Chapter 74 Training Base
[Old Ma finally decided to go live! I thought the live streaming contract was stuck with IN, but thankfully the business contract came along too, hehehe]
[Stir-fry some chili peppers and pork to make a delicious meal with rice]
[Is this JR's training base? Holy crap, a live stream of players training in live armor from a first-person perspective?!]
[JR's training facility is so high-tech! Why are they displaying outer plate durability and player stats on the big screen? That's incredibly advanced! Are there any active players in the live stream explaining this? Are other training facilities like this too?]
[I'm so envious! Other teams never change the outer plates of their mechs during training, and nobody cares about the physical condition of their sparring partners. JR, how come you actually treat your sparring partners like human beings? I'm a little unaccustomed to this...]
[Friendly reminder: Juke's official website is still recruiting training partners.]
Peng Yi projected the live stream onto the wall and typed replies to the comments on the terminal screen.
As a well-known gossip video account operator, she regularly produces two articles every week.
The topic of Mashsen's comeback has been very popular in Star Alliance recently, and it would be a waste not to capitalize on this popularity.
She came to watch the live stream with a specific purpose in mind, planning to create a video about Ma Xusen after it ended, titled "His comeback has lost its luster, his competitive form has declined, and contract disputes have ruined another talented tank." The arguments in the comments section alone would be enough to generate a wave of negative and positive traffic for her.
However, even though the show had just started airing, Peng Yi's attention was drawn to the luxurious equipment in the training room.
She had visited quite a few team training bases, but this was the first time she had ever seen two whole rows of dynamic, moving, lifelike beetles neatly arranged in a cabinet against the wall.
These training beetles have skyrocketed in price to over 200,000 yuan each, and the attrition rate is ridiculously high. Only big teams with deep pockets would provide their players with one before a competition to practice, but the JR team actually collected a whole cabinet of them.
Just as she was beginning to suspect that these lifelike beetles were all models, Ma Xusen's live stream camera panned to the training process of the support mechs on the other side.
The grappling hook of the support mech was striking the back of the simulated beetle. Each heavy blow could destroy this expensive simulation training equipment at any moment. The equipment wear and tear per second was enough to cover Peng Yi's rent for this month.
She knew that the owner of the JR team was rich, but how much power did he have to support such a high cost of consumables?
She tore open a bag of potato chips in shock.
But as the fighting action from Ma Xusen's first-person perspective became faster and faster, her attention was drawn to the high-intensity combat training in the center of the screen.
Who is the sparring partner who is fighting against Mashsen?
She watched the match when Ma Xusen came back, and his level was definitely at the top level among active players. It wouldn't be an exaggeration to say that he is currently the best offensive hard tank player.
Who is strong enough to fight him to a standstill in close combat?
Peng Yi subconsciously felt that the sparring partner on the other side might be another player from the JR team, but the live stream camera had already scanned the support and long-short blade mechs in the team, so the person on the other side must be a sparring partner.
The first-person perspective action is dazzling; even in the main league, you might not see a solo duel of this quality.
The number of viewers watching the live stream quickly jumped from a few thousand to over 60,000, and the popularity continued to rise at an astonishing rate. The audience's attention was clearly focused on this mysterious sparring partner.
[Who's that guy on the other side? He looks like he's using a gun armor set. Are there any gunners in the entire league right now who are this strong in close combat?]
[His movement skills are better than many support players. With such smooth gameplay, why is he still playing as a practice partner?]
[Old Ma, stop fighting for now. Could you let that little sparring partner on the other side come out of the cabin and let us take a look?]
[Hilarious! There are hundreds of thousands of viewers online right now. By the time the stream ends, the other person's net worth will have increased by at least 100,000.]
Peng Yi was even more anxious than the other viewers in front of the screen.
Two team owners she knew knew she was well-informed and had already sent her private messages asking her to keep an eye on the live streams and be ready to poach players at any time.
Thinking that the owner of the JR team might be rich and that this might be a temporary training camp for current players poached from other teams, Peng Yi simply pulled out all the starting gunners in the main league and questioned them.
The training session in the live stream finally ended, but Ma Xusen seemed not to see the comments at all, and even strolled leisurely to the cafeteria with the camera.
Although Peng Yi already knew that the JR team's base cafeteria offered good service, he didn't expect it to be this good.
It's human nature; her attention was quickly drawn to the food.
Unlike the traditional large-pot dishes at other team bases, each player here receives a different dish.
On the small table in front of Ma Xusen were soy sauce grouper, slow-cooked beef ribs, a plate of stir-fried asparagus, and a bowl of pigeon claypot rice; the overall flavor was rather light.
While chewing, Ma Xusen explained to the camera that the chefs at the training base take into account each player's taste and preferences when preparing dishes, and also consider the dietary ratio of protein, vegetables, carbohydrates, etc. proposed by the nutritionist.
The rich, dark sauce from the beef short ribs has completely permeated every fiber of the meat, giving it a savory, slightly sweet flavor, and it's still steaming hot.
Watching large chunks of meat being mixed into rice and swallowed in one bite on the screen, the viewers in the live chat were practically drooling.
Peng Yi held a potato chip in her right hand, and for a moment, the potato chip didn't taste good anymore.
Can this be called a cafeteria?
The presentation of these dishes clearly surpasses that of many high-end restaurants.
Back then, JR team paid their chefs an unlimited salary, and she couldn't even imagine how much money President Fang actually gave to these chefs.
In the player forum section, many players have already started threads using screenshots from live streams, seemingly implying that their team owner is too stingy.
The training ended at nearly 10 p.m., which is the time when many people crave a late-night snack after dinner.
The live stream suddenly shifted to a food channel, and the chat topics veered off in completely different directions, all asking how to get a job with the JR esports team.
Ma Xusen buried himself in his food for a long time, and only when he was almost finished did he finally notice the audience's discussion about the role of a sparring partner.
In the video, he nudged the sparring partner next to him with his elbow, but the other person's face still didn't appear in the live stream.
"The comments are all asking why you're not appearing on screen. Oh right, when does Boss Fang want you to go on stage?"
Ling Han paused for a long time, glanced at her palm off-camera, and stammered out her only line: "The week after next."
As soon as he said that, the barrage of comments exploded as if it had been bombarded by drones.
In front of the screen, Peng Yi could no longer sit still. While copying and pasting several bullet comments expressing anticipation for the new players to appear, he frantically sifted through the youth training player lists of various veteran teams for suspicious candidates.
The next second, the live stream camera jerked and finally zoomed in on the person's face.
Peng Yi instinctively held her breath. The instant she saw that face, she already knew the title for her next video—
"Eight-year ban reduced to five? A hidden gem of a player, possessing both skill and good looks, finally returns to the arena."
Five years is a really long time, so long that many viewers in the live chat regarded this player as a newcomer who had never played a game before.
But as a new media professional who has been in the industry for nearly ten years, Peng Yi certainly recognized the face in the live stream.
She knew almost all the talented newcomers like the back of her hand, and among them, Ling Han was the one she felt most sorry for.
He was only eighteen years old when he was suspended due to his mentally challenged teammate. In the few post-game interviews he did play, he was both naive and arrogant. At that time, many media outlets had already noticed this rising star.
At that time, the league was in a transitional phase, with the previous GOAT retiring gloriously at the age of thirty-six. The Star Government's top officials wanted to personally step in and support a new god or a new myth team to serve as the face of the league and bring mech competitions into the public eye.
At that time, Peng Yi almost thought that the higher-ups were going to include Ling Han in the list of candidates.
A newcomer from humble beginnings, handsome in appearance, and with such aggressive and eye-catching actions, is almost a perfect image that can maximize the sense of empathy among a large number of ordinary young people in the Star Alliance.
But what happened next is something everyone knows...
Ling Han was banned from competition for eight years, and the Star Government selected YXG team, where Lin Yuzheng was the new god.
Although YXG did achieve great results and dominated the league for many years, Peng Yi always felt that there was a lack of immersion.
Even if you argue to the extreme, mecha competitions are still too far removed from the lives of ordinary people.
In the past, it was still possible to occasionally see the myth of children from impoverished families passing ability tests, but with the rise of intensive training programs in recent years, the probability of such myths has become increasingly low.
In any case, Peng Yi finds it difficult to relate to the so-called inspirational path to success of those rich second-generation contestants, just as she dislikes ugly kids from capital entering the entertainment industry.
The older generation has already enjoyed so many resources, so why should their children have to rely on early training and connections to get into the industry?
I wonder how Mr. Fang managed to persuade the league committee to reduce the ban restrictions. If he used his money, then this must be the episode where his money was most effective.
Peng Yi's mind began to tilt.
She found it hard not to slightly favor this team that had risen through the ranks entirely through the hard work of grassroots players. She was even somewhat grateful to President Fang for being willing to abandon the unspoken rules of exchanging favors in the industry and to discover potential players regardless of their background.
This is true vision, this is the pure spirit of mecha!
Peng Yi was filled with excitement. He deleted the black-and-red article that he had only half-written the night before and wrote a full-fledged documentary article that clearly analyzed all of Ling Han's experiences since her debut.
After finishing writing, she immediately posted the live video to all the mecha competition-related groups she knew. These groups included veteran self-media people who had been in the industry for many years, professional journalists, and news professionals working for top media outlets.
Please, everyone, help spread the word about this promising newcomer! He's really had a tough time!
After hesitating for a while, she decided to do her part by sending a small red envelope.
Before she could even decide how much to choose, someone in the group had already sent a large red envelope totaling tens of thousands of yuan.
While Peng Yi was still stunned, the person who sent the red envelope added her as a friend:
[Hello Ms. Peng, thank you for your support of contestant Ling Han. Juke currently has a video reward program; you'll receive a cash reward for every video you create related to Ling Han. The reward is based on traffic, with a minimum guaranteed reward of 50,000 yuan.]
Is it that fun?!
The light of righteousness finally shone upon her.
This kind of collaboration is common in the media industry. Often, a company will pre-order a batch of videos and then try to encourage new bloggers to create more content, so they will try different ways to give money. But this is the first time she has ever seen such a large sum of money.
The image of Mr. Fang in her mind has gradually changed.
The image of Boss Fang in her mind was now radiating a kind golden light, dressed in a simple white robe, like a Middle Eastern oil merchant from ancient legends. A single glance at him would drop a random amount of gold coins.
Peng Yi's smile was practically reaching the sky. She quickly replied with a cute spinning emoji. She edited the video overnight and promptly put it in her drafts at noon the next day, when traffic was at its peak.
Her heart was pounding. After all, this video was completely different from her usual videos that targeted the lower-tier market. She didn't know if the audience would like it.
Feeling a little uneasy, she forced herself to click send.
The clock hadn't struck twelve yet, and Fang Zhuo was casually leaning against his desk, sipping coffee.
Compared to the marketing feedback he had just planned regarding Ling Han, he had something even more important to do.
Jiang Yu turned and knocked on the office door: "President Fang, the materials have passed the official review. Should we still release them at 12 o'clock sharp?"
Fang Zhuo nodded.
As the clock struck twelve, a procurement announcement for S-class new energy mechs appeared precisely on the league's official website.
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