# Chapter 34
While Zhou Huo was relaying messages for others, he was also reporting work in the group chat.
**【Manager Zhou】:** [Just a reminder, the relegation tournament starts tomorrow. Though it's not our match, more likely than not the teams that fail to avoid relegation tomorrow will face us in the qualifiers. Might as well watch the matches ahead of time and get to know our opponents.]
The China Regional FOG Pro League only had twelve team slots. Last year, those twelve teams were Saint, NSN, Wild Bull, ICA, Yizhan, Wanzhongshan, YT, DDF, FS, Zhanjia, MO, and Fengche.
Each season began with the regular season. During the regular season, these twelve teams followed a double round-robin BO3 format, with each pair of teams facing off to accumulate points. After the regular season ended, teams were ranked by total points. The top eight teams advanced to the playoffs for further competition, while the bottom four teams missed the playoffs and had to prepare for the relegation tournament.
Those four teams were the ones ranked last the previous year: FS, Zhanjia, MO, and Fengche.
The four teams competed in a round-robin format. The two teams with the most losses would be directly demoted—both teams officially removed from the China Regional FOG Pro League, relegated to the China Regional second-tier league teams.
With only ten pro league teams remaining, two slots opened up. Then came the main event—the annual opening of the FOG Pro League's doors.
The qualifiers to compete for those two precious pro league slots officially began.
This was the only chance each year for second-tier league teams to get promoted.
After the relegation tournament concluded, all second-tier league teams registered with the league, plus the two teams just demoted from the relegation tournament, would compete together in a round-robin. The two teams with the highest points would be promoted to pro league status to fill the twelve slots. All remaining teams would officially be classified as this year's second-tier league teams. If those teams wanted a chance to turn things around, they'd have to wait until next year's qualifiers.
This format was somewhat残酷, but crucial for the entire league.
According to regulations, there were only twelve teams in the regional league, making slots extremely precious. However, club teams could be purchased, which introduced a layer of capital risk.
The esports industry had developed rapidly in recent years, gradually moving from niche to mainstream, from being looked down upon to becoming a quiet trend. It increasingly attracted capital attention, including from people who didn't understand a damn thing. They treated clubs as toys, spending huge sums to buy pro league teams, then occupying precious slots while creating chaos—filling rosters with worthless garbage to serve as players.
The relegation tournament system effectively prevented this possibility.
Capital could buy one or even two of the twelve teams and do whatever they wanted. But at most they could play through one regular season. Once the regular season ended, other pro teams would use their strength to speak for themselves and clean house together, directly kicking out such unserious teams from the pro league.
The base price for a club occupying a pro league slot was eight figures, with the first digit starting at five and going up unlimited. Under such massive numbers, they could only play through one meaningless regular season. No matter how much money they had, no idiot would entertain this idea again.
Under this format, the FOG League ensured that all teams maintained pure bloodlines—all genuinely playing to compete. It stimulated clubs to work hard, allowed for gradual turnover by replacing underperforming teams, and absorbed strong teams from the second-tier league. A win-win-win across the board.
**【Manager Zhou】:** [The relegation tournament is double round-robin BO1, can be finished in one day. FS, Zhanjia, MO, Fengche—among these four, the two teams with the lowest points will be joining us later. So... which ones do you think it'll be?]
**【Puppy】:** [Wait, something's not right.]
**【Puppy】:** [...I just got back to the country, don't know your region's situation. Don't scare me. Did I see wrong? How did I see a team I'm very familiar with?]
**【Handsome Chenhuo】:** [...I haven't been back long either. I suspect I'm also seeing things. That two-letter team I don't even want to type out—what's going on?]
**【Puppy】:** [?]
**【Coach Old Qiao】:** [Not seeing wrong.]
**【Puppy】:** [...]
**【Handsome Chenhuo】:** [That can't be right, can it? They were at least a former World Finals double-champion team. Now they've fallen to the point of playing relegation matches?]
**【Coach Old Qiao】:** [The World Finals double championships were won by the players, not the team.]
**【Coach Old Qiao】:** [Being called the Esports Holy Land doesn't mean this club is actually a champion incubator. No matter how many legendary matches were played, they were all fought match by match by that era's players. What does that have to do with the club itself?]
**【Coach Old Qiao】:** [Without the players, and without making effort to cultivate new talent, relying on an empty shell to trick other players into joining as fillers—how could they end up with anything good?]
**【Coach Old Qiao】:** [The first year they could barely squeeze into playoffs, got knocked out in the first round. The second year they were completely done, couldn't even make playoffs. No matter how glorious their past record, now they're just a relegation-tournament club.]
**【Puppy】:** [...Don't say more.]
**【Handsome Chenhuo】:** [Don't say more. My heart's a bit congested.]
Yu Sui looked at the chat history, not wanting to say a single word.
After selling off several people back then, Ji Yanhan had originally wanted to sell the entire FS club as well. Unfortunately, FS Club bore the empty fame of World Finals double-champion but had lost its players, caught between too high and too low. Those who wanted it couldn't afford it; those who could afford it thought the lack of players was a dealbreaker. Ji Yanhan tangled with various parties for a long time, never being able to negotiate a suitable price. In the end, he kept FS. He hadn't had the money to sign players back then, caught in a dilemma with no way forward or back.
But at that time, FS was still the Esports Holy Land after all. There really were players who, burning with passion and wanting nothing more than to join a championship club, transferred to FS. Of course, these definitely wouldn't be level-headed top-tier players.
And so, FS's performance plummeted the following year. Leaning on those passionate players who transferred in, they barely stumbled into playoffs, then got eliminated. Three of the four starting players transferred out immediately after playoffs. Ji Yanhan, having managed to free up some funds over the year, bought a few relatively stronger players. He also started personally overseeing team operations. But some things, once broken, can't be mended.
That year, Ji Yanhan did try his best. He managed the club earnestly, worked hard to sign new players, even cultivated a second team. But FS's results were even worse than the previous year. The regular season was a disaster. No matter how hard he tried, they couldn't make playoffs, and now they'd become a relegation-bound team.
FS meant something different to Yu Sui, Old Qiao, Chenhuo, and Puppy.
FS was the club Yu Sui and Old Qiao had founded together. It was Chenhuo and Puppy's first club.
Old Qiao was right. The matches were fought by the players. Back then, it was the four of them who had fought tooth and nail to make those two letters—FS—into a nightmare across all four major regions.
It had only been two years.
No one felt sorry for Ji Yanhan. They just couldn't let go of the fact that the team they'd once poured all their passion into had withered to this state.
Chenhuo and Puppy were feeling suffocated and stopped joking in the group. Old Qiao had vented out a string of words and went silent. After the chat安静了 several minutes, it buzzed again.
**【Manager Zhou】:** [Aiyo, what's with this atmosphere? Don't worry. FS had the highest ranking among these four teams during the regular season. They'll very likely not fail the relegation tournament. They'll definitely survive. Relax.]
**【Manager Zhou】:** [Plus they have double insurance. Even if they fail the relegation tournament, they can continue to the qualifiers. There are still two slots to return to the pro league.]
**【Manager Zhou】:** [I'm not dissing second-tier league teams or anything, but really, there's still a wall between them and the pro league. Even the bottom-feeders of the pro league beat them like a father beating his son. There's basically no suspense.]
**【Manager Zhou】:** [FS now basically has double insurance. Getting actually demoted is 99% impossible. What are you all congested about?]
**【Puppy】:** [I know FS can't get demoted, but just making it to the relegation tournament is already Congestive enough. Relegation tournament? I never heard of it when I was at FS. I didn't even know what the format was.]
**【Handsome Chenhuo】:** [Indeed... I just looked it up to find out the format myself.]
**【Manager Zhou】:** [When you fall to the bottom of twelve teams, this is the treatment you get. Get used to it. Honestly, instead of feeling sorry for others, feel sorry for yourselves.]
**【Manager Zhou】:** [After you qualify through the qualifiers, you'll officially be in the same region as your old team.]
**【Manager Zhou】:** [In the future, you'll have plenty of chances to face each other in regular seasons, playoffs, and all sorts of乱七八糟 matches. Get used to it ahead of time. Don't get all melancholy every time.]
**【Puppy】:** [Fine.]
**【Handsome Chenhuo】:** [Fine. Tomorrow we'll watch the relegation tournament.]
The next day, noon. Twelve o'clock. The relegation tournament officially began.
Four teams, double round-robin BO1. A total of twelve individual matches, with each team earning one point per match won.
Each individual match took an average of forty minutes. Playing through all twelve matches would take until evening. At first, the "相亲相爱一家人" group chat wasn't paying attention. Based on past patterns, the teams most likely to fail relegation were the bottom two of the regular season, which this year meant MO and Fengche.
But this year, there was a twist.
Zhanjia, who had finished below FS in the regular season, seemed to have done some special training lately. From the start of the matches, both their overall mental state and individual skill were much stronger than during last year's regular season. They jumped out to a three-point lead.
FS's players, comparatively, had somewhat scattered focus. Everyone thought they wouldn't have problems in the relegation tournament, but they lost one match to Zhanjia, then lost one to MO. Suddenly they were in a precarious position. By evening, FS had only taken two points from Fengche. They were standing at the edge of a cliff.
Yu Sui had also just started watching the relegation tournament at that time.
Twelve individual matches. Only one left. FS versus MO.
Zhanjia had five points, already safely avoiding relegation. Fengche had only two points, already confirmed for demotion.
The only suspense left was between FS and MO.
MO currently had three points. FS had two.
If FS could beat MO, the points would be tied. They'd go into overtime, and the team that won again would avoid relegation.
If FS lost to MO, they'd be demoted together with Fengche.
Messages in the group chat kept buzzing.
**【Handsome Chenhuo】:** Fuck, it's the last match. The last match. Why am I more nervous than when I'm the one competing?
**【Puppy】:** FS played like garbage in the previous matches. Has to be a full-team mental collapse, right? The mechanical errors are unwatchable.
**【Handsome Chenhuo】:** What do I do, what do I do, what do I do? I'm fucking nervous!
**【Manager Zhou】:** What are you nervous about?
**【Handsome Chenhuo】:** Fuck! That's my old team! My alma mater! My first team!
**【Puppy】:** +1
**【Coach Old Qiao】:** ...To be honest, I'm nervous too. As humiliating as this is to say, I really don't want FS to fail relegation.
Yu Sui wasn't watching the chat. He quietly stared at his computer screen. The final match had already started.
Five minutes into the match, Yu Sui exhaled and closed the livestream.
There was no chance of winning anymore.
At least three of the four players had mentally collapsed. They were all pro league players; falling to play relegation matches was like being humiliated. And on top of that, they might actually fail the tournament. If they really lost the relegation tournament, their professional records would look so good.
The greater the pressure, the tenser the nerves. The tenser the nerves, the more mistakes. Within just five minutes, two of FS's flankers had each given the enemy one kill. Two flankers dying together was a cardinal sin. The front line was left with only a medic, essentially handing over the map to MO.
While FS's two flankers waited to respawn, MO's two flankers cleared out a huge area on their map. This opening was too intense. It was basically unwinnable.
Yu Sui opened his game client and queued for solo play. Twenty minutes later, he checked the chat.
**【Puppy】:** [What the fuck—FS actually failed relegation?!]
**【Handsome Chenhuo】:** [No way. I really want to ask those two FS flankers—did you two learn to play with a hammer?!]
**【Puppy】:** [Pressure got to them, right?]
**【Coach Old Qiao】:** [What professional player doesn't face pressure on stage?]
**【Manager Zhou】:** [Hold on. Why are you all angry? Do you still have feelings for Ji Yanhan? How are you feeling sorry for him?]
**【Handsome Chenhuo】:** [Who feels sorry for him?! I'm feeling sorry for MYSELF!!]
**【Handsome Chenhuo】:** [I used to be able to brag, saying "I debuted at FS." Back then, anyone who heard that would kneel and call me dad.]
**【Handsome Chenhuo】:** [Now? I say I debuted at FS! Others will just say, "Oh, that relegation-failed team." Fuck!]
**【Manager Zhou】:** [hhhhhh]
**【Handsome Chenhuo】:** [Just... 唉.]
**【Manager Zhou】:** [They'll still have to play qualifiers with us. Getting demoted isn't really a big problem to climb back from, since Fengche is genuinely terrible. The final result should still be us and FS promoting together. Oh f*ck. That's恶心 enough. I don't want to promote alongside Ji Yanhan at all.]
**【Manager Zhou】:** [Alright, the matches are done. Get some rest. It's almost our turn.]
**【Handsome Chenhuo】:** [ok.]
**【Puppy】:** [ok.]
**【Evil】:** [Will Ji Yanhan go to the qualifiers?]
**【Manager Zhou】:** [Probably. He went to watch the relegation tournament in person. Seems like he's getting anxious. Why are you asking?]
**【Evil】:** [Nothing.]
**【Manager Zhou】:** [Evil, let's get this straight. No causing trouble, okay?]
**【Evil】:** [...Do I look crazy to you?]
**【Evil】:** [I also don't want to see FS get demoted. Believe it or not.]
**【Handsome Chenhuo】:** [Exactly. If they get demoted, how are we supposed to brag?!]
**【Evil】:** [...]
Yu Sui looked at the chat history. After a moment, he clicked on Shi Luo's profile and hit "Add as Friend."
One minute later, Yu Sui's phone buzzed. Shi Luo had accepted the friend request.
Yu Sui opened the chat interface, hesitating over what to say first. While hesitating, Shi Luo sent a message.
**【Evil】:** [I got tickets for the qualifiers.]
**【Evil】:** [...Your session's matches.]
Yu Sui stared at his phone and typed.
**【Whisper】:** [Wear a mask and sunglasses.]
Yu Sui's phone buzzed. Shi Luo sent another message.
**【Evil】:** [The qualifiers... don't suddenly malfunction like FS did.]
Yu Sui slowly typed: [Won't happen.]
**【Whisper】:** [Is your luggage packed?]
**【Whisper】:** [After you qualify, I'll come pick you up.]