Chapter 112 Whispers

Over at Team Happy, things were booming. The season hadn't even started yet, and their transfers had already sucked up all the eyeballs. They had figurines, they had account cards. The Professional Alliance and Glory game officials were even more anxious than Happy themselves. This kind of treatment wasn't something an upgraded team newly entering the alliance got, not even the average team that had been around for ages!

Since Happy was flourishing so vigorously, of course none of the other teams were willing to fall behind. Everyone was trying their best to find ways to strengthen themselves. Team Wind Howl, who had just served as a backdrop in the Fang Rui transfer, was now racking their brains over the handling of Ghost Doubts. Wind Howl had been relatively righteous in the Fang Rui transfer. Although they would have preferred to sell him as part of a package, Fang Rui wanted to go solo, and they didn't make things difficult for him in the end, letting him go smoothly. But with that, dealing with Ghost Doubts became much more complicated.

They no longer had a Thief player. Ghost Doubts was clearly up for sale, otherwise keeping him in the team unused would only mean waiting for the character to depreciate. Once this was seen through, which of these increasingly cunning teams in the Alliance would rush to make a move? They were all prepared to patiently wear down Wind Howl, and when they were about worn down, they would try to snap him up at a low price.

For a time, it seemed that no one wanted Ghost Doubts.

But just when the teams interested in Ghost Doubts were patiently waiting for an opportunity, a transfer news item suddenly disrupted their thoughts.

Blue Rain player Lin Feng, with a transfer price of 3.2 million, transferred to Team Wind Howl.

The Glory circle was immediately stunned again.

The price of 3.2 million showed that Lin Feng wasn't a top-tier player, but he was a Thief player.

Team Wind Howl sent away Fang Rui, determined to abandon the猥琐 (weisuo) style of play with a Thief, and yet, they brought in a Lin Feng? What game were they playing? Could it be that they wanted to raise the price of Ghost Doubts, so they deliberately created a smokescreen?

Suddenly, many people had such thoughts, but they also felt that it was too exaggerated and difficult to accept. But soon, the technical experts had already analyzed the ins and outs of this transfer.

The Thief class was certainly very suitable for a 猥琐 (weisuo) style, but that didn't mean it could only play 猥琐 (weisuo). And what Wind Howl wanted to abandon was in fact only the 猥琐 (weisuo) style, and not necessarily the Thief class itself.

Therefore, 猥琐 (weisuo) master Fang Rui left, but whether the Thief Ghost Doubts would leave was ambiguous.

And in the situation where selling Ghost Doubts wasn't going smoothly, Wind Howl gave an answer: Ghost Doubts would not leave.

Because of Lin Feng.

Lin Feng was a rotational player in Blue Rain, with some opportunities to play, but certainly not as stable as the core players. Even so, he was a player with his own style. The way he played Thief wasn't 猥琐 (weisuo); Blue Rain's team wasn't really convenient for having one more person 猥琐 (weisuo).

So he received the favor of Wind Howl. So the 猥琐 (weisuo) Ghost Doubts was gone, and a brand new Ghost Doubts would be born. At the press conference for Lin Feng's joining Wind Howl, it was easy to see Wind Howl's expectations for the new Ghost Doubts.

At this point, Team Wind Howl's lineup for the new season seemed to have surfaced. After two summers, this team that once had the "Criminal Duo" was completely renewed. Although the Brawler and Thief were still there, the operators were different. Whether they still had the criminal aura of the past was really hard to say.

After Lin Feng's transfer, another transfer of a figure of no small importance followed.

Lu Yining, the Sharpshooter player from Misty Rain, a player who had won the title of Best Sixth Man. The sixth man was the player who often started from the substitution seat in team competitions. Sometimes they would become super-soldiers who turned the tide of a battle, but sometimes, because their own team solved the opponent smoothly, they wouldn't have too many opportunities to perform.

In any case, this was always a player with strength. Lu Yining's final transfer price of 4.6 million also proved this point.

Lu Yining eventually transferred to Team Thunderclap, making people pay more attention to this team as well.

Team Thunderclap had been financially strapped for many years. Their highest transfer expenditure after years of operation was actually this summer when they took back their former core character, the Mechanic Life Extinguisher, from Excellent Era, which was really speechless.

The transfer expenditure of 4.6 million might not be anything to some rich and powerful teams, but for Thunderclap, it was also a considerable expenditure. It could be seen that this team seemed to have considerable ambition this season. Was it because of Xiao Shiqin and Life Extinguisher's return? Did the complete failure of leaving Excellent Era lead to new growth for their captain?

Misty Rain sold a Sharpshooter player, purely to make way for the Shu twins, Shu Keyi and Shu Kexin, so naturally they didn't need any new additions. The character genders of the twins had been adjusted, and they had experienced the professional circle last season. It seemed that they were going to show off their skills in the new league.

In addition to this, there were some exchanges or transfers between the teams, some retirements, and some promotions of new players. Overall, apart from the changes caused by Excellent Era's disintegration and sell-off, Fang Rui was the only core-level transfer. The other teams were all moving forward steadily along their usual path. Doubt? Wavering? The two transfer windows in a year were in fact for the teams to repair these. Perhaps problems of this or that kind would be exposed during the season, but when the transfer window closed, the vast majority of teams would enter the journey with a complete mindset. They might all be different from each other, but every team was equally working hard to move forward.

July and August passed by in a flash. On September 1st, the transfer window completely closed, which was also the Monday of the new week. The Electronic Sports Weekly was published, listing the transfer news of the summer. There weren't many earth-shattering events, but the teams were indeed moving in a more solid direction. The transfer window closed, the new season was coming, and the teams also put out their respective slogans.

The rich and powerful teams naturally wanted to put the championship on their lips. They had the confidence and the strength. Most teams still aimed to enter the playoffs. They were too embarrassed to shout championship slogans. As for the weak teams, their goal was of course to keep their seats, and although not many people cared about them, they themselves would definitely pay attention.

What about Happy?

Based on securing our spot, we'll strive for the championship! Ye Xiu said on Weibo.

A full two-word comment, a neat row of ellipses! Everyone was speechless at first. They had heard of 保二争一 (bao er zheng yi, secure second place, strive for first), but securing a spot and striving for the championship, two goals that were worlds apart, placed side by side like that? Was that okay?

As soon as Ye Xiu's Weibo post came out, the players from the weak teams became lively.

"Haha, then we'll also strive for the championship based on securing our spot!" Yi Zhan's Lou Guanning, who was both the boss, the captain, and the core player, and who was destined to be a legendary figure recorded in the history of the league even if he didn't achieve any results, immediately revised their Yi Zhan team's slogan.

Then, Team Heroic Wind and Team Bright Future also changed their team slogans with a sense of entertainment.

Agreed!

Agreed +1!

Securing a spot as the foundation, striving for the championship became the most popular slogan of the new season. The rich and powerful teams were crying. Competing for the championship was such a grand and heroic goal! But these guys had messed it up so badly that it just didn't feel motivating at all?

In fact, the teams that were really striving to secure their spots didn't have the mood to join in on this noise.

Heroic Wind and Bright Future didn't have much pressure to secure their spots, and they didn't have much hope for the playoffs, belonging to the kind of teams that lacked pressure and lacked motivation, so they were quite in the mood to join in the fun.

However, in the eyes of insightful people, the teams behind them might be following the trend and joining in the fun, but what about Happy, who shouted this slogan first? By juxtaposing the two extremely polarized goals of securing a spot and winning the championship, did they inadvertently reveal the great anxiety deep in their hearts?

"Yes, even I can't see clearly whether Happy's strength is deep or shallow. It's too scary." Ye Xiu actually replied to this insightful person.

"Ah... Great God Ye saw me, replied to me, ah ah ah ah..." The insightful person melted, turning out to be a Ye Xiu fan.

"Damn, the blogger is too weak!"

"Blogger, stand up!"

"Blogger, what's wrong with you!"

But about the question of whether Happy's strength was deep or shallow...

"I think we'll see it soon!" The official Weibo of the Professional Alliance even forwarded the message and said, while also announcing the schedule for the first round of the new season, with Samsara vs Happy marked as a key match.

Samsara, the champion of last season, would usually be arranged to play against a team newly entering the league, to give them a head start, and this team newly entering the alliance was usually the one that entered by application. However, this was just an unwritten habit, not a rule at all, so this season, the champion team's opponent was arranged to be Happy, who had fought their way up from the Challenger League.

Team Miraculous was in tears!

To be honest, the teams that came in by application had always been valued more than those who fought their way back from the Challenger League. Because those who fought their way back from the Challenger League had always been those who were relegated last season, resurrected, and were nothing new. Only those who joined by application were genuine new teams. As a result, Happy was an exception this time. They became the first team in history to successfully enter the alliance from the Challenger League. So, those who applied were tragic. In terms of attention, how could they compare to Happy? So in the end, the opportunity to play against the champion team in the first round was given to Happy.

Of course, Miraculous didn't fantasize about defeating the champion team to make a name for themselves, but this had always been considered a kind of care from the league to the new teams. As a result, the love was given to Happy. Team Miraculous felt like they were living in a stepmother's house. What was even more pitiful was that the current Miraculous team was mainly composed of former Excellent Era players. Their fall to this rookie team was related to Happy defeating Excellent Era, so their mood was really complicated and twisted.

Samsara versus Happy was probably the most watched welcome battle for a new team in the history of the alliance. What would this battle be like? From the professional circle to the player circle, from the media to the public, the discussion continued for days, until the evening of September 5th, when the first round was kicked off. The result: Champion Samsara, a 10-0 sweep of Happy.