Chapter 151 - Putting His Name Down In The Team
Lin Dong didn’t bother to prepare a long speech. If he needed to have a long flowery speech when convincing an ex-teammate, then a lot of other teams would have succeeded in recruiting Da Luo for his strength already.
Lin Dong had already expressed his intentions, and Yu Luocheng had met him in person. So, instead of overstaying their welcome, they chose to leave.
***
The door closed slowly and Da Luo’s eyes were still on the screen, not even standing up to see them out. On the screen, Nocturn was heading toward the opposite tower and the chat was filled with the other’s scolding.
Da Luo snapped out of it after a while, momentarily forgetting that he was supposed to be controlling the champion. He hurriedly typed in an apology.
Finally, he stood up and walked toward the window. You could see the street from here and he watched Yu Luocheng’s back as he walked further away, his expression changing from time to time.
His phone on the table vibrated for a while before Da Luo reacted, rushing toward it to pick it up.
“How’s it going, have you managed?” A voice on the other end said.
“Not yet, my luck was not good.” Da Luo replied.
“Your luck wasn’t good? Why don’t you just admit that you don’t have the skills for it then? Other people were lucky enough to get a 25 consecutive win-streak, and you, retrained for half a month, and the most you can get is a 19 consecutive win-streak? How do you expect me to explain that to the club?” The person on the other end was clearly annoyed by the tone of their voice.
“I’ve already tried my best.” Da Luo said wearily.
“Then hurry it up. I’ll give you a few more days, if you don’t break a new record, don’t expect to get the money.” The voice said angrily.
Da Luo hung up the call, his heart heavy. The person who had just called him was a club manager who had set up a Taobao store to sell LOL accounts. The maximum level of each region was level thirty, and each region had multiple types of consecutive streaks. There were highest win rates, highest fight contributions, and even the highest winning streaks.
The longest winning streak was the treasure of his Taobao store, because if he owned a unique winning streak account, that would mean that his store’s value was higher than the other stores, and he could attract more customers, as well as highly skilled players.
Da Luo worked during the day, and boosted others at night. The list of players he got was also from the same person. He hated the guy so much because he always talked as though he was a commander and a boss, but this was the only store that gave the most money…
Especially for the longest winning streak account, as long as he could keep the record, he could get an extra 600 yuan every month.
Buzz!
Not long after, his phone went off again. Da Luo glanced at his phone, his face expressionless. Once he saw the caller’s ID though, his lips lifted up into a smile.
“Da Luo…” A voice said in a sing-song voice.
“Yeah, I’m here.” Da Luo replied, his smile growing wider.
“I want to go shopping, will you go with me?” The voice asked.
“This….”
If it was any other time, Da Luo would have agreed immediately. He had to break that record in the next few days, or he would have less income this month. If he didn’t succeed, the club manager probably wouldn’t give him such a high rate the next time.
“What’s the matter, are you not willing? Other people’s boyfriends take them out for a holiday during the National Day and even go to another province for a holiday. You’re not even willing to go shopping with me when I ask?” The voice on the other end was clearly disappointed.
“Of course not.” Da Luo said hurriedly. “Where are you, I’ll come find you.”
“Come to Zhongshan Road.”
“Alright, I’ll come now.”
***
The flowers on Zhongshang Road were beautiful and dazzling, it was really a place which could represent Shanghai. However, it seemed like every city had their own Zhongshang Road for the purpose of attracting tourists.
Yu Luocheng, Qianqian and Lin Dong headed toward Zhongshang Road once they left Da Luo’s place. Since Qianqian had accompanied him to meet his old friend, the least he could do was to accompany her for shopping.
“Oh yeah, Da Luo got himself a girlfriend.” Lin Dong said out of the blue.
“Have you met her?” Yu Luocheng replied.
“Once. How do I put it…I don’t think she really suits him.” Lin Dong said.
“Why would you say that?” Qianqian, who was walking beside them, asked curiously.
“I can’t put my finger on it, but I think that once you see it you’d say the same.” Lin Dong didn’t elaborate too much, choosing to instead glance at Qianqian and Yu Luocheng, his face breaking out into a smile. “But I feel you both go well together.”
Hearing that, Qianqian turned her head to the side, avoiding both Lin Dong and Yu Luocheng’s suspicious smiles and said, “How can you say he’s suitable for me, heh!”
“What Lin Dong meant was that we are suitable as friends.” Yu Luocheng laughed. “What did you think he meant?”
Lin Dong nodded his head in agreement. ” Yeah, I meant as friends.”
“…”
Qianqian resisted the urge to hit them on their heads with her bag, choosing to ignore these two idiots instead. To emphasize her mood, she walked in front of them, choosing to look at the things she was interested in.
Yu Luocheng and Lin Dong lagged behind a little bit, their mood reverted back to being solemn after that small episode of laughter.
“Da Luo is still angry with you.” Lin Dong said. “When I asked him previously, although he didn’t express that he wanted to play, I can tell he actually wanted to join the professional leagues. His current salary is not enough.”
“Yeah, I can see that.” Yu Luocheng replied, nodding his head.
Yu Luocheng didn’t want to join, but he didn’t want Team Wings to disband just because he had left the team. The rise of LOL was a chance to rebuild Team Wings and Basil had also showed amazing talent in the game. Yu Luocheng was hoping to help Lin Dong build the team.
“Why don’t you join the team first, as an analyst or a coach…As long as your name is somewhere in the team, Da Luo will definitely come back.” Lin Dong suggested tentatively.
“I…” Yu Luocheng was hesitant.
As an analyst or a coach, it was the same as joining the e-sports scene either way. His old man’s intention had been to make him sever all ties with the e-sports industry, and Yu Luocheng was afraid that he didn’t have enough self control. If he was not careful, he would once again embark on that road and piss off his old man royally once again.
“You just have to put your name in, and you have more freedom while you’re in university anyway.” Lin Dong continued. “When you’re free, you could come watch our practice sessions, practice with us or something. We’ll be fine on our own in official matches. Anyway, I wouldn’t let you participate in official matches if you don’t practise consistently.”
A professional team needed to go through a long period of bonding. For example, a solo professional player would often be beaten in a solo queue and pressured until he didn’t dare to leave the base.
However, once he’s in a team and has bonded with his teammates and has a feeling of belonging in the team, he will overcome this and surpass the players who were pressuring him in the first place.
If Yu Luocheng hadn’t gotten along and bonded with his teammates, his personal strength, no matter how strong, wouldn’t have been able to help him perform well in competitions. Lin Dong’s objective in building this team was to aim for LPL, not just those cyber cafe competitions!