Lin Yan saw Su Cheng at first glance.
She was wearing a loose white short-sleeved shirt and aqua blue sports cropped pants. She was sitting closest to Lin Yan.
RNG analyst CH was sitting next to her. Ouze and letme were sitting opposite her. They were sharing fries. When they saw YM and the others dragging their suitcases over, the four of them quickly waved to greet them.
"Hey, you guys haven't eaten dinner yet. Why are you eating here?" Jack was envious. He reached out his claws and reached for the remaining fries on the table.
Who would have thought that Ouze's movements were very fast. His greasy little chubby hand completed an extremely difficult interception in the air and successfully caught the Shiba Inu's front claw.
"Long time no see, long time no see!" Wootz shook his front paw.
Jack responded perfunctorily. Only then did he realize that there were not many fries left on the table. He planned to buy another one out of his own pocket.
Lin Yan greeted the two RNG players one by one. Then, he habitually hugged his girlfriend's waist.
Su Cheng was having fun in Beijing during the first half of the summer vacation. She was so happy that she did not miss her hometown. It was not easy for her to wait until the Asian Games training camp before she came south to Shenzhen.
This was the first time the two of them met in a month. They only let go of each other after being intimate for a while.
"When did you guys arrive?"
Lin Yan saw that there were still people who had not arrived. He casually found a chair and sat down. He ordered drinks and snacks with the other four.
"Nine o 'clock in the evening. We've been waiting here for a long time." Su Cheng glanced at the time on her phone. "Abu and the others should wait for another half an hour …"
EDG had a regular season match against BLG at seven o 'clock in the evening. As the head coach, Abu went to the site to supervise the match.
When Lin Yan and the others took off from Xianyang Airport, the match was not over yet.
Liu Qingsong was very dissatisfied. "Why is EDG so slow? Can't they learn from us? They defeated WE so quickly …"
He swept his gaze over them and didn't say a word.
White Crescent and Doom, the analyst beside her, gritted their teeth. They looked like they wanted to skin him alive. It was probably because his wounds were too severe that they were irritated.
Liu Qingsong felt that if he continued to speak, it would be difficult for him to walk out of this McDonald's standing.
The group of people occupied four tables in McDonald's, eating fried chicken while waiting for Abu and the others. At the same time, they also discussed their current situation.
"Is RNG firmly in second place in the division?" Jack and Ouze had a pretty good relationship, so he took the initiative to start the conversation.
"That's not necessarily true." Uzi gobbled up the rest of the fries and picked up a piece of spicy wing. "IG has only lost one game so far and is still in first place. It's not realistic to expect them to catch up. However, RW's momentum is very strong. They're only one point behind us.
"Then you must do your best," Shiba Inu cheered Ouze on. "You must protect the second brother!"
What kind of vicious words were these?
Ouze thought to himself. Then, he asked in confusion, "What's in it for you if RNG is in second place?"
He was quite curious. Jack seemed to be very concerned about RNG's ranking.
However, the two teams were clearly not in the same division.
"Nothing, nothing." Shiba Inu smiled smugly. "If RNG is in second place in the Eastern Division and YM is still in first place in the Western Division, we'll meet in the semifinals."
Ouze heard this sentence and understood the subtext. Jack felt that he could beat him and eliminate RNG from the finals!
Are you too arrogant or am I too weak to hold a knife?
He was quite annoyed. "You speak as if you're better than me."
Uzi's individual strength was indeed top-notch. The spring finals had given Shiba Inu a lot of pressure. What he lacked was not skill, but something else.
"I'm not as good as you …" Jack admitted bluntly.
Then, he stretched out his fat paw and pointed at Lin Yan, who was hiding in the corner and whispering to his girlfriend.
"But I have Brother Ran. Do you?"
Lin Yan heard someone mention his name and instinctively turned around.
The girl beside him picked up a McNugget, dipped it in sweet and sour sauce, and reached out to stuff it into her boyfriend's mouth. However, the feeding did not reach his stomach, and the sauce spilled onto the corner of his mouth.
The two of them looked at each other and laughed. The air was filled with a sour stench.
Ouze suddenly had mixed feelings and did not say a word.
Jack's words directly broke through his defense and dealt him a real blow.
Luckily, Abu and Hanyi arrived late. They dragged their suitcases and met up with them at McDonald's.
Everyone quickly got up to welcome them.
"No choice, there was still a competition today. I had to keep an eye on it, so I came a little late." The unique tone of Abu's voice made it easy to tell who he was.
EDG's current results were not ideal.
In this version that focused on the top half, the National Film Academy was struggling. They were ranked third in the Western Division, only one more win than WE.
After all, starting from Old Ancestor Sai Wen, this team did not like to help top laners and focused on the bottom half.
Now, EDG was a reverse version team. They relied on the players led by Scout to drag the team forward with their individual abilities.
Another reason was the Korean top laner, Ray.
His performance was really unstable.
This was a player who had caused a lot of controversy on the major esports forums.
Many viewers joked that he had two forms.
When he was fierce, he was like a tiger coming down from the mountains. He could use both Kenan Thunder and Nahal Buddha's Palm to help the team turn the tide. The people of the game gave him the nickname of Horse Ray.
When he was weak, he was like a husky mixed in with a pack of wolves. He was dizzy and disoriented. Q Golden Immortal's Guide, Princes' EQ, and other operations could be seen everywhere. He was nicknamed Ray's intelligence.
Lin Yan had never fought with him directly, but according to Ray's Korean compatriot, Jimmu Kung, this player was a classic example of a bad mentality. His performance followed his confidence, and his unstable mental state made him have a lot of upper and lower limits.
Don't underestimate the influence of mentality on a professional player. Ancestor Savin and Ouze were living examples.
Lin Yan felt that if Jack were to be teammates with Ray, he might be able to help stimulate his potential.
Because of Ray's unstable performance and EDG's current results, Abu stayed in Shanghai for such a long time. After supervising the team's victory over BLG, he met up with RW's head coach and boarded the flight to Shenzhen.
Hanyi was still greeting his old team members. RW's results this year were really good for a newly established team. They even had hopes of competing for a place in the international competition.
He was naturally in a good mood.
Abu looked at the time. It was already 11 o 'clock at night. It would be too late if he delayed any longer. "We can catch up later. Now that we're all here, one, two, three …"
He looked at the list and counted the number of people in turn.
One head coach, two coaches, three analysts, six players, a total of 12 people.
After confirming that there were no mistakes, Abu led everyone out of the airport.
The officials arranged for a bus to take them out of Bao 'an Airport. They drove along the Beijing-Hong Kong Expressway to Futian District.
Lin Yan and his girlfriend sat in a row and looked out of the window.
The bustling and gorgeous night view of Shenzhen came into view.
Unlike Beijing and Shanghai, this city lacked a sense of heaviness but was extremely lively. Neon lights flickered and the skyscrapers soared into the sky. The city's youth gave it an exuberant vitality.
This was his first time in Shenzhen. The novelty and curiosity dispelled his sleepiness. He picked up his phone and recorded the scenery along the way.
Fifty minutes later, they finally arrived at the sports team next to the Shenzhen Sports Center.
Before the opening of the Asian Games, a lot of athletes lived here.
Although it was close to midnight and the entire sports team was dark and quiet, there were still people waiting outside the gate to guide them to get off the bus and collect their luggage.
"We're staying in the building on the right." The person leading the way was a burly middle-aged man with a serious expression. "The fourth floor is where the League of Legends and AOV projects live …"
"What's AOV?" Mongoose was confused like a curious baby.
"Mobile Legends International Edition," the man replied word by word.
"I'm familiar with that." Ouze was excited. "I'm Di Renjie, the number one player in the Chinese server!"
Uzi wanted to show off but no one paid attention to him. He had no choice but to give up.
"Your two projects have the most people in the E-Sports Exhibition Competition. You've registered 12 people and are divided into seven dormitories …" He glanced at the followers behind him and was not surprised to see Su Cheng in the group of boys. "The girls will stay in single dormitories and the rest will stay in a room for two people. You can discuss how to allocate the dormitories."
The buildings here looked a bit old. Perhaps it was because the city was located by the sea. The air was extremely humid and the walls showed signs of peeling off.
They took the elevator to the fourth floor.
The layout here was the most common university dormitory with rooms on both sides of the corridor.
The middle-aged man distributed the keys and showed the contestants and staff the layout of the rooms.
Two single beds were placed side by side with a row of sockets at the head of the bed. The end of the bed faced the TV and a long wooden table with two chairs.
The layout was simple, but it was clean and unadorned.
"This room is awesome!" Lin Yan was very satisfied.
The other contestants understood what Lin Ran was trying to say, and they all laughed.
"The bathroom is here. Remember to clean it up after you use it." The middle-aged man pushed open a small door on the left. There was a toilet, a basin, and a shower head.
He walked to the end of the room and turned the doorknob to show the contestants the balcony. "There's a clothesline up there. You can dry your clothes.
The remote control for the air conditioner is under the TV. There's also a battery next to it. If you need to use it, just install it yourself … "He paused.
Lin Yan closed the door to the balcony. He was very satisfied with the thick curtains. He was not used to the sudden silence of the man who had been explaining.
"What's wrong?"
The middle-aged man scratched his thick hair. This action broke his serious expression. He hesitated for two seconds before saying, "You know how to install a battery, right?
I mean, you know how to use positive and negative batteries. "
The other twelve contestants in the room looked at each other.
"… Of course." Lin Yan felt that the man was looking down on him. It was as if he was a child who did not know anything.
In order to prove his ability, Lin Yan opened the back cover of the remote control and tore open the packaging of the Nanfu battery. He glanced at it and put it in.
He pressed the start button. With a beep, the Gree air conditioner in Miss Dong's house was successfully turned on. The cold wind whistled outside.
The whole action was smooth.
"That's good, that's good." The middle-aged man breathed a sigh of relief. "I can save some time."
Everyone was speechless.
He put on a serious face again. "Today, you guys are assigned to your rooms. Go to sleep."
"I've learned about the work and rest habits of the eSports industry in advance, but it won't work here. The sports team has exercises in the morning, and it's very noisy. You won't be able to sleep, and there's no special chef waiting for you to wake up to cook." He continued to emphasize the rules and regulations here. "Breakfast is served at seven, lunch is served at eleven, and dinner is served at five in the afternoon.
Jack did not think much of it.
In his opinion, they did not have to eat in the cafeteria. There were many options for takeout or going out for dinner.
The middle-aged man glanced at them and seemed to have seen through their thoughts. He added, "During the training here, you are not allowed to order takeout, go out for dinner, eat supper, eat spicy and greasy food, and drink functional drinks. You can only eat the food we bought in advance."
"Everything will be done according to our rules."
"Because there's a urine test this time."
Hearing this sentence, everyone suddenly understood.
Although there was a joke that "there's not a drop of urine in a stimulant" when professional players performed exceptionally, there was originally no urine test in the LPL and international competition.
Firstly, the eSports competition was not as formal and strict as traditional sports, and there were no relevant personnel to organize regulations in this regard. Secondly, in games like League of Legends, using stimulants might even cause adverse effects.
This time, participating in the Asian Games was a free ride on traditional sports, and it allowed them to experience an unprecedented new experience.
"I won't disturb you anymore. Rest early, I have things to do tomorrow morning." The middle-aged man said goodbye to the head coach, Abul, and left.
There was no trouble in the dormitory allocation.
Lin Yan and Phyllostachys Pubescens, the mid laner pair, continued to be roommates as usual. Jack and Liu Qingsong, the duo of the bottom lane, naturally would not be separated. Letme and Ouze also stayed together.
White Crescent and his direct analyst, Doom, stayed in the same room. The RNG analyst, CH, and Hanyi stayed together, leaving Abul and Su Cheng to stay in their own rooms.
It was already 12: 30 in the morning. Knowing that they had to wake up early tomorrow, they were not in the mood to chat. They each pushed their suitcases back to their rooms.
"Hurry up and take a shower. I'll tidy up the bed." Lin Yan closed the door and quickly ordered Mongoose to get to work.
Phyllostachys Pubescens listened attentively to Lin Yan's words.
He took out his pajamas and underwear from his suitcase and rushed into the bathroom.
Hearing the sound of running water in the bathroom, Lin Yan first set the air conditioner to sleep mode. Then, he emptied his suitcase, took out his shoes and clothes, and placed his razor and charger on the bedside table.
After cleaning the bed, Mongoose just walked out of the bathroom. The two worked together seamlessly and took twenty minutes to clean up.
After drying his hair, Lin Yan laid on the bed and chatted with his girlfriend in the room across the corridor. It was one in the morning when he put away his phone and turned off the lights.
In the dark room, the sound of breathing was hidden by the sound of the air conditioner. It gradually became regular and stable.
The next morning, Lin Yan was woken up by the sound of running exercises outside.
There was no way he could sleep. Lin Yan got up, folded his blanket, put on a set of YM's team uniform, and went downstairs to eat with Mongoose.
There was no need to specifically ask where the cafeteria was — they just had to follow the flow of people. The cafeteria was buzzing with activity. The athletes finished their morning run and took a hot shower before coming to eat breakfast.
The smell of the food was mixed with the fragrance of shower gel and shampoo. It smelled very unique.
The other ten people in the League of Legends program were probably also woken up. When they saw Lin Yan, they seemed to have found their team. They stood in line with trays in their hands.
Everyone was wearing their team uniforms. It had to be said that this uniform was very eye-catching in the sports team.
Many people cast curious glances at Lin Yan.
For them, this was an uninvited guest who had broken away from the traditional sports selection process.
"… This is exactly the same feeling I get when I go to an internet cafe during the holidays," Liu Qingsong muttered. "Damn, I'm so nervous. Will something go wrong and kill my team?"
Lin Yan was very calm.
Ever since he was young, he had enjoyed this kind of attention whenever he went to an unfamiliar environment. Over time, it didn't make him feel uncomfortable.
After all, his face was right there. He could still be Sister Li.
"What do you want to eat? Fried noodles?" He even turned around to ask Su Cheng.
The girl thought for two seconds. "Steamed buns, tea eggs, and soy milk will be fine."
Lin Yan took two small egg pancakes and turned his head to look at the tofu pudding.
"Is this salty or sweet?" He looked at the cafeteria staff next to him and asked cautiously.
"Both!"
This answer made Lin Yan happy. "I'll have a bowl of the salty one."
Lin Yan poured shrimp skin, seaweed, and marinade over the tofu pudding. He took the tray and found an empty seat, ready to taste the breakfast.
After swallowing a mouthful of steaming hot and salty tofu flower, he felt as if he had come back to life.
There were still people staring at Lin Yan. This time, other than Su Cheng, who was used to it, the other team members sitting near him all felt uncomfortable.
At this time, another group of young people in team uniforms walked in.
They were players of the international version of Mobile Legends.
They were like a group of rare animals, being watched by the crowd.
A few of the team members were obviously not as calm as Lin Yan. After choosing their breakfast, they fled and hid at the dining table of the League of Legends branch, hoping that the more famous players would attract the attention of the crowd.
Lin Yan wasn't familiar with the players in this event, nor was he very interested. He just wanted to greet them out of courtesy.
However, the other party was very excited.
"Brother Ran, can we take a picture together?"
In an instant, the two of them came up to him.
Now that someone had taken the lead, the children from the sports team immediately got excited.
Lin Yan's popularity couldn't be compared to the top stars in sports like table tennis. After all, the latter were popular among all age groups in China. However, in traditional sports, there were many unpopular sports.
In comparison, Lin Yan was considered a top player.
Esports was especially popular among young people.
The athletes in the sports team usually had boring training. They couldn't eat or go out to play, so many of them could only play online games to relax.
Mobile games were popular, and the coaches thought it was a good way to entertain themselves.
At the very least, the athletes wouldn't get hurt.
Many of them had watched Lin Yan's games before. Now that someone had broken the ice, they rushed to squeeze in.
After taking the picture, Lin Yan and the other team members' breakfasts were almost cold.
In just half an hour, they had become more familiar with the players of the international version of Mobile Legends.
Jack took a bite of his bun and shared an interesting story with the person next to him. "When you came here yesterday, did the middle-aged person in charge ask you if you knew how to install batteries for the air conditioner remote control?"
"What era are we living in? How could anyone not know how to install batteries …"
The Shiba Inu laughed.
The players of the international version of Mobile Legends looked at each other.
The youngest one raised his hand and said in a low voice,
"I was the one who asked him that question …"
Lin Yan, who was eating an egg pancake, was stunned.
"What?"
His tone was full of surprise.
Now Lin Yan understood why the person in charge asked such a strange question.
"Hurry up and eat." Su Cheng knew it was embarrassing, so she wanted to cover her boyfriend's mouth.
After breakfast, the two teams of Centaur said goodbye.
Phyllostachys Pubescens looked at the back of the other team and muttered something to his teammates.
"I always thought that Zhuo Ding was the only one in the world who could ask such a question. I didn't expect that." Xiao Tian shook his head. "I'm so ignorant and inexperienced."
The people around him didn't expect Xiao Tian's words to be so effective. They all fell silent.
Not long after they returned to the dormitory, the person in charge rushed over with a large box before the food was completely digested.
"Uniform clothes. You arrived too late yesterday, so we didn't distribute them …"
He took out a pile of orange-red short-sleeved clothes covered in plastic paper from the box.
"For the next ten days of training, you will wear this," the person in charge said, "Everyone will take two pieces according to the size."
Lin Yan took two sets of 185 cm tops and opened the packaging to take a look.
Anta's sponsorship didn't have so many fancy patterns.
The national flag on the chest was the biggest display.
There was also an Olympic five-ring logo below.
On the back of the neck, the word "CHINA" was printed in italics.
"What do you think?" Lin Yan put it on and felt the texture. He also asked his girlfriend for her opinion.
"It looks good." Su Cheng replied with a smile and took a photo of him with her phone.
After everyone changed into the designated clothes, the middle-aged man in charge of logistics nodded with satisfaction.
"The training room will be in the building next door, come with me."
The six players took out the peripherals from their suitcases and followed the man around, finally arriving at the door of the training room.
Pushing the door open, they saw a long table in the room that wasn't considered spacious. There were seven-eight computers on it and there was a white board in the middle. There was also a stack of cardboard boxes and foam in the corner.
It was clear that they had just bought a computer to install it.
"Is this alright?" The person in charge looked at Abu.
"We'll adjust the machine first and see the situation." Abu didn't directly reply and had the players try it out first.
The computers were all brand bought and there weren't any problems with the configuration.
"You want to use a foreign server?"
The person in charge saw Lin Yan quickly download the Korean server and knit his brows.
"There's no other way." Abu quickly explained, "Our country's server update is a bit slow, it hasn't been updated to the Asian Games yet ….."
This was the same as the continental competition, they were using a new version that hadn't been used in the regular season.
8.15. Sword Demon Akali was remade and the Conqueror's effects were also changed.
With so many changes, it was impossible for them to train on a server that hadn't been updated yet.
After Abu's explanation, the person in charge's expression cleared a bit. He watched as the players downloaded the accelerator and logged into their Korean server accounts.
They started a custom game and adjusted the resolution and image quality.
The six players confirmed that their performance and ping values weren't too different from the base training room, so they could train normally.
"Alright ….." The person in charge looked at Abu. "Coach Ji Xing, I'll leave this to you. If you have any problems, just call me on WeChat."
Abu agreed and sent him out of the room.
There were only the twelve of them left in the room.
"Let's make the division of labor clear first," Abu said. "Doom, you were originally in charge of ranking data analysis, so you'll do your old job this time. Keep an eye on the Korean server to see if there are any new strategies and changes in the win rate of each hero."
"CH …" He looked at the RNG analyst again. This person looked very calm and steady.
"You and Orange will look through the competition videos and calculate the LCK players' hot spots and character usage."
Abu only used one word when he arranged the work.
Cool!
He had never fought such an affluent battle before!
Two champion coaches as assistants and three analysts. No club in the entire LPL could come up with such a luxurious lineup!
"Coach Bai and I will be in charge of training and reviewing the competition. Hanyi will mainly look at the BP aspect. Is that okay?"
Abu strived to make the best use of everyone's talents and clearly divided the work into different areas.
The coaching staff naturally had no objections.
"Don't even think about LCK's opponents for the mock competition. They'll definitely be practicing with their own Asian Games representative team.
"I've contacted IG for everyone. They'll be free at two in the afternoon. Let's play a best-of-five.
"But apart from that, there aren't many teams we can find. EDG can be considered one, but we're about to go to Chengdu for the competition, so we might not have enough time ….."
Abu didn't want to pick a team that was too bad. Among the strong teams, RNG and YM had been dismantled, leaving only teams like IG.
Hanyi spoke at that moment. "RW can be your training partner."
He met everyone's gaze and said, "I'll continue to be RW's BP coach and do my best to ensure the quality of everyone's training."
"WE's not a problem either!" White Crescent was eager to try. "We'll be on call!"
After finalizing three mock competition teams and adding EDG, it was basically enough.
Abu was relieved. He pulled over the whiteboard and wrote down today's schedule.
"Everyone, let's play two rounds of ranked games to warm up. After lunch, we'll start our first training together!"
Lin Yan rubbed his hands together and turned on the ranked mode with some excitement. He started his first ranked game at the Asian Games training base.