Chapter 35: We Aren’t Soft Targets Either. No Matter Who the Opponent Is
Zuo Chi shrank the chat box and placed it in the top right corner of the screen, seeing the disastrous news that their team had drawn WIN for the knockouts immediately.
The law of conservation of luck was indeed an immutable truth. All the good luck from the group stage draw had been returned this time.
[The draw is over. The host is going to call team players for an interview again. Given the league officials’ usual style of chasing hype, they’ll definitely choose to call VEX for the interview.]
A group stage dark horse crashing into an established powerhouse—this match could be said to be one of the biggest highlights of the Round-of-16.
Zuo Chi saw this comment float by, and the phone in his pocket immediately rang with a cheerful ringtone.
He operated his hero with one hand, shouting for Ning Luzhao to “protect” him, while using the other hand to glance at his phone.
An unknown number, and it was from out of town.
“Scam call?”
[What scam call? The host in the official stream next door is calling you, Coach Zuo! Don’t hang up!]
[Coach Zuo is coaching his first season after all; he probably doesn’t know the official phone number at all hahahaha.]
He looked at the chat: “Call me? No, no, no.”
Knowing this was a call from the league official, the phone in his palm suddenly felt like a hot potato.
“Land, you answer!”
He stood up slightly, handing his phone to Ning Luzhao in one stride. Seeing the chat filled with question marks, he explained righteously: “Land has much more interview experience than I do. It definitely has to be him. If I say something shocking in a slip of the tongue, won’t that invite trouble for VEX!”
“Why not Wall? Wall is sitting too far from me. If I give the phone to him, I’d have to throw it across three seats. If it breaks, I don’t have money to buy a new one.”
“Saying I’m pretending to be poor?! You can doubt my skill, but you can’t doubt my poverty!”
[Laughed so hard. VEX is truly poor right now. If they had money, they wouldn’t be selling the team, right?]
[VEX’s player salaries are the lowest among all league teams, and the coach’s is even lower.]
[Good luck, Coach Zuo. Strive to lead the players into the Top-8. By then, the new owner, Shengxing Media, might keep everyone. The new owner is wealthy and will definitely provide good food and drink!]
Beside him, Ning Luzhao had obediently taken his phone and pressed the answer button, turning on the speaker: “Hello.”
“Hello, is this Coach Zuo Chi?” The host on the other end was silent for two seconds before asking doubtfully, “Eh? Why do you sound so much like Land? But I called Coach Zuo’s number…”
Ning Luzhao: “I’m Land. Coach asked me to accept the interview on his behalf… Coach is busy streaming Big Melee.”
[Heard many reasons for not accepting an interview, but being ‘busy with Big Melee’ is the most outrageous so far.]
[Tell me if Coach is in a Big Melee or not! If Coach loses, will you pay the 500-yuan red envelope for him? Dog-head.jpg]
[So many people suddenly entered the stream room. There are actually hundreds of thousands of viewers?]
[Probably many came over from the official stream to watch the fun.]
The host laughed and asked: “Almost forgot the whole VEX team is streaming today. Then let me ask Land, do you already know the draw results for your team’s knockouts?”
“I just found out from the chat.”
Fugui, who was sending red envelopes, looked up sharply: “What? The draw results are out? Which team did we draw?!”
[Be good, Fugui, go play on the side.]
[Grown-ups are talking; kids don’t interrupt. Covering-mouth-laugh.jpg]
“Is there anything you want to say regarding drawing WIN? Quite a few teams, including the WIN players, said in interviews before the draw that they hoped to draw you. Do you feel nervous?”
“WIN was in the Top-4 in the Autumn Split, and their results in recent years have always been good.”
“But while they are strong, we aren’t necessarily soft targets either. Nervous… there is some of that, but it’s more excitement. Looking forward to facing WIN after the Spring Festival.”
Zuo Chi listened seriously to Ning Luzhao’s voice. The other’s speed was neither hurried nor slow. There was no self-blame or loss from the Autumn Split failure, nor was there much fear.
Like a fire that was burning—not yet grand enough, but already hot enough.
“Good! We also look after VEX and WIN to bring a brilliant match to all the spectators! The knockout schedule is right after the Spring Festival. Does Land have any goals he wants to achieve in this Spring Split?”
Ning Luzhao first looked at Zuo Chi, and after receiving a nod of affirmation, he looked at his teammates: “In our team, everyone’s goal should be consistent.”
“Summer Won’t Scatter.”
What kind of results did they need in the Spring Split to ensure “Summer Won’t Scatter”?
Many fans speculated that the Top-8 was about enough.
But without winning the championship, they weren’t the best five-man squad, and they faced the possibility of the team being split and rebuilt or the coach being fired.
Every step forward added more weight to their future.
So, no matter which team they drew, whether the draw luck was good or bad, all they could do was give it their all.
The call ended, and even more people flooded into the stream room. Some were fun-seekers analyzing that the gap in strength between the two teams was too large and that they couldn’t possibly defeat WIN. Some were fans of other teams mocking that “VEX’s luck can’t stay good forever.” Some said that if they could take a game off WIN, they wouldn’t have lost out in this Spring Split…
Zuo Chi only picked what he liked to read, and he had the moderator ban a few trolls who were swearing.
“See, I told you we had to let Land do the interview. Our little jungle-king has high EQ. If it were me, I’d only say ‘WIN, bring it on. Either you win, or I win’!”
A wave of [Hahahaha] floated across the chat, clearing out a lot of the messy comments.
Not far away, as soon as Fugui heard the sound of the call being hung up, he slumped in his chair and made an expression as if he were finding it hard to breathe and needed oxygen: “WIN. A one-in-eight chance, how could we draw WIN?”
“T-t-rue. H-h-ow a-a-bout w-w-e d-d-on’t g-g-o b-b-ack f-f-or t-t-he N-n-ew Y-y-ear a-a-nd s-s-tay a-a-t t-t-he b-b-ase t-t-o t-t-rain, F-f-ugui? B-b-esides, I a-a-lways f-f-eel l-l-ike g-g-oing t-t-o y-y-our h-h-ome f-f-or t-t-he N-n-ew Y-y-ear m-m-ight n-n-ot b-b-e g-g-ood…”
“Heh-heh-heh—drawing WIN is good! WIN, here I come—wait, what did you just say, Wu Yang? Why won’t you go back with me for the New Year? My parents and my sister all know you’re coming back with me; the room is already tidied up!”
“…Y-y-our f-f-ace-ch-ch-anging i-i-sn’t i-i-t a b-b-it t-t-oo f-f-ast?”
Zuo Chi spoke: “Everyone go home for the New Year. It’s a normal holiday. I’ve already arranged the training matters.”
After he spoke, the cubs’ expressions relaxed more or less.
“Coach Zuo is here. Go home for the New Year with peace of mind. Just don’t forget that you need to train for five hours every day.” After Wall comforted them, he told everyone to stop thinking about the knockouts for now. He glanced at the screen. “…Coach Zuo, you aren’t playing fair.”
While the cubs were wallowing in sentimentality, Zuo Chi had secretly finished two waves of minions and even pinged Ning Luzhao to help him take down one of Wall’s towers.
“There’s no pause in Big Melee. How can you blame me for you being distracted while playing?”
Ning Luzhao echoed: “Indeed.”
He had taken many kills to begin with, and with the hero he picked having crowd control, immunity, and high health, he was disgusting enough. His coordination with Ning Luzhao had also grown proficient. Soon, despite the wailing in the training room, they exploded the crystals of the other three.
The cubs each sent a 500-yuan red envelope and ran over to watch the “battle of turning against each other” between him and Ning Luzhao.
Fugui: “Coach Zuo, watch out for Ning-god’s sneak attack!”
Wu Yang: “Coach Zuo, b-b-uy s-s-ome h-h-eal-r-r-eduction e-e-quipment! M-m-asked F-f-iend’s h-h-eal i-i-s v-v-ery h-h-igh!”
Wall: “Don’t fight him in melee, Coach! Run, run!”
Beyond: “How about I play for you?”
[Land: Does no one support me beating up Coach?]
[Can only say that VEX’s family status is clear at a glance.]
[Fugui is undoubtedly at the bottom of the food chain, and Coach is undoubtedly at the top.]
“I mainly play support, but I can play other positions quite well too.” Zuo Chi showed off a wave of movement, and with an Execute, he took the kill on the low-health Masked Fiend. “Especially since the skill I brought is Execute, not Flash.”
By the late game, heroes pushed towers very quickly, and the respawn timer was also very long.
With this wave, he could push all the way and directly take down Ning Luzhao’s crystal.
[Send the red envelope, Land, Land!]
[To be fair, Coach’s set of smooth combos had quite fast hand speed.]
[Oh, Coach playing support reached the Top-1000 in the National rankings; he could enter a training camp.]
Zuo Chi looked at the word “Victory” on his screen with satisfaction: “Land and I will each send half of the red envelope. After all, if not for ganking easily in the early game, Land would have brought Execute instead of Flash too.”
In that 1v1 with Ning Luzhao, the difference was the true damage from “Execute.”
Ning Luzhao was stunned for a second, then responded softly: “Okay.”
In the second round of Big Melee, the cubs grew smarter and added a rule saying no alliances were allowed; everyone had to fight for themselves.
Then, the six of them cleverly picked the same hero.
When the minions gathered, six identical heroes fought in a heap. It was impossible to tell whose skill effects were whose or whose health was dropping.
“Crap, Wu Yang, why the heck are you hitting me!”
“You have the face to say that? Aren’t you hitting me too?”
” I can’t see clearly—eh, why did I die?”
“Ning-god, what’s with you? Coach helped you pay half the red envelope last game, so you won’t hit him, right?!”
“Wow, Coach secretly brought Flash and fled at the last moment!”
The lively stream lasted for three hours. Whether Big Melee was too entertaining or the knockout draw brought them a wave of hype, the total number of viewers and the gift donations received were quite good.
Changhai Live was very satisfied. Fang Tong immediately contacted him, inviting VEX to serve as spokespersons for the Changhai Live gaming channel, and to shoot promotional posters after the knockouts ended.
[Congratulations to Host. Reward for Main Quest 3: Mysterious Endorsement Opportunity x1 has been issued.]
[Issuing Main Quest 4: Advance to the Spring Split Top-8 (The Top-8 is the minimum threshold for a strong team. Please use your strength to prove that your team’s advancement to the knockouts wasn’t entirely due to luck).]
[Hidden Side Quest: Beyond’s Past (Quest Hint: The squishy little marksman’s hand injury seems to be related to several players in Team WIN…).]
[Main Quest 4 Reward: New owner acquires VEX early (Note: Complete the acquisition before the Round-of-8 match. Fed up with VEX’s trash management? Reach the Top-8 and gain a brand-new financial backer).]
[Hidden Side Quest Reward: 50 points of Team Cohesion.]
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