Chapter 1054: The Fate of a God
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.