Chapter 172: Game within game, flip within flip, epiphany

Time goes back to the day when Howl discussed tactics.

"Fang Dui, do you mean that you don't drive a submarine?" Ma Taxifeng asked tentatively.

"Of course not. I'm not a fool." Fang Rui replied lazily.

When both sides are fully aware of each other's strengths and possible tactical choices, if they still stick to the originally planned style of play, they will be courting death.

"In the last round, Xiao Zhu sent planes to tear our aircraft carrier apart shortly after the start of the game. Are you going to let him continue to tear it apart in this round?"

Ma Ta Xi Feng shook his head like a rattle: "It must be targeted!"

But at this point, he subconsciously felt a little embarrassed: "If we don't play submarines, what should we play?"

The reason why he initially planned to let Fang Rui play the submarine position was because the submarine position was relatively the most difficult to target.

Although since this version of World of Warships is produced by Tenghai, it is much better in balance than the version made by the Russians.

However, even Tenghai has no particularly suitable means to deal with submarines.

Even though great efforts have been made to achieve submarine-related balance, it still has a unique advantage in concealment.

Especially when the enemy's aircraft carrier is very skilled and planes are flying everywhere in the sky, the submarine's concealment advantage is even greater.

After thinking for a while, Ma Ta Xi Feng gritted his teeth and said, "How about a island breeze?"

As a destroyer with top-notch torpedoes, maneuverability and concealment, Shimakaze is also a suitable choice for carrying out sneak attack missions.

Although its tightrope-walking nature and weak frontal combat power will make Howl at a disadvantage in the early stages of the expulsion dogfight.

But the enemy already has top-level aircraft carriers, so what else does it need?

However, Fang Rui listened to Ma Ta Xi Feng's advice and still shook his head: "Shimakaze can go out, but I don't want to control it."

"Why?" Ma Taxifeng felt like his brain was overloaded.

"Because it's not safe." Fang Rui sighed.

Both sides can sense the significance of choosing a torpedo destroyer as famous as Shimakaze.

This is also a card that is almost played out in an open manner.

"Old Ma, do you know what the highest secret of the dirty style is?" Fang Rui smiled and patted Ma Ta Xifeng's shoulder.

"What?" Old Ma was stunned subconsciously.

"Even if you use a profession that is not at all vulgar, you can still achieve the most vulgar effect." Fang Rui recited the lines that were not serious at all in a serious manner.

Although Fang Rui was known as the No. 1 thief in Glory, he clearly remembered that he was not originally a thief.

In the early days of Blue Rain's training camp, he played a Qigong Master. If he hadn't left, he would probably compete with Song Xiao for the position of Blue Rain's starting Qigong Master.

After being sold to Wind Howl by Blue Rain, he did not transform into a thief right away, but tried being a rogue for a while as Lin Jingyan's successor.

Later, by chance, he used the power of ghosts and gods and became a thief.

Fang Rui couldn't remember what his style was when he played the Qigong Master and the Rogue.

But if he were to pick up these two professions again now, even a head-on profession like Qigong Master, he would definitely play it in an extremely despicable way.

The core secrets of the dirty flow, detours, cover, concealment, consumption, exploiting weaknesses, and arresting the lonesome, these things have been engraved into Fang Rui's soul.

No matter what profession he plays or even what game he plays, as long as he wants, he can achieve similar results.

"So what you mean is..." Ma Taxifeng gave up thinking.

"Hehehe..." Fang Rui didn't answer, but kept flipping the mouse in the boat pool.

After a moment, his eyes stopped on a burly guy, and the corners of his mouth curled up.

"That's it..."

……

Zhu Xiaoping watched as a cloud of smoke simply circled a mountain at a speed of 55 knots (about km/h) and came towards him aggressively from the front. His mind went blank.

How come? How did it come out?

It was not until this time that Zhu Xiaoping realized how far forward he was standing.

In a sense, it has almost reached the fire coverage circle of the front battlefield.

So... which destroyer is this? Zhu Xiaoping was completely confused.

The speed is a bit slow, but the smoke is following the ship, and it's like a train. Is there a destroyer whistling over there?
Did they choose Yi-Drive? Zhu Xiaoping couldn't remember.

However, the smoke was still seven or eight kilometers away from him, so he was not completely powerless to resist!
The normally worthless torpedo planes took off at all costs and dropped dense torpedoes along the general direction of the movement of the smoke.

Zhu Xiaoping wanted to force the other party to dodge and buy precious time for himself to escape.

However, a magical thing happened. The "destroyer" did not dodge or evade, but rushed straight up.

"Does he want to live anymore?" Zhu Xiaoping was dumbfounded when he saw this divine power.

Following a few dull explosions, several torpedo hit ribbons appeared on Zhu Xiaoping's screen, indicating that the torpedoes he had dropped had caused damage.

But he didn't feel any joy at all.

Why? Why didn't he hide?

What destroyer dares to not move at all?
Amid Zhu Xiaoping's doubts, the smoke dissipated.

A behemoth that was far beyond his imagination appeared in his sight.

The huge hull, the thick armor, and the sixteen 381mm cannons on the deck...

How can this be a destroyer?

This is basically a battleship!
Italian Tier 10 battleship, Christopher Columbus.

This battleship has the largest number of guns in the entire game, as well as the only battleship smoke generator.

When this thing first appeared in this game, Zhu Xiaoping thought that it was a support player who was specially selected to pull smoke because Howl was afraid of his air raid.

And in the first half, Columbus did exactly that.

Except when it is under severe air attack or when a large force is changing its line of sight and creates smoke to block the view, at other times it just fires and advances slowly like the most ordinary line-carrying battleships.

Even due to the Italian battleships' poor shotgun-like artillery accuracy, it didn't even cause much damage from its artillery fire.

However, it was this battleship that had been performing mediocrely all along, but at the most critical moment, it sounded the clarion call for the team's counterattack!

If you can still save yourself if you are attacked by a destroyer, how can you save yourself if you are attacked by a battleship with almost full health?
Seven kilometers is quite risky for a destroyer, but for a battleship, it is a distance that can kill the enemy in one round!

Columbus's sixteen main guns let out a deafening roar, and sixteen fierce armor-piercing shells penetrated the Red Baron's fragile defense in just one round, tearing its core structure to pieces.

As the deafening flames rose up, the Red Baron, operated by Zhu Xiaoping, was sunk.

At the Baihua Club, Zhu Xiaoping loosened his hand that was holding the mouse and collapsed on his seat.

He pulled off his headphones and threw them aside, letting the tears flow.

The almost face-to-face salvo just now not only destroyed the Red Baron's core module, but also shattered the pride that Zhu Xiaoping had accumulated with great difficulty in World of Warships over the past few days.

After all this time, it turns out it’s not because I’m strong, but because my opponent is too weak…

The reason why he was able to defeat Howl with a crushing force was simply because they were just idiots in online gaming, while he was a professional player.

Once you meet a truly strong person, it's time to reveal yourself. Zhu Xiaoping suddenly felt so ridiculous.

The headphones fell on the wooden floor of the training room, making a crisp sound.

This startled Yu Feng who was concentrating on training nearby.

"What's wrong, Xiaoping? You--" Yu Feng stood up puzzledly. Just as he was about to ask, he saw Zhu Xiaoping with tears streaming down his face. He was immediately frightened and at a loss what to do.

"Are you okay, Xiaoping? What happened to you?" He hurriedly trotted to Zhu Xiaoping and asked with concern.

After all, he had just taken office as captain not long ago, and he still lacked a certain grasp of issues such as psychological construction within the team.

"It's okay, captain, we just lost a game." Zhu Xiaoping slowly revealed a smile that was uglier than crying.

"Just fight back if you lose? What game is that? Is it the World of Warships you've been playing recently? Do you want me to help you?" Yu Feng was puzzled.

But Zhu Xiaoping just shook his head.

He suddenly saw himself clearly.

What's the point of being the absolute core of the battlefield? Your level is only good enough to be a supporting role, to set off the hot spots in the team, to do some dirty and tiring work, that's all.

Like Yu Feng in front of him, or Fang Rui who just played a dirty trick with the battleship, they are the ones who are born to stand in the center of the stage.

Just when he was about to calm down and find an excuse to get around the current situation, his cell phone rang.

When he clicked on it, he saw that it was Fang Rui who had sent him a call request.

Is this... a post-war humiliation of the losers? Or is it a hypocritical consolation and solicitation by the victors?

never mind.

Zhu Xiaoping answered the phone numbly.

"You're awesome, Xiao Zhu. I'm convinced!" As expected, Fang Rui started off with a very corny compliment.

Zhu Xiaoping didn't have any extra emotions, he just replied woodenly: "Thank you for the compliment, but Howl is still stronger..."

If someone calls to comfort you with good intentions, even if it's hypocritical, so what?

In any case, Zhu Xiaoping's ambitions have been shattered.

He just listened numbly to Fang Rui's eloquent speech:

"It turns out that being a summoner of Glory is a waste of your talent. Once you transform, you will immediately become a key player in the team."

"Even though we spent three days formulating a strategy and finally found an opportunity to deal with you, it still can't change the overall situation..."

"I am convinced of my defeat."

……

and many more……

What did Fang Rui just say?

Zhu Xiaoping blinked in confusion and began to suspect that there was something wrong with his ears.

Fang Rui seemed to have just said... they lost?
While Yu Feng was at a loss, Zhu Xiaoping suddenly grabbed the headphones thrown on the ground like crazy and turned on the screen that had just turned off.

Sure enough, as soon as he put on the headphones, the deafening cheers almost tore his eardrums.

When the screen lit up, the golden word "Victory" flashed in the most conspicuous position on the screen.

"Captain Fang...did you let him win?" Zhu Xiaoping asked blankly, not being able to believe his eyes.

"Let you go? No way! It's simply because we are not strong enough. After we kill you, you will no longer have the strength to resist." Fang Rui answered straightforwardly.

That's exactly what happened.

Although Howling's series of tricks eventually lured the Red Baron into the trap, he was killed by Fang Rui's Columbus with one shot.

However, in order to accomplish this difficult plan, Howling paid the price of a destroyer being instantly destroyed and a battleship being besieged deep in enemy territory.

In addition, Zhu Xiaoping had already established a considerable advantage in health and situation for the Black Sea Fleet in the early stage. Even if the most core aircraft carrier was replaced in this wave, the Black Sea Fleet still had the upper hand in the situation.

After Zhu Xiaoping's death, they played steadily and took advantage of the loopholes caused by the entire Howling team's excessive targeting of Zhu Xiaoping, and finally won the game.

Although Zhu Xiaoping was almost the first person to die in the Black Sea Fleet, no one in the team questioned him; all were cheering and celebrating.

"Brother Feng is so strong!"

"Counting the submarine at the beginning, this is one for three, right?"

"What about the health loss? What about the vision? In short, Brother Feng is invincible!"

……

Zhu Xiaoping felt dazed as he listened to the voice chatter of those idiots continuing to sing and dance and open champagne.

Did I really win?
Did he really win against Fang Rui's Howl?
It was not until this moment that Fang Rui's voice slowly rang out from the phone.

"Xiao Zhu, if I'm not mistaken, you must have shut up and become autistic as soon as you died just now, right?" Fang Rui said with a hint of sarcasm.

"Yeah." Zhu Xiaoping, still immersed in shock, nodded subconsciously.

"Look, this is a sign of an immature mentality. You have to trust your teammates!" Fang Rui pretended to be senior and gave a lecture.

Zhu Xiaoping was about to nod, but Yu Feng next to him got anxious and snatched the phone away: "Mr. Fang, what do you mean?"

Yu Feng and Fang Rui both came from Blue Rain's youth training camp. Although they were a few years apart in age, they were familiar with each other.

When Yu Feng heard that Fang Rui was actually teaching his teammates a lesson in front of him, he felt like he was being bullied and became furious on the spot.

"Oh? Xiao Yu, I don't mean anything." Fang Rui recognized who was the one who was angry, and immediately smiled even more happily.

"How come you, Xiao Zhu, are such an outstanding talent, and you are invincible in the neighboring world of Warships? How come you, Baihua, haven't discovered it?"

"After all, summoners and aircraft carriers have many similarities."

These simple words made Yu Feng unable to think of a good answer for a while.

Recently he knew that Zhu Xiaoping was very good at this game called World of Warships, but he was not sure how good he was.

For this reason, Zhu Xiaoping is just an ordinary team member in his mind.

But until now, Fang Rui actually gave such a high evaluation of Zhu Xiaoping, which made Yu Feng feel a little surprised.

It turns out that Xiao Zhu...really has top-notch talent?

So why haven’t we discovered it?
Yu Feng thought for a while, and finally answered tentatively: "Perhaps it is because the traditional summoner gameplay does not allow Xiao Zhu and the summoners to play their roles."

Fang Rui did not comment: "Who knows?"

"Since you can't make use of his abilities, why don't you let me hold your thighs."

On the other end of the phone, Fang Rui suddenly smiled brightly:
"Xiao Zhu, let's team up and fight for the championship!"

　Second update.

　　As the title says, this is the end of the World of Warships chapter.

　　I wonder what you guys think of writing a few chapters on a less popular game for a change of taste.
　　All in all, I enjoyed writing it.

　　So please give me some monthly tickets.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)