Chapter 1 The Playoff Hype

The playoff promotions were in full swing. As the climax of each season, it was a massive money-making feast for the Alliance. Those teams that failed to make the playoffs could only look on with envy. They could only watch the television broadcast fees, ticket sales, and advertisements for the playoffs slip through their fingers.

These were the problems for the club owners and managers to consider. For the professional players of each team, this was a stage of even greater significance, a place for them to ultimately win the highest honor.

But for the players, this was another feast to enjoy high-level competition. Although topics related to Glory weren't being discussed on every street corner, in internet cafes, on the Glory forums, in the world channels and guild channels of the Glory online game, these places where Glory players gathered, it undoubtedly became a recent hot topic. The most popular topic of discussion was, of course, which team would win the championship.

According to public opinion polls conducted by some websites, Blue Rain, Samsara, and Tiny Herb had the highest support rates, with Tyranny slightly behind. As for the remaining four teams, their meager support rates were likely just a token of support from their own fans. After all, almost no one could come up with a convincing reason why one of these four teams could win the championship.

Who would the championship go to? The members of Team Happy were relatively calm. Ye Xiu and Wei Chen had come from the scene, and were veteran players. They could pick it up and put it down. They weren't even involved, so why would they be excited? Both were analyzing the strengths and weaknesses of each team in a calm and rational way.

As for the other three, after Chen Guo turned from a Jia Shi fan to a hater, the team she supported became their own Team Happy, which was still in the early stages of development. She didn't care which team won the championship at this point. As for Tang Rou and Baozi, they hadn't even had time to like any team before they became members of their own team. Of course, they didn't have any teams they supported.

So, while things were bustling outside, in Team Happy's small training room, the group of people aiming for the professional scene seemed a little too indifferent to it all.

In comparison, they discussed Jia Shi's situation more often. After all, that was the reality closer to them. But this reality also made them feel a lot of pressure.

After being relegated, Jia Shi showed great composure in comforting their fans, obviously having prepared everything in advance. So, they must have already had a detailed plan on how to maintain their competitiveness and return to the Alliance after being relegated. Ye Xiu and the others already knew that Jia Shi had finally become the most terrifying Boss on their Challenger League journey, but even Ye Xiu, who had been the captain of Jia Shi for more than seven years, couldn't say exactly what this Boss would look like. Because he understood that from the moment he left, Jia Shi would undergo drastic changes. This team would never be the one he had once fought for, and of course, he couldn't say what it would look like in the end.

"Do you think we'll be unlucky enough to draw Jia Shi in the first round? That would be a huge joke," Wei Chen often made jokes like this to scare everyone these past few days.

"You just have a big mouth!" Ye Xiu usually answered him like that. Everyone could see that even Ye Xiu, who was usually calm and composed, felt a little nervous about Wei Chen's jokes. This kind of encounter was also a possibility that existed in theory. If it really happened, then the Challenger League would no longer be the place where their dreams began, but the place where their dreams ended.

For a normal player team, with the strength of Ye Xiu and his group, they didn't need to worry too much about anything. But compared to a powerhouse like Jia Shi, the things they lacked were not just a few points. The players' skill, even Tang Rou and Baozi's current level, was still far from that of professional players! As for the characters, there was no need to mention it. They were two brand new accounts in the new server. Ye Xiu's Unyielding Lord did have a silver weapon, but it was only at level 50. Wei Chen's Warlock's Death's Hand was only at level 60. Even if both of these silver weapons were fully upgraded, what could they compare to the characters of Team Jia Shi? The god-level character One Autumn Leaf had silver equipment all over his body.

Compared to Jia Shi, the gap in characters was probably even more terrifying than the gap in players.

They were participating in the Challenger League together, and only one could be the final winner. So, as long as both sides weren't eliminated, meeting was inevitable. In that case, meeting early was definitely not as good as meeting late. The later they met, the more time Team Happy would have to improve and refine, both in terms of players and characters.

It was fortunate that Glory, as an e-sports event based on online games, had its own unique features. That was, characters were also allowed to grow during the season. For example, if a character obtained a skill book in the online game, they could use it immediately. They could also replace one or several pieces of equipment.

So, for Ye Xiu, originally returning to the professional scene was at least in August of the following year. The time for both personnel and character growth was still quite good. Because even while participating in the Challenger League, he could still run to the online game to busy himself with getting materials and equipment to arm his characters. This way, when they entered the professional scene, the team would definitely have grown to a considerable strength. And after entering the professional scene, they could still grow while competing. Because the regular season was long, and the fate of a team wouldn't be decided by the gain or loss of a single match. Or, they might encounter powerhouse teams in the beginning and find it extremely difficult, but their advantage was that they had huge room for growth. Perhaps by the end of the season, when they entered the playoffs, their strength would be no less than any powerhouse team.

But now, the Challenger League was an event that would determine their entire fate in one match. Now that Jia Shi, such a top powerhouse team, had joined, it disrupted Ye Xiu's original plan. Now, he had to build the team to a level where it could compete with a powerhouse before meeting Jia Shi. If it was really as unlucky as Wei Chen joked, and they met Jia Shi in the first round, then according to the previous arrangements of the Challenger League, the first round would usually be held in September. The time Ye Xiu had originally planned for the team to grow was cut short, which made him feel a little anxious.

"Do you think Jia Shi will secretly play tricks? I think their hatred for you should be quite high now. What if they play tricks behind our backs and use connections to influence the arrangement of the matches, intentionally drawing our team together with them in the first round?" As a result, the more Wei Chen said, the more ruthless he became. He wanted to describe the theoretically existing small probability event as having a 100% probability to satisfy himself.

"If that's really the case, I'll go smash their windows," Ye Xiu said in annoyance.

"I'm just talking about this possibility!" Wei Chen seemed to know that he was bringing up a sore spot, but he was still trying to defend himself. "Doing so wouldn't be entirely out of spite. As an opponent, you will definitely make them very wary. They will also see you as a strong opponent in the Challenger League. They know your situation, and they know the importance of time for a new team. Even if it's to ensure their final victory, it's entirely possible for them to play tricks and manipulate the rules to eliminate your team in the first round when it's not yet fully formed, isn't it? You've been in Jia Shi for more than seven years. You should know better than us whether Jia Shi has such ability in the circle."

After Wei Chen said this, he looked at Ye Xiu with expectant eyes, as if waiting for Ye Xiu to give him an accurate answer. Seeing his appearance, Ye Xiu understood in an instant that Wei Chen was even more nervous than himself at this time. He was deliberately saying these terrible jokes just to stimulate himself, to numb himself, so that he wouldn't be disturbed by these terrible possibilities. Because he and Ye Xiu knew very well that an opponent like Jia Shi, even if they met them in the end, would be an extremely difficult hurdle for them to overcome.

They were a powerhouse team with eight years of accumulation, while what about them? From the time Ye Xiu left Jia Shi until now, it hadn't even been half a year. The players were either rookies picked up in the new server or middle-aged people who had been retired for almost six years. The characters in their hands were even inferior to the vast number of expert players in the online game. And with that, they were challenging Jia Shi? Don't always talk about theoretical possibilities! The author is already embarrassed to use that word again!

Understanding Wei Chen's intentions, Ye Xiu felt incomparably moved. He didn't laugh or mock him after seeing through Wei Chen's thoughts, as he usually did, but answered him very seriously, "I don't know."

"You don't know?" Wei Chen seemed unwilling to give up.

"Of course I don't know. If you really want to do something like that, of course not many people will know," Ye Xiu said.

"Damn it, I just want you to predict it, like your understanding of the personality of the person in charge of Jia Shi, your understanding of the current professional scene environment, to analyze the possibility of this situation," Wei Chen said.

The people in the training room stopped what they were doing and looked at Ye Xiu. As a result, Ye Xiu stared blankly at the ceiling, not speaking for a long time.

"You're not sure either, so you're saying there's still a possibility of this happening, right?" Wei Chen said.

"Okay, I'll just help you ask!" Ye Xiu suddenly sat up straight.

"Ask who?" Wei Chen wondered, and saw Ye Xiu open the QQ list. In the "Team" group, he opened a chat box with someone.

"Who is this?" Wei Chen's head had already come over to take a look at the person's QQ name. It was an English name, and he was sure that he didn't know him.

"The boss of Jia Shi," Ye Xiu said, and had already typed a message, "I didn't expect that we would really become opponents."

"Damn, damn, damn! You actually ran to ask him directly. What if he doesn't have such a plan? Wouldn't you be reminding him?" Wei Chen said.

"If he doesn't have such a plan, he won't do it even if I remind him. If he has such a plan, he will do it whether I remind him or not," Ye Xiu said.

Wei Chen muttered the sentence over and over again, then cursed helplessly, "Are you saying a tongue twister?"

As a result, the other party's QQ avatar suddenly lit up and sent back a message, "And it's the most tragic kind."

"Do you think we'll meet in the first round?" Ye Xiu replied.

The other side was silent for a long time. Wei Chen's eyes were wide with nervousness. After a long time, he saw the other side reply, "Hehe, are you afraid?"