In 4AM’s team voice chat, the players were speechless for a moment when they saw the god-forsaken circle refresh toward the southeast direction.

“This is too much! Are the circles messing with us?”

“F*ck me! Hey Cpt, did you wash your face when you woke up this morning? It wasn’t you? It must be Vic then!”

“How about you speak for yourself?”

The new circle was extremely hostile to them. Their immediate problem was not to decide whether they should head straight into the circle or take a detour.

It was how to get off the tower!

When the circle refreshed, there was immediate movement in Water Town. They would still be heard despite firing a noise-suppressed gun at their

distance.

The European team, Vitality which was at Water Town had been eyeing them while they were happily taking potshots from a distance.

Their faces darkened when they saw the circle refresh across the battlefield.

At the same time, they were reminded of the neighboring 4AM’s situation.

Thus, once the circle refreshed, the four players of Vitality rushed toward the tower where 4AM was.

If they did not get rid of 4AM at this time, they did not feel safe outrunning the blue circle with their backs exposed to their opponent…

It was not only the teams at Water Town who faced this predicament.

The teams in the northwestern quadrant of the previous circle, including team Knights and Gates at Ruins, were in the same situation.

Evidently, the lone wolf, Shen Zeyan was included.

The two teams were in a standoff at Ruins. When the circle refreshed, all of them were cross-eyed!

Hence, the problem they faced was the same one that plagued 4AM and Vitality at Water Town. If they did not eliminate their problems at once, they would not be able to outrun the blue circle safely.

On Hua Xia’s commentary platform.

“This new circle spells bad news for the teams in the northwest. Not only that, but they are also plagued by hidden troubles,” Su Changming said worriedly.

“Yup. The time left before the blue circle starts shrinking is two minutes.” Lord Rong looked at the timer on the screen. “Ten or so seconds have passed and there’s not much time left for these teams. They need to settle their problems as fast as possible.”

Ruo Feng looked at the map and added on, “The team in the most comfortable position has to be SKK. They just need to head toward the direction of Widow Village to get into the safe zone. However, the one chosen by destiny, the person who’s still in the safe zone after the refresh, seems to be Guru Qiu?”

“That’s indeed the case. However, all the preparatory work SKK has done thus far is finally paying off.” Su Changming gave an analysis of the unfolding situation on the battlefield.

“We can see that to SKK’s right, there’s only one team, Lminosity. On the other hand, the hilly area on their left is a ‘refugee zone’ with almost all the other teams gathered there.”

“The most terrifying thing is, the current scenario that has been laid in front of our eyes was singlehandedly caused by SKK.”

Lord Rong took in a deep breath before she continued speaking, “They occupied the high slope north of Pochinki and then used the extended field of vision it provided to sweep over a large area. Thus, they restricted the available space the other teams had when outrunning the blue circle. With all of them forced to take a detour, the current situation is the result.”

After hearing their analysis, Ruo Feng nodded contemplatively. “That means, even if the circle had not refreshed to SKK, or even if the circle was a god-forsaken tangential one, their earlier preparations would’ve allowed them to move into the next circle with great confidence. Tsk tsk… this team does plan ten moves ahead!”

“That’s right. All SKK needs to do now is secure their position once they enter the safe zone. Once the teams at the hills are done killing each other, they can pick off the survivors one by one. I’m afraid that their kill statistics for this match will be quite exaggerated.”

“Hiss… If that’s going to be the case, 4AM is in a precarious situation. Although Master Ze has helped 4AM get rid of one of their contenders, C9, 4AM is only 60 points ahead of SKK.”

“Yup. If SKK gets the chicken dinner this match, it’s all over for 4AM.”

The viewers of the Chinese live-stream channels started to grow anxious as they heard the analysis of the commentators.

…

On the high tower next to Water Town.

After half a minute had passed, Liu Zilang who was on the tower finally managed to verify a fact.

The team at Water Town was planning to stall them for time.

If they did not attempt to descend the tower, that team would not go anywhere.

“Don’t those people need to outrun the blue circle? The circle is so far away and they’re still trying to hold us back,” Cpt said frustratedly.

“What do you think? If you were outrunning the blue circle and there was a team close to your butt, would you be willing to do so?” Aluka retorted.

“It’s bad news if we stay here.” Liu Zilang looked at Water Town and made a decision. “Let’s not stall here anymore. Throw a smoke grenade. You guys go down, I’ll cover you.”

“Huh? We can cover the stairs with smoke?” Aluka was dumbfounded. The spiral staircase that wound around the body of the tower had big gaps between the steps. If you threw a smoke grenade, there was a high chance that it would slip through the gaps and fall to the ground below.

Furthermore, the tower was of great height. Even if a skilled grenadier could accurately throw grenades where he wanted them to land, there was still the factor of not having enough time.

Liu Zilang did not bother to explain his decision. He looked downward, equipped a smoke grenade and then released it from his hand.

Instead of throwing the grenade toward the staircase, he dropped it onto the ground far below him.

Clank!

Pssssht~!

Upon hitting the ground, the grenade released a great deal of white smoke. Soon, the area under the tower was covered with white fog.

Next, Liu Zilang gave a brisk, one-word command:

“Jump!”

Jump?

Aluka and Cpt’s eyelids twitched uncontrollably when they heard the words that came out from Liu Zilang’s mouth.

‘Jump my ass! Won’t jumping at this height be fatal?’

Liu Zilang immediately sensed the doubts harbored by his teammates and assured them, “Don’t worry, you won’t die.”

“You’ve tried this before?” Cpt asked, still a little unnerved.

“Of course.” Liu Zilang’s expression was calm.

The two players let out a long sigh of relief when they heard him say that.

As professional esports players, they were trained to not be indecisive. With Liu Zilang’s assurance, they quickly held onto the railing and then jumped over to the other side.

The live audience saw this sudden turn of events, and they were all stunned!

At that moment, when they saw the scene, their faces looked like this: w(ﾟДﾟ)w

Some of them were like this: Σ(っ°Д°;)っ

Some were also like this: ┌(.Д.)┐…

Then, two thumps were heard. The two players had hit the ground.

Their full health bar dropped drastically the moment their feet touched the ground!

Even so, both of them survived with a sliver of health left!

Aluka and Cpt calmed themselves and went prone without wasting any time. They then used first aid kits to heal themselves.

“F*ck me! I didn’t die!”

“Fortunately for Vic. By the way, how did you know that we wouldn’t die?”

On top of the tower, Liu Zilang was tap-firing with his MK14 to suppress enemy fire. While he crouched down to reload, he answered, “Hell if I know. I tried making a guess.”

“…”

The two players felt their eyelids twitch…

…