Before the Qualifiers

"Good morning, everyone! Welcome back to the official broadcast room of the 11th League. I am your favorite host, Ince Bronc."

The moment the official broadcast room opened, hundreds of thousands of people flooded in; hearing the man's passionate tone, the morning's lethargy and fatigue were washed away, and the people's spirits were instantly refreshed.

"I don't know how your quality of sleep was last night, but I'm sure our contestants must have spent a sleepless night. The first round of the qualifiers is about to begin, and five hundred and twelve teams from all over the world will officially begin competing on the league stage starting today."

"Who will shine brilliantly in the league, and who will fade into the crowd? Will the one who grasps the Sovereign Key of the championship be a star in the spotlight, or a dark horse that stands out?"

"Let's wait and see!"

The perspective shifted to a stage where flames erupted; a blue-haired girl on the stage slowly opened her eyes under the gaze of the crowd.

She was dressed in a rock-punk style and held an electric guitar in her arms. Beside her, girls in matching black-and-red biker gang uniforms were lined up in an orderly formation, jumping in rhythm with movements that were both cool and mocking, and the crowd's emotions were quickly stirred.

Enthusiastic cheers erupted from below the stage.

"Little Blue Bird!"

"Tang Xin! Tang Xin! Tang Xin!"

"Miss Tang, we are your fans!"

Thousands of glow sticks and light boards rose and fell like waves, one wave covering another, completely occupying the spectator seats.

"Little Blue Bird looks so cool in this style, sister, I'm yours!"

"Love it, love it, as expected of you, you really look good in anything you wear."

"Watching this, I'm not sleepy at all anymore."

As the opening performance reached its end, advertisements from sponsors began to be inserted one after another.

"This program is sponsored by Light-Chaser Media. Are you still not moving forward? Do you want to realize your dreams? Become a signed artist for Light-Chaser Media, and you will be able to enjoy traffic support, a two-phase artist training camp..."

"'Return to the Future: New Era v3000' curtain, a landmark product from Kowloon Information Enterprise; every second will bring you a surreal visual experience, it is your only choice."

On the screen, layers of shoji doors in a dark shrine opened one by one; a red-haired girl knelt before a shrine while raindrops slid down the vermilion torii gate, and the wooden plaques on the ema board clattered against each other as the wind swept through the house along the shimenawa under the eaves, causing the wind chimes to tinkle softly while the faint sound of a flute grew louder and someone seemed to play a thirteen-stringed koto behind a folding screen, causing the atmosphere to climb steadily.

With the sound of a blade being unsheathed, dozens of dark figures leaped up together, and the surrounding shoji doors were slashed into fragments; those dark figures converged above the girl, only to see her crimson lips part slightly as she let out a laugh, her hand resting on the hilt of the odachi at the waist of her miko outfit as she rose to her feet.

The sword light was like lightning on a rainy night, tearing through the darkness!

The darkness receded, the dark figures fell, and crimson flowed; camellias as red as they were seductive bloomed along the river path as the red-haired girl's eyes turned charming, her smile hooking the heart as she applied bright lip gloss to her own lips, pursed them slightly, turned her head away a little, and lowered her head before her collarbone.

"Pear Mountain Camellia. Apply it for your soul-stirring beauty."

"Wait, this is a lipstick ad!?"

"If she hadn't spoken, I would have thought it was Little Raccoon; turns out it's still Little Blue Bird. I was wondering where the little family head would get such business capability."

"Seeing those charming eyes, I knew it couldn't be Tsubaki; I can only see clear stupidity in her eyes."

"Hey, where's your politeness? On behalf of the Little Raccoon Protection Association, I sternly condemn you!"

"She really is so beautiful, I'm going to become a total fanboy, hehehe."

"She's slaying both the guys and the girls, right?"

"Wait, why are they all ads for A-Xin? Good lord, how many sponsorships did that Dark Gold Rose person actually take?"

"Okay, okay, I want to report this, how can someone exploit an artist like this? Dammit, why did A-Xin follow that person? My heart aches for Little Blue Bird for a second."

After the opening sequence, the audience's emotions had been completely stirred; countless people looked at the screen with anticipation, waiting for the broadcast of the match footage.

The bullet screen in the broadcast room scrolled by rapidly as the staff in the main broadcast room worked intensely, and the participants in different arenas were also rubbing their hands together, pointing at the tips of their noses with high morale.

Meanwhile, in the contestants' waiting room, the atmosphere was somewhat subtle due to the argument last night; Bai Youyou and Angelina were busy preparing themselves in silence, Xu Xiaoyou was casually drawing cards, and Akabane Tsubaki was squatting in a corner watching the curtain.

"Apply it for your soul-stirring beauty."

Akabane Tsubaki stared at Tang Xin on the screen with her mouth wide open, her eyes full of longing.

"So beautiful, I wish I could be like Sister Tang."

Xu Xiaoyou glanced at her. "What, you also want to become a world-renowned superstar? Light-Chaser Media just happens to be short on people lately, do you want to try? Your Sister Tang used to sing out of tune in front of others when she first started."

"Yuzu, is that true?" Akabane Tsubaki's ears twitched as she cast a curious look.

Angelina looked over; she had seen Tang Xin on the island before, but at that time, the other party was already a somewhat famous singer on the Star of Art.

"Why would I lie to you? It's true, she used to be quite shy in the beginning..."

At this moment, the waiting room door was opened; seeing Tang Xin return, Xu Xiaoyou coughed twice and looked out the window at a forty-five-degree angle with a look of feigned indifference. Akabane Tsubaki looked at her, then at Tang Xin, the gossip radar on her head spinning non-stop.

Dammit, she was really curious about what Sister Tang was like when she was with Yuzu before.

She couldn't imagine what such a steady girl looked like during her green years.

After the girl returned, the already subtle balance became even more delicate, and no one spoke.

"Xiao Li, help me get my clothes."

Tang Xin went to the closet and took off her punk-style jacket, revealing her fair shoulders and slender neck; Akabane Tsubaki noticed the gruesome bullet hole on the other's neck, opened her mouth to say something, but ultimately remained silent.

Time passed second by second in silence; in the large waiting room, only the sound of the girl changing clothes could be faintly heard.

"I say, why isn't anyone talking? There are only ten minutes left until the match starts, are we just going to keep being stiff like this?" Angelina was really too bored and couldn't help but break the silence. "I can play the game of silent wooden man with you all forever, but the match is about to start; are you really not going to communicate with your teammates during the match?"

Tang Xin pulled a black short-sleeved shirt over her body, paired with wide-leg straight pants and white canvas shoes on her lower half; she let out a light breath, feeling much more relaxed after changing into casual clothes.

She walked past Angelina, placed the makeup remover on the vanity, and washed away her makeup with handfuls of clear water, revealing a clean face; if one looked closely, they would find that the girl's original appearance wasn't as stunningly beautiful as on stage, but she was very pleasant to look at.

"Fine, Meijiu, I apologize to you. I said some nasty things last night, I'm sorry." Angelina wore heavy dark circles under her eyes, her expression serious.

"I wouldn't get angry over something like that." Akabane Tsubaki turned her face away awkwardly.

"I think you should apologize to me too," Bai Youyou said gloomily.

"You? I don't feel like I said anything wrong, and besides, I won last night."

"Hmph." Bai Youyou turned her head away, resting her face on one hand.

"I can tell your apology doesn't have a shred of sincerity."

Xu Xiaoyou breathed a sigh of relief; she had been worried earlier that the atmosphere would remain stiff before the match.

Ten minutes passed in a flash, and the system's broadcast voice came from the ceiling.

"Attention to all participating contestants."

"The first round of the qualifiers is about to begin. All participants, please prepare yourselves. After this, you will be randomly matched with opponents by the system and enter a certain scene in the match map 'Skyline City' to begin the competition. Depending on the scene, the dungeon type and rules for the participants will also differ."

"Matching an opponent for your team 'Light-Chaser Garden' now. Please wait."

"Match successful! The opponent for 'Light-Chaser Garden' in this qualifier is the 'Slaughterers'."

"Qualifier dungeon 'Label Express' is loading, please both sides prepare for entry."

"The match is about to begin!"