Chapter 176 - Blatant Favoritism!
Tomorrow Morning, 09:00 AM...
Felix was standing before a mirror looking at his reflection. He was checking the uniform sports outfit that the elders gave the team to wear.
It was a combination of a jacket and tight-fitting sweat pants. Both of them were black with red stripes on the shoulders and sides of the pants. Of course, the family brand logo '????' was planted boldly on the right chest.
The outfit was the same one he wore in his previous life. He liked it before, but now, not very much. As the red stripes were conflicting with the green color of his hair. Though, it still better than the majority of the outfits he saw during the live stream of the qualifiers.
Knock, Knock!
"Coming!" Felix yelled after hearing his room's door being knocked for the 3rd time. He splashed some water on his face and left the bathroom, heading towards the door.
"We are about to depart Felix! Faster! Faster!" Olivia kept on knocking with the side of her fist while yelling.
"I am coming, damn it!"
...
30 minutes later...
The family's cars entered the stadium through the parking lot. They had to if they wanted to avoid the sea of people standing before the stadium entrance, waiting to welcome the participants.
After parking successfully, a staff member came to guide them personally into the arena, where the rest of the participants were gathering.
The elders were walking in the front followed by the grumpy Felix, who didn't manage to latch the captain title to anyone, and the rest of the team, making a proper line.
All of them were wearing the same outfit, except for the elders, as they wore business suits.
Today was assigned for the gathering of the participants, explaining the rules of the competition, and most importantly meeting with VVIP individuals. Thus, the elders had to be at their best look.
"Woah!"..."Holy!"
The moment the juniors entered the field, Olivia and Sarah couldn't help but exclaim in astonishment.
They were not awed by the humongous circular white arena, which covered approximately an area of 4100 square meters. They already saw it before when they attended to cheer for their cousins.
What awed them was the number of people standing on it, as at least a hundred or so were all lining up properly, facing a red and blue wooden built stage that was decorated with many US flags, flattering by the wind ceaselessly.
On that stage stood about ten men and women, all wearing formal outfits.
The elders wanted to check if that man was on the stage or not, but the distance between them was too far to have a clear vision.
Thus, they stopped bothering and continued following the guide, who was taking them to their assigned spot to line up like the rest of the teams.,
That's right, each line represented a team!
After the Maxwell team addition, there were currently 15 teams all wearing a different colored outfit with different logos and brands.
Five teams, who won the qualifiers, and ten teams were from the families!
Though the numbers differ significantly between the two, as the winners of the qualifiers most of them had a full roster of 10 bloodliners.
Meanwhile the family teams, some had 6 bloodliners like Felix's team, while some had a pitiful 3 or even 2 bloodliners! Yet, they were still lining up proudly like they were not missing 80% to make a complete team.
Immediately after lining up, Abraham squinted his eyes at the stage, sizing up the ten individuals on it.
He wasn't shocked at all by the heavyweight of those people's authoritative ranks. He expected as much to arrive today.
There was the governor of Florida state, the president of the ESGO US branch, secretaries of state, and many more authoritative figures. Yet, they were still standing silently and patiently, clearly waiting.
They were not waiting for all the teams to gather nor for the stadium to be filled with spectators, they were waiting for only one man.
The most authoritative man in the entire USA...The president himself!
Hehehe...
Amused by their solemn expressions, Felix chuckled softly. He knew that they were waiting for nothing, as the president wasn't going to arrive today.
He didn't know why so exactly, but in his previous life, the president showed up only tomorrow, on the day of the battles.
There might be a slight chance that time-line changed and the president would show up today, but that was a long shot.
As expected, after 10 minutes of meaningless waiting under the sun, the governor of the state announced on the podium microphone that he just received a call, informing him that the president wasn't going to make it due to a change in schedule.
He hastily added after hearing grumbling noises and chatter, "Don't worry, he will be here tomorrow for the opening ceremonial."
He made a swirling gesture with his finger and requested from the reporters, broadcasters, and live streamers to roll the camera in two minutes.
Everyone already made it, as the Maxwell team was the last to arrive due to Felix's tardiness. The only reason they didn't start the gathering was because of the president. Too bad, he bailed on them.
The governor soon retreated to the back and let the president of the ESGO US branch Mr. Jones to take the lead.
He was an old man with a few white hair strands still attached to his head. He had a kind elderly smile as he looked at the juniors beneath him.
The moment he saw that the cameraman gave him the go signal, he greeted warmly, "Good morning everyone." Not expecting a replay, he continued, "As you could see, we have 15 teams standing before us. Some coming from public camps and some from private camps." He paused, "As much as I want to keep all teams intact, I am afraid that wouldn't be possible."
While those near Felix were freaking out about what he meant, Felix already knew what was about to be said next. Everything so far was going exactly the same as in his previous life.
As he expected, the branch president continued his speech, informing them that the commoners' teams were going to be removed, leaving only the ten families teams!
Ignoring the chaos that rose after, he quickly clarified that the commoners' teams were going to be merged with the families teams to make them reach ten members.
For example, the Maxwell team needed 4 more to reach a full roster. Yet, their situation was actually one of the best, as some families had only two bloodliners, which meant they would need 8 bloodliners to complete them!
This biased arrangement was what made those commoner juniors livid and feel wronged. Not only them but even the spectators, who were watching the stream live in their homes or those outside of the stadium.
They could begrudgingly bat one eye at the fact their qualifiers champions were getting merged with those rich teams.
However, to actually rather leave a family team that had only two lousy members, while destroying a champion team that showcased their grit and blood in the qualifiers?!
They could never let such blatant favoritism to the rich bypass them!
In their eyes, those two members or three members from the families should be the ones joining the commoners' team. Or were they too superior to do that?
The cameraman's professional reflexes made the situation even worse, as he focused the camera on the faces of some juniors from those stuck-up families. And what was shown to the public were disdainful and contemptuous looks targeting those commoners' juniors. Some even were curling their lips in disgust.
"You rich motherf*ckers dare look down on me!"
"BREAK INTO THE STADIUM!"
Those looks and expressions set the commoners on fire, both the juniors and the spectators.
The juniors in the arena got easily controlled by their public camp's instructors. However, the same couldn't be said to the spectators right outside the stadium, who were watching the live stream from the large screen implanted on the stadium wall.
Curses, insults, and cheering gadgets were all thrown at the entrance staff from the rioting crowd!
The security teams were starting to have difficulty containing the chaos, as the crowd kept pushing and batting the metal gate with their fists, threatening to break into the stadium.
Soon a staff member relied on the news to the inside, using a radio. The news quickly reached the ears of Mr. Jones and the authoritative figures behind him.
Their expression couldn't help but change for the worst, as the last thing they needed right now was for the people outside to storm the arena.
Mr. Jones moved away from the podium, wanting to discuss solutions with the governor to appease the public.
The moment the elders of those families with two or three bloodliners saw them react like that, they knew that whatever was about to be announced wouldn't please them one bit.
As they assumed, the first sentence that came out of Mr. Jones's lips made them displeased, as he said, "There will be changes on the teams merging."
Felix just kept watching all of this happen feeling like deja vu. Everything that happened in this tournament in his previous life was gradually coming back to his memory.