Chapter 25 – Taught a Lesson
“Yeah, the one who got hemorrhoids was Lao Du from Xinghai. Wonder how he’s doing now.”
“He apparently had surgery, but still hasn’t been discharged.”
“He probably lost a lot of blood. Should we save him a plate of Mao Xue Wang1…?”
While the two were gleefully gossiping about Du Changcheng, the match on stage had already come to an end.
Much to the audience’s disappointment, Team Violent wasn’t able to maintain their advantage till the end.
Even though Violent fought with everything they had, their momentum crumbled in the latter half. LAP launched a fierce counterattack, completely snuffing out the glimmer of hope the audience had been holding onto.
One had to admit, LAP was that kind of team—you wouldn’t think much of them at first glance, but once you were actually up against them, you’d have to bring your absolute A-game and total focus.
To be fair, the organizers had done a decent job of keeping the neighboring province’s team info tightly under wraps before the event. None of the teams had official accounts, nor was there any leaked news.
However, it was clear that LAP’s true strength hadn’t been properly publicized—or perhaps the team themselves simply didn’t care.
Whatever the reason, now that LAP had made such a strong debut, things were only going to get tougher for them from here on out.
Shao Zhan sat in the audience watching, looking forward to seeing more of their brilliance.
Once the match ended, both teams were invited on stage by the host.
LAP still looked like they had fallen out of a rabbit hole—an eccentric aesthetic that made people want to laugh.
During the interview, they each gave their thoughts in German, French, Russian, and Arabic respectively.
The atmosphere turned awkward for a moment, but thankfully, a multilingual student from the audience volunteered to come on stage and translate.
After the translations, the group of obviously foreign-looking guys thanked the student—in flawless Beijing-accented Mandarin.
Their antics did a lot to diffuse the tension in the room. Even Team Violent, who had just suffered a crushing defeat and were visibly downcast, found themselves softening.
As the Violent team captain passed by the trio who were now huddled together discussing what to order for food, he paused slightly, not speaking to anyone in particular as he muttered:
“They’re strong. Their fundamentals are already at pro level—especially Yang Sa. It’s been a long time since I’ve faced someone that impressive.”
His gaze lingered on the team not far off. Unfortunately, he no longer had teammates from his prime to back him up.
“That kid said he wants to rewrite the PUBG rankings,” said the arrogant captain of another team, clearly just here for the drama.
“I watched your livestream match against LAP,” the Violent captain said after a pause, genuinely. “Took guts.”
The video of a pro team getting completely steamrolled by a so-called amateur team had spread like wildfire. Overzealous fans had even turned it into memes, keeping it in the top five trending searches on Weibo for a while.
Zhou Heng was helpless too—what could he do? That video had spread from one of his own team member’s livestreams.
But no one had expected things to turn out that way. If he could go back in time, the first thing he’d do was strangle that little rascal Jiang Ge.
Jiang Ge, who was currently analyzing the last match’s gameplay and taking notes on his phone, suddenly felt a chill down his spine for no apparent reason. He reached for the team captain’s jacket left on a chair and wrapped it around himself.
Witnessing all this, Zhou Heng’s face darkened as he snapped back at the person beside him, “Right back at you—your match was really something too.”
The Violent team captain, long since used to losing, didn’t take offense at all. He turned to the Weiguang team captain—who was also watching from the audience and grinning annoyingly—and said, “Hey, what’s your team doing in the audience too? Not going on stage?”
Weiguang Captain: ＿(ツ)/¯
Violent Captain: →→
Jie Ao Captain: ←_←
Then, the three of them simultaneously turned to the only one in the room who hadn’t been “schooled” yet.
“Wishing Xinghai a triumphant start and smooth sailing!”
“May flowers bloom in wealth and the harvest be bountiful!”
“Thriving livestock and good fortune in the new spring…”
After finally getting rid of the annoying bunch, Shao Zhan barely had a moment of peace before he was called on stage.
The previous match between two out-of-province teams had looked dramatic on the surface—tight scores and a heated fight—but in truth, it had just been two noobs clawing at each other, locked in a low-skill standoff below the average level.
If either of those teams had faced LAP, they would’ve been schooled in seconds.
It seemed the organizer, Silver Emperor Club, had to invite some unheard-of teams to fill the roster and give the temporary squads someone to compete with.
Fortunately, Xinghai was matched up with Leopard, a second-tier team but a leader among them—good enough to at least make the match watchable.
After a brief appearance, on his way to the backstage war room, Shao Zhan ran into Xiao Jiangtao, the head of Silver Emperor Club, who had been waiting there for a while. Upon seeing Xinghai’s players, he warmly approached.
“Xiao Zhan! Long time no see!”
Shao Zhan smiled—polite, but not overly distant.
In truth, his relationship with the head of Silver Emperor was nowhere near as close as the other man made it seem. But both of them were people who knew how to play the game, so Shao Zhan wouldn’t go so far as to embarrass him.
After all, Xinghai Club had originally been founded by Shao Zhan himself. Later, when Xiao Jiangtao’s older brother, Xiao Jianghai, and his family tragically passed away, Xiao Jiangtao had taken over Silver Emperor under emergency circumstances. In order to save the then-floundering Silver Emperor, he had no choice but to sell his pride and joy—Xinghai—to the Shao family.
When the Shao family first entered the esports industry, Xiao had provided considerable help. But in recent years, it was Xinghai who had done more to support Silver Emperor.
The team members entered the strategy room one after another, leaving the space to the two “boss-level” figures.
“Xiao Zhan, I know time is tight, so I’ll keep it brief. I hope you can help me win this match. And if you run into the Silver Emperor team, let the boys learn a thing or two.”
There were really just two things he wanted to say in this brief window between matches. First, he hoped Xinghai would take the championship title—since they were a brother team and Silver Emperor was one of the hosts, it would reflect well on him too.
This also subtly implied that he wanted Xinghai to put LAP in their place.
As the head of a club, how could he not know exactly who had stirred up such a mess behind the scenes?
Second, he hoped that if Xinghai ended up facing Silver Emperor’s team, they could go easy and not crush them too badly.
These two points, Shao Zhan saw no reason to argue with.
He didn’t know what history Yang Sa might have with Silver Emperor or Xiao Jiangtao, and he didn’t care to ask. As for the match—he would perform as usual. He wouldn’t fear strong opponents, nor would he bully the weak.
This round, Xinghai won easily. So easily, in fact, that when they returned to their seats, the once-departed Weiguang captain and Jie Ao captain were now dozing off, their heads nearly touching. Wedged between them, Qin Chuan looked absolutely miserable. When he saw Shao Zhan, it was like spotting a savior:
“Quick—please get these two old guys out of here.”
He hadn’t expected that he wouldn’t even need Shao Zhan to act. The two captains stirred on their own, blinking groggily.
Because the host had just announced the teams for the next round: LAP versus the home team, Silver Emperor.
Still half-asleep, Weiguang’s captain yawned. “What the hell? Xiao Jiangtao’s being real generous, feeding his own team to the wolves.”
Jie Ao’s captain, arms crossed and equally confused, shoved Shao Zhan just as he was sitting down. “What’s going on here?”
Shao Zhan sat and stared straight ahead at the big screen. “I’m just a competitor. If you want the inside scoop, go lurk backstage in the shadows.”
But deep down, he knew something about this whole situation felt off. At the end of the day, this was just a local club-organized event. With Silver Emperor acting as host, and given Xiao Jiangtao’s personality, it wouldn’t be surprising if the “random draw” had been rigged a little.
You could say that today, any team facing Silver Emperor would probably go easy on them—just enough to save face.
Of course, except for LAP.
Which is exactly why Shao Zhan had reason to believe that Xiao Jiangtao, the man in charge of Silver Emperor Club, had just walked into someone else’s trap.
Weiguang’s captain exchanged a glance with Jie Ao’s captain, sparing poor Qin Chuan in the middle, and turned their attention to the stage.
They had no idea that if they actually went to lurk backstage right now, they might really overhear some insider gossip.
Note :
- Mao Xue Wang (毛血旺) is a spicy Chinese hotpot-style dish ↩︎