Chapter 25 Zhou Zekai had just stepped into the club's doors...
As soon as Zhou Zekai stepped into the club's gate, Jiang Botao and the manager came up to him from downstairs, one on each side, clearly having been waiting for him for some time.
The manager cut to the chase, his gaze intense: "So... you're together?"
Zhou Zekai was slightly taken aback. Although he felt that he and Zhao Zhinian were already in sync, he shook his head gently, remembering that he had said he would formally confess his feelings again.
"How could such a handsome pig of ours not have managed to snag a cabbage!" Manager Samsara exclaimed, his face filled with disappointment. Jiang Botao, seeing this, quickly tried to offer some words of comfort, but Zhou Zekai laughed first, his eyes bright and resolute: "He will!"
This overly bright smile and resolute declaration left the two men, who had prepared a whole host of comforting words, completely speechless. The manager and Jiang Botao exchanged bewildered glances, unsure whether to continue sympathizing or applaud Zhou Zekai's excessive optimism.
Meanwhile, Zhao Zhinian was busy packing her luggage and had booked a logistics company to send it to Beijing tomorrow.
After finishing all that, Zhao Zhinian returned to the company to hand over her responsibilities. The director first offered his warm congratulations, then skillfully unfolded a "promising future" narrative, continuing to paint a rosy picture for her and urging her to work hard in Beijing. After all, the busier she was, the more money the company holding her management contract would make.
Zhao Zhinian also cooperated in the performance, thanking the company for its cultivation and the leaders for their kindness, promising to work hard and live up to expectations. He said one polite thing after another, and the guests and hosts were all happy.
After dealing with numerous trivial matters at the company, Zhao Zhinian wanted to have a farewell dinner with her best friend Lin An'an, but Lin An'an was working day and night on an important experiment, practically living and eating in the lab. Despite her busy schedule, Lin An'an still sent a gossipy message: "How far have things progressed between you and Zhou Zekai?"
Zhao Zhinian stared at the screen for a moment, realizing the question was a bit beyond her comprehension. Saying it was unrelated seemed too disingenuous, while saying it was related felt like she was still missing the final step. She could only reply, "Probably... the progress bar is stuck at 99%?"
Lin An'an replied instantly: "Where is the remaining 1% stuck? Is the internet speed bad?"
Zhao Zhinian: "It was probably him who said... he'll formally confess next time?"
Lin An'an sent a facepalm emoji: "Fine, your weird sense of ritual... As a single person, I don't understand it but I'm deeply shocked."
September arrived in the blink of an eye, and the registration deadline for the Glory Challenge was reached, with a staggering 14,218 teams participating.
Zhao Zhinian was speechless at the numbers, once again marveling at the wisdom of the official decision not to arrange commentators for the first three rounds. She looked at the team names mocking Team Excellent Era: "Is the scenery in the Excellent Era Challenge good?", "Who says my Excellent Era Challenge champion isn't a champion?", "Excellent Era, shall we play Challenge for the rest of our lives?"... Disgusting team names for Excellent Era were endless. If commentators were to read out these team names... the image was too beautiful for her to bear.
"This isn't a competition!" she couldn't help but complain. "This is clearly Excellent Era's exclusive roast session and fan meet-up!"
Meanwhile, the Yizhan team is about to make its league debut, with the opening game being an away game against last season's champions, Reincarnation.
During her last few days in Shanghai, Zhao Zhinian spent her time online helping Lin Shuang prepare promotional materials for Yi Zhan and review interview transcripts. Although the Yi Zhan team was about to head to Shanghai, Zhao Zhinian, as the resident host, didn't need to go with them. Just as she was preparing to book her flight back to Beijing, Lin Shuang's "SOS" call came through: "Zhinian! I need your help urgently! I'm afraid I can't handle the logistics for the first show by myself! Since you're in Shanghai now, stay a few more days and help me! We'll get Lou to reimburse our airfare and treat him to a big meal!"
Being able to watch Yizhan versus Samsara live is something to look forward to in itself, especially since she's never seen Zhou Zekai compete live before, so it's a win-win situation. With no other work in Beijing, Zhao Zhinian, after communicating with Lou Guanning, smiled and agreed to Lin Shuang's request: "Okay, I'll help you. I've discovered I might just have a natural affinity with girls surnamed Lin."
"Of course, our Lin family girls are just that lovable!" Lin Shuang replied proudly. During their time together, she learned that Zhao Zhinian's best friend from high school also had the surname Lin, and she had remarked that it was fate. Now she was directly praising the Lin family girls.
After hanging up the phone, she casually sent a message to Zhou Zekai: "The plan to return to Beijing is suspended. I'm going to watch your game."
It wasn't until evening that Zhou Zekai replied, clearly busy with training for the new season: "We'll see each other again." A moment later, he added: "Reincarnation will win."
Although she knew in her heart that Yizhan's chances of winning were slim, she couldn't help but tease him: "Gun King, are you openly provoking Yizhan in front of his staff?"
Zhou Zekai disagreed with Zhao Zhinian's self-identification and retorted confidently, "You are a member of the family through a cycle of reincarnation."
Her ears burned, and she typed a retort: "Hey! Hey!"
Zhou Zekai readily agreed: "I am a family member of the deceased." He then sent a photo: her house key had been strung together with a necklace, turning it into a huge pendant: "Family members have keys."
Zhao Zhinian looked at the screen, and the corners of her mouth unconsciously turned up. Although it was currently at 99%, it was obvious that the remaining 1% could be loaded at any time.
On Friday morning, Zhao Zhinian, a local, went to the airport to pick up Yizhan's entire team.
"Team Leader Lou." Upon seeing Yi Zhan and his group from afar, Zhao Zhinian quickly went up to greet them.
"Chinen, thank you for picking me up at the airport." Lou Guanning greeted her with a smile. "Lin Shuang has been saying that she definitely wouldn't be able to manage on her own without your help."
“Of course,” Zhao Zhinian said, her gaze inadvertently sweeping over the team members behind Lou Guanning. Wen Kebei was excitedly looking around, Zou Yunhai was quietly pushing the luggage cart, Gu Xiye and Zhong Yeli were huddled together chatting and laughing, and the other team members followed behind. As a newly formed team in the alliance, Yizhan naturally didn't receive any fan reception at the airport. This team, composed of "pay-to-win" players, looked more like a tour group on a trip at this moment.
After settling in, the members of Yizhan went to the training room for their final acclimatization training, while Zhao Zhinian and Lin Shuang prepared Yizhan support items for the next day in their hotel room.
Halfway through their work, Lin Shuang leaned over mysteriously and asked, "Zhinian, tell me honestly, what's your relationship with Zhou Zekai?"
Zhao Zhinian paused, but continued counting the banners without changing her expression: "Hmm?"
"Don't pretend!" Lin Shuang blinked. "A couple of days ago, Lou and the others were invited into a professional player group. As soon as they entered, they were questioned about 'how Yizhan poached Zhou's players,' which left Lou completely bewildered! Later, they found out it was about you! I thought you only got along well with our Lin family girls, but I didn't expect you to be even closer to the Zhou family boys!"
The official YiZhan Weibo account had already announced Zhao Zhinian's appointment as the resident host. Coupled with previous collaborations with YiZhan's players regarding business and interviews, Zhao Zhinian had been updating his Weibo daily with anecdotes about the YiZhan team, hoping to boost their popularity. Among the professional players, there were many gossip enthusiasts who quickly noticed this. Although they wanted to gossip, none of the YiZhan members were in the group chat, and Zhou Zekai remained completely silent, so they had to give up. Finally, when the YiZhan members joined the group, the welcome was followed by a round of gossip.
Zhao Zhinian then realized that the gossip about her and Zhou Zekai had already spread among the professional gamers.
"We're friends," she tried to say.
"What kind of friends? Boyfriends or girlfriends?" Lin Shuang pressed on.
Zhao Zhinian had no choice but to resort to her trump card: "Looks like you're handling this with ease, you even have time to gossip! You can pretend to be a supporter yourself!"
"I was wrong, I was wrong!" Lin Shuang surrendered instantly. "What I meant by 'men and women' was gender! Friends! Pure friendship! Let's pack a hundred cheers to toast your friendship!"
After finishing the pre-match preparations, Zhao Zhinian took time out of his busy schedule to watch the first round of the Glory Challenge that evening.
The consequences of the low entry threshold were on full display at this moment: late arrivals, inability to gather enough team members at the last minute, and even some contestants asking Excellent Era team members who had been relegated to the Challenger League for photos... all sorts of situations arose one after another, and the live broadcast room was filled with a joyful atmosphere.
Seeing the chaotic scene that resembled a large-scale offline fan meeting and idol-chasing event, Zhao Zhinian once again deeply agreed with the league's foresight: there was indeed no need to arrange official commentary for the first few rounds of the challenge.
This kind of silly, comedic scene of noobs pecking at each other is best left for the players to enjoy themselves.
The match day finally arrived.
Zhao Zhinian arrived at the venue with the team, and after lunch, she and Lin Shuang distributed support items at the audience entrance.
Looking at the massive crowds of fans supporting Samsara across the street, Lin Shuang sighed sincerely, "I'm so envious... When will we ever have that kind of support?"
Zhao Zhinian smiled and comforted them, "After all, they are the champion team from last season, with several All-Star players. If our team plays well, we will gain more and more fans."
While promotion and team management can attract fans, esports is still all about skill, and the most effective way to gain fans is through "victory".
After finishing setting up the cheering banner, Lin Shuang was no longer at the mercy of others. She stood up again and continued to tease Zhao Zhinian: "After all, your Zhou family boy is the number one player in the league. How can we compare?"
Zhao Zhinian could only roll her eyes at her helplessly.
Meanwhile, the Samsara Team was "fully mobilized," marching in a grand procession toward the Yizhan Rest Room.
The reason why the champion team could appear so neatly at the opponent's door was naturally because they had all heard that Zhao Zhinian, the host of Yizhan who the captain dreamed of, was also there today.
"Just go say hello and show the sportsmanship of a champion team." Jiang Botao couldn't resist his teammates' enthusiasm for gossip, so he gave everyone a perfectly legitimate reason.
Yu Nian nodded vigorously: "That's right, that's right, we're on a friendly visit!"
“There was absolutely no other purpose!” Wu Qi echoed.
The other team members echoed this sentiment, craning their necks, eager to meet the legendary "captain's white moonlight."
Caught in the middle by the crowd, Zhou Zekai felt helpless. Although he harbored a sliver of hope, he was also afraid of causing trouble for Zhao Zhinian, so he gave Jiang Botao a resentful glance.
Jiang Botao patted his captain on the shoulder with a smile: "A little gossip can help you relax before the game."
And so, the members of the Samsara Team formed a large group and blocked the entrance to the Yizhan rest room.
Lou Guanning was genuinely surprised when he opened the door and saw this scene: "Captain Zhou, Deputy Captain Jiang, what's going on here?"
Jiang Botao stepped forward to shake hands, smiling politely: "Team Leader Lou, we've come especially to welcome everyone who's traveled from afar. We hope that both teams can deliver a wonderful match for the audience today."
"Thank you, Vice Captain Jiang," Lou Guanning replied politely, but inwardly wondered: Was this welcome a bit too extravagant?
What puzzled him even more was that after the Reincarnation team members entered, their eyes darted around, looking here and there, as if they were playing a game of "spot the difference".
Du Ming craned his neck to scan the surroundings, Wu Qi pretended to study the tactical diagrams on the wall but secretly glanced around, Lü Boyuan stared at the faces of the Righteous Warriors members one by one to identify them, Yu Nian seemed to be looking straight ahead but was actually looking around erratically, only Fang Minghua seemed to be the most normal...
Lou Guanning couldn't help but ask, "What are you all looking for?"
"No, no!"
"Just browsing!"
"Your lounge is quite unique!"
The reincarnation group hurriedly denied it, talking all at once, making the scene quite awkward.
Jiang Botao quickly tried to smooth things over, secretly glaring at his teammates: their acting was terrible!
Zhou Zekai stood at the back, his gaze quickly sweeping across the room. After confirming that she wasn't there, a barely perceptible hint of disappointment flashed in his eyes. He gently tugged at Jiang Botao's sleeve.
"We won't disturb your preparations any longer. See you on the field." Jiang Botao understood and immediately led his team away.
After the Samsara members left, Wen Kebei remembered what had happened in the group chat and suddenly realized, "They were looking for Chinen just now, weren't they? It seems the gossip in the contestants' group chat was true!"
Zou Yunhai nodded: "It seems that the relationship between Captain Zhou and Chinen is probably an open secret in Samsara."
"Chinen directly took the captaincy of the championship team; he's been keeping a low profile!"
"When Chinen comes back, we'll ask him properly."
The entire champion team came out, but it was all for their own host. Lou Guanning smiled helplessly: "Let's focus on the game first, we can talk about gossip after the game."
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
