The King's Avatar

Was the fake identity the reason why Ye Xiu had always been hiding? Ye Xiu didn’t seem to be serious when he said that this was the reason, so Chen Guo wasn’t certain. Before Chen Guo met Ye Xiu, if it was said that God Ye Qiu didn’t accept interviews or do endorsements in order to focus on competing, Chen Guo would have believed it. She knew him better now though. Chen Guo always felt like even though Ye Xiu’s dedication towards Glory wasn’t false, he wasn’t so dedicated that he would refuse to do anything else.

After knowing him for so long, Chen Guo felt like Ye Xiu must have many reasons for hiding. For example, in the beginning, he didn’t want his family to find him after running away from home. Keeping a low-profile because he was using a fake identity was a very understandable reason too. Ye Xiu was probably too lazy to deal with that stuff anyways. These may all be reasons for why he had molded his image as this mysterious God. But now, his family problems weren’t as serious as back then. His fake identity problem had been resolved. Thus, of those three reasons, two were no longer problems. It made sense that Ye Xiu would push the boat along the current and stop hiding.

Chen Guo continued thinking about it as she walked towards Happy’s practice area. It wasn’t empty at all. Everyone in Team Happy, including Mo Fan, had gotten up even earlier than her. All of them were busy in front of their computers.

”Why didn’t anyone wake me up!” Seeing how enthusiastic everyone was, Chen Guo felt very ashamed and grumbled to Tang Rou.

”I didn’t think everyone would be up so early either!” Tang Rou said.

”Was this all a coincidence?” Chen Guo said.

”Yup.” Tang Rou nodded her head, ”When I got here, Ye Xiu and Old Wei were already here.”

”What’s everyone up to?” Chen Guo looked around in a circle. The majority of them were practicing. Only Ye Xiu, Wei Chen, and Sun Zheping were circled around a single computer. All three of them had their hands crossed over their chests. Their expressions were grave as they stared at the screen.

There was a Glory match recording being played on the screen. After Chen Guo went closer to take a look, she could see that it was Team Jade Dynasty’s match. The offline tournament had been going on for a month now. Not only did she recognize every player on the remaining teams, she recognized the characters on each team too. The screen was currently displaying one of Team Jade Dynasty’s matches in the group stage.

Chen Guo watched for a bit, but she didn’t see any problems. Team Jade Dynasty was heralded as a pro team, but their performance was always very mediocre. In their next match, more people actually favored Team Happy. After eliminating Team Everlasting and beating Team Mysterious Fantasy 10-0, no one doubted that Team Happy was the real deal. However, beating Team Excellent Era….. very few people believed that it could happen. But in many people’s eyes, Team Jade Dynasty wasn’t even as good as Team Everlasting or Team Mysterious Fantasy. When they fought against Team Happy, wouldn’t they lose even more miserably?

However, Chen Guo saw how solemn the three Gods were as they watched Jade Dynasty’s match. She felt like there should be a reason, so she was too afraid to rashly come out with her wise opinion on the matter. She watched along with them for awhile longer. This match ended with Jade Dynasty winning the team competition.

”What do you think?” Ye Xiu spoke.

”Your analysis is reasonable.” Sun Zheping nodded his head.

”What’s going on?” In the end, Chen Guo couldn’t help but interrupt them.

”Oh, we’re studying Jade Dynasty.” Ye Xiu turned his head and saw Chen Guo. He gave her a quick explanation.

”Is there a problem with Jade Dynasty?” Chen Guo asked.

”Jade Dynasty’s performance has always been quite mediocre, but being able to maintain that performance the entire time shows how terrifyingly consistent they are.” Ye Xiu said.

”What does that mean?” Chen Guo didn’t understand.

”It means that they’ve always been more than up to the task 1 *. They have the ability to win their matches in a more dominant manner, yet they only play at this current level.” Ye Xiu said.

”Why is that?”

”I don’t know.” Ye Xiu shook his head, ”Maybe it’s because they’re intentionally showing that they’re weak or maybe it’s because it’s a way to practice their control over their rhythm.”　　

”In short, this isn’t Team Jade Dynasty’s true strength?” Chen Guo said.

”It’s just a guess. For now, all three of us acknowledge that it’s a possibility.” Ye Xiu said, while pulling out his QQ. He clicked on a profile picture in his friends list. His QQ trembled and then he sent a ”Hello hello hello?”

Then, the QQ interface showed that the other side was typing, but no reply came after a long time. Ye Xiu waited patiently and typed again: ”Is it that bad? Even your typing is this slow?”

Chen Guo moved closer to take a look. Her jaw dropped. The other side’s name was ”Yu Wenzhou”.

Why did Ye Xiu look for Team Blue Rain’s captain?

Chen Guo was puzzled. Then, she saw the other side’s reply: ”They should be suppressing their rhythm deliberately! But I don’t think that it’s because they’re pretending they’re weaker than they actually are. They should be playing slower and more patiently in order to play more consistently. Their playing looks as if they’re out of practice. It’s as if they’re still familiarizing themselves with new characters.”

”As I thought!” Ye Xiu replied.

”That’s just my own opinion.” Yu Wenzhou expressed.

”Okay, I’ve got it. Sorry! If you’re sleepy, then you should go back to bed.” Ye Xiu said.

”...”

Ye Xiu closed the chat window and then looked towards Wei Chen and Sun Zheping: ”His opinion is the same as ours. It looks like that really is the case.”

Chen Guo figured out what had just happened. She stood on the side, dumbstruck. These guys analyzing it was fine, but even pulling along Blue Rain’s Yu Wenzhou and having this top master help them analyze it too?

”This this this... this is breaking the rules!” Chen Guo said.

’Breaking the rules?” Ye Xiu turned his head and looked at Chen Guo, ”What rule did we break?”

”This this this....” Chen Guo didn’t know what to say. There was no clause in the rules that talked about this, but Chen Guo felt like it was the big bullying the small. If Jade Dynasty knew about it, they’d probably be crying out of grievance.

Those three weren’t even done yet!

”Should we go ask Zhang Xinjie and see what he thinks?” Wei Chen said.

”Him?” Ye Xiu checked the time. ”He gets up from bed, washes, eats breakfast, exercises on a punctual schedule. You can’t take away even a second from his routine. Let alone when he replies, we can’t even count on him replying!”

”Isn’t there another Master Tactician?” Sun Zheping said.

”Xiao Shiqin?” Ye Xiu asked.

”I think that’s the name.” Sun Zheping nodded his head.

”Can’t you pay more attention to the younger generation? You can’t even remember their names!” Ye Xiu looked at him disdainfully.

”Yeah…..”

”What does yeah mean?”　　

”Stop wasting time. Go ask him!” Sun Zheping said.

”Do you not understand what the situation is! Do you know which team he’s on?” Ye Xiu said.

”Which team!?”　　

”Excellent Era!” Ye Xiu said.

”Oh?”

”Oh? Do you not read news about transfers?” Ye Xiu said.

”Never.” Sun Zheping said.

Ye Xiu actually already knew that. The person in front of him never cared about that stuff. For him, who cares if there are any changes in a team? Just chop them to pieces. What’s the difference?

”Asking him probably wouldn’t be too convenient.” Ye Xiu said.　

”Yeah.” Wei Chen nodded his head, ”Who knows, he might just intentionally try to confuse us with his analysis.” Wei Chen thought about Xiao Shiqin from a shameless perspective.

”Right.” Sun Zheping nodded his head, ”That’s possible. People who play with tactics have dirty hearts.”

”Yes yes, all of them are shameless.” Wei Chen immediately expressed his approval. Sun Zheping’s evaluation of tacticians clearly included Ye Xiu. After all, he was one of the four Master Tacticians!　　

”Haha.” Ye Xiu laughed dryly.

”You’re not even ashamed.” Wei Chen shook his head and sighed.

”And you even think of it as something glorious.” Sun Zheping also sighed. He looked at Ye Xiu like he couldn’t be saved.

”Haha.” Ye Xiu laughed again. ”Says the two who were beaten by me.”

”It looks like Team Jade Dynasty won’t be easy to deal with!” As expected, Wei Chen switched subjects. The switch was stiff, showing his shamelessness.

”Yeah, from our analysis, Team Jade Dynasty might not be hiding anything in terms of their playstyle. What they’ve hidden is the strength of their characters.” Ye Xiu obviously wasn’t going to waste time arguing. He followed along and started talking business.

”The strength of their characters can’t be considered weak.” Wei Chen looked through the information he had. It was all the detailed information that could be found on the current Team Jade Dynasty. Chang Xian had organized it and handed it over to them.

There were already plenty of Level 75 players after five months. Level 75 Orange equipment naturally weren’t as rare as before. For a former pro team like Team Jade Dynasty, even if they couldn’t get it themselves, they could still use money to buy it. Orange equipment had a drop rate, after all. Their value couldn’t be compared to Silver equipment. If a team set their sights on going pro, if they didn’t even have the heart to spend some money on Orange equipment, then it was best if they disbanded.

Team Jade Dynasty hadn’t given up after so many years. They could still invest some money into equipping everyone with Level 75 Orange equipment. If these characters were still hiding strength, then only Silver equipment could improve them.

”Does Team Jade Dynasty have such a backing?” Wei Chen wondered.

”I don’t know…..” Ye Xiu was also at a loss. If they weren’t in the Challenger League, those in the competitive scene would have probably forgotten them already.

”Maybe... they got some sort of sponsor, so they have money to spend now?” Chen Guo interrupted at this moment. Her opinion was very reasonable. This came from her personal experience. Team Happy’s outstanding performance in the offline tournament had already attracted several organizations, who wanted to discuss a partnership with Team Happy. Of course, no one had signed anything yet because all of the organizations still needed to wait and see. Just their current performance wasn’t enough for them to want a long term partnership. But if Team Happy actually beat Team Excellent Era, their talks for a partnership would intensify.

The current Team Jade Dynasty seemed to be hiding their strength. Chen Guo suddenly thought: could this team have gotten this type of support?