248: Chapter 248 The Broken Twins? A Major Earthquake for Team One and Team Two!

The chubby Hao Yun was holding a buffet plate piled as high as a small mountain, with a deep-fried dough stick in his left hand and a steamed bun in his right, eating until his mouth was oily and his face was glowing.

Looking at his teammates around him, who seemed to have had their life force drained away, he chewed on his bun while wearing a look of pure confusion:

"Seriously, what happened to you guys? Isn't the hotel bed soft enough? Why do you all look even more drained than if you'd been playing ranked matches for three days and three nights straight?"

"Eat more! This is a free buffet! Especially you, Lu Xingye, those dark circles under your eyes are almost down to your chin; hurry up and get some carbs!"

Lu Xingye silently pulled the collar of his trench coat up even higher, as if he had already retreated into a void, too lazy to even say, "Mortal food is not worthy of defiling my demonic body."

Amidst this highly fractured atmosphere where "half the people were enjoying a peaceful life and the other half were wishing they were dead."

"Yo! Good morning, everyone!"

Jiang You hummed a little tune and walked into the lobby with a jaunty, devil-may-care stride, full of energy.

The gazes of everyone in the hall instantly pinned onto him like searchlights.

Jiang You not only felt no guilt whatsoever, but instead waved at everyone with great enthusiasm:

"Why do you all have those expressions? Didn't you sleep well last night?"

"..."

Looking at Jiang You's glowing, rosy, and well-rested face, everyone could have ground their back teeth to dust.

Why we didn't sleep well—don't you have any idea?

Gou Fugui tremblingly pushed up his crooked gold-rimmed glasses and asked in a hoarse voice:

"Jiang, Brother Jiang... did you sleep well last night?"

"It was incredibly good!"

Jiang You stretched out lazily and shared his joy with everyone with a sincere expression:

"The beds in this seven-star hotel are just so soft! I slept until dawn and didn't even dream!"

"Oh right, I even dreamt last night that you all ran into my room to play hide-and-seek. When I got up this morning, I specifically crawled under the bed to check, and there was nothing there."

"I knew it, that must have been a hallucination from being too tired!"

"..."

Following Jiang You's heartless final summary, the lobby of the Qianlong Hotel fell into an extremely distorted silence.

Closet survivors Gou Fugui and Xiang Batian simultaneously turned their faces away, pretending to admire the lobby's load-bearing pillars.

Bathroom survivors Qiu Yunan and Senior Ji Youyou stared fixedly at their own toes, as if they could stare a flower into existence on the carpet.

Curtain survivor Xie Fuyao simply closed his eyes and silently recited the "Heart-Cleansing Mantra" in his heart.

Just as this atmosphere, awkward enough to make one's toes curl through the floor, was about to spiral out of control.

"Ahem!"

Two extremely deliberate dry coughs came from the corridor leading from the lobby to the restaurant.

Everyone turned their heads in unison.

They saw the backbone of Magic City Martial Arts University, Tier 5 Grandmaster Principal Pang Ban, walking over with his hands behind his back and a steady, measured gait.

However...

Today, Principal Pang Ban's appearance seemed extremely bizarre.

On his old face, which usually always wore a smile, he was currently sporting a pair of oversized black sunglasses that almost covered half his face!

In this indoor lobby where even sunlight couldn't reach, these sunglasses were as jarring as if they were meant to be bulletproof.

"Principal, what is this..."

Jiang You paused for a moment and pointed at his face, "Did you get sand in your eyes?"

Principal Pang Ban, feeling guilty, adjusted the frames of his sunglasses; he dared not make direct eye contact with the few victims who had "shared a room" with him last night, especially deliberately avoiding the direction of Lu Xingye and the girls.

"Ahem! The ultraviolet rays in the Imperial Capital... are quite harsh! I am doing this to protect my eyesight!"

Principal Pang Ban spoke nonsense with a straight face, then quickly forced a change of subject:

"Alright! Since everyone is here, I will say a few words."

Principal Pang Ban cleared his throat, trying hard to muster the dignity of a principal:

"Everyone just arrived in the Imperial Capital yesterday, exhausted from the journey. The Organizing Committee has not arranged any official matches for today, so everyone can relax. You can wander the streets of the Imperial Capital, eat some roast duck, and adjust your mindset."

Hearing that they could go out, the originally lifeless team regained a bit of vitality.

However, Principal Pang Ban changed his tone, and his voice suddenly became serious:

"However, before that, I have an extremely important personnel change that I need to announce to everyone!"

Personnel change?

Hearing this news, everyone's heart immediately tightened.

With the competition imminent, changing members at this time was absolutely a major taboo in military strategy!

Principal Pang Ban looked at someone in the corner through the pitch-black lenses of his sunglasses, took a deep breath, and announced:

"After overnight deliberation by the school's top management, and fully respecting the student's own wishes."

"The original Magic City Martial Arts University Team One starting member, student Lu Xingye, has voluntarily applied to transfer out of Team One and join Team Two!"

"And the original Team Two member, student Hao Yun, has agreed to swap spots with student Lu Xingye and is officially promoted to be a main force of Team One!"

Boom!

As soon as this news came out, everyone in the lobby, except for the few involved, was completely shocked!

"What is going on?!"

"Lu Xingye quit Team One?!"

Those present looked at each other, their eyeballs almost popping out.

You have to know, Team One is the main force!

They enjoy the top-tier resource allocation and exposure!

Lu Xingye's previous performance was plain for all to see; he was a ruthless person capable of going head-to-head with Tier 4 mid-stage opponents, definitely one of the core combatants!

He actually voluntarily gave up his main force position to go to Team Two?

"And..."

Principal Pang Ban wasn't finished; he dropped an even more explosive bombshell:

"After friendly consultation within Team Two, the original Team Two captain, student Bai Zimo, deeply felt his own abilities were insufficient, voluntarily resigned from the captain position, and unconditionally gifted the captain position to student Lu Xingye!"

"From today on, Lu Xingye is the new captain of the Magic City Martial Arts University Team Two!"

Wow—!!!

The crowd completely erupted!

"Holy crap? Bai Zimo voluntarily stepped down?"

"What the hell happened? Did Team One have an internal conflict?"

"Definitely! Didn't you notice that this morning Lu Xingye and Jiang You didn't say a single word to each other!"

"My god! This plot is too intense! Could it be a split between the Gemini Stars? Do kings not meet kings?"

Everyone gasped, countless gazes filled with gossip and shock darting wildly between Jiang You and Lu Xingye.

Just as everyone was speculating about what kind of deep hatred could cause this pair of "perfectly synchronized" F-Class Gemini Stars to go their separate ways.

As the absolute protagonist of this personnel earthquake—Lu Xingye, moved.

He had been sitting on a single sofa at the very edge of the lobby.

The moment he heard Principal Pang Ban finish his announcement.

Lu Xingye slowly stood up.

He extended that right hand wrapped in mysterious bandages and coolly pushed down the collar of his trench coat, revealing that side profile, as if carved by a knife and axe, filled with "destiny and arrogance."