And this time, the competition was neither equipped with commentators nor broadcast.
Before the results of the competition were officially released, no one would receive any news about this competition.
But in the professional aspects, they were top-notch professionals.
For example, the more than a dozen magic prisms floating in mid-air that were constantly monitoring the arena from various angles and channels—they were even equipped with slow-motion, real-time playback, and magic detection functions.
At this moment, Taniikawa Tadahiko, who had seemed so dejected yesterday, was on stage once again.
Today, he appeared quite cheerful.
"Welcome all participating contestants to Sakura Kyushu Island!"
"This is the venue for our annual Global Student Exchange Competition, where the final battle for the championship will take place."
"It is worth mentioning that due to unforeseen circumstances midway through this year's competition, the number of participating contestants has been significantly reduced."
"Therefore, a slight adjustment has been made to the competition format for this exchange event."
As he said this, Taniikawa Tadahiko's expression clearly became a little unnatural.
But seeing that no one was booing him, he continued with relief.
"First up will be the KOF system arena matches..."
"The number of teams currently registered is approximately 192."
"Therefore, we will directly skip the tedious preliminary rounds that were conducted in previous competitions and proceed directly to the finals!"
"192 teams will be paired up through a draw, and after the first round, 128 teams will advance!"
"Of the remaining 96 teams, 64 will be directly eliminated!"
"The remaining 32 can re-enter the official competition through a resurrection match, and like those who directly advanced, they will still have the opportunity to contend for the championship."
"However, the resurrection match is limited to one opportunity..."
"If you fail in the subsequent Top 128 matches, you will lose all opportunities!"
"Due to the limited number of arenas, each match must be conducted one by one, so the KOF arena matches are tentatively scheduled to last for two days, with adjustments made based on subsequent developments."
Taniikawa Tadahiko's explanation was quite clear.
The crowd tacitly accepted the rule changes without objection.
After all, with the current scarcity of teams, it was almost impossible to select truly skilled teams through a tiered selection process.
It could only be carried out directly in this manner.
The consequence of a direct contest was that many skilled teams might encounter defending champions like Adam Hammer in the first round and be eliminated immediately.
The resurrection match in the first round avoided this situation.
"As for the rewards for the KOF arena match champion... we will follow the usual practice!"
"70 Epic-grade Heavenly Treasures! 14 Legendary-grade Heavenly Treasures! And one national-level precious artifact, and one cross-dimensional product from a spatial rift!"
"The prize pool has already been presented in the email sent to your bio-chips, and you can make your selections at that time."
While saying these words, Taniikawa Tadahiko's expression was clearly one of pain.
He was extremely reluctant to give away such items to outsiders.
But there was no help for it; as organizers, they had to pay a certain price.
Moreover, if a Sakura country team ultimately won the championship, it would be equivalent to a comfortable freebie!
This was what Taniikawa Tadahiko cared about the most.
"Then..."
"Now that the rules have been announced, we will officially proceed to the draw!"
Saying this, Taniikawa Tadahiko raised his hand towards the sky, and countless fluorescent slips of paper, like falling snow, descended from above.
Lin Ran did not hesitate. With a casual wave of his hand, he plucked a slip of paper from the air.
Looking at the radiant slip in his hand, Lin Ran's face twisted.
Because, on that slip, there was a large character "1"!
He had, unfortunately, become the first participant in the opening match?
The magic prisms above reacted quickly and instantly displayed all the match-ups.
Thus, the "1" beneath Dragon Country's Lin Ran was exceptionally conspicuous.
The crowd was in an uproar.
"They actually drew a '1' for Lin Ran? Can the targeting be any more obvious?"
"I mean... someone saved his life, and instead of being grateful, they're pulling this stunt..."
"Trying to take his life while he's down, is that it?"
"What a bunch of ungrateful beasts, truly worthy of Sakura Country, untameable mutts!"
"Damn it! I instantly feel that this thing in my hand has lost its credibility."
"Who knows if these dogs have tampered with our slips too, making us deplete each other so their players can draw a good sign."
"Damn! This is truly classless! Even with the advantage of being the home court under the table, they can't make it this obvious, right?"
The contestants murmured amongst themselves, all directing their accusations at the Sakura Country organizing committee.
Taniikawa Tadahiko, noticing this, his face immediately turned even more grim.
What in the world was going on?!
Heaven and earth as his witness, they had not tampered with Lin Ran's slip; they had only tampered with the Shimada brothers' slip.
Lin Ran's drawing of number one was purely his own bad luck!
But now, with Lin Ran causing this, they would have to bear the brunt of the blame.
After all, no one would believe that Lin Ran got number one by luck...
This would lead to the worst-case scenario—the contestants would develop an unavoidable suspicion towards all their arrangements.
If they wanted to pull anything else off, their credibility would be extremely low...
And it would also lead to the situation where characters like Hanzō, who could have been overlooked, might become targets!
Not only would it be gossip, but it would also attract a large amount of unwarranted hatred and targeting towards their country's team...
The impact was extremely detrimental!
Taniikawa Tadahiko glanced at Lin Ran with a headache.
If Lin Ran hadn't shown such obvious astonishment at that moment, and if he hadn't drawn so quickly.
Taniikawa Tadahiko would have suspected that Lin Ran had specifically sought out that number one slip.
Luo Qingyan, sensing the shift in the atmosphere, looked at Lin Ran:
"Was that intentional?"
Lin Ran rolled his eyes:
"Why do you always think I'm so bad..."
"This time it's purely an accident... purely an accident..."
Luo Qingyan snorted:
"An accident? And you ask why I always think you're so bad?"
"Then yesterday, when you suddenly attacked me and almost tore me apart, was that also an accident?"
Lin Ran chuckled:
"That's natural..."
"If you hadn't insisted on mentioning whale jelly, wouldn't this have been avoided?"