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As an experienced writer, Cha Xiaoxia had quite a lot of influence in the Glory scene and quite a few fans as well. His analysis was accurate and logical, and as soon as his article was out, agreement spread among his readers: that’s right, it was exactly as how he said it was. Then, with the last half-joking sentence about being a fanboy, many people began to take Happy more seriously. Happy’s true strength immediately became a hot topic online, and many people were all eagerly anticipating an analysis of Happy’s strength from Cha Xiaoxia.

Apart from these hot topics, a few less eye-catching transfers were also happening in the background. During this time each year, there would definitely be a few free transfers. With everyone’s attention on the Golden Generation, they had overlooked a few others. Among these free transfers, there was actually one rather well-known player.

Liu Hao.

The old Excellent Era vice-captain had come to Thunderclap in exchange for Xiao Shiqin’s transfer. In this season, Thunderclap performed rather well, hovering around the playoffs area throughout the entire season. Even though they didn’t manage to get into the playoffs in the end, it wasn’t someone people would look into. Thunderclap had also viewed Liu Hao as their core during this, although he never managed to do as well as Xiao Shiqin had.

Even so, Liu Hao had refused to renew his year-long contract with Thunderclap. He had never planned to stay in Thunderclap long. He had even planned on leaving during the winter transfer window. Who would have expected that the winter transfer window would coincide with the big update? All the teams in the market became cautious. No one wanted to fortify their strong teams during an uncertain time like just after a big update. As a result, Liu Hao’s hopes were crushed.

Now, he was a free player whose contract had expired. As the previous vice-captain of Excellent Era, Liu Hao’s ability was quite outstanding. He hadn’t managed to be voted into All-Stars, but he hadn’t been too far from getting in either. It was just unfortunate that one of his competitors of the same class was Jiang Botao. With Samsara rising through the ranks, Jiang Botao’s popularity skyrocketed and unfortunately, Liu Hao found himself squeezed out .

Liu Hao wasn’t at all satisfied with this situation, and he looked down on a team like Thunderclap, so he refused the offer to renew his contract. When summer arrived, Liu Hao finally received the offers he was hoping for. Among them, there was finally a powerhouse that he was satisfied with.

Team Wind Howl!

Liu Hao transferred to Wind Howl. This big news in the beginning of July was second only to Sun Xiang and Su Mucheng’s transfers. These people were all coincidentally from Excellent Era. Even though Liu Hao had already left Excellent Era for a year, it was clear that his Excellent Era tag was far larger than his Thunderclap one.

In this time, the three transfers had people feeling that it was quite a shame to see how far Excellent Era had fallen. As for Liu Hao joining Wind Howl, people viewed this as a strong addition to a strong team. Ace player Tang Hao, the God of playing dirty Fang Rui, Best Rookie Zhao Yuzhe, and then the addition of Liu Hao. This lineup didn’t look extremely spectacular, but it was very solid. With the positions of all the core members on the teams stable, getting a player like Liu Hao, who was just slightly worse than the others, was a good upgrade.

However, Liu Hao’s transfer reminded everyone of another person.

Xiao Shiqin. His contract had also expired. Even Liu Hao, who had been traded by Excellent Era for him, had already left, but there was still no news on Xiao Shiqin. Xiao Shiqin would naturally also receive a significant number of offers, and he would definitely have a wider range of choices than Liu Hao. Where would he go?

In the discussions, the powerhouse teams were the most commonly brought up. No matter which one took in Xiao Shiqin, they would gain an incredibly spectacular lineup. The Alliance seemed to be walking towards an era where the greatest players all gravitated towards each other.

But when news of Xiao Shiqin’s transfer came out, it made everyone’s eyes pop. He had chosen to return to Team Thunderclap.

To become a champion, he had left Thunderclap and came to Excellent Era in pursuit of his future. Then, a year later, Excellent Era hadn’t managed to even return to the Alliance and instead was facing disbandment. A few mean and sarcastic fans had already begun bringing up his past choices and mocking him for it. No one had ever guessed that he would return to Thunderclap. Everyone had thought that after Excellent Era’s defeat, Xiao Shiqin would work harder to prove that he had made the correct decision in leaving Thunderclap and join a team that was likely to win the championships. However, he returned to Thunderclap instead. This was no different from personally admitting his mistake in leaving. Did Xiao Shiqin not even had the courage to prove himself anymore?

No matter what rumors flew about, all of Team Thunderclap, including most of the fans, warmly welcomed Xiao Shiqin.

”Welcome home!”

The day Xiao Shiqin came back to Club Thunderclap, he saw many fans gathered outside with signs welcoming his arrival. When Xiao Shiqin had chosen to leave, they had accepted his decision, and when Xiao Shiqin was in an awkward situation, they still supported him.

Xiao Shiqin couldn’t hold it in anymore, his tears falling onto his glasses. He got out of the car crying and returned to his old club amidst his fans. He had returned home.

Then, Team Thunderclap announced that the club would be taking back the Mechanic account Life Extinguisher, who had left with Xiao Shiqin a year ago, as well as transferring Excellent Era’s Cleric, Zhang Jiaxing, over for a club record transaction of 9.5 million.

This was a very low price for an All-Star level account and the main healer of a powerhouse team. However, Life Extinguisher was a character that Thunderclap had brought up. Returning to Thunderclap with Xiao Shiqin didn’t seem like a fortification. It was Zhang Jiaxing’s arrival that was considered a strong addition to the team. With their original healer having announced their retirement, Zhang Jiaxing’s timely arrival was a boost to their strength.

Thunderclap had another player who had been transferred over last year, Elementalist player He Ming. However, his contract was not just a year long like Liu Hao though. He was very anxious seeing Liu Hao leaving, while himself being unable to leave since he couldn’t transfer yet. He had been prepared to ask if he could be transferred. But now with Xiao Shiqin’s return and Thunderclap’s commendable act of managing to snatch Zhang Jiaxing as well, He Ming suddenly felt that Thunderclap might not be so bad. After all, he wasn’t as outstanding as Liu Hao. With all the powerhouses having stable lineups, he would have a hard time joining a powerhouse team as a core member. With this, it seemed that staying in Thunderclap, he might at least become the main part of a team that could make the playoffs. There was still hope.

Just as He Ming was feeling satisfied with this future, he received a notice from the club that he wasn’t a part of the club’s future plans. The club had decided to transfer him, and he could contact possible other teams himself. The club would support him.

He couldn’t leave when he wanted to, and he had to leave when he wanted to stay. He Ming was gritting his teeth so hard they might break. Plus, the club had already clearly stated that he couldn’t just stay here and refuse to leave either. Pro players needed to compete, and those who weren’t a part of the club’s future plans naturally wouldn’t be asked to do so. Getting an income without needing to compete? This seemed like paradise, but for pro players, this was an act that would destroy their futures. He Ming was a person with some aspirations, so he could only go and find a new team, seeing Thunderclap’s attitude.

Samsara, Tyranny, Tiny Herb, Blue Rain? He Ming wanted to go to these teams, but which one would pay him any attention?

In the end, Thunderclap contacted a new club for him. He Ming nearly cried when he was informed of the team. Team Miracle! The team that had only just gotten approval to join the Alliance, the team that would be fighting to stay in the Alliance. He seemed to remember being Excellent Era’s sixth player. It didn’t make sense that he would fall to a team like this. He Ming wanted to refuse, but after the successive rejections from powerhouse teams, his confidence had taken a hit and he was a little afraid that no team would accept him. Just as he was hesitating, Miracle contacted him with all sorts of promises, such as how Miracle would continue to strengthen itself and definitely wouldn’t accept being a team of the lowest tier.

He Ming, seeing that no other team seemed to have any visible intentions to take him in, was rather moved by all that Miracle had promised him. He thought to himself, chicken head and phoenix tail. If he couldn’t be the tail of a phoenix, it wouldn’t be bad being the head of a chicken. At least he could enjoy the feeling of being a core member for once.

In the end, He Ming agreed and joined Team Miracle for 2,000,000 RMB. Team Miracle was delighted, mysteriously telling him that there would be a surprise for him.

He Ming paused. Surprise? What surprise?

Could it be that Team Miracle was planning on poaching an All-Star level account like Windy Rain for him to use?

Soon enough, the surprise Miracle had planned came.

Excellent Era players Shen Jian and Wang Ze transferred to Team Miracle for a total of 1.725 million.

He Ming wanted to cry. This was the so-called surprise? When the manager of Team Miracle asked him cheerfully, ”How does it feel to be reunited with your old pals”, he really wanted to kick the guy’s face in.

1.725 million. Just the price made He Ming feel embarrassed for Team Miracle. Just the twenty thousand tagging on was enough of a joke, but you even added another five thousand to that! How much did you negotiate to bullshit a five thousand at the end of a transfer worth over a million? He really had been overthinking it wondering if the team had bought Windy Rain! Never mind Windy Rain, it would be good enough if they could even get back their original characters.

But they didn’t.

Shen Jian and Wang Ze had already arrived at Miracle and He Ming hadn’t caught wind of any news of Miracle purchasing characters.

The three old Excellent Era teammates looked at each other when they met in the practice room that reminded them of a mountain village primary school, speechless and feeling like they wanted to cry.