Chapter 984: Jade Dynasty’s Boss
Translator: Nomyummi Editor: Nomyummi
The fanclubs for both teams had come, so the teams had to interact with them, of course. For Jade Dynasty, the team and fan interactions were peaceful and harmonious. The team thanked their fans for their support and the fans didn’t stop shouting encouragements toward the team. For Happy, their team and fan interactions were rambunctious and like a riot. Nothing needed to be said about Steamed Bun and his pals, but they weren’t unfamiliar with Tang Rou either! It was just that Tang Rou was extremely headstrong and fierce in game, so while she might’ve had a lady’s voice, many people suspected. Now that they saw the player behind the character, they found that, not only was she really a girl, but she was also immensely beautiful. Everyone was rather embarrassed to speak for a moment.
Apart from those two, there was also Luo Ji, who had been a part of Guild Happy for a long time, becoming close with the other guild members and even provided them with many walkthroughs and the such. In the eyes of rookies and noobs, Luo Ji was also an expert among experts. Now, seeing that he was even part of the team, who wouldn’t nod and say: an expert as expected.
Qiao Yifan’s One Inch Ash was usually being power leveled by a different person, so he hadn’t had much interaction with Guild Happy’s members. However, since his name was a part of the guild, he was one of them, so there would naturally be this sort of closeness.
Over on Happy’s side, there was a rowdy atmosphere, often catching the attention of the security guards. So Happy’s players didn’t dare to make any sudden movements. There was a gap between the audience seating and the players seating, and this was for the safety of the players. According to the rules, the audience couldn’t enter the surrounding areas. However, sometimes fans would want autographs and after getting the permission of the players, the guards would let it slip occasionally. However, one of Happy’s fans had already been dragged out today for overstepping their bounds, so they became the target of the security guards’ watchful stare. Because of this, they obviously couldn’t be as casual as they wanted to be. They were all chatting happily, but they could only yell across the gap at each other.
Jade Dynasty’s polite interactions were done in a few moments. That was when they saw Happy’s rowdy and laughter filled area, which didn’t seem to be ending. They felt conflicted. They kind of envied Happy’s closeness with their fans, but at the same time they were disdainful of their grassroots demeanor. However, their thoughts then changed. Even if they didn’t consider anything else, with just God Ye Qiu’s identity alone, Happy was far above their entire team. What sort of right did they have to be disdainful of the other’s grassroots demeanor?
Jade Dynasty’s players all felt a little down, dully sitting there and waiting for the match to start. Their fanclub had also gone quiet, sitting there and watching Happy’s side. Talking about envious, it was the fans who were truly envious. The pro teams of today sat high above everyone, and their players were all celebrities, becoming more and more distant from their supporters. This sort of close and familiar interaction was something they could only dream of.
Seeing the cheers coming from Happy’s side and comparing it to their own rather cool airs, one person sitting in Jade Dynasty’s player stands turned and smiled at another, saying a few words to him. After that person nodded, the two stood up together and walked towards Team Happy with a smile.
Ye Xiu had long since noticed these two. These two had never appeared in Jade Dynasty’s lineup before and today was the first time they had shown their faces. However, they couldn’t be players either. The offline matches didn’t allow the changing of your lineup mid tournament.
In addition, the person on the right seemed older, probably around thirty years old, while the one on the left was relatively younger, about twenty five or twenty six years old.
Seeing the two approach, Ye Xiu stepped forward to meet them. After the others noticed, they all stopped their conversations and turned to place their gaze on the two.
“Hello, God Ye.” The two initiated greeting upon coming forth.
“You are…?”
“Zhang Jian.” The relatively older one on the right introduced himself.
Ye Xiu paused for a moment after hearing this before giving Zhang Jian a closer look. Soon he remembered. “It’s you? It’s been quite a while, I didn’t even recognize you.”
“For insignificant people like us, it’s already enough of an honor if God Ye has heard of our names before,” Zhang Jian said with a smile.
“What are you saying?” Ye Xiu smiled as well.
Zhang Jian was also a first generation pro player and was Jade Dynasty’s captain back then. For the first two years, he led Team Jade Dynasty from the very bottom of the Alliance. Compared to the captain that had led his team to gain two consecutive championships in both years, he was as opposite as could be from Ye Qiu in the Alliance. From this point of view, saying he was an insignificant person wasn’t being modest for Zhang Jian.
However, considering his individual strength, Zhang Jian wasn’t as insignificant as his team who always placed last. Yet in the pro league, strength didn’t always mean a good record, and a good record was what truly proved your strength to people. With Jade Dynasty coming in last place for two years in a row, a record that couldn’t be worse, he, as the captain and ace, took the blame for it.
In the second season, the Alliance began to relegate teams and Team Jade Dynasty, at the bottom of the ranks, was relegated. However, Zhang Jian received some invitations from other teams. Just when everyone thought he was going to take the chance to escape the sinking ship, he stayed and pulled Team Jade Dynasty back into the Alliance against all of the pressure and friction against them. After that, he retired.
Then after that, there was no more news from this player. Back then, Glory wasn’t so grand as it was now and pro players wouldn’t make enough money. Retired pros lived normal and simple lives. As for a player like him, from a shitty team, there would be little effort made to seek out his circumstances and whereabouts.
Ye Xiu had never thought that, after all these years, he would meet this person again in the Glory circle. And he was even standing with Team Jade Dynasty which he had once fought alongside with. Could it be that he had gotten rich over these years and bought the team?
As Ye Xiu was wondering to himself, Zhang Jian introduced the young man beside him to Ye Xiu. “This is the boss of Team Jade Dynasty, Xiao Jie.”
“Oh?” Ye Xiu was guessing if Zhang Jian was the boss, yet in the next moment, the boss had been introduced to him. Speaking of which, Ye Xiu really had no clue who Jade Dynasty’s boss was. The information Chang Xian had given them didn’t say much either. However, this man who was only around twenty-five or twenty-six, obviously couldn’t have always been Jade Dynasty’s boss. How old would he have been back then? Probably only sixteen or seventeen!
Yet after this introduction, An Wenyi made a surprising move by coming forwards to ask, “Xiao Jie? Is it that Xiao Jie?”
That was when the young boss nodded with a smile. “Yes, I’m that Xiao Jie.”
“Who is this?” Ye Xiu and the others all looked to An Wenyi.
“He’s a bestselling author,” An Wenyi explained.
“Author?” Ye Xiu scratched his head. This identity seemed very distant and alien to him. Wei Chen was even more exaggerated, and took several big steps over in a rush upon hearing what they were saying. “Author? Where is he? Let me see! I haven’t seen a live specimen before!”
As for Chen Guo, she was quite curious as well, but she wasn’t as exaggerated as Wei Chen. This was because she saw a thick air of ignorance for everything non-Glory related coming from Wei Chen.
“Greetings, author! It’s an honor, an honor.” Wei Chen came up and grabbed the man’s hand, shaking it with vigor.
“Big Boss Wei. I watched a lot of your matches as a kid,” Xiao Jie said with a smile.
“Oh oh, really! Do you want my autograph then? Hahahaha,” Wei Chen said without any embarrassment whatsoever.
Xiao Jie smiled without saying anything in response. It was clear that he wasn’t Wei Chen’s fan. However, his words had already revealed some information; he was someone who had remained a fan of Glory for a long time.
“It seems like Boss Xiao is a fan of Jade Dynasty!” Ye Xiu said.
“Yes, I’ve always been one,” Xiao Jie replied.
“You must not have had it easy then,” Ye Xiu commented.
On that side, Zhang Jian rolled his eyes. These words were a little mocking, and yet it was the truth. Jade Dynasty wasn’t anything impressive, yet they could still gain a fan that was so loyal to them throughout all these years. This was indeed not easy.
“Heh, that’s true.” Even Xiao Jie himself agreed. “Jade Dynasty’s battle records have never been that good. It makes people rather worried. However, in the past, I could only be anxious about it and do nothing else. Now things are better. I have the power to help the team I support and I’m quite relieved with that.”
“Jade Dynasty should be rather relieved, too, having a fan like yourself,” Ye Xiu said.
“Haha,” Xiao Jie laughed a little. He had wanted to say more, but saw the referee walking over. Seeing both sides look over, the referee waved his hand. “Go and prepare. The match is about to begin.”
“Then let’s talk after the match, yeah?” Ye Xiu suggested.
“We could also talk as the match goes on. I want to listen to what a god thinks and sees about the match,” Xiao Jie said.
“No problem. We’re sitting pretty near each other, after all,” Ye Xiu agreed.
“Then please.”
“Please.”
They might’ve said please, but they didn’t sit together immediately, but returned to the player stands to prepare for their upcoming match. As for words like “I wish you the best” they wouldn’t say it. They were opponents after all. Wishing the other the best would be equal to wishing for your own failure. This sort of cliche words couldn’t be more empty if said here.
Happy returned to their players’ stands, but their hearts were in turmoil. They could tell what the situation was between Xiao Jie and Team Jade Dynasty through these few words.
Xiao Jie was a fan of Jade Dynasty from long ago and continued to support this team throughout the years. It was unfortunate that this team never lived up to his expectations. Yet this young man grew day by day and became a bestselling author, a successful person, so he bought the team that he supported. Such support from a fan was probably the first of its kind in Glory history. The only people who could be put on the same level were the people who played Glory and ended up making their own club and pro team to enter the Alliance like Heavenly Sword’s five young masters.
This explained Jade Dynasty’s miraculous history. However, this would be no help to the victory of the match. It was better to not get distracted by such trivial things.
Seeing that the match was about to start, Seven Fields stopped the others from bothering the members of Happy any longer and took command, telling the people who were meant to hold banners to hold banners, the people who were meant to be cheering to cheer, immediately beginning their support parade. Jade Dynasty’s fans obviously refused to be beaten, immediately doing their own thing in order to compete with Happy’s fanclub.
On Team Jade Dynasty’s side, Xiao Jie sat in the seat closest to Happy, as expected. After glancing over with a smile, their team’s first member stood to go up.
