Silver City, Silver Arena, live at the Championship Draw Ceremony.
After having breakfast, Jiang Li and Fang Yuan wiped their mouths and hurried over.
Jiang Li was rather optimistic because, according to the rules, the 16 seeded teams wouldn't encounter each other in the first round of the Championship.
In other words, the first round would definitely pit some advancing champion team from one of the sixteen major divisions against one of the seeded teams.
Little Jiang had analyzed all the champion teams from the sixteen major divisions, and concluded that in the first round, their team would definitely not face a tough battle, and certainly wouldn't suffer an upset defeat.
In comparison, Fang Yuan's side needed to pray hard to the goddess of luck.
If they were lucky, they'd face the weakest of the seeded teams, where they might stand a chance with a ring battle upset.
If they were unlucky, they'd directly encounter a strong team with all members being top-level combat powers, and get defeated with a score of 8:0 or 8:2.
And if their luck was extremely bad, they'd face an internal struggle… In that case, the second team might as well directly admit defeat without even having to fight.
......
Outside the arena at this time.
Not only the captains were nervous, so were the team members.
On China Team's side, Shang Ren was sweating; at this stage of the Championship, the organizers didn't care about fairness anymore. The victor advances, the loser gets eliminated. It's that simple. Even the finalists from the last Alliance Conference could potentially encounter each other in the top 16, all down to luck.
So now, not only was it important to see who the first-round opponent was, but it was also crucial to know the specific positioning of one's own team in the entire tournament, as it would determine which country they would face next if they won this round.
"It's starting, it's starting." As soon as the big screen in the arena began to change, Mu Fan immediately held his breath.
Gurgle.
A moment later.
Mu Fan stared at the screen without blinking and was the first to speak out, "China's First Team versus Team 2 of America… Jiang Team's luck is impressive."
There are 16 major divisions, and only 6 second teams advanced, the rest are first teams; whether to say Little Jiang is lucky or not is the question.
On the surface, the second team would of course be weaker than the first, but Team 2 of America shouldn't be treated as an ordinary second team. They're at least not weaker than Team 2 of Japan.
How many could be top-level combat powers?
"Be at ease." Su Shu said with a smile, "It's just America's second team, not worth mentioning."
"What about our second team?" Yun Kai looked at the screen to see…
Hmm?
Hmm?
Wait a minute...
Seeing the screen change again, suddenly, half the audience's expressions changed.
The other half were slower to react, but upon a closer look at the list, they showed even stronger reactions.
"No way?" Tang Xinlan blurted out, utterly shocked, and Xie Qingyi also showed a look of surprise, murmuring Fang Yuan's name.
This Fang Yuan… was way too showy.
On the matchup screen, a segment clearly read "Mi Country First Team VS China's Second Team!"
Just yesterday they were discussing the strength of Gura, not even Jiang Li was sure of a win. If any team drew America's First Team tomorrow, they'd definitely be devastated. Now, it's their own people whose spirits were crushed.
Shang Ren's face turned completely dark, his mind was filled with a relentless stream of curses.
Mu Fan and Zheng Hongyi also smiled bitterly—what was this? It was clear that they were out in the first round.
Su Shu, Yun Kai, Xu Haoran, they all looked like they'd seen a ghost.
China First Team against America's Second Team, the Second Team against America's First Team, what exactly did Jiang Li and Fang Yuan do? Was the draw rigged?
......
"Ahhh!!!" Meanwhile, at the draw ceremony, Fang Yuan looked at the grouping and completely lost his composure.
Damn, what kind of luck was this? Unless he could lend his Pokemon to his teammates, the chance of winning this round was "0".
The first team of America could bring out any player, and none would be weaker than Yun Kai or Xie Qingyi. Shang Ren was completely outclassed.
The distance China's Second Team could go didn't depend on how strong Fang Yuan was, but on how strong Shang Ren was, so how were they supposed to fight this?
"Ah, can't blame Old Shang, it's my own fault..."
Fang Yuan's mouth twitched. He had hoped to lead the Second Team to a top sixteen or top eight, but now...
Forget it, making it to the top thirty-two isn't bad. Fight hard this round and start freeloading off the First Team.
Jiang Li was equally speechless at this time, patting Fang Yuan's shoulder with his hand. Steady, big brother, you defy all but luck itself.
"This..." Fang Yuan coughed dryly, feeling somewhat helpless.
Hmm?
At this moment, Fang Yuan suddenly realized, besides Jiang Li, a few other people were also looking towards him.
One of them was the champion Gura from America with his orange-red hair, looking over here with interest, though it seemed more like he was observing Jiang Li than Fang Yuan.
By Gura's side stood a young man, the captain of America's Second Team, Andy. His expression also spoke of distress, probably feeling similar dismay to what Fang Yuan was experiencing.
"Champion..." Andy started.
"I don't expect you to win, but don't lose too badly, or you'll face the consequences," Gura said indifferently.
China's Second Team had only Fang Yuan with some strength; A doctoral candidate? Even though he had some capabilities, Gura didn't pay much attention to him. If Fang Yuan were truly strong, he wouldn't be in the Second Team. Gura guessed that anyone from Mi Country's Four Heavenly Kings could easily defeat Fang Yuan.
Now, Gura only hoped that Mi Country's Second Team wouldn't bring shame to their First Team.
"Understood." Andy replied immediately, clearly very intimidated by Gura.