NOVEL WEB Chapter 131 - Team Competition (3)
The biggest difference between team competitions and individual competitions is the number of participants. With more people involved, naturally, the attention on team competitions is significantly greater than on individual events.
Additionally, since team selections are made by each department, with two teams representing their department in the university-wide competition, it’s common to see a flood of bragging posts on campus forums right after the team competitions. These posts are filled with members from various departments praising their own teams.
The Command Department, with its moderate strength, hasn’t been given much attention in past competitions, but it hasn’t been completely overlooked either.
This year, especially with their new personal competition champion generating a lot of buzz, they have drawn even more public interest.
Everyone initially thought that the competition would at least determine a winner by the afternoon, but unexpectedly, the first round of selection matches turned into a chaotic brawl for all departments.
As a result, all the matches ended before noon, and most of the competition videos were quickly uploaded to the campus forum.
This was a type of competition they had never seen before, and the sight of the contestants fighting in groups was quite captivating, with all kinds of angles captured, making the campus forum very lively.
However, after watching the excitement from other departments, people noticed that the Command Department had yet to release any commentary or video from the competition for evaluation.
This unusual behavior piqued the curiosity of other departments, prompting them to call out to the Command Department’s most vocal members to make an appearance.
Finally, a post emerged: “Now I finally understand why she chose to stay in the Arts Department.”
The title made it clear who it was referring to, and everyone clicked in to take a look.
The post contained only one competition video and a comment: “As someone who has experienced sound attack skills, I can only say that my mind at that moment was not my own.”
After those who clicked into the post finished watching the video, all that remained in their minds was a stunned “Wow.”
They had no idea that sound therapists could use music to attack people. The sound attack skill was incredible—truly a group attack weapon that was impossible to resist.
They finally understood why Mai Dongzi chose to stay in the Arts Department; it must have been for the sound attack skill. Truly a genius, her vision was exceptional.
However, the poster’s description of their experience with the sound attack was too brief, prompting many to leave requests for more detailed explanations. Unfortunately, the poster did not reply.
Gradually, other students from the Command Department began to share their experiences from the chaotic brawl, posting videos from different angles of the competition. However, none of the contestants shared specific feelings about their experience during the sound attack.
Despite the upperclassmen from the Command Department wanting to defeat Mai Dongzi, they all agreed to keep her secrets when dealing with outsiders and were unwilling to reveal what it felt like to be controlled by her singing.
Mai Dongzi glanced at the various comments on the campus forum and liked two regarding the upperclassmen’s performances before shutting down her holographic device to look at the Phantom Team, who were busy gossiping.
Since they won the competition easily this morning and now it was lunchtime, they were quite relaxed.
However, their sensitivity was on point. As soon as Mai Dongzi looked at them, all five quickly closed their devices, straightened their postures, and assumed a stance of waiting for their leader to speak.
Mai Dongzi knew their little tricks, but she had more important things to discuss and chose to ignore their antics.
“Today’s chaotic battle mode is likely the school’s test for us. I’m not sure about the other departments, but in our Command Department, I was forced to reveal my sound attack skill early. The upcoming competition rules will definitely restrict my abilities,” Mai Dongzi said.
If Mai Dongzi’s abilities are restricted, the overall strength of the Phantom Team will significantly weaken. It’s manageable against second-year students, but against third and fourth-year students, none of them stand a chance besides Mai Dongzi.
Mai Dongzi speculated that tomorrow’s competition would likely return to the regular format. If it followed previous rules, where a single contestant could compete three times in a best-of-five format, she could ensure the Phantom Team’s victory.
However, if the organizing committee limits the number of matches each contestant can compete in, such as allowing only two matches per person, the Phantom Team will need to secure another win besides Mai Dongzi’s.
She considered the combat styles of the five Phantom Team members and had an idea.
“Typically, a standard team competition consists of two individual matches, two doubles matches, and one four-person match,” Mai Dongzi said.
“For the individual matches, it depends on the opponent’s lineup, but for the doubles…” Mai Dongzi looked at everyone and asked, “Who do you think would be a good partner for you?”
The five of them exchanged glances, and Zhuang Huiya asked, “Captain, how many matches do you plan to participate in?”
“In the individual and four-person matches; we’ll figure out the rest later. The competition rules are always changing, and you can’t rely on me for every victory. You should strive to be indispensable members; that’s a quality of a strong team,” Mai Dongzi said seriously.
The members of the Phantom Team became serious, knowing this was true. However, Mai Dongzi was so strong that they had become overly reliant on her.
“Captain, I want to team up with Zhuang Huiya for doubles,” Wang Yiyi said.
Mai Dongzi had them all pair up for doubles practice. Wang Yiyi and Zhuang Huiya were the two strongest members after Mai Dongzi, making their combination the most powerful.
Mai Dongzi agreed, and the other doubles pair would be Tony and Yu Lan, whose skills ranked just below Wang Yiyi and Zhuang Huiya.
For the individual matches, one participant would definitely be Chen Xinhe.
Chen Xinhe had joined the Phantom Team relatively recently, and with the timing coinciding with the key moments of the individual competition, Mai Dongzi had focused most of her attention on Zhuang Huiya and Wang Yiyi, neglecting Chen Xinhe’s progress compared to the others.
By arranging for her to participate in the individual match, Mai Dongzi wanted her to have a solid competition experience without worrying about winning or losing, allowing her to gain practical experience.
“Today, I’ll teach you some techniques for doubles battles,” Mai Dongzi said with a smile.
Mai Dongzi was correct; the competition committee initially intended to introduce new ideas but ended up facing a massive defeat from Mai Dongzi’s sound attack skills. They had no choice but to revert to traditional competition rules.
Over time, Mai Dongzi had learned that any new rules devised by the committee would only be announced at the competition venue, as had happened with today’s chaotic match. However, for traditional rules, the committee would announce them the evening before the competition.
Sure enough, at that time, the committee announced the rules for tomorrow’s team competition.
Everyone had already prepared for the traditional rules and remained calm. However, when they saw the new regulation, the members of the Phantom Team felt it was unfair, while other teams were excited.
The new rule stated that each player could only compete twice.