This hadn't even started, and the taunting had already begun. This blow to Zhang Jiale was especially harsh, leaving even the staff in the venue unable to look directly at him.

However, these few from Team Tyranny had been dealing with Ye Xiu for far too long and understood him deeply. Moreover, Zhang Jiale provided so much fodder for jokes that it would have been abnormal if Ye Xiu hadn't stabbed him a couple of times. Therefore, although Zhang Jiale expressed his indignation, overall, the emotions of the Tyranny members didn't fluctuate much. Everyone was so familiar that even maliciousness was taken as toxic banter between close friends. For example, it was obvious that some of the Tyranny members almost laughed when Ye Xiu stabbed him, such as Lin Jingyan.

"Cough!" Lin Jingyan coughed hastily when he saw Zhang Jiale turn his head to look, raising his hand to push up his glasses to hide his expression.

"When did you get nearsighted?" He was right next to Fang Rui. Although Fang Rui hadn't been around as long as those guys, he had been partners with Lin Jingyan back in the day, so the familiarity was naturally different again.

"Plano," Lin Jingyan said after pushing up his glasses again.

"Playing the gentleman?" Fang Rui said.

"Not bad, right?" Lin Jingyan seemed quite satisfied with his new accessory. But then he heard Fang Rui say from behind, "You're a rogue, how can a rogue wear glasses and act like a gentleman?"

Only Baozi would have such strict standards for rogues.

"My character's class is Rogue, thank you," Lin Jingyan said, depressed, turning his head to speak to Baozi, who was diagonally behind him.

"You don't like rogues? Then why did you choose him?" Baozi said.

"I..." Lin Jingyan couldn't explain at all. This Baozi was insisting on equating the in-game Rogue class with thugs in real life. Okay, the Rogue class did heavily reference the style of street thugs, but those were two different things, right? Did using that class necessarily mean you had to have the style of a street thug?

Lin Jingyan looked at Baozi through his plano glasses and couldn't bring himself to say anything more. This guy was truly embodying the spirit! That hairstyle, that aura, that outfit, if you threw him on the street, people would definitely think he was a little hoodlum! And... a pretty handsome little hoodlum at that.

"Hehe..." Besides a dry laugh, Lin Jingyan didn't know what to say. Happy's trash talk really did have an effect, not from the veteran Ye Xiu, but from the rookie Baozi.

Fortunately, they finally began to enter the arena.

Ye Xiu, Han Wenqing...

When the two team captains shook hands in the center of the arena on behalf of their teams, enthusiastic applause erupted throughout the stadium.

Ten years!

Both had stood at the pinnacle of Glory, both had experienced ups and downs, and now, ten years later, they were still standing on this stage, still standing in this arena, still facing each other with hostility.

Whether it was love or hate, no one could erase the respect they had for these two. As they shook hands for who knew how many times, and were about to begin their duel, whether they were fans of Happy, fans of Tyranny, or former fans of Excellent Era looking for excitement, they all offered their applause at this moment.

But soon, after the applause...

"Kill him!!"

Brutal curses like that immediately echoed throughout the Xiaoshan Stadium. Respect had already been shown, and now it was time for the fans to take sides.

The two had faced off for ten years, and the fans behind them had also faced off for ten years. Even if you removed the team affiliations, just those two names were enough to support a glorious farce.

The atmosphere of the scene was instantly ignited, and the two teams' subsequent handshakes of greeting took place amidst this uproar. Then, the players went off the stage and returned to their player seats, while Ye Xiu remained alone on the stage.

"Oh, oh, oh, oh!!" Happy's home stadium meant that Happy fans were plentiful. Seeing this action, they immediately cheered. They were very clear on what this meant. This meant that Ye Xiu would still be the vanguard, from the second round of the regular season to the second round of the playoffs, always the first to fight, and he hadn't lost a one-on-one match yet.

Thirty-seven?

Loyal fans no longer recognized this winning streak.

It should be thirty-nine!

Now that there were no individual matches in the playoffs, and no one could be expected to take on five opponents in a row in the team competition, the two victories against the opponent's first player had been included. Many people were emphasizing that Ye Xiu's winning streak was not thirty-seven, but should be thirty-nine.

And now, for the fortieth time, Ye Xiu was the first to appear. He simply didn't bother with any suspense. After appearing before the match, he stayed on the field and strolled around as if he were taking a leisurely walk.

In the past, this would have been an incredibly precious scene. Ye Xiu never would have appeared like this before, always hiding himself away. But now, it had been a whole season, and that sense of mystery had long been destroyed. Now, this leisurely stroll on the field, in everyone's eyes, must be a provocation toward Tyranny, right?

I'm right here, who's coming?

"Who's coming?" The Happy fans were very cooperative and immediately started shouting along.

"Han Wenqing, dare to come?" Someone shouted like that. Those who weren't Happy fans who had transitioned from Excellent Era theoretically didn't have any personal resentment towards Han Wenqing. But at least they knew about the countless grudges between Han Wenqing and Ye Xiu, so at this time, of course, they would unreservedly help their captain provoke him.

Everyone was very happy with this topic, so soon the whole venue began to help Ye Xiu call out to Han Wenqing.

Tyranny's fans couldn't retaliate.

Because the lineup for the match was determined beforehand, and even if Han Wenqing wasn't really sent out, it wouldn't be possible to change the lineup now because of the cheers of the crowd.

Only... Ye Xiu would be Happy's first player, right? That should be very transparent, right? Tyranny, would they avoid this confrontation?

No!

Of course not.

That was Tyranny, that was their captain Han Wenqing. Knowing that Ye Xiu was standing in front of him, would he retreat?

What a joke.

Thinking of this, Tyranny's fans suddenly became confident, so they also started shouting, acting as if Han Wenqing would definitely come on stage.

Until the electronic big screen flashed the first player to appear from Tyranny, until the first player to go on stage stood up from Tyranny's player seats.

The scene was silent for a moment, and then Happy's fans erupted in crazy ridicule, while Tyranny's fans? They were really silent.

Tyranny's first player: Qin Muyun. Character: Sharpshooter Zero Degrees Celsius.

Han Wenqing had actually retreated? Knowing that Happy's first player would be Ye Xiu, he actually didn't stand up to face Ye Xiu, but instead gave this opportunity to Qin Muyun, the most transparent main player on Tyranny's team?

The audience was astonished, and the commentators Pan Lin and Li Yibo were also astonished.

This was really too unexpected for them. Pan Lin and Li Yibo had just been saying that Ye Xiu's first appearance for Happy was unchanging, so in this round of engagement, probably in every match, Ye Xiu would have to duel with Han Wenqing several times.

"Three out of five matches, a ten-year duel, this might become an answer," Pan Lin added a footnote to this match, but he didn't expect that Han Wenqing wouldn't be fighting.

"This..." At first, both of them thought that Han Wenqing might be injured, that he wouldn't be fighting in any of the matches today. But then they thought about it again. He had been playing well in the last round, so how could he have sustained an injury in these few days that would prevent him from playing? Was Tyranny really that unlucky?

Looking at each other, the two of them had no idea how to explain this. The TV broadcast didn't pay attention to Qin Muyun, who was going on stage, and desperately grabbed a close-up of Han Wenqing.

And this Tyranny captain was just sitting in his seat, his face stern, watching their player walk onto the stage, and it was impossible to see any unusual emotions.

The match hadn't even started yet, but just the arrangement of the players gave everyone a super big surprise. This was really too inconsistent with everyone's perception. And this perception had been formed over ten years.

The people who were surprised also included Ye Xiu on the field.

Of course, the TV broadcast didn't miss him either, desperately grabbing close-ups of him, capturing his reaction when it wasn't Han Wenqing who came out for Tyranny.

Ye Xiu was indeed a little surprised, a little astonished. He glanced at Han Wenqing over at Tyranny's player seats, but then casually smiled slightly.

Was he mocking them?

Those who saw this scene immediately began to analyze Ye Xiu's smile.

It wasn't mockery.

This smile seemed more like understanding, more like relief.

When it appeared in the same shot as Han Wenqing's expression, this feeling was even stronger.

After shaking hands with Qin Muyun, Ye Xiu had already turned back to the competition seat to prepare for the match. Everyone was still discussing the meaning of Han Wenqing not appearing, and poor Qin Muyun was completely ignored.

"Han Wenqing didn't come out first to face Ye Xiu, are you watching?"

Huang Shaotian had come to the venue to watch the match. With his connections, it was naturally not difficult to get a VIP box ticket with the best seats. He couldn't sit in the crowd. He was a top Glory superstar after all. After seeing Tyranny's lineup, Huang Shaotian sent a text message.

"Watching," the text message replied, Yu Wenzhou.

"What do you think he's trying to do?" Huang Shaotian replied immediately.

"Concession," Yu Wenzhou replied.

Everyone was a player of a high caliber, and they had a good understanding of each other, so they didn't need to say too much.

Concession.

What Han Wenqing had never understood was concession. But now, he had made this choice. Was this surrender, was this compromise?

No, absolutely not.

If Han Wenqing were to yield, to compromise, then countless people's worldviews would collapse.

Han Wenqing was changing. In the twilight of his career, for that goal, he was adjusting himself. This could actually be seen a lot in the regular season this season.

Concession wasn't compromise, and it wasn't surrender.

Concession was a kind of wisdom, a kind of wisdom that Han Wenqing had understood before, but hadn't been willing to choose. But this time, he had done it. And now, it was just an arrangement of players. In the match, what kind of performance would Han Wenqing bring by choosing concession?