That night, Jiang Shaoyu happened to still be awake when Pei Feng returned to the dormitory. He opened the door and called out, “Xiao Pei, wait a minute.”
Pei Feng stopped immediately. He looked at the other person and asked, “What’s wrong, Master?”
Jiang Shaoyu took Pei Feng to a corner of the corridor. The master and apprentice stood side by side. The warm street lamp shone in through the window and inexplicably made Jiang Shaoyu’s usual serious expression much milder.
He looked up at Pei Feng and asked, “Around 4 o’clock this afternoon, you and Chen Chen were playing on the Korean server, right?”
Pei Feng’s eyes widened slightly. “Master, how do you know that?” If his memory was correct, his master went to visit the CIP Club today. How did his master know what he was doing? Could it be that his master could monitor them remotely?
Jiang Shaoyu answered, “I saw it through a coincidence.”
Pei Feng was puzzled. “Master, how did you see it?”
Jiang Shaoyu explained, “The sniper who was in the team with you, M007, is Mo Hantian of the CIP Club. I used the administrator account to watch him play two rounds of rankings in the CIP Club. I happened to see the IDs of you and Chen Chen.”
Was it so coincidental? Pei Feng understood the cause and effect and almost laughed. “Then the M007 crying and saying he can only be a sniper… is Mo Hantian? Cough, he used a translator to pretend to be a cute girl on the Korean server.”
Jiang Shaoyu ignored Mo Hantian’s black history of disguising as a little princess and asked seriously, “What do you think of his awareness?”
Pei Feng put away his smile and commented seriously, “His reaction speed is quite fast. There were several waves where he was outflanked by the Korean brothers. After Chen Chen raised him up, he immediately killed one and gave me time to kill the other brother.”
Jiang Shaoyu nodded. “Yes. What about the Korean brothers? What do you think of their strength?”
Pei Feng frowned slightly. “It isn’t easy to deal with them. I have met them in the ranking before. The brothers didn’t fight seriously today and the teammates they matched with were relatively weak. We would most likely lose if their teammates were members of the Korean national team.”
Jiang Shaoyu’s thoughts were consistent with Pei Feng’s.
In fact, the powerful aspect of the brothers wasn’t the double scouts but the guerrilla assassination tactic. They would deliberately create a 1v1 situation and rely on their excellent positioning skills and marksmanship to take the lead in killing the enemy in seconds.
If one person died in seconds then the situation would instantly become 5 to 3. The opponent would have almost no chance of winning. The even scarier thing was that they had no idea where the brothers would be at all. Creating a gap in numbers through sneak attacks was a common tactic used by the South Korean team.
Jiang Shaoyu wondered, “How would you solve it?”
Pei Feng thought about it carefully. “There are two ways. One is to have the five people on our side huddle together with the medic in the middle, protecting him and not giving them the opportunity to sneak attack and assassinate anyone. The other is to let the two distractions, Hua ran and Brother Ye take the initiative to find them and completely disrupt their rhythm.”
Jiang Shaoyu smiled with satisfaction. He really hadn’t taught this apprentice for nothing. Back then, for every post-match review, he would take Xiao Pei by his side to carefully analyze the tactics. Pei Feng’s tactical awareness was indeed the strongest and his thinking could always follow Jiang Shaoyu’s.
In this way, at least the command position in the future could be stabilized. No matter the predicament, Xiao Pei could find a way to break through.
Jiang Shaoyu looked at Pei Feng. “Hua Ran and Gui Siyang have both come to report to the national team today. Starting tomorrow, you will take Hua Ran and Ye Zi to practice the triangle tactic of two movements and one static. These two people have a special style and it is difficult to cooperate with them. It is easy for them to bring down their teammates so you need to direct them.”
His master’s trust warmed Pei Feng’s heart. He nodded and said with a smile, “Master, don’t worry, I will definitely complete the task.”
—
Early the next day, Hua Ran and Gui Siyang followed Sister Yu around the national team’s base and familiarized themselves with the environment. Then they officially signed the youth training contract with the national team.
The contract conditions for the youth training camp of the national team weren’t bad. They could get a fixed annual salary which was similar to the salary of the youth trainees of major clubs. It was far worse than first-tier players but these young teenagers didn’t have high material desires. They ate and slept at the base so they didn’t need to spend much money. The annual salary was enough to support them. In addition, the youth training team could play in some continental competitions and world cup competitions and the prize money would be divided proportionally.
Hua Ran saw Gui Siyang signing his name seriously and simply signed his name.
At noon, the two of them followed Sister Yu to the cafeteria. Hua Ran took a plate and walked to the cooking window. The variety of dishes wasn’t as rich as his college but there were meat and vegetarian dishes and they looked quite delicious.
He ordered two meat and two vegetables dishes and asked for a bowl of soup. He was going to find a seat with his plate when he saw Jiang Shaoyu and Pei Feng enter through the door together. He took the initiative to greet them. “Hello, Coach Jiang. Hello, Brother Feng.”
Pei Feng smiled. “Your school is quite efficient. The deferment procedures were completed so quickly?”
Hua Ran replied, “Yes, I personally took the application form to get it stamped. It was done in a week.” He saw Shu Chen sitting alone at a table by the window in the corner, so he walked over with his plate and sat down generously. “Brother Chen, you came so early?”
Shu Chen was stunned for a moment. He occupied this seat for Brother Yu. Usually for lunch, he would sit with Brother Yu, Xiao Pei and YE Zi. They were all old acquaintances and his social fear symptoms could be alleviated.
Unexpectedly, Hua Ran was so friendly that he actually took the initiative to sit opposite Shu Chen and greet him with a smile.
Shu Chen wasn’t familiar with this newcomer to the youth training camp so he lowered his head with red eyes. “Yes, I-I came early.”
Hua Ran lowered his voice and leaned over to whisper, “Brother Chen, how many people are there in the national team now? I can see that in addition to the champion and runner-up of the Rising Stars Cup, there seems to be someone living in 301. In addition, the 4th floor is full. Who are they?”
Shu Chen: “……”
It was really difficult for him to introduce the members of the national team. However, facing the young man’s smiling eyes, Shu Chen was too embarrassed to stay silent. He took a nervous breath and stammered, “T-The one who lives in 301 is Ye Zi.”
Hua Ran was curious. “Ye Zi? Are you talking about the captain of the YY team? Why is he here?”
Shu Chen’s face turned red with worry. Why did Hua Ran have to grab someone with social fear to ask questions? There were so many people. Couldn’t he find someone else?
At this moment, a chuckle was heard from behind them. “Yo, this purple-haired kid really looks like a fugitive from our Rainbow team.”
Hua Ran looked back and saw a pair of smiling peach blossom eyes. It was Ye Qingming! Hua Ran usually watched the matches so he naturally knew the famous captain of YY, Ye Qingming. After all, he was the only one who was suspended after coming back from playing the World Series.
Ran greeted him warmly. “Hello, Brother Ye! My name is Hua Ran and I got third place in the Rising Stars Cup! I came to the national team as a youth trainee.”
Ye Qingming reached out and shook hands with him. “Hello, I am Ye Qingming. I came to the national team as a sparring partner.”
Hua Ran was stunned. “Sparring?”
Ye Qingming explained with a smile, “I am an able-bodied man conscripted by Coach Jiang.”
Hua Ran: “……”
Jiang Shaoyu came over and saw Ye Qingming and Hua Ran chatting warmly while Shu Chen was sitting in the corner with a red face and looking at a loss. Jiang Shaoyu walked over to rescue Shu Chen. He sat next to Shu Chen and asked, “Chen Chen, how has your training been recently?”
Shu Chen seemed to grab at a savior as he sighed with relief and replied, “It is good. I am teaming up with Xiao Pei to play in the Korean server.”
Pei Feng added, “Master, Brother Chen has already reached the 3,000 segment.”
Gui Siyang saw that there were already five people sitting at this table and it was a bit crowded. He wanted to sit silently at the next table but Pei Feng took the initiative to greet him. “Xiao Gui, come and sit.”
Gui Siyang came over obediently, a bit happy that Fred hadn’t forgotten him.
This was it for the national team at present. Jiang Shaoyu’s eyes swept over the people present. “Recently, I am busy going to visit the major clubs. You will stay in the national team and look for Coach Cui for your daily training. You can also play in the rankings. Look for Xiao Pei, he will be in charge of organizing it. The official training will be arranged when the next batch of team members arrive.”
The group nodded in agreement.
Jiang Shaoyu told them, “Eat first and don’t talk about these things at the table. After eating, go to the training room.”
Hua Ran was probably a key member of the student clubs at college. He was very good at chatting and brightening the atmosphere. During the meal, he soon became familiar with Pei Feng and Ye Qingming, calling them Brother Feng and Brother Ye in an extremely friendly manner. Gui Siyang was relatively gentle and didn’t speak much. He listened carefully when others talked and occasionally nodded and added a few sentences.
Shu Chen buried himself in eating from start to finish, wishing he could bury his face in the bowl.
The meal ended and Jiang Shaoyu led everyone to the training room to arrange things. “From 2:30 to 5:30, you will do free practice. At present, Qin Bo is developing a new generation software as soon as possible and it will officially be put to use in June. You should start with the software of the previous season. Whether it is moving, dodging or shooting, practice whatever area you feel is lacking. Do the basic practice for three hours every time.”
Jiang Shaoyu continued, “Evening is the training match time. The current national team’s lineup isn’t fixed so I won’t give you an appointment for a formal training match. Ye Qingming, Hua Ran, Pei Feng, the three of you will team up to fight in the Korean server. Chen Chen and Xiao Gui, you can play the rankings freely. Play the peak match every night and maintain the feeling. In addition, watch the play style of the peak players on the Korean side to learn from them.”
He paused and his gaze swept over everyone. “Am I clear?”
The group nodded in unison. “Clear!”
Jiang Shaoyu nodded and left after making the arrangements. Hua Ran sighed. “Coach Jiang is really good. He is very careful and gentle and there are no pretenses at all.”
Ye Qingming looked back at him in surprise. “You say that he is… gentle?”
Hua Ran nodded. “Yes. God Wing became famous in the S3 season and is a legend of that year. If it was an ordinary person then his arrogance probably would’ve soared into the sky. However, he treats us newcomers in a very tolerant and attentive manner. A few days ago, he sent me a message asking if the deferment procedures had been completed. If I encountered any difficulties then he could help me by coming forward to talk to the school leaders and my parents. He is like a gentle big brother.”
Ye Qingming sprayed the tea in his mouth with a ‘pfft’ sound. “Gentle big brother, haha.”
Pei Feng stared at him. “Brother Ye, do you have any opinions about my master?”
Ye Qingming waved his hand. “No no, Brother Ye is very gentle, really. Hua Hua understood it perfectly.”
Hua Ran smiled brightly. “Right? I think I’m really lucky to be able to come to the national team.”
Gui Siyang agreed seriously. “I also think so.”
Shu Chen didn’t speak but he deeply agreed in his heart. He also felt that Brother Yu was very gentle and was like a real big brother.
Ye Qingming laughed until his stomach hurt. These two children had just come into contact with Jiang Shaoyu. They hadn’t been scolded or had to write self-criticisms. They also hadn’t experienced the storm-like devastation of this devil coach. They would know how powerful Coach Jiang was once they were scolded to the point of crying.
Forget it, he wouldn’t destroy their sweet dreams yet. It was good to have more sweet dreams.
Pei Feng told them, “It is 2:30. Let’s get ready for training.”
Everyone quickly opened the training software and started the basic training.
At 8 o’clock in the evening, Jiang Shaoyu finished dealing with the problems at work and came to the training room to see their training.
Pei Feng was just organizing Ye Qingming and Hua Ran to team up on the Korean server. He saw his master coming and asked, “Master, do you want to watch?”
Jiang Shaoyu replied, “Don’t mind me, you guys just continue.” He turned around and walked to the side. He turned on a computer and logged into the room with the administrator privileges. This way, he could see from the perspective of Pei Feng, Hua Ran and Ye Qingming at any time.
Pei Feng’s iD in the Korean server was Winner02.
Ye Qingming and Hua Ran also bought accounts and changed their names to Winner03 and Winner04.
The three of them were quickly matched with their teammates.
This was the first time they were cooperating and Pei Feng was in charge of the command. Ye Qingming was the scout, Hua Ran the charger and Pei Feng the sniper. The other two positions were left to the passersby. The random map of this game was Ghost Castle. At the beginning of the game, Pei Feng instructed, “Brother Ye will go to the left and Hua Ran to the right. I will set up a gun in the middle and guard it.”
Hua Ran shouted, “Received.” Then he quickly rushed to the right road while Ye Qingming went to the left road to investigate.
Hua Ran soon found the front row of the enemy team and threw a grenade at the player in front of him.
Boom!
The grenade exploded with a bang and two people were blown out. One of them… seemed to be Ye Qingming?
Ye Qingming’s voice came from the voice channel. “F*k! What are you doing bombing me, Hua Hua?”
Hua Ran explained, “There was an enemy over there.”
“They were alone and I could solve it. Did you need to throw a grenade to blow us up?”
“I didn’t know you were hiding there.”
Ye Qingming: “……”
Hua Ran: “……”
Pei Feng’s temples twitched. These two people were really uncontrollable, like wild horses out of control. He originally thought there would be no conflict since one took the left road and the other took the right road. As a result, the area of this map was too small and Hua Hua directly blew Ye Zi away with a grenade.
This troublemaking style was to mess with the rhythm of his teammates, right? It was even okay to blow up his teammates.
Next to them, Jiang Shaoyu sat in front of a computer and watched this ‘messy’ and ‘full of mistakes’ three person ranking game with an expressionless face.
Wanting these players with different styles to be in a good lineup and form a tacit understanding… it seemed there was still a long way to go!