Chapter 20: Pity the Heart of the Coach. The Team Has Been Too Arrogant Lately…
At 10:00 PM, the day’s training ended.
Wall had been chosen as the team captain. When Zuo Chi was sometimes not in the training room, Wall was responsible for supervising the players.
“Coach Zuo, do we have a scrim tomorrow?”
“Yes, but the time is quite late, and we’re only playing one game.”
Ning Luzhao was wearing headphones; he probably didn’t hear. The other players all turned to look at him upon hearing the news.
Fugui: “Coach Zuo, which team are we playing in the scrim tomorrow?”
Generally, scrims between teams were BO5s in the afternoon. He really hadn’t heard much about scheduling just one game after 10:00 PM.
Beyond sucked on his milk: “It wouldn’t be a top-four team, would it?”
Zuo Chi intentionally wanted to dampen their arrogance, so he didn’t say the scrim was scheduled with ZAP. Anyway, when the time came, he would just tell the ZAP coach to open an anonymous scrim room.
“No, the rank isn’t much different from the teams we scrimmed with before—scheduling it at night is mainly because they have some things to do during the day. Maybe they just got back from break, or they’re busy with transfer trials?”
The players didn’t suspect a thing and nodded in agreement.
He got up and left the training room, sneaking off to the cafeteria for a midnight snack.
The players stayed in the training room; some sat in their seats checking WeChat and replying to messages, while others walked around the room to move their bodies.
“If we w-w-in t-t-omorrow, w-w-ill we b-b-e on an e-e-ight-game w-w-inning st-st-reak?”
“Yes—Wu Yang, why did you start a ranked match behind my back? Do you not want to wash socks tonight?!”
“Brother Ning is p-p-laying t-t-oo, why d-d-on’t you s-s-ay anythin’ t-t-o h-h-im?”
“Ning-god’s main account is already in the top five on the national server. I definitely can’t catch him today, so I can only bully you.”
“Alright, alright. After resting for a bit, let’s practice our five-man queue. Although it’s only one scrim game tomorrow, we must treat it properly.” Wall reminded them.
“Got it, Zhuo-god. Don’t worry, we can definitely win tomorrow!”
“I feel…”
“Beyond, what did you say? The AC is too loud; speak up.”
“I said I feel… Coach Zuo has led us for nearly a month, and I’ve learned so many things. Many techniques and training methods, even the coach at the ZAP second team never mentioned them before.”
Wu Yang’s eyes widened: “I th-th-ought t-t-his was h-h-ow a-a-ll p-p-ro p-p-layers t-t-rained?”
“That’s really not the case.” Wall recalled. “I’ve been on several teams and met many coaches. I’ve really never met one who leads players like Coach Zuo.”
When they first started grinding together, they had fought a long battle to the fifth round against ASH. But today, they could easily take them 3:0, and every round was a “speed-run” with a massive lead.
They just didn’t know when they could schedule a scrim with a strong team.
And when it came to official matches, they didn’t know if they could still perform at their scrim level.
Zuo Chi found a box of frozen dumplings in the cafeteria fridge and sent a WeChat to Ning Luzhao.
[Zuo Chi: Eating dumplings? Ask the other cubs too.]
[Land: Yes. Fugui wants vinegar, no soy sauce. Wall wants chili sauce plus sesame oil. Beyond doesn’t need seasoning. Wu Yang wants vinegar and soy sauce. I’m fine with anything.]
Zuo Chi: “…”
He put the whole box of dumplings into the boiling water, then conveniently grabbed the seasoning bottles from the cafeteria.
Vinegar, soy sauce… he’d just bring them up and let them mix it themselves.
When the dumplings floated up one by one, looking plump and round, Zuo Chi grabbed a large iron basin. As he was scooping the dumplings in, the corner of his eye caught his phone screen lighting up again.
[Land: Coach, is the team we’re scrimming tomorrow really not a top-four team?]
Zuo Chi’s hand shook, and a dumpling he had just picked up fell back in, splashing quite a bit of soup. He quickly backed away.
[Zuo Chi: No.]
[Land: Then it’s the runner-up.]
[Zuo Chi: Really no.]
[Land: It’s ZAP.]
[Zuo Chi: Do you have a mind-reading system installed in your head?]
“Coach.” Ning Luzhao’s voice rang out from not far behind him, seemingly containing a trace of playfulness. “When Coach told us just now that we were having a scrim tomorrow, your expression looked particularly ill-intentioned—so I guessed the opponent probably wasn’t a mid-tier team like Coach said.”
“…How was I ill-intentioned?”
He felt his tone at the time was quite calm, no different from usual. He shouldn’t have let anything slip.
“Coach’s face practically had the words ‘isn’t this going to put you in your place’ written all over it.” Ning Luzhao walked over, took the seasoning bottles Zuo Chi had stuffed into his jacket pocket, and suddenly frowned. “The place where Coach was bumped last time hasn’t healed yet?”
Zuo Chi also smelled the scent of Chinese herbal medicated patches mixed with the aroma of the dumplings, carrying a hint of bitterness.
“It’s been so long; of course it’s healed.” Zuo Chi instinctively pressed the spot on his lower back where he had applied the patch through his jacket. “It’s just that I’ve been sitting for too long lately without moving, so it’s a bit sore.”
This was also a common occupational disease for many in the esports industry.
No matter who it was, if they spent nearly half their day sitting in front of a computer, it was impossible for their lumbar spine and neck not to have some issues.
“If we beat ZAP tomorrow, how about a one-day break the day after?”
Zuo Chi looked at him in surprise. Land was the most hard-working in their team; sometimes when Zuo Chi was half-asleep in the dorm, he would just hear the other returning from the training room. “If you have personal matters to handle, it’s fine to grant you a day off.”
Ning Luzhao shook his head: “I was thinking we could all go out together for a walk. Hiking, going to a lake, camping… anything is fine.”
“The two of us?”
Zuo Chi’s mouth was faster than his brain. After saying it, he realized Ning Luzhao must have meant everyone in VEX going out together. He couldn’t help but chuckle. “I misunderstood. You guys have indeed worked hard training this past period. Staying in the base all day, you should go out and get some fresh air to relax.”
Perhaps he should also adjust the daily training plan. He could appropriately add half an hour or an hour of exercise time to each day, to avoid having the whole team filled with young “patients” with lumbar disc problems.
While they were talking, Zuo Chi had finished scooping all the dumplings out.
The large basin was full, about fifty or sixty dumplings. They were shepherd’s purse and pork filling, and the aroma was enticing.
Ning Luzhao said as he followed him out of the cafeteria: “I’ll keep the news about tomorrow’s scrim being against ZAP from Fugui and the others. I’ll just say if we win, we get a day off.”
“Alright.” Walking to the stairwell, Zuo Chi lowered his voice, afraid that if a player came out of the second-floor training room, their conversation would be heard. “Lying to you guys and saying it’s not a strong team was mainly to…”
“I understand. The team has been a bit too arrogant lately.”
Zuo Chi agreed: “If they keep winning, by the time the Spring Split starts, Fugui and Wu Yang will be floating into the arena.”
Even the usually well-behaved Beyond had been showing signs of slackening lately.
Hopefully ZAP could beat them tomorrow. But the cubs also had to show the things they had trained on these past days; they couldn’t lose too miserably.
Sigh, pity the heart of the coach.
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