mesbooks Chapter 75: Having seen the light, why would one want to remain in darkness?
Chapter 75: Having seen the light, why would one want to remain in darkness?
"Two to zero!"
"A dominant victory in just twenty-seven minutes!"
"Wow, after the absolute control in the first game, Crush showed us his terrifying strength as the number one player in the Chinese server."
"Hands-on skills, reaction time, hero proficiency... Medusa on the field showed us what a magical machine gun truly is!"
"Awooooo!"
Inside the venue, as the red crystal collapsed, thousands of spectators cheered, led by two commentators.
The two matches lasted less than sixty minutes in total.
There was no back-and-forth, no clash of weaklings, only an absolute crushing victory in terms of tactics and teamwork.
Back in the backstage dressing room, Lao Mo had completely let loose, practicing military boxing on the spot, his fists slamming down with a whooshing sound.
"Holy crap! Professional league! BJBS is about to enter the professional league, hahaha!"
His voice was trembling.
The difference between the feeling of "knowing this day will come" and "this day has actually come" is a completely different level of dopamine secretion.
Qi Sheng, who had just finished his work and arrived at the scene, helplessly reached out and pressed him back into his seat:
"Calm down, it's only 2-0 now. Celebrate when it's 3-0."
"Opening champagne at halftime or something..."
"Cough cough cough!" As soon as Lao Mo heard the taboo phrase "opening champagne at halftime," he immediately coughed a few times, forcibly pulling back the wide grin that stretched from his lips to his ears.
He straightened his back and glanced around with feigned composure: "You're right, concentrate, don't give them any chances. Three to zero, time to go home."
After pausing for two seconds, he slapped his thigh again and announced with great fanfare: "I hereby declare—if we can finish the game 3-0 today, the management will give each person an extra 10,000 yuan on top of the original bonus!"
After he finished speaking, the room fell silent; the scene of cheering and jumping for joy that he had imagined did not occur.
There was no high-five to celebrate as usual, and I didn't even hear a "Nice".
Several contestants sat in their seats, some fiddling with their fingers with their heads down, some staring blankly at a crack in the floor, and even the usually most outgoing Li Rui only managed a forced twitch at the corner of his mouth—that momentary expression, though not a smile, seemed more like a polite gesture toward something uncertain.
Old Mo was stunned, scratching his head: "Everyone... what's going on?"
He couldn't quite understand it.
Including the original 20,000 prize money for making it into LSPL, each person would receive 30,000 in prize money alone;
This is an astronomical figure for teams in the City Championship. Even in the LSPL league, it would be equivalent to more than half a year's income for an average player.
He had been expecting a group of young men to get excited and toss him in the air after he finished speaking, but this was all he got?
The atmosphere in the lounge felt like something had been sucked away.
The monitor still displayed the post-match data panel; the lights were bright, but they didn't reach the eyes of most people.
Fu Shiyan leaned against the wall, arms crossed, taking in everyone's reactions.
Of course he knew what had happened.
—If you can't even understand this basic situation, how can you talk about being a Grand Slam coach?
Ultimately, the current slump of these individuals stems from the same fear:
When the stage becomes bigger, the lights become brighter, and future opponents become stronger, one's own inadequate strength will be exposed under the spotlight.
The match they just won is precisely the last ticket to that bigger stage.
Yes, humans are incredibly complex creatures; when they win, they become even more afraid.
They are afraid that they will not be able to keep up with the pace in LSPL or even LPL, and they are even more afraid that after the team is reorganized, they will no longer have a place.
There's a saying that perfectly describes the emotions of these young men at that moment.
If they've never seen the light of day, and have always been holed up in the soundproof booths of internet cafes, burying themselves in the grind of ranked games, then they have nothing to lose—winning or losing is just the cost of a few meals, and the future is just next month's rent.
Although those days were meager, they had a simple and straightforward quality: you knew that was all you were capable of, and you didn't expect anything more.
But things are different now.
In a sense, they escaped the darkness—or rather, they were forcibly pulled out of that gray world by a tremendous force.
The moment the lights of the professional matches and the cheers from the finals stadium hit them, they realized how much they had been living in the shadows.
What's even more cruel is that when the light truly shines on you, all the flaws, blemishes, and cracks that were originally hidden in the darkness are also clearly revealed.
They are not afraid of the darkness.
What they fear is that they cannot stand firm in the light.
Fu Shiyan let out a soft breath, left the wall, and walked to the middle of the lounge.
He didn't adopt a condescending attitude, nor did he rush to offer empty platitudes.
He simply pulled up a chair, sat down among the group, and positioned himself at eye level with them.
"Old Mo," he spoke first, his tone flat, "we'll talk about the bonus later."
Old Mo opened his mouth, glanced at the contestants' expressions, nodded knowingly, and stepped aside.
Fu Shiyan's gaze swept across the faces of Li Rui, Wu Chen, Zhu Dan, and Zhou Heyang.
He didn't beat around the bush; he knew that what these young comrades feared most wasn't telling the truth, but being fooled and treated like idiots.
"We have some interesting statistics from the group stage so far."
"We won all our matches, but we didn't get any kills across the lane, and we didn't have a significant lead in last hits."
"What does this mean?" Fu Shiyan didn't answer his own question, but looked at Li Rui instead.
Li Rui paused for a moment, then opened his mouth: "So...we won because of our teamwork?"
"That's right." Fu Shiyan nodded. "It also shows that none of you, taken individually, are top-tier."
"You know this in your hearts, and I know it in my heart too. I'm not going to make empty promises to you or spout nonsense like 'you're all very strong.'"
The air went still for a moment.
Zhou Heyang's right hand unconsciously clenched into a fist.
"But—" Fu Shiyan changed the subject, his tone not becoming harsher but rather gentler, "What we're going to play is never the 'individual ability' card. What we're playing is the system, the framework, the tactical coordination of five people working together as one, making it impossible for the opponent to break it apart."
"The situation is the same now, even if we get into LSPL or LPL."
Also...the same?
The four people, having grasped the subtext, instantly regained a fair complexion.
"I have something else to tell you." Fu Shiyan's voice was soft, but it made people unconsciously want to believe him: "The club's investment this time is indeed huge. So huge that if the results are not ideal, the first ones to be cut will not be you players, but me."
"Strengthening the team is inevitable, but after learning from me for so long, you should understand that the outcome of a match is never solely determined by the players on the field."
"One day in the future, not only you, but maybe even I will need to leave the competition. But if I can't continue as a player, there are still positions in the training and competition team waiting for me."
"BJBS...no, the future TSG will not mistreat any of its contributors!"