Failure and Regret

The match dragged on until the final moments, with Qingjun's main force holed up safely in Kezhen's star domain, refusing to come out.

The remaining exasperated Longyuan, Dolanston, and Du'e floundered about like headless flies.

No one had expected such an outcome.

Xu Lingqu had gone to sleep on the first night of the match, attending to her own affairs, and was only dragged back to watch the next day—only to find it was still the same.

To avoid being judged as passive, Jia Xianglan would periodically send small teams to provoke Qingjun's and Youfeng's star domains, firing a few particle cannons when they spotted someone before retreating. No one could really do anything about it.

Xu Lingqu watched for ten minutes before heading back, certain that this situation would remain unchanged until the very end.

And indeed, at the 47-hour mark, just before the match was about to conclude, it was still exactly the same.

The Empire's audience found this match so agonizing to watch that their comments dripped with venom.

[The most disgusting match ever produced—does the Empire even have a future? Three top schools toyed with like this by Qingjun?]

[I really think Gu Tingzhi had his IQ nerfed. How could he dare follow Dolanston into Qingjun's star domain? He should've just stayed in his own territory with Du'e and watched the show.]

[Jia Xiangying is no better, is she? She loses her head the moment she runs into her brother, acting as a thug for the mess her family dumped on her, turning everyone into a piece of their Sky Network family drama—hilarious.]

[Li Muyi might as well have been invisible this match. Whatever, Du'e mostly relies on Jinfang Taibai, but Taibai's too easily countered—what use was he here?]

[Disgusting. I might as well rewatch Guan Chuanjun stomping noobs, then watch Xu Lingqu stomp Guan Chuanjun.]

[This group was so strong; we waited so long for this, and you deliver a steaming pile? I've got nothing to say.]

But there were also many defending them:

[If you actually look at their later battle commands, they did pretty well. Even after three schools got ambushed and scattered, they were almost able to turn it around... sigh.]

[I think we should all view them objectively. As long as someone's human, they can't be flawless. Use this group stage for review and introspection, and try not to let this happen again in the quarterfinals and semifinals.]

[If they could perform at that high a level every single match, we wouldn't have been dominated by Qike Meilin for three years. Let's all keep our cool.]

...

Lieutenant Quan, uncharacteristically serious, gave a summary as the match neared its end: "I imagine at this moment, Empire viewers are all filled with regret and disappointment, because in this match, our three highly anticipated strong schools underperformed. But I think you all understand that no powerhouse stands forever; failure appears at various stages of our lives, and it's unavoidable. Everyone must learn to accept their own failures and the failures of others. Please don't mythologize them, treat them as invincible, and then fly into a rage and tear down the idol because of their inevitable mistakes. Give our Empire's young men and women more time and room to grow. And I think this year, we also need to shift our mindset—the Empire's strong schools are no longer just Longyuan and Dolanston. The sky isn't falling just because they lost."

Teacher Chang nodded as well: "Right now, no one is more upset than the students of Longyuan, Du'e, and Dolanston themselves. Personally, I'm somewhat relieved that in the final stage, the Empire's three schools didn't turn on each other to fight for ranks 2, 3, and 4, because if they'd kept grinding each other down senselessly, they'd have let Kezhen and Youfeng, sitting in fifth and sixth, overtake them. At the end of the match, they still experienced true unity."

Gu Tingzhi climbed out of his competition cocoon, completely numb. He had clearly recognized his own mistakes; the loss had been so ugly, and he bore the fault.

Jia Xiangying slammed her fist hard against the cocoon's shell, then quickly realized her emotions were fluctuating again, sinking into impulsiveness, and forced herself to calm down.

Li Muyi and Jinfang Taibai exchanged a glance, sharing a helpless smile, but both knew the endless bitterness hidden beneath it.

Du'e had barely scraped into fourth place this time; the points were too low, putting their advancement to the top eight in danger.

Sky Network's sky screen now broadcast Jia Xianglan, who was at the Federation's A-3 planet venue in Zone A. He smiled at the camera and said, "Kezhen and Youfeng still ended up at the bottom, but Qingjun took first—that's a victory for the Federation. This match was a success and is worth celebrating."

Xu Lingqu sat in the VIP stands, taking it all in.

"Sister, do you think this final outcome... they..." Xu Xiqin seethed at the sight of Jia Xianglan, wishing she could face that annoying pest soon.

"Gu Tingzhi strayed from his own command style, and he knows it. Don't blindly imitate any match on the battlefield—each one is unique. Jia Xiangying's combat command was actually quite brilliant, but she still has major communication issues with other commanders, and she's easily provoked. Li Muyi needs to grow more; he has to develop his own convictions," Xu Lingqu summarized briefly the problems she saw in those three.

"Indeed, command is no easy job," Jin shook his head. Gauging the battlefield with fragmentary information in a constantly shifting battle was enough to fry one's brain. Even with a god's-eye view of the whole picture, the audience could miss things; for them to go an entire match without a single misjudgment, perfectly watertight, was truly too hard.

"So how the hell are our commanders' brains wired?" Jin recalled Xu Lingqu's arrangements from the previous two matches and shuddered.

No wonder Gu Tingzhi kept thinking about her methods after watching her matches.

Guan Chuanjun, sitting behind them, hadn't dared talk to Xu Lingqu much since the last time, still too embarrassed about his past actions to know what to say. But hearing this, he couldn't help asking, "Then—what do you think my flaws are?"

Xu Lingqu glanced at him. "You don't close the door."

Guan Chuanjun: "...I've welded it shut by now! Besides that?"

"I didn't watch your group's match, so I don't know the new flaws yet," Xu Lingqu said.

"Oh, all right," Guan Chuanjun said, a little wistfully.

"The draw for the third group stage match is tomorrow. You could make a wish to get grouped with us again," Xu Xiqin turned back and said to Guan Chuanjun.

Right—the third match was coming up soon. Remembering his earlier "bold words" to Xu Lingqu about never underestimating Moye again, Guan Chuanjun inexplicably shuddered. Was the next match really going to pit him against Moye again?