Chapter 50: Pre-acquisition, Must Reach the Top Four
When he arrived at the training room in the morning, the other cubs were still eating breakfast in the cafeteria. As usual, Ning Luzhao was the earliest to arrive.
Zuo Chi walked to his seat, first fiddling with the puppet doll on his desk: “Land is so early again today.”
Ning Luzhao: “Good morning, Coach.”
He recalled the “1,000 Practical Praises to Build Confidence in Children” he had searched for online last night. Which one was suitable for this scene?
He did two mental drafts first, then tried to speak as naturally as possible.
“Land is so diligent. Working so hard at training will definitely yield rewards.”
After he spoke, Ning Luzhao turned his head sharply, looking at him with a somewhat puzzled expression: “…Did the Coach not wake up properly?”
Zuo Chi: “…”
This praise didn’t go well; I’ll try again next time.
In the afternoon during scrims, Ning Luzhao got a solo kill on the enemy jungler when the team was in a deficit, mitigating the loss in time.
After the post-match review ended, he gave the cubs twenty minutes to rest.
While going downstairs with Land to get takeout: “In the scrim just now, that solo kill you got was very well played. One can tell at a glance that your fundamentals are very solid, and your mechanical details…”
Ning Luzhao paused his steps, first glancing at Zuo Chi’s phone: “Coach, are you reading out some clickbait marketing title?”
Zuo Chi: “…”
Try again.
When training ended in the evening, the cubs started their livestreams one after another.
Zuo Chi still owed a lot of streaming hours this month. Coupled with the fact that he was now preparing for the Quarterfinals, he was buried in researching composition pairings and had almost no time to stream and make up the hours.
Ning Luzhao proactively offered to help him stream for a bit.
While Zuo Chi logged into his streaming account on Ning Luzhao’s computer: “Our little Jungle King is truly handsome and kind-hearted. Luckily you’re here, otherwise my streaming hours for this month definitely wouldn’t be enough…”
[???]
[Did I enter the wrong livestream?]
[The world is upside-down. I’ve only heard of coaches streaming for players; I’ve never seen a player streaming for a coach.]
[What did I just hear Coach Zuo say? Why does his tone and the content both sound like a kindergarten teacher…]
Zuo Chi turned off the bullet chat, coughing lightly out of guilt.
“Let me explain. It’s not that I don’t want to stream, it’s just that I’m busy with work and can’t get away… Land is helping me stream today, so everyone watch our little Jungle King play ranked.”
After speaking, he lowered his head and walked quickly to the restroom.
He splashed a handful of cold water on his face, only then lowering the heat on his face slightly.
It was strange.
When he praised others, the words came easily, but every time he wanted to praise Ning Luzhao, the words always came out awkward, like an “uncanny valley” version of himself.
The youth walked back out slowly, water dripping from the tips of his hair.
On his laptop, he had listed the systematic compositions the cubs had played so far, dividing them into three levels: Point-farming comps, Proficient comps, and Playable comps.
Under each system, he also divided them into indispensable heroes and replaceable heroes, as well as the counter-relationships and breakthrough methods for different compositions…
He reviewed them once more, then began watching match videos of other teams, occasionally adding a couple of notes to his records.
Knock, knock.
The glass door of the training room was knocked on. Manager Li walked in briskly, holding a thick stack of materials, his face full of smiles.
“Coach Zuo! Are the players all streaming? After this game is over, have everyone get off stream; I have a big announcement!”
When they advanced to the Top Eight, Manager Li had this same expression of being so happy he was about to faint.
For a big event that could make Manager Li this excited again…
Zuo Chi walked over and lowered his voice: “Could it be that the team is going to be acquired early by Shengxing Media?”
“Coach Zuo got it in one guess! Today, wasn’t I at a meeting with the high-level management? The person in charge from Shengxing Media also participated in the meeting! They explicitly proposed moving up the acquisition matters. They must have discussed it with the league officials too… At the very latest, before the Quarterfinals, we will have a new owner!”
Zuo Chi wasn’t too surprised. The reward from the system for advancing to the Top Eight was the early acquisition by the new owner.
What he cared more about was how the new owner intended to treat the current VEX.
“Have you felt out the person in charge from Shengxing Media?”
Manager Li patted his chest: “But of course! As soon as the meeting ended, I went straight to the person from Shengxing Media! We talked the whole way! He said they are very satisfied with our current results. After the acquisition is successful, they will provide us with more training staff, like data analysts, psychologists, a coach for the second team…”
“The person in charge also said that if our team can make the Top Four in the Spring Split, the roster will stay exactly as it is for the Summer Split—from players to the coach, not a single person will be changed! Salaries will be paid according to the league’s top-tier bracket. Furthermore, all the prize money from the Spring Split will be for us to distribute ourselves; not a cent needs to be handed over!”
The prize money for a Top 4 finish in the Spring Split was twenty million.
Generally, half of the prize money is handed over to the team, and the other half is split between the starters and the coach.
In other words, each of them could get over three million.
“…As expected of a large company capable of directly acquiring VEX, they are truly deep-pocketed.”
Manager Li nodded: “Yeah, but their requirement is to reach the Top Four… probably our current results have somewhat exceeded their expectations.”
Shengxing Media’s original plan definitely didn’t include the Spring Split in their roadmap. Most likely, they planned to buy a batch of skilled and popular players at high prices during the transfer period after the Spring Split, then strive to join the ranks of strong teams or even take the crown in the Summer Split.
Buying famous players, especially five at once—twenty million really wouldn’t be enough.
It was likely because of this that the other party generously promised to give them all the prize money if they reached the Top Four.
If the players and coach didn’t need to be replaced, it would save a huge chunk of the budget!
“Top Four…” Zuo Chi muttered softly.
“Coach Zuo, you don’t need to feel too much pressure. I know our team has already done its best, and we’ve achieved the best results for the team in the past two years. As long as we’ve given our all, whether we make the Top Four or stop here, we’ll have no regrets.”
Zuo Chi smiled: “Did the person from Shengxing Media say who they want to replace if we’re eliminated in the Quarterfinals?”
Manager Li hesitated for a moment, then pulled him out to the corridor outside the training room.
“They want to replace Wu Yang.”
Land and Beyond had already shown highlights in the Spring Split; their strength was verified, and they had a good fan base, so they wouldn’t be on the list of people to be replaced.
Wall, though older, was a former champion, and the team needed a veteran to anchor and shot-call.
Fugui, while he hadn’t taken a small-game MVP yet, was from the youth training camp and his post-match stats had always been good.
Zuo Chi frowned: “Wu Yang is just… in these matches, the heroes I give him are all ones where he needs to make sacrifices. He isn’t any worse than the other players.”
For example, in the second game against WIN, if Wu Yang hadn’t used his Flash-Ultimate to engage on the high ground and used his one life to pin down the opponents, the outcome of that match might have been uncertain.
Manager Li sighed helplessly: “How could I not understand? Losing a match isn’t the fault of one person. Winning a match wouldn’t happen without a single one of them either—but currently, there are quite a few excellent mid laners in the league. If we don’t make the Top Four, Shengxing Media will likely buy a new mid laner from another team after the Spring Split to start, and have Wu Yang be a sub.”
“Manager Li, when you announce this news in the training room later, just mention the early acquisition… don’t mention the thing about Wu Yang.”
“Alright.”
[System: Congratulations to the Host. The rewards for Main Mission Four and the hidden side mission have all been distributed.]
[System: Now issuing Main Mission Five: Advance to the Top Four (A Top Eight team can only be called a strong team; only Top Four teams are considered title favorites).]
[System: Mission Reward: Attribute Entry Function Upgrade (In addition to seeing players’ attribute entries, the function to see the attribute entries of other esports industry personnel, such as team management, second-team coaches, data analysts, training directors, etc., will be added).]
He and Manager Li were currently doing the work of three people each. Once the new owner arrived, the team would definitely hire a batch of people, so this function upgrade was quite practical.
They returned to the training room. The cubs had all finished their streams. Manager Li announced the news of the early acquisition, and a cheer immediately erupted in the training room.
Fugui: “That’s great!!! But are we going to change our team name right away? Will we still be called VEX?”
“The team name won’t change; it’s just that the logo on the team uniforms will have Shengxing Media’s logo added to it.”
Wu Yang: “Will the new boss give us a raise?”
“Yes, it will first be paid at 70% of the top-tier salary. If we advance to the Top Four, it’ll be according to the league’s top-tier bracket.”
“How much is that?”
“The top-tier bracket is two hundred thousand a month.”
“Whoa!!!”
Beyond: “The base shouldn’t be changed, right? I’ve… grown used to living here.”
“No changes, no changes. But the computers, mice, and keyboards you use will be replaced with new ones. You can pick the models and styles you like in a bit, and I’ll submit them.”
Wall: “Come on, everyone send me the links for the equipment you like tonight. I’ll summarize them and give them to the Manager.”
The cubs all opened shopping platforms and began choosing, discussing the different feels of various keyboards and mice.
Ning Luzhao’s fingertips swiped twice on his phone.
[Land: Coach, did Shengxing Media mention anything about the team changing personnel after the Spring Split?]
[Land: Is the Coach about to say, ‘Little Land is so smart’? 1,000 Practical Praises to Build Confidence in Children—my shopping app’s homepage recommended this book to me. I found some very familiar sentences in it.]
Zuo Chi was stunned for a moment.
Big data these days is truly… hateful.
[Zuo Chi: These two matters are a bit complicated to explain. How about I tell you once we get back to the dorm?]
[Land: Okay.]
[Land: Do I still look like a child to you?]
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