CH 52

The first place prize for the Rising Stars Cup was as high as one million yuan. Second place got 500,000 and third place was 300,000. Every person who advanced to the top 16 got 50,000 yuan.

The sponsor of the competition was ‘Feixing Technology’, the largest electronics group in China. Its market share for mobile phones alone was as high as 30%. The strength of this consortium was quite strong and it was also the sponsor of the national team that Vice-chairman Qi had used all his strength to pull in.

After awarding the trophy, the host followed up by saying, “Next, I would like to invite Mr Xu Guangyao, the CEO of Feixing Group and the sponsor of the Rising Stars Cup to award the prize money to the winners!”

A middle-aged man in a suit walked onto the big stage and handed each of the three contestants a check. It was a paper sign made like a real check. It was over a meter wide and the audience drooled at the 1,000,000 clearly written on it.

Pei Feng received a check of one million yuan and Gui Siyang and Hua Ran were also very happy to receive the checks of 500,000 and 300,000. They shook hands with CEO Xu in turn.

Gui Siyang might be the strongest youth trainee of the Xing City youth training camp but he hadn’t signed a contract with any clubs. As a youth trainee, he had no salary and needed the support of his parents for living expenses. This 500,000 was the first money he earned. He had to go home and buy many things for his parents!

As for Hua Ran, his original idea behind participating in this Rising Stars Cup was to enter the top 16 and get the bonus of 50,000 yuan. He hadn’t expected that he would defeat one opponent after another with his special bombing method and would become the strongest passerby king, getting third place! This 300,000 was a lot of money for a college student!

In the live stream room, netizens were drooling with envy.

[One million, Fred made a bundle of money!]

[Fred’s signing fee for Little Bear TV alone is 60 million. This is nothing for him.]

[Fred, do you still lack a son? Can I be your heir?]

[I’m different. I want to be the boyfriend of this Little Demon. He has a future!]

[Hua Hua is mine. Don’t grab him~ In order to be worthy of Hua Hua, I will dye my hair purple tomorrow.]

At this time, the official Weibo also released the results of the Rising Stars Cup: Congratulations @Fred @Little Demon @Hua Hua Da Shao for winning the championship, second place and third place of the 1st Rising Stars Cup challenge!

The big streamers Fred and Brother Hai both participated and this was a competition hosted by the national team, so the attention of this Rising Stars Cup didn’t lose to the A-grade League hosted by the professional league. Pei Feng playing four positions to pay tribute to ACE against Brother Hai and the sniper duel in the finals were pushed by netizens onto the hot search. This year’s Rising Star Cup was discussed widely on the Internet and the three winners had become celebrities.

In particular, the champion Fred. His number of followers on Weibo and in the live stream room had been constantly rising.

For a time, a large number of streamers from Little Bear TV forward the Weibo post with ‘Congratulations Fred’ while the streamers of Xing Network could only watch the liveliness.

At this time, the headquarters of the Xing Network Group. President Zhang’s face was extremely ugly as he closed the laptop with a snap. He made a call and said through gritted teeth, “Have Manager Wang go to the TNG Club tomorrow as soon as he goes to work. He must sign the live stream contract with their players. He can agree to any conditions.”

TNG was one of the most popular clubs in the circle and had many star players.

The charger of the last national team, Lu Xingyun, and the medic Zhang Yue were both from TNG. They were alpha players and their appearance could rank in the top 10 of the e-sports circle. They had many fans. In addition, their club was rich and backed by someone wealthy who was one of the sponsors for the last national team.

If Xing Network and TNG’s wealthy backer joined hands and spent money on publicity to let TNG’s professional players live stream, he didn’t believe that their popularity would be any worse than Fred’s.

At the same time, the TNG Club.

Lu Xingyun saw the results of the Rising Stars Cup and happily sent a false message of concern in the ‘National Team Newbies Group’: @Devil, Brother Mo, have you watched the finals of the Rising Stars Cup? Fred actually won his sniper duel against Little Demon 4:0.

Mo Hantian was frustrated and typed: I saw. Fred is really powerful.

Lu Xingyun: These two are your competitors and Fred is Coach Jiang’s apprentice. This year’s sniper competition is really fierce.

Mo Hantian: “……”

He saw that Xiao Lu was pretending to care while he was actually floating.

Mo Hantian naturally knew the sniper competition was fierce. DId he need this person to say it?

In addition to Pei Feng and Gui Siyang, who emerged from the Rising Stars Cup, there was also the captain of the BM team, Liu Shaozhou. Other teams in the A-grade League also had excellent snipers. The national team only had two sniper positions and Mo Hantian felt he had a high probability of losing them.

Even so, he wasn’t reconciled.

He only played in one World Series last season and he played really badly. His mentality collapsed… he wanted to fight again to prove himself.

He would never have a chance if he couldn’t get into the national team. The titles of ‘going abroad to become a coward’ and ‘vase sniper’ would probably follow him for a lifetime.

Mo Hantian’s eyes were sore and he didn’t know what to say.

Instead, Shi Xiaobin stupidly came out and asked; Brother Lu, the competition between chargers is also fierce. Aren’t you worried?

Lu Xingyun: I’m worried. However, a quota will be released when Lao Lin retires. It is slightly better than last year.

Shi Xiaobin sighed: It is a pity that Lao Lin is retiring. I think he is under too much pressure. Last year, he was the captain of the national team and received more than 100,000 comments scolding him. In fact, his level hasn’t declined seriously. Anyway, he is much stronger than me.

At this moment, Shi Xiaobin received a private message from Mo Hantian: Why are you saying that to him? He wants Lao Lin to retire so he can be the main force.

Shi Xiaobin: …Eh?

Mo Hantian: Don’t talk and go train. Apart from you and Lu Xingyun, there is also Hua Ran from the Rising Stars Cup who has a very different style. Coach Jiang likes novel tactics and maybe Hua Hua might become the main force of the national team. Moreover, Lao Lin’s retirement hasn’t been officially announced, right? What if he doesn’t retire? Then you might not be able to play!

Shi Xiaobin immediately became nervous: What should I do?

Mo Hantian gave him an idea: Go to the Korean server. I have been playing there for two days. The Koreans play the ranking differently from us and we might be able to learn new things. Go buy and account and once you have time, we will team up.

Shi Xiaobin sent a nodding emoji: Okay, okay, I’ll go buy an account now!

The two of them had come out of the Xing City youth training camp together and they were also from the same city. They might’ve gone to different teams but their relationship had always been good.

Shi Xiaobin listened to Brother Mo’s words very well.

Mo Hantian actually felt a bit guilty. Back then, he bumped into God Wing in the game. Then after he lost, he pulled Shi Xiaobin to go and abuse the weak. Shi Xiaobin didn’t know anything and ran to fight with God Wing. As a result, they became gourd babies and were exploded by God Wing.

He was the one who dragged Shi Xiaobin into the water.

This guy might be as timid as a rat and he played the game like a tortoise, but Shi Xiaobin was actually very simple and had no bad intentions. He listened to what others said very well. If he was sold then he would even help count the money. Mo Hantian wanted to make up for this incident and to help Shi Xiaobin realize the crisis as soon as possible.

This year, the competition wasn’t fierce only for snipers but also for chargers. Hua Ran won third place and entered the national team’s youth training camp. Coach Jiang must like Hua Ran’s special style. Did Shi Xiaobin have any hope?

—

At this moment, Hua Ran sneezed wildly backstage. “Achoo! Achoo! Who is thinking about me?”

Gui Siyang was about to speak when he saw Coach Jiang leading three people backstage. He immediately greeted this person respectfully, “Coach Jiang.”

Jiang Shaoyu nodded and looked at the three of them. “Let’s go and have a late night snack. I want to have a little chat with you.”

Hua Ran looked doubtfully at Old Chang standing behind Coach Jiang and asked, “Why are you here?”

Didn’t this uncle get eliminated during the round of 16 to 8?

Old Chang smiled. “It is a secret.”

Yu Mingxiang had already arranged a pick-up and drop-off vehicle. The group took the car to the restaurant near the hotel and ordered some barbecue.

Jiang Shaoyu ate three meals a day regularly and rarely had a late night snack. However, Hua Ran and Gui Siyang were teenagers and must be hungry now after playing the game. This was why he invited them for a late night snack. He wanted them to have a good meal before discussing things.

The group looked at the table full of fragrant skewers and were about to drool. Gui Siyang secretly glanced at Coach Jiang, who had a cold expression. He saw that Coach Jiang didn’t eat and didn’t dare to move. Meanwhile, Hua Ran picked up two skewers without any care. Then he found that no one else was eating so he put them down in an embarrassed manner.

Pei Feng looked at his master and asked in a low voice, “Master, don’t you want to eat a bit?”

Jiang Shaoyu shook his head. “You can eat it. Don’t worry about me.”

Pei Feng saw that his master didn’t want to eat the skewers so he turned and asked the waiter for a bowl of light fish porridge. He handed it to Jiang Shaoyu and smiled. “Master, drink a bit of porridge. This is easy to digest. Otherwise, no one else will dare to eat if you sit here and eat nothing.”

Jiang Shaoyu thought about it. Then he picked up a spoon and started to eat the porridge.

The others were relieved and picked up the skewers one after another.

Jiang Shaoyu finished eating the porridge, wiped his mouth and told them bluntly, “I came to talk to you about the national team’s youth training camp. You should’ve read the announcement when signing up for the competition, right? The champion, second place and third place of the Rising Stars Cup can join the national team’s youth training camp. If you perform well, you can be selected for the national team and go to the World Series.”

Both Gui Siyang and Pei Feng nodded in understanding.

Hua Ran scratched his head with a troubled expression. “I didn’t expect that I would win third place.”

Jiang Shaoyu glanced at him. “You mean that you haven’t thought about joining the national team’s youth training camp?”

Hua Ran looked at Jiang Shaoyu sincerely. “Yes, I originally wanted to make it to the top 16, get some bonuses and buy a few skins to play with after paying my tuition. I didn’t expect to win all the way to the top four and get third place? Cough, it is really unexpected! What can I do about this?”

Everyone exchanged looks.

Jiang Shaoyu raised an eyebrow. “What else can you do? Of course, come to the national team’s youth training camp.”

“However, I haven’t graduated from college!”

Jiang Shaoyu thought for a moment. “You can temporarily suspend your studies.”

Hua Ran looked worried. “It isn’t easy to get it. My parents definitely won’t agree if I take a leave of absence, right? It is difficult to get a place in the School of Fine Arts of the Imperial Capital College…”

Jiang Shaoyu calmly told him, “Suspension doesn’t mean dropping out. The school can keep your student status. You can come back to college after playing the game. In addition, if you join the national team and get the trophy of the World Series, domestic colleges will have various preferential policies for the world champion. Maybe they will give you special treatment and exempt you from all tuition fees.”

Hua Ran’s eyes lit up. “Is that so?”

Jiang Shaoyu nodded and continued, “The peak period for e-sports players is only two years. If you miss it, you might not be able to play again in the future. Meanwhile, putting off college for two years before going back won’t have much of an impact on you. There is no reason for the school to disagree if you ask for suspension to join the national team’s youth training camp and play in the World Series. As for your parents, if they have any opinions then I can talk to them directly.”

Jiang Shaoyu glanced at him and finally added, “In addition, all official games are on a separate server and all skins are available. You won’t have to buy skins in the future. You can choose whatever skin you want to play with.”

Hua Ran stared at him in a stunned manner.

Coach Jiang spoke so well and it was so reasonable!

Moreover, Coach Jiang was so thoughtful when considering the problem. This person was very careful and gentle. He was willing to personally communicate with the school and with his parents?

Joining the national team sounded very prestigious when saying it.

If he could get an award then it would also be regarded as ‘glory’ and the school definitely wouldn’t embarrass him.

For the champions in swimming, track and field, gymnastics, etc, many colleges rushed to get them after they retired. These people received championship treatment of free tuition and annual scholarships! They just needed to maintain their grades and they didn’t need to worry about finishing their studies at all.

As for the full skins being available for free, this was simply heaven for a collector of skins!

Hua Ran said excitedly, “Okay! Then I’ll discuss it with my parents. However, my school starts in March and I have to go to school to discuss the suspension procedures. When will the national team start training?”

Jiang Shaoyu replied, “There is no hurry. The members of the new national team haven’t been determined. You can come to the base after completing the formalities.”

Hua Ran nodded. “Okay!”

Yu Mingxiang watched this scene from the side and couldn’t help laughing inwardly. Ah Yu really was good at fooling children. This Hua Ran was touched and obviously felt that Coach Jiang was particularly gentle.

Hopefully, he wouldn’t regret it in the future when he had to write self-criticisms for the national team…

Jiang Shaoyu finished with Hua Ran and turned his gaze to Gui Siyang. “What about you, Little Demon?”

Gui Siyang had originally come for the national team’s youth training camp. He heard this and immediately nodded. “I have no problems ! I will go back to Xing City to pack my bags. I can report to the national team at any time!”

Jiang Shaoyu nodded with satisfaction and looked at Pei Feng. “What about Xiao Pei?”

Pei Feng said with a smile, “My luggage is packed and I have taken it to the hotel. I can move to the national team tonight!”

Jiang Shaoyu: “……”

Everyone: “……”

Aren’t you moving too fast? You actually brought your luggage to the game. You are really quite something!

Hua Ran saw Pei Feng’s smiling face and then Gui Siyang’s expectant expression. He couldn’t help becoming excited.

The champions and runner-up were so active. It seemed that the national team was really heavenly.