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Sponsorship?

Ye Xiu shook his head. A sponsorship was a business move. The sponsor needed to benefit from the sponsorship, so organizations usually looked for strong teams, teams with lots to talk about, or teams that would receive a lot of attention. The Challenger League viewership was very small. Few sponsors would gain any benefit from sponsoring Challenger League teams.

Happy receiving sponsorship talks was an exception. Even though Happy wasn’t a strong team in many people’s eyes, Happy also never lacked topics to talk about. Happy was receiving more and more attention too. Even so, no one had reached out for sponsorship yet. It was clearly because they felt like Happy still hadn’t reached the level they wanted.

The business didn’t want a short-lived night-blooming cactus, but a long-lasting partner. In the Challenger League, there was only way to achieve this: getting the final victory.

This time’s Challenger League had Excellent Era. If Happy actually won, the attention that Happy received wouldn’t be on the same level as the past Challenger League winners. The current interest towards Happy had much to do with Excellent Era. It was the existence of Excellent Era that gave them such value in this year’s Challenger League.

Jade Dynasty’s performance in the Challenger League had been very mediocre too. Even though they had Excellent Era as a touchstone, they should be in the same boat as Happy. They had to at least beat Excellent Era first before getting any sponsorship offers. Chen Guo’s deduction wasn’t logical.　　

But from this perspective, Ye Xiu thought of another possibility.

Jade Dynasty had switched owners.

Teams and clubs were similar to companies. They could be bought and sold too. If Jade Dynasty had been purchased and the buyer had a lot of money, having a strong backing all of a sudden was an extremely likely possibility.

”Why bother thinking about it so much?” Sun Zheping said, ”Even if we can’t see through them, we just have to prepare for them well. When the time comes, we just have to beat them.”

”There’s no other way.” Ye Xiu nodded his head.

Since they couldn’t get a read on Team Jade Dynasty’s true strength, they had no way of preparing for them in a targeted manner. If they rashly came up with strategies, it was very possible that it would come back to bite them. As a result, this week’s practice was just to work hard and improve without any big changes.

Jade Dynasty’s players continued to go to the Internet cafe in the hotel to practice. When they saw Happy, they would smile and greet them. Everything seemed warm and friendly. At this moment, only these two teams were going in and out of the Internet cafe. The other team was up against Excellent Era next and had already given up. They might as well take the week off and have fun, so they had gone off to tour City B. They hadn’t come to the Internet cafe a single time this week.

In the blink of an eye, it was match day. The Esports Home published biweekly. The Monday issue was after match day, so it introduced the contents of the match and commented on the predicted results. The Friday issue was before the next match day, so it was mostly trivial news, as well as predictions and preparations done by the teams. The Challenger League may be a small steamed bun, but it had juicy meat. There was no lack of things that needed to be written.

8 PM. Offline tournament stadium. The number of matches every week became fewer and fewer, but the number of viewers only increased. After Team Happy entered the stadium through the player passageway, they headed over to their seats. Suddenly, they heard a crash. A distance away, in the audience behind their player seats, was a huge banner: Team Happy! Certain Victory!!! Then, they saw a bunch of people sitting there and cheering loudly.

”Huh?” Chen Guo was surprised. Even though there had been a few Team Happy fans before, she had never seen this kind of support. Ye Xiu’s personal fanclub had once gathered together and cheered them on, but who would have thought Team Happy would finally have a fanclub too!

Chen Guo felt delighted in her heart. But in the next moment, she heard a crash from nearby. Another banner had dropped saying: Team Jade Dynasty! Certain Victory!!!

It didn’t matter whose banner was bigger. The typeface for Team Jade Dynasty was superior to Team Happy’s. The fanclub over there looked at Team Happy’s fanclub in delight. They started cheering loudly too. All of a sudden, Team Happy’s fanclub had been drowned out.

But Happy’s fanclub weren’t afraid of this kind of challenge. They started shouting loudly too. There were even a few curses mixed in. Soon enough, just cursing out loud wasn’t enough. They started throwing whatever they had in their hands like water bottles at Jade Dynasty’s side.

This time, Jade Dynasty’s fanclub looked as if they couldn’t hold on. They didn’t counterattack with weapons of their own. Even when Happy’s fanclub had been cursing at them, not many of them cursed back. Right when Happy’s fanclub were immensely proud of their victory, the stadium’s security guards rushed over and surrounded them.

Chen Guo was very worried for them. She hastily ran over to talk to the security guards. Then, she saw the security guards give a harsh warning and picked out the guy who arranged the long-range attacks, preparing to escort him out of the stadium. This time, Happy’s fanclub refused to cooperate. After another loud commotion, the security guards said something again and the commotion gradually died down. The lead instigator left, but he wasn’t escorted out. He was simply placed in another seat. The turnout for the semifinals wasn’t bad, but the Challenger League’s popularity was limited, so the majority of the stadium was still empty. This lead instigator was thrown into a lonely and desolate section filled with empty seats.

As for Jade Dynasty’s fanclub? They had victorious smirks on their faces as if they knew this would happen. Chen Guo saw this and was extremely unhappy, but Ye Xiu knew with just a single glance that Jade Dynasty’s fanclub was experienced and organized. They had experience watching these sorts of matches and knew their limits. On the other hand, Happy’s fanclub were much more wild. Creating such a commotion would obviously force the security guards to come out and stop them.

Team Jade Dynasty arrived too. They saw how the previous scene unfolded and couldn’t help but look towards Team Happy and chuckle. The player seats for the two competing sides were located near each other. This time, the fanclubs on both sides had gathered behind them. They hadn’t even started fighting yet, and a dispute had already arisen. Happy and Jade Dynasty was just an ordinary match with nothing to celebrate about. It was easy to imagine just how intense the struggle would be between two teams with a deep rivalry.

The players sat down in their seats. Someone from Jade Dynasty said something to the fanclub behind them as if to appease them. Chen Guo noticed this. She couldn’t fall behind. She also stood up and turned around. Then, she saw the faces of the fanclub filled with expectations and suddenly didn’t know what to say. A person suddenly jumped out from among the crowd, waved his hands wildly at her, and shouted: ”Boss, boss, it’s me! It’s me!”

Before anything else happened, security guards immediately rushed over. That person immediately shrunk back, but he was still pointing fiercely at himself: ”It’s me!! Seven Fields! Seven Fields!”

”Ah?” Chen Guo was dumbfounded. For a moment, she couldn’t remember who that was. The others already learned from Seven Fields and started introducing themselves.

”Guild leader, it’s me, Cruel Shadows.”

”It’s me, Flying Ghost.”

”Little Lobster.”

”Banner Wastrel”

”Frozen Mast.”

”...”

”It’s you guys!!” Chen Guo blurted out. She had seen these names many times before, but they were a bit unfamiliar to her. All of them were members of the tenth server’s Guild Happy. They were the first few to join the guild and helped build the guild up from scratch. A few of those guild members had reached the Heavenly Domain. A few continued to stay in Happy. Others started their journey anew after arriving in the Heavenly Domain, but there were also a few who stayed in the normal server and continued to play there. For example, the ones who had come from Full Moon Guild like Seven Field’s and Sleeping Moon’s group. They had originally been veterans from the Heavenly Domain, but had come to the new server after the tenth server opened. For normal servers, the end goal was to reach the Heavenly Domain.

Thus, it could be said that, in Glory, those who switched to the new server to restart their journey were dedicated to staying in the new server; they wouldn’t go to the Heavenly Domain. Otherwise, it was all meaningless for them. Seven Fields and the others hadn’t been from a club guild. They didn’t come to the normal server to build and grow a certain guild. The reason that they came to the normal server was because they didn’t want to play in the Heavenly Domain anymore and only wanted to enjoy the normal servers.

As veterans, their skill level was higher than all of the noobs in the new server, so they became Happy’s backbone. The backbones of the guild always carried a certain amount of influence. The four had long since abandoned the Heavenly Domain, so they obviously didn’t have any favorable impressions of the Heavenly Domain. Due to their influence, quite a few members of the tenth server’s Guild Happy stayed in the normal server instead of leaving for the Heavenly Domain.

And now, they had come over to the stadium to support their team. Chen Guo didn’t know where these guys were from, but all of them had gathered behind Team Happy, becoming a solid support group for them.

”You guys...” Chen Guo started to get emotional. She was someone who could easily make friends with others, but she didn’t know what to say towards these ”familiar” faces.

Ye Xiu quietly stood by her side. The players immediately became excited: ”Ah! God Ye! Look!”

Ye Xiu had left the normal server too early, so a lot of them weren’t very familiar with him. Seven Fields knew him though. They had met quite early on, even before Steamed Bun.

”Where’s Little Moon Moon and the others?” Ye Xiu asked Seven Fields with a smile.

”Haha, Sunset Clouds and Drifting Water live too far away. It wasn’t convenient for them to come visit. Isn’t Little Moon Moon sitting over there?” Seven Fields pointed. The lead instigator, who had taken the lead in throwing a water bottle at the opposing fanclub and had been put under house arrest in an empty area, was Sleeping Moon.

”Hahahaha, it’s actually you guys!” A person suddenly got up from Chen Guo’s side. Steamed Bun had stood up on his seat and waved excitedly towards Happy’s fanclub.

”Oh oh, it’s Steamed Bun! That fool!” Everyone roared. Ye Xiu was a God. When they faced him, they always felt pressured and didn’t know what to say. However, when they faced Steamed Bun, they immediately became close. Steamed Bun had come from Guild Happy, so they knew all him very well.

”Hahahaha, watch me f*ck these guys up.” Steamed Bun pointed towards Team Jade Dynasty.

”1v5! Do you dare!!” Happy’s fanclub shouted.