Sister, Choose Me, I'm Super Sweet [Esports] - Chapter 16

Chapter 16: We Have to Keep Her

“Before I came to New Fire, I already watched all of your past match videos,” Li Qinghan continued. “You have to be the core for the entire new team to maximize its potential.”

Tong Yi stared at Li Qinghan, momentarily speechless.

“Many teams don’t value the mid-lane position; it’s often their weak point. But New Fire is different. New Fire’s mid-lane is its strength.”

Tong Yi sighed, looking a bit helpless. “But a good jungler is so hard to find, especially one who can coordinate well with a mid-laner…”

As she spoke, several game scenes flashed through her mind. It was the footage from when she and Yuan played together during her live stream.

“Speaking of which, I did come across a pretty good jungler. She’s a solo queue star,” Tong Yi said suddenly.

Li Qinghan was taken aback, a little curious. “Who? Contact her right away!”

If Tong Yi said she was good, then she must be excellent.

“Forget it,” Tong Yi sighed. “She seems to be a student. She wouldn’t have time to be a professional player.”

“How would you know if you don’t ask? If she’s truly talented, being a professional might not be worse than studying. Besides, maybe she’s tired of school?”

Tong Yi shook her head. “This path is too difficult. Not everyone can succeed. I can’t persuade someone to become a professional and then not be responsible for them.”

“You’re right…” Li Qinghan sighed along, looking dispirited. “Even if we can’t find a jungler, we also can’t find a marksman.”

“Coach Li, why did you leave Star Splendor?” Tong Yi suddenly asked.

Li Qinghan paused for a moment at the question. After a while, she said, “They thought I was too strict… A bunch of ungrateful kids. Without me, could they have gotten such good results?”

Tong Yi couldn’t help but glance at Li Qinghan.

“Actually, when I think about it now, it’s not a big deal. I was just a little sad at the time,” Li Qinghan said, patting Tong Yi’s shoulder. “After leaving Star Splendor, I reflected on myself. As a coach, I should show more care for the players outside of training.”

“Uh… what does that mean?” Tong Yi asked, a little hesitant.

“I was too naive before; I didn’t have any spies in the team. Now you’ll be my spy, the bridge of communication between me and everyone else. You need to tell me if there’s any news about them,” Li Qinghan said seriously to Tong Yi.

Tong Yi blinked, feeling like one of those teachers’ pets who is given an important role by the homeroom teacher and loves to report on others.

“Alright, it’s getting late. Go back and rest. I need to go research our new strategies.” Li Qinghan stood up and started walking out. “If we can find a good jungler, you two can practice three different play styles: mid-core, jungle-core, and mid-jungle synergy. If we really can’t find one, then we’ll stick to a mid-core style and have a tanky jungler.”

A tanky jungler is one who is durable and doesn’t need a lot of gold. Their role is to start team fights and split the battlefield.

Tong Yi followed her out and quickly nodded. “Okay, I’ll listen to the coach.” She knew she wasn’t as knowledgeable as Li Qinghan in these matters. She had been leading the team’s training because they didn’t have a coach, and Zhou Shiqing couldn’t be considered a professional coach; she had been doing her best in the role for a long time.

New Fire was originally founded by a few young women who loved esports. Zhou Shiqing was one of them and handled most of the responsibilities. The team’s boss was a friend of Zhou Shiqing’s, who, despite not understanding esports, invested a lot to support her. The boss rarely interfered with the team’s affairs, and Zhou Shiqing managed everything.

Zhou Shiqing was one of the first professional esports players in the league. At that time, the professional league was still very small, and the esports industry was unregulated. Zhou Shiqing retired at a young age due to injuries from high-intensity training, but because of her love for esports, she led the team’s formation.

When Tong Yi joined New Fire, the esports boom had just begun. At that time, most professional players were being severely exploited by their clubs. They were crammed into dorms with seven or eight people, had minimal salaries, and sometimes weren’t even paid. To generate revenue, players were constantly competing in matches and participating in various events. Even during the season, they had to fulfill a monthly live-streaming quota of nearly 200 hours. In short, they were being completely exploited for their value by the clubs.

But New Fire never mistreated them. They provided the best they could for their players. Zhou Shiqing truly acted as a mentor and elder, not just a businesswoman or boss. This was also why Tong Yi had never left New Fire.

Later, as New Fire’s performance declined, investors withdrew their funds, and the coach was poached for a high salary. Zhou Shiqing had no choice but to become the coach herself and managed to keep the team afloat for over a year.

…

Lying in bed, Tong Yi couldn’t help but recall some of the events from when she first joined New Fire, so she went to bed a little later than usual.

Over the next few days, New Fire officially announced the change in ownership on Weibo, and it briefly trended. The main topic of discussion was, of course, the new owner. Many of the Mingsheng Group’s businesses were well-known. However, the new owner clearly didn’t understand esports, so no one believed this change would lead New Fire back to its peak. After all, overbearing management was common in the industry.

Over these few days, new players continuously came to New Fire for tryouts. Two junglers also came, but after Tong Yi watched them, she felt they weren’t suitable. Their skill level was even worse than Qu Feng’s. Tong Yi had given up on her high expectations for new teammates. She thought it was okay if they weren’t perfect; a period of dedicated training would improve their teamwork.

Then, one evening, Li Qinghan suddenly showed Tong Yi a video.

“What do you think of this jungler? A rookie who’s coming for a tryout tomorrow.”

The screen showed a video from a high-ranked match. The player was using a jungle-core hero, Northern Sky. Tong Yi unscrewed a bottle of water, took a sip, and focused on the screen. In this clip, the player got a pentakill with incredible moves.

“This is amazing,” Tong Yi said, her eyes wide, looking at Li Qinghan with a tone of reproach. “Why didn’t you get such a good jungler to come sooner?”

Xia Yun, hearing Tong Yi’s words, immediately ran over. “Let me see, let me see.”

“Take a look,” Li Qinghan said, showing the video to Xia Yun again. As a former jungle queen, Xia Yun had a good eye for jungle players. After watching the video, Xia Yun stroked her chin in deep thought.

“Are there more?” Xia Yun asked.

Li Qinghan showed them a few more videos, all filled with impressive plays. It was clear that this player’s game sense and mechanics were top-notch. So, Xia Yun, like Tong Yi, looked at Li Qinghan with a look of reproach. “Why didn’t you get such a good jungler to come for a tryout sooner?” They had been so worried about the new jungler that their hair was turning gray.

“You don’t understand. She’s a complete rookie. She doesn’t seem to know the proper procedure. She didn’t send her resume to my email; she sent it to me on Weibo. I’m lucky I was bored and checked my Weibo messages yesterday!” Li Qinghan said, still annoyed about it. If the player hadn’t been so good, she wouldn’t have even replied.

“Let’s see her profile,” Tong Yi said.

Li Qinghan pulled up a screenshot of the player’s game profile. “Look, over a dozen national rankings, and three of the most popular jungler heroes in the current meta are in the top ranks. Look at that power score…” Li Qinghan said, marveling.

“Oh my god…” Xia Yun said, shocked, and then a little confused. “Coach Li, are you sure she’ll be willing to join New Fire? With her stats, there’s no way other coaches haven’t noticed her.”

“I thought it was strange, too. I even went and asked around. I found out that coaches from other teams had contacted her, but she rejected them all. The reason she gave was that she temporarily didn’t want to play esports. But why did she send her resume to New Fire on her own?”

“Maybe she’s afraid of not getting a starting position on other teams, so she came to us. ‘Temporarily not wanting to play esports’ might just be an excuse.”

“That’s possible. But she seems very sincere. She even sent a talent evaluation form. Her reflexes and hand-eye coordination are both S-tier.”

“Then it’s over. She’s definitely not going to stay with us. As soon as the tryout is done, she’ll probably run to another team.”

As Xia Yun and Li Qinghan were talking, Tong Yi suddenly snatched the tablet from Li Qinghan’s hand, staring at the game profile with a shocked expression. The ID clearly showed a single character: Yuan.

“What’s wrong?” Li Qinghan looked at Tong Yi curiously.

Tong Yi’s eyes were fixed on the ID, as if she wanted to stare a hole through the tablet. Xia Yun also noticed something was off and looked at Tong Yi with a strange expression.

After a long time, Tong Yi finally spoke. “I know her.”

“?”

“Is this for real?” Xia Yun excitedly grabbed Tong Yi’s hand. “Are you two close? Wow, this is the first time I’ve ever found out you have connections like this.”

Tong Yi didn’t say anything. Instead, she took out her phone and showed a live stream video to Li Qinghan and Xia Yun. It was the video of her and Yuan playing with a mid-jungle synergy that day. The video was long, but after only ten minutes, Li Qinghan slapped Tong Yi’s thigh hard.

“We have to keep her!” Li Qinghan said with a determined tone. “We’ll give her a huge contract if we have to!”

“…Huh?” Tong Yi was stunned. She looked up at Li Qinghan. “You haven’t even finished watching.”

“Just send me the video. I’ll watch it later when I have time. But this jungler has to come to New Fire. If she gets poached by another coach, I’ll be so angry that I won’t be able to eat for six months.”