Top Warzone Analyst Chapter 129

At 2:30 p.m. the next afternoon, Cheng Feng and Jiang Linxia’s match began as scheduled.

Before a match, Cheng Feng’s routine was usually fairly consistent – at least it had been the previous few times. This time, however, she had specifically taken a half-day off and disappeared completely. Even Mr. Kong couldn’t get hold of her to give her any last-minute coaching.

The next time he saw her was on San Yao’s streaming platform.

Mr. Kong was about to click on Cheng Feng’s stream directly, but at the last moment his hand trembled. Remembering the epic chaos of the previous broadcast, he ultimately gave up and instead picked the most popular commentator from the list below. Leaning back in his chair, he relaxed his muscles, closed his eyes, and listened to the voice coming through the speakers.

“Hello everyone, your hidden-gem commentator, Crazed Charmer, is here.”

Crazed Charmer had both competitors’ streams open simultaneously. After resizing the windows, Cheng Feng’s feed was on the left and Jiang Linxia’s on the right.

Looking at the two videos side by side, viewers had no idea where to focus their attention. They asked what exactly Crazed Charmer planned to do today and whether he could stop constantly jumping between the two perspectives.

“No need to worry about me. I like to spread my attention evenly,” Crazed Charmer replied casually, clearly ignoring their advice.

“Right now we’re in the armory loadout phase, so let’s take a look together. Weapon configuration largely determines a match’s style and direction. Beginners can copy standard builds, but experienced players need to learn how to create their own.”

He opened Cheng Feng’s weapon list. After seeing the details, he paused for a moment, took a breath, and sounded slightly bewildered.

“Uh… today Cheng Feng has finally stopped using the default setup. She’s abandoned the armory in Sector Right-Two and replaced it with a melee-oriented offense-and-defense module. Huh? This looks more like a heavy-mech configuration. But Jiang Linxia pilots a Windwing – a fast unit that’s much better at long-range combat. Why are you bringing a cold weapon? What’s the strategy here?”

As soon as he finished speaking, the list updated again.

Crazed Charmer dragged the selection box downward, found the section that had changed, and quietly read through it, comparing it with the setup he remembered.

“So many changes? Cheng Feng has overhauled a huge portion of her armory today… The cannon and ranged weapons she picked are the Seven Stars sniper-type models, while the thruster positioning and power output are based on Windwing standards. So the overall weapon capacity has been reduced by about… about one-third?”

His voice grew increasingly uncertain toward the end. Remembering that he’d just opened the stream by saying weapon loadouts could determine the course of a match, he gave a soft laugh and admitted defeat.

“Cheng Feng’s Frankenstein build is certainly unique. Maybe that’s one of the advantages of manually-operated mechs.”

He didn’t dwell on it for long and quickly moved on to another topic.

“Maybe I really just don’t understand manually-operated mechs. I’m confused and deeply shocked. Let’s put that aside for now and take a look at Jiang Linxia’s setup.”

There weren’t many changes to Jiang Linxia’s armory. It was consistent with his usual style: a row of long-range cannons mounted behind his mech.

When deployed, the array of weapons spread out like a pair of mechanical wings. The cold gleam of metal and their sharp, angular design represented the pinnacle of modern military aesthetics. When not in use, however, they folded downward for easier movement, making him look from a distance as though his head were ringed with spikes.

Crazed Charmer joked, “Looking forward to Jiang Linxia spreading his feathers today.”

The next second, he zoomed in on the audio feed. His tone turned serious as he announced: “Both players are entering the battlefield now.”

Once they spawned in, neither side showed any immediate aggression.

Jiang Linxia quickly retreated while studying the map as he moved. Cheng Feng planned out her route and silently gave chase from behind.

Within the game, the only sound was the low, muffled rumble left in the wake of the heavy mechs as they crossed the terrain. Neither player chose to open fire.

A moment later, Cheng Feng received a voice transmission from Jiang Linxia.

Everyone assumed it would be some kind of taunt, since Jiang Linxia had always enjoyed using psychological tactics to unsettle his opponents. To their surprise, when the system automatically read it aloud, it turned out to be nothing more than a familiar greeting.

Jiang Linxia asked, “Did you drink the milk I had someone deliver to you?”

Cheng Feng replied, “No.”

Jiang Linxia let out a sigh. “What a shame. I heard that drinking dairy products when you’re nervous can easily cause diarrhea. I thought I might be able to win a little more easily.”

Cheng Feng remained completely unmoved.

“Wake up,” she said flatly.

Jiang Linxia continued rambling, “If you’d be willing to GG in advance, I’d be deeply touched. I believe you’re probably getting used to losing by now. How about you throw the match and bow out gracefully? We can both keep up appearances, and I’d be willing to share my prize money with you.”

Before he had even finished speaking, he had already drawn one of the cannons mounted behind him, lined up Cheng Feng’s position, and pressed the firing button while the last syllables of his sentence were still hanging in the air.

The map for this match was an unevenly terraced town.

Buildings stood atop hills of varying heights, while roads followed the contours of the terrain, winding and intersecting in seemingly random curves. Some sections of the map were separated by stretches of undeveloped woodland.

At that moment, Jiang Linxia’s Windwing stood on higher ground, while Cheng Feng had just entered a sunken section of roadway.

After leaving the barrel, the shell traced an upward arc through the sky before crashing into a cluster of buildings directly in front of Cheng Feng.

The blast radius of this type of ammunition was enormous. The high-rises shattered instantly, chunks of stone and concrete raining down from above.

The manual-operated mech didn’t attempt any risky evasive maneuvers. Instead, it pulled a long blade-like attachment from a position resembling its left arm. After unfolding it, the weapon was raised overhead as a shield while the mech increased power output and charged straight through.

The moment she had a free hand again, the transforming mech’s first action was to return the favor – sending a shell right back at her “friend.”

Crazed Charmer quickly summed up the exchange. “Both sides began with a friendly greeting. Jiang Linxia warmly entertained Cheng Feng. Cheng Feng politely blocked his hospitality and responded with a ceremonial cannon salute she had prepared in advance.”

Mr. Kong was completely bewildered.

What kind of commentary is this?

He quietly cracked open one eye and glanced at the stream.

“God-tier commentary.”

“Keeping things family-friendly.”

“Something feels off about that description, but the more you think about it, the more accurate it is.”

“If I weren’t watching the match myself, I honestly wouldn’t understand a word of this.”

Having organized his thoughts, Crazed Charmer added, “So this is how Cheng Feng intends to use those heavy-armor components. At close range, it’s difficult to use ranged weapons to create an effective interception. Relying purely on movement and dodging would require extremely complex control inputs, and the strain on the pilot’s fingers would be far beyond normal limits. Cheng Feng has chosen to tank the damage instead. However, this approach can only reduce mech damage to a certain extent. I wouldn’t recommend it to beginners – it can backfire very easily.”

Cheng Feng was doing everything she could to close the distance between them.

A manual-operated mech could vault directly over low obstacles, giving it a natural advantage on this sort of terraced, winding terrain. Cheng Feng had also specifically enhanced her propulsion system. As a result, despite Jiang Linxia racing forward at top speed, Cheng Feng’s icon on the radar kept creeping closer.

Jiang Linxia occasionally glanced at his control panel, feeling increasingly tense as the complicated figures flashing across the display continued to chase him.

He mentally counted his remaining ammunition and, whenever an opening presented itself, fired another round to slow Cheng Feng’s advance.

The greatest advantage his experience gave him was his exceptional sense of timing.

Even when it was nothing more than an instinct he couldn’t quite explain, he could still judge, from several kilometers away, exactly where his artillery fire needed to land for maximum effect.

The difference in elevation between the two mechs gradually shifted.

Jiang Linxia was about to start heading downhill.

The road winding around the mountain was broad and curving. Along one side lay a section of a forest park, where dense woodland flourished. The area had not yet been developed into residential land, and the trees also blocked Windwing’s line of sight to the mountaintop.

The mech scanned the terrain ahead, calculated the approximate slope of the roadway, and indicated that it was about to enter a level area.

Looking at the complete route map of the mountain road, Jiang Linxia instinctively felt this was an excellent opportunity to launch an ambush. Acting on habit, he briefly slowed, drew one of the cannons mounted behind him, and turned to aim toward his rear.

The camera view switched instantly.

Before he could even locate Cheng Feng’s exact position, a faint flash of red fire appeared on the horizon.

At that moment, Jiang Linxia’s sense of danger exploded to a level he had never experienced before. Without a second thought, he fired immediately, using both his thrusters and the recoil from the shot to propel himself frantically away from his current location.

A deafening explosion followed, like the detonation of a giant landmine.

When the smoke cleared, a massive crater had appeared at the entrance to the forest park.

“Holy shit!” Jiang Linxia cursed. “Are you seriously firing blind?!”

Cheng Feng’s usually clear, bright voice was slightly lower than normal, her muscles tense with concentration.

“Right back at you.”

What had essentially been a rather straightforward chase somehow held Crazed Charmer completely spellbound. Only now did he finally let out a thoughtful: “Hm…”

The viewers could no longer contain themselves and immediately began roasting him.

“Would you please talk?! We’ve been watching all this time and all you give us is an ‘hm’?”

“Does saying a few extra words lower your market value or something?”

“My daughter is practically more professional than you. She’s only eight months old, but at least she knows to bounce along to the sounds!”

Crazed Charmer chuckled. “Do you know what’s most important when firing blind?”

Before the audience could type out their cold, merciless replies, he answered his own question:

“Prediction.”

The chat responded with an entire wall of question marks.

Whenever Cheng Feng was involved, did commentators suddenly forget how to speak their native language?

Crazed Charmer brushed the complaints aside vaguely. “There’s no time to explain it all right now. Just keep watching.”

From the beginning of the match, Jiang Linxia’s attack frequency had been relatively high. In contrast, Cheng Feng had only fired a total of four shots so far.

The first shot was a symbolic counter at the start, marking the outbreak of battle.

The second came just before Jiang Linxia’s heavy artillery landed, preemptively collapsing the high-rise buildings in front of her.

The third disrupted Jiang Linxia’s rhythm, forcing him to enter the ring-mountain road section ahead of schedule.

The final shot was the one being fired now.

None of her attacks missed, yet none of them created a strong enough sense of immediate crisis for her opponent. Crazed Charmer considered this second point to be the most terrifying.

For a solo combatant, danger that cannot be perceived is the most lethal kind of existence. Until the battle is over, there is never absolute advantage.

However, Jiang Linxia did not feel relaxed as predicted. On the contrary, he felt his scalp go numb. Because the current distance between the two mechs on the map meant that he was close to being “exposed.”