156: Opening Ceremony

At the KPL finals venue, the massive circular screen inside the arena suddenly lit up.

It began playing a promotional short film specially made for the finals.

Highlights of the two teams battling in Kings Canyon, accompanied by fast-paced drum beats and powerful commentary, instantly captured the attention of all the spectators.

Down on the floor, cosplayers dressed in costumes stood in poses matching their respective heroes.

In the front row on the left sat the players from the other fourteen teams eliminated from the tournament.

To motivate them, Ye Bai had specially reserved seats for them to watch the champion lift the trophy.

Besides them, there were the heads of various clubs, as well as Ye Bai himself.

Sitting in the audience, he watched the edited short film on stage, which was actually quite hype when paired with the music.

Once the short film finished, a countdown appeared on the screen.

"Ten, nine, eight... three, two, one!"

The moment the screen went dark, a spotlight, like a spear thrown by a god, pierced through the dimness of the venue and locked precisely onto the center of the stage.

In the beam of light, the host, dressed in a crisp suit, stood ready.

Holding a microphone, his gaze swept across the vast sea of people below.

"Summoners of the arena —"

His voice, transmitted through top-tier audio equipment, vibrated clearly and magnetically through the air.

"Welcome to the finals of the 1025 honor of kings KPL Professional League!"

"Ah —!"

Like a drop of water falling into a hot wok, the entire venue instantly exploded.

The long-accumulated enthusiasm found an outlet; cheers, screams, and applause surged toward the center of the stage like a tsunami, almost blowing the roof off.

The sea of red and blue cheering lights surged and swayed wildly, weaving into a boiling tapestry.

The host smiled, calmly waiting for the wave of sound to subside slightly before continuing, "Today! We will witness together the crowning of the first KPL league champion!"

"But for now, please, audience members here, bring out all your passion and shouts, and let us welcome the opening ceremony of the 1025 KPL finals with the warmest applause!"

As soon as he finished speaking, the lights on the stage suddenly went black.

Accompanied by the shouts and applause of the audience, a sound of a guitar suddenly rang out across the arena.

The melody of this prelude was like the first ray of moonlight flowing down into a quiet night sky, gentle yet carrying a kind of firm strength, instantly smoothing out all previous restlessness and noise.

A soft white spotlight, like a searchlight finding a ship in the night, slowly landed on one side of the stage.

In the beam of light stood a figure in a simple white long dress; she held a microphone, eyes slightly closed—it was the singer Zhong Yan.

When she began to sing, her voice was ethereal and clean, as if without a trace of impurity, precisely penetrating everyone's eardrums.

"The brightest star in the night sky, can you hear clearly, the loneliness and sighs in the heart of the person looking up..."

There were no intense backup dancers, no dazzling special effects, just her alone with the pure accompaniment of a guitar.

Yet, such a simple presentation possessed the power to shake the heart.

On the big screen, the camera slowly swept across the audience.

It passed over the cosplayers wearing costumes with love for the heroes shining in their eyes.

It passed over the young faces of the players from the fourteen eliminated teams; some hung their heads low, some watched the stage calmly, and others had smiles on their faces.

"See that? My wife sings well, right?" Li Ce whispered like a demon in Ye Bai's ear.

Ye Bai: ...

"Yes, yes, yes, it's too good."

In fact, Ye Bai had also struggled for a long time about what song to have Zhong Yan sing; to be honest, her vocal range wasn't really suitable for songs that were too intense.

Ultimately, he chose the former between "The Brightest Star in the Night Sky" and "Invisible Wings".

The original creator's starting point for the former was longing for an ex-girlfriend and reflections on friends.

But this song showcased more of the persistence and unremitting efforts of young people chasing their dreams.

Ye Bai felt that this song was quite fitting for the KPL arena.

"Whenever I can't find the meaning of existence, whenever I get lost in the dark night..."

Li Ce excitedly held up his phone to record a video, while Ye Bai listened to the song earnestly, his thoughts already drifting far away.

Ye Bai had prepared a lot for these finals.

Besides this song, there was also "A Hundred Battles Become Poetry" for the halftime break.

Ye Bai had specially invited over 100 singers to perform this song together on stage.

For this, Zhong Yan was truly exhausted, because she was the one who helped find the singers and invite them.

One could only say that a brother's wife is indeed a brother's wife; she could even handle the task of helping out through thick and thin.

This also showed the importance of a brother having a wife.

In the past, when he only had brothers, he could only boss the brothers around; now that his brother had a wife, he could even boss his brother's wife around!

As for the final song, Ye Bai had thought about it for a long time and decided to let Mandala sing "Peerless King".

However, that would be for when they were lifting the trophy.

Along with the song, the audience's hearts gradually calmed down and grew warm again.

Not just the live audience, but the holographic arena on the streaming platform also accommodated hundreds of millions of viewers.

However, they were all dispersed into different online viewing spaces.

Once the song was finished, the host, Du Chuan, appeared again, "A rendition of 'The Brightest Star in the Night Sky' has kicked off this year's KPL finals. Next, let us grandly welcome the two teams. First, our winner's bracket team —"

"Let us welcome Must Go to School on Monday with applause!"

"Jungle, Prologue! Mid, Furball! Top, Name derived from Jiang Ziya - Player Name! ADC, Star Chaser - Player Name! Support, Roujiamo!"

The camera zoomed directly onto their faces; at this moment, there wasn't a single person present who wasn't excited.

"Next, let us continue to welcome the team that fought their way up from the loser's bracket with warm applause — ACE team!"

"Jungle, Dream Injury! Mid, Zao An! Top, Listening Wind! ADC, Sunset! Support, nova!"

On the field, they wore neat team uniforms, which Ye Bai had prepared for them.

It was the finals, after all; they had to dress nicely.

At this moment, Ye Bai's classmates watching the game at the scene were all stunned.

Mi Leshan spoke up, "This is my first time coming to watch Boss's match. I didn't expect it to be so massive. Is this the gap between us and him?"

Pei Ji chuckled, "You're only just realizing that?"

When they were at school, although they knew Ye Bai was impressive, everyone's status was that of a student, which subconsciously diminished the gap between them.

But when here, that gap was instantly widened.

It became an uncrossable chasm.

It could even be said that they couldn't compare to Ye Bai in making games, and they couldn't compare to the players standing on the field in playing games!

This was too miserable!

And the most miserable ones weren't them, but the members of those fourteen teams waiting to see the champion lift the trophy.