Translator: Nomyummi Editor: Nomyummi
In the end, Cui Li was carried out on a stretcher, accompanied by an entourage of flashes. After the press conference had been disrupted, Excellent Era's press officer charged in, stopping the reporters that would like nothing more than to follow them all the way and take pictures.
"Sorry everyone, but with this incident, the interviews will end here today." The press officer said, ignoring the complaints of the reporters and herding the attending members of Excellent Era out.
The reporters loudly objected, but Excellent Era was steadfast in their decision, leaving a "we'll be holding another press conference in the near future, so you're welcome to come and ask whatever inquires you have then." In the blink of an eye, all of Excellent Era's people had left.
The reporters couldn't do anything about Excellent Era's steadfast decision, which ignored any way they could condemn them with their words. However, while they only had the chance to ask two questions, they managed to elicit very interesting responses. A question that could cause the answering side to faint? How much information was Excellent Era hiding in regards to the answer behind this question?
Though they might not get an answer today, the reporters wouldn't be discouraged. A monk might be able to run, but his monastery couldn't. It wasn't like such a large organization such as Excellent Era could disappear overnight. The reporters were all formulating their plans for the following interview.
Excellent Era might have escaped, but the press conference would continue. No matter how famous Excellent Era was, or how much there was to talk about, the champions were the true main characters of the night.
The reporters waited patiently. If they couldn't get their answers from Excellent Era, then they would get them from Happy. The central figure to all of these questions was a part of Team Happy, after all.
Yet after waiting for a long time, they were still left without their targets. That was when the press officer of the Alliance walked in with an awkward expression on his face. His originally impeccable suit was wrinkled all over.
"Sorry everyone, but the press conference today will have to end here." The press officer walked onstage and, seeing the anxious gazes below, announced with embarrassment.
"What?" All the reporters crashed to the ground.
"You've got to be fucking kidding me!" Someone hollered.
"What about Happy?"
"That's right, Happy's players haven't arrived yet!"
"Happy's people, they left…" The press officer also sounded depressed as he informed the others. After the award ceremony, all the employees had come to clean the place up. There was quite a lot of chaos. Pro players all knew what to do. For example, Team Excellent Era's players went to wait for the press conference backstage without prompting.
As for Happy? Well, they left.
Yup, they left. They didn't tell anyone, and no one noticed. This was because this was impossible to anyone with common sense. No one would be on guard for the team that had just finished a match.
Thus, Team Happy really did leave. It wasn't until the press conference was ready to start when the Alliance realized that only Excellent Era was present, while Happy was nowhere to be seen.
The employees looked for them everywhere with all their might, but they couldn't find anything. In the end, they asked around before finally getting word that a large group of people had left, yelling "we're the champions!"
Happy's player? Or Happy's fans?
They didn't know. All they knew was that Happy's people had left. They had stood up the press conference.
It was a good thing that Happy was going second, being the victors, so the Alliance still held a slither of hope. They hurried to find a way to contact Happy, rushing to get Happy back before Excellent Era's press conference ended.
Who would've thought that Excellent Era wouldn't be so cooperative either? It was only the second question and someone had already fainted.
The Alliance couldn't stop them from ending the press conference with this reason. However, on the other side, they hadn't even found Happy's contact info yet!
Chairman Feng Xianjun, having been informed of this, was stunned. No way? In the past, it was Ye Xiu who refused to attend these kinds of events, could it be that the entirety of Happy would refuse to attend these events now? That was too against the rules; that was most certainly not allowed to happen.
"We must find him and figure out what this is about!" That was the order the chairman gave.
They had found Happy's number and hurriedly called, but no one ever picked up. The Alliance was helpless in this situation and they couldn't have the reporters wait there forever, so the press officer had to go and announce that the press conference was over.
The press officer knew how awkward this situation was and was prepared to be surrounded and bombarded by the complaints of reporters, but Happy had left and they couldn't find them, so what could they do? The press officer could only face things with a strained smile.
The finals of the Challenger League, the press conference with all the juicy information that the reporters had been waiting for, yet it had been stopped with the fainting of a single person?
No one would accept that.
The media stands had all began to plan out their next steps. The media groups with idle soldiers stationed in H City all moved their troops out towards Happy Internet Cafe and Club Excellent Era. Do you really think you can escape us?
But the next day, Club Excellent Era suddenly announced that they would no longer be answering inquiries from the media. The reason, they explained, was because losing the Challenger League had brought their development to a grinding halt. Now, they had a lot of problems to deal with and didn't have the time or energy to deal with the media.
This reason seemed rather legit. Team Excellent Era had never thought they would lose the Challenger League. Their plans for the past year were all in regards to the Pro League and winning the championships. Now they had to stay in the Challenger League another year. The second coming of such a disaster was really more than they could deal with. Even disregarding that, Sun Xiang, Xiao Shiqin, these Gods, who had stayed with Excellent Era in the Challenger League for a year already, wouldn't accept having to go another year. Not just these Gods, but Zhang Jiaxing, Shen Jian, these pros, who could easily find a place in the Alliance, wouldn't be willing to continue to play in the Challenger League. There was also the rookie, Qiu Fei, who, according to the media of City B, was being sought out by Team Tiny Herb, who was looking for a chance to negotiate his transfer with Excellent Era.
This news came from a small, local paper and wasn't necessarily trustworthy, but it clearly showed that the Challenger League was a waste of even Qiu Fei's talent. Could Excellent Era keep these players?
There were, indeed, many troublesome things that Excellent Era had to deal with, but right now, the media wouldn't believe that they refused to respond to inquiries because they were busy.
They were busy, but the reason they didn't want to face the media was because they had something to hide.
The more they had to hide, the more interested the media would be in digging up their secrets. Excellent Era might have closed themselves off to the media, but the media was omnipresent and would always find a way to attack from a different angle.
First of all, they found out from one of the receptionists at Happy Internet Cafe how exactly Ye Xiu came to their Internet cafe. Though they knew that Happy was only a road apart from Excellent Era, running to an Internet cafe after leaving Excellent Era really didn't suit the status of a God of the Alliance.
Yet they didn't think it really was just as things seemed.
Happy Internet Cafe's receptionist didn't hide anything, openly admitting that Ye Xiu had come to the Internet cafe and asked for a computer then, seeing the notice that they were looking for employees, applied for the position.
A God of Glory….. after announcing his retirement had come to an internet cafe for work?
Then, the reporters were given a tour of Happy Internet Cafe and the places God Ye Xiu had fought from. There was a small bed and a whole bunch of miscellaneous items in the small storage room; the reporters almost cried.
Was this the fate of the first generation God that built up Excellent Era's dynasty and made the title of Battle God resound throughout the entire Glory scene?
On the morrow, the media was full of pictures of this heartbreaking storage room. The big websites and internet celebs were also all reposting this, and some TV companies even wanted to come and film onsite.
The Glory scene was shocked!
The fans were shocked!
The reason for Ye Xiu's departure from Excellent Era was no longer of importance. Was this what the general, who had poured sweat and tears into taking the team to its pinnacle, got for all his hard work after retirement?
Working in an Internet cafe, living in a doghouse?
"How could they do this?!" One of the randomly interviewed Glory players exclaimed. "I can't imagine that a God like Ye Qiu would receive this sort of treatment after retirement. I can't imagine how Excellent Era must treat its players. Will there still be any pros willing to play for them after this? Oh, that's not right. What pro would be willing to go to a team in the Challenger League?!" This player really could trash talk, wiping a fistful of salt over Excellent Era's wounds.
"Ye Xiu, in this situation, after retirement? This can't be true, right? It isn't some sort of scam, is it?" There were also some who were doubtful.
"This is so hard to believe! What kind of club is Excellent Era? It doesn't matter what they've achieved. Letting the person who brought them to such heights fall into such destitution. All I can say to that is that they truly are heartless. This kind of team deserves to be relegated. Good work, Ye Xiu. I watched the finals of the Challenger League, spectacular, amazing, awesome, fuck!"
"I think this is suspicious. Think of what value God Ye Xiu has. All he did was retire, why is it like he's cutting all ties or something? This is suspicious, too suspicious."
The aforementioned interviews weren't conducted with Excellent Era supports. Apart from the few doubtful ones, the others all cursed openly, unafraid of the consequences.
As for Excellent Era fans? In the face of this truth, they were heartbroken, sorrowful, wanting to explain things for their team but not able to find an excuse.
"I think… It's not as simple as it seems. There must be something more to it." In the hearts of Excellent Era's fans, they still had hope for the better. They all wanted to believe that their God, and their team held love for one another.
"Fuck, this must be Ye Xiu's way of getting pity and intentionally trying to tarnish Excellent Era's name. Who the hell would believe that this is what happened to a God like that? Not me, at least." There were also those who still supported Excellent Era and ignored the truth, deriving things through their own logic.
"I don't know…" And then there were some fans who were like Team Excellent Era when faced with this question. They fell silent, unable to answer. No matter what, all that was left was hurt.
However, most Excellent Era fans couldn't stand this torment and held massive gatherings, protesting in front of Club Excellent Era daily and requesting the club to end their silent and give an explanation.
Chapter 1055: Excellent Era’s Silence
Translator: Nomyummi Editor: Nomyummi
The Challenger League finals came to an end on Friday night. The following evening was the 37th round of the regular season of the season nine Glory Pro League, as well as the second to last round. A few teams had their rankings set in stone by then, but some were still fighting for a place in the playoffs or the right to stay in the Alliance.
Yet on such a crucial match day, there was a blanket of reports on the results of the Challenger League finals.
Happy had truly created a miracle.
The entire Glory circle was enthusiastically discussing this topic.
And on the following Sunday, the pitiful truth surrounding Ye Xiu's treatment after his retirement had elicited another wave of attention and discussion. All of Glory was discussing this gossip. The media fell right to Ye Xiu's side in this argument, all ganging up on Excellent Era together. Amongst the majority of Glory players, Excellent Era also took the brunt of shame and disdain.
The pro circle also placed heavy importance on this. Many media groups used mobile, QQ, and other methods to interview pro players on their opinions.
"This is a disgrace." Han Wenqing, the captain of Team Tyranny, who had already cemented their place as first in the regular season, stated in anger.
"Considering the position Ye Xiu has in the Glory circle, I believe all the pros are bitterly disappointed in Team Excellent Era for the situation that they left Ye Xiu in after his retirement," was Team Blue Rain's captain, Yu Wenzhou's opinion.
"Without a doubt, Ye Xiu has been treated unfairly." Team Tiny Herb's captain, Wang Jiexi, said.
"This isn't right," Team Samsara's captain, Zhou Zekai, expressed.
The pro players from the powerhouse teams almost seemed to have discussed this beforehand and condemned Excellent Era for their behavior solemnly.
Team Excellent Era was facing an unprecedented crisis of trust!
As the media group holding the most authority in the Glory circle, Esports Home liberally used up pages to report this shocking news on their Monday issue. On the other hand, the crucial 37th round of matches was only given a casual report of the results on the front page. The contents of the matches were several pages in. The news that took up the most eye catching placements were all on the Challenger League, Ye Xiu and Excellent Era.
Esports Home never exaggerated just to attract attention. Excellent Era, which had hurriedly gone silent and hid away from the public, was like a guilty coward in the eyes of the people. From the media to the normal players, pressure was being placed on them from all sides. However, Excellent Era was strangely stubborn with their public relations this time and didn't make any moves to soothe the situation. Club Excellent Era's doors were sealed and the players that gathered at their building never managed to catch a single member of Excellent Era. No one knew what Excellent Era was thinking.
Many people sensed something strange from Excellent Era's inaction.
The protests continued for two days and, Wednesday evening, a piece of news began to circulate online. Someone said they had seen a meeting between the higher-ups of Excellent Era and Samsara in City S.
What was Excellent Era planning?
This rumor without proof immediately had people's thoughts spiralling out of control. At such a time, Excellent Era interacting with other teams was a very strange sight. Was Excellent Era planning to give up on itself and throw a clearance sale?
The rumors spread rapidly. Immediately, reporters were sent to Club Samsara to divulge the truth from them. Team Samsara ended up being very open about it, openly admitting that they were in negotiations with Excellent Era about purchases, but they didn't leak anything about the contents of these negotiations.
Even after the June sixth Friday issue of Esports Home came out, Excellent Era still maintained their silence and ignored all the requests and demands from the fans.
June 7th was the last day of the regular season, but on this day, Excellent Era finally opened up to the media and what they had to say was a massive bombshell: Club Excellent Era was up for sale.
The boss of Excellent Era, Tao Xuan, told his spokesman to say that after being the head of Excellent Era for all this time, he felt bone-deep exhaustion; it was time for him to change his lifestyle. Thus, he had decided to sell Club Excellent Era and hoped that his successor could bring Excellent Era glory once more. As for him, personally? He would always be Excellent Era's most loyal fan.
It sounded nice, but everyone knew what this was about with a glance. Excellent Era could endure this crisis and didn't plan to try. Boss Tao Xuan was already preparing to abandon ship.
However, was it so easy to find someone to accept current Excellent Era?
Excellent Era, having not made any attempt to soothe public relations, only found themselves with more and more dirt being dug out. Now, Excellent Era's name had been completely tarnished and not even their glorious dynasty of the past could save them. Not only was their name dragged through the dirt, they didn't have the qualifications to the Pro League either. Disregarding this though, their hardware was still the cream of the crop in the Glory circle, and this made the selling of Excellent Era very complicated.
In simple terms, Excellent Era's hardware was as spectacular as ever, but its software was nothing but a mess.
Yet it was this software that truly represented the value of the two words "Excellent Era". Now that the software was destroyed, no one would want this anymore. As for the hardware, if anyone wanted it, they could seek out that they needed. With Excellent Era and Samsara already in negotiations, this was made very clear. Team Samsara wouldn't purchase Excellent Era. What were they interested in, seeking out Excellent Era for negotiations? Players? Characters?
After coming to such a realization, Excellent Era's fans panicked.
Putting Excellent Era up for sale. This was clearly a clearance sale preceding Excellent Era's disbandment! After this, could Excellent Era still stay alive?
For Excellent Era's fans, this wasn't something that they could ever accept. No matter if Excellent Era was good or bad, they had entrusted so much to Excellent Era. That was something that would never change. With what had happened, they were panicking. After all, no one would ever want to see their team in such a state. Some people might leave, but there would always be those that stayed, hoping that their team would stand once more, that they would be able to be at their team's side forever.
Yet now, Excellent Era was facing disbandment and might disappear forever. The team they had poured their hearts and souls into to support, the team they had cheered for for so long, would cease to exist like this?
No!!
Not long after the news came out, Club Excellent Era was surrounded by countless people. They were far more irrational than those who had been demanding an explanation front the team. With time running out, they weren't able to make many preparations. They could only yell again and again to express their feelings.
They didn't want the club to be sold. No matter what, they wanted to walk with their team until the end.
=======
Chapter 1056: At Least They’re Still With Us
Translator: Nomyummi Editor: Nomyummi
Everyone was all up in arms about Excellent Era, but where was the other star of this incident? They had yet to appear after the Challenger League.
Right now, it was the final stretch of the regular season many life and death matches were being fought. Yet, the place where the most Glory reporters had gathered was City H, which didn't even have any teams currently in the Pro League.
The reporters swarmed to take a look around the Happy Internet Cafe, and saw people protesting daily outside Club Excellent Era. But where was Ye Xiu? He was the reason that they came, but no one ever saw him. Ye Xiu didn't appear, nor did any other member of Team Happy. The people working at the Internet cafe didn't know either. It was only until they asked one of the employees to contact the boss, Chen Guo, that they found out that Team Happy was still in City B.
After the match, they had never come back.
After winning the Challenger League, Happy was drowning in delight and triumph. They had forgotten everything else. The post match press conference? What was that? Such a thought hadn't surfaced in their minds for even a second.
They had left the stadium directly and had been welcomed by a group of Guild Happy's tenth server members, led by Seven Fields. The massive group of people had gone to find a place to celebrate their victory; everyone was eager to toast God Ye Xiu. Amongst these fans was Sleeping Moon. Every time he thought of his and Lord Grim's first meeting in the tenth server, Sleeping Moon wanted to bury himself. His old friends like Seven Fields and Drifting Water still laughed at him even now: you're very brave, daring to challenge God Ye Xiu?
Sleeping Moon wanted to cry! That God was his idol. If only he had known earlier; it would have been more appropriate for him to go and lick his shoes.
After discovering Lord Grim's true identity, this had become a thorn in his heart. Today, Sleeping Moon wanted to use this chance to properly express himself and wash away the past. Holding his wine and lining up in the queue to toast, Sleeping Moon mentally prepared what he wanted to say. Yet, right after the first toast, someone began shouting, "What happened? What happened?"
Sleeping Moon rushed over and took a look at what was happening. Was the God drunk?
"What did you put in the drink?" No one believed the truth and mercilessly surrounded the young man who had toasted first. They immediately thought that he was a spy from Excellent Era. Did this bastard intend to poison their God?
"I didn't, I really didn't!" The young man was almost crying, trying to explain himself with the empty glass in hand.
"He… is a bit of a lightweight," Chen Guo explained, remembering Ye Xiu's younger brother, the real Ye Qiu.
He's a lightweight?
Everyone felt that boss Chen Guo's words really were modest. If he really had gotten drunk, then could you call this being a lightweight? This was a One-Hit KO!
The invincible God of Glory was instantly KO'ed by one cup of wine.
Without the star of the show, the party died down quite a bit. The players who came up to toast didn't know what to do.
That was when Sun Zheping came over, tossing the drunk Ye Xiu to one side and rolling up his sleeves, yelling, "Come on! I'll drink with you!"
The party instantly livened up. It was Chen Guo, seeing Sun Zheping about to drink without care, who said in doubt, "But, pro players don't drink, right?"
This was something that Ye Xiu had told her. If you drank too much too often, it would depress your nervous system causing your reaction speed to fall, your body to slow down and your hands to tremble. These were all taboos for pro players.
"That's right! Pro players should never drink." Hearing Chen Guo's words, Sun Zheping turned and smiled a bitter smile before raising his head and downing the cup of wine.
"Nice!!!" The players all cheered, clustering around Sun Zheping to compete.
Seeing this, Chen Guo felt melancholy in her heart. Pro players shouldn't drink, but Sun Zheping evidently no longer felt like he was a real pro player anymore. This celebratory event, for him, also held sorrow. He should have been able to do more. What little contributions he had made wasn't enough to satisfy him.
Mo Fan didn't get many chances to play and Luo Ji didn't even appear in the finals, but they had futures ahead of them. They had time and opportunity to compete, but Sun Zheping didn't. He could only end things here, heart yearning for more and victory adding to his disappointment. This was probably the reason he never returned even though he could still manage to play at a pro level with some strain. For him, this wasn't nearly enough!
"What happened, what happened?"
Chen Guo was still over here feeling melancholy for Sun Zheping when a commotion broke out there. She went over to see and found that Sun Zheping had fallen, too.
"How many glasses?" A player who was probably about to strike, holding a glass of wine, asked.
"Three?" A person with an empty glass said incredulously.
With Ye Xiu being OHKO'ed before, three glasses didn't seem all that shocking, but the problem was Sun Zheping's bring-it-on attitude from before. Everyone thought he was a great drinker who would take ages to get tipsy, but he fell at just three glasses?
Three glasses wasn't much better than one glass.
Chen Guo felt even worse now. Sun Zheping actually couldn't drink at all, could he? These gods, for their dreams, were always strict with themselves. How many years had it been since Sun Zheping had retired? He was evidently still holding himself to that rule of not touching alcohol, otherwise he wouldn't be down with just three glasses. Drinking ability was like mechanical skill; it could be trained, to some extent.
Yet Sun Zheping didn't. He persisted with the habits of pro players, protecting his own body. Did he hope to one day have the chance to return to the battlefield?
Chen Guo didn't think on it further, silently helping Sun Zheping to the side.
"Another so fast?"
On one corner of the sofa, Su Mucheng was eating sunflower seeds. The blackout drunk Ye Xiu was sleeping askew to one side. Soon enough, Sun Zheping was shoved over.
Chen Guo sighed. When she was just a fan, all she saw was the spectacular performance these Gods had on the field. She would have never considered the amount of effort they had to put in off the field.
"What's wrong?" Su Mucheng would tell how Chen Guo didn't seem very happy. This was a night of their victory. What could wash away the joy of a championship?
Chen Guo glanced at the drunken two, but didn't really know how to explain.
"Don't worry." Su Mucheng seemed to understand upon seeing Chen Guo's gaze. "At least everyone is still with us."
At least everyone is still with us...
Chen Guo didn't know how to react for a moment and glanced at the two again.
That's right. It didn't matter if it was Ye Xiu who had been kicked by his club, or Sun Zheping who could no longer reach his peak, what with the injury to his hand, or Wei Chen over there who had retired for longer than most people's pro careers yet was still doing his all to climb back to the top. Their lives hadn't been smooth, but no matter what, they didn't give up. They held hope in their hearts and charged forwards at every opportunity. No matter what, they were still here.
"These two useless things, my turn!" Over there, Wei Chen looked at the two drunk gods with disdain and rolled up his sleeves, preparing for battle.
The Guild Happy members muttered among themselves, not very enthusiastic about Wei Chen's upcoming performance.
"I bet four glasses and he blacks out."
"I bet five."
"I think I'll bet three."
"No one betting one glass?"
"If no one's betting one glass, I will!"
"Alright alright, confirm your bets…" They had even began a betting pool about Wei Chen.
It was doubtful that many would go home sober tonight. Chen Guo originally was going to be strict with herself, but then she drank a little out of courtesy every now and then and ended up tipsy.
Steamed Bun, Wu Chen, Luo Ji and An Wenyi were all swaying about. Even Mo Fan who barely interacted with anyone had managed to drink himself into being unable to walk straight.
"A hundred glasses! I bet a hundred glasses!" Wei Chen hollered as he walked out with the others, all supporting each other. Wei Chen didn't lose face for pro players. He really could drink. If he really managed a hundred glasses, no one would know, but at the very least he could walk by himself with some help from the wall. It was just that after he left, he got on a taxi and asked to be sent back to Happy Internet Cafe. Under the taxi driver's confused gaze, he was dragged back out.
It was a good thing that the girls hadn't gotten so drunk. After sending off wave after wave of Guild Happy players, they got the drunk guys back to the hotel.
When she next woke, it was already noon. Opening her eyes, Chen Guo was immediately blinded by the sunlight.
She glanced around her room. There was no one there. Originally, this was her and Tang Rou's room, but she didn't know where everyone slept after last night.
We… really won the Challenger League?
Chen Guo stared at the ceiling, ignoring the blinding sunlight and suddenly felt a little lost. Drunken nights were always very blurred. With their victory of the championship, it all seemed like a fantasy.
Chen Guo quickly rolled to her feet and went to find her handbag.
The handbag was right beside her pillow and Chen Guo opened it, quickly finding what she wanted.
The qualification certificate to the Pro Alliance.
Team Happy.
Yes! They really did it. All of this was real. In that moment, Chen Guo felt like she was surrounded with bliss. Last night was full of passion, excitement, energy. Only after giving it a night to sink in did the satisfaction and bliss of getting the championship really flood in.
"Where are the others?" Chen Guo hurriedly got up and charged out of her room.
The others were getting up as well, though the others who had been dead drunk weren't nearly as lively as Chen Guo, who had only been tipsy.
"You all alright?" Chen Guo greeted everyone before seeing Ye Xiu still asleep on the bed.
"He's really too weak!" Chen Guo recalled the scene from last night. "I know he's a lightweight, but getting blackout drunk with just a cup just seems unreal!"
"It's not just from drinking," Wei Chen said, "He's exhausted. Let him rest a few days!"
Chapter end
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