Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
The sudden change in their opponent left Team Skycrown severely underprepared, and it was impossible to come up with any so-called countermeasures. All they could gather was that the captain of the Fudan team—Lin Siyong was strong, and had met the standards of a first tier player.
At the same time, Fudan University team also had very little understanding of Team Skycrown’s information. It could be said that both sides had not done their homework, and when such teams collided, it would be a competition of strength!
“Alright, let us welcome the two teams that will enter the LPL on stage!” Qi Qiao’s sweet voice rang out through the entire hall.
Fudan University team took the lead as they came on stage first, and you could see the snow white uniforms they were wearing as they marched on stage under the magnificent spot light, accompanied by the enthusiastic cheers of the crowd.
Forming a straight line, the members of Fudan University team gave off a revered aura, especially their captain, Siyong.
It was estimated that about one-third of the crowd was from Fudan University, and as a university team, being able to stand on the professional arena was something to be immensely proud of. Adding on to the fact that they had the recognition of the university, they were practically celebrities online. You had to understand that e-sports enthusiasts were mainly made up of university students of the nation.
“And now, to invite the wild card of this competition, Team Skycrown! Perhaps there are some of you who are still unfamiliar with this team, or perhaps you have not heard of this team at all a month ago. However, they have used their absolute strength to prove that they are worthy to be standing on this stage today!”
The workers had already prepared everything, and the five members of Team Skycrown ascended the stage.
They didn’t have a unified uniform, and they were dressed in simple clothing. Compared to the impression that the Fudan University team gave, it was completely different.
“This match will ultimately determine which team will qualify for LPL, will it be the representatives of university students—Fudan University team, or will it be the team that has emerged like a wave in the preseason—Team Skycrown? Let us wait and see.”
Amidst the booming music, the players took their seats.
The workers began their final inspection of the computers, and then the players logged into their accounts to enter the match.
Before the match, players would be given sufficient time if they required to change any hardware or handle any bugs in the computer.
The equipment used by Team Skycrown were standard, it was always the equipment provided by the organizers and they would adjust it as needed.
Fudan University team obviously brought their own mouse and keyboards, the controls of LOL were not as fast or sensitive as other e-sports games, but it didn’t mean that there was no need to be as accurate.
When a professional player entered a match, they would choose their own keyboard and mouse which they were most familiar with to avoid any mistakes, whether minor or major, which could be caused by unaccustomed use of hardware.
“This Team Skycrown is really interesting, no uniform nor dedicated equipment. Don’t know how they managed to get through the preseason into this final stage.” A backup commentator backstage laughed as he spoke to the person beside him.
“Hmph, when I spoke to them about signing on contracts a while ago, they actually rejected me. How could they be a professional team at this rate? To be a professional team, you won’t make it if you just rely on your abilities. You need to have enough resources to build and promote the team, Team Skycrown is too naive in thinking that they will gain fame by making it to this stage. If they can’t utilize their fame properly, don’t manage it, don’t open public platforms like YY, WeChat and Weibo, they won’t be able to maintain it. Also, a professional team won’t be able to maintain a hundred percent win rate, once they lose, they will lose a chunk of their fame. Relying on the prize rewards to get by? Don’t make me laugh!” A bearded youth that looked to be around twenty-seven years old said.
Hearing the discussion, Luocheng took a good look at the two people. The bearded youth should be the manager of Thunder Club, he had seen the potential in Team Skycrown and had wanted to bring them in to manage. After being rejected by Lin Dong, it looked like he carried quite a bit of resentment toward Team Skycrown.
The backup commentator standing beside him, Luocheng felt that he was familiar. Taking a closer look, wasn’t this guy the Publicity Assistant Manager for Sky Club?
Sky Club had also promoted Team Wings through various public platforms in the beginning in order to win over more fame and endorsement fees, and the intern commentator at that time seemed to be this very guy. Luocheng vaguely recalled that his name was Sun Liang.
From his last discussion with Lin Dong, Sun Liang was now one of the most loyal dogs for Sky Club. He often worked secretly to block Team Skycrown’s path toward the professional scene.
For example, recently when Da Luo had been receiving higher-end orders, Sun Liang had used his capacity as an official to ban the IDs that Da Luo was using. This had made him lose a lot of money to customers, which was why Da Luo had a strong hatred for him.
When Lin Dong had yet to decide to form a team and Xiao Bei was being scouted by a few professional teams, Sun Liang had also done some shady things behind the scenes. He had forced Xiao Bei, who could have stepped into the professional scene much earlier, to run to Hanbok to be a ghost gamer for professional players like Cats Eye to raise their reputation instead.
Just as the manager of the Thunder Club had said, unless your strength could absolutely crush these people in the e-sports circle, without knowing the ulterior motives of people, you would easily be suppressed and left behind.
Lin Dong didn’t have the intentions to participate in those other unofficial events, but he was worried that once Sky Club found out that they had formed a team, they would do all sorts of things to stop them!
You should never underestimate the ability of these petty and bitchy people, they would always come to bite a chunk out of you just as you were about to climb the ladder of success!
This time, Team Skycrown had appeared live again, and people from Sky Club would definitely have noticed them.
If Team Skycrown could win this match, they could use their strength to build a certain amount of support and influence. However, if they lost, then without any backing, they would definitely lose their popularity and be forgotten. The Sky Club would then pull them down even deeper.
Team Skycrown was currently still new and weak, but they were determined to be a thorn for Sky Club, to make sure they felt the abilities of these old players!
***
“Alright, both sides are still debugging their equipment. Please wait patiently as they finish. In the meantime, I’m going to let you all know something good, we’ve gotten a mysterious guest to co-host the match with me. Is everyone curious to see who it is?” Qi Qiao’s soft voice rang out, mesmerizing everyone present.
The curiosity of the audience peaked at once, a co-host! It seemed that the organizers would always invite someone important to perform this role each time.
“Could it be a LPL player?”
“It’s possible, recently a lot of LPL players were invited as guests to perform the role. They have one of the best understandings of LOL, and it would be more professional to have them analyze the match.” The mutterings of the crowds could be heard beneath the stage.
Talking about the more obvious guests, one of them would be Team Revelation’s Bai Feng.
He was handsome, had a confident smile, fluent in public speaking, and had a professional knowledge in analyzing. Letting him be the guest commentator would often boost the viewers, so a lot of them were guessing that the nation’s strongest ADC—Bai Feng would be the one invited this round.
Luocheng stood backstage, and he could hear Qi Qiao’s words clearly.
He glanced around the workers who were moving about backstage, but he didn’t see any LPL players among them. If he had to say, there was only one player who was mingling with the workers, and that was Xiao Wang.
Xiao Wang looked like he had come to discuss matters with the people here, not like someone who was preparing to go upstage.
Then, who was it?
If Qi Qiao was specially introducing him, then it had to be one of the top players in LPL who was well known.
Luocheng continued to glance around, and he suddenly noticed another person coming out from beside Sun Liang.
The person was well built with a clean and neat appearance, and he was dressed slightly fancier than the average person. He gave off a slightly exaggerated feel.
He walked past Sun Liang as the latter was telling him something with a smile on his face. The guy didn’t bother with him, instead, heading straight through the restricted area for staff.
It seemed that a lot of people recognized him, as they greeted him when he walked from the studio to the backstage. It didn’t matter if it was professional players, coaches, analysts, managers, or even the organizers, technicians, referees…
You could tell whether a team’s influence was significant or not by the most basic thing backstage, which was if anyone took the initiative to greet you.
When Team Skycrown had stepped backstage, only Aijing and Xi Xi had spoken to them, the others had minded their own business.
And this guy was so familiar to Luocheng, his influence was amazing. It looked like every single person here would greet and say a few words to him, it felt like he was a celebrity whom everyone was trying to get ahold of…
***
‘I’m sure everyone is very excited to know who it is, so we’ll invite him up on the stage now. Captain of Team Sky, runner up in LPL, holding the title of the world’s best Jungler—Blood Eagle, Zhao Tinghua!”
“So where is everyone’s cheers and applause, or perhaps you have forgotten how Blood Eagle used his keen blood lust in the international arena to let us see the wonderful ganks over and over again!”
“Put your hands together for our strongest, and welcome the Blood Eagle!”
Qi Qiao’s excited voice echoed throughout the hall, and cheers erupted from the crowd in a fantastic fashion.
You could clearly see the many expressions on the crowd’s face, f*ck it’s really Blood Eagle!
The crowd was going wild, seemingly like waves crashing onto the beach!
Standing backstage, from his position, he could clearly see the platform for the commentators. You could also clearly see the expression on the guy who was there.
The moment he saw him, Luocheng’s heart skipped.
It was him!
He had actually appeared here!
He was shining, brilliant, and stood even taller than before!
Although it was a familiar figure and face, the whole aura exuded by him was completely different.
Luocheng stood at the edge of the backstage, the curtain shadows covering half of his face as he looked out. It was difficult to calm his raging heart, and he could only stare blankly at the guy with whom they didn’t need words to communicate with, and was once his most trusted teammate…
