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Blue Rain’s Big Defeat! This was the front-page headline of the latest edition of Esports Weekly.

Happy won the battle, but the reports all focused on Blue Rain, as their loss on their home stage was a more interesting topic.

In any battle there was always a victor and a loser; who won and who lost was never something too surprising. When Blue Rain played their away game against Happy, they still won in the team round, and only lost by one point overall. Yet in their home game, they lost so drastically that the points didn’t even need to be counted.

Group arena, lost. Team competition, lost again.

The team loss was particularly surprising – it was on a map with which Blue Rain was very familiar, yet they still hadn’t been able to take the initiative.

It was true that people now had a pretty good understanding of Happy’s playstyle, but battles were never certain. As the saying went, ”eight immortals crossing the sea, each with their own unique powers”– everyone was striving to do their absolute best, in their own ways.

But the feeling that people got from this battle was that as soon as Happy pulled out their powers, Blue Rain was abruptly forced down, gradually falling over in the midst of their struggle.

The atmosphere in the stadium during the match wasn’t too bad, but afterward, the criticism was overwhelming.

After the final results came out, everyone suddenly became a Glory expert. Any tiny flaw in Blue Rain’s playing became a subject of loud criticism, proof of Blue Rain’s failure to perform.

As the losing side, Blue Rain of course knew the problems they had to fix. But too much of this deluge of criticism was simply people parroting each other.

If you’re determined to condemn someone, you don’t need a good reason.

It seemed that everyone who failed had to undergo an intense round of shaming, as though this were necessary to properly reflect their status as the losers.

And this process of denouncement began right after the battle, during the press conference. It was less of an interview session and more of an attack session. The reporters wrote down in their notebooks not questions for Blue Rain, but speeches to express their vehement opinions regarding the reasons for Blue Rain’s defeat.

Strategy, tactics, judgment, performance, awareness…

It was as if Team Blue Rain were stripped bare. They sat on the stage and were stabbed with the verbal knives hurled by the audience.

Knife after knife. Everyone was hit.

Huang Shaotian couldn’t restrain himself for long. Several times, he wanted to interject, but each time he was stopped by a look from Captain Yu Wenzhou. Yu Wenzhou understood him very well, both on and offstage. He knew exactly which comments from the reporters would set him off, and with his excellent prediction and judgment, cut him off every time.

Other than keeping Huang Shaotian under control, Yu Wenzhou simply sat there and listened silently, still wearing a faint smile.

These endlessly chattering people in front of them, they were all upset at Blue Rain’s failure to live up to expectations, hating iron for not becoming steel. Yu Wenzhou recognized many of them. Indeed, many of them had greatly anticipated Blue Rain’s performance, had penned beautiful words for them, had fought written wars for them.

They liked Blue Rain, so they had held high hopes for Blue Rain. The greater the hope, the greater the despair.

However…

Yu Wenzhou simply listened, until the crowd finally fell silent. What there was to criticize had all been criticized, and, suddenly, no one stood up to say any more.

The reporters glanced at each other uneasily, in this calm after the raging attack. They were suddenly keenly aware – this was a press conference, they were supposed to ask questions and spend more time listening to what the players had to say, rather than use the time all the time to talk themselves.

Suddenly, no one knew how to continue. But at this moment, Blue Rain’s Captain Yu Wenzhou finally opened his mouth.

”Thank you, everyone, for the concern and kindness you have shown Blue Rain.”

Everyone listened in silence. The fact that Blue Rain’s captain could say this made them feel that their bitter words hadn’t entirely been in vain. Even if they didn’t manage to get new information out of the players during this press conference, as long as they were able to get Blue Rain to wake up, then wouldn’t it be worth it?

”Everyone, you are all anxious for Blue Rain, and you only wish the best for Blue Rain. This, I understand very well,” Yu Wenzhou continued.

”However…” He paused, before continuing. ”Even if it is for our benefit, forgive us for being unable to accept this sort of nonsense.”

”Hahahahahaha!” At that, Huang Shaotian burst out laughing.

A year’s worth of effort had come to nothing. Yet in this time of intense unhappiness, Huang Shaotian was actually laughing. But he was only laughing for the sake of it; the sound masked his acute feelings of bitterness and resentment.

He’d been wanting to say this for a while: What do you guys understand? What gives you the right to spout this nonsense at us?

While Huang Shaotian was laughing, the reporters were stunned. They never would have thought after giving such sincere thanks, Yu Wenzhou would directly and mercilessly call their words nonsense.

Some of them stood up, prepared to retaliate, but Yu Wenzhou’s voice stopped them.

Beginning from the very first critic in this press conference, Yu Wenzhou began his replies.

One after another.

Fifteen.

In total, there had been fifteen reporters who had stood up and expressed vehemently their personal, disparaging views on Blue Rain’s performance. Yu Wenzhou didn’t miss a single one, and even followed the correct order in which they had spoken. One by one, he clearly, logically, systematically refuted their observations and opinions.

And thus, one after another.

Fifteen.

Fifteen reporters felt their ears go red.

Yu Wenzhou’s rebuttals were so sensible that the reporters were surprised when he suddenly finished. And then, they all had only one feeling: that they truly understood nothing, that they truly were only speaking nonsense.

This was far more complex and high-end than they had imagined. And after listening to Yu Wenzhou’s analysis, the problems that they had brought up felt unbelievably shallow.

It was as though they were a crowd of noobs, charging toward someone and yelling ”Why didn’t you use ten Formless Phantom Blades to make a hundred-combo to kill the opponent?” And that person would laugh, and pat their heads, and kindly reply that Formless Phantom Blade has a cooldown, you can only use it once, you can’t chain together ten.

Even after having their arguments torn apart, not a single one of the reporters reacted angrily to being shamed like this. Because Yu Wenzhou’s counters were truly too accurate, they simply couldn’t find a foothold to reply.

When Yu Wenzhou finished speaking, the scene once again returned to silence.

”Then…” Yu Wenzhou surveyed the crowd one last time. ”Thank you, everyone. We will meet next season.”

And with that, Team Blue Rain departed.

And about what happened in this post-match press conference, not a single reporter was willing to write. In the end, this match report was simply a collection of outside descriptions, without anything about the emotions and attitudes of the Blue Rain players.

These reporters all shut their mouths, but that wouldn’t stop other people from speaking.

The reporters who had undergone this rebuttal, upon seeing the comments made by others, suddenly felt that those critics were as pathetic as they themselves had been earlier.

Those critiques and analysis were just like the vehement statements they had made during the press conference. Not a single one hit the nail on the head.

It was because their skill wasn’t high enough. And now, these reporters knew how these critiques were viewed through professional eyes.

It was nonsense.

All this time, there was simply too much of this kind of nonsense.

Because this was a new circle, those who truly had high-end skills were still participating in the League as players. Not many had joined the other aspects of this industry after their retirement. The media workers were mostly just ordinary fans, and some might have even been forced by their job to learn about Glory.

Their so-called specialist eyes simply weren’t at the professional level, especially for the playoffs. Too much of the match content here, they just couldn’t understand.

To the pro players, their confident assertions were simply laughable. Yet they weren’t self aware; they ran about like the emperor wearing his new clothes, cheerfully streaking, until yesterday, Yu Wenzhou quietly nudged a few of them, and told them: You’re not wearing any clothes, don’t run around, be careful of catching a cold.

They really were catching cold!

And there were quite a number of them!

To these people, the mountains of comments were simply confused and invalid. But they had no way of pointing it out, because they only learned a few principles from Yu Wenzhou’s words. That didn’t mean that they had put on clothes, it just meant that they would no longer run around on the street naked.

And Team Blue Rain, because of their captain’s powerful performance during the press conference, were completely deaf to these comments.

They knew much more clearly than these people where the true problems lay. Did they need to listen to the opinions of these outsiders?

”Break begins today.”

After the match, the first sentence that Team Blue Rain heard from their captain was this one.

”As for the rest, we’ll speak of it next season,” said Yu Wenzhou.

”Yes!” Everyone nodded.

Even if this had been a bit ugly, this wasn’t the first time they had failed. As for where the problems lay…

There were no idiots in Blue Rain. The words that Captain had said yesterday at the press conference, they wouldn’t treat that as a mere tongue lashing.

He had simply used the most powerful moment to say those things. To review the recordings of their losing match, while still carrying the depression of defeat, only strengthened the effects.

Seizing opportunities was always Blue Rain’s specialty, whether on or off the battlefield.

”See you next season!” Everyone bid each other to take care, and Blue Rain’s players began their breaks.

But, not everyone left.

”You’re not leaving?” Yu Wenzhou looked at Huang Shaotian.

”I want to watch until the very end. As soon as there’s a chance, I’m going to go up and roast the hell out of that guy!” Huang Shaotian said firmly.

”Then what if there isn’t a chance?” Yu Wenzhou asked, with a laugh.

”If there isn’t, then I can only watch him continue to be proud until the end,” said Huang Shaotian.

Everyone wanted to be proud until the end.

Blue Rain no longer had this chance. And that night, another team lost their chance as well.

Thunderclap fought their away game against Tiny Herb, and ultimately lost the match. Having lost both games, they too were eliminated in the first round of the playoffs.

Xiao Shiqin and his teammates had played an admirable regular season this year, but they still had yet to ever break past the first round of playoffs.

Thunderclap’s individual strength still wasn’t high enough!

This was what the outside world said. Their team strength didn’t lose to any powerhouse, but Thunderclap’s performance in the individual rounds indeed wasn’t very reassuring. The playoffs only made this more obvious.

Once upon a time, in order to gain more powerful helpers, Xiao Shiqin had left Thunderclap. But this time, amidst these voices…

”Do you hear that, they’re all saying that our individual strength isn’t enough! Train well this summer, all of you. Next season, we’re going to give them a scare in the individual rounds!” This was what Xiao Shiqin said before break. This time, he wouldn’t think that his teammates weren’t enough. He would rise together with his teammates, and together they would strive for a victory that belonged to them.

”Break 37 consecutive wins!” Dai Yanqi jumped up and shouted.

Xiao Shiqin’s legs shuddered.

”Watch yourself!” He glared at Dai Yanqi. Encouragement was good, but it couldn’t be absurd! Was that even something that a human could accomplish?