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Han Wenqing, Lin Jingyan, Zhang Jiale, Zhang Xinjie…

Tyranny appeared invincible because of these four, but Tyranny wasn’t only just these four. Song Qiying and Qin Muyun had played in this round’s team competition. By the time Qin Muyun joined the battle, Happy already held the upper hand. He didn’t lose his fighting spirit, though. He tried his best to turn things around, contributing greatly towards extending the intense battle by another half an hour.

As for Song Qiying?

He had been the team’s last hope in the group arena, but in the end, he failed to make a comeback. He had played in the team competition as well, playing until the last moment, but all that he received was another bitter defeat.

“Why?” Song Qiying was trying his hardest not to cry, but tears were already racing down his cheeks.

“You seniors were all working so hard, but why, why did we still…” Song Qiying couldn’t accept this. He didn’t understand. He himself was still young and had a future, and as a man of Tyranny, he wouldn’t start crying uncontrollably just because of a single defeat. However, even if he had the future, what about his teammates, who were on the verge of retirement?

Their youthful days were over, and they no longer had any opportunities to waste. The amount of time that they could still remain on the Glory stage could be counted on one hand. It was because of this that they practiced no less than anyone else. Even at their final moments, they wouldn’t give up on even the slightest chance of improving themselves.

Song Qiying had seen their efforts with his own eyes.

They treasured every chance they had, but in the end, why did opportunity never gaze upon them?

Their efforts, their sweat, their everything, they had sacrificed it all, yet all they got in exchange was defeat.

Why?

Song Qiying didn’t know who he was asking.

Qin Muyun patted his shoulders to comfort him. Zhang Xinjie was ready to bring him away when he heard Ye Xiu say calmly: “Effort alone can’t win you everything. Don’t be so conceited!”

Conceited?

How was Song Qiying being conceited? He couldn’t help but feel stunned at that word.

“In terms of effort, do you think our Happy would lose to you? No, not Happy, and not any team,” Ye Xiu said.

“On this Glory stage, effort is the last thing you should brag about, because it’s a given, it’s something everyone will put in, it’s the lowest and smallest thing. Recognize this and keep climbing!

“Keep working hard!”

As Ye Xiu said this, he shook hands with Tyranny’s sixth player, Qin Muyun, and then waved to the crowd, even if this was Tyranny’s home stadium, even if this place was filled with Glory fans who hated him.

Applause came, but it was rather reserved.

Although there were people who were moved by Ye Xiu’s words, their hatred stood strong. Today’s match was another addition to the list. The crowd didn’t boo, instead giving Ye Xiu a bit of applause. It showed just how moving Ye Xiu’s words were today.

The referee announced Team Happy’s victory. This time, the fans in the away team seats gave thunderous cheers, looking more like winners than before. The applause from Tyranny’s fans wasn’t too soft either, but their applause wasn’t for the winners, but the losers, Tyranny. Although their applause hid their disappointment, they had to tell their team that even in defeat, Tyranny would always be heroes in their heart.

The two teams entered the stadium’s passageway. Neither team said anything as they walked to their prep rooms. The two teams were required to participate in the following press conference. The order wouldn’t be by home and away team, but by losing and winning team.

The first to go up was Team Tyranny. Their loss didn’t only symbolize the end of this round, but the end of this set and this season. The questions that Tyranny would need to face wouldn’t be limited to just today’s match.

Han Wenqing, Zhang Xinjie, Lin Jingyan, Zhang Jiale.

These four went out for the press conference. Their gathering ignited sparks among the Glory community. Just the names alone were enough to spark interest from Glory fans.

But after last year’s defeat, they had lost again.

Everyone knew the weakness in this exciting lineup. Perhaps it was because of this weakness that such a luxurious team could be formed.

But they had failed two seasons in a row. This luxurious lineup failed to meet their fan’s expectations, as well as their own. What would they do next? Compared to the contents of today’s match, the future of Tyranny was a more important topic.

Questions needed to be asked in sequence though, especially when facing such an intimidating group of stars, who deserved respect. No reporter planned on making it hard for them.

“Tyranny’s loss against Happy is regrettable.” The first reporter to speak would often start off with this sort of opening remark before moving onto the next logical step: “How do you think your opponents played today?”

“Extremely well.” As the captain, Han Wenqing answered back, giving a reply that every reporter hated. Luckily for the reporters, he turned his head to the side and added: “How about we have Xinjie give a more detailed explanation?”

“Of course, of course!” No one would object to that. Zhang Xinjie always said things as they were. Questions asking about how the opponents did were the easiest to brush off, but if Zhang Xinjie was answering it, that wouldn’t be the case.

“Group arena or team competition?” After Zhang Xinjie received the question, he immediately asked for clarification.

“Team competition, team competition,” the reporters replied. The team competition had elements of teamwork and individual play, so there were more things to talk about than the group arena.

“For the team competition, we confirmed after the match that the spawn point was determined randomly, right? ” Zhang Xinjie began, showing how strict and serious he was with the game. As soon as the match ended, he immediately made clear what doubts he had.

“Yeah,” the reporters nodded their heads in agreement.

Zhang Xinjie nodded his head and pondered for a moment. Then, starting from this point, he summarized what happened in the team competition before cautiously saying: “There are many things that we can learn from Happy in today’s team competition.”

“Because of the random spawn locations, Happy’s Tang Rou ended up coming across the five of us alone. This was an extremely bad situation for her. Tang Rou quickly came to a decision, while we hesitated slightly. This was all because neither of us nor Happy knew about the random spawn locations. On the surface, Happy was at a disadvantage. However, because of our hesitation, Happy was able to seize the initiative. They had Tang Rou try and bait us into chasing after her. Later on, by using the surrounding terrain, they were able to safely set up ambush locations to wear us down…”

Zhang Xinjie replied to the reporter’s question in detail. The reporter had simply asked about Happy’s performance, so that’s what he talked about. He didn’t say anything regarding how Tyranny played, let alone criticism.

Even so, the reporters didn’t feel that it was boring because of how honest Zhang Xinjie was. From his words, they could hear things that they might have missed, trying to analyze it themselves. Although everyone was more concerned with Tyranny’s future, today’s match had indeed been spectacular, especially Ye Xiu’s Life-Risking Strike. Everyone wanted to hear about Tyranny’s opinion on it.

The reporters hadn’t asked about it specifically, but because it was an important part of the match, perhaps even the climax of it, Zhang Xinjie naturally talking about it in more detail when he got there.

“Luo Ji coming out into play can already be considered a set up. Because of the first game in our best of three, Luo Ji’s presence made us mindful of the terrain.

“Happy’s ambush at the canyon exit wasn’t successful. It could be said that Happy had relied on Ye Xiu’s outstanding playing to stabilize the situation. At this point, Happy was in a defensive position, but they had a clear retreat path. Their destination was the center of the map, the Seven Color Springs. We had yet to explore this area.

“We had thought that this destination was the turning point that Happy was waiting for, but it turned out that our judgement was incorrect.” Zhang Xinjie didn’t cover up his mistake, directly calling it out.

“Happy had been waiting for an opportunity. This opportunity wasn’t the Seven Color Springs, but rather us thinking that the Seven Color Springs was the turning point.

“Once we made this prediction, the most effective method to eliminate this possibility was to win before the Seven Color Springs was reached.

“Starting from when we killed Fang Rui’s Boundless Sea, we had the lead and the initiative. As a result, we adopted a more aggressive posture.

“And this was the opportunity that Happy was waiting for. Their plan had begun the moment Fang Rui was killed. They were being pressured by us, but by creating a certain image of themselves, it gave them space to bounce back. Afterwards, they needed to wait, wait for us to increase our aggression to lure us into bringing out our healer.

“This is a strategy. I realized it after the match. During this course of events, there had been no communication within Happy. It was all an enormous and complex set-up. If it had been devised on the spot, there would definitely have been communication. Thus, this is a strategy that Happy has practiced before. At some point, everyone had received the signal to carry out this strategy. For the Switch to work, the Spirit Cat must have been summoned by Lord Grim, and none of us had noticed it. This was extremely critical because Luo Ji was a very important part of this strategy. Lord Grim’s Spirit Cat had to be hidden among Concealed Light’s summons, and the possibility of an Elemental Beast King Formation was a huge bait. If we had known that the Spirit Cat was Lord Grim’s, we wouldn’t have worried about it as much, and Lin Jingyan would not have been lured over by Luo Ji. Even if he had started casting Elemental Beast King Formation, since the Spirit Cat wasn’t Concealed Light’s, it would not have worked… but unfortunately, we had been tricked, beginning with us not knowing that the Spirit Cat was Lord Grim’s.”