Chapter Two: Three Seconds From Now, the Bullet Fires First

There were too many coincidences left to deserve the name. League rules limited Emberstar to registered players. One viable name remained: Su Cheng. At the clinic, she refused to withdraw and texted a single line—I can’t hear, but I can see. At four, five players reentered the server. The room was physically disconnected from the outside network. Su Cheng wore protective earmuffs and kept Lin Mo’s improvised hand-signal chart beside her monitor. Zhou Yan would breach. Tang Ye would hold long angles. Lin Mo would fill reconnaissance and call the map. They were crushed in the first round. Lin Mo heard footsteps approaching left and called an immediate focus. Tang Ye saw a firing lane on the right and held his angle.