Chapter 18: Posting on Weibo. Let’s Take a Group Photo Together
Zuo Chi laboriously pulled the lunch box toward himself, scooped half of the food onto the lid, and began to eat ravenously.
The sauce from the braised chicken drumsticks was poured over the rice—salty, fragrant, and soft. With one bite, it felt as if the wound on his lower back didn’t hurt as much anymore.
After a few bites to pad his stomach, he turned his head to look at the wound again: “Alright, Land, that’s about enough… come eat first.”
Ning Luzhao gave an affirmative grunt, put the medical kit back, and went to the bathroom to wash his hands.
“Tonight, you and Wu Yang go practice sharing the mid-lane and fast-clearing the jungle. I’ll explain their parts to the marksman and support.”
Ning Luzhao stared at the hem of Zuo Chi’s shirt. The shirt that had been lifted was now loose and crumpled: “Coach, you should rest today.”
“It was just a bump; it doesn’t affect daily movement.”
The two of them wiped the food clean, though Zuo Chi ate most of it. He grabbed a handful of beef jerky from the snack bag and shared half with Ning Luzhao: “Let’s go. It’s time for evening training.”
After the Autumn Split entered the knockout stages, the schedule went by very quickly.
At the VEX base, Zuo Chi spent every day in a three-point line between the training room, conference room, and dorm.
Economic distribution, dragon fight handling, opening setups… every item had many details to be aware of. Different types of lineups had their own distinct playstyles, which also needed to align with what his players were good at.
Fulfilling and busy times slipped away unnoticed.
More than half a month later, the Autumn Split Finals, which had overwhelming popularity, ended with ZAP winning the championship once again.
Today’s ZAP could be said to be at the pinnacle. Other than finishing in the top sixteen and returning in defeat during the summer World Championships, ZAP was the champion of every other domestic event.
[As expected, ZAP wins the championship again. Although ZAP is timid in international matches, they can still easily win in our own region.]
[“Easily win.”]
[Does 3:2 count as winning easily? ZAP fans are starting their mindless blowing again.]
[What a pity. There’s still a long way to go before a World Championship. How many years has it been since we held the trophy on the world stage? I remember the last time was five or six years ago.]
[To be precise, six years ago.]
[If even ZAP can only get top sixteen, it’s even more impossible to count on other teams. Don’t forget, when ZAP met the North American team in the top sixteen, they were eliminated with a clean sweep. I still remember those few games… the abuse was too miserable.]
[ZAP’s jungler is a pure weakness. If they replace the jungler, they might be able to go a step further in next year’s World Championship.]
[Haven’t you guys heard the gossip from some gaming bloggers? Before winning the championship, ZAP had already started looking for and trialing rookie junglers. The current jungler, Every, is likely going to be benched from the starting roster.]
[Holy crap, for real? They just won the championship and they’re already changing starters.]
[It’s guaranteed. Haven’t you noticed that many junglers’ Weibo IP addresses are in Hai City, where ZAP is located? They all went over for trials.]
[Saying it like that, it actually makes sense.]
The transfer period would begin shortly after the Autumn Split ended. VEX’s five-man squad was already settled, but the movement of other teams during the transfer period still needed close attention.
During his lunch break, Zuo Chi would enter that “Charging Toward Worlds” group chat to browse gossip, and before bed, he would use an alternate account to look at the tidbits summarized by netizens.
Occasionally, he would even stumble upon gossip about his own team: The news that VEX was being sold was leaked by several retired professional players who were now streamers. They also said the new boss was incredibly wealthy. They told the old fans of VEX who hadn’t run away yet to hold on a bit longer; after the new boss takes over following next year’s Spring Split, they will definitely spend big to strengthen the team and get results.
Material for tonight’s dreams secured.
Through the text, he could see a sky full of money raining down and burying him.
Two days later, the official Arena Professional League Weibo announced the start of the transfer period. ZAP followed up by posting two Weibo entries: one stating that the starting jungler Every was listed for transfer, and the other saying that Wall and Beyond had transferred to VEX.
Logically, the VEX official Weibo should have immediately reposted this and added a comment like [We will take good care of Wall and Beyond! Act-cute.jpg], then posted its own Weibo welcoming the two players to VEX.
But Zuo Chi refreshed for five minutes and didn’t see any movement from his own official Weibo.
Originally, when Wall’s fans heard that their champion support had transferred to a bottom-tier team, their world had already collapsed. They were asking in the comments [Zhuo-god, what were you thinking? Even if we want to keep playing, we can’t be so hungry that we go to VEX, right?]
Having finally convinced themselves to accept this fact, they then waited and waited for VEX’s welcome Weibo. One by one, they came to VEX’s page to spam [???].
[Wake up, where’s your welcome Weibo?]
[Where are our Zhuo-god’s official photos?]
[You’re just about to be sold, not going bankrupt, right?]
[@ShengYao Media, do you really have to wait until the end of the Spring Split to buy VEX? Can’t you just buy it now? Look at VEX’s perfunctory attitude! They won’t even post on Weibo anymore; they aren’t even pretending!]
Zuo Chi switched to WeChat and sent a [?] to Manager Li.
[Manager Li: What’s wrong, Coach Zuo?]
[Zuo Chi: Weibo-screenshot.jpg]
[Manager Li: Holy crap!]
[Zuo Chi: Isn’t this the job of the team’s new media operations? Where’s the person who posts on Weibo?]
[Manager Li: They were laid off two days ago.]
[Zuo Chi: …]
[Zuo Chi: Then the text for the Weibo, the official photos of Wall and Beyond… were they not prepared at all?]
[Manager Li: These past few days I’ve been busy handling the transfer procedures and pro-player registrations for the players. I forgot about this…]
Zuo Chi sighed and typed.
[Zuo Chi: Then I’ll do it. Send me the official Weibo account and password. I’ll post the welcome Weibo as soon as possible.]
Not just for Wall and Beyond, but also for Fugui and Wu Yang—their announcement for joining VEX could be posted together.
[Manager Li: You-are-my-god.jpg]
[Manager Li: Then I’ll have to trouble you, Coach Zuo!]
Zuo Chi copied the account and password sent by Manager Li, logged into the VEX official Weibo, first reposted ZAP’s Weibo, and then shouted from his chair: “Training pause for a moment—everyone go to the dorms immediately. Put on your team jackets, fix your hair, wash your faces, and don’t have sleep crust in the corners of your eyes.”
The players were currently practicing skill chaining and could pause at any time.
“Why the sudden need to wear team jackets, Coach Zuo?” Fugui was the first to stand up and ask.
“The transfer period is here. I need to take photos of you to post the official announcement on Weibo.”
“Do we need makeup for photos?”
Zuo Chi raised an eyebrow: “I’ll do it for you?”
“Hahaha, Coach Zuo, you really know how to joke… then never mind.”
Ning Luzhao: “Coach, I probably don’t need to, right?”
Zuo Chi nodded: “You don’t. While they go change into their jackets, you stay here and help me think about how to write the Weibo post.”
“Okay.”
Ning Luzhao sat down beside him. He paused: “Coach, you should go change into a team jacket too.”
“Me?” Zuo Chi was confused. “Why would I…”
He suddenly remembered that he himself was also new. When a new coach joins the team, naturally a Weibo post has to be made. He couldn’t help but find it a bit funny.
“Then I’ll be quick. I’ll leave the text part to you for now.”
Zuo Chi walked quickly back to the dorm. After throwing on his team jacket, he ran his hands through his hair twice in front of the mirror. Feeling like he looked reasonably human, he rushed back to the training room.
Ning Luzhao was still typing at the desk. Zuo Chi walked over and glanced at the text on the screen: “This is written really well! I think we should really put a pair of parentheses at the end stating it was written by Land—who have you written for? I’ll do the rest.”
The other handed him the phone.
Zuo Chi’s fingers moved, and he quickly scrolled to the passage Ning Luzhao had written about him. It seemed to be the first one written.
[After friendly negotiations and communication, we are pleased to announce that Coach Zuo Chi has officially joined VEX as of today, serving as the Head Coach. Coach Zuo Chi has unique game insights, a versatile tactical style, is skilled at uncovering player potential, and his match reviews are deep and clear… (the above omits three hundred words of praise). We believe that under the leadership of Coach Zuo Chi, the players will surely achieve a qualitative leap and reach breakthrough results in next year’s Spring Split.]
Zuo Chi considered himself to have relatively thick skin, but looking at the full-page praise, he was truly too embarrassed to finish reading it.
He stealthily deleted a portion of the praising words and changed some of the phrasing. Feeling that the entire piece now read as humble and simple, he finally pressed exit with satisfaction.
The players who had gone to change into team jackets returned one after another.
Zuo Chi signaled for everyone to line up in a clearer area to take photos. After taking them, he would add the team logo in post-processing and print some cool welcome messages to make them into posters. That should be about it.
The players were usually noisy and rambunctious, but once it came to the photo-taking segment, each one stood in place as stiffly as a wooden block.
Zuo Chi: “Don’t be so nervous. If the photos don’t look good, I’ll Photoshop you to look cooler later. Do some poses, do some poses! These are going out for the fans to see!”
“Coach Zuo, how about you set an example for us?” Fugui spoke up.
Wu Yang: “Y-y-eah, C-c-oach Zuo. I d-d-on’t r-r-eally t-t-ake p-p-hotos, I only k-k-now how to d-d-o a p-p-eace s-s-ign.”
Zuo Chi handed the camera he found in the equipment room to Ning Luzhao. He casually made a gesture pointing at the team logo, and prompted: “Just imagine you’re acting cool, or being cute is fine too…”
He held up a finger-heart against his cheek and took a few more photos. Seeing that the players were still standing there dazed, he said somewhat helplessly: “Say something!”
Beyond whispered: “Coach Zuo… we didn’t speak because…”
Fugui spoke his mind: “Holy crap! Why is it that Coach Zuo looks so handsome just by taking some random photos?!”
Wall carried a trace of melancholy: “Don’t be sad, Fugui. Unless we fly to South Korea for plastic surgery right now, comparing people will only make you want to die of frustration.”
Wu Yang: “A-a-ctually, if Brother Ning g-g-oes t-t-o t-t-ake p-p-hotos, he’ll d-d-efinitely l-l-ook g-g-ood t-t-oo. I’ve s-s-een Brother Ning’s o-o-fficial p-p-hoto f-f-rom the A-a-utumn S-s-plit; it’s on p-p-ar w-w-ith Coach Zuo’s, l-l-ike a c-c-elebri-t-y.”
“Thank you, Wu Yang, for that extra stab.” Fugui scratched his head. “I roughly understand how to take them now, Coach Zuo.”
Zuo Chi didn’t know whether to laugh or cry as he moved aside: “Then you guys go ahead. Everyone take more shots, so we can pick and choose later.”
The solo shots were finished. The players strongly requested to add some duo and group photos.
Zuo Chi thought about how he would probably be the one posting on Weibo in the future, so he might as well stock up on photos to avoid having nothing to post later. He agreed.
Secretly making rabbit ears behind someone’s back, arms around shoulders, making faces together, a big group photo of all six of them… he even left a spot where Manager Li could be Photoshopped in…
“I have a suggestion! How about letting Coach Zuo and Ning-god take a duo photo! When it’s posted on Weibo, it’ll be double the handsomeness.”
Before Zuo Chi could answer, Ning Luzhao had already walked to his side.
“Okay.”
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