“Everyone should know that today is the opening match of the KPL Autumn Season. The Tianze team has come to our Dongjiang City for the competition, and that’s how I got the chance to bring James Carter to our club to meet everyone. He’ll be heading back soon to prepare for the match, so I think we should save our applause for now and bring it out tonight during the opening match to cheer for Tianze, okay? For now, we still have a bit of time, so let’s not let James Carter and Andrew Lee just sit around. This is a rare opportunity—does anyone have any questions they’d like to ask our two pro players? Of course, don’t ask about item builds or inscriptions and such; you can just ask me about those. It’s best if you ask things you normally wouldn’t know. There are no media here and there won’t be any reports, so maybe they’ll share some secret tidbits with us, who knows?” said Scott Scott.

The room immediately filled with laughter, and James Carter kept pointing at Scott Scott with his index finger, looking helpless.

“Alright, next is our simple Q&A session. If anyone has a question, please raise your hand, and we’ll have James Carter or Andrew Lee pick someone to answer,” said Scott Scott.

Hands shot up all over the crowd. A star player like James Carter usually only attends high-profile press conferences or promotional events. A simple meet-and-greet like this, with no stage setup at all, was truly one of a kind. The opportunity was indeed extremely rare.

But James Carter was being modest now. He looked at Andrew Lee and said, “I’ve already talked so much, let’s have Andrew pick someone to answer.”

Since he said that, Scott Scott naturally handed the microphone to Andrew Lee. Andrew Lee took the mic, looking a bit shy, and without searching the crowd for long, quickly pointed to a boy right in front of him and said, “Let’s have this student.”

“Hello, masters!” The boy who was chosen was very excited. He first greeted the two pro players, then couldn’t wait to ask his question: “I’ve been a fan of the Tianze team for many years. Last year’s Autumn Season championship was really thrilling. James Carter just mentioned the changes Andrew brought to Tianze. I’d like to know, what exactly were those changes?”

“Well…” Andrew Lee held the mic, hesitantly looking at James Carter.

“You go ahead and answer first, I’ll add on afterward,” James Carter said to him with a smile.

Andrew Lee nodded, looked at the boy who asked the question, and said, “Before I became a main player for Tianze last year, I was already a member of the team. Tianze’s tactics and playstyle have always been stable and mature. My becoming a main player didn’t really bring any substantial changes. If I have to say there was a change, it’s probably that my style is different from the previous jungler’s!”

Chapter 9: The Minority Obeys the Majority

A different style from the previous jungler?

Even though Adam Bennett was squeezed in the crowd, he heard every word Andrew Lee said. Wasn’t the previous jungler for Tianze his brother, Brian Bennett? Andrew Lee said Tianze’s tactics hadn’t changed, only the jungler’s style was different. Didn’t that imply that the reason Tianze couldn’t win the championship before was all because of the jungler, Brian Bennett?

Adam Bennett couldn’t imagine how his brother would feel hearing this. He wanted to push through the crowd to argue, but at that moment, his brother’s hand landed on his shoulder. Adam Bennett turned his head and saw Brian Bennett shaking his head at him.

Andrew Lee continued his answer: “Brian Bennett was my senior, and he’s a player I respect a lot. During the seasons I was a substitute for Tianze, I learned a lot from him. Maybe it was because I learned from the sidelines, so when I became one of the five on stage for Tianze, when I became the jungler, I was able to avoid a lot of problems. In this regard, I have to thank senior Brian Bennett. The contributions I’ve made to the team are largely because I was able to stand on his shoulders.”

There was a round of applause. Andrew Lee’s answer sounded humble and appropriate, and the fans were very satisfied. But Adam Bennett was a bit angry. This so-called learning from Brian Bennett that Andrew Lee talked about ultimately meant “avoiding a lot of problems,” as if he had overcome flaws and shortcomings that Brian Bennett couldn’t solve, and in the end “stood on his shoulders.”

But the question is, those “flaws and shortcomings” that Brian Bennett had always tried to solve—didn’t Tianze themselves know what they really were?

Those were clearly the best manifestations of Brian Bennett’s talent and genius!

Brian Bennett spent his entire five-year pro career with the Tianze team. Adam Bennett never missed a single one of Tianze’s matches in those five years and ten seasons, not even their scrims or exhibition matches.

No one can be absolutely perfect in every detail during a match, and Brian Bennett had his flaws too—Adam Bennett saw them all. But those so-called disconnects that were always seized upon by reports and commentators, those so-called mistakes that everyone criticized, the things Andrew Lee called “problems”—Adam Bennett never thought they were Brian Bennett’s fault.

Those so-called disconnects and mistakes were clearly because the rest of Tianze couldn’t keep up with the right tempo. But under the habit of the minority obeying the majority, the one with the right tempo, Brian Bennett, was labeled as too aggressive, too risky, out of sync with the team.

So was he supposed to lower his own standards to accommodate his slower teammates?

Is that really the kind of teamwork everyone wants—sacrificing outstanding talent just to fit in?