Chapter 1 The Groupings

The draw would determine the groupings of the next twenty teams, making it clear which opponents they would face. To understand its importance, just look at the Wuji and Xihuo teams.

Both had professional backgrounds, so under normal circumstances, advancing to the offline tournament wouldn't have been much of a challenge. However, both teams failed to draw good lots. Wuji ran into Excellent Era, and Xihuo ran into Team Excellent Era. They were eliminated early from the Challenger League. Wuji had already completely disbanded, and there was no news of Xihuo. How many people would pay attention to the pitiful eliminated teams in the Challenger League?

Such an important final draw naturally had to be conducted offline to demonstrate fairness and transparency. Team Happy received email and phone notifications, confirming that they would send people to the Alliance headquarters on January 18th to participate in the draw ceremony.

January 18th was a Saturday, and scheduling it on the weekend was a small consideration from the Alliance. After all, many players on the amateur teams had jobs or studies, and only had free time on the weekends.

However, this consideration ended there. The offline tournament that would gather the teams together would last a month. The players' work or studies would definitely be affected. How they would balance everything would depend on the players themselves.

"How about I go?" Chen Guo said to everyone after receiving the notification from the Alliance.

To be honest, Chen Guo was a little timid. Logically speaking, the captain or someone similar should attend such an event. However, Ye Xiu and Wei Chen had been working day and night to organize their accumulated knowledge of materials for so many years, and Chen Guo really couldn't bear to make them run this errand. The Alliance headquarters wasn't in H City, so it would be another long trip. Seeing the two of them wishing they could split each minute in half, Chen Guo decided to take on this important task herself.

"Sure, it doesn't matter who goes," Ye Xiu said, not caring.

"Draw a good lot," Wei Chen said, wanting to put some pressure on Chen Guo.

"I'll go with you, right?" Tang Rou said.

"No need, you stay here and train with everyone in peace!" Chen Guo said with a smile.

"That's right," Ye Xiu nodded, "We should also seriously adjust our condition."

In the end, Chen Guo represented Team Happy at the draw ceremony.

January 15th, Glory Alliance headquarters. The draw ceremony began at 2 PM. Chen Guo arrived on time, signed in, and sat down at random. She scanned the scene and saw everyone gathered in one place. Under the host's reminder, the group gradually dispersed. Chen Guo took another look and saw that the people sitting there were the captain and vice-captain of Team Excellent Era, Sun Xiang and Xiao Shiqin. Were they all huddled together asking for autographs?

After watching the crowd disperse, the two of them also noticed Chen Guo over here.

They hadn't met many times, but they recognized each other. Xiao Shiqin nodded with a smile as a greeting, and Chen Guo also nodded in response. This scene was seen by many people, and they immediately began to speculate about the relationship between this beauty and Xiao Shiqin. After another reminder from the host, the venue finally returned to complete silence.

As the host announced the official start of the draw ceremony, the first to step onto the stage was the Glory Alliance's biggest boss, Chairman Feng Xianjun.

Although the Challenger League and the professional league were not on the same level at all, it was still an official event organized by the Alliance. Even if the outside world's attention was limited, the Alliance itself couldn't treat it as dispensable. The big boss, Feng Xianjun, definitely had to be present on this occasion to say a few words, even if they were just polite words of thanks, blessings, and hopes.

Then, the draw officially began. First, the computer randomly sorted the order in which the teams would draw lots. Then, team after team began to step onto the stage to draw.

Team Happy was randomly assigned to be the fourth team to go on stage. It was their turn quickly. Chen Guo stood up and went on stage, and there was some discussion in the audience. Even if the outside world's attention was limited, the teams in the Challenger League were quite familiar with the various gossip topics in the Challenger League. Team Happy had caused countless topics with their initial challenge to Team Excellent Era, and then they had defeated Team Wuji in the Challenger League, making them the center of attention for a time. In comparison, Team Excellent Era's defeat of Xihuo, which was also a professional team, wouldn't have such topicality, because that was simply to be expected!

Team Happy was rumored to have Great God Ye Qiu sitting in town. The people from the various teams were hoping to see him at the draw ceremony, but when they saw her, it turned out to be such a beauty.

Even if Ye Qiu was mysterious, it was certain that he was a man. The people at the scene looked and at least didn't come up with the gorgeous speculation that Ye Qiu was a beauty.

"Team Happy, Group B."

After Chen Guo drew the lot, she first looked at it herself, then handed it to the host. The host took it and announced it, and the words "Team Happy" were flipped out on the electronic screen in the Group B team sign.

At this time, four teams had already drawn lots. Groups A and B had each drawn one team, Group C had drawn two teams, and Group D had not yet drawn a team.

Chen Guo returned to her seat and took a deep breath.

The main concern of the various teams was the professional teams. They all hoped not to be assigned to the same group as a professional team. Chen Guo paid attention to the same thing, so she had specifically remembered the order of the Excellent Era, Xuanqi, and Zhuxian teams: 12, 8, and 15, respectively.

After Chen Guo, the teams in the 5th, 6th, and 7th order went up to draw lots. Among them, the team in the 7th order, called Seven Steps One Kill, drew Group B along with Happy. Then Chen Guo noticed that the player from Seven Steps One Kill looked at her with a sad face as he came down. She then realized that she was paying attention to the three professional teams, but in the eyes of the other teams, Team Happy was also an important team that they wanted to avoid.

This feeling... is not bad!

Chen Guo enjoyed this feeling quite a bit, but then the Xuanqi team in the 8th order stepped onto the stage to draw lots, and the host quickly announced the results: Group B.

Chen Guo was slightly taken aback. Looking at the Ten Steps One Kill player again, it was no longer sadness, but he was about to cry.

Excellent Era, Xuanqi, Zhuxian, and Happy were obviously regarded by the various teams as relatively difficult to defeat, which meant that they all defaulted that these four teams could lock in a spot to advance.

Happy drawing Group B locked up one spot in Group B. It was foreseeable that the competition for the remaining spot would be very fierce, so the player from Ten Steps One Kill had already started to feel melancholy in advance. As a result, Xuanqi also drew Group B, which meant that the remaining spot was now locked up again. From that moment on, the situation in Group B was settled, and the Ten Steps One Kill player naturally wanted to cry without tears.

The teams that had already drawn lots and had not drawn into Group B all cried out in luck. The teams that had not yet drawn lots were silently praying in their hearts as they looked at the Group B teams. At this time, everyone had one wish: Excellent Era and Zhuxian should just draw into Group B.

As a result, the team in the 10th order, Caopanshou, drew Group B. The expression on the player's face as he stepped down was like that of the twin brother of the Ten Steps One Kill player.

Soon, in the 12th order, it was Team Excellent Era. The captain, Sun Xiang, went on stage, drew the lot, and handed it directly to the host without even looking at it. Before the announcement, he had already stepped down, demonstrating Excellent Era's transcendence: What lot, it doesn't matter to us at all.

"Team Excellent Era, Group D," the host announced.

The players at the scene were all expressionless. Although everyone had enthusiastically surrounded Excellent Era to admire the two great gods before, to be honest, in the current competitive state, no one liked the existence of Excellent Era. Seeing Sun Xiang's pride, everyone felt even more uncomfortable. Although everyone admitted that they were indeed much weaker than Excellent Era, everyone still had expectations for victory in their hearts. Everyone likes miracles.

After Excellent Era, the three strong teams had already determined their groups, leaving only Zhuxian. At this time, the most nervous were the teams in Group D, who were praying that Team Zhuxian would not fall into Group D.

This time, their prayers seemed to have worked.

"Team Zhuxian, Group A."

As the host announced, the scene exploded like a pot. Everyone's tense nerves were released at this moment. The teams that entered Group C were undoubtedly the luckiest, followed by Group A. Group D had Excellent Era, which locked up one spot even more firmly, but at least there was still one spot for everyone to think about. What about Group B... The teams that had drawn into Group B didn't want to speak anymore.

The scene was lively, as if the draw had already completely ended, making the player in the 16th order who was on the stage feel embarrassed. Of course, the host also knew why this was the case. Helpless, he did not deliberately maintain order. The 16th to 20th order quickly ended like a passing glance. Among these teams, another team was drawn into Group B, but this time no one paid attention. They could only hide to the side and silently shed tears.

The grouping of the 20 teams in the offline tournament was now completely completed. The schedule was quickly automatically generated by the computer system, printed out, and distributed to the players who came to the scene.

Then, the players from the various teams received the schedule, took souvenirs, and took a group photo. Of course, the chairman of the League wanted to join in the fun. After Feng Xianjun took a photo with everyone, he chatted with the two great gods of Excellent Era for a few more words. Then he turned around and saw Chen Guo over here.

"Team Happy," Feng Xianjun said with a smile, treating this as Chen Guo's name. "Why didn't Ye Qiu come?"

Everyone's ears immediately perked up.

Was Ye Qiu on Team Happy? This matter had been passed around, with some saying yes today and some saying that it wasn't Ye Qiu tomorrow. There had never been a 100% accurate answer. Was the chairman revealing something?

"Uh..." This question stumped Chen Guo. She didn't know how to answer it properly. In fact, she had always had a doubt: Ye Xiu had previously used his younger brother Ye Qiu's identity to play the game. Now he was switching back to his own identity, Ye Xiu. Would the Alliance recognize this back-and-forth?

Chen Guo stumbled for a moment, but unexpectedly someone came out to help her out of the predicament, and even more unexpectedly, it was Sun Xiang.

"Such an important matter, yet the captain didn't come. Does your Happy team look down on the Challenger League?" Sun Xiang said.

Sun Xiang felt that he had made a sharp remark, and the others were indeed impressed by him: This guy clearly also looks down on the Challenger League, yet he dares to use this to make a point. Injuring the enemy by a thousand, you lose eight hundred yourself. As expected of a great god, he has the courage!

"The captain of Happy didn't come, but the boss came," Chen Guo said with a smile. Having been influenced by old foxes like Ye Xiu and Wei Chen for a long time, Chen Guo felt that Sun Xiang's attack power was too weak.