Chapter 450: Outrage Boiling Over
As soon as those two words were spoken, not only Old P and his teammates were furious, but the audience in the livestream chat was also livid.
"Damn, this Bastion is that arrogant?"
"I hate these cheaters the most. P God, kill him!"
"Yeah, kill him!"
The barrage was a torrent of outrage, everyone cursing the Bastion player's family.
Old P's teammates went out again, but this time they weren't as reckless as before. Someone picked Reinhardt, someone picked Soldier: 76, someone picked D.Va, and someone picked Zarya. In short, everyone chose heroes that could counter Bastion.
Old P chose Mei and opened the team voice chat to start coordinating.
"Alright, everyone, don't rush out yet. First, avoid Bastion's line of sight and take out his other three teammates! Then we'll deal with him slowly!"
The six attacking players were united in their anger. They first eliminated the three defending players who were isolated outside, then swarmed together and charged at the Bastion.
The attacking players had planned their strategy in advance. First, Mei used her Ice Wall to provide cover for a quick rush to the second floor, then Reinhardt raised his shield to block Bastion's initial burst of damage.
The moment Reinhardt lowered his shield, Zarya immediately cast Particle Barrier on him. The attacking Reinhardt charged forward and knocked the defending Reinhardt away!
With the enemy Bastion losing Reinhardt's protection, the attacking team swarmed in. D.Va got right in Bastion's face and activated Defense Matrix to absorb damage, while the others focused on dealing as much damage as possible. They finally succeeded in taking down the Bastion!
But even so, the Bastion still managed to kill two people: the relatively squishy Soldier: 76 and Lúcio on their team. If Old P hadn't used Mei's Cryo-Freeze in time, he might have been taken out by the Bastion just before it died.
"Damn, we finally killed that bastard!"
"Still acting cocky? Thinks this is some other FPS game? All those shields didn't make it clear enough?"
"Nice! Justice served!"
The audience in the chat was cheering. Winning the game was satisfying, but humiliating a cheater like this was even more satisfying!
The attacking players also typed in the match chat: "Enjoy your death, you cheating scumbag?"
In response, the enemy Bastion typed in the match chat: "You forced my hand."
After the attackers successfully captured point A, Old P was surprised to find that the enemy Bastion had switched heroes—to Tracer!
And the Mercy who had been sticking with the Bastion the whole time switched to Soldier: 76.
What's more, both of them were now cheating!
The cheater's Tracer became even more insane. Clearly, this player wasn't a complete noob; they had some skill and game sense. Their Tracer kept appearing from unexpected angles, unloading a full clip into the attackers' squishy heroes.
Even worse, the cheater's Tracer had an incredibly high headshot rate—almost every shot was a headshot. Paired with a melee attack, each Blink could take down a squishy target.
And the player who had been using Mercy to protect the Bastion, after switching to Soldier: 76, also had an extremely high headshot rate, just like the Tracer! The Soldier: 76 was like a mobile Bastion, locking onto heads with every shot while being highly mobile and hard to catch.
It was already tough enough dealing with one cheater. Now, with two cheaters using heroes like Soldier: 76 and Tracer, the balance of the match instantly collapsed.
Forget about capturing point B; by the end, the attackers were pinned down in their spawn and getting farmed!
Although the attackers tried using tank heroes to counter the enemy Soldier: 76 and Tracer, they clearly lacked damage output. Against the high mobility of Tracer and Soldier: 76, the tank heroes were too sluggish and just became ult batteries.
After several failed attempts, the attacking players were all cursing loudly, verbally abusing the families of the three cheaters.
Old P, because he was streaming and mindful of public image, didn't type anything in chat, but he was clearly furious. Normally, he'd be cracking jokes during his stream, but now he was completely silent.
In the final stages of the match, the attackers' defeat was certain. Apart from Old P, who kept charging out to find an opportunity, everyone else had given up.
Frustrating as it was, there was nothing they could do—they simply couldn't win!
In the match chat, the attackers were furiously typing, saying they would report the three cheaters.
The Tracer typed: "Heh, report all you want."
The match ended, and the Play of the Game went to the Tracer. In the highlight, the Tracer's crosshair was locked onto heads the entire time, and the enemies' health bars dropped like a roller coaster.
Not only that, but when the enemy Reinhardt raised his shield or Zarya activated Particle Barrier, the Tracer's crosshair would automatically switch to other targets, avoiding shielded enemies.
Clearly, the enemy was cheating, and doing it blatantly.
Old P didn't say a word. He was clearly about to explode with rage!
In the chat, viewers were trying to comfort him.
"It's okay, P God played well. Those are just cheating orphans. Don't let it get to you."
"Exactly, they'll definitely get banned!"
"Ugh, but Overwatch is a free-to-play game. Feels like they don't care."
"Go find Chen Mo! Overwatch has cheaters now!"
...
Within a single day, the official forums of the three most popular FPS games in China—Overwatch, Wolf Soul, and Blitz Assault—were flooded with discussion threads about cheaters.
"Damn, there are cheaters in Overwatch! Bastion is unstoppable, instant-aim headshots!"
"Yeah, I saw it on Old P's stream too. That Tracer cheater was insane!"
"This game is unplayable!"
"Overwatch has cheaters too? Wolf Soul also has them."
"Yeah, and Blitz Assault too!"
"What's going on?"
"Overwatch players, you should be grateful. You can at least try to fight back with tank heroes. In Wolf Soul and Blitz Assault, facing a cheater is just a one-sided slaughter with no chance to fight back!"
"Damn, how can these people be so arrogant?"
"Strange, weren't cheaters almost completely wiped out before? Why are they back? Did some new technology spread from overseas?"
"Unbelievable. Playing a game just makes you furious. The Game Committee needs to investigate!"
"Exactly, ban all these cheaters!"
For a time, players were all complaining bitterly. Various cheats suddenly plagued the three domestic FPS games in a single day, instantly becoming the hottest topic of the day.
...
At the experience store, Chen Mo was holding an emergency meeting with Qian Kun, Su Jinyu, and several other key staff members.
Su Jinyu said, "The customer service phones are practically exploding. A lot of players are reporting cheaters in the game. The customer service team is organizing the reports now, and we'll have a list submitted soon."
Qian Kun added, "The in-game reporting system has also received a huge number of reports—more than we've gotten in the past two weeks. Boss, how should we handle these reports?"