Delta: With wages in place, even the Demon King's top-tier protection is crushed.

Shortly after the video was released.

Haotian and Chen Ze promoted the Chen Ze Cup together via live stream, and the barrage of comments asked Lü Ang why he participated.

Haotian stammered for a long time, but was pressured by the comments and accidentally let slip: "Brother Ang said he's going to modify the M14 for this game, to give the other players a chance."

The chat was silent for a moment, then erupted into a frenzy: "A bare-bones M14 modification! Does he even know what a bare-bones M14 modification is?!"

"Translate this: I can beat you even with a fire poker."

"It's not showing off, it's an announcement."

"Disassemble the M14 down to just the trigger and its dignity."

Other contestants: Thanks for the opportunity, you idiot. But then you realize that even the opportunity was useless.

Some busybodies took a screenshot of this sentence and posted it in the Douyin Delta livestreamer group chat.

After seeing the screenshot, Lin Shu silently left two words in the comments section: "...Beast."

Bai Ze reposted the comment and added: "I told you I shouldn't have taken this commentary job. I would have developed a psychological trauma if I sat in the commentary booth watching him kill people."

Haotian added insult to injury below: "Sir, didn't you already have psychological trauma? Back when the bridge was first blocked, you were the first victim on the entire internet."

Bai Ze sent a string of ellipses.

Despite all the controversies, Lü Ang himself remained as low-key as ever.

He only mentioned it briefly during the live stream, saying in a nonchalant tone, "Chen Ze Cup, huh? Just going to join in the fun. It's nothing big. Just using a modified M14 to add some difficulty to the competition."

The comments section went crazy:

"How about making it a bit more difficult?"

"You call modifying the M14 without any modifications 'adding difficulty'?"

"Are you afraid you won too easily?"

Translation: I'm afraid that killing you all too quickly will ruin the show.

When someone asked him what his goal was, Lü Ang thought for a moment and replied with a statement that broke everyone's nerves: "The championship, and while I'm at it, let's do a few new tricks."

The screen was flooded with comments saying "I'm kneeling down," and the word "by the way" sparked a chorus of groans.

A few days later, the Chen Ze Cup tournament format was officially announced. Day 1: Group A preliminary rounds. Lü Ang was in Group A.

The moment the group roster was revealed, everyone silently thought to themselves: We're doomed.

Youthful Zhong Yi, Nanbo Wan, BBfps, Long Shao, Qing Chuan, Suan Mo, Gao Shou, Wang Zhongzhong, Xing Fu, Miku, plus Lü Ang—any one of them could be a formidable character capable of making their own episode of a kill compilation.

Chen Ze put all these people in the same group; it's obvious even to a fool that he did it on purpose.

He wanted a winning start; he wanted to achieve a score in the very first match that would make everyone remember the name "Chen Ze Cup".

Among all the players, the most discussed player is not Zhongyi, not BBfps, and not even the one who just won the runner-up title in the peak tournament—the only protagonist is always Lü Ang.

Some netizens discovered a heartbreaking detail: at least several players in the same group had been defeated by Lü Ang in different situations.

This is no longer a competition; it's a team-building event for the victims' alliance, and Lü Ang is the team-building theme.

On the day of the match.

The Chen Ze Cup started promptly at 5 p.m.

Chen Ze sat in the main live broadcast room, next to Bai Ze—his commentary partner for the first stage.

Bai Ze was wearing a white shirt today, and his expression was fairly normal, but he couldn't help but blurt out halfway through his opening remarks: "Brother Ze, to be honest, the main reason I came to commentate on Group A today is to see for myself what Lü Ang's modified M14 looks like."

Chen Ze laughed loudly: "Sir, weren't you killed by him? Why are you coming to see him again?"

Bai Ze pushed up his glasses, his face serious: "He may have killed before, but that time he used a fully modified weapon. This time he used a bare-bones weapon, and I'm here to see him crash and burn."

The viewers in the live chat burst into laughter.

"The officer is suffering!"

Bai Ze: I've come to see my enemy make a fool of himself.

"Then I discovered that even a modified M14 could kill people, which gave me even more psychological trauma."

The competition has officially begun.

The singles qualifiers in Group A were incredibly fierce.

Without teammates and with no way out, everyone was fighting alone, and Bakshi dominated the first match.

Regarding the tournament format, the first matches for Groups A and B were all Bakshi matches, with Aerospace matches coming up later. As for why it was designed this way, who knows?

The young player was the fastest to act. He grabbed a gun and pressed the target as soon as he landed at the respawn point. He took down the first lone wolf within two minutes of the start of the game. He then cleared the field from the middle of Babel Tower and finally topped the kill leaderboard with a score of fourteen.

Nanbowan followed closely behind, setting up a semi-automatic sniper rifle on the second floor of the museum. His steady play was unlike that of a solo player. After getting five kills in a row, he ambushed a lone wolf trying to escape near the extraction point, ultimately finishing with thirteen kills.

BBfps was equally impressive, ultimately turning the tide and killing two opponents in a 1v2 situation on the top floor of the Tower of Babel, securing twelve kills against all odds.

Long Shao and Qing Chuan also achieved more than ten kills, Suan Mo had nine kills, Gao Shou had ten kills, Xing Fu had eleven kills, and Miku had ten kills—the top eleven players in Group A climbed the ranks in turn, with almost no holding back or testing each other.

Everyone knows that every second in the single-player mode is a life-or-death situation. If you hesitate even for a second, someone else will have already climbed onto the kill leaderboard by stepping on your record.

On the commentary booth, Bai Ze's voice was already a little hoarse: "Dear viewers, the competition for kills in Group A is too fierce right now! Teacher Zhongyi is currently in first place with fourteen kills, followed closely by Nanbowan, and BBfps is in third place—these three people have a combined kill count of nearly forty! And among all the players, there are only a few who have not yet made their appearance."

And the one who made the grand finale appearance—was him.

The list of contestants on Chen Ze's live stream screen scrolled slowly, finally settling on one name.

[Double Sea, Cucumber (Operation Delta)]

The live chat exploded with excitement at that moment:

"Here it comes! Here it comes! Here it comes!"

"The grand finale! A true star!"

"Everyone is waiting for him..."

"Zhongyi has 14 kills, Nanbo has 13 kills, is Guachu under a lot of pressure?"

"Pressure my ass, he's a piece of trash."

"Zhong Yi played well, but Lü Ang is a different species altogether."

A flurry of laughter filled the screen, only to be followed by a wave of anticipation.

Meanwhile, the number of viewers watching Chen Ze's live stream began to climb.

In just over ten seconds, 900,000 people were online!

Barring any unforeseen circumstances, the number of viewers in Chen Ze's live stream will officially surpass one million when the competition begins!

The camera cuts to the character selection screen. Lü Ang's fingers tap the keyboard twice, and he moves the mouse to the equipment screen. Everyone's eyes are focused on that gun—an M14, with a 50-round drum magazine, no scope, no grip, no muzzle attachments, and even the stock is original.

It was a completely basic modification, with only a drum magazine added, which appeared in black and white on his equipment panel.

The chat was silent for half a second, then erupted into a frenzy.

"A complete overhaul!"

"He actually used a bare-bones method to improve the Chen Ze Cup!"

"Is this guy crazy?!"

"What would you think if you liked seeing this equipment panel?"

Zhongyi: I'm a pro too, you think you can beat me with this?

"What about respect? What about respect for the game?"

"He showed respect! He at least added a drum magazine! Without it, thirty bullets wouldn't be enough to kill several of them!"

Lü Ang stretched his wrists and pressed the preparation button.

The game loads, and the countdown reaches zero.

……

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