Q Shen decided to ramble on stream about Valley of Light, known by most as VOL, for a solid seventeen minutes before the viewers and younger brother were finally saved by the stream zooming in to the announcers. 

The new viewers got the most in-depth guide they could have asked for from Xiao Qiu.

Although Q Shen was an esports player as well as a commentator who would pull apart moves, he didn’t have much of a job to do in the beginning stages. He just let the official announcers do their job, and he would chime in after muting the stream every now and then. 

Mostly to answer questions.

The announcer walked up on stage, it was Hei Lu who had made his name known after his first world championship commentary. One could say that team X, specifically Frost, was his stepping stone into the scene as he was originally a substitute nearby who took over from someone else when they fell sick.

The crowd in the stadium, unlike years before, didn’t need a reminder to quiet down and respectfully went silent to listen to Hei Lu. 

He lit up in a brilliant smile: “Good afternoon, welcome to the Valley! It’s already our seventh world championship, can you believe it? Valley of Light is ten years old now, almost old enough to be in middle school!”

The crowd answered in cheers and the viewers could hear some laughing from the audience through the end of the sentence.

Hei Lu waited a few moments for the crowd to silence, nodding along with the cheers in agreement as he commented: “I also can’t believe it! It feels like we’ve watched not just the game grow up, but the players on today's teams! It’s also somewhat of a callback, isn’t it?”

The screens behind Hei Lu lit up, one brilliant golden banner with five team banners displayed. The avatar, class icon, and game name were displayed behind the silhouette of the real person. The screen to the right had a similar layout, but the background was a gorgeous ruby tone instead. 

“On our left we have Team Solar led by Moon. Ah, I hear some cheers already. That’s right, although four members haven’t been on this stage yet, Moon sure has! He won the championship four years ago, and now he’s back to steal it again with a new lineup… Well, we’ll see about that.”

Xiao Yi listened to the introduction and although he was a bit sad, he was also a little happy. His friend, well, ex-friend and former teammate had made it so far. 

The five members of the previous Team X had known each other since they were children. Xiao Yi was six years old when he befriended the nine-year-old Chen Qiang, and within a few months, they had also become friends with Mu Yichen, Tang An, and Li Hao who were also nine years old. 

He was the silent one, always observant but never had much to say. That was an understatement. He didn’t even talk when he met Chen Qiang aside from giving him his name, and afterward, Chen Qiang would do most of the talking for the two of them. It was as if he could read his mind.

It’s not that he couldn’t talk, or something was wrong with his voice. He simply didn’t like to talk. He was dubbed by other students as the ‘ice prince’. 

Chen Qiang was the glue to their friendship. Like honey to a bee, the rest of the boys originally joined the friend group because they were drawn to Chen Qiang. Whether it be his appearance, with light blond hair and honey eyes, or the contrast between Xiao Yi’s silence and Chen Qiang’s extroverted personality. 

He was extremely aware of the mood in the room and always knew how to make one laugh. It wasn’t in an annoying way, though, he was just… Sunny.

Mu Yichen was the smart one. Although Xiao Yi was smart enough to skip grades, Mu Yichen had more knowledge. It wasn’t limited to the curriculum, anything he found interesting he would throw his whole self in to learn. He looked more like an athlete than anything, though, with toned muscles paired with a six-pack and short dark black hair.

He was quiet when he was younger, but under Chen Qiang’s influence, he became more extroverted and was seen as the mother hen of the group. He approached them only because the library had no extra seats, and effectively stuck around. 

Tang An and Li Hao were originally friends before meeting the other three. They were both ‘young masters’ of wealthy families, but they found themselves drawn to the contrast between Chen Qiang and Xiao Yi and quickly became friends with them after surpassing their curiosity. 

Tang An was the calm, second mother to the group. He had black hair, and brown eyes and wore glasses or contacts since he was a child. He loved cooking, baking, and everything food and yet inexplicably never gained weight!

Li Hao was the troublemaker. Combating Chen Qiang’s pranks, he would be the first one to punch someone if needed. He had never needed a filter on his mouth, so he didn’t bother pretending to have one. If he thought something, he said it. Yet, he was also the most emotional in the group. 

He had caused many 10,000 fines to go to Team X’s mailbox from the league officials for cursing out haters.

“I wonder if he’ll be able to steal the trophy though… On our right, we have team FFS led by Xue. That’s right - FFS has won four championships in the past, and they are back with their original lineup to fight against Solar for their fifth trophy! It seems like only yesterday we saw Moon snatch that trophy away with team X… Will FFS be beaten so easily, though?”

Xiao Yi would have scoffed if he was awake: ‘Who says he can’t? Sure they can beat FFS, we did it once! Mu Yichen isn’t that weak!’ 

His thoughts were nothing like his normally blank expressions.