Chapter 118 Silence

The entire arena fell silent.

Compared to the players on the Zhuxian team, they had witnessed firsthand how Zhuxian's healer was dragged out from their formation and beaten to death.

Using Cloud Grasp to catch a healer was not a novel tactic in team battles. Even in online game arenas, players would happily use it in team fights, provided their team had a Qi Master.

Yes, a Qi Master was an absolute prerequisite. Team Excellent Era didn't have one, so Team Zhuxian didn't bother guarding against this common tactic. Yet, a Cloud Grasp appeared in this match. Zhuxian's healer was dragged over and had no chance to resist. 君莫笑 (Jun Mo Xiao) and 寒烟柔 (Han Yanrou) teamed up to give him a beating, with Happy's healer adding fuel to the fire. One moment it was a Holy Light of Punishment, the next a Sacred Fire. Zhuxian's healer couldn't resist at all, like dough being kneaded at will. Even when his corpse was sent flying by an attack, it sailed through the area covered by One Inch Ash's ghost array and landed in front of the four remaining Zhuxian players, accompanied by Ye Xiu's taunt in the chat.

A healer's death was the worst thing that could happen in a team competition, unless they had prepared an all-out offensive strategy without one.

Team Zhuxian was not in that position; they considered the healer the core of their team.

The healer was dead, the core was dead. As Ye Xiu had just asked, was there any need to continue?

The result of the match quickly appeared. Happy easily secured victory. Looking back at the individual competition, players were surprised to find that the match lacked the intense competition they had expected. Happy's victory could be described as rather easy!

However, the players on Team Zhuxian didn't think that way at all. The moment the end of the match was announced, the healer player, Lu Shilin, stormed out of his booth like a madman. He hadn't even had time to let the audience recognize his character's name or use any of his healer skills. It was all because of that damned Cloud Grasp.

Yes, such a crude and simple technique, one that even ordinary players would use, had decided the final outcome in such an important match. There weren't even any profound or complex tactics involved. Sun Zheping and Tang Rou simply interfered with their vision, giving Ye Xiu a suitable opportunity to attack.

All of this was possible thanks to one condition: Team Zhuxian didn't know that 君莫笑 (Jun Mo Xiao) could use Cloud Grasp. If they had known, they would have protected the healer differently and paid special attention to 君莫笑 (Jun Mo Xiao), as they would to a Qi Master. He wouldn't have been able to casually stand behind them, raise his hand, and drag their healer away to be killed.

Lu Shilin was unconvinced, a hundred times unconvinced, a thousand times unconvinced, ten thousand times unconvinced. The outcome had nothing to do with tactics or skill, but rather a detail that Team Zhuxian didn't know...

Happy's victory was dishonorable. They should be ashamed!

Wei Chen, the first one out of Happy's booth, stretched lazily. "Why was it so fast? I just fell asleep!"

"You... you..." Looking at Happy's players coming out, Lu Shilin pointed at them, trembling with anger, unable to say anything.

What could he say? Should Happy have told them beforehand that they would use Cloud Grasp, warning Team Zhuxian to be on guard? Lu Shilin knew that was even more impossible. So, despite his dissatisfaction, he couldn't find any reasonable argument.

After stammering "you" for a while, just as Happy's team was about to leave the stage, he blurted out, "What kind of class is a Scattered person anyway? Are they even allowed to participate in the competition???"

This was clearly becoming an argument for the sake of arguing. The professional league had never had any restrictions or requirements for characters. Using a Scattered person in a match was simply unprecedented, not forbidden.

Happy's players found Lu Shilin's words completely unthreatening. They chatted and laughed, ignoring him completely as they left the stage to celebrate their victory with their non-participating teammates.

Lu Shilin wanted to argue further, but someone grabbed him from behind. He turned to see their Zhuxian team captain, Lin Yi.

"What are you doing?" Lu Shilin angrily pushed away Lin Yi's hand, clearly showing that he didn't respect the captain.

"Losing is losing. Have some class!" Lin Yi said.

"Class? You have class, alright! How can you accept losing the match so disgracefully?" Lu Shilin shouted.

"That's how matches are. At least we won't make the same mistake next time," said Lin Yi.

"Next time? When will that be, next year?" Lu Shilin sneered. "You'll be stuck in the Challenger League for three years because you can tolerate such disgraceful defeats, but I never will!"

"I don't think we lost disgracefully. We just lost to things we didn't expect. Ultimately, our preparations weren't good enough. That goes for the team competition and the individual competition," Lin Yi said.

Lu Shilin laughed again. "I see, you're trying to find an excuse for your trash performance in the individual competition? So, you're actually happy that you lost the team competition? This proves that you aren't that useless, right?"

"Calm down," Lin Yi said helplessly, though he understood Lu Shilin's feelings to some extent. Losing in the Challenger League was a significant blow, because it meant wasting a whole year. It was more painful than losing the championship. Losing the championship didn't mean the end, but losing in the Challenger League very likely meant the end. Wasn't Team Wuji dissolved this season because of their loss in the Challenger League?

Team Zhuxian couldn't break out of the Challenger League year after year, which made their players live in constant fear. They were afraid of waking up one morning and receiving a notification that the team had been disbanded and everyone should go home.

This was the life of the lowest-level players in the pro scene, just like the lowest-level people in life. They couldn't talk about ideals or goals. Just surviving was overwhelming enough.

Zhuxian had struggled on like this for years. No one understood this kind of anxiety-ridden life at the bottom more than the players on Zhuxian. Xiao Jie's sudden appearance had been sincerely welcomed because it meant they wouldn't have to worry about the team's existence for the time being.

But they soon realized that this new boss wasn't as simple as they thought. He was eager to return Team Zhuxian to the alliance, to the place where pro players truly survived.

Honestly, who wouldn't want that? Team Zhuxian had persisted year after year for that very goal. But to achieve that goal, they had to be realistic. Team Zhuxian had been stuck in the Challenger League for three years, and their strength had declined considerably.

Admittedly, Xiao Jie had brought in a decent player and hired Zhang Jian, Zhuxian's former captain, as an assistant. He had made full use of Team Zhuxian's years of accumulated resources, supplemented by his funds, and had equipped Team Zhuxian with new and improved equipment. The entire team had been revitalized in an instant.

But even so, was it too early to expect a return to the alliance this season?

No one looked forward to that stage more than Lin Yi and the other players. But the rejuvenated team, characters, and equipment needed to be adapted to. The newly joined healer player had become the core, and this change in core player required the entire team's tactics to be adjusted. Besides that, this season's Challenger League had an unprecedented mountain: Team Excellent Era.

Team Zhuxian's situation this season could only be described as facing both internal and external troubles. But what about the new boss? What about the new core player? They both thought it was a challenge, but also an opportunity. If they could defeat Excellent Era and return to the pro league, they could make a name for Zhuxian in one fell swoop, returning to the alliance with a high profile. And then, and then those two were already talking about the championship.

The players on Team Zhuxian really couldn't adapt to this kind of change. They didn't know how they had suddenly gone from worrying about whether the team could survive to discussing the championship.

It wasn't that the players on Team Zhuxian lacked ambition, but their new boss and new teammate's descriptions only made them feel overly unrealistic.

Lin Yi, as the captain, had spoken to Xiao Jie about this problem. However, his concerns were dismissed by the boss. He was obsessed with using his methods, such as not using good equipment until the final battle to surprise the opponent. Team Excellent Era's panic was a scene that he would laugh at just thinking about.

At that time, Lin Yi felt as helpless as he did facing Lu Shilin now. There was a reason why this new boss and new teammate got along so well. They were both extremely arrogant people, and many difficult problems would be solved with imagined solutions.

Team Zhuxian set sail in this kind of background. Xiao Jie repeatedly reminded everyone to conserve their strength, to give Excellent Era a surprise in the final.

The great writer Xiao Jie treated running the team as if he was writing a novel. He treated it as something completely controlled by him. He wanted to suppress first and then promote, so he would suppress first and then promote. He wanted to pretend to be weak and then strike hard, so he would pretend to be weak and then strike hard. He treated reality as if it was his novel, where everything would go as he wished. And now, when the real events contradicted the plot he had written, his most loyal believer, Lu Shilin, who was completely immersed in the plot he had written, collapsed first.