National destiny: Global tower climbing skills have decreased by 10,000 times.

Let's rewind to two days ago.

Capital City, Spire Esports Center, Top Floor Conference Room.

A long, dark brown table divided the room in two. Seven or eight people, ranging in age from forty to sixty, sat on one side, dressed in suits and wearing badges of the Dragon Kingdom Esports Association on their chests.

They are members of the Dragon Kingdom's Spire Esports Council, and they determine the future direction of the country's Spire Esports scene.

On the other side, two rows of young people wearing team uniforms sat.

On the left is a purple team uniform with a golden dragon embroidered on the chest—the Purple Cloud Team. Captain Ling Xiao sits at the front, his hands clasped on the table, his knuckles slightly white.

His teammates had different expressions; some looked down at the table, while others stared blankly at the opposite wall.

On the right is the blue team uniform with a bluebird spreading its wings embroidered on the chest—the Blue Owl Team.

Captain "Xuan Niao" leaned back in his chair, arms crossed over his chest, a faint smile playing on his lips.

His teammates were relaxed, some even with their legs crossed, a stark contrast to the tense atmosphere on Zixia's side.

Two teams, one spot.

It's the same every year.

The lead spokesperson cleared his throat, opened the document in front of him, and spoke in a calm and serious voice:

"Ladies and gentlemen, today's meeting will mainly discuss two topics. First, we will summarize the results of this year's national competition. Second, we will plan the development direction for the coming year."

He paused for a moment, his gaze sweeping over everyone present.

"Let's start with the first one. We've already seen the results on the battlefield of national destiny this year—they're not satisfactory. There's been no progress compared to last year, and we're still far from our goal of 'securing a top-four finish and striving for a top-three finish.'"

Hearing this, Ling Xiao's heart was subtly touched. He didn't look up, but his hand on the table trembled slightly.

The spokesperson continued, "Of course, this is not about assigning blame to anyone. The development of esports has never been a matter for just one or two people."

He turned to the next page of the document, his tone becoming more formal:

"Based on the national development strategy in recent years, the e-sports association has decided to first increase its investment in the development of e-sports, including funding, venues, talent training and other aspects."

"Second, make appropriate structural adjustments to the association itself, optimize the decision-making mechanism, and improve the response speed."

"third--"

He raised his eyes and looked at the teammates on either side of Zixia and Qingxiao.

"We need to reassess the selection mechanism for teams participating in the National Games. For the past few years, the Zixia team has represented the Dragon Kingdom, but their performance has stagnated, indicating that the current selection criteria may need to be optimized."

The meeting room was silent for a few seconds.

Xuan Niao looked around without saying a word, but the smile on his lips was hard to suppress.

The spokesperson closed the document and leaned back.

"The above is the preliminary plan. We will need your feedback on the specific implementation details."

He looked at the board members: "What are your thoughts?"

The board members exchanged a few words in hushed tones; some nodded, some took notes, but no one stood up to speak.

The spokesperson then turned to the players' section: "Or, let's hear what the players have to say. After all, it's you guys who are going to be on the field."

They are currently in silence.

The black bird suddenly stood up.

He was wearing a well-tailored blue team uniform, his posture was upright, and his face showed a calm and prepared demeanor.

He first nodded slightly to the board of directors, then turned to Zixia, his gaze lingering on Ling Xiao's face for a moment.

"How about I say a few words first?"

His voice wasn't loud, but everyone in the conference room could hear him clearly, and the surroundings immediately quieted down.

"Everyone has seen the performance of Team Zixia this year. I don't want to comment on anything; the results speak for themselves. Seventh place—there's really no improvement."

"For the past three years, the Zixia Team has consistently represented our Dragon Kingdom on the battlefield of national destiny. The results are quite obvious: one sixth place and two seventh places. What does this signify?"

He paused, then his tone became more direct:

"This shows that they've been standing still!"

Just then, a person in a purple team uniform sitting next to Ling Xiao stood up, pointed at the Xuan Niao, and shouted:

"Black Bird! What do you mean? Explain yourself!"

"Before we went to the national tournament, you lost to us every single time in the internal competitions. Of course you're not qualified if you lost. Do you have any complaints?"

The man was the vice-captain of the Zixia team, and he was still angry. Ling Xiao quickly pulled him back to his seat.

The black bird seemed completely unconcerned about his earlier collision, instead appearing confident and composed.

"Explain yourself? Okay, my meaning is quite simple."

"What I'm trying to say is that we, Qingxiao, are different from you. We don't stand still."

"In fact, it has already—broken through!"

The phrase "breakthrough" was deliberately read slowly, with each word spaced apart, to emphasize its importance.

These words indeed attracted everyone's attention, and they all looked at him at that moment.

"Over the past year, thanks to the efforts of our entire team, we have made significant breakthroughs in our skills, and our win rate in advanced games has risen to 70 percent."

"Most importantly, we've mastered the third-generation approach to troubleshooting robots, and we've now caught up with world-class standards!"

"I know that words are meaningless; please look at the data."

He picked up a document from the table and pushed it to the center of the table:

"This is our training report and performance statistics for the past year. You can take a look."

Ling Xiao never looked up. His fingers stopped trembling, not because he was calm.

It's not that it's because they're gripping it too tightly, but because it's frozen in place.

Behind him, Zixia's teammates exchanged glances. Some bit their lips, some clenched their fists, but no one spoke.

Because they knew that what the Black Bird had just said was true.

After Xuan Niao finished speaking, he sat down and turned his gaze back to Ling Xiao: "Of course, if Zi Xia thinks there are problems with these data, or if they have any new breakthroughs that we don't have, you can also tell us."

All eyes in the conference room were on Ling Xiao.

Ling Xiao slowly raised his head.

His face showed no anger or resentment, only a deep weariness.

Xuan Niao's words were clearly coercive, showing a complete disregard for the dignity of the Zixia team in this meeting setting.

For Ling Xiao, this was even more outrageous, like "taking advantage of someone's kindness" and "riding on someone's head and talking nonsense."

However, faced with this situation, no matter how angry he was, he could only choose to swallow his anger.

Because he knew that in the face of esports and the fate of the Chinese nation, results were everything, and data was everything.

From the moment the results were made public, he lost the right to speak.

"I have nothing to say."

He uttered only eight words in a hoarse voice.

The suppressed smile on Xuan Niao's lips finally spread completely. He looked at the council seats, his tone relaxed:

"Ladies and gentlemen, that concludes my remarks. I believe that adjusting the selection mechanism is absolutely necessary."

"I respect the association's decision on the specific adjustments, so I'll stop here for now."

The spokesperson nodded, his gaze sweeping back and forth between Lingxiao and Xuanniao, as if weighing something.

"Alright, the team arrangements are a very important matter and cannot be decided right now. We will discuss it further later."

"Let's put this aside for now. Does anyone have any other thoughts on other aspects?"

Then, a board member raised his hand: "I also have suggestions regarding the specific plan for structural adjustments..."

The conversation shifted to more macro-level strategic issues, and the discussion about the arrangements for professional esports teams came to a temporary halt.

Ling Xiao lowered his head again, and his fingers slowly loosened.

His teammates remained silent, their expressions complex. Some looked out the window, some stared at the table, and some closed their eyes.