Chapter 1359: Happy, Unmoved
Translator: Nomyummi Editor: Nomyummi
“301’s Xu Bin would beat Tiny Herb’s Xu Bin?” Pan Lin repeated Li Yibo’s words.
“Of course, I’m not saying that the past Xu Bin is better than the present one. I’m just saying that what’s inhibiting his playstyle the most is his familiarity with the Knight character Tide,” Li Yibo explained.
“Understood!” Pan Lin nodded his head.
301 started strong and took the initial lead. The stadium had erupted with cheers, but soon afterwards, in the second and third rounds of the individual competition as well as the following group arena, Tiny Herb took a string of victories. By the end of the individual rounds, Team 301 had lagged behind 1 to 4. How could the audience still be smiling? With their rise and fall, all that was left were sighs.
At this moment, news arrived for a different match. Wind Howl versus Heavenly Swords ended the individual rounds 3 to 2. On the other hand, Hundred Blossoms entered the team competition against Royal Style 4 to 1. The other closely watched match was Happy’s away game against Thunderclap, ending with an incisive 5-0! Happy didn’t let Thunderclap win a single point in the individual rounds.
Pan Lin and Li Yibo were using the mid-match break to analyze the current situation. Team 301 had been behind in the rankings in the first place. Their current predicament was naturally grim. Even though Thunderclap was farther behind in terms of this current round than 301, they were farther ahead in the rankings, so their situation was just slightly better than 301’s.
The team competition between 301 and Tiny Herb had yet to start, but the other matches had already started, so Pan Lin and Li Yibo naturally took the opportunity to discuss those. Happy and Thunderclap was undoubtedly the biggest spotlight. After the two saw the lineups for the team competition, the two were greatly surprised.
“Ye Xiu isn’t coming up again!” Pan Lin gasped in astonishment.
“No way?” Li Yibo replied subconsciously and immediately checked the info in front of him. Ye Xiu hadn’t appeared last round in the team competition. People could still understand that. After all, their opponents, Team Lightly, weren’t that formidable. Letting a core player like Ye Xiu take a break was necessary. Team Tyranny’s old generals had rotated the entire season, but their age was practically the same as Ye Xiu’s.
After seeing Team Tyranny’s intentional rotations, everyone began realizing that the reason why Ye Xiu didn’t play in the group arena might just be to lessen the burden on him. After all, in the group arena, he might not only have to play against a single opponent. In addition, after finishing the group arena, he would have to start in the team competition. The break he got couldn’t compare to if he started resting from the first individual competition.
Since playoffs were coming up, Ye Xiu resting was something everyone could understand. Unfortunately, without Ye Xiu, Happy had lost in their team competition against Lightly.
Those five points were truly a bit of a pity. As a result, their Round 35 against Thunderclap became even more crucial. Everyone thought Ye Xiu would be going up this time, but Ye Xiu ended up choosing not to. After the individual competition, he just sat there firmly at Happy’s bench and never got up after that. Happy’s lineup for the team competition was Fang Rui, Tang Rou, Su Mucheng, Qiao Yifan, An Wenyi, and Wei Chen.
“Leave it to us!”
Everyone in Happy said these words to Ye Xiu while preparing for this round.
Ye Xiu indeed had been planning on coming out for the team competition, but the rest of Happy had unanimously agreed to stop him.
“Oh? You don’t need me?” Ye Xiu smiled.
“You’re not that important,” Wei Chen replied.
“Alright then!” Ye Xiu nodded his head, and the matter was done just like that.
Happy’s arrangements had been completed easily, but the amount shock brought by it was not small at all. Pan Lin and Li Yibo were shouting on the broadcast. Thunderclap’s home crowd were also hollering after learning that Ye Xiu would not be going up. Thunderclap’s fans were feeling a bit complicated. Ye Xiu not appearing should be good news, but Ye Xiu not appearing for such an important match felt like disdain towards their Thunderclap. To think there was still a team that dared to underestimate their Thunderclap?
Thunderclap’s Xiao Shiqin saw Happy’s lineup and was also stunned. When they greeted each other before the match, he even spoke to Ye Xiu about having another good match, to which Ye Xiu laughed it off nonchalantly. He had thought that Ye Xiu had been acting nonchalant as a psychological attack, but Ye Xiu had truly been indifferent at the time. He wouldn’t even be playing, so why wouldn’t he be?
“Show them some color!” Thunderclap’s Dai Yanqi was clearly a part of the group that felt like Happy was looking down on them. She was currently going beyond her position and urging the players who would be going on stage.
“Calm down,” Xiao Shiqin regained his composure and hastily went over to advise against everyone going into the match with this mentality. Their individual strengths weren’t that outstanding. What they had was team cooperation. Every individual was an important part of the system. If any one of them broke away from the team’s rhythm due to a peculiar mindset, the negative effects on Thunderclap would be multiplicative.
“Captain, they’re looking down on us!” Dai Yanqi seemed to be complaining to Xiao Shiqin.
“Don’t treat this so simply,” Xiao Shiqin said seriously. His gaze shifted towards Happy’s bench. Happy’s players were gathered together for a pre-match huddle, and although Ye Xiu wouldn’t be going onto the stage, he was also standing among them, talking to the team seriously.
Ye Xiu not coming out for the team competition definitely had a reason behind it.
Xiao Shiqin thought about it.
Is he pretending to look down on us to shake up our mentality? This sort of psychological attack was certainly one reason, but apart from that… Xiao Shiqin looked at Happy’s lineup. Ye Xiu wasn’t there, and Tang Rou took his place. Wei Chen was their sixth player. The only player who rarely appeared this season was Wei Chen.
They probably have a counter strategy planned! Xiao Shiqin thought. Ye Xiu not going up was a surprising arrangement that had thoroughly messed up Thunderclap’s pre-match plans. They could not be careless facing this Happy lineup. He needed to quickly come up with a new strategy.
Xiao Shiqin was constantly thinking, but Thunderclap’s players were waiting for what was coming after “Don’t treat this so simply”, but all they got was silence and a few glances towards Happy.
The captain was thinking.
Thunderclap’s player knew. Ye Xiu not appearing in the team competition required them to make adjustments to their plans. Xiao Shiqin was most likely thinking about this issue.
At this time, Happy’s six player had started walking towards the stage. Xiao Shiqin snapped back to the present and called out to his teammates: “Let’s go.”
Seeing how Xiao Shiqin’s expression was extremely serious, the other Thunderclap players didn’t dare be negligent. They readjusted themselves to the correct mentality and followed Xiao Shiqin to the stage.
The match began.
Team Happy rushed forward eagerly. As for Thunderclap, as soon as they loaded into the map, Xiao Shiqin’s orders immediately started appearing in the chat. A screen of words quickly scrolled down. Quite a few of them were team-agreed-upon words. If one did not do specialized research on Thunderclap, it would be difficult to understand.
Thunderclap’s players had collected their thoughts of taking revenge on Happy for looking down on them. They were following Xiao Shiqin’s arrangements precisely. Xiao Shiqin’s brain was constantly turning. The initial strategy was formulated, but what followed afterwards, the opponent’s reactions and what changes needed to be made to their strategy were all things he needed to think about. He wouldn’t neglect any of Happy’s possible class compositions.
Thunderclap’s team capabilities were truly exceptional. Immediate corrections and commands were accurately implemented. Their ability to carry out orders wasn’t mechanical either. Everyone in Thunderclap understood Xiao Shiqin’s tactical intentions. They weren’t Xiao Shiqin’s wooden puppets. All of their thoughts combined together to form a whole. The less Xiao Shiqin talked in chat, the stronger the team.
Soon, the two sides met. Their confrontation wasn’t direct. Both sides had players sent out to move strategically.
From the direct confrontations to the wandering players, the two sides’ setups began to slowly reveal themselves. It was too much for the eyes. Without Ye Xiu, they thought Happy would instantly collapse, but that didn’t happen. A Happy without Ye Xiu still had the strength to compete with Thunderclap. Thunderclap could not be careless.
Xiao Shiqin felt glad as well. He was glad that he was able to control his teammates’ emotions at the start of the match. If their mentality had truly been disturbed as a result, they would have certainly paid the price.
The battle spread throughout the map. Every player was brilliantly displaying their abilities, but in the end, the scales gradually tilted towards Thunderclap. They had the home game advantage, after all. For a very tactics-oriented team, being able to choose the map was an incredible advantage.
Thunderclap won.
But it hadn’t been an easy one. They were on the edge until the very end. When Happy’s final player fell, Thunderclap only had two players remaining as well. Up until the last moment, they couldn’t be careless. 2v1? With everyone at such low health, if they made a slight mistake, the opponent could turn things around. The healers on both sides had died early on.
5-5.
The final score on the big screen made Thunderclap’s players and the audience members let out a sigh of relief. In the end, they were able to win. Happy hadn’t shaven them bald.
Even though they had been leading eighth and ninth place by 10 points, if they didn’t win a single point here, their days ahead wouldn’t be great. Their next opponents were Hundred Blossoms and Samsara.
Hundred Blossoms was their direct competitor. Samsara had already established themselves firmly as the number one, and Samsara was still maintaining their thirst for victory.
Happy and Thunderclap’s intense match ended rather quickly. The results quickly spread to the other stadiums. From many people’s perspectives, Ye Xiu not appearing for the team competition meant a certain loss for Happy. 5-5 seemed to be a pre-determined result. No one was surprised in the slightest.
As for the highlight broadcasted match, it had also finally ended. 301 had won a bitter battle against Tiny Herb, earning those five precious points.