The people from No. 4 High School all focused their attention on William Clark. They had all seen the opponent’s skill level, and since the machine was brought over, they hadn’t even seen William Clark play. Now, for him to still dare to challenge those three people, even though his tone was a bit arrogant, it was hard for anyone to expect a good outcome.

David Parker turned his head to look at William Clark. From William Clark’s face, he saw a kind of certainty, and couldn’t help but think: Could this kid really be an expert? He gave a look to a classmate beside him and said, “Go play a few rounds with him. Let him give up once he loses.”

“Is he really up to it?” Jason Reed asked Brian Cooper in a low voice. He wasn’t familiar with William Clark.

Brian Cooper immediately gave a wry smile and said, “I advise you not to get your hopes up.”

Jason Reed immediately frowned, then shook his head and said, “Well, let’s just treat a dead horse as if it’s still alive. At worst, it’s just another loss.”

At this moment, since someone dared to challenge, the guy from No. 2 High School didn’t dare to take it lightly. He tested with two moves and found that William Clark had absolutely no offensive ability, just randomly shaking the stick around like a total newbie trying out the game. Of course, he wouldn’t let this chance slip by, so he rushed up to William Clark and used a few big moves to knock out William Clark’s first character.

“Ha... I thought you had some skills, but this is all you’ve got? I think you’d better give up. I really can’t get interested in competing with you. Your No. 4 High School’s level is just too poor.”

Everyone from No. 4 High School felt embarrassed, but William Clark just chuckled and said, “You haven’t won yet. I still have two characters left.”

“Then you’re just asking for a beating. I won’t go easy on you.” The guy gave William Clark a disdainful glare and started attacking William Clark’s second character.

But this time, William Clark’s character wasn’t knocked out so easily. Like a monkey, he jumped and rolled around the screen, not only dodging most of the opponent’s attacks but even counterattacking a couple of times. Although he still lost, he managed to take away half of the opponent’s health.

By now, most of the people from No. 4 High School had already left, not wanting to watch William Clark embarrass himself, as if seeing him lose was the same as losing themselves. At least if they didn’t watch, they wouldn’t have to see the mocking faces of those three from No. 2 High School.

“Not bad, you’ve improved a bit. Then I’ll use my last character to finish off your third one.” The guy still didn’t take William Clark seriously.

But his underestimation quickly cost him. William Clark’s third character suddenly became fierce, both defending and attacking, and after taking out one of the opponent’s characters, he also knocked out more than half of the second one’s health before finally losing.

“Huh! Pretty impressive, huh?” Although they won, those guys from No. 2 High School now looked at William Clark with new respect.

Meanwhile, Jason Reed and Brian Cooper both stared wide-eyed, excitement flashing in their eyes. Brian Cooper swallowed and said, “It seems like this kid gets better with every round. He must know what he’s doing.”

Chapter 007: Expert

William Clark put in another game token, and this time he chose the Brazil team. The guys from No. 2 High School immediately burst out laughing. After all, the three characters in the Brazil team had the fewest moves, only some grappling techniques that could only be used when close to the opponent—basically useless, and almost no players ever picked them.

But that’s only what beginners thought when they first played King of Fighters. Later, quite a few players loved using these three, because they all had a similar trait: they could chain combos, and even chain them to death, leaving the opponent with no chance to fight back.

William Clark hadn’t played arcade games for years and thought he’d have trouble getting back into it. But after one round, that familiar feeling returned, so he picked these three right away. If he could still chain combos as smoothly as before, beating them would be a breeze. After all, these so-called experts from No. 2 High School were just a bit more skilled at using moves, but didn’t understand the bugs and combos in King of Fighters ’94 at all.

“One Fei, are you kidding me? You actually picked this team?” Just as Brian Cooper was starting to feel a glimmer of hope, William Clark’s team choice doused his hopes like a bucket of cold water.

“Heh... Let’s give it a try. Didn’t you notice these three are all pretty buff? If you lost some weight, maybe you’d look like them.”

“You little punk, go to hell. We’ve already lost four rounds—if we lose two more, it’s all over.”

“We were losing anyway. What’s a few more losses?” William Clark chuckled as he watched the guy pick the Italy team.

The game started. William Clark gently moved the joystick with his left hand and tapped a button with his right, first dodging an attack, then lightly pushing the stick again, making his first character, Ralf, leap into the air.