999 Warm Up

"Hey, Old Ye!"

The one to greet Happy wasn't a random person, but Excellent Era's boss, Tao Xuan. As he called out, he walked over briskly. His tone of voice and conduct didn't lack cordiality. For a moment, Chen Guo felt dazed. Had she confused him with someone else?

Ye Xiu smiled and waved. It could be considered a greeting.

"You guys came quite early." Tao Xuan smiled.

"You guys did too." Ye Xiu said.

Tao Xuan's gaze shifted towards the members of Team Happy, sizing them up. He was a senior member in the scene. Wei Chen. Sun Zheping. If he tried a bit, he could recognize them. However, as the boss of a powerhouse, he didn't need to waste his time trying to make friends with players past their prime, so he treated them the same as ordinary players. He nodded his head as a greeting to the rest of Happy.

"Who would have thought? Your team is quite interesting. Happy, right? I never noticed that our neighbor was a crouching tiger hidden dragon!" Tao Xuan said and gave a smile towards his team. If their boss was smiling, how could they not do the same? All of the players in Team Excellent Era started smiling.

After Tao Xuan was done talking, he didn't wait for anyone in Happy to give a reply. His eyes turned towards someone in Team Happy.

Tang Rou.

The only person in Team Happy who truly interested Tao Xuan was Tang Rou. However, Excellent Era's Battle Mage position was taken by their ace player, Sun Xiang. Tao Xuan didn't have any intentions on replacing him. It was just that when he saw Tang Rou in Happy, he felt even more regretful than the other teams interested in Tang Rou　

"Miss Tang, it's nice to meet you." Tao Xuan ignored everyone else and specifically singled out Tang Rou.

With Tang Rou's background, she was someone who had experienced many things. She could handle any situation. She gave a polite reply towards Tao Xuan's greeting. Then, she heard Tao Xuan say: "Miss Tang, someone as talented as you definitely shouldn't stay buried. After this match, if you're interested, you can contact me at any time. This is my business card."　　

"Hey, what are you saying?" Chen Guo was listening on the side and flared up. Tao Xuan's words implied that he considered everyone else beneath him. Not only was he trying to recruit her in front of everyone, he was also hinting that Happy losing the finals was set in stone.

"I'm not saying anything." Tao Xuan smiled. His tone of voice was confident and at ease because Tang Rou had already accepted his business card and nodded her head, saying thanks.

"That's enough chit chat. I'll see you guys tonight." Tao Xuan called out to Excellent Era's players and started walking away. Excellent Era's players followed their boss. Not a single one glanced at Happy. Only Su Mucheng remained behind. She acted as if she didn't know and started talking to Ye Xiu and the others. Tao Xuan obviously knew about it, but when he turned his head and saw this scene, he didn't say anything and left the along with the others in Excellent Era.

"That guy is too infuriating. Why didn't you have any reaction?" Chen Guo looked around. Ye Xiu and Wei Chen were usually experts at making people angry. Why were they so calm?

"I just felt like it! Such a powerful boss personally ran over to talk some trash in front of us. It's not a trivial matter. I felt like I should give him some room to express himself." Wei Chen said in deadly earnest.

"Oh? Who was that?" An Wenyi and Luo Ji asked curiously. Tao Xuan thought he was some top dog, but he forgot that he was too high up. Ordinary people wouldn't recognize him. His trash talk had been prepared quite meticulously, but unfortunately, he didn't think that there were people in Happy who didn't even recognize him. They just saw him give Tang Rou his business card.

"Is he a scout?" If An Wenyi and Luo Ji had to make a guess, they would most likely give this answer.

Chen Guo wasn't able to get angry. She pulled Su Mucheng over and chatted about all sorts of things, but despite this being before a big match, she didn't mention Glory even a single time. Chen Guo was clearly avoiding this sensitive subject. After all, no matter how clear Su Mucheng's position stood, she was their opponent this match. Even if she faced them as a professional, what type of feelings did she have in her heart? As a result, Chen Guo felt like it wasn't good to talk about Glory.

After entering the venue, both teams had people specifically to receive them, and Su Mucheng had to go back to Excellent Era. The two teams were led to their lounges. The appropriate arrangements had already been set up in the venue. The two sides each had two hours to get used to the set up.

"Team Excellent Era said that you guys can enter the stage first to familiarize yourselves with the set up." The employee passed on the message.

"Okay. Thank them for us." Ye Xiu nodded his head.

"Okay. I'll relay it to them." The employee immediately left. The people in Happy wandered around their huge lounge. Even Wei Chen was deeply moved. In his generation, even pro teams didn't have such luxurious conditions. Stadium? What a joke. At that time, who had such nice accomodations? Finding some sort of building that could house a few hundred or a few thousand people was enough for a match. It hadn't even been ten years since then and teams now had their own arenas. Glory's growth could only be described as rapid.

"Not bad! Not bad! Really not bad!" Wei Chen touched and looked around. His spirit was trembling with excitement as he waved: "Come on! Let me see what the set up is like on stage."

Everyone in Happy left the lounge and walked through the player passageway to arrive at the stage.

From the audience's seats, there wasn't much of a difference compared to the previous venue. The accomodations were about the same. However, the decorations were completely different.The player preparation areas were all on the south side. The stage was split on the east and west. The center of the stage was a vast empty area, where the holographic projections could be shown. After nearly a season's baptism, the holographic projection technology was quite mature. Those in the crowd would absolutely have a different experience than those watching at home. It wasn't just as simple as the atmosphere.

After this change, the number of seats filled up in a stadium soared. The Alliance and the various teams had benefited greatly. This method would continue to be improved.

After Happy walked around their preparation area, they went towards the stage. For the players, the empty area in the middle for the holographic projections wasn't important because they wouldn't be able to see it in the middle of a match. The stage was their true battlefield.

Each side had six booths for the maximum number of players inside a team competition. The computers in front of the seats were all set up uniformly. It was an Alliance standard. Players could bring their own mice and keyboards. It was easy for them to plug those in. However, before the match, they would undergo an inspection to see if they complied with the Alliance's regulations. If a player forgot to bring their own equipment out of carelessness, there was no need to worry. The Alliance wouldn't cancel the player's qualification to compete. The player could borrow a teammate's or the use standard equipment provided by the hosts.

The players could start warming up on stage. The necessary inspections had already been done. The regulations for this year's Challenger League finals was quite strict. It was completely in line with the Pro League.

Everyone in Happy went to their side. They turned on the equipment and tried them out. Even Chen Guo got to experience the feeling of a pro player playing on stage. After checking out their equipment, they left and saw Wei Chen standing alone on stage staring blankly at the rest of the stadium.

Chen Guo didn't go up and bother him. She learned from Wei Chen and looked around. A retired old soldier like him had never thought he would return to such a familiar scene, but such a scene was happening today. What was he feeling right now?

Chen Guo turned his head to look towards Wei Chen. Then, she saw Ye Xiu also standing next to him. The two seemed to be having a good time smoking. The smoke swirled into the air for everyone to see.

Chen Guo was speechless at these two. Can't you leave some room for others to get emotional?

Although Wie Chen had never been on such a large stage, as a veteran of the scene, he had frightening adaptability. He wasn't like the young ones who checked out each seat curiously. Two hours soon passed. Team Excellent Era's players could be seen.　　

In reality, the warm up for the two teams didn't conflict with each other. The two hour time limit wasn't really a time limit. If a team wanted to spend another hour, it wouldn't violate any rules. It was just that right before the match started, all of the equipment would be inspected one last time. At that time, players were required to leave.

As a result, Excellent Era saying Happy could go on stage first was an unnecessary courtesy. Their arrogance as a powerhouse showed.

Only the players from Excellent Era came to warm up. Tao Xuan didn't follow along. When they saw that Happy was still there, they didn't say anything. After taking a look at their preparation area, they went to their area on stage. Just when Happy was about to leave, someone in Excellent Era suddenly said: "Hey!"

Everyone in Happy stopped. It was Sun Xiang, who refused to give up even after being ridiculed numerous times.

"Ever since the offline tournament started, I won every match 1v5." Sun Xiang held out his hand and waved it: "Tonight will not be an exception."

"This kid is hopeless." Chen Guo was helpless. Even she remained aloof at Sun Xiang's taunt. Sun Xiang's cried "The wolf is here!" yet the wolf never came. Who knew how many times this joke had happened.

Everyone in Happy ignored him and left the stage.

At 8:00PM, the Challenger League Finals officially started.