Just then, the screen suddenly lit up.
The game time was paused, and Ego Jinpachi appeared on the screen, holding a bowl of noodles, leisurely sitting on a stool.
"Well, well, well... sorry, sorry, I was delayed by something just now."
"But now, it seems it's not too late."
"Your match has just begun, you don't mind if I say a few words, do you?"
Hearing this, everyone looked towards the screen.
Ego Jinpachi put down the noodles in his hand and continued, "It seems none of you have any objections, so I'll begin."
"This match might just be a non-elimination match in your eyes."
"But I've changed my mind."
Everyone looked at him, a bit bewildered. Could it be that this guy was going to change the rules on the fly?
Ego Jinpachi smiled slightly, "Don't worry, I'm just adding a little spice to this match; it won't affect your advancement to the next test."
"From now on, the losing team will randomly eliminate one player."
As soon as these words fell, everyone on the field fell silent.
They looked at Ego Jinpachi in disbelief.
Raichi even cursed directly, "What did you say, Four-Eyes? The losing side has to eliminate a player?"
"Aren't we all already qualified?"
"Why?"
"It seems you haven't realized it yet." Ego showed a strange smile, "Here, in Blue Lock, I am the rule. If you don't obey, you can leave now; I won't try to keep you."
Raichi immediately fell silent, but the expression on his face was somewhat distorted.
Kuon Wataru was also a bit angry. They had come so far with great difficulty, and he hadn't expected that this last match would still involve eliminations.
Wasn't this a bit unreasonable?
He directly asked, "There must be a reason, right?"
"We've all qualified. If you had told us this earlier, perhaps we wouldn't have participated in this match."
"Why?" Ego Jinpachi's expression was calm, "Because this is the place to create the world's best player. Do you need so many 'whys'?"
"The strong, the weak, there will always be a side that gets eliminated."
"Don't feel complacent just because you've qualified."
"Wasting vast resources, I'm not here for you to discuss your insights or achievements. Here, I only need to see a result."
Upon hearing this, Ye Liangqiu twisted his neck. He had guessed that something unexpected would happen in this match. After all, how could a place like Blue Lock let two already qualified teams play a match for no reason?
That would be too boring.
Without pressure, where would the motivation come from?
It was time to cultivate selfishness again.
The losing side randomly losing a player was true, but also false. He understood Ego's intentions very well; he would only keep the talented ones, and those who hadn't scored a single goal, or even hadn't scored throughout the entire test, were highly likely to be kicked out.
So, 'random' was false.
Making them desperately score goals was true.
At this moment, Ego Jinpachi's gaze seemed to penetrate everyone, "Begin, start showing your selfishness... I'll remind you one more time, I uphold the strong's philosophy. I've been watching those who have been slacking off."
The next second, the screen turned off.
The match timer restarted.
"This is getting interesting!" Bachira licked the corner of his mouth, his gaze fixed on the V Team's direction.
For two teams that had never experienced defeat, the weaker players within them understood one truth: after this match, there was no guarantee that an invitation to leave would not appear in their hands if they lost.
Undoubtedly, this sense of panic wasn't aimed at the players who had already scored.
But rather... the players who had consistently been in a low-ranking state throughout the test.
The Monk had already slumped to the ground. Listening to Ego's words just now, no matter how unintelligent he was, he understood the meaning.
"Why... why..."
Asahi Naruhaya also fell into this confusion.
Just then, Kunigami stood out like a hero, "Why are you all so dejected? The match isn't even lost yet? Do you already know you're going to be eliminated?"
"Don't think so pessimistically!"
"Now, we just need to crush these guys on the other side!"
"Then we can stay!"
The Monk looked up, his eyes somewhat hollow and blank, "What if we lose? You guys who have scored obviously have no pressure, but... aren't those of us who haven't scored a single goal in three matches on Ego Jinpachi's list?"
Chigiri also spoke with some emotion, "Then score goals?"
"Score goals with all your might!"
"You're complaining about the rules, complaining about all this, but don't you have to rely on yourselves to score goals?"
The Monk pursed his lips and said nothing...
"If you don't want to play, then get out." At this moment, a voice sounded, and Ye Liangqiu's emotionless eyes looked at him, "You need to know one thing: you are here because of me."
"Not because of your shoddy skills."
"If you think you can't do it, you can leave now."
"I believe Ego would be very happy to see that."
His words, like an attack on the heart, left the Monk's mind blank.
However, it wasn't just the Z Team that fell into this internal strife; the V Team also started arguing because of this rule, as their previous goals were entirely dependent on three players.
The others, who hadn't scored a single goal, were all within the elimination range.
"Shut up, all of you, shut up, you bunch of useless people."
"Do you think we'll lose?" Reo's veins bulged on his forehead, and he said angrily, "Don't you trust us?"
"No..." Under this strong pressure, one of the team members lowered his head, "We're just a little afraid of losing."
After all, given the current situation on the field, all the weaker players were unwilling to entrust their fate to others.
Reo's expression was cold, "Then play seriously!"
"Without us, you can't win!"
......
In the monitoring room.
Anri was somewhat speechless about Ego Jinpachi's actions, "Aren't you afraid they'll retaliate against you for manipulating the rules like this and making these players fall into infighting again?"
"Retaliate?" Ego grinned, "They should thank me. If I didn't do this, these people would think this match was just a game, an unimportant match."
"But you should know that professional football players experience this kind of thing every day."
"If they don't play well in their training matches, they have to sit on that cold bench in the corner. So, what? Do you want me to treat them like flowers and let them grow in a greenhouse?"
"Only to eventually die on this path of pursuing the world's best?"
"Rather than having everyone hate me, dislike me, I only need to do one thing: elevate these people to a height that doesn't belong to them, and make them realize the cruelty of this world."
"Monsters, let the competition begin. Which side will the victor fall to?"