Chapter 953: United Front
When Yue Feng voiced his opinion, he did so without any hesitance or reservation, and on the other end of the line, Han Luofeng also agreed straightforwardly.
What defines a brotherly team? What signifies being as close as branches from the same tree? While individual teams might be busy with their own tasks at regular times, once there is a conflict of interest, differences in closeness and distance emerge.
At this moment, the relationship between Yuefeng Fishing Tackle and the Hua Clan perfectly exemplified this point.
Yue Feng: "All right, let's leave it at that for now. Once the competition is over, drinks are on me!"
"It doesn't matter if we drink or not, but we definitely need to avenge Xiao Min. The old man has too close of a public relationship with Deng Gang to openly express it, and I can't act too flagrantly either.
But the matters within the rules, we still have control over, so let's go with what you said. Leave the Tianyuan Youth Training Team to me, I'll ensure the task is completed!"
"Thanks a lot!"
"You're welcome!"
After hanging up the phone, Yue Feng exchanged a glance with Niu Ben.
Niu Ben had nothing more to say; being able to bring Han Luofeng to help, Yue Feng's influence was indeed substantial.
As for taking advantage of the higher overall ranking to select Tianyuan Club as the opponent, Yue Feng's idea was to temporarily set aside winning or losing; the attitude needed to be established first. The momentum must not be lost!
...
At 1:30 in the afternoon, Yue Feng led his team members to the Fishing Base early.
After the two matches in the morning, the large number of teams decreased dramatically, with only the top 12 ranked teams remaining for the afternoon competition, even the parking lot seemed much emptier.
The results of the noon competition had already been sent to the leaders of various clubs, and as soon as Yue Feng and his team arrived at the fishery, they immediately became the focus of everyone's attention.
Winning the first stage's overall ranking first place at the doorstep of the Linyi Hua Clan's Fishing Base is nothing, at least benefiting from local advantages. But this is the capital Beijing!
For absolute fairness, they didn't even have the pre-game practice to get acquainted with the fish situation. Yue Feng's team still claimed first place with an absolute advantage, surpassing the second-place team by more than 200 kilograms in total weight. This kind of performance can no longer be simply described as a dark horse; it's definitely a team of absolute strength!
What made everyone even more expectant is the upcoming opponent selection and pairing PK phase,
Now it's well-known that Yuefeng Fishing Tackle has issued a challenge to Tianyuan. Both teams from Tianyuan have made it to the semi-finals; Yue Feng will definitely not let them off easily. How they will arrange the line-up and what the results of the PK will retain great suspense.
The old saying goes, "Power earns respect," and at this moment, both Yue Feng and Niu Ben wholeheartedly agree with this sentiment. As they walked along, everywhere they went someone nodded, greeted, offered a cigarette, pretending as if they were very familiar. In reality, they might not meet a few times a year, and even when they did, it was just a few words of greeting, a shallow acquaintanceship!
Facing these social interactions, Yue Feng behaved very appropriately, and Niu Ben was even more at ease, exchanging phone numbers with captains and leaders of other teams, even arranging for gatherings and drinks after the competition, engaging in various pleasantries.
Before they knew it, it was already 1:45, and at the venue control, the referee cleared his throat through the loudspeaker and announced the beginning of the afternoon competition, entering the phase of selecting opponents, submitting participants, and planning line-ups. The captains of the 12 qualified teams were invited to come up on stage to select their opponents!
Yue Feng immediately strode onto the stage, followed by the other teams one after another until all of them were lined up on the podium, all uniformly with dark skin, smartly dressed, and in high spirits.
Host: "Next, we would like to invite the captain of Yuefeng Fishing Tackle, the team ranked first in total weight in the preliminary round, Mr. Yue Feng, to select his opponent for the second round! Who will he choose? Does anyone want to take a guess?"
The host created a little suspense, handing the microphone over to Yue Feng.
Yue Feng's lips subtly curled into a faint smile as he said, "After discussing it with our team, we unanimously decided that we will choose Tianyuan's first fishing team as our opponent for the second round!"
Picking a mid-tier team in the regional station game last time was unconventional enough, but this time, Yue Feng personally set the opponent as the third-ranked Tianyuan first team. Even if everyone had some psychological preparation beforehand, it still felt somewhat surreal.
This is only the second round of competition, and Yue Feng and the main force of Tianyuan's first team are already clashing. Now, this is going to be interesting!
Standing on the stage, Leng Xiaojun coldly smirked upon hearing Yue Feng's choice, "Since the establishment of Tianyuan Club, we've always prided ourselves on mastering fishing skills, leading a generation of competitive trends. I won't mention past achievements, but today I sensed hostility from this young team!
Brother Yue Feng truly has great courage, and here I want to say a few words, Brother Yue Feng, don't you think the team's catch weight reflects the team's strength accurately? Your team's provocation, I, Leng Xiaojun, representing Tianyuan Club, accept it!"
Yue Feng chuckled, "It doesn't matter if it reflects the team's strength accurately, currently according to the competition rules, we have the initiative to choose, while your Tianyuan team is chosen, one is 1, the other is 0, which already says a lot!"
Upon hearing the statement about 1 and 0, Leng Xiaojun suddenly reacted, his eyes squinted, and his facial expression became even more stern. This was not a nice term, especially under such a sensitive context, the metaphor within could already be deduced just by the shape of the two numbers.
"Heh, since Captain Yue Feng is confident enough, let's see how things unfold next. Our main team from Tianyuan will definitely lay all cards on the table, using the best performance to uphold the team's honor!"
"Haha, I look forward to it too!" Yue Feng laughed it off, handing back the microphone to the host.
Facing the palpable hostility on stage, the host was slightly not at ease, took a few seconds to adjust his mindset, and then continued, "Seeing the Fishing King Yue Feng's choice and Captain Leng Xiaojun's response, I get the feeling the second round is going to be more suspenseful!
Yuefeng Fishing Club, ranked first in total weight, has made its choice. Following the competition rules, which team will the second-ranked Hua Clan choose as their opponent?
Now we invite Captain Han Luofeng of Hua Club to select an opponent on behalf of his team!"
Han Luofeng took the microphone, smiling he nodded as a greeting, then calmly and composedly said, "Yue Feng is rather aggressive, directly clashing with Captain Leng!
But we in the Hua Clan cannot be so reckless; the teams making it into the top 12 are all tough nuts to crack. To safely advance to the top eight, I'd rather choose a slightly lower-ranked team!"
After such a preamble, the lowest-ranked Wharf Club thought Han Luofeng would pick them, with their hearts in suspense for the announcement. Yet, Han Luofeng did not choose them.
Han Luofeng: "A competition requires tactics and strategy, it's evident to pick the softer options! We, the Hua Clan, will select the Tianyuan Youth Training Second Team, currently ranked 11th!"
With these words, the audience burst into laughter and noise immediately.