Chapter 1257: Things Remain, But The People Change
Translator: Nomyummi Editor: Nomyummi
The Hot-Blooded Dodgeball competition came to a close. There were a lot of participants, and the elimination was turn-by-turn, so this one minigame replaced the three minigames of previous All-Stars. However, having just this one event would have been somewhat monotonous, so afterwards there was also a three-legged race event.
It could be seen from this that Tyranny, hosting this year's All-Stars, wanted to emphasize the subject of teamwork. Whether it was Hot-Blooded Dodgeball or Three-Legged Race, they all required exceptional teamwork and cooperation.
However, the famed All-Star pairings with which everyone was familiar still didn't appear in these minigames. Everyone knew that this excitement would be left until the final day. As they watched these fun events, the anticipation for Day 3 only grew.
After the Three-Legged Race was the Player vs Pro event, in which the hosting team would send out a pro player to accept challenges from the crowd. Tyranny sent out a player that had only just appeared in their roster last season, an older rookie, Qin Muyun.
This older rookie who fought alongside Tyranny's Four Heavenly Kings used to have a very faint presence. It wasn't until the playoffs that people realized that this player also had unusual battle ability. His presence was faint only because his use on the battlefield wasn't easily captured in summary statistics. This expert at positioning used his position to contain or restrict his opponents, which couldn't be recorded in statistics.
Qin Muyun took his place, Tyranny's Captain Han Wenqing went onstage to select the players. There were many Tyranny fans in the crowd, so of course this was a very exciting thing.
Qin Muyun's victories were of course guaranteed. But for the ordinary players that lost, their heads were filled with fog. During battle, they had all experienced an indescribable feeling of being bound. What was up with that? None of them understood. Qin Muyun's playstyle, which relied on positioning to launch offensives, was so high-level that it far surpassed what ordinary players could recognize. They might know that something like this was going on, but in real battle, they couldn't detect the intentions of each movement of Qin Muyun's Negative Nine Degrees.
"Such an outstanding player, how was he discovered so late?" Blue Rain's Captain Yu Wenzhou mused. He wasn't the only pro player with such thoughts; all of the teams were discussing Qin Muyun's performance. Even when fighting ordinary players, his style was fully apparent. For the pros, once they understood where Qin Muyun's talents lay, it was easier to grasp his plans on the field. But even though that was the case, if their attention wavered just a bit, they could still overlook him.
Suppression that relied on positioning - there was the feeling of some silent drowning. Qin Muyun had already earned a lot of attention, but his presence on the battlefield was still as faint as ever.
The lucky audience members happily walked onstage, lost, walked offstage in a daze, and Day 2 of the All-Star Weekend came to a close. The audience members left in satisfaction, and began to anticipate Day 3 of All-Stars, and the event that was the highlight of the weekend: the All-Star Competition.
What would the teams be? Which players would they see fight side-by-side? Which players would they see clash?
Any kind of dream team or dream confrontation could become reality in the All-Star Weekend. Carrying their hopes, everyone welcomed the arrival of Day 3 of All-Stars.
The atmosphere was extremely raucous; everyone was swept along by the excitement. The host was clearly aware of the crowd's mood, so he didn't try to tease everyone's appetite. One by one, the 24 All-Star players were introduced and welcomed onstage.
The excited crowd gave their cheers and shouts to all of the All-Stars. Of course, the ones who earned the loudest cheers were the players of Tyranny. When Captain Han Wenqing went onstage, the cheers were like the roaring of a tsunami wave. It was difficult to believe that this player had only been ranked 12th this year for All-Stars. The power of the home stadium made it seem like Han Wenqing was the number one superstar of Glory. From this it could be seen that although Han Wenqing's total popularity had decreased greatly, in Tyranny, he was still the immovable number one.
Opposite to everyone else was Ye Xiu. When he appeared, the Tyranny fans sent him not applause but merciless booing. This was the All-Star stage, not Tyranny's home game, so this sort of behavior was rather rude. But there was nothing that could be done. The hatred that Tyranny fans had toward Ye Xiu simply ran too deep. Last season, when there had been neither Ye Xiu nor Excellent Era, the Tyranny fans had really been a little lonely. No matter how strong Samsara was, even if they defeated Tyranny in the end, in the eyes of the fans they still weren't the biggest enemy. The archenemy was still Excellent Era, was still Ye Xiu.
Excellent Era was no longer here, but Ye Xiu had returned, so the hate was more focused. Tyranny's fans would never conceal their emotions. The setting didn't matter. If they saw Ye Xiu, they booed. This was law, iron law.
Among the 24 players, only Ye Xiu received such a brutal treatment. Although Su Mucheng was also from Excellent Era, the grudge that Tyranny had toward Excellent Era and Ye Xiu stemmed from the very beginning, with Excellent Era's three consecutive championship wins. Su Mucheng joined Excellent Era the year that Tyranny finally defeated Excellent Era, when their spirits were high. So, subtly, they didn't have much negative feeling toward Su Mucheng, since she had joined when Tyranny came to victory. All of the aggro was focused on Ye Xiu alone.
The other players all had their own feelings as they watched this person receive a completely different treatment than the rest of them.
This person had left the pro circle for a year and a half, and then he returned, and then he immediately stood on this stage that symbolized the very pinnacle of Glory players. Aside from Zhou Zekai, not a single player was more popular than him. This was indeed a powerful comeback.
Ye Xiu also looked at everyone on this stage. After leaving for a year and a half, the array of faces before him had gained some unfamiliar, and lost some familiar.
Of the opponents that had tangled with him for many years now, many of them had already left. Some were gone for good, others were currently sitting offstage.
Zhang Jiale, Lin Jingyan, Sun Zheping… And those that might be sitting in front of their televisions right now, Zhao Yang, Deng Fusheng…
Perhaps they would never stand on this most beautiful stage again. And what about himself? How much longer could he himself stand here?
Looking at Han Wenqing, Ye Xiu had mixed feelings. Standing on this stage now, there was now no longer a single player that had debuted in Season 2. But the two of them Season 1 debuts still stubbornly clung to their places here.
Him at number two. Han Wenqing at number twelve.
Not bad, Ye Xiu thought. But looking at the top ten All-Stars, the presence of the new generation was only growing stronger and stronger.
Zhou Zekai from Season 5 comfortably held the spot of number one, while Jiang Botao and Yu Feng from Season 6, along with Sun Xiang and Tang Hao from Season 7, were all in the top 10. Aside from them, there were three players from the famed Season 4 Golden Generation. Then, it was just Wang Jiexi from Season 3.
There weren't too many left from Season 3, either…
Ye Xiu counted, and realized that of the players from Season 3, aside from Wang Jiexi, there was only Yang Cong. And this time he was ranked 24th, barely catching the last train. Behind him, a crowd of newer players were eyeing this position. Perhaps as soon as next year, he would vanish from this leaderboard.
Things remain, but the people change…
Seeing all of these new young faces before him, Ye Xiu couldn't help but feel the vicissitudes of life. The onstage host was currently interviewing one by one the players that came onstage, and finally it was Ye Xiu's turn.
"God Ye Xiu made a strong comeback this year, coming onto this stage at second place. What are your current feelings?" The host was even more excited than Ye Xiu as he posed this question.
"Oh, I'm used to this," Ye Xiu said.
Don't even mention the crowd. Even some of the other All-Star players onstage booed at Ye Xiu.
The host also hesitated for a moment before continuing his questions. "Does God Ye Xiu have anyone he's looking forward to partnering with, or fighting against?"
Ye Xiu glanced at the other twenty-plus players, and continued to respond calmly. "I don't really care."
"Hahaha, God Ye Xiu is really… extremely calm!" the host said.
"Because I'm used to this!" Ye Xiu said.
His words came back to the same point… The host could only helplessly proceed to the next player.
The one after Ye Xiu was of course Zhou Zekai. The interviews proceeded in order according to the All-Star rankings.
"Little Zhou once again was voted to number one in the All-Star rankings. What are your current feelings?" The host didn't refer to Zhou Zekai as "God," but as "Little Zhou," evoking a feeling of familiarity.
"Does he even need to say? He's also used to this!" While Zhou Zekai was still pondering how to respond, Ye Xiu already helped him answer.
Zhou Zekai looked at Ye Xiu blankly, and in the end didn't say anything.
"Uh, this…" The host felt awkward. Maybe Zhou Zekai really was used to it, but only you would say it directly with that kind of attitude!
Zhou Zekai didn't look like he was about to say anything more, so the host could only continue to the next question, still the same one that had been repeated many times already: "Little Zhou, do you have any players you're looking forward to partnering with?"
"Partner with who? Samsara's sent four players here! Are you going to split them up?" Ye Xiu said.
"God Ye… can you… stop talking?" The host nobly suppressed the urge to blow up at him.
"Oh oh, you guys chat, you guys chat," said Ye Xiu.
Chat? What chat? Who could chat with Zhou Zekai? The host held the microphone and looked at Zhou Zekai. Seeing that after a very long pause he still didn't move his mouth, the host quickly repeated the question. "Have you thought it through? Who are you hoping to partner with?"
"Uh…" Zhou Zekai finally opened his mouth. "Our team… has four."
"Hahahaha!" Ye Xiu laughed like crazy. Gritting his teeth, the host ultimately restrained himself and didn't ask any more questions. Originally, the number two and number one should have had longer interviews, as befit their higher popularity. But now…
"Alright, now let us see the teams for this year's All-Star Competition," the host said, his face expressionless.