CH 89

The afternoon of the next day, Pei Feng drove his master to the ‘Starry Sky E-sports Venue’ in the eastern district of the city in advance.

Compared to the Imperial Capital E-sports Center, which could accommodate hundreds of thousands of spectators, the area of the Starry Sky E-sports Venue was similar to a school’s gymnasium. It could only seat 1,000 spectators. The B-grade League as well as secondary tournaments like college leagues and city leagues were usually held here.

Jiang Shaoyu and Pei Feng wore hats and masks so the reception staff didn’t recognize them. Jiang Shaoyu took out the guest ID for the game and the staff checked it before letting him go.

The conditions here were much worse than the e-sports center in all aspects. There was no separate VIP viewing area backstage. The audience seats were only sporadically filled with a few family and friends who came to cheer for the teams and 90% of the seats were empty. It couldn’t be compared to the bustling scene of the A-grade League.

Most of the players in the B-grade League were small and unknown. They had no fans and it was difficult to sell tickets for the matches.

Jiang Shaoyu thought for a moment. “Let’s go to the audience seats.”

Pei Feng followed his master to the front row of the audience seats, where the introduction of several teams playing today were being shown on the big screen.

Jiang Shaoyu took out the tablet he carried with him and opened the event arrangement to check the team information. Pei Feng leaned over to take a look and complained, “What Happy team, Dream Family… I’ve never heard of them.”

Jiang Shaoyu said, “Many teams in the secondary league will be disbanded if their results aren’t good. The opponents that we faced in the secondary league aren’t still on the field, right?”

Pei Feng helplessly said, “That’s right. The teams formed spontaneously by players have to pay for meals, lodging and daily training. If they can’t get good results, they can’t get investments. If they don’t have funds then they really can’t last long.”

He paused before continuing, “Moreover, players who perform better in the secondary league might be recruited by scouts of major clubs. Once the core team members are poached, the team isn’t far from disbanding.

The transportation, food and accommodation during each competition were a big expense. Even if they met a big boss who invested in the team, it wouldn’t matter if they couldn’t get any results or make money. The boss wasn’t a charity and it was impossible to lose money year after year.

At the end of the year, there were countless disbanded teams. The legendary story of a grassroots team like ACE cutting a bloody path from the secondary league couldn’t be replicated at all.

Jiang Shaoyu thought about this and said, “I will discuss it with the league later. For the future secondary leagues, the participation bonus will be higher and teams who can reach the top 8 will be given a sum of money, so that the players can have more income. In addition, there is only one place for promotion and relegation every year. This is too few. Starting next year, the bottom three in the A-grade League will be sent to the undecided area to compete with the top three in the B-grade League. This will give teams in the B-grade League more opportunities.”

Pei Feng saw his master’s serious expression and couldn’t help admiring it in his heart. Only his master had the courage to take risks and implement drastic reforms.

The current Gun King e-sports circle was too impetuous. It focused on the ‘star effect’ and ignored the healthy growth of the entire competition environment.

Jiang Shaoyu’s desire to revolutionize the industry wouldn’t happen overnight. This year, the Rising Stars Cup was held and next year, the league would change.

As long as the strength of the secondary league improved, the teams in the A-grade League would feel the crisis. In the future, A-grade teams would be downgraded while powerful B-grade teams were promoted. In the long run, fresh blood would continue to rotate and the atmosphere of the entire e-sports circle would take on a new look.

The match was about to start. Jiang Shaoyu and Pei Feng sat in the audience and watched.

Today’s two matches had no bright spots. Several teams were weak and even made some low-level mistakes. There was nothing to gain after watching it but Jiang Shaoyu didn’t think it was a waste of time. He wanted to watch one round of the secondary league so as to not let any fish slip through the net.

It was soon the first week of April.

On the weekend, Jiang Shaoyu continued to ask Pei Feng to watch the matches together.

It was raining lightly on this day. The two of them came to the competition site and ran into a familiar person backstage. It was Ah Yan, the commentator of the Rising Stars Cup.

Jiang Shaoyu was wearing a mask but Ah Yan still recognized the two of them instantly and asked in surprise, “Is it God Wing and Fred?”

Pei Feng greeted him with a smile. “Brother Yan, long time no see.”

Ah Yan was a veteran commentator in the e-sports circle who specialized in secondary events. He shook Pei Feng’s hand excitedly and said, “Why did the two of you suddenly patronize the secondary league? Are you looking for someone here?”

Jiang Shaoyu replied, “We’re just taking a look. Can you give us a brief introduction of the situation of the teams in today’s competition?”

Ah Yan had been commenting on the secondary league for a long time and was definitely more familiar with the situation of the players than Jiang Shaoyu.

Ah Yan heard this and immediately said, “The teams that will compete later are the two strongest teams in the B-grade League. The Snow Leopard team is a team spontaneously formed by players. It has been playing in the secondary league for two years and the results have been good. The other VV team is a newly established team that hasn’t lost any matches so far.” He took the initiative to pass the information in his hand to Jiang Shaoyu. “Look, God Wing. This is the information of the players from the two teams.”

Jiang Shaoyu took it and read it carefully. He found that the captain of the Snow Leopard team was a female beta called Qin Xueyao. Her game ID was ‘XB-Snow’ and she had just turned 18 years old this year.

E-sports competitions required very fast hand speed and reaction speed. Alpha players had a natural advantage in this regard so there were more alpha players in the e-sports circle. Female betas were relatively rare.

From the photos, Qin Xueyao was a gentle looking girl.

Seeing his master reading the information, Pei Feng turned back and asked Ah Yan, “What is the record of this Qin Xueyao from Snow?”

“Her record is quite mediocre and the personal evaluation isn’t high. The Snow Leopard team has finished playing the first four weeks of the competition and Qin Xueyao hasn’t won a single head in four games. Her team’s sniper has an outstanding record and is currently ranked second on the individual leaderboard.”

Jiang Shaoyu continued to read the data of the other players before handing the information back to Ah Yan. “Thank you. We will be going to the audience seats now.”

Ah Yan was puzzled. “Didn’t you say anything to the competition committee when coming to watch the match? Why didn’t anyone receive you?”

Jiang Shaoyu was the head coach of the national team and coming to the secondary league was equivalent to a ‘leadership inspection.’ No matter what, there should be someone to receive him and serve tea or water. Yet in the end, the master and apprentice walked in like this, taking care of themselves and wandering backstage at their own pace. There was no one around them…”

Jiang Shaoyu explained, “I don’t want to bother them. We just came to see the performance of the players.”

Pei Feng smiled. “Brother Yan, you must be busy. Just treat us as ordinary spectators. There is no need to alert the organizing committee.”

Ah Yan knew that the two of them wanted to watch the match in a low-key manner, so he turned and left.

Jiang Shaoyu and Pei Feng sat in the front row of the audience seats. The match soon started. This time, there was a small audience for the match between the Snow Leopard team and the VV team. Sparse applause filled the venue.

In the commentary seats, Xiao Hu and Ah Yan started to introduce the players of both sides. “Audience friends, welcome to the fifth week of the first round of the regular season of Gun King’s B-grade League!”

“The team teams competing today are the top two teams in the current standings, the Snow Leopard team and VV team!”

“Friends who follow the B-grade League should be familiar with the Snow Leopard team. They are regular visitors of the B-grade League. They finished second last year and have won all their matches so far this year! The VV team is a rookie team that has only appeared this year. They have also won all their matches so far!”

“Yes, the two teams are tied for points so this matchup is sure to be exciting.”

“The match is about to start. We can see that the Snow Leopard team has drawn the first hand. What map will they choose?”

“My guess is that it will be the Endless Bloody Battle mode? This is what they are better at…”

“Sure enough! They chose the Endless Bloody Battle mode and the map is Guanghua Middle School with a four star difficulty!”

“The map of Guanghua Middle School can be used in all three modes. If the explosion mode is used then the two explosion points are the teaching building and the playground. The Endless Bloody Battle has no explosion points but there are two resurrection points on the map. They are also in the teaching building and the playground!”

Below the stage, Jiang Shaoyu saw this map and asked Pei Feng in a low voice, “How would you fight on this map?”

Pei Feng thought about it. “The air corridor of this map is a good sniper point and you can see both the teaching building and the playground at the same time. If it was me, I would bring the medic with me and first grab the sniper position in the air corridor. Then I will let the scout go to the teaching building to find people. Kill a few front row players and establish a numerical advantage as soon as possible to win a game.”

Jiang Shaoyu nodded. “Yes, it is a good strategy.”

The ‘air corridor’ in this map was a place where players must first. At the beginning of the game, the snipers of the Snow Leopard team and VV team rushed toward the corridor quickly. As a result, the sniper of the VV team had just arrived at the edge of the corridor when a bullet pierced through the air.

Bang!

[’XB-Wind’ used the AWM-Meteor to kill ‘VV-Mini’ with a headshot!]

The shot caught him off guard. The sniper died at the beginning and the medic wanted to rescue him. As a result, Snow Leopard’s sniper moved quickly into position. Two consecutive shots went directly through the medic’s bulletproof light plate before a headshot killed the medic.

It was a very neat double kill!

At the same time, the front row of the VV team and the front row of the Snow Leopard team were fighting fiercely in the teaching building, forming a 2v2 stalemate. VV’s scout went around the air corridor on the other side, trying to sneak attack the enemy sniper. Unfortunately, the sniper shot him in the head before he had time to get close to the opponent.

In the first small game, there was no doubt that the Snow Leopard team won quickly.

VV was a bit confused after being defeated. Once they resurrected in the same small game, they abandoned the school building with a complex terrain and bypassed through the woods on the other side of the playground, intending to grab the sniper point of the air corridor.

It was a pity that this wave wasn’t successful. The sniper of the Snow Leopard team somehow found the location where the medic was hiding and killed the enemy sniper in seconds.

Snow Leopard’s charger and assault also quickly circled behind, cooperating with their sniper teammates to form a ‘dumpling making formation’ to suppress the remaining four people of VV.

Faced with attacks from the front and back, VV were unable to solve the enemy on the opposite side and were once again wiped out in the blink of an eye.

In the commentators’ seats, the two commentators looked at each other.

Ah Yan said, “VV’s performance today is far below the standard… no, it should be said that the Snow Leopard team is playing very well today!”

Xiao Hu continued, “Perhaps this is the gap in competition experience? The current results of the two teams are similar but the Snow Leopard team has been playing in the secondary league for two years and has a lot of experience. Meanwhile, VV is a newcomer team and have only played four matches so far. Their record is impressive but they haven’t encountered a strong opponent!”

Ah Yan nodded in agreement. “That’s right. Their shortcomings will be exposed when encountering a team with a strong level. There should be some problems with the communication between players and there is no tacit cooperation in the battle strategy for the air corridor. Their formation was disrupted.”

Jiang Shaoyu stared intently at the big screen.

At the start of the third small game, the five members of the VV team rushed into the teaching building. They changed their strategy and didn’t go to the playground. They directly hit the teaching building with all members and tried to attack from the left wing.

But at this time, the Snow Leopard team suddenly disappeared from the map. The five of them searched the teaching building for a long time without encountering an enemy. Then they saw the sniper in the air corridor. Two bullets flew from a distance and they dodged without any danger.

VV’s sniper seized the opportunity. He hid around the corner of the 2nd floor. Then he stretched out his gun from the window and killed the sniper in reverse!”

His teammates shouted excitedly, “Nice!”

The strongest opponent on the other side was the sniper. This team would be easy to fight as soon as the sniper was dead.

However, the moment they had this idea, deafening gunshots rang out from behind them.

Bang bang bang!

The continuous fire from the assault rifle and machine gun killed three members of the VV team in an instant. Immediately afterward, the sniper in the air corridor was revived by the media and killed the front row in seconds.

In Endless Bloody Battle mode, the Snow Leopard team won 3:0.

The MVP of this game was the Snow Leopard team’s sniper, XB-Wind. He had 6 kills and 1 death.

Jiang Shaoyu looked at the data panel thoughtfully.

Qin Xueyao of the Snow Leopard team had a record of 0-0-0 and had no sense of existence.

In the commentators’ seats, the two commentators started to praise the sniper. “Wind of the Snow Leopard team really performed well. His marksmanship is very accurate!”

“Yes, let us congratulate the Snow Leopard team for winning the first game.”

“It will be the VV team’s home mode in the second game. What mode will they choose? We will take a break and come back soon.”

Jiang Shaoyu looked at Pei Feng. “Did you find anything?”

Pei Feng answered, “The scout of the Snow Leopard team didn’t show up from beginning to end and the record is 0-0-0. However, I think the key to winning or losing this game lay in the scout, not the sniper.”

The corners of Jiang Shaoyu’s lips raised with satisfaction. “That’s right. Most people can’t understand this tactic unless they carefully review it after the match to find clues. It is no wonder that the commentators think the sniper is better. In fact, the Snow Leopard team has a very powerful scout commander. Through her silent and quick movements, she gave her teammates a god’s perspective and saw all the opponents’ movements.”

The 0-0-0 looked like she was slacking off, but only her teammates knew…

She was the eyes of the entire team.