Chapter 1 The End of April

April passed by quickly. In this month, the professional league completed a total of five regular season games, leaving only the last two. Many rankings had already been settled by this point. First was the top spot in the regular season, which, it seemed, Blue Rain had practically secured. In the five games of April, the Blue Rain team showed their usual stability. With two games left, they were still five points ahead of second-place Team Samsara. Their opponents in the final two rounds were the kind of teams that had no hope of making the playoffs and no chance of being eliminated, basically just going through the motions. For Samsara to overtake them by five points under such circumstances just didn't seem like Blue Rain's style, so basically everyone had accepted the fact that Blue Rain would be the regular season champion this time around.

As for the remaining second to fourth places, the point difference changed slightly after the five games, but the rankings remained the same, still Samsara, Tiny Herb, and Tyranny in that order. After them, Team Misty Rain locked in fifth place, and Team Void secured sixth, both firmly guaranteeing a playoff spot.

Following them in seventh place was Team 301, with only a theoretical possibility of missing the playoffs. So a theoretical possibility, to put it another way, was a so-called miracle, which, of course, didn't happen often. So Team 301's entry into this season's playoffs was already considered a certainty.

The last spot would be fought over by Team Wind Howl and Team Thunderclap. A former contender, Team Royal Wind, had completely lost its chance. Team Hundred Blossoms, similar to Team 301, only had a theoretical chance, and were naturally considered eliminated.

So in the last two rounds, the only ones still worrying about the matches were the supporters of Team Wind Howl and Team Thunderclap. But no matter what, one of the two teams would be kicked out of the playoff race; that was the cruelty of professional competition.

Compared to the competition for the playoff spots, the two eliminated positions weren't as appealing, and they usually didn't attract widespread fan attention. After all, in this long season of 38 games, with a maximum score of 380, the ones who ended up at the bottom could truly be called two rotten teams. Such teams, while not without fans, definitely didn't have many, so the level of attention was naturally low.

But this year was an exception. Team Excellent Era, a team that had once created a dynasty of miracles, seemed determined to pull off a relegation miracle this season. Excellent Era's relegation was something that everyone, from inside the circle to outside, from experts to the media to fans, believed was only a theoretical possibility. But Excellent Era seemed good at creating miracles, good at turning this theory into reality.

But such a miracle was truly painful for those who cared and pleasing to those who hated.

In the last two rounds of matches, Team Mysterious Fantasy, ranked twentieth, was already confirmed to be eliminated. But for this team, which had been leading the pack at the bottom since the start of the season, no one really cared about their fate anymore. It was Excellent Era continuing to languish in the penultimate position, occupying a relegation spot, that had become a topic that had sustained countless commentators and writers this season.

However, because Excellent Era wasn't as stable as Team Mysterious Fantasy, with some ups and downs in between, there were still many speeches reminiscing about the past. According to those with a mind for statistics, although Excellent Era had seemed determined to be relegated this season, they had actually been hovering outside the relegation zone for most of the time. This was only the second time they had truly crashed through the door.

When was the first time?

Excellent Era's fans could quickly recall it. It was back in winter, when their Excellent Era's captain of over seven years, Ye Qiu, announced his retirement and left Excellent Era. It was then that Sun Xiang, a super genius rookie in his second year who had already risen to the level of a God, came to their Excellent Era and took over One Autumn Leaf, the most legendary character in Glory.

At that time, everyone had felt disappointment, had held expectations, had hoped to see miracles.

And now, a miracle had truly appeared!

But it was definitely not the miracle they wanted to see. Even when Excellent Era first sat in the penultimate position in winter, when the fans' hearts were as cold as the weather, they had never believed that such a thing would happen. But this time, in the penultimate position, with only two rounds of matches remaining, Excellent Era was five points behind Team Mighty Wind, ranked eighteenth.

Coincidentally, this gap was like the current gap between Samsara and Blue Rain. Because of Blue Rain's stability, everyone had come to regard Blue Rain's first place as a certainty. And here? Everyone also felt that it was likely a certainty, because Excellent Era was also very stable. The difference was that Blue Rain was stable at gaining points, while Excellent Era was stable at losing points. These were supposed to be two famous and equally matched teams, but now they showed such different kinds of stability. It was fortunate that there were no entanglements between Blue Rain and Excellent Era. If it had been Tyranny, such a long-time rival with so many entanglements, then with such a dazzling contrast, who knew how many taunting topics would have emerged.

Even as it was now, Excellent Era was receiving more than its fair share of schadenfreude and mockery. After all, they had been a large and conspicuous target for so many years, and many people had been waiting for them to fall! They had always thought that Excellent Era's relegation could only be a fantasy, but they never imagined it would become reality. This was truly a climax of wishful thinking, and it made countless people very happy.

Excellent Era's fans, on the other hand, were surprisingly calm at this time. Besides the fact that Excellent Era's long-term poor performance had made them somewhat numb, Excellent Era's public relations efforts over the past month had also played a certain role. In their statements, Excellent Era called this season "incredibly disappointing" and said that the team was currently in an "unprecedented predicament," and also stated that the club had actually been "sparing no effort in trying," but the "problem had still not been resolved."

In the statement, they even mentioned that the club had tried to contact former captain Ye Qiu, who had already retired, hoping that Ye Qiu could help find the root of the problem as a consultant, but unfortunately, their request had been rejected by Ye Qiu.

This was undoubtedly a small trick to shift the blame, while showing that they had been working hard, and also subtly telling people one of the reasons why the problem could not be solved. When this report came out, Chen Guo was so angry that she slammed the table and cursed them for being shameless, but many fans bought into it, and as a result, there were many dissatisfied comments about Ye Qiu. Ye Xiu himself, upon seeing this news, just said calmly, "It's the truth!"

"The matter is indeed true, but what's the meaning of their guiding public opinion like this! It's as if Excellent Era's later collapse was also your responsibility!" Chen Guo continued to be angry.

At this time, Wei Chen on the side raised his eyes to look at Chen Guo strangely, "Isn't it his responsibility? If he hadn't wiped out their team in the game, no matter how bad Excellent Era performed, it wouldn't have been so disastrous, to the point of being relegated."

"That's their own fault," Chen Guo emphasized.

"Women! Weak, kind, yet unreasonably protective of their own, it's in their nature," Wei Chen exclaimed with emotion.

"Don't argue, don't argue." Ye Xiu quickly dissuaded the two.

"Excellent Era's relegation is my responsibility," Ye Xiu said in grief, and without waiting for Chen Guo to open her mouth to refute, he immediately continued, "But who knew that wiping them out once in the game would lead to this? No one wants this kind of thing to happen. But results can't be forced. They're still young, they have plenty of opportunities, the most important thing is not to give up easily. I don't know what their plans are for the future. Sigh, too many things have happened recently, I want to be alone for a while, I'll go out if there's nothing else."

After Ye Xiu finished speaking, he took out a cigarette and went out. Wei Chen and Chen Guo looked at each other for a long time before Chen Guo said, "Why does this sound so familiar to me?"

"..." Wei Chen.

Excellent Era's relegation ultimately did not change because of anyone's discussion. On May 13, the final battle of the eighth season of the Glory Professional League put an end to all variables.

Blue Rain, Samsara, Tiny Herb, Tyranny, Misty Rain, Void, 301, and Thunderclap were the eight teams that ultimately made it to the playoffs. The eighth season for the other teams had already ended a week after the start of summer. Among them, Excellent Era, ranked nineteenth, and Mysterious Fantasy, ranked twentieth, were the two relegated teams. In the history of the league, relegation was very likely the beginning of a team's disappearance. But this time, the relegated teams actually included Excellent Era, the team that had once been the most glorious, naturally sparking countless debates again.

Some began to mourn the complete fall of a dynasty, while others were confident that Excellent Era would never fall.

Excellent Era Club also quickly issued a statement after the final ranking was determined, admitting that this season had been a disaster, but definitely not the end. Among the series of reassuring news that followed, the statement that the team's ace player, Sun Xiang, would definitely not leave the team as a result, carried a lot of weight.

However, a one-sided statement didn't seem trustworthy enough. But soon after, Sun Xiang also personally admitted in an interview with reporters that he would go through these most difficult days with Excellent Era. He also described a series of heartwarming events where he had received all kinds of care from the club's higher-ups since he joined Excellent Era, to prove that although he had only joined Excellent Era for half a year, the revolutionary friendship between the two sides had not been diminished by the short time, and would not be shaken by relegation.

"In next season's Challenger League, I will lead Excellent Era back to this stage!" At the end of the interview, Sun Xiang confidently smiled and said to the reporter.

The above content became the ending of this interview, causing Chen Guo, who was reading the newspaper, to involuntarily start to gag.

Sun Xiang, of course, was not the only Excellent Era player the media wanted to interview.

Excellent Era's other super popular player, the All-Star level Su Mucheng; as well as Liu Hao, the vice-captain who had been performing well and occasionally shining, seemingly supporting the whole team; and other first-line, second-line, or benchwarmer players, the reporters were penetrating everywhere, wanting to dig up more information about Excellent Era.

But unfortunately, these people, whether for personal reasons or for club reasons, all declined interviews from the media. This made the sensitive media feel that Excellent Era was not as calm as they appeared to be. But under this calm facade, what kind of actions would there be?

Now was not a good time to dig deep into this, after all, after two weeks of rest, the highlight of the entire season: the competition for the season championship was about to begin. In any case, these eight teams should be the focus of attention in the Glory circle at this time.