Xiao Shqin had his Mechanic slow to a stop in helplessness. Ye Xius guess was correct. They currently had six pairs of stockings, all here with him and Zhang Jiaxing. The reason for this was to prevent the others, who were all searching for Ye Qiu alone, from being destroyed two on one and losing all their stockings.

As for Xiao Shiqin and Zhang Jiaxing, they were together, decreasing the ground they could cover, but this was to protect the stockings. If the two met Ye Qiu, it would be two on two, giving them a chance. Even if they couldnt win, their reinforcements wouldve probably arrived before they were defeated.

However, Xiao Shiqin had never considered the possibility that Ye Qiu would have allied with Lower Your Head and None Dare Attack. Two against four wasnt much different from two against one. Even if these four werent as in sync as their pair, Ye Xius tactical arrangements made up for it. Xiao Shiqin and Zhang Jiaxing had thought they were only dealing with Lower Your Head and None Dare Attack, so when Ye Xiu and Steamed Buns characters jumped out, the two Excellent Era players suddenly seemed full of openings. Xiao Shiqin decisively decided to retreat, instantly realizing that there was no chance they would be able to last until reinforcements came. Yet that was when Ye Xiu saw through their intentions and Mechanic Listened Promise blocked their retreat, declared them to have all the stockings and struck without hesitation.

They couldnt run anymore. They could only stall for time.

Xiao Shiqins reaction was also extremely fast. His character immediately backed away, rushing to help Zhang Jiaxings Cleric.

As a Cleric that wasnt very good at directly fighting, going against two characters alone and getting closed in on meant nothing good, even for a pro player. Zhang Jiaxing was struggling and straining to hold on, his energy from before when he said he was going to let go and fight Lower Your Head completely gone.

Xiao Shiqin wanted to come and help, but how could Ye Xiu let him go so easily? Listened Promise used skills to rush forth as None Dare Attack provided ranged support.

"Which do we kill first?" Lower Your Head asked loudly. She felt like focusing fire to get rid of one first was important at a time like this.

"Mechanic, the stockings are all on him," Ye Xiu yelled back.

So shameless!

This thought popped into Lower Your Head and None Dare Attacks head at the same time. It, of course, wasnt because Ye Xiu had told them to kill the one with the stockings first, but because when Ye Xiu yelled this, he also rapidly typed a message to the two: Cleric.

If it wasnt for how Ye Xiu had told them to keep a lookout for messages during the battle beforehand, the two wouldnt have the time to bother checking. So even checking messages was a part of his scheme?

The decision to focus fire on the Mechanic made Xiao Shiqin unwilling to drop his guard even a little. Yet, just as he geared himself up for a fight, the four characters all turned to fire their skills at Zhang Jiaxings Cleric.

A trap!

Xiao Shiqin quickly recovered from his surprise. Though falling for this trap was a thing of the moment, even the smallest of details could mean the difference between victory and defeat in a match between experts. Zhang Jiaxing had thought he could have a break upon hearing that the opponent planned to focus their fire on Xiao Shiqin. He wouldve never have guessed that what was coming was a round of even more furious attacks. He didnt have any chance to use any skills that needed casting, throwing out all the instant emergency skills. However, could that possibly be enough to defend against the focused fire of four different characters? By the time Xiao Shiqin had recovered, his Mechanics help wasnt enough anymore. He wanted to run, but Ye Qius Listened Promise was always standing at just the right angle to prevent that.

The call for reinforcements had long been sent, but watching the current progression of events, it didnt seem like they would last till reinforcements came. Xiao Shiqin was relatively clear on where the other members of Excellent Era were. Estimating the time it would take them to arrive, his mood fell further.

Zhang Jiaxings Cleric passed away just like that, and, as expected, there were no stockings on him. Ye xIu had been correct. Clerics easily became the target of focused fire and, in a pair, it was harder to keep a Cleric protected, so the Stockings were better given to the other person. Under the support of a Cleric, breaking through an encirclement or surviving danger was much more manageable.

It was unfortunate that this was only if the two sides had a more equal number of people. With the current two versus four, this wouldnt work. There were more than enough people to suppress the Cleric, and their stronger torrent of skills could immediately destroy a character.

With the Cleric down, Xiao Shiqins Mechanic was still struggling to hold on. He had wanted to find a chance to escape, but in this moment, Ye Xius team of four were practically right up against him, surrounding him. It didnt seem to matter if they were Sharpshooters or Mechanics, as if they had all become melee characters.

Xiao Shiqin wanted to cry. He didnt know what sort of agreement Ye Qiu and Lower Your Heads pair had come to, but seeing these actions, it probably wasnt a very harmonious one. They hadnt even killed him and they were already preparing to steal to snatch the stockings.

Xiao Shiqin only hated the fact that this was a game. If this was reality, he would take a pair of stockings and throw them as far as possible, possible giving him an opening to escape. Yet in the game, dropped items fell at ones feet, totally unrealistic.

However, he didnt have any more ideas, so he could only try it out.

As he was being beaten up, Xiao Shiqin took the chance to throw out a pair of stockings.

Dropped items would end up at your feet?

This time, Xiao Shiqin didnt even have the chance to see that happen. The stockings had just left his hand, heading towards the floor, when they were somehow collected.

"Holy crap!"

Xiao Shiqin couldnt help but curse. He had hoped to create an opening with that! Yet it seemed like the four surrounding him probably wouldnt have even noticed if it werent for the system announcements.

System Announcement, Listened Promise has obtained one pair of stockings...

"What?" Lower Your Head had obviously seen the System Announcement and cried out in surprise. Her tone was bewildered, but she quickly understood what had happened, feeling very disappointed and quickly sparing some of her attention on preparing to catch stockings.

But her thoughts were too naive.

The two sisters kept their eyes on Xiao Shiqins health bar, awaiting that eruption of drops at the end. Yet Ye Xiu and Steamed Bun erupted first. What had erupted from them wasnt stockings, of course, but skills. AoE skills.

The two sides werent on the same team, and you couldnt team up in the middle of an event either, so there was no immunity to damage given. They had been careful of that during the battle. In this moment, a person who threw out an AoE didnt only damage Xiao Shiqins Mechanic, but also the two sisters Sharpshooters.

Boom!

The explosion created by Ye Xius Listened Promise managed to blast the two sisters to one side. It was only then that the two realized what had happened. There was no need to explain how frustrated they were. As they were blown away by the blast, their bullets all shot towards Listened Promise, but this attack wouldnt change the situation. With Listened Promise and Rain each unleashing a torrent of skills, Xiao Shiqins Mechanic was killed and Christmas stockings fell like rain. Listened Promise walked in a circle, collecting them before they even hit the ground. The systems messages flashed like crazy.

"Lets go!"

After that, they turned and ran, not bothering with Lower Your Heads pair any longer. The two sisters wouldnt give up so easily, running after than like crazy.

However, Ye Xiu wasnt afraid of the two, he was just on guard against Excellent Era arriving. That was what would truly be troublesome. And if Excellent Eras people came now, there wouldnt be anyone to work with them anymore. The two sisters would definitely join with Excellent Era to kill them.

It wasnt easy to shake the two girls off. What they were even more afraid of is if the two sisters joined forces with Excellent Era and reported their positions. If Excellent Era came, then that would be a whole other can of worms.

So, Ye Xiu and Steamed Bun never turned to fight the two girls. They just kept running like headless flies. That way, even if Excellent Era found out their current position, they wouldnt be able to figure out their direction so they couldnt arrange a blockade. If they just ran, then the situation would be the opposite to what it had been before. So long as they didnt engage in combat, stalling for time was no problem.

What Ye Xiu was hoping for now, was that the last uncollected pair of stockings would gain an owner soon.

Currently out of the 20 pairs, Ye XIu and Steamed Bun had 18 pairs. One pair belonged to a team of normal players and another pair was the pair that Zhang Jiaxing had dropped the second time, uncollected as of yet. Quite a bit of time had passed. The more time that passed, the chance of the stockings being collected became higher. Ye Xiu was just hoping for that moment.

So, after running for about a minute, the time had finally come.

The last pair of stockings was collected by another team of normal players. With all 20 pairs collected, the countdown began, but this time Excellent Era had no way of forcing the countdown to reset.

Dont drop them again!

At this point, Ye Xiu didnt have any thoughts to get the two pairs of stockings. He only hoped that the round would end quickly, without any more mishaps.

Ye Xiu had planned for the worst case scenario, but what actually happened wasnt as bad as he expected. Xiao Shiqin, seeing how Ye Qiu had taken all the stockings, could guess that the alliance over there had come to an end, and initiated contact with Lower Your Head.

However, his offer to work together was rejected by Lower Your Head.

Excellent Era was a five man team. Joining forces with them would inevitably result in a situation unfavorable to them. Yet it seemed that joining forces with Listened Promises pair would also result in nothing good. However, at the very least they would still hunt the two down, running after them. If it was Excellent Era, they would probably only be able to look on from afar...

Ye Xiuu obviously could think of this sort of reasoning, but for safety and stability, he planned in accordance to the worst case scenario. He and Steamed Bun continued to run and the 120 second countdown didnt reset again. Finally, the countdown was complete and Lower Your Head and None Dare Attack gave up, helpless. They sent a message to Listened Promise, not taking the result lying down: "Youre vicious!"

"So so," Ye Xiu responded.

"Youre really skilled. Are you a pro player?" Lower Your Heads pair finally began to suspect. Even a god like Xiao Shiqin had been beaten to the point of helplessness. This wasnt something you could accomplish with mechanics alone.

"Er, if were currently fighting in the Challenger League, does that make us pros?" Ye Xiu replied.

"Challenger League? Which team?"

"Happy!"

"Which Happy?!"

"The Happy that talked to you guys before."

"You you you"

"Yup, thats me So? Arent I amazing?" Any interest in joining our team?" Ye Xiu asked.

"Go kill yourself!!" The two sisters yelled.