"The one I want to challenge is Happy's Senior Ye Xiu." Li Jiu's voice echoed throughout the stadium.
Everyone was stunned, and then suddenly exploded into a large clamor.
"This kid is so daring!!" Tyranny's crowd was always wild, and quite a few people cried out. Although they hated Ye Xiu, their shameless rival, they would never deny his strength. And this newcomer actually challenged Ye Xiu! Interesting, really interesting! If Ye Xiu really lost, then it'd be interesting to the limit!
At the thought of this possibility, the audience suddenly grew excited.
In this season so far, Ye Xiu had won the individual competition 16 consecutive times. At the thought, Tyranny's fans were furious. This arrogant fellow! Can no one stop him?
The success of the All-Stars match didn't include the statistics, but Tyranny fans didn't care about that. As long as this guy admitted defeat, then they would be ecstatic!
The player that walked out was a rookie, but this was the All-Stars stage. Anything was possible. Perhaps in a less serious atmosphere, there would be mistakes he could take advantage of? The disparity between a God and rookie was not so large!
"Oh! Li Jiu wants to challenge Happy's Ye Xiu! Alright, let us welcome Ye Xiu to the stage!" The host took the lead to applaud, but the audience booed in response.
"You really are unpopular! How did you even become an All-Star? And second place too! You secretly found people to vote for you, didn't you? " Fang Rui lamented.
"Why is power of hatred so strong?" Ye Xiu deeply contemplated on this thought. He had already left the professional circle for a year and a half, but Tyranny's "welcome" was still as before!
"Stop being so disgusting! Hurry up and get on stage!" Wei Chen scolded.
Ye Xiu helplessly stood up amidst the sea of boos and bitterly smiled as he entered the stage.
This was the second-place All-Star player, plus he was someone who had never made a public appearance like this before. The host was obviously excited as well. Even before Ye Xiu got onstage, the host had already appeared before him.
"Senior Ye Xiu, hello. I suppose it's been a while since you've been here?" The host also referred to Ye Xiu as a senior.
"Yes," Ye Xiu nodded his head.
Tyranny's home stadium? After he retired in Season 8, he hadn't come back here. Although he had fought against Tyranny this season, that had been Happy's home game. If he were to try and recall, Ye Xiu couldn't really remember how long it was since he'd last been here.
"Do you have any feelings about returning to this stage?" The host asked with a smile, obviously also very attentive to the enmity between Ye Xiu and Tyranny. Thus, he purposefully asked such a question.
"Haha, it's still just as noisy," Ye Xiu said.
The audience immediately booed in protest, as if they had specially coordinated with him to create such a scene.
"What are your thoughts on being the first one named for a challenge?" the host asked again.
Follow on NovᴇlEnglish.nᴇt"Fame follows merit," Ye Xiu answered simply.
"Ah? What does that mean?" The host was baffled.
"Number one!" Ye Xiu said.
The host was stunned. What was this troublemaker trying to do? The host resisted the urge to boo alongside the audience.
"Alright, let's ask Li Jiu a question. Why did you choose to challenge Senior Ye Xiu?" The host turned his attention to Li Jiu, paying no heed to Ye Xiu.
"Because Ye Xiu's record this season has been very good. I want to try and challenge him." Li Jiu merely replied.
"Oh, so to say, you want to end Senior Ye Xiu's winning streak?" the host asked.
"No, I don't dare!" Li Jiu immediately responded, but his gaze still revealed a faint anticipation.
So, the host turned to Ye Xiu with a smile. "Senior Ye Xiu, would you accept that if you lose this match, you break your winning streak?"
Ye Xiu grinned. "So if I win, will that count toward my winning streak?"
"Haha, sincere fans will surely remember." Quick witted as he was, he responded to Ye Xiu's question very quickly, and then seamlessly changed the topic. "Is there anything the two of you would like to say to each other?"
"Better work hard, kid. On the battlefield, I'm very serious and very ferocious," Ye Xiu said.
The audience's jeers grew in volume and the host was overcome with emotion. Ye Xiu and Tyranny's enmity really had an undeserved reputation. Ye Xiu had only been on stage for only a few minutes, but the deafening boos reverberated for what must have been the fourth time.
"Please advise me, Senior." Li Jiu's response was very ordinary, but the thunderous applause from the audience surprised him. Confused, he asked himself, had he actually said something brilliant?
His words were certainly not brilliant. Tyranny's fans simply wanted to make Ye Xiu lose face, so they purposely supported the rookie.
Both players entered their respective booths and logged into their characters. The host then walked offstage. With such an easy-going atmosphere, he stood at the side of the stage and trash talked like a fan.
"Good! The match started! Let us see how serious and cruel God Ye Xiu is!"
"Both sides meet! They're starting!"
"Oh!"
"Oh no..."
"Oh my god!"
"This… Li Jiu totally cannot counter God Ye Xiu's seriousness and cruelty!"
"Alright, it's over..."
A little over a minute. That was how long it took for the match to conclude. Li Jiu's loss hadn't been too unsightly, but when he came out, his face was completely flushed red to the tips of his ears. The match had been totally one-sided. He could say that he was completely defenseless against the formidable Unspecialized. He, like many others before him, only knew after having experienced it, that all his prior preparations and plans could not be put forth in the match at all. He could only subconsciously respond and follow the unspecialized's fighting rhythm. What was more, he couldn't even fully grasp the rhythm, much less try to win.
"Many thanks for your guidance." Li Jiu had lost thoroughly, and that wistful hope of victory made him feel extremely ashamed.
"Keep trying harder," Ye Xiu chuckled. Then he waved at the audience and walked off amidst the jeers.
"He went too far! Towards a rookie, that was so cruel!"
"Yeah! He doesn't have any human feelings!"
"Any other player would have gone easier on him!"
The various discussions weaving through the audience weren't whispers. Everyone hoped these words would make it to Ye Xiu's ears. They wanted to make him feel ashamed.
But it was a shame. In the midst of the discussions, Ye Xiu had taken it in stride and was cheerfully chatting with his fellow Happy players.
"What a shame! Li Jiu couldn't stop God Ye Xiu's winning streak!" Onstage, the host joked, and then looked at the card in his hand. "Then next up, let's invite Miracle's rookie, Guo Shao!"
"Oh, Guo Shao! I've paid attention to this player before! He's pretty good!"
Compared to their reaction to the previous player, Li Jiu, the audience was more spirited this time. Team Miracle. This team had just joined the Alliance, and after 17 rounds, they sat at 14th place with 58 points. For new teams, this was considered quite good. Although this team were mainly made up of Excellent Era's ex-team members, Guo Shao originally came from Miracle and had caught the attention of many parties. Based on many of the individual statistics, Guo Shao was a strong contender for the title of Best Newcomer this season. Even if Miracle's overall placing was relatively weak, there was no reason for a rookie to bear responsibility for the team's results. . This was an important difference between the awards for Best Newcomer and MVP.
For Best Newcomer, the main topic of consideration was the rookie player's performance and statistics.
But for the MVP, the team's performance as a whole was an extremely important consideration. Otherwise, where else could the three words "Most Valuable Player" come from?
Guo Shao received booming applause, but very quickly, the jeers filled the stadium once more.
"Yes, the one I would like to challenge is also Senior Ye Xiu..." Guo Shao said.
Ye Xiu was in a daze. His butt hadn't even warmed the seat yet! But he had to go onstage again?
"Go, go. Keep up your win streak!" Fang Rui relished in Ye Xiu's misfortunes.
Ye Xiu had no choice but to stand up with another bitter smile and return onstage amidst the jeers.
The host chuckled, delightfully greeting Ye Xiu. "I didn't think we'd meet so soon again."
Follow on Novᴇl-Onlinᴇ.cᴏm"You're too kind," Ye Xiu responded.
"Then, Guo Shao? Why did you choose to challenge God Ye Xiu?" the host asked Guo Shao.
"Ever since we met last time in an Alliance battle, I've been looking forward to having another match with Senior!" Guo Shao didn't hide his excitement.
"Sounds like you've come prepared?" the host asked with a smile.
"Of course," Guo Shao nodded.
"Really? Then show me what you've got!" Ye Xiu said.
"Okay Senior, let's start then!" Guo Shao rushed to his competitor booth.
After several minutes...
"You prepared quite well," Ye Xiu said.
"But I still lost." Guo Shao was upset.
"Winning isn't so simple." Ye Xiu said.
"Being able to quickly chain together so many low-level skills really allows the Unspecialized to have incredible movement ability!" Guo Shao lamented.
"Yeah, Launchers need to fight at a distance, so it's especially difficult," Ye Xiu said.
"Yeah, I thought of some solutions, but after this, it looks like they still weren't enough!" Guo Shao said.
"Hey hey, like I said, it's not so simple."
"But I felt there was a tiny short lag when you tried connecting the Slide Kick with Shining Cut."
"Oh? You noticed?"
"I tried to take advantage of that opportunity, but it was still very difficult," Guo Shao scratched his head.
"Do you need me to repeat for the third time that it's not that simple?" Ye Xiu sighed with emotion.
"I'll continue to work hard!" Guo Shao gave Ye Xiu a thumbs up.
"Alright, I look forward to meeting you the next time!" Ye Xiu nodded.
"Thank you to the two players for the splendid match," the host said, a helpless expression on his face. "But the two of you, next time can you not just talk amongst yourselves? Say some words to the audience too," he complained weakly as he eyed the retreating backs of the two players that conversed until they returned to their teams.