The E-Sports Circle’s Toxic Assembly Camp

For some entertainment media, it was always nice to have explosive news. So in the interview process, there were also some unscrupulous reporters who repeatedly jumped on the players’ minefields to try and break through their psychological defense and create a headline.

AI rarely participated in such news interviews. After a succession of fierce questions, it was obvious he couldn’t sit still.

Fortunately, before he could speak, DeMen stopped him in time and raised the microphone to himself. “Regarding the retirement, the public relations department of our club will issue a separate statement. I won’t mention it here. As for the question of the age of our players being ridiculed by other competition areas, I don’t think there is anything wrong with that.”

He looked around. “As long as they are active in the field, it means they still have the strength to play for the team. Including me, there are many veterans among the professional teams in the Chinese division but it is these teams that show an absolutely strong performance in the international arena. At least in the previous years, our region has played well. Rather than dwelling on these meaningless things, it’s better to let the teams in other divisions try their best to beat us in the international competition. E-sports needs strength to speak. Real results are more convincing than these boring words, right?”

His words caused the interview scene to fall silent.

Lin Yan couldn’t help nudging Jing Yuanzhou with his elbow and whispering, “Who said that DeMen was easy to talk to? This answer is really beautiful. Every sentence has a hidden needle. Tsk, this is simply language wordplay! Who told the reporters to diss the age of players. Look at their faces. They’re almost green.”

Jing Yuanzhou watched the stage. “DeMen’s fighting spirit is really high. It seems that PAY is determined to win today’s match.”

Lin Yan smiled. “Even if they want to win, the ticket to the finals will be ours.”

The two of them were whispering in each other’s ears while the on-stage PAY interview soon ended with a few more questions. PAY’s staff members left through another door under the leadership of the staff and the GH players followed Lin Yan to take a seat on the stage.

The reporters apparently didn’t think DeMen would be like this when he was usually easy to talk to. There was some suffocation in the air. Now they looked up and saw the new players and their eyes lit up. They excitedly took out the shooting equipment they brought with them.

In an instant, camera flashes filled the scene. Lin Yan had just sat down in the middle when he was dazzled by the sudden camera flashes. He was about to reach out when Jing Yuanzhou next to him already blocked the lights for him.

Lin Yan was so shaken he couldn’t open his eyes. He waited until it died down a bit and reached up to rub his eyes. His words were spoken to Jing Yuanzhou. “It’s fine. You can sit down too.”

Jing Yuanzhou slightly frowned and pushed the microphone in front of Lin Yan.

Unlike others, GH was a brand new team and no one had expected that they would reach this point. Therefore, strictly speaking, this was the first time they had held such a formal press conference. It was the appearance of a new team and the league officials sent a notice in advance, asking Lin Yan and the others to prepare a speech. It was a very comprehensive team promotion.

It had to be said that as the first team to come out of the league’s variety show, GH’s treatment was truly unique.

Lin Yan was naturally happy to have this type of free publicity opportunity but he was reluctant to waste extra time writing a speech. So in the end, the two speeches belonging to the coach and the captain were actually written by Luo Mo, a professional tool person.

Luo Mo was brought into the e-sports circle by Lin Yan. He might’ve handled the affairs of the club in an orderly manner but he was still a businessman. It was a great effort for him to produce two speeches.

Therefore, after Lin Yan and Jing Yuanzhou read the two prepared speeches out loud, the reporters who had been looking forward to it were in a trance. They listened to the two speeches with an overly strong commercial atmosphere and felt like they were participating in a commercial ribbon-cutting event.

The reporters originally wanted to dig up some information on the new team that had been extremely hot recently. As a result, they listened to these speeches that were full of words but were actually all empty words and felt like a basin of cold water had been poured on their enthusiasm. The atmosphere was a mess for a while.

Fuck, they just wanted a good introduction to this new team. What was the matter with them? They were analyzing the commercial value of the club from beginning to end? How long had GH been established? It was such a thorough analysis. Were they ready to sell the team in the first year of the league?!

In this strange atmosphere, the interview host finally gave a reminder. “Then let’s move onto the reporters’ question session.”

The reporters’ minds returned at these words. They all raised their hands in an instant.

The first reporter stood up in front of the eyes of everyone present. He first simply congratulated the GH team for the achievements before raising the sharp question he had prepared for a long time. “First of all, I don’t mean to offend. It is just that the fact that QOG is being listed on the market is spreading so I have to take a closer look. As we all know, it is Coach Lin who said that QOG should be disbanded. The reason why QOG is in its current state is largely due to the original live broadcast event.”

The reporter paused slightly before continuing, “However, the controversial so-called ‘fake match’ incident hasn’t received a response from the officials so far. The complete collapse of QOG isn’t due to the punishment of the competition committee but due to their inadequate ability to withstand pressure. In other words, there is no official sanction but QOG has fallen to the state of having to sell the team due to pure public opinion. Some people feel sorry about this.”

The reporter raised his head and stared at Lin Yan. “So I want to ask, what does Coach Lin think about this matter?”

He finished speaking and there was only silence as they waited for the answer.

Lin Yan looked up at the reporter with a faint smile in his eyes. He had predicted that these reporters would ask about QOG related topics to create big news. He just hadn’t expected the questioning process to be so straightforward.

The words in front were quite beautiful but anyone who took a closer look could tell that they were actually close to, “You used the public opinion of netizens to pressure QOG and force them to withdraw from the league. Does GH have a guilty conscience for doing this type of bullying move?”

Lin Yan noticed that Jing Yuanzhou was going to pick up the microphone but he grabbed it first and responded in a calm tone. “The Burning Hot officials will decide if the investigation will result in any punishments. If the team is sold and how much it can be sold for, is a matter for the management of the club. Our GH is just a serious team that plays quietly and doesn’t have a relationship with QOG. What type of opinion can we have?”

His words were honest and sincere and he showed some vague doubts in his expression. If it wasn’t for the deep understanding of the grievances between the two teams, anyone who saw this performance would really think that Lin Yan was a complete outsider.

The reporter almost coughed up blood at such an irrelevant answer. He covered his chest and gritted his teeth. “Isn’t the reason why QOG is facing such large public opinion pressure because of you?”

Lin Yan just thought it was even more strange. “Isn’t there a problem with your logic itself? The reason why QOG is facing the pressure of public opinion is because there is a dispute over whether they violated the rules or not. It is their own choice whether they have done those things or not. Our GH is just a pure and harmless new team. Every day, we are going bald in order to try and play well. We aren’t their mother or father. Can we control the actions of a group of adults?”

The reporter almost went crazy. “You, you…”

As a result, he repeated ‘you’ for a long time but couldn’t find any way to refute it.

Lin Yan glanced at the interview host next to him and gave a kind reminder, “Do all media reporters stutter now? I remember that there is a time limit for today’s interview, right? We have to go back and prepare for the semi-final match later. Isn’t this type of meaningless question a bit unsuitable?”

This time, it wasn’t only the reporter who asked the question. All his media colleagues looked at the figure who almost fainted on the spot with a sympathetic gaze. Was this question meaningless? Of course now!

On the contrary, GH had received a lot of attention online recently and the final result of QOG was undoubtedly a hot topic. However, based on GH’s current attitude, it was impossible to ask anything else about this matter.

Everyone thought there was a grievance between the two teams but Coach Lin made a clear statement with his attitude. ‘Sorry, a third-rate team like QOG has no value in the eyes of GH. To put it bluntly, it isn’t even a fart.’

Under the guidance of the host, the reporters started asking questions again. The content that followed basically revolved around each team member. However, they soon discovered that the problem with the previous reporter’s question wasn’t simply due to the mention of QOG. It was that today’s GH had no intention of accepting an interview at all! No matter the question, the ‘team spokesman’ Lin Yan could cause the reporters to choke up in two or three questions.

All the reporters were eager to dig up material from today’s interview. At the very least, they wanted to make a fuss about the controversial history of the GH team members. The result? They couldn’t get any information about the topic they wanted and they almost got a heart attack during the interview.

Finally, a reporter who gave up on himself threw out such a question. “As everyone knows, GH spent 35 million yuan to buy Titans from BK. What was the management thinking at the time? After spending such a high transfer fee, did you ever consider that Titans is at the risk of being near retirement?”

There had been many different voices when Jing Yuanzhou transferred from BK to GH. There was a saying that the BK team was aware of Jing Yuanzhou’s declining state and wanted to use the last of his popularity before the end of his career. Selling him to the GH team for a high transfer fee was one of the choices made by BK’s management. Moreover, Jing Yuanzhou’s age was indeed old for the e-sports circle. Many players had retired before reaching his age. He could probably play for two more years at most before retiring. Therefore, the money spent by the GH team was a bit of a waste.

Everyone knew this but it was a malicious question when the player himself didn’t express any intention to retire.

The interview host was ready to stop it when Lin Yan laughed like he heard something interesting. “This type of thing still needs to be considered?”

The reporter was unwilling. “Isn’t it needed?”

“Of course not. It doesn’t matter if it is 35 million or 53 million. Even if it is given to Titans in vain, this is what I am willing to do.” Lin Yan raised his eyes and gave a smile that wasn’t a smile. “But… this is the fun of a rich person. You probably won’t feel it in your life. I really don’t blame you if you can’t understand.”

It was only at this time that they remembered that Coach Lin’s other identity was the boss behind GH…

As for the answer, for these wealthy people, 35 million or 53 million might be nothing more than a string of numbers. It was too heartbreaking that the scene was absolutely silent.

All the reporters present wanted to burst into tears. Fuck, don’t shoot your mouth off and flaunt your wealth? Who can afford to play?!

This is tomorrow’s chapter because I’m getting my wisdom teeth pulled out tomorrow and will be in recovery.

CG 10K event

Proofreader: Nao

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