly refreshed Healing Rune.

"Focus fire on Naga! Take down the hero first!" Sun Baxin quickly devised a tactic in his mind.

The enemy's human forces unleashed a barrage of fire on the fragile Naga.

Ackerman's micro-management was impeccable; the Dryad immediately cast a dispel spell on the Naga, removing the slow effect from the Human Warlock, while the Archers unleashed a volley of fire to eliminate the fragile Human Warlock. The Naga's Forked Lightning and Ice Arrows also dealt significant damage to the Human forces.

The clatter of keyboards and mouse clicks filled the air as two world-class players' fingers danced across the keyboard like phantoms, precisely maneuvering low-health units, controlling formations, and manually unleashing various skills.

"Oh no, the Archmage is out of mana! Watch out for the Demon Hunter draining his mana!" Wang Hao shouted anxiously as he watched the live stream.

Ten seconds ago, Sun Baxin's Archmage mana had been drained by the Demon Hunter, making him unable to cast Blizzard, a crucial area-of-effect damage skill.

The human forces began to suffer casualties under the barrage of fire from the night archers and dryads, and their formation became somewhat chaotic as the Naga's ice arrows slowed them down.

"Retreat! Hold them off! Protect the heroes!" Sun Baxin made a decisive decision, maneuvering his troops to retreat while fighting, heading towards the branch mine.

Humans were not a race that Sun Baxin was good at, and Ackerman, having gained the upper hand, was relentless, commanding his troops to pursue them closely.

Seeing that the human forces were about to be forced into a corner of the expansion base, a ruthless glint flashed in Sun Baxin's eyes.

"We have to take a risky approach, flank them from behind, and intercept their backline!"

He quickly maneuvered two heavily armored human knights around the flank through the woods, their target the Night Elf's vulnerable archers and fawns in the back row.

This move caught Ackerman completely off guard. He was focused on chasing down the main human force when his backline was instantly cut in by two knights with high health and high attack.

The archers and deer were thrown into disarray, and their damage output was drastically reduced.

"Turn around! Counterattack!" Sun Baxin seized this fleeting opportunity and maneuvered the remaining main force to turn around sharply.

Even though the Archmage is out of mana, he can still deal damage with his basic attacks.

Musketeers and spellbreakers immediately turned their guns around and focused their fire on the Night Elf backline, who were being held up by the knights.

"Oh, my Naga!" Ackerman hurriedly tried to save Naga with the Staff of Preservation, but Sun Baxin's Spellbreaker made a precise spell steal, stealing the dispel magic effect from Naga and interrupting Ackerman's rhythm of saving Naga.

"Die!" Sun Baxin roared, and all of humanity's firepower was instantly unleashed on the Naga sea monster.

Soon, the Naga siren, with her last bit of health remaining, let out a mournful cry and collapsed, dead.

With their main hero dead, the Night Elf forces instantly lost their leader.

Sun Baxin immediately seized the opportunity, and the human troops, like tigers descending the mountain, cooperated with the knights who flanked them, to wipe out the night archers and deer.

Only the Demon Hunter managed to escape in a sorry state thanks to its high mobility.

In this battle, Sun Baxin sacrificed some troops and his hero's mana to achieve the death of the enemy's main hero Naga and almost completely annihilate the Night Elf's main force.

They instantly gained an overwhelming advantage.

The outcome of the next match was no longer in doubt.

Sun Baxin played steadily, producing a large number of Knights, Gryphon Riders, and infantry with upgraded attack and defense at both mines. With the help of the upgraded Archmage and Mountain King, he crushed Ackerman's main base with overwhelming force.

“GG!” Ackerman typed GG in the public chat and quit the game.

"We won!" Sun Baxin leaned back in his chair and let out a long sigh of relief.

A great start to the first game!

From the thrilling early game harassment by top-tier opponents, to the extreme maneuvering in mid-game team fights, and finally the overwhelming push forward.

This BO1 match was thrilling and exciting. The exciting game also showcased Sun Baxin's adaptability, skill level, and ruthlessness in crucial moments as a top player to hundreds of millions of viewers around the world through the television screen.

"Well done, Myna!" Wang Hao shouted excitedly.

Su Duo excitedly waved her fist at Sun Baxin. This first victory was truly inspiring!
What excited Su Duo even more was that her father was also watching the live stream at that moment.

She wanted to show her dad how outstanding Sun Baxin was, and maybe after looking at him for a while, he would find him pleasing to the eye.

Although Sun Baxin is very famous, his family background is far inferior to Su Duo's.

In this world competition, Sun Baxin is fighting for his country, for himself, and for Su Duo.

"Your players are very strong," Johnson said insincerely from the VIP stands after seeing his country's player lose.

Du Yusheng remembered Cheng Yi's advice before his departure: "When you go to Singapore this time, you should speak less and act more cautiously. If you can resolve something through 'Tai Chi,' then resolve it through 'Tai Chi.'"

He thought for a moment and smiled, “Victory and defeat are common occurrences in war. Before coming here, I held a meeting with the players in the team. I told them that when they win, they should avoid arrogance and complacency, and treat victory as an encouragement. When they lose, they should reflect deeply, find their shortcomings, summarize their experiences, and turn them into the driving force for progress. Only in this way can they seek new leaps in the process of progress.”

"???" Johnson glanced at Du Yusheng with a blank expression.

He is now completely certain that the chairman of Momo Group really can't speak human language.

The Momo Group is truly full of oddballs.

A chairman who can't speak human language.

A CEO who can't handle interpersonal relationships.

There was also a group of fanatics below who dared to go and play Candy Crush with Tang Jun.

This is... utterly outrageous.

(End of this chapter)