Chapter 1008 The Whirlwind of Transfers

As a seasoned columnist, Cha Xiao Xia had considerable influence in the Glory circle, with a decent following. His analyses were always precise and insightful. Upon reading this article, many immediately nodded in agreement: "That's exactly right." Then, the final remark about brain-dead fans, delivered in a half-joking tone, made many take the Xingxin team seriously. Just how strong was Xingxin? It suddenly became a hot topic online, and some were already looking forward to brain-dead fan Cha Xiao Xia providing a detailed analysis of Xingxin's strength.

Alongside these hotly debated topics, some less conspicuous transfers were quietly taking place. This time of year always saw a few free transfers. Everyone was too focused on the Golden Generation this year, and slightly overlooked the others. Among these free-transfer players, there was actually one with considerable fame.

Liu Hao.

The former vice-captain of Excellent Era, he came to Thunder in the exchange transfer with Xiao Shiqin. His performance in Thunder this season was quite good, once approaching the playoff zone. Although he ultimately failed to enter the playoffs, given the state of the Thunder team, few would delve into this too deeply. Thunder had always regarded Liu Hao as their core, although his impact couldn't match Xiao Shiqin's.

But even so, Liu Hao, whose contract was only for one year, still refused Thunder's renewal offer. From the very beginning, he had no intention of staying at Thunder for long. He even hoped to leave during the winter transfer window, but the previous winter transfer coincided with a major update in Glory. All the teams became cautious in the transfer market, unwilling to strengthen strong teams when the future was uncertain after the update. Liu Hao's hopes were dashed.

Now, he was a free agent with an expired contract. As the former vice-captain of Excellent Era, Liu Hao's strength was actually quite outstanding. He hadn't made the All-Star list, but he wasn't far off. Unfortunately, his professional rival was Jiang Botao. In the past two years, Samsara had been on a roll, and Jiang Botao's popularity had skyrocketed. Liu Hao was regrettably squeezed out of the list.

Liu Hao was very dissatisfied with this situation. He looked down on teams like Thunder. He refused to renew his contract, and after waiting until summer, Liu Hao finally received olive branches from other teams. Among them, there were finally strong teams that satisfied him.

Team Howling!

Liu Hao freely transferred to Team Howling. This should be considered the biggest transfer news announced on July 1st, second only to Sun Xiang and Su Mucheng. And all of these people happened to come from Excellent Era. Even though Liu Hao had left Excellent Era for a year, his Excellent Era label was clearly much larger than his Thunder label.

For a time, these three transfers made people feel even more regretful about the fall of Excellent Era. As for Liu Hao joining Howling, it was seen within the circle as another good combination of strong forces. Core player Tang Hao, the despicable god Fang Rui, Best Rookie Zhao Yuzhe, plus Liu Hao. This lineup didn't look particularly glamorous, but it was quite strong. With the core players of each team being quite stable, Liu Hao, this second-tier powerhouse, was considered a very powerful reinforcement.

However, Liu Hao's transfer reminded people of another person again.

Xiao Shiqin. He was also out of contract. Even Liu Hao, who was initially exchanged for him to Excellent Era, had already left in a hurry. Yet, there was still no news of Xiao Shiqin. Xiao Shiqin would obviously receive a lot of calls and definitely have more choices than Liu Hao. Which team would he go to?

There were many rumors in the circle, and the major powerhouses were names frequently mentioned. Whichever of these teams obtained Xiao Shiqin would have a dazzling lineup that would take one's breath away. The league seemed to be heading towards an era where stars were gathering and forming alliances.

But when the news of Xiao Shiqin's transfer finally came out, it shocked everyone. He actually returned to Thunder!

To pursue a championship, he abandoned Thunder and came to Excellent Era for the future. As a result, a year passed, and Excellent Era failed to return to the league and was facing disbandment. Some mean-spirited fans had already begun to bring up old matters and ridicule his past decision. No one in the circle had guessed that he would return to Thunder. They thought that facing such an embarrassing situation of Excellent Era's defeat, Xiao Shiqin needed to prove that his departure was the right decision, and he needed to choose a team with a greater chance of winning. But he returned to Thunder. This was no different from admitting that his past decision was a failure. Did Xiao Shiqin no longer even have the courage to prove himself?

There was all sorts of gossip in the circle, but no matter what, Thunder, from top to bottom, including the vast majority of fans, gave Xiao Shiqin a very warm welcome.

"Welcome home!"

On the day Xiao Shiqin returned to the Thunder Club, he saw many fans gathered outside the club, holding up such banners, welcoming his arrival. They completely disregarded Xiao Shiqin's past departure and gave him such support when he was in the most awkward situation.

Xiao Shiqin could no longer hold back. Tears instantly wet his glasses. He walked out of the car crying, and in the midst of the fans, he returned to his former club, back to his former home.

Subsequently, Team Thunder announced another piece of news. They spent 9.5 million, a record acquisition amount in the history of the club, to reclaim the mechanist character, Sheng Lingmie (Life Extinguisher), who had gone to Excellent Era with Xiao Shiqin last year. At the same time, they brought Excellent Era's cleric player, Zhang Jiaxing, into their ranks.

In terms of the amount, an All-Star level character, plus a main healer of a wealthy team, this price could be said to be a fire sale level. However, Sheng Lingmie was originally a character nurtured by Thunder, and the return was like Xiao Shiqin's, giving people no sense of reinforcement. Zhang Jiaxing's joining, on the other hand, was a rare strong reinforcement for Thunder. With the original healer announcing his retirement, Zhang Jiaxing's timely arrival allowed their strength to increase rather than decrease.

There was also an elemental mage named He Ming in Thunder, who was also exchanged and transferred last year. However, his contract, unlike Liu Hao's, was not only for one year. As a non-free agent, seeing Liu Hao impatiently leaving, he was very restless. He was preparing to take the initiative to seek a new home. But now, seeing Xiao Shiqin's return, and that Thunder had very promisingly snatched Zhang Jiaxing from Excellent Era, he suddenly felt that Thunder seemed quite promising. After all, his strength was not as outstanding as Liu Hao's. With the lineups of the major powerhouses being quite stable, it was difficult for him to join a championship-contending team and become a main player like Liu Hao. In this case, continuing to stay in Thunder could at least allow him to be on a team that could make a run for the playoffs, which was still somewhat hopeful.

He Ming was feeling satisfied with the future when he received a notice from the Thunder Club, stating that he was not in the club's future plans, that the club would send him out in the near future, and that he could contact a way out himself, and the club would provide corresponding convenience.

He couldn't leave when he wanted to leave, and he couldn't stay when he wanted to stay. He Ming almost gritted his teeth. But the club had already clearly stated its position. Although it wasn't impossible to shamelessly squat in the club and wait for the contract to expire, professional players needed to compete. A player who was clearly not in the plan would of course not be needed on the field by the team. No games, free salary? This sounded like a good job, but for professional players, this was definitely an act of ruining their future. He Ming still had some ambition after all. Seeing Thunder's attitude, he had no choice but to actively look for a new owner.

Samsara, Tyranny, Tiny Herb, Blue Rain? He Ming wanted to go to these teams, but no one paid any attention to him!

He Ming could only try to join the next-level strong teams, at least trying to find a better home than Thunder, but he ran into walls everywhere. Finally, Thunder contacted him about a place to go. When He Ming heard it, he almost cried. Team Amazing! The team that had just joined the league this year after passing the audit, and was bound to fight for relegation. He was once the sixth man of a powerhouse like Excellent Era, how could he end up in a relegation team? He Ming wanted to directly refuse, but after being rejected by strong teams in succession, his confidence was greatly hit, and he was really afraid that no team would accept him in the end. While he was hesitating, Amazing took the initiative to contact him, making all sorts of promises and guaranteeing that Amazing would continue to strengthen, and would definitely not be a team that was only willing to fight for relegation.

Seeing that no other team had clearly expressed interest in him, He Ming was slightly moved by Amazing's flowery persuasion. He thought, "Better to be a big fish in a small pond than a small fish in a big pond. If I can't be a small fish in a big pond, it's not bad to be a big fish in a small pond. In any case, I'll enjoy being a core player first."

Finally, He Ming nodded and joined Team Amazing at a price of 2 million. Team Amazing was happy and mysteriously told him that there would be a surprise for him next.

He Ming was stunned. Surprise, what surprise?

Could it be that this Amazing team was going to poach an All-Star character like Wind Howl from Team Misty Rain for him to use?

As a result, soon, the surprise that Amazing gave him came.

Excellent Era players Shen Jian and Wang Ze joined Team Amazing for a total price of 1.725 million.

He Ming was really about to cry. Was this the so-called surprise? When the manager of Amazing asked him gleefully, "How does it feel to reunite with your teammates?" he really wanted to stomp on this guy's mouth.

1.725 million. Just hearing this price, He Ming felt that Team Amazing was extremely unambitious. It was already uninteresting enough to have an extra 20,000. How could there be an extra 5,000? How much haggling and bargaining did it take to come up with an extra 5,000 for a million-dollar transfer? With such a team, it was too much to think about them acquiring Wind Howl! Not to mention Wind Howl, it would be great if they could bring over the professional characters they originally used.

But no.

Shen Jian and Wang Ze had already reported to Amazing, but He Ming had not heard any news of acquiring characters in Amazing.

The three former Excellent Era teammates met in the simple training room of Amazing, which was like a village elementary school classroom. The three looked at each other, silently, with tears in their eyes.