Delta: Mandel Bricks drop right at the start!

The light from the phone screen shone on Lin Rui's face.

Fish Boss. One of the top 100 streamers in the Chinese server, with 23 million followers. He started out with tactical analysis and previously publicly stated that he would dissect Lin Rui's game recordings frame by frame.

Now they've taken the initiative.

Lin Rui leaned back in his chair and typed a word on the screen with his thumb.

"explain."

The reply came very quickly.

"I just finished watching the replay of Xiao Shabu's live stream. I watched your 1v4 victory seven times."

Lin Rui didn't respond, waiting for what would follow.

Fish Boss posted another message: "I said on the forum before that I would dismantle your recordings, and I did. I spent three days comparing all your publicly released kill footage frame by frame."

"And the conclusion?"

"The data is clean. Your weakness hit rate is 14%, which is the standard level of a high-level player. But your positioning awareness and on-the-spot reaction surpass all the casual players I've ever seen, including some active professional players."

My phone rang again, and a message from Ah Wei popped up.

"Brother Rui! Boss Yu really came to see you? He just said in his livestream, 'I have someone to talk to,' and then he ended the stream! There are 800,000 people watching! The chat is full of people guessing who he went to see!"

Lin Rui switched back to the fishmonger's window.

How do you want to talk?

"Let's meet. In the game, at Dam Zero, you create a room, and I'll go in alone, without any weapons."

"I'm busy."

The other side paused for more than ten seconds.

"Let me put it another way." Boss Fish's message popped up, "You're going to play in the offline finals next, and the Chain and the offlaner team are studying your replays. I have all their gameplay data from the past six months, including Chain's usual movement routes that he never shares."

Lin Rui's fingers paused for a moment.

Ah Wei's message popped up again: "Rui, what are you talking about with Boss Yu? Do you want me to look into his background for you?"

"No need," Lin Rui replied to Awei, then switched back to the conversation with the fishmonger.

What do you want?

"It's very simple. When you're playing, allow me to provide your exclusive commentary perspective. You don't need to cooperate in anything; just play normally. You give me the content, and I'll give you the intelligence. It's a win-win situation."

Lin Rui stared at the text for five seconds.

There was no mention of revenue sharing from collaborations, nor of livestreaming to drive traffic.

They immediately put the most valuable chain operation data on the table.

It's more real than any monetary temptation.

"Send the data over first."

"After the cooperation was confirmed."

"How can you be sure I won't turn on you after taking the data?"

The fishmonger's reply was only six words: "You're not that kind of person."

Lin Rui put down his phone.

He got up and walked to the window.

The streetlights downstairs cast a long shadow of the white sports car, and the night wind blew a few sycamore leaves that landed on the hood.

He went back to the table and picked up his phone.

"Send the data package to this email address three days before the match. You can use my first-person perspective on the day of the match."

"Deal." Boss Yu replied instantly.

Then another message came: "Also, I suggest you play a couple more games tonight. The hype surrounding Xiao Shabu's livestream hasn't died down yet. If you enter Zero Dam now, you might run into a lot of high-ranking players who are coming for you. Kill them, and the hype will double again."

Are you teaching me how to play video games?

"I wouldn't dare, it's just that some people are eager to give me equipment, so why not take it?"

Lin Rui closed the chat window and turned to look at the realistic helmet on the table.

From the next room came the sound of Ah Wei slamming his hand on the table, followed by his barely suppressed shout: "Boss Yu! It's Boss Yu looking for Brother Rui! Boss Yu with 23 million followers!"

Lin Rui sat back down in front of the computer, put on the helmet, and fastened the chin strap.

Log in, Dam Zero, Single Player Mode.

After the match completion loading screen appeared, he chose the fully modified SCAR-H he had captured in the previous game, paired with the tactical attachments left behind by the money-making chubby guy, and a level 6 body armor vest. Although the durability was only restored to 70%, it was enough.

The landing site was chosen at an abandoned oil depot on the east side of the dam.

The moment the foot touches the ground, the X-ray scan is automatically activated.

Within a 400-meter radius, three humanoid silhouettes of light and shadow appeared at the edge of the field of vision.

Two people were leisurely searching boxes on the second floor of the North Noodle Factory. They looked like ordinary casual laborers.

The third one moved alone to the southwest of the oil depot. He was very fast, and the outline of his equipment was very bright. He was wearing level 6 armor and carrying a weapon with an extended barrel. His pace was quite experienced.

Lin Rui ignored the two to the north and headed straight for the solo target in the southwest.

There is a wire mesh passage about 60 meters long between the oil depot and the storage area, with rusted containers stacked up to 3 meters high on both sides.

This is a narrow path.

The enemy guns were held low, and they were steadily advancing from south to north.

Lin Rui climbed to the top of the container on the right.

Lie face down, gun at rest.

Six seconds later, the player walked to the bottom.

Lin Rui tumbled off the top edge of the container, landing with the butt of his rifle against his shoulder, his SCAR-H aimed at the back of the other man's head.

That player's reaction time was ridiculously fast.

As Lin Rui landed, the other man did not turn around. Instead, he lunged forward, rolled forward, and created a three-meter distance between himself and Lin Rui. As he regained his footing, the muzzle of his gun was already pointed at Lin Rui's chest.

Lin Rui glanced at the other party's ID: Iron Wall No. 37.

Ranked 62nd on the Zero Dam kill list.

Both guns spewed flames at the same time.

The gun the opponent was holding was a PKP general-purpose machine gun, a modified short-barreled version with an extremely high rate of fire, the bullets forming a moving wall of bullets in the passage.

Lin Rui's level 6 armor withstood the first wave of impact, with continuous blunt force pressing against his chest, causing his durability bar to plummet.

He neither retreated nor sought cover.

As he fired, his upper body leaned back rapidly, his waist bent at nearly ninety degrees, and his entire weight shifted onto his heels.

His head dropped more than forty centimeters from his normal standing position. Three bullets from Iron Wall No. 37, aimed at his head, grazed above his nose and struck the container wall behind him.

Lin Rui's SCAR-H did not stop firing during the backward lean.

The muzzle was lowered from the chest target and aimed at the groin of Iron Wall No. 37, the weakest area of ​​the Level 6 armor.

All three 7.62mm bullets entered the gap in 0.4 seconds.

The bulletproof vest of Ironwall No. 37 has reached its durability limit, and the indicator light is shining bright red.

He was beaten so badly that he could barely stand and his steps became unsteady.

But the PKP in my hand is still spitting fire.

Even with his armor pierced, he still gripped the trigger tightly and refused to let go.

As Lin Rui leaned back to his limit, he pushed off the ground with his left foot and shifted his body half a step to the right.

The bullet trajectory of the PKP grazed the outside of his left arm, and one bullet hit the shoulder guard plate, making a crisp sound of armor plates shattering in his ear.

He straightened his body as quickly as he leaned back, using his waist and abdomen to pull his upper body back. As he straightened, the muzzle of the SCAR-H steadily locked onto Iron Wall Thirty-Seven's throat.

The last shot.

Iron Wall No. 37 fell backward onto the barbed wire, PKP slipped from his grasp, and the ammunition belt scattered on the ground.

[Killing player "Iron Wall Thirty-Seven" grants 350 experience points.]

Lin Rui straightened up and stretched his lower back.

That backward leaning motion puts a tremendous strain on the lumbar spine. Even with enhanced physical fitness in real life, the lower back muscles still feel sore and tight afterward.

He crouched down and searched for the relics of Iron Wall No. 37.

The PKP machine gun has all the necessary accessories and ample ammunition, but it is too heavy and unsuitable for subsequent maneuvers.

He only removed the scope and muzzle compensator and stuffed them into his backpack.

A voice message from Awei popped up in the communication window.

"Rui-ge! What was that move you just made? Did you turn on the video playback?"

"Not open."

"Oh no, oh no, oh no, Iron Wall Number 37 is on fire! He recorded the whole thing! He'll definitely watch the replay after he dies! Rui, your backflip dodge was outrageous! You were bending backwards while the gun was still firing, and it was hitting your lower abdomen! I've never seen anything like that in a professional match!"

Lin Rui didn't say anything and continued to scavenge the supplies on the ground.

"I bet a hundred bucks this video will be on the forum's front page tonight! Rui, you're going to be famous!"

Lin Rui stuffed the last magazine into the side pocket of his backpack, got up, and retreated towards the oil depot.

He didn't have to wait long.

Half an hour later, Lin Rui successfully withdrew with the spoils of this round.

When he took off his helmet, there were already more than forty unread messages on his phone screen.

There were thirty messages about Ah Wei.

"It's out! It's out! Iron Wall Thirty-Seven's death replay was posted on the forum by himself! The title is 'I got killed by a fadeaway jumper, can anyone tell me what kind of move that is?'"

"The post received over a thousand replies within fifteen minutes!"

"Someone made a slow-motion breakdown of that fraction of a second of your backward lean! Rui, take a look at this:"

Ah Wei sent me a screenshot.

In the scene, Lin Rui's game character is leaning back at its maximum angle, with his upper body and legs forming an exaggerated acute angle, while the gun muzzle is steadily pointing forward.

The comment section below the screenshot was flooded with the same sentence:

"Is this something a human could do?"

Ah Wei sent another message: "Boss Yu also shared this post! His comment was: 'A 47-degree recoil angle and a shooting deviation controlled within two pixels. I simulated it twenty times using the training bot, and my best result was a 30-degree recoil with a deviation of nine pixels. This person's core muscle control and aiming compensation ability have exceeded the physiological limits of ordinary players.'"

Lin Rui scrolled past these messages and opened the community's hottest posts ranking.

The title of the top-ranked post was very straightforward: "How many more cards does Lin Rui of Dam Zero still have up his sleeve?"

One of the top-rated comments below has been pushed to the very top; the poster is Iron Wall No. 37 himself:

"I accept defeat wholeheartedly. When he leaned back, I thought he had lost his balance, but all the bullets hit the thinnest part of my level 6 armor. I've been playing Zero Dam for two years, and this is the first time I've been taken down in this way."

Lin Rui closed the forum and sent a message to Awei.

"We'll call again tomorrow."

Awei sent a crying face emoji: "Rui, look at the popularity! You're going online faster than professional players are announcing transfers! The post about Iron Wall No. 37 has already exceeded 5,000 replies, and someone is betting on whether you can make it into the top three in the offline finals."

Awei sent a crying face emoji: "Rui, look at the popularity! You're going online faster than professional players are announcing transfers! The post about Iron Wall No. 37 has already exceeded 5,000 replies, and someone is betting on whether you can make it into the top three in the offline finals."

What are the odds?

"Your odds of finishing in the top three are 3.5 to 1, and winning the championship is 12 to 1. The chains are 1.8 to 1."

Lin Rui put down his phone and went to the kitchen to pour himself a glass of water.

One to twelve.

These odds will change.