Chapter 1 The Gloom of Wei Chen

Wei Chen’s depression was genuine. Jia Shi team, Sun Xiang and One Autumn Leaf alone were enough for them to handle, and now there’s Xiao Shiqin on top of that.

It doesn't matter what character Xiao Shiqin uses; his value isn't measured by his own combat strength. If he successfully integrates with Jia Shi and perfectly embeds Sun Xiang into the tactics, then without a doubt, Jia Shi will definitely have championship-level strength.

To have their current team, which isn't fully assembled and the characters haven't reached max level, challenge a championship-level team? The more Wei Chen thought about it, the more he felt like they were biting off more than they could chew.

"What are you afraid of? Anyway, you’re rolling in money. Even if you lose everything, you won't starve," Ye Xiu said.

"I'd rather starve to death," Wei Chen said, huffing.

Chen Guo and the others had, of course, overheard their discussion. Bao Zi was as calm as ever, Tang Rou was as excited as ever at the prospect of facing stronger opponents, and Chen Guo was, as always, more worried than everyone else.

"No matter what, we have to face it. Just finding out that there's a possibility of Xiao Shiqin being there makes you so nervous. What if Jia Shi's actions don't stop there, and they bring in a few more big names? Are you going to jump out of this window?" Ye Xiu said.

"Damn, besides that Xiao guy, who else would be so stupid?" Wei Chen didn't particularly like or dislike Xiao Shiqin, but now that he realized that he was likely to become a formidable enemy, and a very deadly one at that, he immediately started disliking him in every way.

After the press conference, the Glory circle immediately exploded. Because Team Happy won so easily, not many people bothered to analyze the match. With such a huge bombshell dropped, every level of the community was shaken quite a bit.

Xiao Shiqin's transfer was already a done deal, announced by the man himself, and the focus of discussion was naturally which team he would go to. All kinds of well-reasoned analysis threads popped up endlessly. Wei Chen flipped through them, and then suddenly cursed, "Ignorant, too ignorant."

Ye Xiu tilted his head and glanced at it; it was an analysis of the possibility of Xiao Shiqin going to Jia Shi. Frankly, the person's analysis was quite reliable; Jia Shi really needed a tactical master like Xiao Shiqin to reorganize them. Joining Jia Shi would only mean sacrificing one year, but afterward, it would definitely be a first-class championship team. Wei Chen, on the other hand, simply didn't want to see this happen, so the more reliable someone's analysis was, the more he wanted to denigrate it, as if doing so would erase the probability of Xiao Shiqin's transfer to Jia Shi.

Compared to the liveliness in the player circle, Ye Xiu glanced at the QQ group for professional players. There was a bit of discussion among the players, but it was clearly from the players of the teams that hadn't made it to the playoffs. The big gods and players from those teams were currently busy preparing for the playoffs, so they didn't have the time to chat about this gossip. For them, no matter where Xiao Shiqin transferred to, it would only be a future formidable enemy. What deserved their attention in this first round of matches was Team Happy's improvement.

This was the formidable enemy they were very likely to face next, so figuring out the opponent's situation was the real priority.

Wei Chen had been reading the forum posts for a while, and he seemed to be getting angrier and angrier. It seemed that there were quite a few players analyzing the possibility of Xiao Shiqin going to Jia Shi. As he read, he finally slammed his fist on the table and stood up, "Bao Zi, what level are you at? Hurry up and practice! There's no time, level up quickly and then practice PK and stuff."

"Okay, okay, I'm practicing," Bao Zi responded enthusiastically.

"Sigh, this good news followed by bad news is really too much to take," Wei Chen lamented. The joy of being immersed in "making money" had been completely wiped away.

"Calm down, always so flustered. You're thirty years old. If you took two random pro players and added their ages together, they still wouldn't be as old as you, or as impetuous. Aren't you embarrassed?" Ye Xiu said.

"Emotions always have to be vented. Bottling them up inside affects your condition too much," Wei Chen said.

And everyone saw how this guy vented his emotions. As Team Happy easily broke through the first round, and the whole guild was filled with joy, Wei Chen, however, seemed to have eaten gunpowder. The team he led was being scolded so miserably that they might as well have been pigs and dogs. Ye Xiu glanced over; they had only just opened a wave of small monsters. When they pushed to the Boss, the entire team would probably be scolded into disconnecting.

The sixth day, the seventh day, the eighth day. The playoffs wouldn't stop because of gossip. The subsequent matches continued, and Team Blue Rain and Team Tiny Herb ultimately defeated Team 301 and Team Void respectively, and successfully advanced. (Um, actually, the match between Team Blue Rain and Team 301 should have been before Team Happy and Team Thunder, I forgot to write it, but it doesn't have much impact, everyone just needs to know...) However, in the last match between Team Tyranny and Team Misty Rain, Team Misty Rain defended the advantage they had gained at home on the road and ultimately defeated Team Tyranny, completing their advancement.

Although Team Tyranny was a traditional powerhouse, being eliminated by Team Misty Rain couldn't be considered a huge upset. After all, Team Tyranny's ace player Han Wenqing was one of the oldest players, and could compete with the three-time champion Jia Shi in the early days of the league. After winning the championship in the fourth season and ending Jia Shi's consecutive championships, Team Tyranny had reached their peak.

Now, with their ace player growing older, and more and more excellent new generation players emerging in the league, Team Tyranny and Jia Shi were both seen as being in decline.

Moreover, any team that could enter the playoffs was not weak; otherwise, what suspense would there be in the matches?

However, although the eliminated Team Tyranny showed regret after the match, they didn't seem dejected. Captain Han Wenqing simply said, "We'll be back next year," stealing some of the spotlight from the winning Team Misty Rain.

However, despite this, the media's post-match reports described it more as the complete end of an era.

Two former gods who stood at the peak, one retired, and one was still struggling to hold on.

The two former rivals who fought fiercely, one was eliminated, and one fell in the first round of the playoffs.

Han Wenqing's "We'll be back next year" was seen by everyone as simply a continued insistence on not giving up. Although this belief could be admired, some real things ultimately couldn't be changed by belief.

Team Tyranny might still be able to stand on the stage of the playoffs, but it was hard to believe that they still had the strength to compete for the championship. Especially after witnessing the exaggerated decline and elimination of Jia Shi this season, some people even suspected that Team Tyranny might also decline rapidly like this.

As a result, such doubts were strongly protested by Team Tyranny fans.

"What a joke!" a Team Tyranny fan said on the forum. "Don't forget who our captain is! He's someone who wouldn't feel any discouragement even after failing for three consecutive years, and then kicked Jia Shi off the throne of consecutive championships in the fourth year. As long as Team Han is here, our Team Tyranny can never become like that rotten mess that Jia Shi is!"

As Team Tyranny fans, they basically had no respect or politeness for Jia Shi. The decline of Jia Shi this season had given them plenty to laugh at, and now someone was comparing their Team Tyranny to Jia Shi in the same plight, which was something they couldn't tolerate at all.

The eight-day first round of the playoffs had ended, leaving behind countless topics.

The teams that advanced to the top four, Blue Rain, Happy, Tiny Herb, and Misty Rain, were all undeniably strong teams. Among the eliminated teams, there were also many that touched everyone.

But time wouldn't stop because of this, and the teams that entered the top four would soon engage in the next round of battles.

Blue Rain versus Misty Rain, Happy versus Tiny Herb, this would determine which two teams would produce this season's overall champion.

On Team Happy's side, the elimination of Team Tyranny also sparked some discussion.

"Didn't he change? Why is he still like this?" Chen Guo expressed some confusion about Team Tyranny's elimination.

"Do you think he's turning into a Super Saiyan!" Ye Xiu explained with a wry smile. "He's changing, but he's still exploring. The strength of the change hasn't been reflected yet!"

While Ye Xiu was talking to Chen Guo, he contacted Little Cold Hands in their team's chat group.

"The account card has been received," Ye Xiu told Little Cold Hands.

"Oh," Little Cold Hands replied.

"After improving the skill points, you should know that the value of this account card is different," Ye Xiu said.

"I know."

"So this account can no longer be considered completely your own," Ye Xiu said.

"I understand," Little Cold Hands replied.

"That kid, shouldn't you pay a deposit when returning the account card?" Wei Chen immediately popped up again. Of course, he wasn't concerned about the two thousand yuan. Not to mention that he was a wealthy man now, even in difficult times, Wei Chen had never valued money so much. It was precisely because of this that he couldn't stand Little Cold Hands' cautious and calculating appearance.

"How much deposit do I have to pay?" Little Cold Hands asked.

"That depends on how many skill points you have after clearing all the tasks," Wei Chen said.

"But isn't this deposit method a bit irregular?" Little Cold Hands said.

"Hey, kid, you didn't say anything about being regular or irregular when you wanted the deposit, did you?" Wei Chen immediately flared up.

"The deposit method was originally proposed by you!" Little Cold Hands said.

"What nonsense are you talking about?" Wei Chen roared, only to find that Ye Xiu, Chen Guo, and the others were all looking at him.

"Hmm? Did I propose it?" Wei Chen scratched his head, and everyone nodded clearly.

"Okay, I was just angry all the time. Who knew this kid would actually accept it?" Wei Chen said.

At this time, Ye Xiu had already asked in the group, "An fellow student, what's your opinion?"

"Under normal circumstances, if a team needs a player's account, they would buy out the account, right?" Little Cold Hands said.

"Generally, yes," Ye Xiu said.

"Then I won't return the 2000 yuan. Let's just treat this account as being bought out by you, how about it?" Little Cold Hands said.

"Damn, kid, you're earning two thousand yuan before even doing anything, you're capable!" Wei Chen shouted.

"It's just an account transfer. If the ownership of the account is too vague, I don't think it's a good thing, right?" Little Cold Hands said.