Chapter 19 White

Ye Xiu's statement at the press conference did little to quell the doubts of many. Such stubborn insistence on using a player who was widely regarded as not good enough began to suffer all sorts of questions. Especially in some gossip forums, all sorts of nonsensical drivel came out. Guesses such as An Wenyi being kept by Chen Guo, and his use being decreed by the boss, were even adopted by many people, including quite a few Xing Xin fans.

Fortunately, the major media outlets were not so unreliable after all, and mainly criticized Xing Xin's stubborn attitude towards using people.

"Xing Xin's good prospects for this season may be ruined by their stubborn use of people!"

Some media outlets even made such a judgment. Because the transfer window closed very quickly after this round of matches, Xing Xin really did not recruit any more healer players. An Wenyi was the only one they could rely on. Healing was different from other professions, and generally there were no substitutions. For a time, voices of disapproval arose around Xing Xin, and even many of Xing Xin's supporters protested against the team's stubborn use of people. More and more people were taking those unfounded gossip news as fact.

It seemed that only on-field performance could completely eliminate these doubts. But...

"Don't worry, this is not something that can be solved in one or two games." In the training room early in the morning, Ye Xiu saw An Wenyi, who had been practicing for who knew how long, and said.

"The whole team needs to adapt to this new way of playing and rhythm. In fact, the problem with Samsara is not just with you. The team is not doing a good enough job of protecting you," Ye Xiu said.

"Is this consolation?" An Wenyi asked.

"I'm always factual," Ye Xiu said.

"I believe it." An Wenyi nodded. Ye Xiu was really factual, factual enough to piss people off.

"Continue to strengthen your reaction training. It will help more or less. Then, train with the team and practice in actual combat," Ye Xiu said.

"Perhaps, we can go back to the way we played before..." An Wenyi could say this, obviously thinking about the team. He was a little worried that delaying the team's victory in order for himself to become a qualified healer was wrong.

"That kind of method can't be used all the time. Even Li Yibo, that dull guy, has sniffed out the traps in it. Do you think smart guys like Yu Wenzhou, Zhang Xinjie, and Wang Jiexi don't know anything? We need to plan for the long term. From now on, we need to think about how to play in the playoffs," Ye Xiu said.

"Playoffs?"

"Top eight, I don't think we'll fall out of it, will we?" Ye Xiu said.

After the twentieth round of matches, the changes on the leaderboard were very small. Only four teams' rankings changed.

Royal Wind defeated Zhao Hua 7-3 on the road, while Miracle lost 1-9 to Tyranny at home. As a result, the two teams switched places on the leaderboard. Royal Wind was currently 12th, and Miracle was 13th.

In addition to this, there were the 301 and Void teams. These two teams faced each other directly in the twentieth round, and in the end, the 301 team defeated the Void team 9-1. In this match, Bai Shu, a player who the 301 team dug up from who knows where during the winter transfer window, caused a heated discussion.

This newcomer, who came from who knows where, demonstrated extremely high Glory skills in the match. Even more surprising was his seemingly rich match experience.

An unknown guy with superb skills might have practiced hard behind closed doors, so no one knew about it. But match experience was something that one could not cultivate through closed-door training. Online games could not provide such a high level of experience either.

Who exactly was this Bai Shu?

Finally, 301 stopped playing dumb with everyone and revealed Bai Shu's identity. This guy was actually also a professional player, but not a domestic professional player. He was a Chinese player who had played in the European English Glory Super League.

This was... a foreign aid?

People in the circle were very surprised. The Glory season was certainly not exclusive to this country. This game, which was popular all over the world, had gradually formed professional leagues in many countries. However, so far, each country had its own way of playing, and there was no unified competition system. In addition, the leagues had only been around for a short time, so there had not been any cross-border exchanges. Only occasionally would videos of professional matches from other places appear online. Unfamiliar players, equipment descriptions that could not be understood, and no skills that were far beyond the domestic level, naturally had little impact.

This time, 301 could be considered to have formally broken the barrier of no communication, and even recruited a professional player from a foreign country.

Bai Shu quickly received interview requests from the media who had been covering esports for many years. In the end, the opportunity was obtained by Esports Home, the most authoritative esports media in the country.

Bai Shu's unknown background was finally exposed after the exclusive interview was published. In fact, there was nothing magical about it. He was originally a student who became obsessed with Glory in his spare time. He had good talent, and his level improved rapidly. After his reputation in the local Glory circle gradually grew, he finally attracted the attention of professional teams and was recruited into the team. In this way, he became a professional player. So far, he had nearly four years of professional match experience. The 301 team found a new path to discover talents in foreign leagues, and in the end, they took a liking to Bai Shu and brought him back to China.

As Glory media workers, they were not as ignorant of foreign leagues as many ordinary players. The English Glory Super League was considered to be the highest level in Europe. And Bai Shu was also a main member of a strong team. His level should not be inferior to that of domestic first-line players. From the recently concluded twentieth round of matches, many people believed that Bai Shu already had all-star level.

Words were just said off the cuff. What it was really like would still have to be verified by actual matches.

How bad Xing Xin's An Wenyi was and how good 301's Bai Shu was had become the most concerning individual strength issues for everyone in the Glory circle. The actual combat match that could be used to test this finally came again.

In the twenty-first round, Xing Xin challenged Hundred Blossoms on the road; the 301 team welcomed Tyranny at home. This time, the TV broadcast side did not hesitate too much and quickly chose the match between 301 and Tyranny to broadcast. Everyone was obviously more curious about this player cultivated by a foreign professional league.

Bai Shu's performance really did not disappoint. In the twenty-first round against Tyranny, 301 ultimately won 8-2. Bai Shu's performance in the team competition was even more commendable. In this match, 301 captain Yang Cong once again used a sheming yiji (life-sacrificing strike), and once again killed the opponent's healer with one strike. But Tyranny's healer was not the same as Xing Xin's An Wenyi at all.

An Wenyi was being regarded as the worst healer in the league, while Tyranny's healer Zhang Xinjie was the Glory's number one priest. With the experienced veterans such as Han Wenqing, Zhang Jiale, and Lin Jingyan around him, Yang Cong was able to succeed with one strike under Bai Shu's wonderful cover.

The foreign monk seemed to be very good at chanting scriptures! But the local healers seemed to be really embarrassing. Xing Xin's away match against Hundred Blossoms ended in a 4-6 defeat.

Ye Xiu was still unstoppable in the individual competition. In the team arena, Xing Xin also took it smoothly. But in the team competition, this time they lost again because the healing was not strong enough.

The fans' dissatisfaction grew even more, but now there was nothing they could do but complain. The transfer window had passed, and no matter how bad An Wenyi was, Xing Xin could only use him. Unless the team did not want a healer.

The depressed Xing Xin fans were still enthusiastic. They gave Xing Xin all kinds of suggestions, but all of them were to replace the healer. Inspired by 301, everyone's vision began to be limited to within the league. An unknown enthusiastic player collected a large number of match videos of healers in foreign professional leagues from who knows where, and then sent them all to Xing Xin's publicly announced team mailbox for Xing Xin to choose from.

Chen Guo was very helpless about this and had to issue a formal team announcement again, stating that the team firmly believed in An Wenyi's ability and hoped that the fans could have more patience and understanding, and jointly look forward to a better future.

Once the announcement was released, it convinced some people, but there would always be stubborn ones. Xing Xin's strong support once again made them begin to fabricate various reasons. The reason of being kept by the boss could no longer satisfy their integrity.

Counting the defeat to 301 in the nineteenth round, this was already Xing Xin's three-game losing streak. However, the changes on the leaderboard were once again pitifully small. No one cared about which of the 17th and 18th-ranked teams, Yue Yun and Zhao Hua, were up or down. Another change in this round was that Void, who lost 3-7 to Thunder on the road, was surpassed by Misty Rain, who defeated Royal Wind 7-3. But the two teams were still more than 20 points away from the playoff zone. The team that was closing in on the playoff zone was the 301 team. They won against Xing Xin in the 19th round, and then Bai Shu joined. Xing Xin had lost three consecutive matches since that round, while they had won three consecutive matches. The gap between them and the eighth-ranked Howling team on the leaderboard had been narrowed to 13 points.

The 301 team seemed to be making a strong effort in the second half of the season. And Yang Cong's abdication and the foreign professional player becoming the main force had changed the 301 team's tactical style. Yang Cong seemed to be addicted to sheming yiji (life-sacrificing strike). The 301 team might really make this their mainstream style of play. And everyone was also very curious about how many unshown abilities Bai Shu, the player who rose up in the foreign league, still had.

As for the problems Xing Xin was currently encountering, who would really worry about them except for their loyal fans? Ruan Cheng and his ilk had found a treasure during this time. Their aversion to Tang Rou had turned into anger towards the entire Xing Xin team. If they couldn't find a new point to attack Tang Rou, then directly attacking the team as a whole would also be great.

In the new issue of Esports Times, Ruan Cheng wrote a long article criticizing Xing Xin. But this article came at the wrong time. In the twenty-second round of matches, Xing Xin welcomed Zhao Hua at home. With Xing Xin's current situation, it wouldn't be Zhao Hua's turn to slap their face. As a result, Xing Xin, after a three-game losing streak, scored another 10-0, which was a slap in the face to Ruan Cheng who had criticized them.

Ruan Cheng was also crying without tears. There was nothing he could do. Their Esports Times was a bi-monthly magazine, and its timeliness was worse than that of newspapers. This article of his came out when the twenty-second round of matches had just finished. On one side was the invincible score of 10-0, and on the other side was Ruan Cheng's various criticisms of Xing Xin.

Are you blind?

Countless Xing Xin fans scolded Esports Times and Ruan Cheng.