All-Round Mid Laner

Team Yaoguang had made it into the playoffs in S9, and they had been in the winner's bracket. However, Ye Shaoyang had just joined Tianhuan and started training when Yaoguang's playoffs game took place, so he hadn't gotten a chance to follow the match.

Chi Shuo took the initiative to explain, "Yaoguang is a club that was established just last year, in S8. They're backed by very wealthy investors, so they were able to pay huge sums to recruit powerful players for their starting lineup. They charged up in S8 and took second place in the domestic championships. This year, in S9, they came in fourth place. Their record is pretty good."

Ye Shaoyang gave him a dubious look. "Then if Xie Weiyu is suddenly looking for a transfer now, is it because his contract expired?"

"That would be my guess," Chi Shuo said. "He probably wasn't able to negotiate an extension with Yaoguang."

When contract negotiations fell through, it was very common for a player to cut ties and run to another team. This instance was just remarkable because Xie Weiyu was an excellent marksman; regardless of which team he joined, he would definitely bring a huge power boost to his new team. Most likely, lots of teams would be fighting over the right to sign him.

Ye Shaoyang saw that Cheng Xing and the others weren't present. He lowered his voice and asked, "Will Tianhuan try to get him?"

Chi Shuo quietly answered, "If Yaoguang is letting him go, they'll definitely be asking for a huge transfer fee in order to make a big profit. Our Tianhuan isn't short on cash, that's true, but if we wanted to grab someone like that now, it just might be too late."

Ye Shaoyang curiously asked, "Too late? You're saying, Xie Weiyu already made a private deal with another team?"

"It's possible," Chi Shuo said. "He has a very prudent personality, so he probably found his next home before having his club publicly announce his intent to transfer.

It was midday now, when most players in the esports industry would be getting out of bed. When they opened Weibo now…

Holy shit! The backlash over Xie Weiyu's transfer was so fierce that the news was already trending!

All major teams started to discuss this matter. Zhao Xin'an, the one with the most brash personality, directly asked about it in their division's group chat.

[Reporter Zhao]: @Rain, God Yu, what's going on with you? You're suddenly transferring?

[Reporter Zhao]: [Shocked.jpg]

[Rain]: Contract expired, that's all. Don't panic~

This was a very calm, unruffled response on the surface, but not a single person missed the undercurrent behind those words. Even if his contract had expired, Team Yaoguang couldn't possibly just let their captain go without a fight. There must have been some internal conflict that couldn't be resolved between them.

All the gods of the division were watching the drama unfold. Naturally, Tianhuan's players couldn't stop themselves from gossiping either.

Qu Jiang analyzed the situation and said, "Xie Weiyu is one of the top three domestic marksmen in the league. He's pretty much on par with Xie Yuan and Zhao Xinping, but his style isn't quite the same. I feel like he's very good at seizing opportunities wherever they arise?"

Qin Yizhu voiced his agreement. "That's right. Xie Weiyu is very good at playing very nimble marksman with lots of movement skills. When we played against Yaoguang, Old Nie was killed off by him in one skill combo."

Cheng Xing felt apprehensive just from listening to all this. He quietly whispered to Ye Shaoyang, "Yang-ge, will our Tianhuan try to sign him?"

"He's already publicly announced that he's looking for a trade," Ye Shaoyang said. "Any team can contact him now. Our coaching team will probably reach out to him too, just to see if he has any interest in joining Tianhuan."

Cheng Xing hung his head dejectedly. "Oh… then if he comes here, I'll only be able to serve as a substitute?"

The little kid's true feelings were written all over his face.

Ye Shaoyang had spent every day abusing Cheng Xing for the past while, helping Cheng Xing die dozens and dozens of times. He'd grown a soft spot for the kid after all that.

When he saw Cheng Xing looking so dispirited, Ye Shaoyang felt his own heart soften. He warmly reassured, "Don't be afraid. Xie Weiyu may have privately reached an agreement with another team already. He probably won't come to our Tianhuan."

Cheng Xing curiously asked, "Then which team will he sign with?"

Ye Shaoyang gave his own analysis. "First, we can rule out Beimu and Jingzhe. These two teams already have world-class marksmen. They wouldn't sign another top-tier marksman. Next, we can also rule out Binghun. Binghun's five players have an extremely high degree of tacit understanding between them. There's no need for them to sign another great god as their newbie, to start syncing up all over again."

While eating walnuts, Qin Yizhu chimed in, "He couldn't possibly be going to play in the minor leagues, right? If he stays in the major leagues, he'll only have eighteen teams to choose from. That's not a lot of choices."

Chi Shuo just so happened to walk into the training room at this moment. When he heard all this, he said in a deep voice, "He won't come to Tianhuan."

Cheng Xing's eyes lit up. "He definitely won't come, for sure?"

"I ran into Coach Lin in the hallway and just happened to ask," Chi Shuo said. "The coach says that our coaching team reached out to Xie Weiyu as soon as it was formally announced that he was open to a trade, but Xie Weiyu answered that he's already finished negotiations with someone."

Hearing that, Ye Shaoyang subconsciously patted Cheng Xing on the head. "You can relax now, right? Be good and practice well. Next season, you'll run into Xie Weiyu on the battlefield. Don't let him solo kill you!"

Cheng Xing hurriedly and obediently sat down in front of his computer, starting to earnestly run through his daily drills.

The internet was already roaring over this news.

Although Xie Weiyu was a young player who only debuted last season, he was very powerful. In a short amount of time, he'd attracted a huge number of fans. All those fans charged online to thoroughly scold Team Yaoguang for letting this happen. They believed the club had wronged this glorious man who'd done so much for them. Without him, how could Yaoguang have achieved two Top 4 finishes in a row?

Team Yaoguang played dead. They didn't respond.

A new message did come out on Xie Weiyu's personal Weibo. He said a very proper goodbye to his team and asked his fans to not get too worked up. He wrote, My contract has come up, switching teams is my own decision. I hope everyone will respect my choice.

After half a day of chaos, the esports circle remained on edge.

With such a godly player being transferred, a new powerful opponent could emerge next season!

It was the very first day of the trade period, and the league had already been struck by a huge thunderclap. Other players who announced that they were open for trades weren't as notable. Many second-string players listed themselves for trade, just to see if there were any other opportunities waiting for them. Some older players were let go by their clubs; they also looked for trades, hoping to stay in the league for one more year with another team that wanted them.

The transfer period was the best time to see all sorts of characters and changes in this industry.

Strong, popular players would naturally be sold for a higher price, while weaker players wouldn't receive any offers at all.

Ye Shaoyang was thrilled to have met Chi Shuo, and to have signed with Tianhuan for a high fee well in advance of the trade window. While a huge typhoon raged in the outside world, he remained completely unaffected.

After three days, the storm over Xie Weiyu's transfer finally quieted down.

The official league's trade site released a formal announcement—Team Yueying had signed Xie Weiyu for a fee of fifteen million yuan.

This was a top-tier player in the domestic league, after all. Although he'd never taken a championship win before, he had placed second in the S8 championship tournament and fourth in S9. Xie Weiyu also had multiple MVP titles to his name.

And so, he'd received a very  high signing fee.

Some fans of Team Yaoguang ran over to Xie Weiyu's Weibo account to insult him.

[You only have eyes for money, you'll throw away your teammates for money, you've really disappointed us!]

Xie Weiyu's personal fans, however, were elated. They all ran over to Team Yueyang's official Weibo to leave their messages.

[Please show him lots of care, Team Yueying!]

[Little Yu, good luck! Take back the championship title with Yueying!]

When Chi Shuo saw these messages, he immediately sent a private message to Yueying's captain Xu Zhuo: [He signed with you guys?]

Xu Zhuo was very close friends with Chi Shuo. Compared to Fang Zhengqing, who had zero tacit understanding with Chi Shuo, Xu Zhuo and Chi Shuo did at least have a bit… enough that they could die together if they played in a team fight on the same side.

So Chi Shuo hadn't bothered to beat around the bush. He'd simply messaged Xu Zhuo and asked about the situation outright.

Xu Zhuo answered: [The coaching team made the decision. I only fucking found out today!]

Chi Shuo: [……]

Players like Chi Shuo, who directly interjected themselves into the club's decisions regarding their team lineup, were in the minority. The vast majority of players didn't have much input on lineup changes. Their coaching team and managers were the ones who made key decisions regarding which players came and which players went.

Xu Zhuo continued aggressively: [Our team's marksman is actually doing alright. Suddenly buying Xie Weiyu for our team came as a surprise to me too. As for the specific tactics we'll run with him, I can't say much.]

Chi Shuo didn't ask anything else either. He only said: [Okay. You'll have to sync up with Xie Weiyu. Hurry up and go train.]

Xu Zhuo suddenly thought of Tianhuan's newbie, who had stuck to Chi Shuo's side the whole time at the finals of the domestic playoffs. He couldn't help but curiously ask: [Oh, that's right. About your team's Little Ye. Don't you need to officially announce him as a new member?]

New players a team raised up internally didn't need to be listed on the trade window site. Whether or not these new additions were announced depended on the decisions of each club. Some teams liked to publicly announce which new players would be debuting with them when the new season started, and some liked to make that news public during the trade period.

Chi Shuo answered: [It'll probably be announced soon.]

Xu Zhuo: [He's your new support for the next season, right?]

Chi Shuo: [What do you think?]

Xu Zhuo: [Well, it's obvious, isn't it? Everyone knows your marksman and support retired this year. A new person would most likely be the support, right? Did I get it right?]

Chi Shuo responded with a very meaningful 'slight smile' emoji.

No one would be able to guess that the newbie was a mid laner.

After Xie Weiyu's trade was announced, the league calmed down for a few days.

Until a week later.

December 8th.

The group stage of the world championships concluded. Both teams from the Chinese division, Jingzhe and Binghun, made it into the Top 8.

This was undoubtedly a day of good news.

Then, on the morning of December 9th, the league's trade site dropped another bombshell on the gaming circle. A new trade had been made—

Name: Sean Winston

Gender: Alpha, Male

Transfer Fee: 20,000,000 yuan

Club: Beimu

This news was even more explosive than that of Xie Weiyu's transfer!

Early on the morning of the 9th, Team Beimu's official Weibo page received more than a hundred thousand new comments.

The league's trade site also provided photos of each player who had been traded. Everyone saw that this foreign friend had extremely handsome, pronounced features and a pair of deep blue eyes. He was so freaking handsome!

It hardly mattered how good of a player he was. Just that face alone was worth ten million yuan.

Immediately, the comments section filled up with gossip—

[Sean Winston, world-class mid laner. He comes from Team W-Rose, the team that took the championship title in the European division in S8. His mom is Chinese, so he knows how to speak the language. They won't have any problems with communication!]

[Holy shit, a championship-winning mid laner from Europe? Where did Beimu find this hidden treasure?]

[Beimu is going to be awesome next season!]

[They have the mad dog Zhao Xin'an in the top lane, and the league's most alpha little jiejie Zhao Xinping in the bottom lane. Now they have this handsome little ge from Europe in the middle lane. Beimu is all set!]

[Doesn't it feel like Beimu is going to be a lock for the championship next season?]

[They'll be strong on all three lanes. S10's Beimu will be invincible.]

[Don't forget that Yueying just signed Xie Weiyu. Next season's Team Yueying will be incredible too!]

[S10 is going to be a battle of the gods, isn't it?]

[Can the Chinese division try really, really hard next season and take down the world championship title after they finish their battle of gods at home?!]

The esports circle felt like it had been rattled by several huge earthquakes in a row. Various opinions floated around on many Weibo accounts and forums.

S10 had yet to begin, but everyone was already eagerly awaiting the new season after these trades.

Team Beimu was a club with plenty of funds. They hadn't found a suitable mid laner in the country, so they'd simply run over to Europe to recruit a big god for their team. Sean Winston's skill level was probably comparable to Mitchell's.

The international transfer of this world-class player left both the European and Chinese divisions with their jaws hanging slack.

Ye Shaoyang looked through the comments and couldn't help but mournfully say, "Beimu initially offered me a signing fee of three million. It looks like they weren't all that sincere about wanting to sign me. They actually had a better choice."

It was a good thing he hadn't gone to Beimu. Otherwise, he most likely would have been stuck playing as a substitute.

Chi Shuo looked towards Ye Shaoyang and warmly said, "You're a newbie with no proven track record in tournament games, after all. In the eyes of many coaches, your value can't match up to that of championship winners and runner-ups. No one knows that you're actually the biggest dark horse in S10."

Ye Shaoyang smiled towards Chi Shuo. "So, Captain Chi's eyes were the brightest, and he was the scout who discovered this dark horse?"

That smiling expression made Chi Shuo's ears heat up. He silently averted his gaze and said, "Tianhuan is about ready to make the official announcement too. Xie Weiyu and Sean have attracted a lot of attention. This is the perfect time for us to make the announcement while still keeping a low profile."

Ye Shaoyang nodded. "Mm, we'll develop quietly in the early stages of the season, then become the bosses of the battlefield later on."

On December 10th, a new player profile was listed on the league's trade site.

Name: Ye Shaoyang

Gender: Omega, Male

Signing Fee: 5,000,000 yuan

Club: Tianhuan

After this news was released, everyone in the gaming circle—players and fans alike—all found their heads filling up with question marks. Everyone was blindsided.

Who was Ye Shaoyang?

No one had ever heard of him.

The photo attached to his profile was of a handsome little ge with a bright, radiant smile.

The most important detail…

Omega. Male.

Tianhuan had actually signed an omega!

Netizens all started to gossip about Ye Shaoyang's identity. All fans of the league turned into little detectives, searching and searching, but ultimately coming up with no results—there was simply no record of this person ever having played in the league before.

So, he was a newbie?!

A five million yuan signing fee for a newbie?! That was a brand new record high in the league!

More than a hundred thousand comments flooded Tianhuan's official Weibo.

[Tianhuan is really taking things to a new level now. They couldn't sign a top-tier player, but they signed an omega? This is really a different strategy, hahaha!]

[This omega player looks so cute. With that face, I'm on board!]

[No wonder he could break the record for a newbie's signing fee. Captain Chi only got three million back when he signed, so the treatment of an omega player has to be even better?]

[@Tianhuan-Shuoyue, Captain Chi, won't you come out and give us a statement?]

[This little omega gege looks so soft and cute when he smiles. You guys have to take good care of him!]

When the players of Tianhuan's second-string team saw those messages, their faces all filled up with complex emotions.

You want us… to take care of him?

He's been 'taking care' of us every day! He's killed us so often that we're scared to leave our towers!

Meanwhile, Chi Shuo's own private messages were blowing up.

Xu Zhuo: [That's the Little Ye you guys brought to the finals the other day, right? So he was actually an omega? No wonder you were guarding him like a mother hen, hahaha. Chi Shuo, you're doomed! You old dog!]

Zhao Xin'an: [Holy fuck, fuck, fuck! Tianhuan actually signed an omega player?! Hurry, hurry, add him to our group chat!]

Zhou Jiawen: [Congratulations Captain Chi on your omega partner.][SlightSmile.jpg]

Chen Qianhua: [Captain Chi, don't be too aggressive with omegas. Make sure you tone it down a little when you scold people~]

Fang Zhengqing: [I'll be gentle when we play against each other. I wouldn't want to scare your adorable new omega out of his wits.]

Chi Shuo: [……]

You guys just wait.

Once the games begin, our omega will knock out your teeth and kill you dead.

Careful you don't get scared out of your wits.

Author's Notes:

He won't be exposed that quickly. According to the plot, he'll be exposed when the games begin~

Everyone still thinks the adorable little omega is a support. No one has imagined he's a fierce mid lane demon king. ^_^