The King's Avatar

The coffeeshop was fairly remote. It hadn’t been too long since the match ended, and the more eye-catching places along the road were popular hangouts for gamers who had just finished watching the match. If the three of them had gone to one of these places, there would definitely be onlookers. Fortunately, this was Misty Rain’s home stadium, and Chu Yunxiu was extremely familiar with the area. She led the two to this very quiet location.

They took their seats, each ordering a cup of coffee. The cigarettes were already finished during their walk over here. Ye Xiu stared blankly at the prominent no-smoking signs hanging in the coffeeshop.

Finally, Chu Yunxiu opened her mouth. “Happy really is doing well.”

“What about Misty Rain?” Ye Xiu didn’t dance around, going straight to the topic. He could tell that Chu Yunxiu was really feeling quite depressed. There must be some problems with the team, for her to ask to meet them after the match.

“What do you think?” Chu Yunxiu asked Ye Xiu.

Misty Rain’s problem right now was one of strategy, everyone knew this. In general, things like strategy should be kept secret from competitors. But unlike the stats of Silver equipment, strategies were publicly demonstrated in battle. So, strategies themselves weren’t considered some secret weapons. The key was their execution. 301 adapted to their new strategy of the Knight covering the Assassin like a fish to water, but if you tried to get a different team to emulate it, it probably wouldn’t be as effective. Different players and characters required different strategies. There needed to be adaptability.

So, there wasn’t anything taboo about talking strategy. Anything you can do, everyone else can too. It just came down to whether or not it’d be useful or effective. Still, mutually asking for tips and advice was rarely seen. Who had time to help the competitor improve?

But now that Chu Yunxiu said this, Ye Xiu didn’t seem like he cared about all that, and he directly said what he had to say. “It’s clear that the current strategy isn’t suitable. Let’s make an analogy! In basketball, there’s a strategy of having one tall player with four perimeter players, but there’s no strategy with a short player running around with four perimeter players. Misty Rain right now is the latter. You could play with this strategy occasionally to trip people up, but it’s not suitable as a main strategy.”

“Who said that wasn’t the case?” Chu Yunxiu said.

“If you know the problem, then why don’t you adjust?” asked Ye Xiu.

“How do you think we should adjust?” said Chu Yunxiu.

“Sun Liang should play in the starting lineup for the team competition,” said Ye Xiu. Sun Liang was a member of Misty Rain, a Striker. He used to be a main player for the team, but after Misty Rain changed its strategy this season, he became a rotating player.

“Oh, then who should be switched out?” Chu Yunxiu asked.

Ye Xiu hesitated.

For such a simple question, Chu Yunxiu didn’t need to ask him step by step. Who should be switched out? When Chu Yunxiu said this, the frustration and bitterness on her face was plain to see. Clearly, there was more to this question. After Ye Xiu thought for a moment, he realized where the problem must lie.

“When it comes down to it, that pair of sisters will just have to be separated,” said Ye Xiu.

“That’s the problem. They can’t be separated,” Chu Yunxiu said.

“Oh…” Ye Xiu understood and fell silent. He had already guessed the general situation.

The Shu siblings couldn’t be separated? How could something like that be so absolute? Their partnership wasn’t guaranteeing the team’s success. On the contrary, it was because the two of them were on the field at the same time that the team couldn’t adjust their class composition. They couldn’t be separated, not for strategic reasons, but for other reasons. And the only thing that could supersede strategic demands were the decisions of the club itself. This wasn’t a problem of strategy. This was a problem of the operations of Club Misty Rain. The club required that both of the Shu siblings be on the battlefield.

Just from how Misty Rain had specially requested the Alliance to change the genders of these sisters’ characters, the hope and importance placed on these two was clear. And for pro players, value was ultimately demonstrated on the battlefield. So it wasn’t strange that the club directly required that these two had to appear together on the field.

And this was something that players could hate, but could do nothing about.

Business operations overrode strategy. The outside directed the inside.

Chu Yunxiu hadn’t asked to meet Su Mucheng to try and find some solution. She was simply feeling depressed and wanted to chat and share with a good friend. Now that the situation had been made clear, the three sank into silence. For a problem like this, if Chu Yunxiu was powerless to fix it, then how could outsiders like Ye Xiu or Su Mucheng help?

Chu Yunxiu, Li Hua…

This was the true strategic core duo of Misty Rain. The value of this pair was higher than that of the Shu siblings. If it came down to it and this pair needed to sacrifice in order to achieve a more suitable class composition, then it wouldn’t just be an individual sacrifice. The team as a whole would be sacrificing its fighting strength. If Misty Rain resorted to such a method to get a reasonable class composition, how much strength would they ultimately have remaining, anyway?

Furthermore… between these two players, if they had to choose one to remove from the roster, then Chu Yunxiu was a better choice than Li Hua. After all, the Shu siblings were both long-range Sharpshooters and had some overlap with the use of an Elementalist. Keeping Li Hua’s Ninja on the field would allow greater flexibility of tactics. But with that, the problem became even more unsolvable. Chu Yunxiu was this team’s captain; Windy Rain was this team’s core character. If she didn’t play on the main roster, was Misty Rain planning to start over from zero?

Ye Xiu combed through Misty Rain’s situation in his mind, and he discovered that this really was a frightening problem with no clear solution. No wonder Chu Yunxiu was so helpless.

“Then what do you plan to do?” Su Mucheng suddenly asked. She hadn’t said anything since entering the coffeeshop, but she’d thought of everything that needed to be thought of.

“I don’t know…” Chu Yunxiu’s gaze was somewhat empty. This season, she had truly felt rather lost and confused. The heads of the club had ordered that the Shu sisters be placed in the main roster, but Misty Rain’s core wasn’t suited for the sudden addition of two Sharpshooters.

But no one talked reason with her. The club simply wanted all of these players on the field at once. Windy Rain, Dark Forest, Lower Your Head, None Dare Attack, all four characters had to be there.

Ye Xiu had proposed the hypothetical of either Chu Yunxiu or Li Hua sacrificing themselves, but in reality, even that wasn’t possible! Misty Rain was greedy; they wanted not only the beautiful sisters, but their core partnership as well. They demanded that this irrational roster win results. Misty Rain had already drifted unsteadily through half a season, but the upper management still refused to change. In their view, Misty Rain just needed to push a little more to get results. The players needed to work just a little harder, the strategies needed to mature just a little more, and then they would begin winning matches beautifully.

While they treated this as an obvious fact, they overlooked the reality.

While Misty Rain’s players were working hard, the players of all the other teams were working just as hard.

While Misty Rain’s strategies were maturing, the operations of the other teams were only growing smoother and smoother.

And Misty Rain’s class composition gave them a natural handicap that they could never overcome.

A Misty Rain like this could not win.

Chu Yunxiu had racked her brains for half a season, but in the end, this was all that Misty Rain could accomplish. What else could she feel, beside frustration and bitterness?

“If you can’t make adjustments, then you can only try even bolder things!” Ye Xiu suddenly said.

“Say it.” Chu Yunxiu looked at him.

But Ye Xiu only said two words: “Wind Howl.”

“So that’s how it is?” Chu Yunxiu looked not at Ye Xiu, but at the ceiling.

“You’ve already noticed it, haven’t you? Misty Rain could possibly emulate Wind Howl’s playstyle,” said Ye Xiu.

“It’s a desperate playstyle,” said Chu Yunxiu.

“Do you all have any other choice? If you don’t want to give up right here.”

Chu Yunxiu was silent.

Anyone could use a strategy. The question was whether or not it was suitable. Misty Rain was traditionally viewed as soft, so much so that it was basically considered part of their style. To have such a soft team try and emulate Wind Howl’s ferocious and desperate style, it clearly wasn’t a very suitable choice. This was a choice made when there were no other options, a choice to beg for victory in the midst of defeat. Even Wind Howl themselves wouldn’t have gone to such extremes if their performance hadn’t been so unstable. A fight without a healer was just too risky.

The three fell into silence once again. Chu Yunxiu rested one arm on the table. Her other hand held a small spoon to stir the coffee in front of her. She stirred it for a very long time, but in the end, didn’t take a sip.

“Let’s go, let’s head back.” She suddenly stood up.

“You’re leaving like that?” Both Ye Xiu and Su Mucheng were surprised at her suddenness.

“I still have two episodes of my TV drama to watch,” Chu Yunxiu said.

“This late?” Ye Xiu looked at the time.

“You think I’m watching it on TV?” Chu Yunxiu scoffed.

“Alright, then!” Ye Xiu said helplessly, as he and Su Mucheng also stood up to leave.

Night had already fallen. There were no streetlamps around this out-of-the-way coffee shop to which Chu Yunxiu had brought the two of them. Under the starlight, her blurred silhouette walked at the very front. Misty Rain’s troubles were both internal and external, but as the team’s captain, Chu Yunxiu could only quietly carry this burden. On this point, she needed to be even tougher and more resilient than too many of her fellow male pro players. Misty Rain was in a disastrous situation, the outside world all criticized their strategies, the club was unwilling to change. But even in this situation, she had never said anything. She only continued to try and think of solutions, think about how she could use this unreasonable roster to earn results with which people could be satisfied.

“Alright, I’m going this way. What about your hotel, where is it?” At the intersection, Chu Yunxiu stopped and asked them.

“That way.” Su Mucheng pointed.

“Okay! When you get back, let’s chat online.” Chu Yunxiu walked back and hugged Su Mucheng.

“Keep your chin up,” Su Mucheng said. In reality, they hadn’t really talked about much this night. Everything that Ye Xiu said, Chu Yunxiu had understood long ago. Perhaps she only wanted to lay bare her emotions to her girlfriend; perhaps she wished to draw from this the courage and faith she needed to continue.

In any case…

“I will,” Chu Yunxiu said softly. She turned, waved her hand, and disappeared into the distance.

Soon, Round 32 was upon them. That night, Misty Rain presented a shocking roster to everyone who believed they were already done for the season.

Six attackers. No healer.