Chapter 1 Aftermath

After the meal, the leaders of the two clubs took their team members to the internet café they had chosen to inspect the training venue.

Zhao Xuming didn't go with them. He stayed in the hotel's lounge area and took out his laptop to work.

Of course, work was only part of the reason. Another reason was that Zhao Xuming was too lazy to get involved in these things. In his opinion, he had already done his best to this point, and it had almost broken his mentality. Now he just wanted to visit Finger Company and didn't want to continue messing around with these esports clubs.

The distance from the internet café to the hotel was moderate, about a fifteen-minute walk.

The two leaders felt that this distance was not too far. Walking would allow the team members to stretch their muscles and see the sights of Los Angeles, so they went on foot.

Full and satisfied, walking on foreign soil, the team members' mentality, which had been shaken by the FV Club's Weibo, gradually improved.

Although this was the city center, it didn't feel particularly cramped, and there weren't only skyscrapers that made people feel suffocated, so walking on the street felt pretty good.

"It's just ahead, almost there." The translator looked at the map on his phone and pointed forward.

The players also looked over. Their first impression was that this internet café was huge!

In China, internet cafés of this size are not very common.

The second impression was, why does the small bus parked at the entrance look so familiar?

The two club leaders exchanged glances, and a sense of foreboding arose spontaneously.

Haven't they had enough? How come the FV Club is everywhere!

The two couldn't wait to turn around and leave on the spot, but then they thought, this is the only internet café with decent conditions nearby. What if the other internet cafés have problems with the machine configurations or the network?

So, everyone hesitated for a moment, but still bit the bullet and entered.

After pushing open the door, what appeared before them was a huge hall and rows of computers.

The internet cafés here have obvious differences from those in China. First of all, the decoration style is relatively rough, with various intricate pipes on the ceiling, and all the computer hosts are placed on shelves more than two meters high. Secondly, there doesn't seem to be the concept of private rooms here. The entire floor is just one super huge hall.

The two leaders took a look. There were many people playing games in the hall, some playing IoI and some playing GoG. Roughly scanning, the numbers were about fifty-fifty, and there were also many people playing FPS games.

There were still many empty seats in the hall.

The computer configurations were good, and the seats were all esports chairs from famous foreign brands. The only drawback might be that the keyboards and mice were not very good and a little dirty, but the players all brought their own peripherals, so this was not a problem.

The two leaders were quite satisfied with the environment here, so they went to the front desk with the translator to ask about the price.

"So expensive... $10 an hour, but a full-day package is only $20. Definitely go for the package."

"Hey, why don't I see anyone from the FV Club? Maybe we mistook the bus."

The two leaders quickly reached a consensus that a package deal was definitely more cost-effective, but the specific location to choose became a key issue.

The translator wanted to negotiate with the boss to see if there were any discounts for booking multiple machines. The two leaders split up and wandered around the hall to see which location was most suitable.

Unfortunately, the area of this hall was too large, and no matter which area they booked, they would inevitably be affected to some extent.

One of the leaders suddenly brightened up after taking a tour: "Hey? Isn't there a second floor?"

He saw a staircase and wondered if he could go to the second floor to take a look. If the environment on the second floor was better and more private, he wouldn't mind spending more money.

As a result, just as he reached the second floor along the stairs, he saw four tall and strong men in black suits lined up, reaching out to stop him.

"Sorry, @#￥%*......"

The four black-suited bodyguards quickly said a long string of English, leaving the leader confused.

But the array of them still startled him. After all, all four bodyguards were in black suits, with walkie-talkies, sunglasses in their chest pockets, and bulging muscles, looking like gangsters from European and American movies.

The leader's English was not good, and he couldn't understand what they were saying. Fortunately, the translator quickly followed and communicated with the four black-suited bodyguards, quickly understanding.

"They said the entire second floor has been booked," the translator explained.

The leader frowned slightly, his expression a little suspicious. He desperately tiptoed, his eyes passing over the four burly men who were nearly two meters tall, and sure enough, he saw the members of the FV Club.

"Damn it!"

The leader couldn't help but curse. His bad premonition had come true!

Most of the machines upstairs were occupied. The FV Club's first and second teams, plus the five members of the SUG Club, totaled 15 people, but in addition to that, there were also accompanying staff and a data analysis team.

The data analysis team also needed to use computers to watch the games and analyze data, and even the three photographers were using computers to edit photos and videos.

The leader and the translator had no choice but to silently retreat to the first floor.

"What to do? Change places, or..." the translator asked the two leaders for their opinions.

The leader sighed, "Let's just stay here, we'll pick a spot in the corner, far away from the stairs..."

The combination of configuration and location of this internet café was the most satisfactory, so it was not easy to change. But they had to stay away from the FV Club, otherwise, the scene would be quite awkward.

The two leaders quickly completed the formalities and arranged for the team members to get on the machines.

"Okay, everyone, change your peripherals. I've sent everyone the super accounts officially provided by Finger Company. Take them yourselves. Let's just play some ranked games to warm up today. In a few days, we'll arrange scrims with European and American teams."

Watching the team members log in to their super accounts and start training, the two leaders sat down to the side, finally feeling a little better.

At least they knew that the FV Club should not have obtained super accounts, which meant that they could not play ranked games, and without official matchmaking, they should not have any channels to arrange scrims with other European and American teams.

"Everyone, work hard, train hard, and be sure to get good results!"

The players said in unison: "Okay!"

...

December 23rd, Friday.

In the morning, Pei Qian was drinking coffee and browsing his phone at Mo Yu Internet Cafe.

"The FV Club has already arrived in Los Angeles and updated so many Weibo posts?"

"Damn, the accommodation conditions are so good? I kind of regret not going..."

"Never mind, there's nothing good about being abroad anyway."

"Huh? Why does it seem like they're getting flak? How much drama did I miss while I was asleep?"

Pei Qian woke up to find that it was already evening in Los Angeles. The FV Club had posted several Weibo posts in a row, from boarding the plane to checking into the hotel, to starting training, with a lot of pictures and videos.

After all, the three photographers were accompanying them the whole time, and they had nothing else to do besides taking pictures and editing videos, so they had to work hard to show their presence.

The early Weibo posts were mainly photos, and later there were even edited short videos.

Obviously, they were edited in the internet café when they had nothing to do.

There were photos of food, photos of the entire city of Los Angeles and the competition venue taken from the top floor of the hotel, and even the four black-suited bodyguard brothers were in the picture.

Even Pei Qian was a little envious when he saw it, so you can imagine how others felt.

Most of the comments under the Weibo posts were envious and jealous, but there were also many disharmonious voices on the forums.

"My God, they've already arrived in Los Angeles? Why are there so many people?"

"The SUG Club went with them too? What's going on?"

"What about the other two teams?"

"Business class? That must be expensive, right? Finger Company is generous, actually paying for business class tickets?"

"Damn, they're staying at the Ritz-Carlton? That's already the most expensive hotel in that area, right?"

"I'm so jealous!"

"What's the deal with these four black-suited bodyguard brothers... are they filming a movie here? Does Finger Company also provide bodyguards? Does every team have them?"

"I remember that the FV Club used to post a Weibo post once every week or two, why is it suddenly so prolific?"

"Damn it! Someone just revealed that this wasn't arranged by Finger Company at all! All of these expenses, including the plane tickets, hotel, and bodyguards, are paid for by the FV Club!"

"Paid for themselves?? How much money is that!"

"So this Weibo is completely just to show off?"

"They haven't even achieved any results yet and they're doing all these flashy things! Are they deliberately messing with the other teams' mentality?"

"As we all know, the more off-field nonsense, the worse the results. If they enjoy so many good conditions and the results are not good, brothers, join me in blasting them to death!"

"This money is probably given by President Pei, right? But isn't President Pei too doting on these players? Such good conditions, do they really think they're on vacation?"

At first, everyone thought that this was a unified arrangement by Finger Company, but they soon realized that this was not the case at all. The other teams didn't have this treatment at all!

So many fans of other teams couldn't accept it.

On the one hand, they felt that why did the FV Club have so much better treatment than other clubs, and they were a little envious; on the other hand, many people would subconsciously associate good material conditions with seeking pleasure.

Although the esports industry is constantly developing and the treatment is gradually improving, not to mention people who don't play games, even many players and viewers feel that esports players don't deserve good treatment.

On the contrary, many people miss the days when esports players slept on the sidewalk, ate instant noodles soaked in cold water, and won championships.

Of course, there are indeed some players who have become inflated because of improved material conditions and do not train seriously, leading to losing games. So seeing the FV Club's players in such good conditions, many people instinctively felt uncomfortable and posted some disharmonious voices on the forums.

Pei Qian was not angry at all, but instead watched with relish.

Good, the haters should seize the time and intensify their efforts!

Blacken the FV Club more, suppress the club's popularity, and make all the money I spent go down the drain!

The players' phones are uniformly managed over there, so they can't browse the forums. The comments of the trolls on Weibo and the forums should not affect their mentality, but at least it can damage the image of the FV Club, right?

If they don't perform well in the World Championship, they will definitely be flamed to death. This club will not be able to attract investment and will not be able to sell for a good price. The shares of the club in Pei Qian's hands will not rise in price, and all the money spent will be wasted...

Wouldn't that be wonderful?