FOG [e-sports]

Chapter 42

After all the contracts were signed, the team began their normal operations. The next day, Zhou Huo issued the work schedules, training requirements, and management rules to everyone. These were no different from the previous FS’, and they were virtually the same as those in Sacred Sword and IAC. Everyone took a look at it and had no objections.

“A lot of the time, I want to send these details for the sprayers to see.” Zhou Huo held a work schedule, as he shook his head and sighed. “Who the f*ck said professional players were paid to play games for free? If I were to show this schedule to them, no one would want to go pro.”

During the normal training period, you must be at your computer by 2 pm every day and group training ends at 10 pm. During this time, you can’t play with your mobile phone, you can’t play any other games, or watch any shows, etc. You can only play FOG. During those 8 consecutive hours, you can only be away from the training room for one hour and that already includes dinner.

What do you do after the group training? You can’t rest. You have to do another four hours of personal training. You can only rest once you finish at two o’clock in the morning.

During those last four hours, players can generally do live broadcasts, but they can only play FOG. They can never play any other games. When you add that all up, there are at least ten hours for training per day. Of course, this is only the basic training time. If they were in the preparatory period, it was even more uncertain how many hours there would be. 12 hours may be possible, 14 hours may also be possible, even more than that is also possible.

There are no weekends and holidays, and each person only gets one day off per month. The specific day is subject to the team’s arrangement. This day is often mixed up. Other times, only the Mid-Autumn Festival and the New Year’s is given to the players as holidays, provided that there is no competition during this period. If there is, then any festival or holiday is useless. There is no vacation for eSports.

Each training match is scheduled first thing for that day. So you can’t be absent or late. After the training match, you’ll have to watch the game replay. If you played well or played ok, you will be told so. If you played badly then you’ll be scolded the entire way. After you’ve been scolded to within an inch of your life, then it ends. Finally, the next time you get the chance to take a look at your phone, you can be certain that the sprayers have come right on time to pay their respects to your parents and to sneer at how much you suck at this. You could very well imagine the psychological pressure this brings.

During the competition period, the requirements for the players may be relaxed. Players can set the times themselves but they still need to guarantee at least six hours of practice. Even during the New Year or the holidays after the competition, every day, everyone must play eight high-level games. In the club, they have a person specifically assigned to check on the player account’s situation. Playing less games or playing them badly wasn’t acceptable. The monetary penalty was just a small matter. If the management determines that the player hasn’t played well enough or if he wasted away his time, they may ask the player to make up for those lost hours.

In this respect, players were training almost all year round.

Old Qiao sighed. “This schedule’s really not that harsh. Now, there are a lot of clubs where players have to ask for permission before they leave the training room. They have to clearly state what they’re going to do, when they’ve coming back. Whether it’s do go eat or go to the toilet. They can’t even be the slightest bit late. They have absolutely no privacy.”

“It’s plenty harsh.” Zhou Huo laughed in spite of himself. “There are a lot that are stricter than this; some even to the point that they’d have to clock in and out every time they go out. But there’s no need for that with us. They’re all old players. They know self-discipline. We don’t need to supervise them that much.”

“Right, this much is good. Everyone already knows what they need to do.” Old Qiao was filled with wonder. “I spent a few months in a secondary league team during my early years and it was terrible over there. The players’ mentality were absolute sh*t. If they wanted to loaf around on the job, they’d loaf around. They wouldn’t attend to work and just go dating. My god…there’s a reason they don’t produce any results.”

“Speaking of dating…” Zhou Huo’s eyes lit up, “Is Yu Sui finally going to do a live broadcast tonight?”

“Really?” Old Qiao didn’t know why he would. “Is he? I don’t know. What’s the big deal about the live broadcast? This isn’t his first time doing one.”

Zhou Huo was anxious. “Early this morning, I mentioned this to Chen Huo too. His response was almost the same as yours. Don’t tell me I’m the only one in this team looking forward to Yu Sui’s broadcast?”

Of course, it wasn’t only Zhou Huo.

Although he has repeatedly hinted to himself that he shouldn’t expect, think too much or pay any attention to it, it still weighed on Shi Luo’s mind.

Zhou Huo said it at the meeting that day. He suggested that Yu Sui pull a teammate to team up with him for his first live broadcast. After hearing this, Yu Sui neither agreed nor refused. No one knew how he was going to do it.

For his first live broadcast back in his home country, if he was going to pull in a teammate, then who was it going to be?

Shi Luo knew it clearly. No matter which aspect you looked at it from, he was the most inappropriate one for Yu Sui to look for. But what Zhou Huo said was like a feather, sweeping through Shi Luo’s heart from time to time.

Shi Luo told himself over and over. His relationship with Yu Sui was very strange. Suddenly doing a live broadcast with him would be uncomfortable and filled with awkward silences. Moreover, this wasn’t two years ago. He was 19 years old. He had grown up and was no longer a child. He can no longer be that possessive; he can’t be bothered by things like these anymore.

The live broadcast platform had already given an advance notice. Yu Sui will start broadcasting at eight o’clock that night. At seven o’clock in the evening, Shi Luo went to the hallway. He opened a window and smoked a cigarette, emptying his mind a bit.

You shouldn’t think too much. You can’t think too much. You can’t expect.

After a cigarette, Shi Luo had calmed down a bit. He closed the window and returned to the training room.

The others hadn’t finished dinner yet. There was only Shi Luo in the training room. Shi Luo sat down and aimlessly refreshed his Weibo. He saw the countdown notice sent by the live broadcast platform promoting Yu Sui’s live broadcast.

He didn’t know how Zhou Huo communicated it to the live broadcast platform but it seemed that the live broadcast platform has already assumed the Yu Sui will be doing it with a teammate. They hinted at it in their countdown notice.

Shi Luo opened the Weibo post and glanced at the comments. The top comment was Yu Sui’s fan inviting people to watch. The second comment was Yu Sui’s fan helping to promote the address of the live broadcast room. The third comment was Chen Huo’s fan, expressing their anticipation of Yu Sui and his old teammate’s team up. The fourth comment was Puppy’s fan, the fifth comment… The fifth hot comment was advertising and selling fake shoes.

Shi Luo: “…”

Shi Luo was unwilling to give up. He scrolled through the comments. What about his fans? Wasn’t anyone looking forward to seeing him?

Not to mention, wasn’t his popularity second in the team?

Shi Luo irritably picked up his phone. He logged on to his Weibo side account and clicked on the live broadcasting platform’s countdown post, ready to rescue his dignity. He typed: [Looking forward to Shi Shen. Shi Shen is awesome. ]

As soon as Shi Luo posted, he received several comment notifications. Shi Luo frowned. What were his fans doing? They didn’t put up any presence and only when someone posts first will they post their comments in reply?

Shi Luo clicked on the comments &#k2014;

[Don’t stir up anything. Our Shi Shen isn't looking for a date.]

[Don’t! Don’t! We just want to watch the live broadcast. We’re not here to watch a fight erupt on the live chat.]

[The fans on both sides are now in a period of truce. Haters mustn’t deliberately provoke any incidents!]

[Why are there so many sprayers coming over to gloat and fan the flames? Can you just not mention your Daddy Evil?]

[Our son, Shi Luo, likes to play single row. Mind your own business, okay?]

[Obviously, this is a sprayer who’s using this deliberately ambiguous comment to incite discord between the two sides. What are you doing pay attention to this guy?]

[Brother, delete this comment, okay? Our Shi Shen clearly doesn’t have any interest in teaming up with him.]

[Delete it. ]

[Delete it +1]

[Delete it +2]

Shi Luo: “…”

Shi Luo pushed down on his anger and deleted his side account’s comment. He now understood why none of his fans were commenting.

His fans were…truly considerate.

Shi Luo no longer looked at Weibo and logged onto his account to queue up for a game.

Half an hour later, Chen Huo and Puppy came up after eating. As they used to do before, they talked for a while then sat down at their seats and began to queue up for a game.

After another ten minutes, Yu Sui also came upstairs into the training room.

Shi Luo took a deep breath. He didn’t look up and put all his attention into his game.

Fifteen minutes later, at exactly eight o’clock.

Yu Sui started broadcasting.

When the notice was issued at seven o’clock, Yu Sui’s new live broadcast room was already 10 million in popularity. When he officially launched the broadcast, the popularity directly rose to 30 million. Although the live broadcast popularity does not represent the actual number of viewers, it was still very rare for the popularity of any live broadcast to reach this magnitude.

Yu Sui didn’t open his webcam. He only opened his mic but didn’t talk much. After opening the broadcast, he opened the client and started to adjust the game settings.

Chen Huo and Puppy had just finished a game. Chen Huo looked at the time and hurriedly said, “Yu Sui started broadcasting? Come on, come on. Let’s give him a reward.”

Chen Huo exited the game and opened the live broadcast interface to give Yu Sui a reward of 20,000 yuan. He didn’t forget to say, “You better remember to pay back the favor when I do my live broadcast. Don’t forget!”

Puppy also went to send him a reward. Afterwards, they both continued to play.

Shi Luo’s fingers moved lightning-quick on the keyboard. After taking down one of the opponents, he frowned slightly.

What was with everyone sending him rewards? He himself…

Shi Luo took a deep breath. He pretended not to have seen it.

Shi Luo played this round very quickly. He led his three teammates to seize the enemy’s resurrection stone, directly and efficiently ending this match.

It wasn’t noisy in the training room. Save for Chen Huo occasionally cursing at the teammates he’d been teamed up with, only the tap-tapping sound of the keyboards and mice could be heard.

It was actually Yu Sui, who was doing a live broadcast, thought that was the quietest among them.

Zhou Huo came up and stuck his head in and looked around. He slipped to Yu Sui’s side and whispered, “You haven’t started playing yet?”

Behind the computer screen, Yu Sui quietly said, “I haven’t finished adjusting the game settings yet.”

“Okay, okay. Hurry it up a bit.” Zhou Huo couldn’t help glancing over at Shi Luo. He didn’t dare say anything though because Yu Sui had opened his mic. He then slipped away.

Shi Luo moved his cursor over the [Single Player] option on the game client. Just before he could click on it, his in-game friend interface lighted up.

Shi Luo’s finger paused and opened the friend interface.

[Awa]: [QAQ, Shi Ge, I’ve fallen out of the top 500 on the national server. If I can’t get back in it by the end of the month, they’re going to deduct from my salary. Can you take me with you for a few games?! I beg you to take pity on poor Wawa!]

[Awa]: [Shi Shen, please help me again. I promise this will absolutely be the last time! 55555…]

Shi Luo stared at Wawa’s message for more than half a minute before replying, [Add me.]

Wawa quickly teamed up with him.

Shi Luo clicked on the [Paired Player] button.

Shi Luo chuckled.

It seemed like it wasn't meant to be.

In any case, it was impossible now. Shi Luo hadn’t opened a live broadcast, so he wasn’t afraid the fans would see. The other people in the room were even less likely to see his screen. So, while waiting to enter the match, Shi Luo simply opened Yu Sui’s live broadcast.

Yu Sui had just pressed the option for a single row.

Yu Sui’s live broadcast was exploding in popularity. Message after message filled the barrage.

[Welcome home, Whisper. May you spend your remaining years here.]

[Welcome home, Whisper. May you spend your remaining years here.]

[Welcome home, Whisper. May you spend your remaining years here.]

[Welcome home, Whisper. May you spend your remaining years here.]

[Welcome home, Whisper. May you spend your remaining years here.]

…

[TAT, I finally managed to see Yu Shen in a domestic live broadcast. I’m so grateful!]

[My roommate asked me why I’m crying. Huhuhu…]

[Yu Shen, we won’t be unreasonable and ask that you open your webcam. We only ask that you say a few words, please?]

[Did you queue up for a game? So excited!]

[Didn’t the broadcast platform’s advance notice say that he might be teaming up with someone?]

[Don’t ask for a team-up. A single row for his first broadcast is plenty good.]

[+1, single row is good. 】

[It’s starting! It’s starting! So excited…]

…

Shi Luo and Wawa’s team-up also entered their match. Shi Luo closed the live broadcast and focused on the match.

Wawa’s recent drop in points was too severe. Shi Luo playing in matches outside the range of the top 200 in the national server, was simply asking him to massacre passerby players. He didn’t need to expend a great deal of effort. Shi Luo and Wawa, won match after match. Shi Luo played it absent-mindedly but the more Wawa played, the more excited he became. He lavished Shi Luo with praises in the friend interface.

[Awa]: [Shi Ge is awesome!!!]

[Awa]: [Shi Ge is the best striker!]

[Awa]: [Evil can get points even with his eyes closed!]

[Awa]: [The world’s best — Shi Ge! ! ! ]

Shi Luo let Wawa sing his praises until his head started to hurt. After a match, Shi Luo was about to simply block his friend interface when Wawa sent over a message.

[Awa]: […]

[Awa]: [Shi Ge, Yu Shen sent me a message. ]

[Awa]: [QAQ He’s asking how long I’m planning to play. What does that mean? ! ! ]

Shi Luo froze for a moment and subconsciously reopened Yu Sui’s live broadcast.

The barrage in Yu Sui’s live broadcast room had exploded. Comment after comment had piled on top of one another until absolutely nothing could be made out through them. Shi Luo turned off the barrage and his eyes were drawn involuntarily to Yu Sui and Wawa’s chat.

[Free-Whisper]: [How long are you still planning to play for?]

[Awa]: [Yu Shen? *Frightened* Why are you looking for me? ]

[Awa]: [I, I, I, I… I still need five or six matches so I can get back to the top 500. What’s wrong? ]

[Free-Whisper]: [Is this a convenient time for me to stick you into another team up?]

[Free-Whisper]: [I’ll let Chen Huo take you.]

[Awa]: [Eh? Yes, of course, but Chen Shen already said before that he’d be decommissioned if he played with me again. Is he willing to play with me?]

[Free-Whisper]: [He’s willing.]

Shi Luo’s Adam’s apple bobbed. This…what…does…this…mean?

Even more shocking for Shi Luo was that Yu Sui’s fans in the live broadcast room were filling the barrage to bursting.

The next second, Shi Luo’s own friend interface lighted up once again. Shi Luo clicked it open—

[Free-Whisper]: [Wawa wants to team up with Chen Huo. Want to team up with me for a while?]