Chapter 125
Before the start of the FOG World Championship each year, in order to increase players’ enthusiasm for the matches, the league officials would launch a World Championships in-game prediction betting activity. Players could use their in-game coins to bet on the teams that they think would win. After the competition is over, the players who are lucky enough to bet on the winning team would receive their winnings in in-game coins based on the odds.
This year, this in-game activity began as soon as the teams who would be competing in the World Championships from each division was confirmed. To some extent, the total amount of in-game currency bet on each team also represented the popularity of each team to win the championships.
The ranking of the teams in the in-game activity has gradually stabilized as early as a week ago. The current top favorite to win the championships: The European division’s Sacred Sword team.
The second favorite to win the championships: The Chinese division’s Free team.
Since the establishment of the FOG League, this was the first time that the first and second favorites to win the championships were going to meet in the quarterfinals.
The moment when Yu Sui made the draw, it meant that one of the top two favorites to win this year will inevitably fall in the quarterfinals.
If not Free, then Sacred Sword.
Since its establishment, Sacred Sword Club’s worst record in the World Championship had been losses in the semi-finals.
The Free club had just been established this year and there was no historical record to trace. If Yu Sui’s personal performance would be taken into account, his worst record in the World Championships had been as a runner-up.
According to this data, the past performances of both sides were very impressive.
After this quarterfinal knockout, the loser will not only have to pack up and go home but they will also have a new record of their worst performance on the World Championships.
Top Eight, quarterfinals of the World Championships.
Before the start of the World Championship, everyone already expected that Free and Sacred Sword would have their fateful encounter that would give a final answer to their unfinished practice match at the beginning of the season.
But no one expected that the two parties would meet so early.
In the lounge of the stadium, Yu Sui had been asked by the staff member to go to the court to do the draw but the staff member himself had remained in the lounge.
According to regulations, when players were not accompanied by their team’s accompanying staff, the league staff members would accompany the lone player to serve as their interpreter and to show them the proper care.
The staff watched Yu Sui draw Sacred Sword’s name. He was shocked and his jaw dropped.
The two favorites to win the championships were going to meet already? Isn’t this too early? !
The staff felt both frightened and regretful for Yu Sui. They had been so lucky before, getting the precious first seed qualifying spot without a hitch. First seeded teams had an advantage in the quarterfinals since they would be matched up with one of the second seeded teams. The possibility of making it past the quarterfinals was quite high. But no one expected that Sacred Sword would be among the second seeded teams.
At this moment, the other first seeded teams were probably breathing out a sigh of relief. Yu Sui had managed to fish out this piranha in the pool of second seeded teams.
After a brief moment of shock, the staff member shook his heads and turned to look at Shi Luo. He wanted to gentle his words and comfort this young player, barely an adult, who had just entered his first World Championships. He wanted to tell him not to be afraid, not to feel too pressured.
But when he saw the expression on Shi Luo’s face, the poor staff member couldn’t voice out his words of comfort.
Shi Luo looked at the words “Sacred Sword” on the simultaneous live broadcast screen. His pupils shone, the corners of his lips were ticked up slightly and the tip of his right finger on his knee was trembling with excitement.
Shi Luo lowered his head and smiled and then, he couldn’t help but laugh out loud.
Staff member:”......”
The staff suffered a mental collapse. Is this newcomer laughing? !
Are newcomers so crazy nowadays? ! ! !
The newcomer was about to give his head away to the current top favorite. What about this was so worthy of joy? ! ! !
Maybe it was because he had witnessed Yu Sui’s stomach bleeding that got him admitted to the hospital but Shi Luo’s aversion and guardedness against blood was on a different level from ordinary people’s.
Especially when these things were tied together with Yu Sui.
So when he saw that tweet with that picture of the single blood-stained wing from Sacred Sword, Shi Luo was furious. He wanted to storm out of the lounge to the live broadcast room to tear up that group of people.
Regardless of whether it was intentional of unintentional on Sacred Sword’s part, Shi Luo paranoidly felt that this was just cursing Yu Sui and provoking himself over long distance.
In the first place, Shi Luo was never one to accept even half an insult. This matter must be settled. It just so happened that Sacred Sword decided to manipulate their points to disgust the other first seeded teams. This was just what Shi Luo wanted.
Shi Luo’s murderous intent and excitement were too obvious. The staff looked absolutely incredulous. What was going on at this year’s World Championships? Is everyone going crazy? Encountering Sacred Sword in the quarterfinals, even Free won’t have a win probability of more than 50%. What was there to be so happy about?
The staff was still worried that the boy had received too much stimulation and said softly in Chinese, “The draw is like this. You could have been matched up with anyone. There’s no way to argue with luck.”
Shi Luo’s eyes were red as he stared intently at the live screen: “Yes, we had a one in three chance and we finally got it.”
The staff tried to confirm, “Are you...really happy? Do you have that much certainty about your quarterfinals?”
Evil, this newcomer for whom it was his first year to have his professional game ID included in the World Championship roster, pointed to the Sacred Sword logo on the live screen and said, “Do you see this team? They’re dead.”
Staff member:”......”
The draw is still going on, the first match-up of Free vs. Sacred Sword for the left half was set. The other match-up of the North American Team vs the South Korea team was also set.
For the right half, the Swedish team that had just qualified from Group D was matched against NSN and the last match-up was between another North American team and a Norwegian team from the wild card division.
The staff couldn’t help but gasp. Anyone with eyes could see that the distribution of the top eight teams this year was extremely uneven. In the left half, there were two explosive first-seeded teams, Sacred Sword, the piranha swimming in the pool of second seeded teams, as well as a strong South Korean team. The left half was simply the place where strong teams were buried.
The staff was a fan of the North American team in the left half. He couldn’t help but mutter in English that the left and right halves of this year’s championships was not balanced at all. It was much easier to qualify if you were in the right half.
“If you feel like it’s unfair, you should go reason it out with Sacred Sword.” When the draw was over, Shi Luo got up and said lightly, “It’s also my first time seeing the balance of a competition completely thrown off just because someone decided to play dirty.”
“Of course, it might also be because I lack experiences, I haven’t seen a lot of f*cked up things yet.”
Shi Luo put on his jacket and went to find Yu Sui. The draw was over. The captains of the eight teams left the live broadcast room one by one. Shi Luo exchanged a high-five with Gu Gan, who was still worried. “They... ”
“This is perfect.” Shi Luo looked at Sacred Sword’s captain, situated not far away, “I thought I would have to rely on you to send them home, but now it’s fine. We’ll do it ourselves.”
Yu Sui left the live broadcast room. He and Shi Luo locked eyes. There was no need to talk.
Yu Sui and Shi Luo went back to the hotel together. Everyone, including the accompanying staff were having a meeting in Zhou Huo’s room. The two of them headed there. Before they even entered the room, they heard Chen Huo’s loud voice from inside.
“Control! Control points! Chen Huo held the quarter-finals match list Old Qiao had drawn. Without the slightest timidity on his face, “You f*cking controlled your points? You want to feel alive that much! You wanted to upset the other first seeded teams? You want to send us packing in the quarterfinals? So you f*cking controlled your points to come at us. This is absolutely f*cking amusing!”
Yu Sui and Shi Luo entered the room. Chen Huo looked at Yu Sui. With a smile on his face, he said, “Not bad. This is the first time you’ve been so lucky.”
Puppy was leaning back on the sofa by the side. He smiled lazily, “Exciting.”
Compared with the players, the faces of the staff members in the room were a bit less excited and a bit more worried.
Just a few minutes ago, Sacred Sword’s manager posted a tweet on his private account:
【Whisper, please receive a little gift from me. 】
Old Qiao was holding the phone, anger writ across his face. “We weren’t overthinking it. They were doing it on purpose. Amazing. We didn’t go looking for trouble with them but they actually have the face to come stirring trouble with us. In the end, just who the hell is worthy or who? Have they lost all sense of reason?!”
“How is it unreasonable?” Unlike Old Qiao, Zhou Huo could better understand the thoughts of the mid-level and senior level executives of a purely commercial club like Sacred Sword. “From the perspective of Sacred Sword’s owner, at the end of last season...My club has just won the championships. I was willing to spend more money to let these players continue to play and win championships for me. Unexpectedly, despite adding so much to their contract fees during the new season, despite sweetening the pot as much as I could, my medic left and he took two of my important players with him. They returned to their declining division and the three of them rebuilt their team together. They even entered the World Championships to boot...Sacred Sword’s owner probably couldn’t swallow his anger.”
Zhou Huo looked at Yu Sui, “Didn’t you say before that Sacred Sword’s manager threaten you when you left?”
Yu Sui was actually completely unsurprised that Sacred Sword would come up with such a trick. He nodded, “He said...that if I return to my own division, I will never win the championships again.”
“I knew that they had a lot of grudges but what they said when I left was still very unpleasant to hear.” Yu Sui looked at the match list drawn by Old Qiao. He smiled at Zhou Huo. “It’s my own trouble. My old club’s attempts to teach me a lesson have reached this point. I admit it.”
Zhou Huo has taken care of everyone in the team this year with great dedication. Very few managers have done as much he has. Yu Sui has never voiced it out but he was very grateful. Now, it was possible that the results of the entire team will be affected because of their old matters. It was actually unfair to Zhou Huo for them to lose in the quarterfinals because of this.
Unlike these players, Zhou Huo had nothing to do with Sacred Sword before. If he hadn’t come to be the manager for team Free, Zhou Huo and Sacred Sword might have never had any dealings at all.
Old Qiao looked at Zhou Huo. He finally reacted and a look of apology appeared in his eyes, “Just... It can’t be helped. This conflict has long been set. Even if we do lose, you can’t blame Yu Sui...”
Shi Luo’s eyes moved slightly and he interjected, “I also have a hand in this. It was me who directly provoked Sacred Sword the other day.”
Zhou Huo looked at them for a moment and then laughed, “You think I’m blaming you for calling on trouble? Are you kidding?!”
Zhou Huo was helpless. He looked accompanying videographer who was in the room. He adjusted his tie and suddenly said, “Turn on the camera and shoot a piece of material for me. Right now, I’m going to make things clear to everyone. This is perfect, I can use this later on.”
The videographer Xiao Ge was startled. He nodded hurriedly and immediately turned on the camera, aiming it at Zhou Huo.
“When I entered this club as a manager, regardless whether it’s your old scores or new grievances, regardless whether it’s good or bad, all of that became my responsibility. I have to be responsible. I have to bear this along with everyone. That’s my job as a manager.”
Even now, he still didn’t understand completely how to play this game. But Zhou Huo, who in the past, was like a fussy old hen, now had the look of a gangster and his murderous aura was exactly the same as those of the villains in the team.
Zhou Huo looked around at everyone in the room, addressing the players and the other staff members, “Isn’t the worst result just that we’d lose? Isn’t the worst result just dropping out in the quarterfinals and being violently attacked by the sprayers? Then rest assured and just play. Whether it’s managing public relations or controlling the haters, we can handle it. Winning is the honor of our entire team. It’s what you seize shot by shot, what you get by working without rest for almost a year-long season, by over drafting your body and stamina, by staying up all night, by practicing one shot after another.”
“It’s your job to give it your all, to practice hard and go to compete in the matches. After losing, it’s my job and the job of all the backend staff of our club to deal with the aftermath. Everyone has their own duties to perform.”
” If you don’t mind us sharing in the applause of your victories then we have no qualifications to get angry at you for your troubles outside the stadium.” Zhou Huo calmly looked at everyone in the room, “The day I became your manager, I became responsible for managing all matters. That’s what I’m paid to do. So I would like to ask the players to stop putting a psychological burden on themselves on my behalf, thinking how things are unfair for me.”
“We’ve been targeted in the World Championships by last year’s champion club, forcibly elevating us, this club of less than a year old, into this position. I am thrilled that we are lucky enough to have high-level public relations issues like this.”
Zhou Huo finally looked at Yu Sui, his eyes gleaming, “In China, on the day of the group match draw, you told me that it’s an amazing feeling to be able to eliminate a strong team with your own hands. The pleasure is enough to offset all the exhaustion and pain. I have never experienced that. None of our staff have have experienced that. So, please try your best...”
“to let us experience for ourselves just how that feels.”
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