Chapter 88

　The next day at dawn, Chu Yunxiu, Dai Yanqi, Shu Kexin, and Shu Keyi left together; they were going back with the team that day. Chen Guo and Tang Rou were also returning to H City. Ding Shuang accompanied them to meet up with Ye Xiu and Baozi, and then together with the brothers of Yizhan, they saw them off at the airport.

　　Upon arriving at the airport, Ye Xiu unexpectedly bumped into members of the Tyranny team. The veteran Tyranny players all recognized him and greeted him. Ding Shuang also approached Ding Shuang and said, “It’s been so long! Why haven’t you replied to my messages?”

　　Ding Shuang spoke softly, but Zhang Jiale overheard her. Zhang Jiale sensed there was more to this than met the eye, so she moved closer to Ding Shuang.

　　Ding Shuang said, “It’s been two or three years since we last met. Congratulations on joining Tyranny and successfully meeting your idol.”

　　Ding Shuang laughed, “You successfully chased your idol too! How was it teaming up with Ye Shen?”

　　Ding Shuang said, “It feels good, but we’re still playing in the Challenger Series, and we won’t be able to enter the league until next season.”

　　Ding Shuang said, “Oh, so confident! Are you sure you can beat Excellent Era?”

　　Ding Shuang said, “Of course I’m confident. Come to Happy next season, like before?”

　　The two were deliberately speaking to the people at Tyranny, and the gossipy Zhang Jiale conveniently acted as their messenger. Upon hearing Ding Shuang invite Ding Shuang to join Happy, he immediately became anxious and shouted, “Yiyi, you can’t agree to him! It’s not even certain that Happy will make it into the league next season!”

　　Zhang Jiale’s shout attracted everyone’s attention, and they all gathered around. Han Wenqing asked, “Zhang Jiale, what happened?”

　　Zhang Jiale pointed at Ding Shuang and said, “This kid is trying to poach our Tyranny’s star player! He wants to steal our team’s beauty to Happy!”

　　When Ye Xiu heard Zhang Jiale complaining to Han Wenqing, he said, “They’re childhood sweethearts, it’s none of your business where they want to go.”

　　Zhang Jiale retorted, “Then why can’t this kid come to Tyranny? Why do we have to send our team to Happy?”

　　Instead of getting involved in Zhang Jiale and Ye Xiu’s argument, Han Wenqing asked Ding Shuang, “Yiyi, what exactly happened? What do you mean by poaching someone?”

　　Ding Shuang said, “Oh, Captain Han. This is Lu Renjia, the assassin from Team Happy. We’ve been playing together since we were kids, but we separated because we became fans of different teams. He just invited me to join Happy next season.”

　　Han Wenqing frowned slightly upon hearing this. Although he had a domineering personality and seemed quite authoritative, he never interfered with his team members’ choices. If Ding Shuang wanted to leave, he wouldn’t stop her. Zhang Jiale, standing nearby, said, “Captain Han, you should quickly persuade Yiyi not to do anything foolish.”

　　After all, Zhang Jiale had heard it all: it wasn’t that this kid was chasing after Tyranny’s team beauty, but rather that their team beauty frequently sent him text messages, making it seem more like she was still hung up on him.

　　Lin Jingyan stepped forward and pulled Zhang Jiale away, whispering, “This is a matter between the two of them, why are you meddling?”

　　Zhang Xinjie also came over and said, “Yiyi, tell us your thoughts.”

　　Ding Shuang said, “I want to help Tyranny win the championship first.”

　　Ding Shuang immediately chimed in, “I believe Tyranny will definitely win the championship this season! I have faith in you!”

　　Ding Shuang said to Ding Shuang, “Hehe, if I go to Happy, wouldn’t that mean there are two assassins? How should we deal with two assassins?”

　　Ye Xiu suddenly interjected, “Miss Long, you don’t need to worry about that. I can handle the two assassins very well.”

　　Zhang Jiale, who had been pulled aside, couldn’t hold back any longer and rushed over, saying, “Damn it! Ye Qiu, have you no shame? What do you mean you can arrange things well? Let this kid come to Ba Tu, Xin Jie can arrange things well too.”

　　Zhang Xinjie shook his head and said, “I’m sorry, I currently have no way to deploy two assassins at the same time.”

　　Zhang Jiale was so speechless, almost having a heart attack, that he clutched his chest, unable to utter a word. The members of Team Happy, meanwhile, laughed carefree. Lin Jingyan shook his head helplessly, saying, “I told you not to get involved, why did you rush in?”

　　Ding Shuang ignored the crowd’s argument and instead pulled out an account card from her pocket, saying, “This is a new account I secretly created. My class is Paladin. You used to heal me with Priest, now it’s my turn to protect you.”

　　Hearing Ding Shuang’s sweet words, Zhang Jiale felt an even greater pain in his heart and murmured, “It’s over, it’s over, my Yiyi is going to be kidnapped.”

　　Zhang Xinjie adjusted his glasses and said, “What do you mean, ‘your Yiyi’? Judging from the current situation, it’s clearly Xiaolu’s Yiyi.”

　　Zhang Jiale glared at him and said, “Shut up! I don’t want to hear you! You just contradicted me!”

　　Zhang Xinjie said expressionlessly, “I’m just stating the facts.”

　　Ding Shuang didn’t immediately agree to Ding Shuang’s request. Instead, she said, “We’ll talk about it later,” and skipped away, appearing very happy. The people at Tyranny also thought that Ding Shuang would be leaving next season, and that her contract would expire at the end of this season.

　　The two had already rehearsed this scene, just waiting for the right opportunity to perform it for the people of Tyranny. If they hadn’t rehearsed, they would both have blurted it out the moment Ding Shuang uttered the sweet words.

　　Seeing Ding Shuang leave, Ye Xiu patted her on the shoulder and said, “Not bad, you’ve learned a lot of shameless stuff from Lao Wei. When did you start playing Knight? How come we didn’t know?”

　　Ding Shuang said somewhat embarrassedly, “Brother Ye, I didn’t lie to her. I really did train a knight, and I’ve already made three pieces of silver equipment. Of course, I didn’t use any of Happy’s materials; I made them all myself.”

　　Ye Xiu looked shocked and said, “You’re really something. You’ve really decided to switch to the Cavaliers next season?”

　　Ding Shuang nodded and said, “Yes, as long as Yiyi comes to Happy, I will switch to Knight.”

　　Ye Xiu thought for a moment and said, “Switching to Knight is a good idea. You’re a well-rounded player with no weaknesses, so trying out different classes is a good idea. Good luck!”

　　After seeing off the four members of Happy, the members of Yi Zhan immediately surrounded Ding Shuang. They had been standing by watching the show, since it was a matter between Team Tyranny and Team Happy, and they couldn’t interfere. Lou Guanning patted Ding Shuang on the shoulder and said, “Not bad, kid, you’ve got some sweet talk. I was even tempted just now.”

　　Zou Yunhai, who was closest to Ding Shuang, came over and put his arm around Ding Shuang’s shoulder, saying, “I feel there’s no problem. That girl is definitely smitten. Happy’s roster is going to be amazing next season!”

　　Lou Guanning suddenly slapped his forehead and exclaimed, “Holy crap! I hadn’t realized it until you said it. Happy is really going to be terrifying next season! I’m almost starting to hope you guys can get through the Challenger Series! Haha, just kidding, don’t mind me, bro.”

　　Ding Shuang laughed, “Haha, no problem. The Challenger Series is no challenge for Happy!”

　　Everyone left laughing and chatting, but one person remained visibly downcast: Zhong Yeli. That night, Zhong Yeli took Ding Shuang away again, and the two spent another passionate night together. Afterward, Ding Shuang stayed at Zhong Yeli’s place, at his request. Until the offline competition, Ding Shuang and Sun Zheping returned to H City to prepare for the upcoming offline challenge.

　　On the way, Ding Shuang quietly healed Sun Zheping’s hand injury, unbeknownst to Sun Zheping. During the match, Sun Zheping continued to quickly defeat his opponent, preventing his hand injury from recurring. Mo Fan’s transformation also made his victories easier, and he avoided making those basic mistakes. Tang Rou’s progress was significant, and her technique had gradually matured. Old Wei remained as cunning and consistent as ever, and Ye Xiu, needless to say, possessed an even more powerful “cheat code” than Ding Shuang.

　　Happy successfully advanced to the semifinals, and if they win the semifinals, they will meet Excellent Era in the finals. No one doubts that Excellent Era will fall in the semifinals! The final of the Challenger Series has arrived: Happy VS Excellent Era!

　　Sun Zheping started the game. After all, he was initially scheduled to play as the sixth man in the team competition. In the first game, his teammates gave him playing time so he could get more rest.

　　Surprisingly, Xiao Shiqin was the first player from Excellent Era to take the stage. Throughout the match, Xiao Shiqin used the strategy of stalling to its fullest extent, constantly wearing down Sun Zheping’s stamina. The match lasted for more than half an hour before Sun Zheping ultimately won. During the match, Old Wei was so angry that he cursed Xiao Shiqin for being despicable, but Ye Xiu said, “There’s no such thing as being despicable on the field. It’s all for the sake of victory.”

　　Sun Zheping, after stepping down from the selection panel, looked excited. He said to Ye Xiu, “Don’t make me the sixth man in the team competition! I’m going to teach those brats from Excellent Era a lesson!”

　　Ye Xiu asked, “Is your hand alright?”

　　Sun Zheping said, “I think my hand has fully healed. It was all in my head before. I just got angry and completely overcame my mental barrier.”

　　Ye Xiu smiled and said, “Okay, as long as you say it’s fine. You’ll start in the team match.”

　　Sun Zheping said to Mo Fan, who was the second to go up, “Kid, stop wasting time and finish him off quickly!”

　　Mo Fan nodded and walked up to the chief contestant, returning five minutes later. He won the match cleanly and decisively. His opponent, seemingly unwilling to let Mo Fan waste time, immediately went up to fight him, but was no match for Mo Fan.

　　The third to go on stage was Ding Shuang. Ding Shuang looked at Sun Zheping and said, “Old Sun, how many minutes do you want to last?”

　　Sun Zheping asked, “How about three minutes?”

　　Ding Shuang laughed and said, “Three minutes is fine.”

　　Less than three minutes later, Ding Shuang returned smiling. In the singles match, Happy led 3-0! At that moment, the Excellent Era team felt a dark cloud hanging over their heads; they never expected the singles match to end like this! They were swept 0-0 by Happy!

　　Xiao Shiqin cheered everyone on, while Qiu Fei silently stood up and walked towards the players’ seats. In the arena match, Ye Xiu was the first to appear for Happy. Under the new rules, players needed to get as many kills as possible in the arena match.

　　Although Ye Xiu defeated Qiu Fei, his health was low, and his mana was also running out. Excellent Era’s second player was Sun Xiang, and Ye Xiu could only manage to reduce Sun Xiang’s health to half. Happy’s second player was Baozi, who was indeed somewhat inconsistent. However, his inconsistency could sometimes have unexpected effects, but unfortunately, he didn’t perform well in this match.

　　Happy’s defending champion was Tang Rou, but her victory against Sun Xiang, who only had a quarter of his health remaining, wasn’t easy. She lost almost half her health to win the match! Excellent Era’s defending champion was about to enter the arena, just like in the original story: Su Mucheng. After winning the match, Su Mucheng went straight to Happy’s player bench. This made the Excellent Era players feel incredibly uncomfortable.

　　Currently, Happy is leading Excellent Era by two kills. In the team match, securing that two-kill advantage will guarantee victory. Happy’s team lineup for the match consists of Ye Xiu, Tang Rou, Sun Zheping, Ding Shuang, and An Wenyi, with Wei Chen as their sixth player.

　　What does “utterly crushing” mean? This clash between Happy and Excellent Era was exactly that! The two teams clashed immediately upon meeting. Ye Xiu immediately restrained Sun Xiang, while Sun Zheping and Tang Rou charged into Excellent Era’s formation like tigers descending a mountain, instantly scattering them. Taking advantage of the chaos, Ding Shuang delivered a fatal blow, eliminating Xiao Shiqin without giving him a chance to command.

　　Under the cover of Sun Zheping and Tang Rou, An Wenyi miraculously revived Ding Shuang, who was on the verge of death. Ding Shuang, now healthy, went to intercept Excellent Era’s resurrected sixth member, but was eliminated halfway there. With Sun Zheping and Tang Rou each taking down another member, Excellent Era was beyond saving.

　　Happy won the Challenger Series championship, while Excellent Era disbanded and reorganized as originally planned. Su Mucheng joined Happy with her team, and Sun Xiang went to Samsara with his team, One Autumn Leaf. Xiao Shiqin originally wanted to come to Happy with Su Mucheng, but Ding Shuang refused, so he returned to Thunder. Other team members either left or stayed, and the former dominant force was no longer what it used to be.

　　After the Challenger Series, the playoffs began, and Tyranny stormed into the finals. Zhang Xinjie’s command became even more incisive after the All-Star Game, and they didn’t lose a single team match. Ding Shuang even criticized Ding Shuang, saying she was making things more difficult for them in their later matches.

　　Ding Shuang was also helpless. After all, this was a task given by the system, and she was confident that having followed Zhang Xinjie for a year and a half, she understood his commands perfectly and wouldn’t be worried even if they encountered each other again. Indeed, Ding Shuang had thoroughly figured out Zhang Xinjie, so much so that she later earned the nickname “Zhang Xinjie Killer!”

　　In the finals, Tyranny faced Samsara. In the first round, Tyranny fell behind by one kill, mainly due to Zhou Zekai’s triple kill in the arena match. In the second round, Tyranny had one win and two losses in the individual matches, again falling behind by one kill. In the arena match, they fought to the last person, but still lost, trailing by three kills.

　　For Tyranny to win, the team match requires them to eliminate all of the opposing team while ensuring at least three of their own players survive; otherwise, they can only secure a draw. During the break, Zhang Xinjie arranged the tactics: “The upcoming team match will focus on defense. The opponent will definitely launch a strong attack at all costs. The starting lineup is: Captain Han, me, Zhang Jiale, Lin Jingyan, um… Zheng Chengfeng, Long Taoyi, you’ll be the sixth man.”

　　Ding Shuang had no objection to being assigned as the sixth player; Zhang Xinjie definitely had his reasons. Indeed, Zhang Xinjie continued, “We will try our best to create opportunities for you; you are always ready for your chance.”

　　The players took their seats, and Ding Shuang’s screen was completely black, showing only the text messages between her teammates. Suddenly, an idea struck her. She browsed through her teammates’ messages and started typing in the public chat, “Haha, I found someone who’s alone, their coordinates are XXX, XXX.”

　　This sentence made Zhang Xinjie frown slightly. What was Ding Shuang doing? What if there was no one there? Wouldn’t that expose their tactical objective? Then he saw Ding Shuang’s message in the squad channel: “Don’t go that way, it’s a trap, a trap set by Wu Qi. Go to XXX, XXX.”

　　The viewers in front of the TV went crazy! How did Ding Shuang guess the opponent’s tactical arrangement? After all, the viewers were in God’s-eye view. Samsara did use Wu Qi as a trap to lure Ba Tu into the battle, but it was not completely set up yet.

　　Zhang Xinjie’s choice was quite bold; he chose to trust Ding Shuang and led the team toward the coordinates provided by her.

　　Zhou Zekai typed one word in the team chat: “Change”.

　　Jiang Botao immediately typed a message: “Batu has brought in an assassin. Everyone be careful, quickly form a formation, and converge on Minghua.”

　　Everyone from Samsara quickly moved towards Priest Fang Minghua, with swordsman Du Ming being the furthest from the judoka. Du Ming hadn’t moved more than a few steps before he was surrounded by the five members of Tyranny. Du Ming was shocked to see the Tyranny members! Five people? No assassins! They’d fallen for a trap!

　　Du Ming quickly controlled his character to break through the encirclement, while typing in the team channel, “!! No assassins” to tell his teammates that he was ambushed and needed rescue, and also to inform them of the situation on the field.

　　Seeing Du Ming typing, Samsara quickly moved towards him. By the time Zhou Zekai, Jiang Botao, and Wu Qi arrived, Du Ming’s health was already very low. Samsara’s three quickly joined the battle, attempting to save Du Ming. The Tyranny members relentlessly shot Du Ming, leaving him defenseless.

　　Zhou Zekai charged into the fray first, immediately holding off Han Wenqing and Zheng Chengfeng. Jiang Botao engaged Lin Jingyan, while Zhang Jiale guarded against Wu Qi’s sneak attacks and continuously attacked Du Ming. Zhang Xinjie, meanwhile, healed everyone and disrupted the enemy’s movements.

　　Just as Reincarnation Healer arrived, Du Ming was killed by a grenade from Zhang Jiale, while Lin Jingyan was successfully ambushed and taken away by Wu Qi. Seeing his own priest arrive, Wu Qi used a one-hit kill to eliminate Lin Jingyan. Zhang Xinjie, who had been closely monitoring the situation, knew that Lin Jingyan was someone he had deliberately sold to Wu Qi, and he quickly finished off the nearly dead Wu Qi with a small spell.

　　With two members of their team eliminated, Samsara quickly moved towards the Priest’s direction, preparing to retreat and bring in the sixth member. The four members of Tyranny relentlessly pursued and entangled the retreating Samsara trio. Just as the Samsara trio fought their way back towards the sixth member, a notification popped up: the sixth member was dead.

　　Lu Boyuan was found and killed by Ding Shuang, who entered the arena almost at the same time. The Samsara members only saw Yun Shanluan’s corpse but did not find Huang Yantaozhi. Ding Shuang hid and circled around to the back of the Tyrant Formation, where Zhang Xinjie used several healing spells to restore Ding Shuang’s health.

　　Zhou Zekai turned and attacked back, his offensive becoming even more ferocious, forcing Zheng Chengfeng and Han Wenqing to retreat step by step. Jiang Botao instantly understood Zhou Zekai’s idea: he was trying to seize the initiative and exchange kills. With a kill advantage, they only needed to eliminate two opponents to secure a draw.

　　After Ding Shuang’s health was restored, she immediately went to harass the priest, but Zhou Zekai lived up to his reputation as a gun god, managing to interrupt his own attack rhythm with bullets even while launching a full-scale assault! The battle became tense again!

　　At this point, it all came down to who made the first mistake. The key to victory lay with both teams’ healers! Zhang Xinjie, true to his reputation as the player with the fewest mistakes in the league, steadily healed while dodging Zhou Zekai’s interruptions. Meanwhile, Fang Minghua of Samsara was in a bit of a mess, having to deal not only with Ding Shuang’s harassment but also with Zhang Jiale’s.

　　Finally, Fang Minghua’s misposition gave Ding Shuang an opportunity. Another fatal blow sent Fang Minghua crashing to the ground, while Ding Shuang herself was also eliminated by Zhou Zekai’s bullet. However, without the Priest’s Reincarnation ability, there was no chance of a comeback. With Wuhen and Yiqiang Chuanyun both falling, the remaining four members of Tyranny completed the reversal and won the championship of the 9th Glory Professional League!

　　Ding Shuang was named MVP of the match for anticipating the opponent’s ambush and delivering two crucial, decisive blows. The Tyranny team cheered and lifted their championship trophy, with Zhang Jiale crying the loudest!

　　In the post-match interview, Ding Shuang did not publicly announce her transfer to Happy. After all, Happy is the newly formed team by Ye Xiu, Tyranny’s biggest enemy, and Ding Shuang’s transfer would hardly receive the blessings of fans.

　　Three days after Tyranny’s victory, Ding Shuang left Tyranny to join Happy amidst cheers from her teammates. Tyranny only announced Ding Shuang’s departure on their official website a week later. Happy, however, announced on their website that Ding Shuang had joined as a free agent, following Tyranny’s announcement.

　　On Ding Shuang’s way to Happy, the group on Happy’s side was in complete chaos. Wei Chen said, “Xiao Lu, are you really going to switch to Knight? Wouldn’t it be better to continue playing Assassin and have another attack point? Didn’t Lao Ye also say that he could solve the problem of two Assassins coexisting?”

　　Ye Xiu retorted, “I was just bragging back then. Two assassins went to roam, while the enemy’s five grouped up and charged in. How could we possibly win?”

　　Mo Fan then asked, “Can’t one person play with two accounts?”

　　This question stumped everyone present. It seemed no one had considered this issue. Finally, Chen Guo, who had been studying the league rules, spoke up: “The league doesn’t explicitly prohibit a player from playing multiple accounts simultaneously, but during player registration, only one account information is listed after a player. This means Xiao Lu can’t register two accounts. He can only choose one.”

　　Ding Shuang spoke up, “Alright, alright, switching to Knight isn’t a big deal, and Brother Ye has already assessed my Knight skills. Let’s leave Feng Xiao Shui Han to Yi Yi, otherwise where are we going to buy her another account? Tyranny will definitely not sell it to us cheaply.”

　　If the goal is to win the championship, Ding Shuang would indeed be better suited to playing an assassin, given that she has practiced assassins professionally for a year and a half. Ding Shuang, on the other hand, has an advantage in transitioning; he has been learning from Ye Xiu and is now about 80% a fully-fledged master. Unfortunately, as long as Ye Xiu is around, Ding Shuang can never be a completely full-fledged master, since Ye Xiu possesses a world-wide consciousness, and Ding Shuang doesn’t yet have the ability to compete with an F-rank secondary world.

　　With Ding Shuang’s arrival, Happy now has three female players, and accommodation has become a major problem. Chen Guo doesn’t yet have the resources to demolish and rebuild the internet cafe, so she can only renovate it. The original two-room apartment has been converted into four bedrooms, with Chen Guo and the three female players each having their own. Ding Shuang has been relegated to the villa.

　　However, during the current off-season, Ding Shuang has taken another leave to practice his mental techniques, and his mindset has completely adjusted. He treats it as spending money to buy experience; if a girl is willing to sell, he’ll buy; he’s not stealing or forcing, it’s just normal trading. And since the world is so tolerant and open, he should seize this opportunity.

　　Although you can return here after clearing the game, time in the real world will no longer be frozen, so now is the best time to grind experience!