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Mist City University.
The main school team stadium.
The core was a semi-open-air structure resembling a soccer field, incredibly vast inside, comparable to a national stadium from his previous life.
The school team members were gathered in a large classroom. Nine regular team members, six reserve members.
According to the youth tournament rules, this number meant that two of the regular team members participated in both singles and doubles matches.
They didn't need too many members anyway, since there were only these two types of competitions.
This also made the competition for spots extremely fierce; if someone moved up, someone else had to step down.
Without demonstrating sufficient strength, rashly taking a spot would definitely not gain everyone's acceptance.
"Hey! The juniors are here!"
When Su Qian led Li Xiang and the other one inside, a female voice suddenly called out.
He looked up and saw, just as Su Qian had said, aside from the vice-captain Chao, all the regular and reserve members were female.
They sat in small groups in different seats. Among them were several familiar faces.
The two coaches and two supervising teachers hadn't arrived yet; they probably needed a bit more time.
"Hello, seniors."
The two proactively greeted the group before them. Almost immediately, they were surrounded by a few chattering girls.
"Wow, it's really the national first ranker."
"Not bad looking, junior. Do you have a girlfriend?"
"White hair? Looks pretty good. I kinda want to dye mine too."
They chattered away. While they hadn't started getting handsy yet, it seemed imminent.
Su Qian hurriedly shooed them away. "Stop messing around, will you? It's so embarrassing! No one acts like this!"
"Tehehe."
"Hahaha."
The girls finally retreated, laughing.
"Sorry about that, they don't mean any harm," Su Qian said, somewhat apologetically.
Both Li Xiang and the other shook their heads, indicating it was fine. The former's heart was as clear as a mirror, no longer something ordinary people could shake.
The latter had experienced similar scenes countless times, even more exaggerated ones, and was long accustomed to it.
After the girls retreated, Vice-captain Chao came over.
"Hello, juniors. Long time no see."
The slightly tanned young man greeted them, a curious Aipom perched on his shoulder.
"Senior, long time no see."
Li Xiang nodded, and Song Jie did the same.
Although Chao had said they could contact him if anything came up, they really hadn't spoken since.
"Looks like you all know each other, saves me the trouble of introductions," Su Qian said with a smile, then began introducing the school team members to the two.
Regular Members:
Besides Captain Su Qian and Vice-captain Chao, there were old acquaintances:
Abigail, a fourth-year student skilled in Dark-types, with messy black hair, slightly tanned skin, and a very well-developed figure.
And two others they had met once on the yacht at Song Jie's house.
One was Lu Shu, also black-haired but very neat and smooth, with a single white streak in the front, fair complexion, wearing only purple eyeshadow—a boyish girl.
Skilled in Poison-types, fourth year.
And the one she was clinging to, looking very intimate, a pretty girl with long pink wavy hair, a side ponytail, and light makeup—Zhao Jie.
Skilled in Psychic-types, fourth year.
'All three best friends are trainers, only Anya is a Breeder. That's rough,' Li Xiang thought, nodding to them, feeling a bit sorry for Anya internally.
The rest:
Shen Qing, skilled in Water-types, petite, well-behaved, cute girl, fifth year.
Feng Laiyi, skilled in Ground-types, almost 1.8 meters tall, towering over the other girls, fifth year.
Bai Xiang, skilled in Grass-types, bobbed student haircut, quiet and elegant demeanor, sixth year.
Ruan Jingjing, skilled in Flying-types, slightly unusual hairstyle, looked full of energy, sixth year.
'Nine regular members, only two are sixth years?'
Li Xiang found it a bit strange. After Su Qian finished introducing the reserves, he realized the sixth years were mostly in the reserves—four of them.
The relationship between regulars and reserves wasn't strictly hierarchical.
On one hand, the basic regular and reserve positions were determined through internal selections. On the other hand, if you were fielded in a match by the coach, even if you were originally a reserve, you'd become a regular.
If you weren't fielded, a regular would become a reserve.
The nine who played last year were the ones just introduced. Among them, Abigail and the other two were third-years last year but still played, surpassing many sixth-year students from last year.
Even though they ultimately didn't advance globally, losing to the third-place Shanghai University by only two points still proved their strength.
"There are a lot of promising newcomers this year. The number of trainees will probably increase significantly," Su Qian said. "But there are only three reserve spots."
Only Li Xiang was designated as a reserve. As for Song Jie, the school seemed to have only agreed to let him join as a trainee.
He didn't know about Gong Xu, but it was probably similar to Song Jie. Li Xiang was the only one directly promoted to a reserve spot in the Big Six.
This made him both nervous and excited.
He had already been the target of everyone in the Youth Training Camp; he didn't expect to be one again in higher education.
And the quality of students in higher education would naturally be much higher than those in the Youth Training Camp.
'Candy! They are all walking pieces of candy!'
Li Xiang's eyes gleamed.
With the introductions done, Su Qian's mission was complete. She told the two to sit wherever they wanted and went off to lecture the girls from earlier.
It was truly embarrassing; people might think the school team girls were too frivolous.
Li Xiang glanced at the large classroom with endless empty seats, hesitated for a moment, and walked to an unoccupied area in the back.
Although he wanted to chat with Abigail, with Song Jie around, it was better to hold off for now.
This guy's face had stiffened noticeably upon seeing Abigail and the other two.
Li Xiang found it strange; 'what was there to be nervous about? Weren't they all just people with one nose and two eyes? You get surrounded by so many girls usually, and you're not nervous then?'
But…. He didn't go to them. They came to him instead.
"Hello, little brothers. Finally met you," Zhao Jie said proactively, a bright smile on her face.
"Yo!" That was Lu Shu, cool, with a faint smile at the corner of her mouth.
These two sat in front of them. The remaining one, Abigail, straightforwardly sat next to Li Xiang and asked, "The message I sent this morning, why didn't you reply?"
The girl whose hair resembled dog ears said something that shocked Li Xiang.
"Morning???"
Li Xiang opened the WeChat app and indeed saw a message from the account he suspected belonged to Anya, asking when he was coming to the main school team stadium.
'Wait, wait, wait.'
His brain couldn't keep up.
'Wasn't this account being used by Anya? Even Song Jie had tacitly agreed, right?'
How did it suddenly become the real Abigail using it, and asking him when he was coming?'
He glanced at Song Jie. Song Jie remained silent, looking down and scrolling through his phone, putting on a "I'm very busy" act.
'This guy definitely knows something. Dammit.'
Li Xiang glared at him, thinking he'd question him later, then said to Abigail, "Sorry, senior, I didn't check my phone all morning."
"Oh." Abigail nodded, seeming to understand, still not one for many words.
"Little brother, I heard you used to chat with Tea Girl all the time before. How come you don't message anymore? She even had to message you first." Zhao Jie tapped the desk in front of Li Xiang.
Tea Girl, Abigail's nickname, because this girl loved everything related to tea, including but not limited to food, sachets, etc., with a particular love for black tea.
Coupled with her aloof personality, she was even cooler than the boyish Lu Shu, so those familiar with her called her Tea Girl.
"Senior, just call me Li Xiang."
Li Xiang responded, "I've been busy with school, didn't really have time to play on my phone…"
"Eh— Little brother, that's such a lame excuse," Zhao Jie said discontentedly. "Being busy with school doesn't mean you have no time to chat at all."
Lu Shu nudged her. "Why are you in such a hurry? It's none of your business. Be careful or Anya will beat you up."
"Let her! Am I scared of her?" Zhao Jie put her hands on her hips, but her lowered voice indicated she wasn't that confident.
Li Xiang smiled perfunctorily. Right now, he was more concerned about what was going on with that WeChat account.
With Abigail and the other two right there, he couldn't ask directly.
Just then, four people walked in—two men, two women; one middle-aged, three young.
The one leading was unmistakably Xu He. Behind him was a young woman with a short ponytail, probably Miao Shuang.
Further behind were the two school team supervising teachers, Wu Tuo and Ma Fangfang, responsible for logistics management, securing sponsorships, etc.
"Hello, students. Happy new semester," Xu He said in a homeroom teacher-like tone from the podium. "Captain, is everyone here?"
"Everyone's here," Su Qian said clearly.
Xu He's gaze swept across the classroom, pausing for a moment on Li Xiang and Song Jie, but he didn't say anything.
"Good. A new year has come. Although we narrowly lost in the semifinals last year, that's in the past. We still have a chance this year. I hope students won't dwell on last year's gains and losses."
His voice wasn't loud, but it clearly reached everyone's ears.
"In March, we will hold the Spring Selection Tournament. It will not only select trainees but also determine the basic regular and reserve positions. I hope students with aspirations will strive hard."
"Yes!"
A unified response echoed in the classroom.
'Students with aspirations' probably referred to those sixth-year students. For them, this was the last youth tournament; they definitely didn't want to leave with regrets.
Li Xiang glanced around the reserve section and saw a few people with expectant expressions.
Afterward, Xu He said a bunch more stuff, followed by the other teachers.
There was a lot Li Xiang didn't understand, but the others listened with great interest. Finally, after enduring it, Xu He announced the dismissal, his gaze falling on Li Xiang and the other. "You two boys over there, come with me."
After saying that, he walked out the door.
'What's this about?'
Li Xiang was puzzled but still got up and followed with Song Jie.
On the way, he whispered to Song Jie, "What's the deal with the WeChat account? I don't believe you didn't know. You kept me in the dark! Give me the short version!"
"...Actually, the principle is the same."
Seeing Li Xiang's resentful look, Song Jie sighed. "It's simple. Initially, it really was my sister. But around the fourth month of you chatting, the account was probably taken over by Senior Abigail."