With the World Championship approaching, Bai Jingyuan has once again thrown himself into intensive training, even wishing he could live at the esports base.
The competition is drawing ever closer, and soon there will only be one week left until the official start of the World Championship.
To help the King team members better adapt to the competition venue and overcome jet lag, Gu Qingqiu flew the entire team to Berlin a week in advance—the host city of the World Championship. She arranged for them to stay in a luxury hotel and even rented an e-sports base in Berlin and hired a team of sparring partners to help the King team adapt to the atmosphere of the international competition.
This extravagant behavior has aroused envy among fans of many other teams in China, who feel that Team King has already won at the starting line of international competitions.
King team fans were extremely pleased, even preparing a banner that read "Boss Autumn is awesome!" Some fans even turned a photo of Gu Qingqiu wearing sunglasses and sitting in the audience into a meme—"Boss Autumn's Gaze.jpg". Gu Qingqiu was surprised that fans would actually include her, and felt a little embarrassed.
Bai Jingyuan replied, "This is what you deserve. You are our team's best support! If it weren't for you protecting us from behind, we wouldn't be able to fight so bravely on the field!"
Gu Qingqiu thought about how she was indeed a sugar daddy, and felt at ease standing up straight.
There are still some differences between international and domestic competitions in terms of detailed rules, game versions and parameters. Even though they started training a month in advance, King team still exposed many problems when they actually faced international practice partners. The players began to feel anxious, and even the tactical coach was a little nervous.
Although Gu Qingqiu wasn't exactly an expert in esports, she was good at comforting people. "Think about it, you're not used to the foreign players' style of play, and the foreign players aren't used to our style of play either. It's fair in that respect. Besides, we even found foreign teams to practice with beforehand. As far as I know, those arrogant foreigners have never had anyone from our region practice with them!"
This reassurance did have some effect; the team members quickly regained some of their spirits. This wasn't what Bai Jingyuan had been worried about.
Gu Qingqiu could tell that Bai Jingyuan had been in a state of high tension and excitement since arriving in Berlin. He even woke up several times at night, as if he had insomnia and couldn't fall asleep.
Fearing that directly asking him would put more pressure on him, Gu Qingqiu tried to probe indirectly, but Bai Jingyuan seemed to be completely unaffected. Gu Qingqiu could only alleviate his anxiety by warming milk for him at night, using aromatherapy, and playing soothing music. Although the effect seemed minimal, it was better than nothing.
Three days before the official competition, the other two teams from the Chinese region and some spectators who came to watch the game also arrived in Berlin one after another.
No matter how antagonistic these fans may be in China, once they go abroad, they become a community of shared interests with the sole goal of winning the championship, and they actually get along very well.
Taking advantage of the momentum, Gu Qingqiu arranged training matches with two other teams. The King team has been playing against both international and domestic players these past few days, which has greatly improved their adaptability.
As the official competition began, Team King once again maintained their excellent tradition of good luck. They drew a Vietnamese team in the first round, a Thai team in the second round, and received a bye in the third round, thus advancing directly to the finals.
King's fans even started celebrating early – "We thought our little King was going to show off his skills on the world stage, but he turned the world championship into the Asian championship..."
But there's a saying that you shouldn't make promises you can't keep. Before the King team could even celebrate, they were drawn against a championship favorite, a team from South Korea, in the fourth round of the competition.
South Korea's e-sports development in recent years has been remarkable, with outstanding performances in international competitions. They are also willing to spend a lot of money to hire coaches and even attract foreign players.
Team King was indeed under great tension. Although the outcome of this round would not result in direct elimination, it was crucial for advancing to the finals and would also have a significant impact on morale.
Like King, this Korean team won smoothly in the first three rounds and is eager to compete again. Their players even took the initiative to provoke King on social media.
However, the King team had already made a pact on the plane to go abroad: no one was allowed to use social media before the official competition ended, in order to prevent their mentality from being affected by online comments. So the provocations from the Korean team were almost like fighting against thin air.
Although the King team members did not react, the actions of the Korean team angered many esports fans in China. They acted as trolls, flooding several of the Korean team's social media accounts, forcing them to delete the relevant posts. One of them even couldn't bear the pressure and deleted his social media account. It's unclear whether their self-inflicted damage will affect their performance in the competition.
Lady Luck seemed to be on King's side, as they unintentionally banned the Korean player's newly practiced trump card during the hero selection phase. The Korean player hadn't even revealed any information about practicing this hero in any public matches. Their plans were disrupted at the last minute, and they could only grit their teeth and swallow their disappointment.
As a result, the King team won again, which surprised them. This Korean team, a favorite to win the championship, was even easier to beat than the Thai team they had faced a few days ago!
That Thai team knew they couldn't win, so they used a strategy of killing a thousand enemies while losing eight hundred of their own, dragging out the game for over forty minutes before it ended, meaning that even if the King team won, they wouldn't accumulate many points.
When the news of King's victory over the Korean team reached China, it quickly sparked another round of cheers. They were truly amazing!
However, the South Korean team did not give up. In the next two rounds, they defeated the other two teams from the Chinese region and even indirectly eliminated one Chinese team, thus advancing to the finals.
After a fierce battle and victory against a strong local team in Berlin, Team King also advanced to the finals.
Based on the final standings, Team King, Team Germany, and Team Korea advanced to the grand finals.
As the only remaining Chinese team in the World Championship, Team King is under immense pressure.
Prior to this, teams from the Chinese region had won the world championship for two consecutive years. In other words, even though reaching the world championship finals was an unprecedented achievement for Team King, for domestic esports fans, this battle could only be won, not lost.
Putting everything else aside, if they lose and return home, they will definitely face enormous public pressure.
This time, Gu Qingqiu was so anxious that she couldn't sleep.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
