Full-time: Starting from Ye Xiu vs. Faker

Chapter 418: Happy Internet Cafe, Ye Xiu, Wu Xuefeng, Goodbye (Part )

The teams preparing for the qualifying round were all gearing up for a fight.

But for the twelve teams that have already made it to the finals, the pressure is far less.

Although the official reason for Tencent Esports to let them come to China early is to allow them to adapt in advance and to be able to watch the qualifying matches more closely and intuitively and do a good job of analysis.

However, the composition of the participating teams in the qualifying round means that except for a few strong dialogues in this round, the viewing value of most games is quite limited.

You can't just watch these boring games every day besides qualifying practice, right?
It's fine if we're used to the Chinese and Korean teams, but it would be better to just kill those European and American guys instead of letting them stay in the hotel every day to be the kings of the game.

It just so happens that most of them have never been to China, let alone Hankou, the host city of the qualifying tournament. Why not take this opportunity to have a good time?
People like G2 directly dragged Bai Shu, who was originally planning to go back to his hometown to see his family, and headed for the tourist attractions around Hankou.

The other teams also relied on their own abilities and began to run around Hankou.

The authorities will naturally not reject such behavior, they hope that these teams can have more fun.

Anyway, Hankou's tourism level is definitely enough to meet the expectations of these foreigners who like sesame cakes.

When they film these experiences into vlogs or something and post them on their official accounts,
This is free, and it’s a tourism promotion for the whole world, so here it comes, right?

They don't even need to promote it, because the number of foreigners who want to watch the game offline is already considerable.

Yeah, that’s all good.

However, not every team that has made it to the finals is wandering around the city with a look of disappointment on their faces.

After all, for some people, this trip is literally a return home.

Suzhou and Hangzhou, the old headquarters of Xingxin Club.

The reason why it has the word "old" in it is mainly because of the competition system. All the players of Xingxin are now in the base in Magic City.

The old base located in Suzhou and Hangzhou is now beginning to return to its essence as an Internet cafe little by little compared to an e-sports club.

Now it can be regarded as one of the gathering places for Xingxin fans, including the place where Ye Xiu sat when he was a network administrator, the steel pipe bed where he slept, and the storage room. From time to time, fans come from all directions to make pilgrimages to this holy place.

It’s a bit regrettable that we can hardly see the players themselves.

But today, things are a little different.

"Fuck, boss lady! The sun is rising from the west today?" A regular customer came to surf the Internet as usual, but found a familiar figure sitting at the counter.

It was none other than Happy’s top leader, at least in name only, and the most successful fan of Su Mucheng—Chen Guo.

He wiped his eyes and found that he was not mistaken, and exclaimed.

As the boss, Chen Guo must have followed the Happy team to the Magic City.

Although he is a new club owner, he has been learning from Tao Xuan and others along the way, and now he is managing the club quite well.

As the only female boss among the twelve teams in LPL, and with a legendary past, she even rose from a fan to her current position as boss.

The attention Chen Guo receives in the e-sports circle is even no less than that of some star-level players.

Although Xingxin fell short in both spring and summer, they missed the final championship.

But again, being the runner-up may be a regret and shame for the contestants and fans.

But for capital and brands, a team that consistently wins runner-up prize in spring and summer already has a high investment value.

What's more, this team is guaranteed to have three top traffic giants: Ye Xiu, Su Mucheng, and Tang Rou.

Now is the rapid growth period of e-sports, and the investment premium is already high.

But Pei Yunteng, with the intention of paying a huge sum of money for Ye Xiu, gave Ye Xiu a super-huge nine-digit contract, which gave Xingxin the confidence to bid a high price.

Anyway, it's a seller's market now. If you don't invest, there are plenty of people who will.

Over the past year, Chen Guo's net worth has not only been rising steadily, but has also been rising with the tide.

As she became more proficient in handling Xingxin's various businesses, she began to show more of the style of a beautiful boss.

This is of course a good thing. These regular customers of Xingxin Internet Cafe are also Chen Guo's friends, so they are naturally happy for her from the bottom of their hearts.

However, when they saw Chen Guo, who was well-mannered and energetic in various interviews, talking freely in front of the camera,
I always think of the image of the female Tyrannosaurus Rex who was so energetic and used to sit in the Internet cafe every day. From time to time, when she suffered a setback while playing games, she would immediately start cursing without paying any attention to her image.

But today, what did they see?
A living boss lady!
At this time, Chen Guo was moving a chair and sitting in front of a machine not far from the main entrance, wearing the casual clothes that old customers were familiar with.

While playing games, he looked outside from time to time.

"Hey, Lao Wang! You came at the right time. Today, all Internet fees are 70% off. I said so!"

Chen Guo also remembered who this regular customer was, and waved his hand familiarly and heroically as a greeting.

"Oh? So good? Thank you, boss lady!" The regular customer couldn't help but wonder if today was a special day.

He was tactful enough not to ask. After all, if anyone asked about the recent good things, it would probably be about the runner-up title won by Happy.

That was their common regret.

The regular customer chose a seat that he was used to and sat down. He should have taken advantage of the 70% off internet fee today to enjoy himself, but he had no intention of doing so at all.

It is normal for the proprietress to be willing to come back to Happy to take a look. After all, this Internet cafe is no longer a big part of Chen Guo's assets.

The fact that she is willing to continue running the business instead of selling it proves her feelings for this place.

But Chen Guo's appearance here still made these regular customers unable to help but imagine.

Although reason told them that Xingxin’s players should prepare for the battle in Shanghai or Hankou.

But what if... they also come back to Suzhou and Hangzhou?

Maybe, even, those talented people who are shining on the stage are right upstairs in this Internet cafe right now?

In a little while, maybe even appear in front of them?

When the regular customers thought of this, they couldn't help but feel excited and looking forward to it.

And before long, the scene they had been expecting happened before their eyes like a dream.

However, the protagonist has changed a little bit.

"Sister! We are triumphant!"

A voice that sounded a bit strange came from outside the door in the distance. The regular customers were stunned for a moment, and then they immediately realized who the owner of the voice was, and then their eyes lit up.

Oh my god, how could I forget about them?

Some of them are really veteran fans, who have been playing the game since the first three seasons of Honor of Kings or even earlier. They are also the real "veteran fans" who have been fans of Excellent Era for many years. At this moment, they are even shaking with excitement.

They are back, aren't they?

The next second, the door opened, and the LCS runner-up top laner, the top laner selected by the grassroots media as the strongest top laner, Chen Guo's distant cousin Chen Zebin, who was really a relative of Happy, rushed in with a big suitcase. Obviously, this guy didn't wait for his teammates.

Chen Guo was quite excited when she heard his voice. She immediately stood up from her chair and prepared to go to the door to greet him.

But after hearing what the boy said, he couldn't hold it in anymore: "I didn't win the championship, what's the point of triumph——"

"How can the runner-up not be a triumph, you—ugh!"

Chen Zebin wanted to retort with a straightforward look on his face, but halfway through his words, his mouth was covered by Peng Lixun who arrived late.

"I'm sorry Sister Chen Guo, he didn't say anything, we'll go in right away!"

Peng Lixun nodded and bowed under Chen Guo's playful gaze, ignoring Abin's protests, and together with the other people from Excellent Era who came in later, he dragged Abin up the stairs.

"Are you looking for death by mentioning Xingxin's runner-up position in front of Sister Chen?" Qiu Fei cursed with a look of fear on his face after he reached a position where the people below couldn't hear him.

"Isn't this the fact? We are runner-up, and they are also runner-up!" Chen Zebin still wanted to be stubborn.

"Or maybe you didn't eat enough of Brother Shuizi's leftovers." Xun almost rolled his eyes.

As a result, in the middle of the conversation, a voice came from far away on the stairs: "Come on, now it's my turn to eat your leftovers."

On the stairs, Yu Wenbo, who was not much older than them, was looking at them with a happy face.

"Don't just stand there. I've been waiting for you for a long time." Seeing the constipated expressions on Abin and the others' faces, Yu Wenbo smiled even more happily.

"Brother Shuizi, we are not--" Qiu Fei hurriedly tried to explain.

"Hey, it's not a big deal. I am indeed the criminal of Happy. If the referee hadn't targeted you, you would have been the North American champions. It's really time for me to eat your leftovers."

Seeing Yu Wenbo making fun of them nonchalantly, everyone in Jia Shi didn't know what to say for a moment.

Fortunately, someone came to their rescue soon.

"Oh? Our meritorious expeditionary force is back? What are you doing standing on the stairs? Come up! I've been waiting for you for a long time."

Tao Xuan, who was out for a stroll, saw the situation on the stairs and greeted them with a smile.

As the de facto person in charge of Xingxin, his words carry much more weight.

Qiu Fei, Ye Xiu's eldest disciple and Excellent Era youth training leader, hurriedly came up with his teammates and stood in front of Tao Xuan in an orderly manner.

"After staying in North America for so long, you must be missing home. It's good to be back." Tao Xuan looked at this group of young people who continued his dream of Excellent Era with satisfaction. The more he looked at them, the more he liked them.

It is no exaggeration to say that Tao Xuan is grateful to these children from the bottom of his heart.

At least from the beginning, Tao Xuan had no intention of making money from sending these children on an expedition to North America.

After all, it was just to make up for Tao Xuan's obsession with Excellent Era.

He would not try to usurp the throne and have Xingxin change its name back to Jia Shi.

But after getting rid of the obsession when he drove Ye Xiu away, he really missed the days when he could see Jia Shi in the top league.

The boss who came from North America and the group of children in front of him gave him the opportunity to make his dream come true.

The difficulty and hardship of expedition to other competition areas are visible to the naked eye, and accidents may occur if you are not careful.

However, this group of children still embarked on this unknown journey with great enthusiasm.

?

Tao Xuan watched every game of Excellent Era live, even during the hellish time. This even affected his mental state to a certain extent.

But Tao Xuan felt satisfied from the bottom of his heart.

He swore that from the very beginning, he had no performance requirements for this expeditionary force.

When discussing with Wu Xuefeng, he also said that we should focus on ensuring the growth of the children and let their results be determined by fate.

Tao Xuan was already very satisfied just to see them playing in the top league.

Who would have known that these kids would actually be able to shine in North America and even become the nightmare of the entire region?
On the day of the LCS Summer Finals, Tao Xuan, who watched the entire game, was a man in his forties, but he cried like a child.

Who could have thought that after the Excellent Era Club was merged, there would still be a chance to go further? Could he still see the day when the two words Excellent Era would shine brightly in the world arena?
It's so dreamy that it's unreal.

"Good kids, you've worked so hard!" Tao Xuan was about to burst into tears again.

Seeing his full concern and recognition, Brother Bin, who had been so confident, felt a little embarrassed after losing the game.

He lowered his head and said, "I'm sorry, Mr. Tao, we failed to win the championship. We embarrassed you."

Tao Xuan quickly put his hands on his shoulders and said, "What are you talking about? Every step you take is creating a history that Excellent Era, or even Chinese eSports, has never seen before."

"No matter where you go, you will be the pride of Excellent Era and even LPL. Moreover, you are only one step away from the final goal!"

Times have changed. Tao Xuan is now better at guiding players and handling relationships within the team than when he was the boss of an Internet cafe.

Gentle, patient, and perceptive, he is completely different from the previous Tao Xuan.

Including Ye Xiu, almost everyone in Xingxin has forgotten that he once took such a heavyweight move as kicking Ye Xiu out for the sake of so-called commercialization.

With just a few words, the morale of the people in Jia Shi, who were originally a little depressed, was immediately boosted.

After chatting for a few words, Tao Xuan suddenly remembered something: "By the way, where is your coach Wu? Why isn't he with you?"

"Coach Wu has something to do on the way, so he will be a little late." Qiu Fei explained, looked at his watch and thought for a while, then added: "But he should be here soon."

"That's great. We still have time to go down and meet him!" Tao Xuan heard this and immediately turned around and shouted, "Xiao Ye, Xue Feng is here! Let's go down and meet him together?"

After the relationship was gradually restored, relying on his age advantage, Tao Xuan became the only one in Xingxin who could openly call Ye Xiu "Xiao Ye".

"Okay! How many years has it been since he returned to China?" Ye Xiu walked out of the training room.

"It's been almost seven years, right?"

Yu Wenbo led the Excellent Era Five inside, while Tao Xuan and Ye Xiu strode downstairs.

When I reached the stairs, I thought I would cause exclamations from the regular customers in the store, but I found that their eyes were already firmly attracted by another figure.

A figure that was extremely familiar to the two of them, yet somewhat unfamiliar.

At the age of 32, he wears a suit and looks like a mature adult. The temperament of the e-sports boy back then has long disappeared.

But some things that are engraved in our bones have not changed at all.

"……haven't seen you for a long time."

　I don't want to write about the competition. There will be a big exhibition soon. I'll just write about my daily life.
　　
　
(End of this chapter)