Chapter 1 Playoff Fever

The first match of the playoffs concluded, and overwhelming praise poured in for Team Samsara's champion performance. As for Hundred Blossoms, there weren't many glaring mistakes to criticize during the match, but that only highlighted Samsara's strength even more.

In the blink of an eye, the next day arrived. The aftertaste of the first battle hadn't even fully faded, and the second match of the playoffs was already upon them. Team 301 would welcome Team Tyranny to their home arena. Having deliberately held back during the regular season, what kind of explosion would Tyranny unleash in the playoffs? Everyone was curious about this, making the match highly anticipated.

However, Team Happy's attention to this match wasn't just to satisfy their curiosity. According to the league's playoff schedule, if Happy eliminated Blue Rain and advanced to the final four, their opponent would be the winner between Tyranny and 301. They would definitely face one of these two teams, if everything went smoothly.

But that evening, Team Happy still didn't organize to watch the match. They didn't watch this one, nor did they retrieve the recording to review the previous match.

The next day would be Happy's match, so the entire day's training was focused on adjustment. After dinner, everyone was given free time. Everyone could use their preferred method to relieve the pressure before the life-or-death battle.

In the conference room, Chen Guo once again set up the projector screen to watch the match. As usual, Wu Chen and Guan Rongfei were the only ones who came.

The players finished their pre-match routines, and the competition was about to begin, but Chen Guo was somewhat absent-minded.

What were the others doing?

Chen Guo really wanted to know. After dinner, everyone scattered, without any instructions about where they were going. Chen Guo was curious but ultimately didn't want to disturb anyone. But to be honest, she was still a little hopeful. She hoped that one of the players would join her. Because she was actually very nervous! And what she wanted was for someone who was also in the match to do something together.

"Has it started yet?" Just then, Ye Xiu's voice suddenly rang out.

"Huh?" Chen Guo turned her head and saw Ye Xiu walking in from the doorway.

"You want to watch?" Chen Guo was surprised.

"Yeah, nothing else to do, just watching," Ye Xiu said, casually finding a seat.

Chen Guo glanced at Ye Xiu and thought to herself, "That's right! This guy, what need does he have for any way to relieve pre-match pressure? For him, all of this is as commonplace as eating and sleeping, right? Just let things go as they go."

"It's about to start," Chen Guo said. Ye Xiu didn't feel any pressure, but Chen Guo was very nervous. However, after Ye Xiu came and watched the match together, Chen Guo suddenly felt a lot more relaxed.

"These guys know to conserve their strength, huh? I want to see what they can accomplish," Ye Xiu muttered at this moment.

"Yeah..." Chen Guo responded. Of course, she knew who Ye Xiu was referring to as "these guys."

The match began.

Tyranny's first player up was Lin Jingyan; Team 301's was Li Yihui.

In a battle between two close-quarters martial artists, the ultimate victor was Li Yihui, with a relatively narrow margin.

Afterward, Tyranny's second player, their rookie Song Qiying, took the stage. After finishing off the weakened Li Yihui, he defeated 301's second player, Gao Jie.

"This kid has potential," Ye Xiu commented on Song Qiying. Although he lost to Tang Rou in the Best Rookie election, being in a team like Tyranny meant that rookies couldn't have as many opportunities as Tang Rou. If it weren't for Tyranny's three veteran players rotating this season, Song Qiying's opportunities might have been even fewer.

If Song Qiying had the same opportunities as Tang Rou, or was used by Tyranny like Lu Hanwen last season, he might have posed a considerable threat to Tang Rou in the Best Rookie selection. With a personality similar to Zhang Xinjie, he was young, but his performance on the field gave people a very reliable feeling.

However, after defeating Gao Jie, Song Qiying was quickly sent off the stage by 301's third player, Qian Wenju. Then Tyranny's Zhang Jiale took the stage, defeated Qian Wenju, and then 301's Yang Cong entered the battle. But he was also defeated by Zhang Jiale's dazzling Hundred Blossoms light and shadow.

"This guy's in good shape today!" Ye Xiu said. Zhang Jiale had taken a lot of health from Qian Wenju, and then defeated Yang Cong's full-health Scene Killer, which was almost a one-versus-two. But then, 301's final champion, Bai Shu, took the stage. At this time, Tyranny still had three players, giving them a clear advantage. Zhang Jiale also played very relaxed. He didn't complete the feat of one-versus-three, but he responsibly left Bai Shu to the next player. Tyranny's fourth player was none other than their captain, Han Wenqing, and in the end, Bai Shu's Tide fell under Desert孤烟's iron fist.

"They all look very energetic!" Seeing that Tyranny was already leading 5 to 3 in the individual arena round, Ye Xiu exclaimed.

After that, in the team competition, Team Tyranny finally revealed a rhythm different from their regular season. In the regular season, even when they stopped rotating players at the end, and the veteran players all appeared together like they were now, it was entirely to maintain their condition for the playoffs. They were worried that constant rotation would prevent the three of them from appearing together, making their coordination rusty.

The facts proved that such worries were a bit too cautious when it came to these veterans. These experienced guys were like they had learned to ride a bicycle. No matter how long they hadn't ridden, once they got on, they could quickly get the hang of it again.

The veterans of Tyranny, about three-quarters of their matches, had appeared together, but after starting to adjust their state, they quickly found their tacit understanding, without having to spend time running practice drills.

They continued to suppress their excitement, conserving their energy, waiting to unleash it fully in the playoffs.

And now, it was time.

Having endured an entire season, having heard too many rumors like "these guys are completely finished," Tyranny, upon entering the playoffs, finally stopped holding back and gave a strong rebuttal to such voices. Of course, that wasn't the reason they took action. This was the rhythm that Tyranny had planned from the beginning of the season.

6 to 2.

The final score of the team competition was overwhelming. 301's tactics, which they had only practiced for half a season, lost their initial freshness and failed to gain any advantage against this team with the most experience in the entire league.

The total score was 11 to 5. This difference in score was a bit too large, and this was still 301's home field...

Hundred Blossoms and 301 had gone through great pains, and they had barely made it into the playoffs, but they had already lost their home field in the first round.

Some were happy, some were crying. That was just how the competition was.

"It looks like Tyranny is going to win," Ye Xiu said. 11 to 5, this score advantage was very large. Not many people would be optimistic about 301 staging a comeback at Tyranny's home field.

"Alright, go back and rest!" Ye Xiu announced, getting up. His tone was as if he was about to go to war. Probably in his mind, tonight's rest was an important part of tomorrow's match.

The others walked out of the conference room one after another, but when they reached the outside of the training room, they found that there was light inside. Ye Xiu casually pushed the door open and saw that it was Mo Fan who was still in the training room.

"What are you doing?" Ye Xiu asked.

"Video," Mo Fan finally wouldn't completely ignore other people's words now. If it was a question, he would answer it after all.

"Oh?" Ye Xiu walked forward. At this time, Chen Guo had also come over, and the two of them went forward together to watch, and then they saw...

"It's all Blue Rain's player videos!" Ye Xiu saw. Mo Fan was watching all of Blue Rain's players' performances in the individual arena round. Happy, of course, had these match recording materials, and they had also been organized. The particularly valuable matches were selected and compiled as the final research material on Blue Rain. What Mo Fan was watching was Blue Rain's performance in many one-on-one matches in the regular season.

And tomorrow, Mo Fan was going to play in the arena round. Ye Xiu didn't have the habit of keeping the lineup secret until right before the match. He usually said it the day before the match.

The Blue Rain lineup had already been announced this morning. Mo Fan would be the second player to play in the arena round. It was already the night before the match, and everyone was relaxing and adjusting, but Mo Fan was still stubbornly studying Blue Rain's data.

"Get some rest early!" Chen Guo was very touched, sincerely reminding him.

Mo Fan didn't reply, just nodded, and then continued to watch the video carefully. The others looked at each other. There was no way to chat with Mo Fan, so they left without saying anything more.

Downstairs, the match had ended, and the broadcast at Happy Internet Cafe should have ended as well, but at this time it seemed even more lively than when the match was being played. Ye Xiu and the others looked down from the stairs and saw that their three players, Qiao Yifan, Luo Ji, and An Wenyi, were surrounded enthusiastically.

"What's going on?" Chen Guo ran down to ask the internet cafe manager.

It turned out that these three young people had secretly sneaked into the crowd of players to appreciate and discuss this match together. As a result, they were accidentally discovered and recognized when they left. The players who came to Happy Internet Cafe, what would their attitude be toward Team Happy? Need more be said? They promptly surrounded the three young players and sent them their blessings.

"Hey hey!!" Chen Guo directly rushed to the front desk and opened the internet cafe's broadcast system to shout.

"Quickly let our players go back to rest!" Chen Guo shouted.

"Ye Xiu!!" As a result, everyone shouted out even louder than Chen Guo. Ye Xiu didn't take the back door, but came directly up the stairs from the internet cafe. Chen Guo's shout attracted attention, immediately letting everyone discover an even more exciting presence.

"Calm down!" Ye Xiu decisively rushed to the front desk and snatched the microphone from Chen Guo's hand.

"Everyone, calm down! If you want to cheer us on, you're welcome to come to the venue tomorrow!" Ye Xiu shouted.

"Cheer! Cheer!" Everyone shouted excitedly. In fact, everyone's impulse was very restrained, because everyone knew that tomorrow was Happy's match, and they wouldn't dare to disturb them too much at this time. If there were any difficult guys, the players would first disagree and then eliminate them for the people. So Ye Xiu simply shouted a few times, and everyone particularly understood and suppressed their enthusiasm. The three young people escaped and thanked everyone for their support before leaving with Ye Xiu.

On the way back to their residence, the group saw two familiar figures squatting on the curb. One was smoking a cigarette, and the other was playing with something that looked like a bicycle chain.

The group quietly approached and heard Wei Chen and Baozi recounting his past.