In the end, Zhou Zekai lost.

Zhou Zekai had been Samsara’s second player in the group arena. His first match was against Happy’s first player, Ye Xiu, before finally falling to Happy’s fourth player, Fang Rui. Even so, the fans on Samsara didn’t feel satisfied. They felt that it was somewhat of a pity. They really thought that Zhou Zekai was playing well enough to pull off a 1v4. Unfortunately, he ended up losing to Fang Rui.

“He got caught in the trap!”

The Samsara fans all had the same thought. Fang Rui was truly too cunning. Just take a look at the post-fight numbers!

Cloud Piercer had started the fight with 45% of his health, and how much damage did Boundless Sea deal? 13%.

What did this mean? It meant that Cloud Piercer had lost 32% of his health to NPCs.

An unfair advantage!

The Samsara fans were furious, choosing to forget about Zhou Zekai’s fight with Mo Fan.

In that fight, the post-fight statistics showed that Zhou Zekai’s Cloud Piercer only dealt a total of 23% of Deception’s health. The other 77% had been lost to NPCs.

Under similar circumstances, players would always take advantage of what they could. It was just that in the Zhou Zekai vs Mo Fan match, the situation allowed for Zhou Zekai to more easily suppress his opponent.

In the Fang Rui versus Zhou Zekai match, what Fang Rui needed to do was far more complicated. As a result, even though the outcome was the same, it seemed much more difficult for Fang Rui to achieve. It was hard not to have a different impression of the fight. Fans would always be in defense of their idols. For Samsara’s fans, it was almost to the point of shedding tears for his grievances.

But after seeing Zhou Zekai walk out from the player booth, everyone immediately stood up and applauded crazily.

Even though it was too bad that it wasn’t a 1v4, it was still a 1v3. It was still an unprecedented achievement in the finals. Another brushstroke was added to Zhou Zekai’s name in the history books.

Zhou Zekai didn’t look to talk, but he wasn’t like Mo Fan, who would completely ignore everyone else. As the fans cheered his name, he waved his hands towards them as he walked down from the stage.

The players on Samsara also stood up and applauded to welcome their captain back. They were tired of praising him at this point and actually started complaining.

“You’re so fierce, what’s there left for us to do?”

“So you can take care of the team competition by yourself, right?”

“Haha.” Zhou Zekai just laughed, but he didn’t say anything. Everyone stopped joking around and quickly began discussing who to send for the next fight.

“My turn!” Lu Boyuan volunteered to go up. In the previous team competition, he and Du Ming had tried to pincer Fang Rui in an alleyway, but Du Ming ended up being the one trapped there. At that time, he could only watch helplessly as his friend was killed. He had already been holding it in by then. Later on in the team competition, he and Fang Minghua had been stalled by Fang Rui alone for an unbelievable amount of time.

Fang Minghua was a healer, who needed to be protected by him. But let alone push away Fang Rui, he hadn’t even been able to get Fang Minghua’s Laughing Song to escape.

He had lost badly to Su Mucheng in the previous group arena too. Lu Boyuan knew that he had been a huge reason for Samsara’s defeat last game.

During these two days, Lu Boyuan would often think about his time in Season 8. That season’s final had been the pinnacle of his professional career. Through his incredible plays, he helped Samsara take down Blue Rain to win the team their first championship trophy. After that final, Lu Boyuan’s spot as a top player and an All-Star had been established.

But now?

His Chaotic Cloudy Mountains had even better stats than before. At that time, when speaking of Glory’s number one Grappler, it wasn’t him, but Tiny Herb’s Flying Drops. Later on, in order to help strengthen his Chaotic Cloudy Mountains, the team purchased the famous Flying Drops and dismantled him for his equipment…

Lu Boyuan’s character had gotten stronger, more famous, but why was he playing worse?

Why?

Was it because his desire for victory wasn’t as great as before?

Was it because he had gotten complacent after winning two championships?

No, definitely not!

He wanted more championship victories, more Glory. How could just two be enough?

Lu Boyuan burned with fighting spirit. Seeing Fang Rui on stage, his thirst for battle was stronger than ever.

He wasn’t the only one who wanted to go up.

Du Ming had been playing spectacularly last game, but he ended up losing to Fang Rui in the group arena. The team competition had been even more frustrating. Seeing Fang Rui on stage, he wanted revenge. Plus, after beating Fang Rui, Happy’s next player should be that person, no?

Thinking of this, Du Ming started getting impatient. Lu Boyuan had just said that he wanted to go, when Du Ming interrupted: “My turn, my turn.”

“My turn!” Lu Boyuan glared at Du Ming.

“Me me me!” Du Ming ignored him. Who played next wouldn’t be decided by just the two of them. He wasn’t going to bicker with Lu Boyuan. Du Ming looked eagerly towards his captain, vice-captain, and even Fang Minghua. The people with the most authority on the team was their captain and vice-captain, of course, but number three wasn’t the talented Sun Xiang nor their other All-Star, Lu Boyuan, but Fang Minghua. Although he was the least famous among Samsara’s main roster, he was the most senior member in Samsara.

He had started in Season 4, a part of the Golden Generation.

That season had too many astonishingly talented rookies, overshadowing many other excellent rookies.

Fang Minghua had been one of the “nobodies” of Season 4. He had joined Samsara and became a part of the main roster. In the blink of an eye, seven years had passed. The radiance of the geniuses of the Golden Generation shined brighter than ever, Huang Shaotian, Yu Wenzhou, Zhang Xinjie, Chu Yunxiu, Su Mucheng, Li Xuan…. who hadn’t heard of them? Yet for all their fame, who among those in that generation had the most championships wins, the greatest glory of them all?

Within these seven years, the Season 4 players who had won the most championships as main roster players weren’t Huang Shaotian, or Zhang Xinjie, or Chu Yunxiu.

It was Li Yihui. It was Fang Minghua.

Li Yihui had been considered a member of the Golden Generation, an All-Star player, winning two championships together with Tiny Herb. But he ended up being the first among the Golden Generation to fall. After transferring to Team 301, he completely lost his luster. Within two seasons, he quickly became one of the forgotten.

But Fang Minghua wasn’t a member of the Golden Generation. He had been a “mediocre rookie” in Season 4, but he was the one who got the last laugh. As the healer, he won two consecutive championships in Season 8 and Season 9. He was on his way towards the team’s and his third championship win.

He wasn’t as famous as those in the Golden Generation, but as Samsara’s healer for seven years, his seniority in the team wasn’t low. Because apart from just being there for seven years, his contributions towards Samsara were well-received.

He had been the one to strongly recommend Zhou Zekai to Team Samsara. He had believed that Zhou Zekai was a player who could not be let go no matter the cost. At that time, Samsara’s Sharpshooter was their captain, Zhang Yiwei, and he wasn’t nearly as confident in Zhou Zekai’s potential. It was under Fang Minghua’s relentless insistence that Samsara made the decision to take Zhou Zekai. There were even rumors that his firm stance made Samsara’s captain Zhang Yiwei extremely displeased with him. However, Zhou Zekai soon proved that Fang Minghua’s opinion hadn’t been an overstatement.

In Season 6, when Fang Minghua recommended Jiang Botao, the team highly valued his opinion. That winter transfer season, they decisively purchased Jiang Botao. And once again, Fang Minghua had found another incredible player for Samsara.

This “mediocre rookie” of Season 4 had helped the team wholeheartedly. He had seniority. He had contributed much to the team through great efforts, but he never showed off. He wasn’t the captain. He wasn’t the vice-captain. But no one on Samsara would ever disregard his opinions.

And he had always done his utmost from beginning to end. He hadn’t changed these seven years. Even if he offended the captain and the core player, he would never give up on his viewpoint. If he had a recommendation, he would never hide it.

“I think Lu Boyuan should go!” Fang Minghua said.