Chapter 46: The great demon king that outsiders see
They were used to queueing for games on the official servers. With hundreds of millions of players, the probability of encountering someone like this was very low even in the top ranks.
However, it was different for the winter training server. There were a total of 18 teams, and all of the starters together added up to only 90 people. Even if some teams with substitutes (whose points wouldn’t count) also participated, it would still only add up to around 100 people.
It was such a small number of people, and yet they’d dared to click the match button at the same time. It was simply…
Coach Chen Feng: “I just left for a while, and you managed to waste two games!”
The four little children: “……” They didn’t dare say anything.
Lu Feng sat down in front of his machine and adjusted the mouse buttons, “It’s fine, it’s only been 40 minutes.”
Chen Feng: “There’s only a total of five hours!”
Lu Feng: “They didn’t lose points either.”
Mother Hen Chen was really angry, “… You’re f*cking indulging them!”
The four little ones didn’t even dare to breathe––
The great demon king outside was the great demon king that outsiders saw.
The great demon king inside the team was Queen Chen.
Although Lu Feng defended them, Chen Feng still pointed at the scoreboard and scolded the four of them.
It had only been a short 40 minutes, but there was already a huge gap in the scoreboard.
The first tier with Pro and L&P had already obtained 15 points. In other words, they had all won their first rounds.
The teams in the second tier had 9 points. For example, 3U.
Seeing their brother team’s score, Chen Feng really hated iron for not being steel even more, “Take a look at 3U. Why didn’t they hammer themselves the way you did?!”
Asleep and Cong Yi had won in the doubles, scoring six points. 3U’s mid-lane and top-lane had also gotten 6 points, while the bottom lane who’d queued on his own had lost, losing three points.
FTW stood firmly in eighth place with its unique zero points.
Above it were positive scores, and below it were negative scores.
Only FTW was impartial and unconcerned, a big round duck egg zero standing out from the crowd.
The competition committee was very tricky. They’d placed this damned scoreboard in each team’s training room, making it so that they could see the scores as soon as they looked up.
The other 18 teams were probably wondering, what was going on with FTW? Hadn’t they started matching yet?
Then, when they looked at their records.
Oh, amazing.
It was a team of wolves who ate each other!
Chen Feng might be angry, but he was also reluctant to waste time. After beating up the little fools, he started implementing a ‘strategy’.
Free matching looked random, but it actually needed to be well thought out.
For example, in this scoring system where winning scored three points and losing deducted three, and the play level of the five players weren’t the same, there would always be someone who gained points while others lost.
In order to obtain more points, one had to consider how to pair the players up.
Free matches could only be played in teams of two or on their own.
For the sake of training and maximizing points, Bai Cai could join the single queue.
It was meaningless for a support player to play on their own. Not to mention, Bai Cai’s nature wasn’t aggressive, and he rarely went for the kill. A solo vegetable could even make passersby curse at him.
Besides, rather than letting him go out on his own to give away points to the other side, they might as well have him join the double queue.
How should they form the doubles team?
Chen Feng thought about it for a long time and finally decided, “Take turns.”
Wei Xiao chuckled mischievously ,”Brother Cai, are you happy? Everyone is taking turns with you.”
Bai Cai: “……” Shut up!
Chen Feng slapped the table in front of Little Lunatic Wei, “Behave.”
Wei Xiao sat up straight, “Yes, sir!”
Chen Feng was really convinced. Wei Xiao was the biggest troublemaker, but the one who could coax people the best was also him!
“We’re a team. We have to queue up at staggered times.”
With that, he looked grumpily at the four little idiots.
The idiots bowed their heads and pretended to be quails.
Chen Feng continued, “It’ll be difficult to have the matches end at the same time if we stagger the queue times, so this rotation will be calculated by day. For example, if it’s Wei Xiao and Bai Cai today, they will queue together for five hours.”
Wei Xiao raised his hand!
Chen Feng knew what he wanted to say, “Don’t worry. We’ll draw lots. Whoever wins will double queue!”
Chen Feng finished explaining everything and asked, “Is there anything you don’t understand?”
The four of them all shook their heads simultaneously.
Chen Feng took out his cell phone, “Come draw for Brother Cai.”
Wei Xiao was seated near the front. Chen Feng handed him his cell phone first.
There was a simple lottery app open in the phone interface. Chen Feng had adjusted the settings, and one of the four draw options was labelled with Bai Cai’s name.
Wei Xiao rubbed his hands and murmured quietly, “Don’t be me… please don’t be me…”
He still wanted to join the doubles queue with the captain and didn’t want to drag along dead weight.
Bai Cai could hear him clearly, “I don’t f*cking want to double queue with you either!”
Wei Xiao looked at Bai Cai, “I accept your golden words.”
He clicked on ‘draw’ and the page began to turn. Then…
The huge words ‘Bai Cai’ leapt up on the screen.
Wei Xiao: “F*ck!”
Bai Cai: “……”
Wei Xiao: “Old Bai, you have a crow’s mouth!”
Bai Cai cried at Chen Feng, “Coach, look at how he’s acting. He definitely won’t play with me seriously!”
Chen Feng was expressionless, “If you two end up with negative points, I’ll deduct your salary!”
Bai Cai was shocked, “Deduct it by how much?!”
Chen Feng: “5000 per point.”
There definitely wouldn’t be a negative point situation. Every time they lost, they would lose three points. That was 15,000 right there, and Brother Cai, who took money as his life, would definitely go crazy!
Wei Xiaoxiao didn’t care. When it came to money…
How could Chen Feng not understand what he was thinking? Coach Chen was someone who would adjust his teaching methods according to the student. He looked at Wei Xiao, “You won’t be deducted money.”
Wei Xiao: “?”
Chen Feng: “If you lose points today, don’t even think about soloing with Lu Feng for 15 days after we go back!”
Wei Xiao: “!!!”
“Bai Cai!” Wei Xiao was anxious now, “Be more serious when we play. If you drag me down, laozi will fight you!”
Bai Cai was even more anxious, “If you cause me to be deducted 15,000, I’ll f*cking take you down with me!”
Ning Zhehan & Yue Wenle: “……”
They wouldn’t say anything. They were going to be low-key people and focus on saving up points.
So, that day’s lineup was decided.
Wei Xiao and Bai Cai queued together, Ning Zhehan and Yue Wenle queued together, and Lu Feng queued on his own.
This arrangement was actually very good. Wei Xiao could carry Bai Cai; Ning Zhehan and Yue Wenle could get points as long as they didn’t run into any old beasts; as for Lu Feng… let the other teams seek their own fortune!
Five hours a day. If they played the entire time, they could finish seven or eight games.
There was an element of luck involved. If they were matched up for individual matches, it could end in two or three minutes. If it was a doubles game or a team game, it would definitely take longer, and the game time averaged around 40 minutes.
However the risk involved in a singles match was higher. Those from each team who dared to single queue were definitely not weak, and it was hard to say what the winning rate would be like in their games.
On FTW’s side, they would only be able to play six or seven games even if they played the entire time. In order to win more points, Wei Xiao and Bai Cai first started the matching process.
They entered a game very quickly this time, matching into a five-man team game.
Wei Xiao: “Old Bai, I’m going to play top-lane. Play steadily.”
Bai Cai’s brain hurt, “You’re f*cking screwing me over!”
It wasn’t that Wei Xiao didn’t play well in the top lane, but the top lane position was the least involved with the support position in a team game.
One of them spent most of their time in the top lane, and one focused on protecting the ADC. When it came to which positions were furthest apart from each other, it would definitely be the top lane and bottom lane.
Lu Feng, who’d just entered the matching interface, glanced at Wei Xiao when he heard his words.
Recently, Wei Xiao had been very focused on the divine warrior and would practically insta-lock it when he entered the game.
There wasn’t anything Bai Cai could do about it, and he could only leave it up to fate, “If my ADC isn’t worth healing, I’ll follow you…”
Having the support follow the top-laner could be said to be the worst strategy out of all bad strategies.
In this game, the players they matched with weren’t anyone they knew. It looked as though there were people from South Korea as well as Brazil and the Latin Americas…
Regardless of whether they were familiar or not, hammering them dead was all they had to do!
Five minutes into the start of the game, Wei Xiao killed the other side’s top-lane on his own. Brother Cai wailed and howled, “Damn it, this shitty marksman. Laozi’s control skill was perfect, yet he actually let the other side slip away!”
Brother Cai’s worries weren’t unreasonable. This ADC seemed to be playing in a daze. It was bad enough that he missed the soldiers, but the kill that was sent right to his mouth was allowed to get away, too.
Thankfully, the ADC on the opposite side was also very bad. When Bai Cai’s positioning wasn’t ideal, the other ADC didn’t take advantage of it; if it had been Old Yue, he would’ve been sent up to heaven a long time ago.
Wei Xiao and Bai Cai were clearly playing together, but it felt like they were playing two different games.
In the top lane, Wei Xiao pressured his opponent endlessly, and the other side lost their first tower, then their second tower and completely collapsed.
In the bottom lane, it was an exchange between unskilled players. Bai Cai was so anxious that he really wished he could steal his marksman’s arrows and help him shoot the other side dead!
Fortunately, the advantage they’d gained in the top lane was too big. Their teammates might be average players, but at the end of the day, they were still professionals and could take advantage of opportunities presented to them.
After they pulled ahead of their opponent by 8000 gold, they managed a major victory in the group battle, pushing all the way to their opponent’s resurrection crystal and winning the game.
Wei Xiao exited the game in a dominant position, and on Lu Feng’s side, he’d also just finished a game.
On the scoreboard, FTW’s score finally moved.
Wei Xiao, Bai Cai, +6 points.
Lu Feng, +6 points.
Wei Xiao blinked, “In the time it took us to play one game, captain has already finished two?”
Lu Feng: “Solo.”
He’d won two solo matches.
Wei Xiao was sour once again, all kinds of sour and jealous. He was jealous of those who could solo with Lu Feng and jealous that Lu Feng could play singles matches!
Ah, how unlucky was his hand for him to draw Ah Bai…
“Again!” Wei Xiao didn’t want to waste time.
Bai Cai clicked to start the queue.
Lu Feng was also waiting to enter a game. He took off his headset and spoke to him, “Do you still want to play the divine warrior?”
Wei Xiao nodded, “I need to practice with it properly.”
How could a top-laner be considered a top-laner if they couldn’t play the divine warrior well!
Lu Feng paused, “Why don’t you try playing jungler.”
Wei Xiao was surprised, “I’m a top-laner. How can I play jungler all day long?”
The reason why Lu Feng and Chen Feng had arrived 40 minutes late was because they’d held a short meeting after putting together the training plan.
––Regarding Wei Xiao’s position.
They would definitely have Wei Xiao play in the jungler position, but they hadn’t yet decided on when this information would be made public.
The main reason was that Close switching positions was no small matter. Once it was announced, everyone in FTW’s operations and PR departments would have to be prepared. Otherwise, they would have endless internal and external troubles.
Close switching to the top lane was something that fans couldn’t accept, and the current starters of FTW might not be able to adapt to it so quickly either.
A full four years. This team that took Close as their core had already gone on for so long.
Everyone had already decided in their hearts that anything could change, but Close as the jungler core could never change.
If it was changed, it would shake them to the core.
But dragging it on wasn’t a solution. This training camp was a good time. If they could execute a perfect transformation at this time, they could gradually run in the line-up during the National Championships after they went home.
The regular season that went on for several months was enough time to create a new FTW.
The playoffs, national finals, and even the global games would all be full of hope.
Lu Feng had suggested saying it earlier, the earlier the better, while Ning Zhehan was still not familiar with their existing playing methods.
Chen Feng, however, had suggested that they take it slowly.
After discussing it for a long time, Chen Feng persuaded Lu Feng with one thing––
You have to give Wei Xiaosome time. Although that boy isn’t afraid of heaven and earth, he’s never played in a real game. If you make him hold up such a heavy pillar so soon after he’s joined, what will you do if it crushes him?
Lu Feng knew that Wei Xiao wouldn’t collapse.
But…
It wasn’t a bad thing to give him some time to get used to it.
Although they’d decided, Lu Feng still wanted Wei Xiao to play the jungler position more, which was why he’d spoken up now.
Bai Cai didn’t know about the matter of switching positions. What he cared about was, “Brother Xiao, Brother Xiao, I’m begging you, play a game as the jungler, we’ll win more easily that way!”
The previous match had really been too difficult for him. Marksmen were weak in the early stages, and the jungler hadn’t gone around to gank people. He’d provided such perfect vision, yet they hadn’t been able to keep up with his rhythm. What could Brother Cai do as a healer? He really wished he could kill people with his staff!
Wei Xiao had just been about to say that he was now devoted to the top lane and only loved the top lane…
Lu Feng added, “You can win faster and get more points.”
Wei Xiao: “!”
Chen Feng was really impressed by a certain person. He held the title of the great demon king, yet he indulged this child to death!
Coach Chen also gave him a boost, “You’ve already wasted 40 minutes. Hurry up and accumulate points!”
Wei Xiao’s hands were also a little itchy. He asked tentatively, “Then, I’ll play jungler?”
Bai Cai was in the first position for picks and had already helped him snatch up his hero, “The shadow thief wasn’t banned, I’ll get it for you!”
Wei Xiao spoke reluctantly, “Fine, fine. It’s important to score more points first.”
The divine warrior was fun to play, but the shadow thief was more attractive!
Bai Cai was finally relieved, “Come and help out the bottom lane more often.”
Wei Xiao: “Don’t worry.”
The difference between playing the jungler position and the top-lane was that the top-laner was tied to their lane, while the jungler was a kind of wandering position that specifically provided support to his teammates.
Although Bai Cai needed to protect the marksman, as long as he provided good vision for the team, based on Wei Xiao’s instinct in grasping the rhythm of the game, he easily could gank the other side until they exploded.
When they entered the game and saw their opponents, they didn’t know who to blame for their bad luck.
The red side’s jungler was FTW.Quiet, support FTW.White
The blue side’s jungler was 3U.Asleep, support 3U.Congyi.
The great FTW had crashed games with their own teammates, and after that, they turned around and crashed into their brother team.
The fans who were watching the live broadcast back in China were all excited again.
“Hurry and switch to FTW’s third live studio!”
“Holy, it’s FTW vs 3U!”
“Wait a minute, why is Quiet playing jungler?”
“What are you flustered for? It’s hard to say who will match up with who in the free matches. Maybe the team already has a top-laner.”
“Let’s bet, let’s bet, I’m thinking my Pajamas CP will win!”
“3U will definitely win this one. Asleep’s berserker thief and Cong Yi’s light priest have a win rate of 80%.”
“FTW’s Quiet is very strong, but he hasn’t been in the team for long and hasn’t played enough with his teammates. Can he do it?”
One of Brother Cai’s fans interjected, “You guys might not know.”
“The amount of time my God Bai has cooperated with him might actually be more than with God Le.”
“Yes, yes, yes, our Xiao Cai CP has a long history!”
“Think in terms of an archaeological blockbuster. It has to be said that the professor and God Cai have played together for three years…”
“Holy shit!” The scrolling comments exploded, “These two junglers are too fierce!”
The game had just started, and the soldier lines had just met when Asleep and Wei Xiao started fighting in the river that cut through the canyon.
It didn’t need to be said that Wei Xiao was a thorn, but the Asleep who wasn’t sleeping was even more prickly.
Thorn against thorn.
It was exciting!
Chen Feng, who’d originally been standing behind Yue Wenle, went over to stand behind Wei Xiao.
He only glanced at the scene, and his eyebrows rose.
Lu Feng’s eyes were really accurate.
Wei Xiao was born for this position.
He dared to fight, dared to charge in, and could grasp the timing. The most difficult thing was that his momentum was able to inspire and raise up the rest of his teammates!
Um……
The corner of Coach Chen’s mouth twitched––there was also a negative effect.
Not only did Little Lunatic Wei drive his teammates to higher heights, he also inspired his enemy. What was this!
Although Asleep was known for his ferocity, had he always been this wild?!