Big Brother's daily routine with newcomers
The sunlight of the new season filtered through the training room's glass windows, shimmering on the brand-new gaming chairs. Two unfamiliar faces appeared in the AY team's practice room: 18-year-old jungler Xiaoyu, clutching his keyboard next to Lin Yu, his eyes filled with nervousness; and 19-year-old mid laner Xiaoyuan, clutching his mouse, occasionally furtively glancing at Su Ran across from him. As the team's veteran core, Lin Yu and Su Ran automatically took on the responsibility of mentoring the newcomers. Two columns of "Newcomer Guidance Notes" were added to the training schedule, and even the topic of conversation during breaks shifted from "tactical adjustments" to "how to teach Xiaoyu to remember jungle spawn times."
When Xiaoyu first joined the team, the biggest problem was the chaotic jungle route. In his first practice match, he controlled Pei Qinhu and went to counter the blue zone, but was caught by the opponent's mid laner. When he came back, he missed the jungler in his own red zone, resulting in an early gold deficit of 2,000. After the game, Xiaoyu sat dejectedly in his chair, his fingers unconsciously scratching the edge of the keyboard. Lin Yu came over, but instead of criticizing him, he moved a chair to sit next to him and pulled out a notebook from the drawer - it was the one he used when he first started playing professionally. The cover was a little worn, and it was filled with colorful jungle route maps.
"Look," Lin Yu opened his notebook and pointed to a page with a route marked in blue pen. "When playing in the red zone, you must first check the minimap. If the opponent's mid laner is clearing the line in the middle lane, you can play with confidence. If the mid laner disappears, you must ask Xiaoyuan to help you with vision, just like Su Ran helped me back then." As he spoke, he opened a video of his early training. In the video, before each jungle invasion, Su Ran would place a vision in the middle river and remind him in the voicemail that "the opponent's jungler is in the blue zone, you can counter the red zone." Next to the progress bar of the video, Su Ran's handwritten "mid laner support time points" were densely packed, from "helping the jungler to watch the red zone at 3 minutes and 10 seconds" to "cooperating to take the river crab at 7 and a half minutes", every detail was clearly marked.
Xiaoyu watched the interaction in the video, then looked down at the notes in Lin Yu's notebook. Suddenly, his eyes reddened. "Captain Lin, I didn't know before that playing in the jungle required paying attention to so many details."
"Take your time," Lin Yu patted his shoulder and said with a smile, "When I first joined the team, I was even worse than you. In my first training match, I gave up all the red and blue buffs to the opponent. Su Ran didn't scold me, but instead practiced jungle routes with me for a week. If you don't understand anything, feel free to ask me, or you can ask Su Ran."
Su Ran, on the other hand, paid more attention to detail. Xiao Yuan's mage skills were always off, especially Wang Zhaojun's second skill, "Imprison Frost," which would miss eight out of ten times. One night, when they were the only two left in the training room, Su Ran accompanied Xiao Yuan in a 1v1 solo. Xiao Yuan, controlling Wang Zhaojun, misplaced his second skill for the third time, allowing Mai Shiranui to counterattack and kill him. He scratched his hair in frustration and tried to close the game, but Su Ran stopped him.
"Don't be anxious," Su Ran paused the game and pointed at the replay on the screen, "Look here, the opponent's Mai Shiranui has flash, you were too hasty when you released the second skill, you should have waited for her to use the flash before releasing the control. When I used to cooperate with Lin Yu, he played Lan from behind, I would wait for the opponent to use the displacement before freezing him, so as to ensure that he could keep up with the output." As he said, he opened his skill release record, which contained hundreds of "Wang Zhaojun's second skill hit data", from "80% hit rate at a distance of 300 yards" to "Delay 0.5 seconds to release skills when facing heroes with flash", each of which was the experience he had tried out bit by bit back then.
While Su Ran was explaining, Xiao Yuan started a new game with him. This time, Xiao Yuan followed Su Ran's instructions and waited for the opponent's Mai Shiranui to use her flash before using her second skill. As expected, he successfully froze her and used her ultimate to get the kill. After the game, Su Ran took a carton of milk from the refrigerator, heated it up, and handed it to Xiao Yuan: "It's too late. Have a cup of hot milk before going back. Don't stay up late to practice. You have to get up early to practice tomorrow."
Xiaoyuan took the milk and felt the warmth in his hand. He suddenly remembered the medicine box on Su Ran's desk—it contained eye drops for eye fatigue, and the bottle was almost empty. He knew that Su Ran had been working late into the night for two consecutive days to practice 1v1 with him. "Captain Su, thank you," Xiaoyuan whispered. "I will work harder in the future and won't let you down."
Su Ran smiled and ruffled his hair: "Don't worry, we went through this too. The important thing is to find your own rhythm and cooperate well with your teammates."
During a scrimmages, Team AY faced Team GT, a mid-tier team in the league. Midway through the match, Xiaoyu's Lan tried to steal the Overlord, but failed to notice the enemy jungler was nearby, leading to him being surrounded. Xiaoyuan's Wu Zetian tried to provide support, but nervously misfired his ultimate, resulting in the team not only failing to secure the Overlord but also suffering a three-kill wave from the enemy. After the match, Xiaoyu and Xiaoyuan sat dejected in a corner, not even attending dinner.
After Lin Yu and Su Ran learned about this, they didn't hold a review meeting. Instead, they called the two players to the break area and pulled out an old photo from their phones. It was a group photo from their first playoff game. In the photo, the two players were wearing their old uniforms, their faces filled with disappointment. "We were even worse off than you back then," Lin Yu said with a smile. "In the first playoff game, we were up 5,000 gold in the last game, but because of my poor coordination with Su Ran, we lost the game. Back then, we were just like you. We felt completely useless and even considered giving up."
Su Ran pulled out a notebook containing a yellowed sheet of paper containing their replay notes from that year. The handwriting was a bit sloppy, and traces of tears could still be seen. "Later, we practiced for a whole month, from 8 a.m. to 12 p.m. every day, reviewing every teamfight we'd messed up, until we finally found our rhythm." He pointed to a sentence in the notebook. "Look, this is what I wrote back then: 'As long as I'm with Lin Yu, there's no game I can't win.' Now I want to pass this on to you—as long as you work together well and trust each other, you'll definitely win."
Xiaoyu and Xiaoyuan looked at the tear-soaked notebook, then at the smiling Lin Yu and Su Ran before them, and suddenly felt motivated. "Captain Lin, Captain Su, we know we were wrong," Xiaoyu raised his head, his eyes filled with determination. "We'll start reviewing tomorrow, and we'll definitely cooperate well from now on."
"Okay," Lin Yu said with a smile, "I'll review the game with you tomorrow, and Su Ran will also help you adjust the support rhythm of the mid laner."
Midway through the season, Team AY faced the powerful Team LK, and the coach decided to start Xiaoyu and Xiaoyuan. On the day of the match, Xiaoyu's hands were shaking as he gripped the keyboard, and Xiaoyuan repeatedly confirmed in the voice chat, "I'll help you with the blue zone vision later." Lin Yu and Su Ran sat on the bench, silent, except for a pat on the shoulder before the game began.
The game reached a crucial moment, with the two teams facing off in the Storm Dragon King pit. Xiaoyu's Pei Qinhu attempted to flank the opposing marksman, but was surrounded by the enemy jungler and support, leaving him with only one-third of his health remaining. At this moment, Xiaoyuan's Wu Zetian suddenly flanked from the flank. Instead of rushing to unleash her ultimate, she waited until the enemy support had finished using their crowd control skills before unleashing "Life and Death," accurately targeting three players. Xiaoyu seized the opportunity, synergizing with Xiaoyuan's damage output to secure a double kill and ultimately take down the Storm Dragon King.
After the game, Xiaoyu and Xiaoyuan rushed to the bench, hugged Linyu and Suran, and excitedly shouted, "We did it! We won!" Linyu and Suran smiled at each other, their eyes filled with relief. Xiaoyu's jungle routes were becoming increasingly clear, and he had learned to adjust his rhythm according to the situation. Xiaoyuan's mage skills were becoming more and more precise, even using the technique of "delayed control" at critical moments. They not only preserved the glory of Team AY, but also passed on the belief of "fighting side by side and trusting each other" to the next generation of players.
Under the lights of the training room, Xiaoyu and Xiaoyuan were reviewing their matches. Linyu sat beside them, occasionally reminding them, "You can counter-jungle early here." Suran, on the other side, helped Xiaoyuan adjust the placement of Wu Zetian's ultimate. As the night deepened outside the window, the clatter of keyboards and the hum of discussion in the training room blended like a warm song. Linyu and Suran, looking at the two newcomers before them, seemed to see themselves back then—from immaturity to maturity, from unfamiliarity to rapport, from "wanting to win the game" to "wanting to win the game with my teammates."
They know their esports careers will eventually end, but their shared commitment to fighting side by side will never fade. Just as their veteran teammates taught them, they've passed on their experience to Xiaoyu and Xiaoyuan, and they, in turn, will continue to pass on this belief, ensuring the glory of Team AY shines forever on the field.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
