Chapter 1 This Finale

As expected, this final match didn't betray the expectations of all sides. One hour before the official start of the competition, the Liulingsong Comprehensive Gymnasium was already packed.

This wasn't Excellent Era's home court, but the influence of a powerhouse team couldn't be compared to those of teams like Zhuxian and Xuanqi. In this final showdown, Excellent Era's fans also gathered together. There were local self-organized groups, as well as the most die-hard fans from H City, who always followed the team, Excellent Era's most hardcore Praetorian Guard, who arrived at the scene for this match. Looking around the arena, supportive slogans for Excellent Era were everywhere. But in comparison, there were really only a few that directly wished them victory in tonight's match; more of the banners pointed towards the coming year, towards Excellent Era sweeping all before them in the Alliance.

Just like the pre-match surveys showed, even though many people were hoping for Happy to win, more people still favored Excellent Era in their predictions of the outcome. As Excellent Era's most loyal fans, how could they doubt their super team at this time? In comparison, even the players who were hoping for Happy to win were only silently anticipating a good show. Shout out slogans? They were afraid of being thought of as fools.

But under such a prevailing wind, there just happened to be a group of fools who, in a sea of Excellent Era flags, held up Happy's banner high and shouted that they would defeat Excellent Era. They became the laughingstock of many people around them, but they didn't care. They were Happy's most steadfast supporters. The players and characters of the Happy Team had shared a bond with them since the online game.

"Happy! Happy!" Tian Qi led the crowd, shouting as hard as they could, just to remind everyone not to ignore Happy's existence.

The Excellent Era fans quickly discovered this small group of guys who didn't know the immensity of the situation, and immediately all kinds of mockery, sarcasm, and gossip came flying over. Tian Qi and the others remained unmoved, continuing to express their formal support for Happy with their actions.

At 7:30 PM, the lighting system in the stadium gradually began to dim bit by bit, and the audience immediately became excited, because this indicated that the start of the match was approaching.

Whether it was early electronic screen broadcasts or the current holographic projections, both undoubtedly required a concentration of light. Watching Glory's professional matches was almost like watching a movie. Once it officially started, everything except the match scene was pitch black. If it weren't for this uniquely favorable condition, it would have been difficult for Ye Xiu to have played for so many years without his true identity being recognized.

When the lighting was almost completely dimmed, the live commentator began to announce the players' entrance loudly. First, it was the Excellent Era Team. The first to enter was Xiao Shiqin, the God who resolutely transferred to the relegated Excellent Era because he was optimistic about Excellent Era's future. The spotlight shone on the player通道 (player passage) at this moment, and Xiao Shiqin quickly walked out, waving to the audience. He wasn't unfamiliar with such a scene, but he hadn't experienced it for a whole year. Looking at the holographic projection of his character, Sheng Lingmie, displayed on the field with his appearance, even Xiao Shiqin found it fresh and interesting.

The vivid character displayed its combat prowess on the field, and the audience applauded enthusiastically. Then the spotlight was transferred to the second Excellent Era player to appear, and the holographic projection character on the field also changed.

This was a brand-new way for players to appear after the advent of holographic projection. The atmosphere at the scene was completely ignited. Excellent Era fans screamed and cheered. All of this reached a climax with the appearance of their last player to enter, Sun Xiang, and their ace character, One Autumn Leaf.

After Excellent Era, it was Happy's turn to appear. As soon as the live commentator mentioned their name, the audience was already filled with boos. Then, when the commentator introduced Ye Xiu as the first player to appear, the boos reached a complete climax, interspersed with a lot of curses. When the holographic projection of Ye Xiu's character, Lord Grim, was presented, the scene was filled with laughter.

Because it was just a solo performance, there was no need to zoom in or out. The character's image was even taller than the real person, so the equipment on the character's body looked even clearer. Thus, the joke about Lord Grim's mismatched equipment was also amplified.

Lord Grim's outfit, although all level 75 orange equipment, encompassed the five major categories of cloth, leather, chain, heavy, and plate armor. How could the players not laugh at this? This mixed and matched style of dress was really too novel and interesting.

Amidst the laughter, the scene became even more chaotic. The loyal Excellent Era fans, while ridiculing this outfit, continued to loudly curse the ungrateful wretch in their eyes. Some even tried to rush into the arena, but they were quickly restrained by security and expelled from the venue. For such a topical and controversial match, the venue had long made targeted arrangements and deployments for this kind of potentially radical behavior.

After Ye Xiu, the booing towards Happy was significantly smaller. By the time Luo Ji and An Wenyi appeared, there was almost no sound. Tian Qi and his group continued to shout enthusiastically, but in this packed stadium, their energy was still too small.

After the player introductions, half an hour had passed. The player booths on both sides were now ready. Over at the player preparation area, Excellent Era's boss, Tao Xuan, personally came to supervise the battle. Before the start of the match, he came over to greet Ye Xiu politely, putting on a show for all the Excellent Era fans watching.

Then came the final preparations before the match. At this point, the starting lists for both sides were set and could no longer be changed. However, there were rumors that with the use of the new competition system, the Alliance might also change the arrangement of players' appearances, changing it to teams temporarily assigning players on the spot instead of determining the list in advance. But that would all be later. This match would continue with the old way of thinking. Close to 8 o'clock, the referee came over to call for the first players from both teams to prepare when Happy's first player had already stood up.

Tang Rou!

Happy had sent Tang Rou as their first player.

This was Ye Xiu's arrangement, and she herself was very satisfied with it. Because Excellent Era's first player, barring any unforeseen events, should be Sun Xiang. Of course, Tang Rou was very interested in fighting against such a strong player. And according to Ye Xiu's analysis of the match, the combination of Sun Xiang and One Autumn Leaf was currently one that none of Happy's players could directly contend with. Ye Xiu had considered many plans, and ultimately decided to have Tang Rou go first, meeting force with force. If Tang Rou's burst of strength exceeded expectations and she won, that would naturally be great. If not, Tang Rou's fighting style would probably have already provoked Sun Xiang to go all out. Therefore, the second player to appear would be Mo Fan.

Mo Fan's silent and super-patient play style would leave Sun Xiang's pent-up passion from the previous match with nowhere to go, turning it into annoyance. Under this kind of mentality, it would be easier for him to make mistakes. It was most suitable for Mo Fan to slowly wear him down. Even if he didn't win this match, then in the third match, Happy would send Wei Chen to deal with Sun Xiang, who had just finished a frustrating match, using his cunning and underhanded tactics.

Tang Rou, Mo Fan, Wei Chen.

This was Happy's starting lineup for the team competition's first three slots, and this arrangement was entirely aimed at Sun Xiang alone. Although Sun Xiang had never gained the upper hand over Happy in words, this hadn't made Ye Xiu underestimate his Glory level in the slightest. He even made a deployment to fight three against one.

Tang Rou walked towards the Happy competition booth on the right, and the announcer at the scene announced the first match lineup for the team competition at this time.

Happy Team, Tang Rou, character, Battle Mage Soft Mist.

Excellent Era Team, Xiao Shiqin, character, Mechanic Sheng Lingmie.

Xiao Shiqin!?

The moment she heard the name, Tang Rou stopped in surprise and looked back.

She hadn't walked far, and she clearly saw that the player preparing to leave in Excellent Era's player preparation area was the bespectacled player who looked extremely refined.

It wasn't Sun Xiang who was first? The surprised ones in Happy Team weren't just Tang Rou at this moment. Everyone looked towards Excellent Era's preparation area, and their gazes made Sun Xiang feel great. He clapped and laughed over there, pointing at Happy's group like he was watching monkeys in a zoo.

"Did you think I would be the first to fight? Fooled you, hahaha!" Sun Xiang would never easily let go of such an opportunity, and immediately shouted loudly.

Xiao Shiqin turned back and glanced at Happy's players, smiled slightly, then turned back and resolutely walked towards Excellent Era's competition booth.

Happy didn't have any contempt for Sun Xiang, but now it seemed that Excellent Era also hadn't underestimated Happy. Was Sun Xiang's flamboyant provocation to take five heads intentionally, or was it a brainless move that the team had taken advantage of to make adjustments? There was no point in speculating about this now. Just the fact that Sun Xiang wasn't the first to fight could be said to have upset Happy's tactical arrangements, not to mention that the opponent might have interpreted Happy's possible arrangements and made deployments accordingly.

Xiao Shiqin against Tang Rou?

From this final match lineup, Ye Xiu had already smelled a hint of being targeted. Having a player with such a high tactical literacy like Xiao Shiqin to deal with a combat maniac like Tang Rou was indeed the best choice. But then he thought about it again. A player with such a high Glory IQ like Xiao Shiqin could be said to be on par with any type of player. Perhaps having him lead was just a transitional arrangement to stabilize the situation.

The unexpected arrangement disrupted Ye Xiu's deployment, causing him to constantly analyze the situation. Although the starting list had been confirmed, he could also give the players different instructions depending on the situation.

Ye Xiu looked towards Tang Rou, and saw that this girl had a rather regretful expression on her face after seeing that Excellent Era's player was Xiao Shiqin.

Ye Xiu understood Tang Rou's expression too well, but the fact that the player who had caused her to show this expression was actually Xiao Shiqin... if others knew, who knew what they would think.

Xiao Shiqin was also an All-Star level player. Even though his reputation as a tactical master was the most well-known, even Sun Xiang wouldn't dare to say that he was certain to win in a one-on-one fight. With this level of player, let alone Xiao Shiqin, even if Zhang Xinjie came with a Priest, it was hard to say what kind of situation it would turn into!