1079 Happy, Champions?

After Team Tyranny, the reporters interviewed Team Samsara. Defending their championship title was obviously an incredible achievement. As soon as Team Samsara went up on stage, they were met with fervent congratulations from the crowd. But after contrasting this excitement with the disappointment from Tyranny's old generals, some of the crowd felt sad, especially the old reporters that had followed Glory for so many years. Han Wenqing, Lin Jingyan, Zhang Jiale. Their work always revolved around these few players. How could they not have a bit of emotional investment into them?

The clash between the new and old was difficult to avoid. The joy and elation flowing from Samsara's side made it seem like it was the coming of a new era for both Glory and the news scene. As for them? Would they be like the old generals of the pro scene and gradually fade away?

Definitely not! Everything must continue on like in the past.

The old reporters suddenly felt a wave of empathy surging inside them. Immediately afterwards, the incisive questions flew towards Samsara.

"First of all, congratulations Team Samsara for defending your title. What I want to ask is whether or not the war of attrition employed to win the third match was chosen because you saw that the old Team Tyranny players lacked the stamina and energy to maintain their peak conditions?"

"Yes." Zhou Zekai said.

"In the second match, we realized that Team Tyranny didn't seem to be too good at long wars of attrition. This is why we decided to employ this type of strategy in the third match." Jiang Botao immediately added. For touchy subjects like this, who knew how the reporters would spin these types of one-word answers from Zhou Zekai.

Not good at long wars of attrition…... Jiang Botao summed it up with what seemed to be a good explanation, but the crucial question about Team Tyranny's stamina issues was dodged. How could the reporters let him get by so easily?

"Then why do you think Tyranny isn't good at long wars of attrition?" A reporter asked despite already knowing the answer. He had already made his decision. If Samsara dared to act stupid answering this question, he wouldn't let these shams go no matter what.

"Uh, during this period of one month, Tyranny played nine intense matches for the playoffs. This must have been very exhausting. Their stamina issues in the later stages were the key to our Samsara's victory."

In the end, Samsara gave a clear reply to this question.

"Oh, then let's say if Tyranny had only played four matches before the finals like Samsara and had enough time to fully recover, would that have made any impact on the results?"

"The match would have definitely been more difficult." Jiang Botao replied.　　

"Then, do you think Samsara would have still won the finals?" This reporter's questions were becoming more and more harsh. He was practically implying that Samsara had won with an unfair advantage.

"Competition is filled with countless variables. This is why we keep playing on stage. If you could accurately deduce the outcome of a match, then what's the point in competing? From an objective perspective, I'm not able to answer your question. However, from Samsara's position, I believe that Samsara would have won no matter who our opponents had been!"

Jiang Botao's reply was powerful and resonating. This reporter was clearly unable to counter it because he also knew that there was no such thing as having an unfair advantage. Every element was a part of a victory. If not, when a powerhouse beat teams due to having better players and better characters, wouldn't that also be considered as having an unfair advantage?

"Captain Zhou, is that what you think too?" Unable to make a counter argument, the reporter immediately switched targets. He also knew that once he switched to Zhou Zekai, this interview topic would stop here.

"Yes." Zhou Zekai's reply didn't disappoint him.

"I have no other questions." This reporter immediately followed.

Afterwards, there were no more questions with malicious intentions. Once the unoriginal questions like what are your thoughts on the victory, the reporters once again switched topics and gave a similar question to what they asked Tyranny: "Next season, Ye Xiu and his Team Happy will be in the pro scene. What are Samsara's thoughts about them? Do you think Happy can succeed?"

When everyone in Happy heard the first part of the question, they were almost about to look at Ye Xiu to see his reaction. But in the end, the reporter asked about Team Happy as a whole. This was different from Tyranny. The reporter had considered that Samsara was a part of a different generation than Ye Xiu. Samsara wasn't like Tyranny, who had players that had old relationships with him. As a result, the reporter didn't concentrate on Ye Xiu.

"That depends on how you define successful." Jiang Botao said.

"It seems like they intend on becoming the champions." The reporter said with uncertainty.

Pfft!!!

This time, quite a few people at the scene laughed. Samsara's players were sitting on stage and knew that the camera was on them, so they were able to maintain their composure. However, expressions of astonishment could clearly be seen on all of them. The reporters weren't like them. After laughing, no one waited for Samsara to reply. The reporters crowded around that poor reporter: "Where'd you hear that from?" The press conference erupted into an uproar.

"I heard a player from Heavenly Swords inadvertently leak it!!" When that reporter saw how everyone wanted to gnaw at him, he immediately confessed.

"How could someone from Heavenly Swords know?" Someone asked.

"After the Challenger League finals, Happy stayed over at City B. They have a good relationship with Heavenly Swords and are constantly in touch with one another." That reporter immediately replied.

"Is what that person said reliable? Or was it just a joke?" As soon as someone heard it was a private exchange, he didn't believe it.

"I don't know either!" That reporter said bitterly. He had just overheard it while passing by. He couldn't confirm it either, so he didn't know if it was the truth or a joke.

"It was probably a joke. It has to be." The reporters gradually calmed down.

"What are Samsara's thoughts on this?" A reporter suddenly remembered who the main characters were and promptly threw the question over to Samsara.　　

Jiang Botao stared blankly. He felt like if he had to answer, he would probably say that he felt like it was a joke. Even though Happy beat Excellent Era, miracles couldn't keep happening over and over again, no? Happy's strength was still rather limited. Saying that Happy wanted to win the championships was too much. But if he actually said that it was a joke, it would be hard to avoid people from thinking that Samsara held contempt for Happy. But if he said that it was probably the truth, then.... it would be hard to avoid people from thinking that he was just saying fake words!

This is a difficult question to answer!

Jiang Botao, who had been very adept at answering questions the entire time, was actually stumped. After a long while, he finally replied: "It doesn't matter what Happy's goal is. Samsara will always try our hardest and beat our opponents."

The question was dodged with an ambiguous answer. However, the question had been a joke itself, so the reporter let it go. Soon afterwards, the press conference for Samsara concluded. After the crowd dispersed, quite a few reporters became reinvigorated and started opening up their address books to confirm what exactly had been said.

The broadcast for the finals had ended. Everyone in Happy was still stunned from the commotion from that question. Not long afterwards, Chen Guo's cell phone rang. Chen Guo took out her cell phone. The call was from Lou Guanning. After picking it up, Chen Guo was able to get a profound understanding of how terrifying reporters could be. Didn't the press conference just end? The reporters interested in this question had already found ways to ask Heavenly Swords. One of those reporters had found a way to directly contact Heavenly Sword's boss, Lou Guanning. As a result, Lou Guanning quickly called Chen Guo, asking how he should answer.

"How should he answer?" Chen Guo asked Ye Xiu.

"Of course I was serious." Ye Xiu said.

"He was serious." Chen Guo replied to Lou Guanning.

"Haha, how fun!" Lou Guanning seemed to be looking forward to the exposure and hung up the phone with a laugh.

"You're not staying low-profile at all!" Chen Guo held her cell phone and sighed. Starting from when the Challenger League first started, Happy had been quite high-profile. As soon as they began, they came out saying that they would topple Excellent Era and received quite a bit of ridicule for it. Now that they had actually done it, who knew where those haters went. But now, Chen Guo knew that when news came out with Happy's statement that their goal was to win the championships, these haters would probably come out again. The confidence from those haters would probably be even higher, no?

"It doesn't matter." Ye Xiu said nonchalantly, "In any case, no matter what happens, we have to strive for victory."

"For this goal, everyone is going to need to work even harder!!" Chen Guo encouraged the team.

"Of course!" Steamed Bun replied excitedly. Tang Rou smiled, showing her ambitiousness. The one who couldn't stay calm was the one who was usually the calmest, Qiao Yifan.

Become the champions? Their next goal was actually going to be the top of Glory. Qiao Yifan felt like he was going dizzy. But when he saw his teammates, he knew that they weren't joking. Happy was going to be rushing for the championship title? This was all going too quickly!　　

"Okay, it's getting late. Everyone should get ready to go to bed!" Chen Guo looked at the time and called out. Happy had a fairly strict work and rest schedule now. No one would be allowed to live a disorderly lifestyle like before. The memory of Ye Xiu sleeping for a very long time due to exhaustion was something still fresh in her mind. Next up, they would be preparing for the Pro League. Everyone in Happy needed to be in their best state the entire time. A disciplined sleep schedule was essential.

The next day, the various esports media put the finals as the lead story.

Samsara defends their title. A tragic conclusion for Tyranny. But between these two teams, another team had squeezed its way in.

Happy, Champions???

The title of the story added in three question marks. The article itself was filled with incredulity. You could say that maybe Happy didn't understand their situation. But Happy had Ye Xiu; how could he not have a good grasp of his team? You could say that he was being serious... maybe after Happy beat Excellent Era, even Ye Xiu was so excited that he couldn't tell east from west anymore?

The mainstream media reports were already polite about it. But in other places, articles with titles like "This Century's Biggest Joke" quickly popped up. The various teams also soon received inquiries from the media asking about their thoughts on this matter, making all the teams feel gloomy. During this period of time, how many questions relating to Happy had they answered? What's up with this team!