Chapter 494: A Thorough, Heart-Pounding Breach! |
With the nail gun pounding the final fastening nail tight,
a solid Armor Panel sealed off the main door completely!
‘OHHHHAHHHAHH—!!!’
The livestream chat erupted into pandemonium!
That’s right!
What had just happened was not the streamer team's meaningless desperate stunt, a Final Act of Defiance!
It was a planned, premeditated, methodical feint to draw attention east while striking west, a covert maneuver!
Time rewound!
Just when the deadlock in front of them seemed almost unbreakable!
You had to admit, this round was amazing.
With no preparation, relying purely on on-the-spot reactions and experience, both sides had done their absolute best to win this round!
Although the stream kept bursting with meme after meme.
Bits like “Iron-Nerved Train Man,” “playing EDD’s heart,” “Pulse finds mom,” “Revolver Quack Doctor,” “Hammer Execution,” and others had viewers cracking up one after another.
But precisely because of that, the game’s advanced mechanics and diverse playstyles shone even brighter.
And that explosive livestream effect, if paired with a first win, would surely mark Rainbow Six’s history in bold strokes.
The problem was, in such a desperate situation, how could they possibly break the stalemate and turn defeat into victory?
While thinking,
time ticked away, second by second.
XTT's gaze fell on the shattered remains of the Armor Panel that Heat had just blasted into fragments.
Suddenly! A flash of inspiration!
The reason Armor Panels were so powerful was their solidity.
Once this thing was nailed down, it could completely block all firearm fire, and non-explosives couldn’t quickly breach it.
At this moment, because earlier they didn’t know how to "decorate," XTT still had one Armor Panel in his hands.
In other words, if they could sneak another Armor Panel onto the main door while the enemy sniper wasn’t paying attention, then they could dismantle the package in peace.
But the problem was—now that the sniper was directly aiming at them, how could they divert the sniper’s attention...?
Do it like this!
Time returned to the present!
Before anyone could react, XTT’s body was completely concealed by an Armor Panel!
Glaz felt his scalp tingle!
Damn—!!!
He’d been tricked!!!!!
He squeezed the trigger again and again!
The sniper’s shots rattled the cars in the alley until alarms shrieked!
Sparks scattered across the solid Armor Panel!
Yet even Glaz’s rifle couldn’t penetrate the Armor Panel!
“Waaahhhhh—!!!”
Realizing he’d been duped, Glaz abandoned any pretense of concealment!
He bolted over to the Armor Panel, grabbed the stock of his rifle, and slammed it hard against the reinforced barrier!
Sizzle! Sizzle!
Through the panel, Glaz could clearly hear the sounds of package dismantling from inside!
But it was just that single Armor Panel that now forever kept victory on the other side of the main door!
—!!!
With the final sound of the package being successfully opened,
time froze at the last 0.1 seconds!
[Orange Team — Victory]
Boom!
The livestream chat detonated instantly!
‘OHHHHHHHHHH—! Sick—!’
“This is insane! My heart’s about to jump out!”
“Showoff!”
“That last Armor Panel move was nuts, holy crap!”
“Glaz is so hopeless hahahahahaha…”
“Forcing him to pry with his bare hands is brutal…”
“We were this close. If the Attackers had absolutely nailed that push, we would’ve won for sure.”
“Totally. They’d pinned them down, didn’t even need to hit the camera, they’d have won right at the door. This round really should’ve gone to Qiezi’s team.”
“That final gamble was epic! First round! Once people fully understand the map, I can’t imagine how awesome this game will be!”
“Seriously! The game’s playability is maxed out. So many tactics and strategies, the dev space is huge!”
“You can check G2’s stream, they’re already studying the map tactics and approaches.”
“Looked at C9, shourd is analyzing the game with teammates. Defenders have so much to prepare—not just vehicle grabs, but reinforcing walls, even electrifying stuff, so Heat can’t just Aluminum-Breach.”
“Damn I just watched an insane clip! A streamer on MouseTV named MJ used Pulse + C4, vertical defense, put the panel over someone, sweep and one C4 takes them. Absolutely savage!”
“That’s nothing! Our Pulse can find his mom! Can his?!”
“Hahahaha… the ‘Pulse finds mom’ meme is unkillable.”
“This game is so map-dependent. Alright guys, off to memorize the map.”
“Yeah, M said get familiar with the map first. He’s using Pulse to learn positions now. Once he’s got it, vertical defense will be crazy.”
“If only Qiezi’s team had thought of that earlier. Holding from the second floor and using height differences would’ve been genius.”
“Also, Revolver Quack Doctor shooting teammates? Winning at that point is already unlikely, we’re blessed if we survive…”
“Hahahahaha…”
“Even if pros play well, we still have more memes than them!”
“Win!”
“My verdict: totally stomped.”
“This clip needs zero edits.”
“‘National Banquet’”
“Hahahahaha…”
......
Player discussion exploded! Praise flooded in!
Almost overnight,
Rainbow Six’s name thundered through the gaming scene, domestic and abroad—on fire everywhere!
This sudden surge surprised not only CloudPower and Konik!
Even Melancholy Blues, the studio making the game, and producer Gu Sheng were a little caught off-guard!
Golden Wind had produced hits before.
But never like this.
In just twelve short hours,
Rainbow Six’s tag heat across SNG, Daily Gaming News, Player Campfire, Hummingbird Games and other forums had already broken five percent.
That is, on average, one out of every two posts carried a Rainbow Six tag!
And within twenty-four hours,
scores from various media outlets rolled in!
Across platforms, 9.8+ ratings flooded in, hailing it as "another milestone that reshapes FPS game structure"!
Even thirty hours later,
starting with Europe's esports powerhouse G2, dozens of esports teams announced the formation of Rainbow Six professional divisions, all gearing up for competitions!
When Gu Sheng heard the news, he was nothing but puzzled, still puzzled!
You guys... huh??
I haven’t even announced that Rainbow Six is joining the Golden League yet, right?
[Note: “Global Golden League” — led by Golden Wind, with partners like Yiyou, XunTeng, Phoenix, Aurora Games and others, is a jointly hosted series of global esports tournaments covering titles like PUBG, League of Legends, DiRT Rally 4, Overwatch, APEX, Heroes of the Storm, etc. Competitions span domestic and international regions, east and west hemispheres, forming a top-tier comprehensive esports league alliance.]
They really plan ahead!
Even if Rainbow Six isn’t going to not join the Golden League!
Gu Sheng couldn’t help but laugh and cry a little.
Given the situation, even though he initially intended to run Rainbow Six as an entertainment-focused game and not push it together with APEX into esports—after all, Rainbow Six’s match streams are really hard to watch—now it seemed he had to follow the clubs’ preparations, restart discussions, and add Rainbow Six into the Golden League.
Fine, fine, we’ll compete—if that’s what it takes.
Gu Sheng took it in stride.
After all, the Golden League system had been running steadily for several years, and with the efforts of other partners, it was on the right track.
The league’s quarterly ad revenue numbers were astronomical; funding a Rainbow Six competitive scene was far from a problem.
Maybe later, if he had the time, he could even hire people to form a Rainbow Six team, to make up for the Chinese Nation’s past shortcomings and regrets in this title.
Besides!
Although the situation was both amusing and exasperating, it was not incomprehensible!
First, Rainbow Six’s competitive depth was undeniable.
You can question its spectator appeal, but you cannot deny its competitiveness.
Multi-layered, three-dimensional map design means a greater test of spatial thinking.
Add destructible walls and floors, and the vertical attack-and-defense dynamics expand dramatically.
Not only that.
Each Operator’s unique skillset and a bewildering array of gadget choices greatly increase uncertainty in the game, constantly testing players’ instant situational control.
Though "the core of a shooter is still aim" remains true,
Rainbow Six’s unique mechanics, map design, and gadget skills also significantly broaden both sides’ strategic ranges, making matches increasingly exciting.
Fun factor!
With gameplay as its core, Rainbow Six’s success was foreseeable.
Of course,
the “playing well” element was also a reason it blew up.
Here, “playing well” doesn’t only mean high-skill players like M with superb game sense and technique.
Sure, dazzling plays, clever kills, and imaginative gambits make viewers cheer.
That applies to any game.
But Rainbow Six has another distinct spectacle—"creative chaos" is itself a highlight.
Look at the streamer team’s performance on release day.
Were they good?
Obviously not.
Terrible, even deserving the label "complete noobs," since they didn’t know the map or skills.
But the entertainment value was explosive!
All sorts of unexpected situations and bizarre operations spawned countless memes, even dominating video platform trending charts!
The sheer "spectacle" was obvious.
And that—
was one of Rainbow Six’s magical traits!
With Rainbow Six’s meteoric rise,
a full-throttle, morale-crushing campaign against CloudPower was about to begin...