1308 Who’s Under Pressure

In Round 23 of the regular season, where Team Happy faced Team Tyranny in their away game, the players from both teams had already started entering the stadium with holographic projections showing off each character's flair.

"Ye Xiu, your record ends here!!"

The moment Ye Xiu stepped foot into the stadium, the crowd started issuing battlecries. This was evidently something premeditated.

"Haha, what a nostalgic feeling!" Everyone else was shocked, but Ye Xiu simply laughed it off. Come to think of it, he hadn't encountered this kind of treatment for a long time. His reception at the All-Star Weekend was similar, but ultimately uncomparable to during Tyranny's actual home game. The All-Star Weekend was a grand occasion for all of Glory, and having it hosted in Tyranny's home stadium would only result in slightly more Tyranny fans. There would still be many other fans from other teams, or even neutral fans of Glory, so Ye Xiu's reception wouldn't be as grand as this one, where seemingly everyone in the stadium was targeting him.

While walking towards the player seats, Ye Xiu respectfully listened to the various jeers that the crowd were freely coming up with and shook his head, "It's been a few years already, how come these fellows from Tyranny can't come up with any fresh ideas?"

After Team Happy, Team Tyranny's players entered the stadium, which was naturally a completely different scene to behold. Team Tyranny's fans had an unstoppable passion, whether it was against their enemies or for their team.

The players from both teams met each other, and as everyone crossed the stage and shook hands, the crowd once again hollered, "Ye Xiu, your record ends here!" Ye Xiu, who was shaking hands with Zhang Jiale, laughed and said, "Listening to the hopes of the fans, your first player must be under a lot of pressure?"

Since the competition was about to begin, divulging who would be playing first was no big deal. The gazes of all the players from Team Tyranny fell onto Lin Jingyan.

"Oh, it's Old Lin, hehe," Ye Xiu said.

"..." Lin Jingyan was depressed. The reactions of the fans in the crowd were something that the players couldn't predict. Ye Xiu wasn't wrong, with such expectations from the fans, the pressure on him was considerably weighty. If he wanted to win against Ye Xiu, it really wouldn't be an easy feat! 

"It's been hard on you, I'll just take this point first," Ye Xiu took the opportunity to say this as he was shaking Lin Jingyan's hand.

"You're too arrogant," Lin Jingyan said.

"Work hard!" Ye Xiu patted him, continuing to be as arrogant as ever.

"Old Lin, you can't lose!" Zhang Jiale got fired up.

Lin Jingyan innocently looked at him, "Why don't you go?"

"I already went the last time! Now it's your turn!" Zhang Jiale said without any hesitation.

"Naturally, I'll do my best," Lin Jingyan said. Since he had already been selected as the first player, there was no need to hide his true feelings. Ye Xiu was truly a troublesome opponent. His response seemed to lack passion and fervor, but the stability he had from his many years of experience was something that up-and-coming new players couldn't compare to.

In no time at all, the competition officially began and the players from both teams entered the field. Team Happy's first player was, as expected, Ye Xiu, and Team Tyranny's was Lin Jingyan. The crowd took it upon themselves to start the jeering again, but Ye Xiu had already been tempered by years of experience and was unfazed by it. On the contrary, it was Lin Jingyan who was under a great amount of pressure. To be honest, this was a scene that Ye Xiu had seen countless times, but Lin Jingyan had never experienced it himself. When he'd arrived at Team Tyranny, Ye Xiu had already changed to the unspecialized, and the first time they'd met, it had been at Happy's home stadium where the atmosphere was naturally very different. It was only now that they were playing at Tyranny's home stadium that Lin Jingyan began to understand exactly what kind of attitude Tyranny fans had towards Ye Xiu.

"How bad is this hatred?" This was a question that Lin Jingyan really wanted to ask.

Go onstage, log-in to the character, enter the map. The players already couldn't hear the the shouts from the crowd. Still, the fans of Tyranny continued to use all their effort to verbally assault Ye Xiu.

"Stop making so much noise." All of a sudden, Ye Xiu's message appeared in the public channel.

"It'll be over in a flash." Ye Xiu used these words to send his message to the crowd.

Could everyone possibly stop making noise after that? The noise from the crowd momentarily grew even louder, to the point where Lin Jingyan could faintly hear their cries from inside the player booth. 

"This is unscientific!" Lin Jingyan was astounded. He'd spent so many years as a professional player, and except from at the very beginning, when the facilities were basic and crude, it was his first time being able to hear the crowd after entering the booth. How many decibels was the noise outside? Wasn't this Ye Xiu too good at adding fuel to the fire?

"Old Lin, hurry up and accept your death!" Ye Xiu began to provoke him in the public channel again.

Lin Jingyan ignored him. This kind of trash talk could no longer affect him. He wasn't some new generation player or a rising talent. At the time when Ye Xiu was unparalleled, he was already part of the Alliance. He had a better understanding of Ye Xiu's strength than other people. After all these years, they had encountered each other more than just a few times. Lin Jingyan didn't want to tally their battle record though because he knew that it would just make him unhappy.

He wasn't arrogant or overbearing; he had been called a God for many years, but he was never one of those at the peak. Neither rising nor falling, it made people feel as if he was a little muddleheaded. He had thought that his professional career would come to an end like this, slowly heading to its boring end, but then he was released from his team.

After accepting Team Tyranny's invitation, three players at the twilight of their professional careers had gathered in the most hot-blooded of all the Alliance's teams. Champions?

Lin Jingyan didn't think he would be in over his head so quickly, unexpectedly wanting to aim for this height again. In this team, with these players next to him, his once-dwindling passion was suddenly re-ignited.

They had fought vigorously for an entire season, but tragically fell short at the last step. Countless people felt great pity for them, and at that moment, Lin Jingyan had thoughts of retiring. But at his side was a player even older than him, who, right after losing the championship, had straightened his back at the press conference and said, "We'll be back next year."

Han Wenqing was even older than him, but he still hadn't given up!

Zhang Jiale had placed second four times, but he still hadn't given up!

And then there was that Ye Xiu, who had dug out an entire team from an Internet cafe before stubbornly triumphing over Excellent Era and imposingly slaughtering his way back into the Alliance.

All of them hadn't given up, how could he be the first to give up?

Lin Jingyan stayed on, holding on to the dream of becoming a champion and starting his efforts anew.

Dark Thunder walked out of the respawn point, strategically moving towards the middle of the map. Lin Jingyan didn't want to fight Ye Xiu head-on. It had already been more than half a season, but the unspecialized Lord Grim wasn't something that could be adapted to in half a season. This was simply because they didn't have the necessary conditions to practice for him. Aside from the actual competition, they could only rely on their theorycrafting, but without putting it into practice, their grasp over the unspecialized was still unsatisfactory.

So Lin Jingyan decided to use tactics, taking a roundabout route to advance. After walking halfway, he saw another message from Ye Xiu in the public channel, "Old Lin, could you hurry up, I've been waiting for half a day."

Lin Jingyan ignored him, continuing to move at his own pace. If talking more could help you win, Huang Shaotian would already have won six championship titles.

After going in a roundabout fashion for a while more, Lin Jingyan finally saw Lord Grim, who had been waiting for him in the center of the map. The guy was just standing there, gripping his umbrella in a self-satisfied way! Why didn't it seem like he was here to compete! For a moment, the old general, Lin Jingyan, had gotten infuriated. It had passed in a moment, but he still had to control himself from getting irritated. 

After fighting against each other for so many years, could he still be unaware? Ye Xiu's arrogant self-confidence was something he did for show, if one were to think he was actually arrogant and fight him under these false impressions, they would truly have been duped. This guy was truly dirty! Lin Jingyan couldn't help but think of the blood and tears that he had shed in the past, before frantically dispelling these thoughts from his mind.

How could he think of such things now, it was too hurtful to his morale!

Lin Jingyan directed Dark Thunder to hide at one corner, carefully watching Lord Grim's actions. Upon closer observation, the guy looked like he was taking a stroll in a self-satisfied manner, but he was actually moving towards a few places where one could sneak attack from, blocking them completely without leaving any openings.

"Old Lin, you've arrived, right? How long have you been squatting for? You'll eat a yellow card, you know!" Ye Xiu started talking again.

"I've arrived, I'm observing you now!" Lin Jingyan replied.

"Really? Do you need me to make a few relaxed-looking poses for you?" Ye Xiu replied.

"Sure, you can start posing," Lin Jingyan said.

"Alright!" Ye Xiu replied, and Lord Grim's Myriad Manifestations Umbrella quickly transformed into its gun form. 

Gatling Gun!

Lord Grim's body turned, sending the bullets flying out in a horizontal arc and causing the surrounding dirt to fly into the air. Unexpectedly, he completed a full 360 degree turn, and a bullet exploded just to Dark Thunder's side. Lin Jingyan's judgement in having his character stay completely still was truly incredible.

"How was it?" Ye Xiu asked.

"Nice gunplay," Lin Jingyan replied.

"Let me show you another trick," Ye Xiu said.

"Oh?"

Poof!

A cloud of purple smoke up as Lord Grim threw out a smoke bomb, concealing his entire body before disappearing without a trace.

"This isn't nice to look at," Lin Jingyan said, but he was already frantically adjusting his camera angle, afraid that Ye Xiu would use the smokescreen to have Lord Grim quietly creep over.

But according to reason, he shouldn't have been exposed yet, right?

Lin Jingyan had some hesitation in his heart, and in that moment, his judgements weren't as resolute as before.

This guy, what was he planning on doing?

Lin Jingyan didn't see Lord Grim quietly creeping over, and he didn't want to act blindly and expose Dark Thunder's location, so he continued to endure, waiting for the purple smoke to disperse.

"Look at this trick now." Suddenly, Ye Xiu sent another message into the public chat. At the same time, in the midst of the purple smoke, a blinding white light suddenly flashed.

"Fuck!" Lin Jingyan swore, but his screen was already filled with white.

Flash Bullet, a Spitfire skill. But by now, everyone knew that Lord Grim's perverse Myriad Manifestations Umbrella could add a different skill to each of its forms, and this time, Ye Xiu had evidently added Flash Bullet to the gun form of his weapon. Borrowing the smoke screen of the Ninja skill, Smoke Bomb, he had waited until the smoke had gradually thinned out before throwing a Flash Bullet. The light pierced through the smoke, finally dazzling Lin Jingyan.

"I can't move! He still doesn't know where I am, I'm not that easy to find," Lin Jingyan thought.

"Haha, you don't dare to move now, right? Why don't you guess whether or not I can find you?" At that moment, Ye Xiu sent another message in the public chat. After being dazzled by Flash Bullet, he couldn't see anything, but he could still talk without any impediments.