Sister, Choose Me, I'm Super Sweet [Esports] - Chapter 13

Chapter 13: Open Your Eyes and See No Future for New Fire

When Xia Yun heard this, she was momentarily stunned, looking at Tong Yi blankly.

“Did you hear me?” Tong Yi blinked and patted Xia Yun’s shoulder. “Get up. I brought you some food.”

Xia Yun sat up with a burst of resolve, then ran her hand through her messy, bed-head hair.

“You’re right. Now New Fire can only rely on us. I have to get my act together!” Xia Yun said seriously. She was supposed to be Tong Yi’s senior; how could she be so pessimistic?

…

Ten minutes later, Xia Yun sat in the conference room with the meal Tong Yi had brought her. They didn’t have a dedicated review room at the new base, so they used the conference room.

On the screen in front of them, the replay of yesterday’s match between New Fire and RG was playing. Xia Yun ate her meal while watching the screen, and Tong Yi stood in front, analyzing it frame by frame.

The footage was playing the part where Qu Feng made a mistake. Tong Yi quickly hit the pause button and said, “Here…” She stopped after just two words. She suddenly realized that the entire first team was now just her and Xia Yun. Qu Feng wasn’t here.

Xia Yun looked at Tong Yi, her chewing motions stopping. She just sat there, mouth full of food, staring blankly at Tong Yi.

“It’s fine, let’s continue,” Tong Yi said, her expression unchanged. She switched the perspective to Xia Yun’s gameplay.

A moment later, Tong Yi pointed out Xia Yun’s first mistake. “Look at this play. You didn’t check the brush again. It’s a good thing the enemy’s health was low, or you would have been killed.”

In the footage, Xia Yun was walking past a bush, and in the bush right next to it, the enemy jungler, A Heng, was crouching. If A Heng’s health hadn’t been low, Xia Yun definitely would have been solo-killed.

“Sorry, I’ll pay attention next time,” Xia Yun immediately admitted her mistake.

“You always forget to check brushes. You have to remember that in the future. Also, A Heng is a player who loves to hide in bushes, so you have to remember that,” Tong Yi emphasized.

Xia Yun nodded repeatedly. “Okay, I’ll remember.”

An hour later, the review was finally over. It used to be Coach Zhou Shiqing who led their reviews, so Tong Yi was a bit rusty, but since they no longer had a coach, she, as the team captain, had to take on this responsibility.

“Alright, you go train. I’m going to call the second team over for a meeting,” Tong Yi said, turning off the screen and speaking to Xia Yun. Now that three members of the first team had left and the team wasn’t recruiting new players, they could only use the second team to fill in the spots.

Xia Yun took a sip of water, her eyes fixed on Tong Yi. “Xiao Yi, I’m not leaving New Fire because I’m one of the original players, but why aren’t you leaving?”

When she heard Xia Yun’s question, Tong Yi was momentarily stunned. After a while, she said, “No one believed in me back then. It was New Fire that took me in and gave me the opportunity to play. So, I don’t want to leave New Fire until the very last moment.”

Xia Yun seemed to have expected this answer. She looked at Tong Yi calmly, without any surprise. After a while, she let out a small laugh, stood up, and gave Tong Yi a serious hug.

Tong Yi smiled and patted Xia Yun’s back. “As long as New Fire is still here, we will always be teammates,” Tong Yi’s voice was exceptionally firm.

Hearing this, Xia Yun felt a warmth in her eyes and had the urge to cry.

“Mhm,” Xia Yun nodded hard and said seriously, “You’re a great team captain.”

Over the next few days, Tong Yi was extremely busy. There were simply too many things to deal with. Coach Zhou Shiqing used to handle both coaching and all the miscellaneous tasks for the team. Now, all these responsibilities had fallen on Tong Yi, and she was overwhelmed.

Wen Xia had already moved out of the base two days ago. Tong Yi personally went to see her off. That day, they talked for a long time, and Wen Xia told her that she would always follow New Fire’s matches. As for Qu Feng and Xu Yue, they were rarely seen. They were currently in contact with other teams. The transfer window wouldn’t officially open until the Spring Split was over. Until then, they were still members of New Fire, but Tong Yi didn’t give them any assignments. She was too busy with her own work.

The jungler, marksman, and support players from the second team were temporarily promoted to the first team to train with Xia Yun and Tong Yi, and they were all very anxious. However, the skill level of the second-team members was limited, so much so that Xia Yun was desperate to return to her jungler role.

Of course, the difficulties weren’t just about the players’ skill levels. The biggest problem was that they couldn’t even find teams to practice against. Coach Zhou used to handle practice matches. Now that Tong Yi had taken over, she found that no one wanted to practice with them. New Fire was eliminated early, and now they had a complete roster change. Even teams that were also eliminated in the regular season didn’t want to play against them. In the end, it was A Heng who agreed to find some time for RG to practice against New Fire.

After more than ten days of high-intensity training, the playoffs had already begun. That evening, Tong Yi was training with her four teammates. In addition to regular training, they also needed to practice tactics, which required them to create custom games for 5v5 team practice. However, with the first and second team members combined, they couldn’t even get ten people. So, Tong Yi contacted retired players and asked them to join in for online practice sessions.

After training ended that night, Tong Yi kept the four other members of the first team for a simple meeting to analyze how they had been meshing over the past few days.

Since New Fire was eliminated in the regular season, they had a long break and didn’t need to start training so urgently. But the current situation was an emergency; the new members needed to practice together, so they had to enter training mode ahead of time.

Finally, Tong Yi said to the three new players who had just been promoted from the second team, “Your skill level is still too low. Starting tomorrow, each of you will add two hours of practice. Your hero pools aren’t deep enough, either. Practice the heroes I told you to until you’re good at them. I’ll check your battle power regularly.”

When they heard Tong Yi’s words, their faces immediately showed expressions of despair. They had been driven to madness by the sudden increase in training, and now they had to practice even more.

The marksman player, Jiang Yi, couldn’t help but complain, “But Team Captain Tong, we have no experience in major tournaments. How can anyone handle this sudden high-intensity training?”

Tong Yi’s expression didn’t change as she faced her words.

“The opportunity to be a starter isn’t something everyone gets. You should cherish it now,” Tong Yi said calmly.

Jiang Yi subconsciously opened her mouth to argue, but she couldn’t say anything. After all, Tong Yi was their team captain, and she had to show some basic respect. The other two players looked at Jiang Yi without saying a word, but they were well aware of what she wanted to express: that even if they got a starting position, New Fire wouldn’t win with the current roster, and they would just be embarrassing themselves.

At that moment, Xia Yun spoke. “Stop complaining. We used to train for much longer than you do now. In esports, being bad is the original sin. If you can’t even seize an opportunity, you’ll be eliminated no matter where you go in the future.”

Hearing Xia Yun’s blunt words, the few players lowered their heads and fell silent.

“If you get to play in the Summer Split, it’ll be your first official appearance. Hurry up and train. Do you want to go back to being on the bench, warming the seat and just watching the whole time?” Xia Yun continued.

The few players quickly said they didn’t. If they had a chance to be a starter, who would want to be a substitute?

“You can go back and rest for now,” Tong Yi said. “This intensity isn’t that high, and I’m not being that strict with you yet. There are plenty of geniuses in this industry. If you want to be seen, you have to work hard.”

After Tong Yi said that, they all felt a little guilty. Tong Yi didn’t say anything more and looked at Xia Yun. “Sister Xia, come to my room for a moment. I have something to talk to you about.”

After leaving the training room, Xia Yun went to Tong Yi’s room, and the two of them stood on the balcony, letting the wind blow on them. The early spring wind was still very cold, making their hair and clothes a little messy. Their faces and hands were icy, but the cold wind also made them feel more awake.

The two of them were discussing the three new teammates. Since they didn’t have a coach, they had to create the strategies themselves.

“This is going to be tough. I think their skills still have a lot of room for improvement,” Xia Yun said, sighing deeply while leaning on the railing. She couldn’t see any hope of winning.

Tong Yi leaned against the balcony, her elbows resting on the railing. She didn’t speak for a long time.

“…Got a cigarette?” Xia Yun suddenly asked.

Tong Yi turned to look at Xia Yun. “I don’t know, I can check. I already quit smoking.”

“Really?” Xia Yun asked, not quite believing her.

“Mhm.”

Tong Yi responded and went into the room to look for a cigarette. She and Xia Yun used to have a smoking habit, but they didn’t smoke a lot. It was just for staying up and training. But that was a long time ago. Now, unless they were extremely stressed, they wouldn’t smoke. Also, Coach Zhou wouldn’t let them because it was bad for their health.

A few minutes later, Xia Yun closed the balcony door and started smoking on the balcony. She held a lit cigarette in one hand and an ashtray in the other, contemplating her life as she smoked.

“I open my eyes now, and I can’t see any future for New Fire,” Xia Yun said helplessly.

Tong Yi looked up at the night sky. It was dark and empty, with only a few scattered stars. After a while, she said, “The Summer Split is still a long way away. We…”

Mid-sentence, Tong Yi’s phone rang. It was Coach Zhou Shiqing calling her.

“Why is Coach Zhou calling you so late?” Xia Yun asked, looking a bit confused.