Chapter Four: On Map One, the Future Kills the Future

For the first time, the arena chanted He Chuan’s name. He stared at the stands as if unable to believe a decision could belong to him. Throne tightened its defense. Emberstar clawed back three more rounds but lost Skyharbor 4–7. Under the desk, Zhou Yan’s right hand shook uncontrollably. Su Cheng noticed and silently pushed him an ice pack. Meanwhile, underground money flooded toward Throne. Using the first map’s outbound traffic, Su Cheng traced three international relays to a final node inside the arena. Node B7. Xu Duo’s expression changed. “B7 isn’t a server room. It’s the referee data desk.” Then Lin Mo heard an announcement three seconds early. “Following technical review, an Emberstar player is suspected of unauthorized assistance—”