The King's Avatar

Fang Rui had obtained an outstanding win. Boundless Sea still had 77% health left. Du Ming left the stage downcast, but he received much applause from the crowd nonetheless. Even though he had lost quite badly, his win against Su Mucheng had been beautiful. His fans wouldn’t be so easy to forget his brilliant performance.

Even so, Du Ming was dejected. After all, apart from winning, he had brought his personal feelings into the match. When he returned to his seat and he received comfort from his teammates, he couldn’t help but glance towards Happy’s seats first.

“There’s no saving him.”

“Might as well sell him to Happy.”

“Haha, I was thinking, when we sell him to Happy, we should do it as a trade for Tang Rou. Wouldn’t that be hilarious?”

It was the finals, and Samsara was behind, but Samsara’s players could still joke around. It had to be said that the team had cultivated a healthy environment of trust and confidence. No matter what situation they were in, they always kept calm. Whether they were in the lead or falling behind, it was all a part of competing. They would face it with a hopeful outlook that they would win in the end.

“It’s my turn.”

Sun Xiang got up. He had a long history with Happy and with Ye Xiu. Two group arenas had passed in the finals. He hadn’t fought against Ye Xiu in either of them, which made his fights somewhat less storied. Right now, he was Samsara’s last player in the group arena. He would need to beat practically two challengers from Happy to win. It wasn’t looking too good for him.

However, Samsara’s fans seemed to be confident in this newly-joined member of theirs as they cheered excitedly for him. Brimming with confidence, Sun Xiang walked towards the stage and waved towards the crowd.

Group arena, deciding round. He would need to beat two opponents to win.

Sun Xiang was clear what situation he was in. Before he entered his player booth, he couldn’t help but look towards Happy’s side, at Tang Rou.

The meaning behind his gaze at Tang Rou was completely different from Du Ming’s. Du Ming had been looking forward to playing with her. On the other hand, Sun Xiang was picking a fight, telling her “I’ll be waiting”. He wasn’t a stranger to Tang Rou’s fiery fighting spirit. Tang Rou was a rookie though, while Sun Xiang was a top God. Challenging a rookie to a fight seemed rather illogical. However, his challenge had another layer of depth to it. He was completely ignoring the 77% health Fang Rui.

Fang Rui was an All-Star player. He was the master of playing dirty. Just in terms of status, he was far more suitable target for Sun Xiang to challenge. However, Sun Xiang was completely ignoring him. In Sun Xiang’s eyes, Fang Rui’s defeat was a foregone conclusion.

The Samsara fans suddenly cheered and clapped even harder.

Everyone on Happy was looking at one another. Their teammate was being disrespected, but when they remembered that the one being disrespected was Fang Rui, who had no idea what was going on, it all seemed rather funny.

“I wish I could tell him,” Su Mucheng said.

“How terrible. Let’s all give him a moment of silence,” Ye Xiu said.

“I kind of don’t want to play in today’s group arena.” These words were quite rare coming from Tang Rou, who longed for a good fight.

“Yeah, that’s what we hope every match,” An Wenyi said. Tang Rou was usually placed as Happy’s last player in the group arena. Her not playing meant that Happy would have at least a 2 point lead. It was an outcome that Happy always hoped for. An Wenyi was saying the truth.

“I always hope that boss can 1v5,” Steamed Bun really worshipped Ye Xiu like he was a god. Even Ye Xiu embarrassed at times.

“Let’s watch Fang Rui play,” Ye Xiu hastily brought the subject back to the match.

The two sides loaded into the map, and the match soon began.

“Surrender!” Fang Rui started trash talking Sun Xiang. Unfortunately, poor Fang Rui didn’t know that to Sun Xiang, he was already a dead man.

“Haha.” Sun Xiang clearly had no interest in talking to a dead man. One Autumn Leaf rushed forward towards the center of the map. And to no surprise, Fang Rui’s Boundless Sea was nowhere to be seen.

“Where are you hiding this time?” Sun Xiang asked in the chat.

“In a place where you’re not expecting,” Fang Rui replied.

“Is that so?” Sun Xiang said. One Autumn Leaf looked as if he were taking a casual stroll as he enjoyed his surroundings. He didn’t seem to be in a hurry to find Boundless Sea.

Soon, One Autumn Leaf arrived at a stalagmite. The viewers suddenly felt a sense of deja vu. Before they could recall where the deja vu was coming from, they saw One Autumn Leaf jump, once, twice, thrice, four times.

Four jumps, and One Autumn Leaf stood at the top of a stalagmite.

Everyone suddenly remembered. Wasn’t this what Du Ming did? Was Sun Xiang planning on reenacting the previous fight.

“What’s the meaning of this? Doing the exact same thing? Is he trying to show that he’s better than his teammate?” Chen Guo said disdainfully. Her dislike for Sun Xiang made her even want to fight for justice for Samsara’s players.

“We’ll see,” Ye Xiu didn’t make any hasty conclusions.

Chen Guo curled her lips and continued to watch the map.

One Autumn Leaf took the same route as Du Ming’s Moon Luring Frost last round. His jumping was smooth. It seemed like all of Samsara had done practice in this area.

One Autumn Leaf…

Chen Guo always found the name particularly eye-catching. One Autumn Leaf was a character she loved to death. Who knew how many times she had cheered for him. Cheering for him also meant cheering for the player though. The owner of One Autumn Leaf had changed, but it was hard for fans to part with their feelings for the character. Every loyal fan was used to seeing their familiar player and familiar character together on stage. A change in player or character was always painful for them.

One Autumn Leaf had switched owners, and the new owner was particularly irksome, who was also their opponent. It was unbearably uncomfortable for Chen Guo.

She couldn’t say anything about it though because she knew that whatever she felt about One Autumn Leaf couldn’t compare to what Ye Xiu felt.

In the finals of the Challenger League last year against Excellent Era, Ye Xiu had personally fought against One Autumn Leaf. Chen Guo felt her heart go sour just thinking about it. She had even cried a little bit in private. She dreamed of getting One Autumn Leaf over to Happy, so that Ye Xiu would be reunited with him. Even if Ye Xiu wouldn’t be playing him anymore, even if Tang Rou was the one using him, One Autumn Leaf wouldn’t be their opponent at least.

However, One Autumn Leaf ended up going along with the annoying Sun Xiang to Samsara. And once again, One Autumn Leaf had become an obstacle in their path to the finishing line.

One Autumn Leaf!

Chen Guo sword a silent vow. One day, she would definitely bring him over to Happy. Even if they wouldn’t use him, even if he would just remain there as a memory, she really didn’t want to see One Autumn Leaf as their enemy anymore, especially as an enemy to Ye Xiu. But whenever she thought of this point, she felt scared because she knew about Happy’s financial circumstances clearly. Even if Happy was able to gather enough money to buy a top-tier character, it wouldn’t be so easy. Sun Xiang was a young player, and he had integrated himself successfully into Samsara. This champion team wasn’t going to give up an important asset on their team so easily.

Taking back One Autumn Leaf was perhaps a thought for the future. As the team’s boss, Chen Guo had the patience and determination to wait until that day. But Ye Xiu? How much time did he have left as a pro player? Would there be a day where she could see him fight alongside One Autumn Leaf again?

Chen Guo knew that these hopes were small. All she could hope was for them to encounter One Autumn Leaf less often.

At least they didn’t meet each other in the group arena, last round and this round. Chen Guo could only console herself in this way.

One Autumn Leaf jumped nimbly from one stalagmite to another, searching below him. But this time, Fang Rui didn’t copy what he did last time. Boundless Sea didn’t crouch behind a stalagmite, waiting quietly for his opponent to come. Instead, he was constantly switching between hiding places. Even though he had yet to see his opponent, he was playing very cautiously as if his opponent was right beside him.

There was no way Happy’s players could use the stalagmites as cover as well as Samsara’s players, who had practiced with this map. However, the dirty Fang Rui was doing everything to the utmost of his abilities. The broadcast had quite the experience by now, paying close attention to Boundless Sea’s movements. The broadcast zoomed out and looked around from different angles to show the audience how difficult it was to notice Boundless Sea’s movements.

However, this difficulty was constructed on the basis that he was on the same level as his opponent. Sun Xiang was jumping between stalagmites like Du Ming had done previously, but it didn’t seem like Fang Rui had noticed. Boundless Sea continued to scurry stealthily across the ground, but Sun Xiang had finally located him from above.

One Autumn Leaf immediately changed directions towards Boundless Sea. At this moment, One Autumn Leaf was moving towards an area where Moon Luring Frost hadn’t gone to before.

By jumping, One Autumn Leaf moved faster than Boundless Sea. Whenever Fang Rui reached a stalagmite, he would always crouch there for a bit.

Finally, One Autumn Leaf reached him. With a jump, he landed onto a stalagmite behind Boundless Sea.

What?

Fang Rui immediately noticed an abnormality. He realized that something had happened, but he didn’t look above him. Instead, he stuck his head out from behind the stalagmite to look around.