Chapter 1345: That Was Only the Past
Translator: Nomyummi Editor: Nomyummi
In Round 30 of the League matches, Happy played a home game, welcoming the currently last-place Team Seaside. Seaside was in low spirits, as they were essentially already relegated. The players were all worried about their future prospects, and very few fans had come along with the team.
As usual, Ye Xiu was the first in the individual round, earning a clean victory. And then Luo Ji came up, finally winning the first victory of his professional career. The audience was a sea of cheers, congratulating Luo Ji.
And then, Wei Chen.
The stadium burst into excitement again. This especially down-to-earth old player had been absent for while. No one even remembered the last time he had come onstage, but now he was pulled onto the stage once again.
Wei Chen boldly and grandly waved toward the audience, and the audience gave him an enthusiastic answer, but the end result wasn't what people expected.
Wei Chen, Happy's representative in the third individual battle, lost.
Seaside already had no prospects, but some of the individual players were still considering their own futures and putting their full effort into performance to try and attract more attention. Wei Chen met one such player, resulting in a long battle that ended with a slight mistake he made causing his loss.
Real battle was still a whole different matter from daily practice. Regularly training and sparring with teammates couldn't replace the rhythm of one professional match a week.
"Old Wei, can you even keep up anymore!" When Wei Chen came offstage, Xiaoshan Stadium came alive with many hollers from the audience.
It wasn't mockery, it was just the lighthearted joking from the fans that knew him well. Even though these words hit a sore spot, the shameless Wei Chen could always stand up to these kind of jokes.
"The hell do you guys know, this is tactics," Wei Chen yelled. But his voice had no way of competing with the noise of so many audience members talking at once, and it couldn't carry. Wei Chen could only hear everyone continuing to mock him as he helplessly walked back to the player area.
"Can't keep up, huh, Old Wei!" Fang Rui was following along with the audience.
"The hell do you know? This is called tactics." Finally, Wei Chen could make his retort heard.
"What tactics? Please, do enlighten us," Fang Rui said.
"Stop messing around," Ye Xiu interjected. "Old Wei is very upset after losing that match. Don't provoke him, or else he might cry."
"Pah!" Wei Chen spat in contempt.
"How are you?" Ye Xiu sat next to him, his tone becoming more serious.
"Even you're still doing fine, would I be any worse?" Wei Chen gave him a sideways glance.
"I have 29 consecutive victories," Ye Xiu said.
"Soon I'll be kicking ass, just you watch," Wei Chen said.
"Of course, we found you just for that purpose," said Ye Xiu.
"Well, I have to say, you found the right person."
"Good luck."
"I'll get into condition quickly."
The joking tone had finally vanished with those last two sentences.
"Now it's our turn!" Ever since becoming the the anchor of the group arena, he often had this grand air of a general. The group arena roster of him, Tang Rou, and Su Mucheng wasn't something that Seaside could defend against. Just two of the Happy players were enough to defeat and destroy Seaside. Seaside didn't even have the chance to see in individual battle that character which had once been their core, Boundless Sea.
In the intermission, Happy actively prepared for the team competition. Seaside's players, however, just sat scattered around the player area, each lost in their own thoughts. There was no communication at all.
This was a team that had already completely splintered apart. Just last season, they hadn't been doing so poorly, but this season had been a nonstop plummet. After Zhao Yang retired, the team said they sold Boundless Sea so they could set down a burden and travel light. But now, there was a big discrepancy between expectation and reality.
What they set down wasn't just the burden of economic investment and resources. At the same time, they had set down what had always been this team's soul and conviction.
To Team Seaside, Boundless Sea was more than just a contribution to their strength. He was the support on which the team's spirit rested. Zhao Yang's retirement was already a huge blow to the team. By selling the character Boundless Sea immediately after, this two-hit combo completely destroyed this team's courage and belief to continue fighting.
Tear down and rebuild. But Seaside had torn down too much, until there was nothing left of their team. This team, perhaps, had collapsed the moment that Boundless Sea was sold off.
And at the same time, the most attention-grabbing match of this round, the match chosen for television broadcast, had also entered the most exciting part of the group arena.
Blue Rain vs Hundred Blossoms.
Huang Shaotian vs Yu Feng.
Former teammates, now the core players of their respective teams.
And now, it was finally time for them to stand opposite each other with their swords drawn, fighting to the death in this battle to decide the group arena.
Troubling Rain still had 96% health remaining, while Blossoming Chaos was at 100%. With such a slight difference, the two characters were essentially beginning this match at the same starting line.
"Let the match begin!" When commentator Pan Lin made this announcement, the two characters had already finished loading onto the map. But, shockingly, the chat wasn't instantly flooded with a huge amount of text.
The instant the battle began, the television broadcast had already switched the close-up display to the chat. But there wasn't a flood of messages?
"What's going on?" Pan Lin exclaimed. "This is a match with Huang Shaotian! And it's only the opening, they're not fighting each other yet, how come there are no messages in the chat? Ah! It's already been seven seconds and there isn't a single message! What is this? Did something happen? Is there a problem in the player booth? Did Huang Shaotian faint? Can someone go and check?"
"I think…" To the side, Li Yibo finally opened his mouth. "Even though Huang Shaotian hasn't sent a message yet, you sounded a lot like him just now."
Fortunately, Pan Lin didn't need to worry, as just at that moment, Huang Shaotian's message finally appeared on screen.
"We meet onstage again. But after so long, we're probably used to this feeling by now! Come on, let's have a fierce battle. Let's see if your greatsword is fiercer or my lightsaber is faster."
At the same time the messages appeared, Troubling Rain was already Swift Running out, his weapon Ice Rain at his side glowing with faint blue light, leaving blurred afterimages like the marks left by raindrops freezing as they dripped down.
Just one message. For Huang Shaotian, this was truly unprecedented. Such an atypical performance seemed to indicate that he still wasn't quite used to treating this former teammate as an opponent? Even if Yu Feng had already left Blue Rain over a year and a half ago.
"I'm sorry that I can't continue to walk alongside everyone…"
Every time he met Yu Feng again, Huang Shaotian flashed back to what this guy had said just before he left Team Blue Rain, when he was bidding farewell to them all.
"I want to see what I can accomplish with this greatsword in my own hands," Yu Feng said.
What he could accomplish?
These two seasons, everyone had seen his accomplishments. Under Yu Feng's lead, Team Hundred Blossoms rebuilt its former trademark duo, the Berserker and the Spitfire. The number one Berserker, after leaving Blue Rain and joining Hundred Blossoms, was still the number one Berserker. But his simplest, most sentimental season would always belong to Blue Rain.
That was Blue Rain's most beautiful summer.
In Season 6, Blue Rain defeated Tiny Herb in the finals, winning that year's championship.
At that time, Yu Feng was a mere rookie in the team. He wasn't like Lu Hanwen, who had taken up the responsibility of main attacker in his very first year. In that year, Yu Feng's position still wavered between main roster and substitute as a rotating player.
But he played a role in Blue Rain's championship victory. Everyone saw his talent and anticipated his growth.
As expected, he quickly became a solid, indispensable member of Blue Rain, always the one who stood at the very front of the team to meet the enemies that came at them.
But unfortunately, this situation only lasted for two seasons. In Season 9, Yu Feng voluntarily transferred, wishing to leave Blue Rain. And his reason was exactly as described above: he wished to forge an era that was his own.
"But if that's the case, then what was Blue Rain to you?"
Only Huang Shaotian would ask such a sharp question without hesitation.
"Thank you everyone, for your care all this time…" But this was Yu Feng's only reply, and he left just like that. And Huang Shaotian, who had wanted to go up and demand answers, was ultimately pulled to a stop by Yu Wenzhou.
A position truly as the core. A team that truly belonged to him.
Perhaps some people wouldn't care about these sort of things, but others would care about them greatly. And Blue Rain could not give these things to Yu Feng. Even if they had once had that perfect summer, even if Yu Feng had always led Blue Rain forward like the front of a train, these were not what he most wanted.
He wanted to use the greatsword in his hand to forge an era that belonged to him!
Even when Huang Shaotian hurled that "what was Blue Rain to you" question at him, he felt no guilt or remorse. What was Blue Rain to him? Every time he faced Team Blue Rain in battle, every time he met Blue Rain's players, he would always think of this question.
At the time, he hadn't known, and so he hadn't given a reply. But now, he had found his answer.
The past.
To him, Blue Rain was the past.
That place had brought him laughter and tears and sweat and emotion. But all of that was in the past. Now, his body bore the emblem of Hundred Blossoms. He was this team's captain. He had already waved farewell to the past. Now, he was using his sword to strive for what he wanted to obtain.
And no one could block him, not even Huang Shaotian, this person who talked so much and yet could never be hated.
Even if the one blocking his way was the Sword Saint, he would knock him down for good.
Blossoming Chaos, charge forward!
Without pause, without retreat, the two characters flew toward each other at the center of the map, and without hesitation, the swordlight clashed.
AAAAAH!
Blossoming Chaos seemed to roar. In terms of power, the Berserker of course had the advantage over the Blade Master, especially since he had activated the Berserk status from the start. Blossoming Chaos' two eyes had gone red, and blood energy roiled around him. The Silver weapon he held, Blossoms Burial, with all the strength to bury everything in its path, swung toward Troubling Rain.
Chapter 1346: The Instant Spotlight Steal
Translator: Nomyummi Editor: Nomyummi
"Right now Yu Feng has the advantage!!" Commentator Pan Lin described the current situation in shock.
When the two characters met, Troubling Rain was actually instantly suppressed by Blossoming Chaos. Under the ferocious attack of the Berserker, Troubling Rain was clearly in a bad position.
The broadcasters couldn't help but cut to a close-up of the chat every so often. This was a habit born from broadcasting many of Huang Shaotian's matches. But now, there was nothing… The chat was clean and empty.
"Huang Shaotian has said unusually little during this match!" Li Yibo observed.
"Looks like Yu Feng is giving him a lot of pressure. Maybe he doesn't have any time left to type words?" said Pan Lin. The pace of the players' attacks and defenses was so fast that Pan Lin had no time to discuss any details of the battle. He could only insert some side comments like this.
"After spending over a year in Hundred Blossoms, Yu Feng has indeed improved significantly," said Li Yibo.
"Maybe it's the responsibility of captaincy that gave him more courage, gave him more of a role to play!" Pan Lin said, before glancing at the two sides' health bars once again. "The battle is extremely fast-paced. Troubling Rain's health has already dropped to 71%, while Blossoming Chaos still has 79%. Just looking at the health, we see that even though Huang Shaotian doesn't have the initiative, he's still managed to take away a large portion of his opponent's health. Plus, at the start of this match, Troubling Rain was already at 96%, meaning that up to now, he's lost 25%, while Blossoming Chaos has lost 21%. That's only a 4% difference!"
"On that point, we have to remember that Blossoming Chaos is a Berserker. During these exchanges, Yu Feng will likely be bolder," Li Yibo said.
"Whoa, just in the time it took us to say that, their health has dropped again, Troubling Rain 67%, Blossoming Chaos 70%! Blossoming Chaos ate a big attack here! If we consider the two characters' starting health, doesn't this mean that Troubling Rain is now in the lead?" Pan Lin was surprised, because looking at the current offensive, Yu Feng clearly had the upper hand.
"Huang Shaotian's defensive ability has always been exceptional, and his ability to attack while defending is also strong. This has to do with the role he often plays within the team," Li Yibo said.
"That's true," Pan Lin agreed. The two didn't describe this point further, because all sorts of reporters, critics, and commentators had already talked about this many times. Huang Shaotian's defensive ability was high because Team Blue Rain had several characters that needed to be defended. Aside from the healer, Yu Wenzhou's Swoksaar also needed his support frequently.
But the protection of Swoksaar was different from the typical protection of a healer. After all, Yu Wenzhou wasn't someone who could be casually killed off. Even though his hands were slow, he relied on experience and rhythm to fight in his own way. So, Huang Shaotian's protection of Yu Wenzhou more often contained a counterattack. This strategy of Blue Rain's was very mature by this point: from Swoksaar, launch a defensive counterattack.
So Blue Rain's players were all skilled in this area, with Huang Shaotian as the leader. Right now he was being suppressed by Yu Feng, but while defending, he managed to gain the upper hand in health. It had to be said that Huang Shaotian's defensive counterattacking was extraordinarily effective.
Having been teammates for three years, Yu Feng wouldn't overlook this special trait of Huang Shaotian's. But at this moment, it seemed like he didn't care, as he tenaciously continued to attack.
"Is Yu Feng playing too carelessly?" Pan Lin said at this moment. "Even though he has the initiative, if this keeps up, the initiative won't help him win!"
Just as he said these words, Yu Feng finally fell behind in terms of raw health. Troubling Rain was now at 61%, while his Blossoming Chaos had been brought down to 58%.
"He still won't stop to consider strategy?" said Pan Lin. Indeed, it looked like Yu Feng had no plan of stopping. The battle rhythm was just as fast as before, and in the midst of flying blood droplets, the health bars continued to drop.
60%, 57%;
58%, 54%;
54%, 51%;
50%, 40%…
After a flurry of blows, Blossoming Chaos's health suddenly plummeted drastically, from 51% all the way down to 40%.
"Ah, this…" Pan Lin was already losing his voice as he cried out. Blue Rain's home stadium erupted in cheers to welcome victory.
"No! Now, Yu Feng's offensive truly begins!" Li Yibo shouted. After seeing this sharp drop, he realized something.
Blood Awakening. Activating once a Berserker's health was below 50%, this granted a massive increase in strength. The lower the health, the greater the increase. And Yu Feng's health had dropped all the way to 40% in one step. The strength increase granted by this 10% would boost Blossoming Chaos' attack power and priority. And this sudden boost in attack priority would instantly put greater pressure on Huang Shaotian's defense. If he couldn't keep up with this increased rhythm, it was very possible that he would be crushed.
It looked like Yu Feng wanted to use this moment to attack explosively, directly defeating Huang Shaotian's Troubling Rain in one go. Now that his own health was at 40%, Blossoming Chaos used his Awakening skill: Bloodthirsty Craze.
Boost!
Aside from the boost to strength, Bloodthirsty Craze also boosted Blossoming Chaos' movement and attack speeds. It relied on the same logic: sacrifice one's own health to drastically increase attack power.
In just this short instant, Blossoming Chaos completed a massive explosion of stats. This explosion wasn't a coincidence, of course. Yu Feng had planned for this long ago. He had a very clear plan here: relying on this explosiveness, he would deal the final blow to Huang Shaotian.
It's here!
The Silver weapon Blossoms Burial once again whipped up a hurricane of blood. All of these boosts had come so suddenly, even Huang Shaotian probably didn't expect Blossoming Chaos to swiftly enter a 40% health Blood Awakening and activate Bloodthirsty Craze. This was all completed in an instant. Blossoming Chaos' attacks now were on a whole different level from before.
Could Huang Shaotian withstand this sudden increase of power?
No, clearly not.
When Troubling Rain lifted his weapon Ice Rain to defend, it was instantly forced back by the greatsword Blossoms Burial. Blossoming Chaos' attack priority right now wasn't something that Troubling Rain could casually block with his blade.
Hit!
It looked like even Ice Rain was thrust into Troubling Rain's flesh. The blood sprayed up like a screen to cover the two people. Only their health bars could be seen, reflecting the current situation as they jumped downward.
Troubling Rain: 45%; Blossoming Chaos: 39%.
43%; 38%;
40%; 37%;
35%; 36%…
In an instant, in just this instant, Blossoming Chaos completed his counterattack. His health was now higher than Troubling Rain's. There wasn't even an exchange, there was only Yu Feng's crazy offensive. Blossoming Chaos' health depletion was only an automatic side-effect of Bloodthirsty Craze.
I can win! I will win!
Yu Feng saw the opportunity, the opportunity that he'd constructed from the very beginning, finally in his hand. He loved this feeling, truly loved this feeling, the feeling of having everything firmly in his grasp. It felt so enriching, and so very real…
32%; 35%;
29%; 34%;
25%; 33%;
20%; 32%…
Controlled well, his attacks were controlled excellently, the gap between their health was only widening. Even more importantly, as Blossoming Chaos' health depleted his strength was still increasing, and his offensive grew more and more violent.
The Bloodthirsty Craze status was about to wear off, and a large portion of his battle ability was about to vanish. Afterward, he would need to rely on Berserk to make up for it. But Huang Shaotian had probably already grown accustomed to this current rhythm; the replacement boost from Berserk probably wouldn't be enough to suppress him.
Still, he didn't need to worry too much. It wasn't a big deal if he sacrificed some health. Consider it a one-time interest payment on Bloodthirsty Craze! The final offensive was about to begin here.
Berserk!
Yu Feng didn't wait for Bloodthirsty Craze to wear off before using a new skill. Just before Bloodthirsty Craze was about to end, he activated Berserk.
His offensive continued, but as Yu Feng expected, the 25% decrease that Berserk represented couldn't help Yu Feng suppress Huang Shaotian completely.
He needed an exchange. He just needed to complete one exchange.
His 12% health lead allowed Yu Feng to feel calm. This battle would end after this final wave of attacks.
Whirlwind Strike!
Blossoming Chaos' attacks continued. He used a Whirlwind Strike to send his sword spinning toward Troubling Rain.
But…
Falling Blossom Form!
Troubling Rain suddenly darted out with his sword. So fast, so accurate. The attack was clearly initiated just slower than Whirlwind Strike, but it landed upon Blossoming Chaos first.
Blossoming Chaos was sent falling down out of his control, and Yu Feng was stunned. What happened? How was his offensive broken here? Troubling Rain's attack came so quickly that he truly had no way of responding. This one attack came as though it had been waiting for a long time, as though it had been ready for a long time. One touch completely shattered Blossoming Chaos' offensive.
"Dropping health like that in front of me, you really are too bold. Have you already forgotten what my style is?" Huang Shaotian finally graced the chat with some of his words. He mentioned his style. This style… He probably wasn't referring to how he was finally talking now, he was evidently referring to something else… Huang Shaotian's style, aside from his talkative nature.
Opportunist. The greatest opportunist in Glory. One opening was enough to create a reversal. One opening was enough to kill.
It wasn't that Yu Feng didn't know this, nor would he forget this. He simply believed that he wouldn't give Huang Shaotian any openings, any opportunities. But now…
Swordlight. Ice Rain's swordlight, like strings of frozen raindrops, landed over and over upon Blossoming Chaos' body.
20%, 28%;
20%, 25%;
20%, 22%;
20%, 15%;
20%, 11%;
20%, 0…
Just like that, Blossoming Chaos' 32% was wiped away in one go. Troubling Rain took no damage.
As expected of this guy! Yu Feng watched, helpless, as Blossoming Chaos fell. This guy always had a sudden explosion at a critical point, instantly stealing your spotlight. On the battlefield, no matter how hard he worked, no matter how well he played, it could never compete with the elegance of that guy's instantaneous strike.
He thought he had grasped victory in his hands, but it still slipped through his fingers in the end. That feeling of fullness turned empty in the blink of an eye.
This is why I had to leave Blue Rain!
At Blue Rain, your sudden appearances always crushed the presence I worked so hard to build up. It was truly too cruel…
Chapter 1347: Sprint
Translator: Nomyummi Editor: Nomyummi
In the group arena, Troubling Rain defeated Blossoming Chaos, giving the victory to Blue Rain. In addition to the two points they had earned in the individual competition, Blue Rain entered the team competition with a 4 to 1 lead.
In the end, Blue Rain used their home advantage to crush their opponents in the team competition, winning an impressive victory of 9 to 1 against Hundred Blossoms.
In the same round, Happy also managed a 9 to 1 victory against Seaside. Conquering Clouds was crushed by 301 Degrees in their away home, not getting a single point and losing 0 to 10. As for Wind Howl, 301 Degree's most direct competitor, they had managed to win against Misty Rain 8 to 2 on their home turf, but their 2 point lead was eliminated by 301 Degrees. They only managed to remain eighth thanks to their victorious battle against 301 Degrees.
There were two matches that roused public interest this round, Tiny Herb's home game against Void and Tyranny's home game against Thunderclap.
In the end, the two home teams ended the match 8 to 2. Thunderclap's team once again lost; this time to Tyranny's team. Something that was rather unexpected, however, was that Han Wenqing, Zhang Jiale, Lin Jingyan and Zhang Xinjie, after a long time of not fighting together, all appeared in the starting lineup this time.
Was it a coincidence of their rotation?
No one would think that way. Team Tyranny had implemented this rotation for Han Wenqing, Zhang Jiale and Lin Jingyan to switch off. With all three of them present, Tyranny seemed to perform perfectly well, so what was the point of the rotation?
"Tyranny's begun the sprint for the playoffs." With Team Happy, Ye Xiu merely glanced at the lineup before making a conclusive judgement.
In the past, Chen Guo would probably ask why, but she didn't need Ye Xiu to explain something like this anymore, because she could read between the lines. In reality, Happy also had such plans for Wei Chen, and Wei Chen's situation was far worse than Tyranny's veterans.
Veterans like them didn't have enough energy for the entire season, especially not with the fact that there was an even more anticipated, even more intensive, even more frequent playoffs after the regular season.
Last season, Tyranny was ever so impressive, but lost at the finals.
Perhaps they had felt their efforts taking a toll on them ages ago, holding on only through their faith. Another match, just another match… Perhaps, that was what they were chanting in their heads. Getting to the finals, fighting three rounds against Samsara, they were holding on stubbornly through sheer willpower. However, no matter how strong they were, their energy would eventually be depleted. Under this exhaustion, they had met their strongest rivals in the Alliance and Tyranny had fallen, and many people could only think of what a shame that was.
Thus, in the new season, they had discarded their headstrong ways, not opening the season very well. Everyone felt that it was such a shame; they sighed: the spirit of these veterans were admirable, but what was the use in this stubborn persistence?
The voices cheering for Tyranny for the championship slowly died out, but Tyranny didn't care, continuing forth like that. Their scores soon stabilized. Though they weren't as impressive as last season, there was no pressure for them to get into the playoffs. Nonetheless, some people still felt it was a shame. They longed for the time where the four kings lead Tyranny to victory together, sweeping through the alliance with high-spirits.
Yes, high-spirited, but they ended up losing the finals.
But this time, Tyranny wouldn't act according these personal feelings anymore. They fought steadily, stably. The veterans, including Han Wenqing who hadn't backed down in ten years, all began playing in rotation. He was the team captain, after all - the soul of Tyranny. Currently, there wasn't a single team that had such a figure in such a consistent rotation. It was rare that these people would even sit out for a single match. Yet now, this was something that had happened to Han Wenqing. The Han Wenqing that always pressed forth and never backed down.
Everything was for the championship.
Team Tyranny's members, after their loss last season, had clearly realized that they could no longer fight freely and without restraint like the younger generation. They had to preserve their strength. They needed enough energy to face the playoffs, to face the finals. Thus, they stayed in rotation this season, marching forth and keeping a low profile. The three veterans had each played two thirds of what they had played last season. They maintained their condition throughout the intense pro level matches and didn't deplete so much of their energy.
And now, it was Round 30 of the regular season. After this round, there would be eight more rounds in the regular season before the even more intense playoffs begun.
Team Tyranny's low profile would end here. In the match against Thunderclap, they revealed their fangs and claws. The three veterans and Zhang Xinjie appeared in the starting line up together, wiping out Thunderclap, who were using their team competitions to make miracles this season. They were announcing their return, announcing that they were prepared for the playoffs. They were going to use the following eight matches to once again get completely used to their team, to find the state they needed, because this was their true pillar. This was weapon they wielded in this fight for the championship. That was something they never doubted since they had formed this team last season, this team had people had thought senile.
"It's time to start."
That was the simple and straightforward reply Han Wenqing gave in response to the reporter's questions on their lineup.
It was starting.
All the teams were preparing.
Those who hadn't secured their position would begin their final slaughter to the top. Those who had already reached the door to the playoffs were all adjusting their teams to get into the rhythm of the playoffs.
Tyranny had the three veterans fight together, and Happy also had Luo Ji and Wei Chen find their optimal state through the following matches. As for the teams that didn't have much hope, they were beginning to change their tactics, too, willing to try out new things. Each team, depending on their own situations, would be adjusting to a different pace in these last eight rounds.
Often times, strange and unexpected situations would result from the clashes of these differing rhythms. Some would be at a disadvantage, others would be able to take advantage.
Happy was, unfortunately, one of those disadvantaged. In Round 31, they played their away game against Misty Rain, and Happy somehow lost with a shocking 1 to 9. Apart from the victory Ye Xiu gained in the first individual round, they lost spectacularly until the end.
If it was last season's Misty Rain, this score wouldn't be too shocking, no matter what team they had managed it against. However, Misty Rain's condition clearly wasn't very good this season, and their strategic structure had completely collapsed. But in this round, Misty Rain had fought unrestrained and won a landslide victory against Happy.
"Don't underestimate us!" Chu Yunxiu grinned, saying to Ye Xiu as they shook hands after the match.
"We didn't underestimate you, we just really weren't expecting it," Ye Xiu said helplessly.
The individual rounds were acceptable. Happy had been prepared to lose points when they sent up Luo Ji and Wei Chen. The thing was that in their team competition this time, Misty Rain completely ignored the criticism from both outside and inside the circle. This time, they were even crazier. Chu Yunxiu took Shu Kexing and Shu Keyi, and the three ranged fighters fought elegantly and without a care for a world. Li Hua's Ninja didn't bother acting as a close ranged guerrilla tank anymore, instead running around and launching sneak attacks.
Misty Rain had gone completely off the rails, leaving Happy floundering to react, and swept a victory for themselves.
"How was it? Our strategy?" Chu Yunxiu was enthusiastically asking for Ye Xiu's opinion.
"Be happy about catching us off guard elsewhere. Stop shoving it in my face, would you?" Ye Xiu said.
"Heheh," Chu Yunxiu didn't mind this at all. It was clear she understood that their performance had simply caught Happy off guard. If Happy had prepared and dealt with this more carefully, Misty Rain's strategy wouldn't be all that reliable.
"Good luck!"
After Ye Xiu walked past Chu Yunxiu, Su Mucheng came over and grasped Chu Yunxiu's hand, giving her words of encouragement, as if they had been the one to win and not Misty Rain.
Chu Yunxiu naturally understood what Su Mucheng was talking about. Her encouragement wasn't about this match, but Misty Rain's overall situation.
Faced with her good friend, Chu Yunxiu didn't bother with the triumphant demeanor she had worn in front of Ye Xiu, shaking her head and giving a strained smile.
"Let's hang out after this!" Chu Yunxiu suggested.
"Alright!" Su Mucheng didn't reject the offer. The two didn't dawdle any longer. After the players of each team finished giving each other their post-match regards, they each returned to their prep rooms to prepare for the post-match press conference.
Misty Rain were the victors, so their press conference was after Happy's. The sudden victory was exciting for the reports, and they enthusiastically tossed questions about the playstyle Misty Rain had used this round as well as what they thought about the playoffs.
Chu Yunxiu answered the questions one by one. Their strategy was something the team had been figuring out and researching. With the victory today, it seemed pretty good, so the team would continue to look into it and hone themselves. As for the playoffs? No one would know until the last moment, and Misty Rain wasn't planning on giving up.
Watching the satisfied reporters, Chu Yunxiu could only sigh to herself. Was there really any hope for Misty Rain this season?
After the press conference, Misty Rain's players bid each other goodbye. Chu Yunxiu was the last to leave the prep room and she flipped open her phone to a text from Su Mucheng: "Waiting at Exit E."
"Coming."
Chu Yunxiu replied before heading for Exit E.
The moment she stepped out from Exit E, Chu Yunxiu saw the somewhat blurred but elegant figure of her friend in the night lightning. Next to her was another, a fitful spot of red light fading and burning.
The elegant figure waved at her and Chu Yunxiu quickly walked over.
"How come you're here, too?" Chu Yunxiu didn't greet Su Mucheng, instead choosing to side eye the smoking Ye Xiu.
"I felt like the Great God Chu seemed after uncertain and was wondering if she needed some advice from a helpful senior," Ye Xiu replied.
"Give me a cig!" Chu Yunxiu demanded.
Ye Xiu didn't hesitate to take out a cigarette and hand it over and even offered a flame. Chu Yunxiu accepted the cigarette and lit it smoothly.
"Let's go to the coffee shop over there!" Chu Yunxiu suggested after taking a puff from the cigarette.