Fly fell silent for once.
Xiaopang continued, "Brother Niu, the team's management promised that as long as you return to Wolves, they'll give you everything: a ten-million signing fee and the starting clash lane position."
"I can't go back to Wolves." Fly shook his head.
"Why?" Xiaopang couldn't help asking.
"No one is willing to play the supporting leaf, and neither am I." Fly smiled. "Besides, if I stayed with Wolves, my competitive form would only keep declining."
Xiaopang was left speechless. Now it was his turn to fall silent.
Ever since Wolves' management sold Fly, the whole team seemed to have lost its spirit. Its league results had slid relentlessly, and Wolves, once known as one of the big three, had fallen from its pedestal and become an ordinary Group S team.
Naturally, multiple factors had contributed to this, but anyone with a discerning eye knew the truth.
The biggest problem was the absence of the team's wolf soul-King Title player Fly-which had led Wolves into its current awkward predicament.
In the past, with Fly there to cover for them, Xiaopang and the other core players could play as freely as they pleased, without worrying about the consequences.
But now, without Fly to cover for them, Wolves' overall strength had shrunk drastically. Even Xiaopang second-guessed himself and held back, no longer as fierce as before, because there was no one left to cover for the team.
"Brother Niu, won't your competitive form decline at RW Xia too?" Xiaopang was still trying to persuade him. "You've always told me you had to win the tenth championship of your life to bring your career to a perfect close, but at RW Xia, there's no hope of winning one at all!"
Fly's expression softened. "Although RW Xia is only a bottom-ranked Group S team, the coaches and my teammates have always been firm in making me the team's absolute core, doing everything they can to let me play to my heart's content."
"With their full support, I believe that one day, I'll lead RW Xia to make our championship dream come true."
"Besides-"
Fly changed tack, his eyes turning razor-sharp. "A tenth league championship is only my career goal. My true ultimate goal is to challenge for Champion Emperor and pull the person who once cast a psychological shadow over me clean off his pedestal!"
Xiaopang's throat worked slightly. "So your goal is Champion Emperor, Brother Niu. That explains everything."
All this time, he had thought Fly had terminated his contract in a fit of anger and transferred to RW Xia because Wolves wouldn't give him the starting clash lane position. Only after their conversation today did he finally understand.
Fly's ambition wasn't ten league championships.
It was the third-tier honorific title-Champion Emperor!
"Xiaopang, in August's Overlord selection, you're the reigning challenger in the jungle position, and your biggest opponent is AG Super Play's Zhongyi. Your former junior teammate's skill has already come infinitely close to yours at your peak."
Fly spoke earnestly. "I imagine you're feeling the pressure now."
Xiaopang gave a bitter smile. "Otherwise, I wouldn't have traveled all this way to ask you for special training."
Xiaopang had already held the Jungle Overlord title for two consecutive terms. But last year, AG Super Play had burst onto the scene, sweeping aside KPL teams with overwhelming force and forging its own dynasty, showing signs of pulling far ahead of everyone else.
The most important reason was that four of AG's five starters had already claimed Overlord titles.
"Xiaopang, if Zhongyi defeats you and claims the Jungle Overlord title, AG will fill in the last piece of the puzzle and become the first super team whose five players are all Overlords."
Fly rubbed his chin and said in a grave voice, "If it really comes to that, there'll hardly be any need to predict the summer season. The championship will definitely belong to AG."
Xiaopang's expression grew solemn.
Fly patted Xiaopang on the shoulder and looked intently at him. "So, Xiaopang, in this fight for Jungle Overlord, you must give it your all and be prepared for a bloody battle."
"I understand all that, Brother Niu." Xiaopang paused, then said, "If-and I mean if-I fail to defend my title-"
"Then we can only hope an exceptionally skilled jungle player with Overlord-level strength suddenly appears among the ordinary players."
Fly narrowed his eyes to slits and smiled. "Of course, that's impossible."
Late at night, in Huating Residential Complex, Jiangcheng.
One delicious dish after another was brought to the table. There was dried tofu with hot peppers, cumin beef kidney, braised duck neck... twelve dishes in all. Their exquisite appearance and tempting aromas made the mouth water.
"Eat while it's hot, Bro."
Jiang Sui took off her apron and sat down, saying ingratiatingly, "Try your sister's cooking and see if I've improved."
Su Hang picked up a piece of dried tofu and chewed a few times. "Not bad. It's much better than what you used to make."
"Hee-hee." Jiang Sui blinked her big, doll-like eyes and squirmed coquettishly. "I made these dishes with admiration for my brother in my heart, so they're explosively delicious. Especially this braised duck neck-hurry and try it."
"No rush."
At his sister's urging, Su Hang merely glanced at the braised duck neck out of the corner of his eye. "There's something I want to tell you first."
"What is it?"
"I'm planning to stream Honor of Kings on Douyin."
"Stream Honor of Kings?"
Jiang Sui froze for a moment, then asked suspiciously, "Bro, are you short on cash?"
"Not really." Su Hang held something back. "I just had a sudden impulse to try being a streamer."
The doubt in Jiang Sui's eyes deepened.
After all, her brother didn't like putting himself in the spotlight and kept an especially low profile. Just this year, he had won the National Natural Physique Olympia and been hailed by authoritative media as the nation's strongest lean-muscle god.
Yet he had declined every interview after the competition. Even after returning to Jiangcheng, he had never shown off to his classmates or teachers, keeping the lowest of profiles.
"Do you have any questions?" Su Hang took a sip of sugar-free cola.
"No, Bro, I just feel like you're starting to change." Jiang Sui took a fresh look at her brother, who had just turned eighteen.
Her brother Su Hang's self-control bordered on the abnormal.
At eight, he had sworn to build the strongest lean muscles, and so he had pumped iron and trained for decades as if every day were the same, never slacking off.
Now, at eighteen, he was slender and handsome. Standing in a crowd in his school uniform, he looked like an innocent, good-looking high school boy. But when he took off his clothes, those lean muscles, as though carved with a knife and chiseled with an axe, made him the very image of the online heartthrob countless girls dreamed of.
Perhaps growing up under the influence of her brother Su Hang's physique training was why she now couldn't muster any interest in men.
"How have I changed?" Su Hang asked.
"The top of your head has gotten pointy."
Black lines immediately covered Su Hang's face.
"Just kidding, Bro. Please don't be mad." Jiang Sui hurriedly changed the subject. "I watch Honor of Kings streams too. How should I put it? The boom in game streaming has already passed. I'm afraid it won't be easy for you to get famous, Bro."
"It won't be easy to get famous?"
Jiang Sui nodded her little head, looking like someone who had been through it all. "If you want to get famous through Honor of Kings, you either take the entertainment route, pulling stunts to put on a show, or you take the skill route and win the audience over with sheer ability."
"Bro, you're not suited to the entertainment route, so the skill route is the only one left for you to try. But the bar for skill-based Honor of Kings streamers is frighteningly high now."
After thinking back for a moment, Jiang Sui said, "If you want to carve out a place for yourself with your gaming skills, you have to be at least comparable to an Overlord."
"Overlord level?" Su Hang frowned.
Jiang Sui looked at him strangely. "Bro, you've played Honor of Kings for ten years. Don't tell me you don't even know what an Overlord is?"
"I do," Su Hang said slowly. "I just don't know whether the Overlord you're talking about is the same thing as the Overlord I have in mind."