Chapter 187 A Cold Shower

Xing Xin had just finished their match, but they didn't expect that the other match in their group would finish even faster.

In this round, Xuan Qi was on bye, and the other match was Team Purge against Team Cloud Howl. Team Purge was quite strong. After an 8 to 2 victory over Team Ten Steps Last Round, they went even further in this round, actually completely crushing Team Cloud Howl with a clean 10 to 0 sweep.

Thus, after two rounds, Team Purge surprisingly sat at the top of Group B with 18 points. Xing Xin and Xuan Qi both had 9 points, tied for second, but both had played one less match than Team Purge. As for Team Ten Steps and Team Cloud Howl, they were miserable. After two matches, one had 3 points and the other had 1 point, their futures looking bleak.

The other groups ended their matches at the same time. In Group A, Team Zhuxian, known as the King of the Resurrection Matches, seemed weaker each year. After two rounds, although they snatched 14 points to rank first in the group, they didn't show the dominance that a pro team should have. The situation in Group A was still unclear.

As for the matches in the other half of the bracket, Group C received the least attention because it didn't have any pro teams, but in fact, this group's matches were the most interesting. Because the teams were evenly matched, they fought back and forth intensely. The rankings were intertwined, even more chaotic than Group A.

As for Group D... Jia Shi's strength couldn't be measured by points alone. Taking all ten points was easy for them. Their strength was better reflected in how quickly they ended their matches. They basically finished their matches in under twenty minutes, and they had done so for two consecutive rounds.

So, in the Monday edition of the *Electronic Sports Weekly*, the headline "The Most Uncontroversial Challenger League in History" reported Jia Shi's overwhelming advantage in the Challenger League. As for the qualification situation of the other groups, the two reporters briefly mentioned the wins and losses in their articles, then sighed, "Do we need to care about these?" These two latched onto Jia Shi's leg and spared no effort to rub against them, trying their best to curry favor in their reports.

What about Cao Guangcheng? With his years of connections and status as Jia Shi's on-site reporter, he started a special column for this Challenger League edition to specifically comment on Team Jia Shi.

Cao Guangcheng's commentary was much more composed than those two. He didn't bother to cheer as loudly as they did. With Jia Shi's identity and strength, wasn't such a performance in the Challenger League to be expected? If you two shouted so loudly, people who didn't know better would think this was something new! Were you trying to satirize or slap faces or something?

Cao Guangcheng's focus wasn't on Jia Shi's wins and losses in the Challenger League. Years of covering the Glory League had given Cao Guangcheng considerable Glory knowledge. In his column, he mostly interpreted the matches to let readers understand what kind of team Jia Shi was. Even when making comparisons, he would never use teams from the Challenger League, but would directly refer to strong teams in the pro league.

This season, Jia Shi was actually one of the teams that made big moves in the summer, but unfortunately, because they were mired in the Challenger League, there had been no reports on their tactics. Now that they had reached the offline matches of the Challenger League, there was finally specialized coverage. The new Jia Shi team's tactical system was finally being presented to the public.

Cao Guangcheng's column was therefore well-received for two consecutive issues. However, Cao Guangcheng himself didn't feel any pride about this. He was more concerned about the two consecutive reports on the incident of Ye Qiu changing his name to Ye Xiu.

Cao Guangcheng had always thought that he was the closest person to Jia Shi and Ye Qiu in the reporter circle, but the reporting on this incident, in both the first and second waves, didn't involve him.

In the first wave of reports, Cao Guangcheng could completely see that Jia Shi was using this incident to put pressure on Xing Xin through the media. Cao Guangcheng was used to this kind of thing, but what frustrated him was that the two idiots got this material. Through what channel did these two guys notice this? Not many people could recognize Ye Qiu. If Jia Shi had discovered it first, then why wasn't he the reporter they contacted?

Compared to that first wave, the second wave, which came from Xing Xin's response to the incident, frustrated Cao Guangcheng even more.

Ye Xiu, that is, Ye Qiu, actually accepted an interview himself? Even if you are the person involved! But in previous seasons, God Ye Qiu had been the center of many topics, but when had he ever cooperated with the media in this way? Why did he make an exception this time? And he gave the advantage to that kid Chang Xian?

Cao Guangcheng was actually a decent senior. He had been giving Chang Xian opportunities in an orderly manner. But on that day, Chang Xian locked him out and monopolized all the resources in the room. Afterward, when Cao Guangcheng asked about it, he simply brushed it off with "nothing." And then, this guy actually got an interview with Ye Qiu...

"This kid..." Looking at Chang Xian's name on this issue of *Electronic Sports Weekly*, Cao Guangcheng's teeth itched. In this issue of the weekly, Chang Xian had also commented on Xing Xin's debut match. Chang Xian didn't have Cao Guangcheng's rich Glory knowledge and foundation, but Xing Xin had topics! An eight-piece Silver Equip warlock character, a combat mage player so beautiful she was practically glowing, Qiao Yifan who had joined Xing Xin from the champion team, Tiny Herb. And then there were the two who didn't participate in this round: one was Deception, the guy who made countless people in the Heavenly Domain grit their teeth, and who many teams had tried to recruit, but had repeatedly refused. He had actually joined Xing Xin? As for the other one, he was even more amazing. Sun Zheping! A former God who even Jia Shi's three All-Stars would have to call "senior." This person had also suddenly appeared on Team Xing Xin. Looking through the previous Challenger League data, it could be confirmed that Xing Xin didn't have this member before. But once they reached the offline matches, they couldn't hide him. A former God suddenly appeared. How many more hidden cards did Xing Xin have?

This kind of topicality made Cao Guangcheng admit that during the Challenger League, Xing Xin was probably more eye-catching than Jia Shi. Jia Shi's popularity mainly came from the attention and support of their original fans, but Xing Xin was grabbing the attention of more neutral players with their fresh face.

The third round of the offline group stage began the next day. In Group B this round, Xuan Qi faced Ten Steps Last Round, Xing Xin faced Team Purge, and Team Cloud Howl was on bye this round.

Team Purge had taken 18 points in their matches against the two non-pro teams, Ten Steps Last Round and Cloud Howl, showing a pro-level strength. But in reality, this team wasn't as strong as a pro team. They were able to play so well in two rounds entirely because of their mentality.

Group B, with Xuan Qi and Xing Xin, was recognized as the group of death. With these two teams locking down spots, the other teams seemed destined to become cannon fodder, with no chance at all. When the draw ended that day, the players of the three teams that were placed in Group B felt like they had lost their parents.

But after that, Team Purge actively adjusted their mentality. Even in the group of death, facing opponents they couldn't directly shake, they didn't give up. In the first two rounds, they faced the other two cannon fodder teams in the group. Team Purge showed a more active approach. In comparison, Ten Steps Last Round used their usual scoring strategy in the match against Team Purge, which seemed unimaginative. If they had any ambition, these three teams had to crush the other two cannon fodder teams as much as possible, and then adopt a scoring strategy when facing Xuan Qi and Xing Xin, sitting back and watching the two tigers fight, to have any chance of winning.

Like Ten Steps Last Round, who couldn't see the situation and only focused on defense, they would only end up as cannon fodder.

The proactive Team Purge had already established a pretty good situation after two rounds. Next, they would try to steal points from the two strong teams, and then see how those two teams faced each other.

Team Purge, with a great opportunity, was in excellent condition. In the match against Xing Xin, they produced a big upset, actually defeating Xing Xin with a score of 7 to 3.

The whole match was full of twists and turns. Of the eight matches that day, this was the last one to end. But none of the teams that finished their matches early left. Everyone was attracted by this intense battle...

The final team competition lasted a full hour and a half. When the result came out, Team Purge's six players rushed off the competition stage like madmen and tightly hugged their seventh player on the sidelines. Like Ten Steps Last Round, Team Purge also had seven people, but their seventh person wasn't just filling a spot. He also had considerable strength. Their final victory made the seven of them laugh together. They did it. They took seven points from Team Xing Xin. Their chances of qualifying were excellent.

The other match in Group B had already ended. Team Xuan Qi won 10 to 0 against Team Seven Steps One Kill, giving them no chance. After three rounds, Team Purge in Group B had 25 points in three matches. They were the leading sheep of the group of death for two consecutive rounds, and their morale was extremely high. Team Xuan Qi had 19 points in two rounds, which was in line with expectations for a pro team. On the other hand, Team Xing Xin, who was originally thought to be a strong team that would end the suspense, only had 12 points in two matches.

This result actually caused a cheer in the audience. Team Xing Xin had never had good relations with anyone, especially in a place where Jia Shi fans gathered. They had been hoping for Xing Xin to capsize for a long time, but from the beginning when they accepted online challenges, it was always the fans who were slapped in the face. But now, in the offline matches, in such an important competition venue, Xing Xin had capsized in the gutter. This was even more exciting for them than Jia Shi taking 10 points.

The scene was filled with jeers and laughter. The six members of Xing Xin, who had just finished the team competition, were walking off the stage with their heads down. Chen Guo looked at Ye Xiu next to her, her mood really complicated.

In the team competition, Ye Xiu didn't arrange for himself to play, which made Chen Guo feel unusually uneasy. As expected, her premonition came true. Xing Xin finally lost the team competition and dropped a lot of points. What was Ye Xiu feeling now? Was he also regretting that he didn't play? Would he blame himself?

Seeing everyone come down, Chen Guo took the initiative to greet them and applauded, "Everyone played very well."

"Can you not talk nonsense..." Ye Xiu's voice sounded from behind, "If we played well, we wouldn't have lost."

"You..." Chen Guo turned her head, really angry. At this time, why was this guy still talking so directly?

Then she saw Ye Xiu ignoring the no-smoking rule in public places, lighting a cigarette, and handing it to Wei Chen who was walking down: "Are you okay?"

"Fucking tired..." Wei Chen took the cigarette and put it in his mouth, directly slumping into a seat on the side.