Chapter 995: Life Isn’t Fiction
Translator: Nomyummi Editor: Nomyummi
Not a sound could be heard from the stadium.
Compared to the Jade Dynasty players on stage, the crowd had watched as Jade Dynasty's Cleric was grabbed from inside his team's formation and beaten to death.
Cloud Grasping a healer wasn't anything new. Even in the Arena, players in team competitions liked to use this move to create an opening. The prerequisite was naturally that the team had to have a Qi Master.
Yes, a Qi Master. This class was the prerequisite. Happy didn't have one though, so Jade Dynasty hadn't taken any sort of precautions against this move. However, a Cloud Grasping Fist actually appeared. Jade Dynasty's Cleric was kidnapped and wasn't able to resist. Then, Lord Grim and Soft Mist ganged up on him. On the side, Happy's Cleric also helped out. In a moment, there would be a Holy Commandment; the next, there would be a Sacred Fire. Jade Dynasty's Cleric wasn't even able to defend himself. He was being kneaded like a piece of dough. Even when he turned into a corpse, the corpse was sent flying with a blow-away attack. Ye Xiu threw out those words in the chat at the same time. Bang! Jade Dynasty's Cleric flew past One Inch Ash's Ghost Boundaries and landed in front of the rest of Jade Dynasty.
Nothing was worse than having the Cleric killed in a team competition. The only exception was if the team didn't bring a Cleric in the first place.
Team Jade Dynasty clearly wasn't the exception though. What's more, they regarded their healer as their core.
The healer was six feet under. The core had died. It was exactly like Ye Xiu had just asked. Was there even a need to continue?
The outcome of the match was soon decided. Happy easily won. Looking back at their run through the group arena, everyone realized in astonishment that this match wasn't as intense as they had anticipated it to be. Happy won the match without much trouble!
But Team Jade Dynasty's players didn't think the same. The instant the winner of the match was announced, the Cleric Lu Shilin rushed out from his seat in a frenzy. In this match, the viewers weren't even able to see his character name clearly or show his Cleric's ability before dying. Everything was because of that stupid Cloud Grasping Fist.
Yes, such a crude method that even normal players used had been the deciding move in this very important match. There weren't any deep or complex tactics involved. Sun Zheping and Tang Rou simply drew their attention, allowing Ye Xiu find the right opportunity to launch a sneak attack.
In reality, there was a single prerequisite that allowed for this to happen: Team Jade Dynasty didn't know Lord Grim could use Cloud Grasping Fist. If they had known, they would have protected their healer differently and paid particular attention to Lord Grim. They would have treated him more like a Qi Master. No matter what, Lord Grim wouldn't have been able to stand behind them so casually. He wouldn't have been able to lift his hand, whisk him away, and kill him so quickly.
Lu Shilin refused to accept the result. He refused a hundred, a thousand, ten thousand times. The outcome had nothing to do with strategy or skill. It was only because their Team Jade Dynasty didn't know one small detail...
Happy had an unfair advantage. They should be feeling ashamed at such a victory!
Wei Chen was the first to get up from the player seats on Happy's side. As soon as he got up, he stretched his body: "So fast! I had only just fallen asleep!"
"You..... You....." Seeing Team Happy's players come out one after the other, Lu Shilin pointed his hand at them. He was so furious, he could only shake with anger, unable to say anything.
What could he say? Happy should have told them that they would use Cloud Grasping Fist, so Jade Dynasty could be on their guard? Lu Shilin obviously knew that was impossible. Thus, even though he refused to accept the results, he was unable to find any convincing arguments.
After saying "you" for awhile, just before Happy left the stage, he jumped out: "What type of f*cking class is an unspecialized? They're allowed in a competition????"
He was already grasping at straws. The Alliance never had any restrictions or requirements towards characters. There simply hadn't been a precedent for an unspecialized before. There was no rule stating that unspecialized characters were forbidden.
Lu Shilin's argument had no effect on Happy's players. They just kept talking and laughing, completely ignoring his existence. They left the stage and celebrated their victory with the others.
Lu Shilin still wanted to rush over and argue, but someone grabbed him from behind. He turned to look. It was Team Jade Dynasty's team captain, Lin Yi.
"What are you doing?" Lu Shilin furiously threw Lin Yi's hand off of him. He clearly didn't have much respect for this captain of his.
"A loss is a loss. Lose with dignity!" Lin Yi said.
"Dignity? Wow, you've really got some! You can accept such a stupid loss?" Lu Shilin shouted.
"That's the way competition is. At least, next time we won't make the same mistake." Lin Yi said.
"Next time? When's that? Next year?" Lu Shilin ridiculed, "You can hang around the Challenger League for three years because you can put up with such stupid losses, but not me!"
"I don't think it was a stupid loss. We just lost to something unexpected. In the end, it's because we didn't prepare enough. That goes for the team competition and the group arena too." Lin Yi said.
Lu Shilin listened and then laughed: "So it's like that. You want to look for an excuse for your trash performance in the group arena? So you're actually very happy that we lost in this team competition! This way, it proves that you're not actually incompetent, right?"
"Calm down." Lin Yi felt helpless. He could understand Lu Shilin's feelings though. Losing in the Challenger League was a huge blow because this meant that another year had been wasted. It was even more painful than losing the championship title. If you lost the championships, it wasn't the end of the world, but losing in the Challenger League just might be the end of the world. Didn't Team Everlasting disband this season because of their consecutive losses in the Challenger League?
Team Jade Dynasty being unable to make it through the Challenger League year after year made the players live in fear everyday. Perhaps one morning they would wake up and suddenly be told that the team was disbanding. Everyone go home.
This was the life of those at the bottom of the competitive scene. It was similar to those at the bottom of society. They couldn't talk about their dreams or goals. Just surviving was already difficult.
Jade Dynasty had walked along this arduous path year after year. No one understood the fear and desperation of being at the bottom better than them. Xiao Jie's sudden appearance had been welcomed with heartfelt gratitude. They at least didn't have to worry about their team surviving for a short period of time.
But they soon realized that their new boss wasn't as pure as they imagined him to be. He eagerly wanted Team Jade Dynasty to return to the Alliance and return to the soil where the pro players truly resided.
Who didn't want that? Team Jade Dynasty had persisted year after year for this very goal, no? But in order to realize this goal, they had to face reality. Team Jade Dynasty had participated in the Challenger League for three years. How far their strength had fallen could easily be imagined.
Indeed, Xiao Jie had brought along a pretty good player. At the same time, he had found their former captain Zhang Jian as a helper. Using the experience accumulated from all these years, along with solid financial backing to massively upgrade their equipment, the entire Team Jade Dynasty had been reborn.
But even so, immediately returning to the Alliance this season was too early, no?
No one wanted to be in the spotlight more than Lin Yi and the other players, but a reborn team with new characters and equipment needed time to get used to. Their new Cleric became their core. With their core changed, the entire team's strategies and tactics also needed to be revised. Apart from that, this season's Challenger League had an unprecedented mountain to climb: Team Excellent Era.
It wouldn't be exaggerated to call Team Jade Dynasty's situation this season as a mess both internally and externally, but their new boss? Their new core player? They viewed this as a challenge and also saw it as an opportunity they could grasp. If they could beat Team Excellent Era and return to the Alliance, Team Jade Dynasty would instantly rise and return with their heads held high. After that, the two had actually started talking about becoming the champions.
Team Jade Dynasty's players couldn't adapt to such a sudden change. They didn't know how they had suddenly gone from worrying about the survival of their team to becoming the champions.
It wasn't like Team Jade Dynasty's players didn't have such ambitions. However, their boss' and new teammate's attitude were too exaggerated.
As the team captain, Lin Yi had specifically looked for Xiao Jie to discuss this issue. The boss completely ignored his worries. He lost himself in his own methods. For example, not using good equipment and waiting until the final battle to catch their opponents off guard. In his opinion, Team Excellent Era losing their heads out of fear at such a scene was too much of a joke.
At that time, Lin Yi was also helpless, just like how he was when facing Lu Shilin now. This new boss and new teammate were too much in sync. It wasn't without reason. Both of them were extremely conceited. A lot of clearly difficult problems were solved by them with a laugh.
Team Jade Dynasty had taken off under these circumstances. Xiao Jie repeatedly reminded them to preserve with their strength, so they could surprise Team Excellent Era in the finals.
The famous author Xiao Jie treated his team like a work of fiction. He thought everything was under his control. If he wanted the team to suppress themselves and then reveal their true strength, then it would happen. If he wanted them to disguise as pigs and then eat the tiger, then it would happen. He treated reality like a work of fiction. Everything would unfold just like how he intended it to, but when what happened in reality completely went against the plot he had thought of, his faithful believer, Lu Shilin, who had lost himself to this imaginary plot, took the lead and collapsed.