Chapter 1252 After the Match

The venue was filled with thunderous applause. The ending made the audience who had hoped to witness a miracle feel that their trip had been worthwhile. The applause and screams made it impossible for the host, who had only asked one question, to continue. It took almost a minute for the noise to subside before the host seized the opportunity to throw out the second question.

"Here's a question about you personally. As the former captain of Team Excellent Era, having won such a victory, I think many people are curious about how you're feeling right now."

As soon as this question was asked, it was as if a signal had been given, and the entire venue fell silent. It seemed that the host's words were not an exaggeration at all; everyone was incredibly curious about this question.

"Nothing much. For me personally, winning the match is the most important thing," Ye Xiu said calmly.

"Then do you have anything to say to Team Excellent Era?" The host was clearly dissatisfied with Ye Xiu's answer, and particularly wanted to hear some tit-for-tat dialogue between the two sides.

"Keep up the good work," Ye Xiu's answer was still bland.

The host was helpless and had to proceed to the next question: "There's also something else that everyone is curious about. In the past, you didn't like being exposed to the public, but why did you suddenly change this habit when you came back?"

"Heh, there's no special reason for that, just going with the flow," Ye Xiu replied nonchalantly. Chen Guo, who was standing beside him, was sweating for him. He couldn't possibly tell people the truth: "Well, because I used to be a player who cheated with a fake ID, so of course I had to keep a low profile."

After three questions in a row, nothing explosive had been asked. The host was unwilling! Super unwilling. He wasn't just some temporary extra; he was also a very professional Glory media worker who had interviewed a considerable number of professional players. He was quite aware of which professional players in the Glory circle were difficult to deal with in interviews. But after these three questions, the host was already clear that the vast majority of media friends shouldn't think that Ye Xiu starting to accept interviews was a wonderful thing. The list of difficult professional players would probably have to add another name.

"Alright. Next, let's invite the chairman of the Glory Alliance, Mr. Feng Xianjun, to present the Challenger League championship trophy and the registration certificate for the Glory Professional Alliance to Team Happy!" Seeing that the award ceremony was ready, the host didn't continue asking questions. Three of the four questions were aimed at Ye Xiu personally, and were just a continuation of the pre-match attention.

Feng Xianjun strode onto the stage with a relaxed and cheerful smile, came over to shake hands with each of Happy's players, and offered a few words of blessing and encouragement.

And among Happy's lineup, there were two who weren't strangers to Feng Xianjun.

"Still able to fight?" When he shook Sun Zheping's right hand, the chairman deliberately added a bit of strength, smiling.

"Not very much, but enough," Even when facing the chairman of the Alliance, Sun Zheping was still as arrogant as ever.

Feng Xianjun nodded with a smile, didn't say much, and continued shaking hands. Wei Chen was a player from the earliest generations, back when Feng Xianjun wasn't the chairman of the Alliance yet. They couldn't be said to have any special relationship, and it was just some ordinary exchange. Finally, he reached Ye Xiu.

"You really did it," Feng Xianjun said, holding Ye Xiu's hand.

"Heh," Ye Xiu smiled, "The name on the certificate isn't wrong, right?"

"Don't write your own name wrong either," Feng Xianjun responded with a smile as well.

The two private conversations were not heard by anyone. Outsiders only saw two smiling faces that were full of harmony. Then Feng Xianjun turned around, took the championship trophy, and handed it to Ye Xiu.

Ye Xiu took it and raised the trophy, and the venue once again erupted in thunderous applause. The host loudly announced the ownership of the championship. But speaking of which, the real value of the Challenger League wasn't actually in this trophy, but in the exquisite certificate that Feng Xianjun handed over immediately afterwards.

Glory Professional Alliance Registration Certificate.

Having this meant that Happy had the qualification to participate in the professional league next season, and this was what everyone was desperately trying to fight for.

Challenger League champion? That was never the end, but just a starting point, starting from this certificate.

Ye Xiu took the certificate and saw that the words "Team Happy" had already been printed on it. The certificate had been prepared in advance, but the wording of the team name would only be printed after the final result came out. The other players of Happy had already gathered around, and Feng Xianjun also retreated to the side with good sense, leaving the final moment of celebration to these members of Happy. This night, they were the real protagonists.

As for those failed supporting characters, they wouldn't be completely neglected and ignored. Feng Xianjun then went to Team Excellent Era to offer some words of comfort and encouragement. And the reporters from the major media outlets at the venue were glaring at Excellent Era with predatory eyes. They had already compiled countless questions, waiting to fire them at Excellent Era. They had already received notification that there would be a press conference after this Challenger League match. This was an arrangement that hadn't been made in previous Challenger League events, which showed that although the Alliance attached importance to the Challenger League in attitude, it was actually quite simple and lacked attention. But this time, because of the topic of Ye Xiu versus Excellent Era, a gossip session was arranged after the finals as an exception.

The first to attend the press conference was Team Excellent Era. Team manager Cui Li, as well as Sun Xiang, Xiao Shiqin, and several other Excellent Era players attended the press conference, sitting on the stage with wooden expressions. No one took the initiative to speak, and everyone remained silent.

The venue was quiet, and the reporters looked at each other in confusion.

Losing the Challenger League, the result was probably worse than losing the overall championship, especially for a team like Excellent Era. The reporters were also understanding of the mood of the Excellent Era people, but their professional nature wouldn't allow them to easily let Excellent Era off the hook because of sympathy. After mourning with Excellent Era for about half a minute, some reporters estimated that they had done their duty, and finally someone raised their hand to ask a question.

The Excellent Era people on the stage still maintained their wooden expressions. In the end, the Alliance's press officer pointed to a reporter to ask a question.

"During the match, Su Mucheng publicly announced that her cooperation with Excellent Era had come to an end, and directly sat in the Happy player area. Can you explain what's going on? Is there an irreconcilable conflict between Su Mucheng and Excellent Era?" The reporter didn't ask until they asked, and the question they asked made Excellent Era very uncomfortable.

However, after all, they were people who had experienced big scenes. Cui Li glanced at the reporter and said with a blank expression, "Su Mucheng is still a member of Team Excellent Era. Excellent Era will make a decision on the player's future after communicating with the player. Before that, there is nothing to say."

"Then please, how did Excellent Era communicate with the player when Ye Xiu announced his retirement? Judging from today's performance, probably no one would believe that Ye Xiu is a player who needs to retire. His condition is excellent, no less than anyone on Team Excellent Era." The next question was even more sharp, and it was a question that Excellent Era had been trying to downplay with public relations efforts. Because Ye Xiu himself never accepted interviews, this gave Excellent Era a great convenience, and it was simply up to them to say what they wanted.

As a result, the ending of the Challenger League detonated this old incident from the past. Ye Xiu suddenly announced his retirement, and people naturally wanted to know the reason. But because this player was low-key and mysterious, no one could get first-hand materials from the person involved, and Team Excellent Era was the only source of information they could use for reporting. In this context, it was easy for Team Excellent Era to guide public opinion. They had to cover up the truth of Ye Xiu's abnormal retirement, and combined with the reality that Excellent Era's performance was getting worse year by year, declining performance was naturally a very reasonable reason. And with Ye Xiu's consistent style, it wouldn't be strange for him to retire quietly, and fans were sad, but they accepted this reality.

They thought that all of this had passed, but who would have thought that Ye Xiu would pull up a team himself after leaving Excellent Era, and then they would actually meet Excellent Era in the Challenger League.

This was not something that Excellent Era had expected. Once a lie was started, they could only continue to weave lies to cover it up. Fortunately, Ye Xiu refused the media, and Excellent Era could guide public opinion to their heart's content.

Ye Xiu never said anything, and even when he finally made it to the Challenger League offline matches and accepted some interviews, he didn't care about these questions at all. Even so, when they first saw Ye Xiu accept an interview, Excellent Era almost panicked. They had prepared all kinds of public relations responses, but it was all in vain. What they were worried about and what they cared about, Ye Xiu didn't seem to care about at all.

Until now, Ye Xiu still hadn't said anything.

But he won the match.

There was nothing more convincing than this fact. You say Ye Xiu's condition has declined? Then beat him! He destroyed Excellent Era with a grassroots team. Don't say Ye Xiu's condition doesn't look like it's declined, even if it really has declined, after such a result, probably no one would believe it.

Was Ye Xiu's condition really so bad that he needed to retire?

No one knew this better than Excellent Era.

They wanted Ye Xiu to retire precisely because they knew that Ye Xiu still had enough, even terrifying, ability. They themselves wanted to abandon Ye Xiu, but they were afraid that Ye Xiu would harm them after becoming an opponent, so they took an inch and wanted a mile, and couldn't stop.

Now, with strong factual basis, this question became very sharp.

But the more acute situation was that Ye Xiu no longer refused the media, and soon he would be sitting in the same position, accepting the same reporters, and answering the same questions that were likely to be asked.

The days of guiding public opinion with one voice were gone forever.

Once upon a time, how much did Excellent Era hope that Ye Xiu could step onto the stage, be more friendly to the media, and make announcements? Ye Xiu didn't.

And now, Excellent Era hoped that Ye Xiu could continue to keep a low profile and continue to refuse all media, but he stood up.

From beginning to end, he didn't say anything, just the posture of accepting the media had already made Excellent Era feel like they were sitting on pins and needles; then a victory was an even louder and more powerful slap in the face.

"Manager Cui? Team Leader Cui?"

In a daze, Cui Li heard someone calling him. He wanted to respond, but he couldn't control himself.

"Doctor, is there a doctor? Call an ambulance, someone has fainted!!" The press conference scene was in chaos.