When Yu Yue and Lu Qi arrived at the cramped conference room, Da Qing, Da Ming, and Ling Chen were already sitting there, yawning.

They looked utterly exhausted.

If Yu Yue remembered correctly, these three had just finished ranking and crawled into bed.

Their bodies had not rested before Xiao Ruo called them back for a meeting.

What a tragedy.

Yu Yue felt a wave of sympathy for them.

Before long, the coach had also taken his seat.

Amid the continuous yawns from the starting trio, Xiao Ruo rushed into the conference room with a thick folder, closing the door behind him. He held up three fingers and said, “Today’s meeting has three main points!”

Lu Qi, with his long legs, was fidgeting under the table like jellyfish tentacles. His mouth was as lonely as a stray cat, cold and wild, “If one of those points is about QL, I might already know.”

It’s like someone had told him the spoilers for the TV show.

Xiao Ruo’s vigor instantly deflated: “How do you know?”

“Shi Nian mentioned it,” Lu Qi lowered his gaze, speaking casually.

Shi Nian was currently the starting mid-laner for ARE, but he also had another identity: the arch-rival of QL’s support, Xiao Wei.

When Xiao Wei was still with ARE, Shi Nian had fought his way up from being a substitute mid-laner to the starting position, firmly securing his spot. Xiao Wei ended up becoming a support, not just because of the team’s decision but also because Shi Nian was simply too strong— —he was way ahead of Xiao Wei.

In the face of such an overwhelming advantage, Xiao Wei could not even get a chance to play. So, he harbored a deep resentment toward Shi Nian and would take every opportunity to take him down in matches.

The two were like fire and water, yet they were also the closest of rivals.

Because they were rivals, Xiao Wei was the first to tell Ten Year about QL:

“We…… probably won’t meet in the World Championship. Need to make room for the new guy.”

The farce was finally coming to an end.

What the two parties thought was unknown to the JK team, but their gossip-loving souls were burning with curiosity.

Why did Shi Nian tell Lu Qi about the situation in QL? Could it be that this matter was related to JK?

Under the curious gazes of the others, Lu Qi lifted his eyes and stared intently at Xiao Ruo, “So, Lian is going to QL?”

Xiao Ruo gritted his teeth, “Yes.”

“It’s not even the transfer period yet.” Lu Qi stood up, but his movements were too big, causing the water bottle on the table to wobble dangerously, almost spilling its contents.

Xiao Ruo replied, “QL is willing to pay his penalty fee.”

QL was the well-known esports powerhouse that would shell out tens of millions for players they wanted.

Besides, JK felt guilty toward Lian and would not offer an outrageous price.

The most important factor was Lian’s own opinion.

If Lian wanted to go, Xiao Ruo would negotiate on behalf of JK to ensure everything was fair and reasonable; if Lian did not want to go, JK would consider other teams’ conditions and strengths to find the best solution for him.

——However, they were still in the playoffs, and these things were usually discussed before the transfer period.

In other words, Lian was bypassing the JK management and decided to go to QL on his own, which was somewhat against the rules.

“I don’t care about the penalty fee.” Lu Qi said coldly, “This kind of sneaking around, you guys are not covering it up but also bring up to us, are you telling us that we can sell ourselves off casually?”

Xiao Ruo quickly denied it, flustered and stumbling over his words, “No, no, no, no……”

Four starters and a genius support getting sold off like this, especially with a mid-laner worth tens of millions, JK would definitely be at a huge loss!

“Please don’t act impulsively, I’m just letting you know.”

Xiao Ruo fanned Lu Qi with the folder, trying to calm his fiery temper, especially since there was more frustrating news to come. “In a couple of days, Lian plans to start moving his stuff to QL. The latest…… is after you guys finish the match with ARE. He can only move after you’re done with your matches.”

Otherwise, while JK was still in the competition, and the benched support was making a big show of moving his things into QL’s base…… that would not look good.

Lu Qi’s expression darkened as he asked, “Have they already secured a spot for him?”

As soon as that was mentioned, Xiao Ruo sighed deeply, saying, “Not at all. They haven’t even said anything like that. QL has a history, just look at what happened with Xiao Wei and Qing Ming. They promised them positions as mage and marksman, but once they got there, their true colors showed. No matter how sweetly they spoke before, in the end, it was just following the arrangement of the management.”

Given Lian’s rebellious nature, he might end up in a fight. Xiao Ruo waved his hand like a worried parent, saying, “Forget it, as long as he’s happy.”

Lu Qi raised an eyebrow, his face full of disagreement.

He did not think that Lian would be content with one’s lot. This teammate of his was a natural-born drama queen.

When it comes to celestial beings fighting, ordinary people have no room to interrupt. Ling Chen, Da Qing, and Da Ming were huddled together with their shivering substitute support, watching their team leader and the team manager communicate in a calm yet bloody manner, using what sounded like Mandarin but was a language completely incomprehensible to them.

The four of them huddled together, shaking.

It felt like the extremely irritable Lu Qi would toss each of them out of the base if they said one pointless word.

At that moment, Da Ming could not help but speak up, “Hey, Captain!”

Lu Qi: “???”

Da Ming: “Why is it after our match with ARE?”

Xiao Ruo looked confused, “Once we’re done with ARE, our schedule is pretty much over, right? Is there any chance we can keep playing? Do you guys really have no clue how badly we got beaten in the practice matches against ARE? You all are really confident.”

“I think we can.” Da Ming puffed up his chest confidently, “Like this, like that, and then we win.”

Lu Qi walked over expressionlessly and gave him a smack on the head. “I’ve never seen anyone trying so hard to hype themselves up before a match. Normally you’d be dying for the whole world to say we can’t win.”

Yu Yue was still in a state of confusion, “So will Senior Lian still practice with us?”

It was obvious that Yu Yue would be the one playing against ARE, that was non-negotiable.

The final roster had already been submitted.

More importantly, in the past practice matches against ARE, the coaching team noticed that Yu Yue performed noticeably better.

ARE’s playstyle suppressed JK in all areas. They were stable, excelling at capitalizing on JK’s mistakes, getting kills, and then snowballing the game by pushing turrets and snagging the dragons.

When Yu Yue played, JK’s survival rate was significantly higher than when Lian was playing.

In other words, there was a much higher margin for error.

Rotating supports was all about maximizing the advantage and choosing the optimal solution. When facing ARE, Yu Yue was the best choice.

But what happens after they finish with ARE? What if they need Lian after that……

Oh well, after they finished with ARE, it was the celestial showdown of the winner’s bracket. If JK could still advance, the next matchup would be against two out of the four in the winner’s bracket.

QAQ and some other team.

Which team? No idea, they have not even started fighting yet.

Thinking about it that way, it seemed like if they finished with this, there was nothing left to do already.

It’s not like they’re guaranteed to win against ARE, don’t even mention the winner’s bracket.

Xiao Ruo: “No need to stress, alright? Don’t burden yourself so much. Our JK has only ever reached the top eight, and now we’ve already secured a spot to advance. Worst case, we just stop here, but there’s still a chance to qualify for the World Championship. We can push ourselves when that time comes, okay?”

In the dimly lit conference room, Xiao Ruo patted the shoulders of the team members, “You guys are doing great, keep it up. Yu Yue, Lian is already taken in by QL and won’t be participating in the practice matches anymore. We don’t have any substitute supports available on our side, so no matter how tough the upcoming matches get, I hope you can take it on.”

“Let’s try not to crack under pressure, okay? You’re the new support, and this burden might be too heavy for you right now, but——”

At that moment, JK hoped that Yu Yue could hold it together.

On the roster, there were only Lian and Eden’s names listed under support.

Honestly, even if there were two more spots, it would not help because JK really could not come up with any other substitute support.

Now was not the time for jokes; Yu Yue nodded her head seriously.

“The upcoming matches are all against strong teams, so I’m leaving this group of fragile players to you,” Xiao Ruo lifted his tired eyes.

——He had been urgently dealing with Lian’s situation over the past couple of days and was already exhausted, “Make sure to protect them well and lead the team to victory.”

Saying these words made Xiao Ruo feel a bit ridiculous.

All newcomers need time to grow, but his newbie had to step up and save the world in a time of crisis.

“How pathetic.” Lu Qi reached out and ruffled his little support’s hair. “I hope you don’t start questioning your life when facing QAQ’s support, Reed.”

Xiao Ruo said, “Oh, and the second thing is about QAQ.”

As soon as QAQ was mentioned, a serious expression appeared on the faces of the players, including the coach.

No matter what, QAQ was always the sword of Damocles hanging over their heads, something they could never ignore.

“I feel like QAQ has been influenced by your live streams and there have been some changes recently.”

JK’s members: “??”

Such a strong team can be influenced by them?

“They have a new strategy now, which we call ‘random chaos.’ Yesterday in the practice match, FLY was completely thrown off by their unexpected Yi Xing setup,” Xiao Ruo explained. “To give you guys a heads-up, I worked hard to arrange a practice match with QAQ for you, right after the one with ARE. You need to be careful about their tactical changes.”

Don’t mention FLY, even Da Ming was already dazed just hearing the name Yi Xing, “What the heck……”

How long has it been since that hero appeared on stage?

Da Qing: “You should be asking if this hero even exists in the Gorge?”

Right! Does this hero even exist in the Gorge? Forget about KPL; they hardly see Yi Xing even in casual games!

Maybe even the developers have forgotten about this underused mage.

Xiao Ruo: “Anyway, just be careful.”

Yu Yue: “Captain, can you play Yi Xing?”

Lu Qi raised a finger.

Yu Yue: “Wow, as expected of the captain, you can play such a niche hero!”

“No.” Ling Chen said slowly, “What he means is that it’s probably about 0.1% better than his cluelessness.”

In simpler terms, he did not know how to play it.

“Trash!” The JK team members collectively gave Captain Lu a middle finger.

Once they had their fun, Xiao Ruo made a gesture for silence, “The last piece of news is also related to QL, but it’s not anything good. It might be gossip for you, you all know that the wealthy couple from QL has divorced, right?”

Da Ming: “Yeah.”

“The situation is not as simple as it seems. It’s best to keep your mouths shut, train hard, and don’t meddle in other people’s business,” Xiao Ruo said mysteriously. “To save face for his wife, that rich guy from QL said that there was no more love and wanted a peaceful divorce, but I know a little insider info. It’s actually……”

“Because the wife cheated.”