Already… over?

Zhang Jiale's hands remained on the keyboard and mouse, even though his Dazzling Hundred Blossoms had fallen fully five minutes ago.

The first Ba Tu team member to fall was Lin Jingyan’s Dark Thunder, followed by his Dazzling Hundred Blossoms. After that, he had been using the after-death perspective, floating in the air like a soul, watching Team Samsara continue their relentless pursuit.

Qin Mubai’s Zero Degrees Celsius fell.

Zhang Xinjie’s Immovable Rock fell.

Then came Han Wenqing's Desert Dust and Bai Yanfei's Rota, who even when only two remained, didn't give up. They fought with all their might, ultimately taking down Samsara’s Wu Qi’s assassin Cruel Silence before falling together.

Glory!

Like in an online game’s arena, those two words popped up on the screen after the team competition. But Glory didn’t belong to him, because he, once again, had lost…

How many times was that?

Zhang Jiale really didn’t want to think about it.

This time, he had abandoned everything, enduring the fans’ scolding and the torment in his heart.

Just this once, once was enough.

He always told himself that. But just this once, he was still one step short, just one victory short. He had won countless victories in his career, so why did he always fall at this particular point?

Zhang Jiale really couldn’t believe it. He was a little lost, and he even forgot what he should do at this moment. It wasn’t until someone knocked on the door of the competition booth that he suddenly came back to his senses.

Han Wenqing, the core of Ba Tu who never knew what retreat meant.

Zhang Xinjie, the tactical master who never made mistakes on the field.

And Lin Jingyan, abandoned by his team, but who had rediscovered his form in Ba Tu, a second-season veteran like himself.

And Qin Muyun, Bai Yanfei…

His teammates were all standing outside, each with the pain of losing the match on their face, but each also trying their best to hide it. Seeing him come out, Lin Jingyan even forced a smile. It was probably the ugliest smile Zhang Jiale had ever seen in his life.

“Too bad…” Lin Jingyan managed to say. Although he was also very sad, he knew, and everyone in Ba Tu knew, that Zhang Jiale's pain was probably greater than anyone else’s there.

Because he carried too much, and he had fallen at this point too many times.

Han Wenqing and Zhang Xinjie at least already had a championship in hand.

Lin Jingyan, this was actually the first time he had ever played in the finals. Getting this far already felt like a bonus to him. Although the final defeat was also a huge regret, at least he didn't have as much psychological baggage as Zhang Jiale.

Only Zhang Jiale…

“I…” Zhang Jiale started to say, but hesitated.

“You’re not going to retire again, are you?” Lin Jingyan said.

“That wouldn’t be good.”

“There’s still plenty of time.”

“Yeah, we still have a chance.”

“The next season is starting in the blink of an eye.”

“Yeah, it feels like it’s tomorrow.”

“I can’t wait.”

“I…” Zhang Jiale opened his mouth again, and everyone immediately shut up, all looking at him.

“I was going to say, I’m fine,” Zhang Jiale said.

The others exchanged glances. After the match, everyone came out of the competition booths, but Zhang Jiale's side remained still. For a moment, they even thought of the worst possible scenario. It wasn’t until Zhang Jiale came out that everyone felt a little relieved and quickly began to comfort him, but in the end, he said he was fine.

Yes, I'm fine. Zhang Jiale looked around, feeling like the entire audience was looking at him. But he was fine. He did carry a lot, but it was all based on his choices. Sun Zheping told him to completely shoot down all distractions, and Zhang Jiale had tried to do so, but in the end, he found that he had failed after all. Perhaps only someone like Sun Zheping could do such a thing. So, in the end, Zhang Jiale bundled up these so-called distractions and carried them on his shoulders. This was his method. He couldn’t abandon them, but he wouldn’t be weak anymore. He would carry these things clearly! And now, it was just a matter of packing up one more bundle.

“Yeah, I’m fine. What about you guys, are you all right?” Zhang Jiale actually asked everyone back.

The others exchanged glances again.

“Since everyone’s okay, let’s go.” Han Wenqing waved his hand, turned around decisively, and the six Ba Tu members walked out of the arena with their heads held high. Suddenly, applause rang out in the venue. The fans were certainly disappointed that they had lost the match. However, they saw the team’s performance. From beginning to end, they didn’t see the team being weak, didn’t see the team giving up. They kept fighting, they kept trying. Their performance deserved applause. They didn’t need to feel ashamed for losing.

The applause grew louder and louder, and the six Ba Tu members waved to the audience. Although they had lost the match, they wouldn’t fall, no matter what they carried on their backs.

The audience was applauding, the staff on site put down their work and applauded, and even the players of the champion Samsara team stood on the sidelines and applauded. Not for themselves, but for Ba Tu. Although they had lost the match, they had earned respect, the respect of everyone.

Afterward, the venue held the award ceremony for Samsara. Samsara quietly accepted the trophy, without any celebration, just like last year. However, they were the second team in Jia Shi’s history to win consecutive championships, and they were very likely to create a new dynasty. No one would ignore this.

At the post-match press conference, the Ba Tu team appeared first. All six players who participated in the team competition sat on the stage. They looked at the reporters below, but found that the reporters looked even more tragic than they did.

“Can we start?” In the end, Captain Han Wenqing took the initiative to ask.

“Uh, a very regrettable loss. Do you have anything to say?” A reporter seized the opportunity to ask.

“It is indeed regrettable, but there’s no way around it. There can only be one champion,” Han Wenqing said.

“What are your thoughts on the performance of both sides in this match?” Someone asked. Having lost the match by such a large margin, Ba Tu’s performance certainly deserved scrutiny. However, unlike at the beginning of the match, everyone had already seen and thought about the issue of Ba Tu’s players running out of stamina as the match progressed. The reporters were also clear about this, otherwise there wouldn’t have been applause at the scene after such a loss, and the reporters’ questions wouldn’t have been so polite.

“Both sides worked very hard. I think whichever team wins the championship, they deserve it,” Han Wenqing said.

“What plans and intentions do Ba Tu and Ba Tu’s players have for the coming year?” A reporter asked, deliberately emphasizing “Ba Tu’s players.” At this time, all the reporters glanced at Zhang Jiale, intentionally or unintentionally, just like the Ba Tu players were most concerned about him after the loss. The reporters were also very clear that Zhang Jiale would face the greatest impact from this loss.

“As always.” In the end, Han Wenqing gave an extremely concise answer.

However, the reporters were too concerned about this question. They couldn’t care less about being cruel and finally asked directly by name, “I would like to ask Zhang Jiale for his personal opinion. Can you say a few words to us?”

“Me?” Zhang Jiale, who had been called out by name, looked at the reporters below the stage and actually smiled. “Isn’t this something I should be used to by now?”

The audience was stunned.

It was a self-deprecating joke, but no one could really laugh.

Was he already discouraged? That’s why he made such a joke?

As a result, everyone soon heard Zhang Jiale continue to say, “As for the future, as our captain said, as always.”

“Yes, well summarized, as always,” Lin Jingyan also nodded and said.

The reporters had originally wanted to call out Lin Jingyan’s name as well, but when they saw that he was also expressing the same sentiment, they immediately understood completely that even such a painful defeat could not crush any of them. In the coming year’s competition, they would still see this group of unyielding veterans fighting and working hard for the glory they had been pursuing all along.

The reporters had nothing more to ask about this match. The other players on the Ba Tu team, Zhang Xinjie, was a golden generation player in his prime, and the others were not old players about to retire. The tragic color that everyone was concerned about was not strong in them.

“Uh, next season, Ye Xiu and his Happy team will appear in the professional scene, and according to the usual practice of the league’s schedule, they will most likely be Ba Tu’s first opponent. Have you thought about what you want to say to him then? You’re all old acquaintances!” The reporter began to ask some off-topic questions.

Suddenly, everyone in Happy who was watching the broadcast turned their attention to Ye Xiu. Ye Xiu calmly drank his tea.

“Crap… I’m definitely going to be ridiculed by that guy, right?” Zhang Jiale said.

“Ah, what does that mean?” A reporter asked quickly, but Zhang Jiale had already fallen silent.

“I hope he focuses on the competition and doesn’t go to the online game to cause trouble for everyone,” Lin Jingyan said.

“Um, what do you mean by that?” The reporter asked again, but Lin Jingyan didn’t say anything more.

Everyone looked at Han Wenqing.

“Defeat him as always,” Han Wenqing said.

As always, again as always, the problem is that you don’t seem to have defeated him many times before, right? This “as always” isn’t a very appropriate way to put it, is it? The reporters secretly grumbled in their hearts. The information they got from Han Wenqing was always mostly slogans.

In the end, all the reporters placed their hopes on Zhang Xinjie, hoping to get a bit of explosive material from here.

“Time’s up.” As a result, Zhang Xinjie glanced at the time. “It’s time to end, right!”

“Ah, ah, ah… Vice-Captain Zhang, say a few more words about Ye Xiu?” The reporters wailed. However, time was up. This was a problem that Zhang Xinjie cared more about. In comparison, Ye Xiu seemed very insignificant. The players of the Ba Tu team got up one after another and soon left the press conference venue.