According to the official rules set by the organizer before the event, the final champion of the California International Invitationals’ solo tournament would receive a weapon skin of their own.
Putting the details of the design and marketing aside, the weapon skin was to be modeled after the weapon that dealt the final blow in all three matches of the solo tournament.
To put it simply, if the final ‘Solo King’ won the chicken dinner in all three matches, he would get three weapon skins designed after him.
On the other hand, if the final champion was someone who did not win a single chicken dinner but still ranked first overall by ranking second or third in all three matches, they would only get one weapon skin as a consolation prize.
As for special cases like Liu Zilang….
Even if one dealt the final blow with a pan, it was still possible to create a pan weapon skin.
He just had to kill the last opponent with a punch…
Even though it was stated in the rules that such things fell under ‘special circumstances’, everyone treated it as an incident with zero probability of happening.
In other words… they had not prepared for it at all…
Who would have won the chicken dinner of an international solo tournament with a punch?
When the scenario actually happened, the few game designers sitting backstage became cross-eyed. Did they have to start negotiating with the players after the first match?
“How about, say… a fist tattoo?” A designer who was biting his pencil suddenly had an idea. He swiftly sketched a design on some paper.
The other designers leaned in curiously. They saw a crooked fist on the paper…
Tattoo a fist… on the body?
The corners of their eyes twitched when they saw it.
Someone clasped his shoulder. “Partner… that’s… a pretty good idea… you can design one just for yourself…”
The designer heard the sarcastic tone in that person’s voice. “What other idea do you have then? He didn’t have a weapon on him when he won the chicken dinner, that fella…” he grumbled.
“Weapon?” Someone next to him interjected.
He looked closely as he replayed the final scene again.
He hit something on his keyboard to pause the scene at a certain time frame and then zoomed in to a certain spot. “Who says he doesn’t have a weapon? Take a closer look, you guys,” he said while laughing.
In the zoomed-in frame, all of them saw a fist…
Not quite understanding what he meant, they took a closer look at the screen. Then, all of them seemed to have realized something at once, and their eyes bulged.
On the fist was a brown leather glove.
So how about…
… an Infinity Gauntlet?
…
Meanwhile, at the edge of the competitors’ stage.
As Satan was walking down the stairs, he turned around to look at the person on stage. That person’s arms were raised high, he was taking in the cheers of all the people in the audience.
Satan did not feel too bad about his defeat, but the final scene replayed in his mind again and again.
He asked himself in his heart.
‘Why didn’t I think of that?’
Obviously, he was referring to using his fists.
Under the circumstances earlier, both of them were very close to each other, and they both had very little health left!
After emptying a magazine of bullets, to swap weapons meant undergoing two sets of animations; one for unarming the gun and another for pulling the other gun out. If he had swapped to his fists, there would have been only one set of animation; it was to unarm the weapon.
Liu Zilang was faster with his punch because of that. There was no comparison.
To put it simply, it was a plain and simple maneuver. Some might have even said that it was unremarkable.
Like many things in the world, it all came down to whether one could remember its existence at the moment they really needed it.
Once that moment was lost, it would all just become talk.
Just like Satan at that moment.
‘Why didn’t I think of that?’
He asked himself that question once more as he took another two steps forward.
…
In the interview area on the stage, Golden-Haired Big Wave from the day before reappeared. However, this time, she had a hint of admiration toward Liu Zlang on her face.
Liu Zilang, holding the microphone, recounted his journey to winning the chicken dinner in the match.
At the end of it, he assumed a serious expression and concluded, “Sometimes, we find ourselves relying too much on guns and equipment.
“We forget that our bodies are primal machines. Forgetting this fact can get us killed and may have us miss out on a chicken dinner!
“What a tragedy!”
Everyone in the live audience and live stream channel seemed to have picked up some insight from his speech. After all, he was the one who had won the chicken dinner…
…
After the first match had ended, there was a short break.
The second match of the solo tournament began soon after. Everyone seemed to have gotten into the rhythm of the game after the first match.
The airplane rumbled along its flight route.
Some dove straight down.
Some drifted elsewhere.
Some touched down as soon as they could to find vehicles…
Oh, wait!
Why is there someone practicing kung fu?
As the caster panned the camera near the gas station at Yasnaya Polyana’s west bridge, two people were seen throwing punches at each other near a jeep that was parked at the roadside.
“Oh my god, it’s Vic!”
“Looks like he has gotten into a fistfight to see who will claim the vehicle!”
“That punch… nice!”
“Vic once again shows us the true meaning of the human body being a primal machine. He’s exploiting every single bit of his body in the game!”
“That’s right! His hand-foot coordination is perfect!”
“As for his opponent, the Russian Maxiz0r from team Vega, he has lost quite a bit of health after taking a punch in the head.”
“But Maxiz0r reacts quickly. He’s running away knowing that he can’t win.”
“Both of them are running at about the same speed. Vic won’t be able to catch him on foot, is he going to turn around and drive the jeep instead?”
“Oh, Maxiz0r is running toward the gas station. He’s planning to look for a weapon there!”
“Vic isn’t going to drive the jeep. He’s running as well!”
Next, after both of them had entered the gas station, there was a reversal in the situation and a change in their roles…
Originally it was Liu Zilang who was flailing his arms while chasing after Maxiz0r’s butt. However, this time, it was Maxiz0r who was firing madly at Liu Zilang with his brand-new S1897!
Bang!
The muzzle of his gun flashed. A cloud of scattered lead rained down on Liu Zilang!
Half of his body grew numb as the shot took out more than half of his health!
He ran urgently toward the west of the gas station and then dove into the river…
Bang!
Another shot was fired from behind him.
The lead shot splashed harmlessly on the water.
Maxiz0r was not going to let Liu Zilang go. He followed Liu Zilang closely from the river bank.
Both of them looked like romantic lovers strolling down the riverside. The live audience members and live stream viewers were dumbfounded…
‘Excuse me?
‘What happened to ‘primal machine’?
‘Get onto land and punch him!’