Chapter 57
Chapter 57
As soon as Shen Xiao entered the venue, he went straight to the backstage dressing room. His hurried manner made Jiang Yuxin frown with worry: "He..."
Xu Ziyan said, "Even if he wants to beat someone up, there are staff members to stop him, so you can rest assured."
He paused, then said, "In the worst-case scenario, Secret has a backup plan."
Before Jiang Yuxin could finish speaking, someone interrupted him, and upon reflection, he realized it was indeed true. He was worried about Shen Xiao, but when he thought of Secret, he immediately felt incredibly reassured: "Indeed, Secret is really reliable."
After sitting down, he turned to Yu Guangzhou and whispered, "Hey, speaking of which, some of the young talents from KW's youth training program are really good-looking. Why don't we poach them all to our team? They're all cash cows!"
Yu Guangzhou was thoroughly annoyed: "Isn't Ice already here?"
Jiang Yuxin turned his head and looked at Xu Ziyan with what could be described as loving eyes: "One isn't enough! You need to understand sustainable development!"
Xu Ziyan, nicknamed "Little Money Tree," twitched his lips, unsure of what to say.
Xie Wei was clearly used to this kind of thing and didn't react much. In fact, as the boss, he even joined their conversation with great interest: "How about that Ovil?"
"Not bad!" Jiang Yuxin said, "I think he's quite suitable!"
"And that little sniper from FTK's second team is pretty good too." Xie Wei stroked his chin. "His ID is...Rabbit? I remember she's a female Alpha, and she's quite popular."
Jiang Yuxin said, "It has some highlights! It's worth selling!"
Xie Wei said, "And..."
Yu Guangzhou said, "Why don't you poach all the players from other teams? Why don't you just stop the league from competing and rename the whole thing TWG?"
Xie Wei laughed and said, "Those three teams aren't enough. We should split them into... a dozen or so teams."
Xu Ziyan casually chimed in: "Then, because they felt that calling them TWG teams fourteen, fifteen, and sixteen was too hard to remember, they changed their names to FTK, KW, and WOF respectively to make them easier to remember..."
Bai Chen raised an eyebrow: "This can still be salvaged."
Even Bai Chen, who was usually the most serious, started spouting nonsense. Yu Guangzhou felt exhausted and decided to ignore them.
They were seated in VIP seats, very close to the stage, and the price was higher than regular seats. The competition was about to begin, and the audience began to enter. Shen Xiao ran out from backstage and plopped down in the seat between Bai Chen and Xu Ziyan.
Xu Ziyan carefully observed his expression and saw that he was particularly unhappy. She knew in her heart that this WOF match was probably going to end badly.
Sometimes the play isn't performed on stage; the most exciting parts are actually played out offstage.
At seven o'clock sharp, the lights in the venue went out, and a burst of excited commotion and cheers erupted from the audience.
The host, dressed in a formal suit, walked onto the stage with a smile. After reading a long list of sponsors and opening remarks, he officially got to the point: "Please welcome Team KW to the stage!"
Soon, the head coach of the KW team led four young players in team uniforms onto the stage. At the end of the group was a boy with a youthful face who looked very well-behaved, with messy hair, and he was quite cute.
"He's Pride?" came a girl's dissatisfied voice from behind. "He doesn't even deserve to be compared to Lianbao. Has the KW management lost their minds?!"
Lianbao was KW's former regular medical specialist, while Mu Yulian is a gentle Beta girl with long, waist-length hair.
Xu Ziyan inexplicably recalled the scene when he first joined the team and was compared to Qu Qingyue by a group of netizens. The situation was very similar to Pride's situation, which made him feel a lot of empathy.
After introducing each member of the KW team, the host invited them to take their seats and then said, "Next, let's welcome the WOF team!"
WOF's head coach was a kind-looking middle-aged man, followed closely by Secret's Lee Hwan-bin, who was wearing a WOF team uniform and had a smile on his face.
Almost the instant Li Huanbin appeared on stage, the cheers from the audience spontaneously rose by dozens of decibels, even drowning out the host's introduction of the remaining team members.
Xu Ziyan glanced at the man following behind Li Huanbin. Well, he was quite tall, with regular features; he was a handsome Alpha.
But when placed next to Li Huanbin, it immediately paled in comparison.
The old saying goes, "Comparing people will only lead to ruin, and comparing goods will only lead to discarding them." There's some truth to that.
Unlike TWG, WOF's original players have either retired or transferred to other teams. Now, WOF's old fans are mostly fans of Lee Hwan-bin, and given his already outstanding popularity, it's no wonder that some people in the team are envious.
The players on both sides took their seats and began preparation time. The random map for this round was Renia Harbor.
Sniper image.
On the commentary stage, the two commentators began to analyze the advantages and disadvantages that this map would bring to the two teams.
Since neither WOF nor KW are considered strong sniper teams, their analysis mainly focuses on assault and medic roles.
In the playoffs, it was another clash of strong teams, and the two commentators talked themselves hoarse, making a whole host of predictions. However, as soon as the game started, WOF swiftly delivered their first kill.
"Jin started the game by heading straight for point A from the main road, and was killed by KW sniper with two headshots. This..."
The audience erupted in uproar, and even the commentator was at a loss for words.
Xu Ziyan heard Shen Xiao beside her grit his teeth and curse.
--
A true man keeps his word; if he says he'll act, he'll act.
Despite Secret's relentless efforts to capture point A, time ran out to continue the attack on point B, and WOF lost the first game without a doubt.
Xu Ziyan didn't need to look at his phone to know that the internet was already in an uproar.
Xie Wei noticed something was wrong and frowned: "WOF, what's going on?"
Shen Xiao chuckled: "Someone's throwing the match."
Bai Chen asked, "Have you notified the alliance yet?"
“It’s no use,” Shen Xiao said. “This guy didn’t take any money, didn’t gamble, and wasn’t instigated by anyone. He just went there purely to annoy WOF.”
Yuan Shaofeng was dumbfounded: "Is this even possible? Why don't they use other people?"
Xie Wei said, "It's no use, WOF's second team's attack is simply not working." He paused, "But in the next game, even if they can't work, the second team will have to play."
Shen Xiao pursed his lips and remained silent.
Whether intentional or not, the camera just happened to cut to Li Huanbin in the rest room at this moment. He didn't look at the camera or his teammates beside him. He just leaned back on the sofa and stared blankly at the screen hanging on the wall.
Jin was nowhere to be seen, and WOF's head coach was on the phone, looking anxious.
A murmur rippled through the audience. Xie Wei frowned, watching the scene in the WOF lounge on the screen. Turning to Xu Ziyan, she saw his knowing look and whispered, "You knew all along?"
Xu Ziyan was inwardly marveling at the gossip when she was suddenly asked the question. She smiled awkwardly and honestly replied, "Um... I heard Seamy mention it before."
Xie Wei said, "...How come I didn't know you two were so close?"
Xu Ziyan was taken aback for a moment, then turned to look at him and chuckled, "Is Xie Shen jealous?"
Xie Wei replied matter-of-factly, "Yes."
Xu Ziyan was about to say something when he suddenly heard the commentator on stage say with a smile, in an attempt to ease the atmosphere, "By the way, the director just told me that we have a few mystery guests coming to our show today. Can you guess who they are?"
Another commentator chimed in enthusiastically, "Oh? Who is it?"
Xu Ziyan immediately sensed something was wrong. Turning her head, she found that the screen no longer displayed the lifeless WOF lounge, but a black-haired man wearing a mask.
The man was leaning against the armrest of a seat, talking to the young man next to him. The two were very close, and their posture was ambiguous and intimate.
Xu Ziyan blinked blankly.
Isn't that guy sitting next to me, staring blankly at the camera, himself?
Xie Wei also realized he was being photographed. He had obviously experienced similar situations many times before. At this moment, he remained calm, raised his hand to pull down his mask, and smiled at the camera with great composure and ease.
The audience erupted in screams, and those in the front rows turned around in surprise, covering their mouths as they watched.
Creating distance now would seem too deliberate. So Xu Ziyan could only follow suit and force a smile.
Actually, my palms were already a little sweaty.
"Wow, Xie Shen and Bing Shen are both here!" the commentator exclaimed excitedly. "Does this mean that the other members of TWG are also nearby?"
As he spoke, the camera slowly panned to Shen Xiao and Bai Chen.
Seeing his face disappear from the big screen, Xu Ziyan immediately breathed a sigh of relief.
Xie Wei's smiling voice rang in her ears: "Why are you so nervous? It's going to be made public sooner or later."
Xu Ziyan froze, and her ears slowly turned red.
Shen Xiao was forcing a professional smile when he saw the two of them being all lovey-dovey, and he immediately became furious: "Stop showing off! Stop showing off!"
Yuan Shaofeng stiffly waved at the camera, which was considered making an appearance in front of the public. The camera finally moved away as if to appease him, and he breathed a sigh of relief, advising, "Xiaoshen, don't be angry. What goes around comes around. People like this always end up in a terrible state."
Shen Xiao remained silent for a long time, then sighed deeply, leaned back in his seat, and stopped talking.
In the second game, WOF made a substitution, with Xbu from the second team taking the field and Jin from the first team taking the field.
With one less player intentionally feeding kills, the viewing experience in this game has clearly improved a lot.
However, the second team members lacked both skill and cohesion, and KW was a strong team. No matter how good Li Huanbin was, he couldn't turn the tide. In the end, WOF lost to KW 2-0.
In the second game, Shen Xiao had calmed down and stopped focusing on WOF's situation, instead paying attention to KW, their potential opponent.
After discussing the match techniques, the TWG team returned to their van. Shen Xiao said, "This Pride is a tough opponent. He also uses stun guns and healing potions, but his skill level is definitely not as good as Ice's. KW's real troublemaker is this double assault strategy."
Xie Wei said, "Yeah. Actually, WOF had a chance in the second round, but once their sniper and medic were pinned down, they couldn't move at all and could only die endlessly."
WOF's Jin is a bit of a freeloader, but his sniping and medic skills are extremely high, and his technique and teamwork are excellent. Moreover, the map for this match was Viña Bay, a map favored for long-range combat, but even that couldn't save them.
Even veteran players like these were beaten so badly they couldn't fight back...
Yu Guangzhou said, "KW probably won't ask us to play a practice match. Even if they do, we can't accept." He opened the schedule in his hand, "Our next opponent will, barring any unforeseen circumstances, be KW."
"Before the match, we must prepare new tactics to face the challenge."
Xu Ziyan listened attentively when his phone vibrated in his pocket. He took it out and looked at it.
[KK: Hello, Ice, it's almost the end of the month, have you finished making up for the lost time?]
[KK: Here's a job for you. We cordially invite you to participate in the online commentary for the YNG vs. FTK match at 5 PM on the 27th. Just stream it, and the official channels will allocate viewers to you; the audience will definitely be huge.]
[KK: So, how's it going to be? Am I good to you, bro?]
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