Chapter 67 Discovering Players
Lin Yuzheng knew that his suggestion seemed naive in the other party's eyes, and that it seemed a bit too eager to achieve results.
Zeng Ge has invisibly interfered with the development trajectories of so many players before, and his operational experience and methods are definitely much richer than Lin Yuzheng's own.
But Lin Yuzheng couldn't put himself in the position of the perpetrator. His words were tantamount to handing the initiative to Zeng Ge, and he wanted to ensure that he was "innocent" enough.
During this anxious period, Lin Yuzheng had come to a realization—that Zeng Ge would never harm him.
Although he didn't know why Zeng Ge changed the original plot of the book, his team's performance was not affected at all, and they won every championship they were supposed to win.
They just won the main league title last year, and barring any unforeseen circumstances, their absolute dominance in Covenant Mech competitions will last for at least seven or eight years.
Aside from him and Zeng, the other three teammates in the team were all replaced. The skill level of the new three was not much different from that of the original teammates, but the difference was that the new teammates came from wealthy and powerful families.
In mech competitions where financial investment is crucial, having sufficient funds is the biggest advantage.
The new teammates not only brought more advanced training equipment to the team, but after the competition, Lin Yuzheng also enjoyed many of the luxurious treatments that only wealthy young men in high society could enjoy.
During the years he played in the competition, he visited all the luxurious private clubs in the entire Star Alliance that even those with connections might not be able to get into. He took the opportunity to socialize with various business tycoons in the world of fame and fortune. Even a teammate from Bai's Technology casually gave him a limited edition sports car.
The plot changes made by Zeng Ge did not harm Lin Yuzheng at all; in fact, they brought him real benefits.
Lin Yuzheng continued to pinch his left hand.
The three parts of panic in his expression were genuine, while the other seven parts were an act.
Sure enough, Zeng Ge smiled and ruffled his hair: "How can you be so silly? You've only been playing for a few years. Sixty million is most of your savings, isn't it?"
"It's not that time yet, we don't need your money, I have a way."
Lin Yuzheng forced a smile, his expression a mixture of worry and apprehension: "Brother Zeng, just tell me if you need anything. I'm not completely clueless."
“I know,” Zeng Ge repeated, his tone meaningful. “Yu Zheng, I know everything.”
After watching Lin Yuzheng's departing figure, Zeng Ge sat alone backstage in the interview room, closing his eyes and quietly pondering Fang Zhuo's possible next move.
Now that JR has players with long and short blades and support positions, it seems that JR's manager, Mr. Fang, is more focused on a player's functionality. Therefore, the next player they should contact is most likely a tank.
There are countless reliable tank players in the Star Alliance, but only a handful have the mechanical skill to turn the tide of a game...
Zeng Ge suddenly opened his eyes.
Will the owner of JR find the player he's looking for?
The worst-case scenario he could assume was that JR's boss had also read the original text of "Broken Army Soul" and even knew the direction of every little plot point by heart.
If it's really that unfortunate, then the tricks he used on those contestants before will definitely be discovered by them.
Zeng Ge's heart sank heavily. For the first time in five years, he felt that his methods had been so obvious.
Why didn't I put in a little more effort to cover it up back then...?
The lights in the front interview room had already been turned off, and the backstage area was now pitch black. He quickly grabbed his coat and walked through the long corridor.
Fang Zhuo and Jiang Yu said goodbye at the end of the company corridor. Fang Zhuo looked at his watch; it was already 11 p.m.
Fang Zhuo briefly instructed, "Help me schedule a meeting with the IN team tomorrow, and gather the latest information on their tank player, Ma Xusen. Send the information to my email before 10:30 tomorrow morning. The legal team will also come with me tomorrow."
This player's situation is much more difficult than the previous two; tomorrow will be a tough battle.
A little past eleven o'clock, the coat scraped against the metal handrail in the corridor, the zipper constantly colliding with the handrail, making a small but sharp knocking sound.
Everyone else in the base was sleeping on the second floor. On the table in the training room on the first floor were special masks for blocking adhesive, which allowed people to speak freely in the virtual pod.
Ma Xusen rubbed his temples, tightened his mask, and adjusted its position in front of the mirror for a long time before finally getting it into the right mode and quickly crawling into the virtual reality pod.
He had just finished moving various training equipment for his starting teammates during the day, and his whole body was sore and weak. Now he was feeling sleepy and couldn't stop yawning behind his mask, but he still planned to livestream for as long as he could.
There aren't many players training right now, so it's hard to get a match. But once you get into a match, the traffic is considerable, and you can easily earn a few thousand dollars in a single ranked game.
The PC game will automatically push the matches played in the virtual pod to the homepage pop-up window, and the official automatically recorded live streams will also drive traffic to his personal platform live stream room.
As soon as Ma Xusen opened his live stream room, the number of viewers quickly jumped to three or four thousand. This level of popularity and earning power is definitely among the top tier for professional players.
His fans are very loyal, and the comments section refreshes very quickly.
Why isn't Lao Ma playing today? He seems to be the manager of the IN team.
[The IN management has been dead for ages, and you're only finding out now?]
How much of Lao Ma's breach of contract penalty still needs to be paid off? Maybe he should borrow some from his teammates?
[Hehe, you know how ruthless IN is. Their teammates said their breach of contract penalty was even higher than Ma Ge's.]
In front of the camera, Ma Xusen tried his best to hide his disappointment.
He forced a smile at the camera, clicked the matchmaking button, and joked with the audience:
"Minors are not allowed to send gifts, and guys with debts are not allowed to send gifts. I need the gifts from rich guys. If you can afford it, send a rocket. Students can just like it to help guys get out of IN as soon as possible."
Although he was making such pronouncements, he knew that the process of redeeming himself would be very long, long enough to completely cover a player's golden professional career.
IN was once a rising star team with top-notch funding and training environment in the industry. The second owner was open-minded and young, and got along well with all the players.
The turning point came on the eve of the transfer window, and Mashsen still feels that night of the showdown is a nightmare.
Just as the players returned from a meal with the team's gunner, the second boss, unlike his usual amiable self, loudly questioned them about why they had violated the terms of the contract by contacting other team owners during the meal without permission.
Ma Xusen was completely bewildered. He had been with several teams before, but this was the first time he had ever heard of someone being impeached for writing a few words at a dinner party.
They didn't discuss the contract expiration date or specific salary, and their replies were mostly vague and polite.
Before the second boss reminded them, the players didn't even know that the person at the dinner table was also a team owner.
However, the second boss quickly produced the audio and video recordings from the dinner table, and, combined with the extremely harsh transfer clauses in the contract, sternly reprimanded these players for breaching the contract first.
Ma Xusen remained silent; he was the first to realize that they might have been set up by the team's gunner and second-in-command.
How could the other party suddenly pull out a surveillance video with sound half an hour after the dinner ended? This was clearly premeditated.
What followed was a long, one-sided critique.
Before the contestants could even react to what was happening, the second boss had already brought in several lawyers to try them one by one for their "crimes" such as not broadcasting enough live stream time and not participating in enough business activities last year.
It was only then that the players suddenly realized that the contract they had signed was several times stricter than the terms of other teams' contracts.
When they signed the contract, the second boss promised them that these business activities were unimportant, since professional players don't rely on business deals to make money anyway; they were just an added bonus to the team's overall commercial value, and he wouldn't use them to hinder them. However, that night, these seemingly insignificant clauses turned into weapons used against them.
After the showdown, the players initially thought that taking a step back would lead to a better future, since there was less than a week left before the transfer window opened, and they figured they could just endure it.
But they soon realized that this couldn't be left unresolved.
Even if the dispute with the team goes to court, the terms written in black and white on the contract are still like sharp knives aimed at them. They can't hate others, they can only hate themselves for being too naive and signing a contract that has been dug into their heads.
This incident quickly caused a huge uproar on the trending topics, with all opinions pointing to the team's unfair contract signing. The legal department, composed of more than ten lawyers, joined forces to dig a hole for the young players whose average age was less than twenty.
Netizens criticized IN esports for being too harsh on the contract clause regarding privately contacting other teams during the transfer period, and the long-term live streaming agency agreement attached to the contract also led to a serious consequence—players had to pay an exorbitant transfer fee before leaving.
The incident of four top players from the IN team having their contracts blocked has served as a wake-up call for all players.
After their incident, Star Alliance officially established a legal support organization for players, allowing them to apply for legal assistance before signing contracts.
Mashsen and his three teammates, on the other hand, became people who were forever stuck in the cracks of time.
The penalty he faces for breach of contract is not simply ten million or fifty million, but a full three hundred million.
This is a huge sum of money that even top players might not be able to accumulate in more than ten years. Some team owners have privately asked him about it, but they all hesitated because of the huge penalty for breach of contract.
Although these players are all top-tier, they are not Star Alliance GOAT level players. It would definitely be more cost-effective for the owners to pick up players who do not require any release clauses during the transfer period.
Ma Xusen's chances of getting out of jail are slim. Even if those teams have extra cash flow, the owners will definitely prefer to bring in more important gunners and long and short blades. Who would spend so much money to strengthen hard tanks?
After a long period of back-and-forth with the team, the relationship between the four of them and the team completely deteriorated.
At first, the second boss was willing to let them play, but on the one hand, the players themselves were holding a grudge and their performance was not outstanding; on the other hand, the chat on the official live broadcast was too chaotic, which was very disadvantageous for the team.
In the second season, the second owner brought in some promising new players and started letting them play in the rotation.
Nothing wears you down more than rotation on the field.
Ma Xusen's other three teammates gradually faded away due to the team's long-term questionable actions, and two of them, who were older, have already announced their retirement.
But Ma Xusen is only twenty years old this year, which is the best age for a mech player. He was once the most watched master of operation in the entire Star Alliance, and he was also the most anticipated newcomer in the youth training camp. He was once hailed by the media as a genius player who would completely change the hardcore tank ecosystem...
Those honors and accolades were too fleeting, too fleeting to even savor.
Like a dream, like an illusion, like a bubble, as he looked up at the constantly flashing data stream in the virtual pod, he desperately tried to hold back his tears.
[Don't cry, Old Ma, I'll send you a big rocket.]
[Damn, I feel so sorry for IN. You deserve to die. Haven't the major shareholders of IN who caused all that trouble back then been exposed yet? They held shares through more than ten shell companies, and then hastily cancelled the parent company that ultimately held the shares after the public outcry. Were they afraid that sharp-eyed netizens would discover the problem?]
[Old Ma, go to sleep after this game, your eyes are bloodshot from lack of sleep.]
[+1, get some rest. Your fans will always support you and wait for you to play. Maybe a kind team owner will come and pick you up first thing tomorrow morning, don't be sad QAQ]
Ma Xusen quickly ended the game, and in the instant he slashed at the opponent's base, he caught a glimpse of the rapidly scrolling barrage of comments out of the corner of his eye.
After the contract incident, he recovered his mindset the fastest and rarely broke down emotionally in the live broadcast room. He thanked his fans many times and then put his hands together and bowed slightly in the virtual pod.
He didn't believe that any boss would actually come to IN base to pick up people, but he was indeed in a bad mood tonight and probably really needed to rest.
He slept for a long time, and at 11 a.m., there was a knock on his door.
Ma Xusen initially thought it was another teammate calling him for dinner, but when he opened the door, he was greeted by the second boss's unpleasant, sour face:
"Two owners are coming over to talk to you about where you'll play next season. Come over here for a moment."
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
