Chapter 44: Before the Match, Memorize the Key Points for Beating WIN
It was truly impossible to guard against!
Zuo Chi shook his head. “Last night… I troubled you to take me back to the dorm again.”
“Drink a cup of hot water first, Coach. I put fried eggs, pork tenderloin, and lettuce in the sandwiches. See if they suit your appetite.”
He took the breakfast. “Today is officially the first day of the Lunar New Year. The official Weibo needs to post a New Year greeting for the fans. If you’re free, take my phone and see if there are any suitable photos, then edit a greeting to post—the password is six zeros.”
“How about…”
Zuo Chi looked up from his sandwich. “If you have an idea, let’s hear it.”
“How about after posting the greeting, we start a livestream?”
“Sure, you go ahead and stream. I can’t, though; I need to watch WIN’s match videos.”
After finishing breakfast, they slowly made their way to the training room.
[I thought my eyes were playing tricks on me, I didn’t expect Land to actually be streaming.]
[This background… is Land still at the VEX base? Didn’t you go home for the New Year?]
“The Coach and I are spending the New Year at the base this year.”
Zuo Chi didn’t look up, but he spoke: “Happy New Year, everyone.”
[Coach Zuo is also at the base, why isn’t he streaming?]
[Land, how did you and Coach Zuo spend New Year’s Eve? Did you have a reunion dinner?]
“What the Coach is doing right now is a team secret, so he can’t stream—yesterday we ate dumplings and went out to set off fireworks.”
[The match against WIN is coming up after the New Year, do you have a plan yet?]
[Speaking of which, the whole WIN team has an incredible sense of leisure. They just updated their Weibo; the whole team is traveling in Nancheng, and in two days they’re heading to Xiamen. They’re living the good life.]
[After all, WIN got what everyone considers a lucky draw. Their fans are already celebrating in the Super Topic, claiming they’ve already locked in a spot for the Top Eight. Every major streamer, host, and commentator has made pre-match predictions, and not a single one favors VEX.]
[VEX, you have to do us proud! I specifically bought tickets for that match day!]
Ning Luzhao glanced at the bullet chat. After entering the game, he imitated the way Zuo Chi usually spoke: “What hero… does everyone want to see?”
[I want to see Abyss Fire!]
[+1]
[A lot of junglers from different teams are practicing Abyss Fire lately. It seems like the pick rate in ranked has gone up a lot, but they all look a bit ‘off’ when they play him.]
[Land, why don’t you do a livestream tutorial for Abyss Fire?]
“Team secrets… besides, everyone should already know Abyss Fire’s combos. If anything else needs to be taught, it should be the Coach doing it.”
[Coach Zuo’s fans are trying to catch a glimpse of him in Land’s stream.]
[Land, can you move the camera a bit to show Coach Zuo? Just for a few seconds.]
“Coach, the fans want to see you on camera.”
Zuo Chi thought about it, then simply carried his laptop and moved his gaming chair over to Ning Luzhao’s side. This way, if he had any thoughts, he could just mute the mic and chat with Land for a bit.
The three-day holiday flew by, accompanied by Ning Luzhao’s delicious meals.
The day he went to the airport to pick up the cubs, Zuo Chi knew his “private kitchen” days were over; it was back to the era of the cafeteria’s mass-produced meals.
Having just returned from their break, the cubs were still quite rowdy.
Zuo Chi made each of them play a solo duel against Ning Luzhao. After the duels were over, they weren’t rowdy anymore.
Losing a duel was the easiest way to make people focus.
During the holiday, he had watched WIN’s match videos over and over, back and forth, many times. He had researched some new things, but they were still in the theoretical stage and needed to be put into practice through scrims.
Once they reached the knockout stage, scheduling scrims became much easier.
This was because the teams that hadn’t made the knockouts were very idle and were more than happy to have a team find them for scrims to maintain their form.
Two scrims a day, and five-man queues at night.
WIN’s Weibo updated daily with travel vlogs, while VEX’s Weibo gathered a layer of dust until the day before the match.
All the knockout matches were held in Haishi. They arrived in Haishi a day early to check into their hotel. The hotel was arranged by the league officials, and they happened to stay on the same floor as the WIN players.
“Whoa, a five-star hotel? Since when were our league officials so generous?”
Carrying their peripheral bags into the hotel, Manager Li took their IDs to check in while the cubs wandered around the lobby curiously.
Wall: “Look, the walls are covered with Arena Professional League promotional posters. They probably have a partnership with this hotel… After all, a single knockout match can have thousands or tens of thousands of live spectators, and the online reach is even wider. Sponsors who want to endorse the professional league probably stretch from this hotel all the way to the arena.”
“Alright, alright, stop staring at the posters.” Manager Li returned with several room cards. “Four twin rooms in total. See who wants to share with whom. Anyone want to stay with me?”
Silence.
“…Fine then. We’ll stick to the dorm assignments from the base. I’ll enjoy a big house all to myself!”
With their room cards distributed, they took the elevator upstairs. The hotel rooms were standard doubles, each equipped with two computers of good performance, likely prepared specifically for the players by the league.
The waiter leading them upstairs smiled and said: “Since there are many teams staying in the hotel, it’s easy to go to the wrong room. Team nameplates and the IDs of the staying players are posted on every door. If you forget your room number, just look at the nameplates—if you need anything, just call the front desk.”
Zuo Chi thanked the waiter. Looking up, he saw that the room next to Beyond’s had the word “WIN” posted on it. However, according to WIN’s Weibo itinerary, they weren’t expected to arrive until evening.
“Everyone, play a few games in your rooms tonight to keep your mechanical feel. If you want to eat something, tell me or Manager Li; we’ll go downstairs to buy it for you. Don’t eat random takeout, watch out for diarrhea.”
The cubs nodded.
“Beyond, swap room cards with me.”
He and Ning Luzhao moved into what was originally Beyond’s room. Around nine o’clock in the evening, a clamor came from next door; the WIN players must have arrived.
Before long, their room door was knocked on. The cubs were in a five-man queue, so Zuo Chi stood up to open it.
“Beyond, it’s me, Ma Song.”
The hand he had on the doorknob paused. Perhaps because there was no response, the voice outside rang out again.
“Beyond, I left in a bit of a hurry at the airport last time and didn’t have time to catch up properly. Do you have time today? I saw a hotpot place outside that looks pretty good. I’ve already booked a private room, we can—”
Zuo Chi pulled the door open, looking expressionlessly at the shocked look on Ma Song’s face.
“Our two teams play tomorrow. It’s not appropriate for you to come find our player for a late-night snack in the middle of the night.”
Ma Song looked up at the IDs posted on the door, then peeked into the room. Not seeing Beyond, his expression darkened slightly, but he forced a polite smile: “Coach Zuo Chi, you must be joking. Beyond and I were very good friends back at the youth training camp. Even if we aren’t teammates now, asking him out for a snack shouldn’t be an excessive request, right?”
“Not excessive?” He curled his lips into a smile, the darkness in his eyes very cold. “I think it’s quite excessive.”
Before Ma Song could speak, he continued calmly: “My apologies. As a coach, I am old-fashioned and harsh. I forbid my players from fooling around outside the day before a match. So, please return to WIN’s room. If you have anything to say, say it after the match tomorrow.”
“…I don’t understand what Coach Zuo Chi means.”
The things Ma Song had done to disgust Beyond at the training camp couldn’t be proven by checking surveillance.
The other party had countless excuses to defend himself, so naturally, he felt he had nothing to fear.
However…
“You’ve been in WIN for a year. Your best result was the Top Four, and you’ve never won a championship, have you?”
Ma Song froze, a trace of annoyance flashing in his eyes: “I… VEX’s best result is also this Spring Split. Why are you suddenly bringing this up, Coach Zuo?”
“Nothing, just a casual remark. I just remembered that Beyond’s results in the training camp were almost always first place. If even you can reach the Top Four, then Beyond…”
“Coach Zuo should know better than anyone the gap between a training camp and an official match. Since you’re so strict with your team, then I’ll come find Beyond after we advance to the Top Eight tomorrow.”
The other party turned and left. After taking two steps, he entered the room next to theirs with a livid face.
Zuo Chi exhaled slowly and closed the door.
It was obvious that Ma Song coming to find Beyond tonight was not to apologize for what happened back at the training camp; that was pure fantasy.
He hadn’t thought about apologizing for so long, and then suddenly he has a breakthrough of conscience the day before the match? Who was he kidding?
Most likely, he wanted to repeat his old tricks. Back then, he had tried every means to trigger Beyond’s hand injury so he couldn’t participate in WIN’s selection; naturally, he could now play the emotional card to mess with Beyond’s mentality before the match, affecting tomorrow’s Round of 16 battle.
He walked back to the computer. The cubs’ five-man queue wasn’t over yet. He glanced at Ning Luzhao, who whispered: “I muted my mic while the Coach was talking to the neighbor.”
He took off Ning Luzhao’s headset, turned the mic back on, and held it to his lips.
“Hello? Can you hear me?”
The cubs’ voices came through the headset.
“Coach Zuo?! Is it because Ning-shen went to the bathroom and Coach Zuo is subbing in?”
“No, I just want to remind everyone one more time before you go to bed: memorize the key points for beating WIN tomorrow.”
Wu Yang: “Don’t worry, Coach Zuo, we r-r-remember them v-v-ery well.”
“WIN’s marksman’s positioning and team fight habits are already etched into my brain, deeper than the poems I had to memorize in elementary school.” Wall spoke up. “Beyond, just play your lane freely tomorrow. We’ll just… crush WIN’s bottom lane right on the line.”
Recommended Reads
