Chapter 20: Playoffs
A week passed in the blink of an eye.
In the empty training room, Liu Hao was bored, tapping on the keyboard aimlessly, going through mundane training.
Unfortunately, his original talent was limited. Although he was also an esports genius, compared to talents like Ye Qiu, Wang Jiexi, Zhou Zekai, and Huang Shaotian, the gap was too big. Even after a week of hard training, his hand speed and reaction did not show significant improvement.
Fortunately, Liu Hao had the "Premonition of the Future '' to compensate for his shortcomings in hand speed and reaction. It was precisely because of the talent of the "Evil Eye" that he could withstand Han Wenqing's burst with a hand speed of 600 without being overwhelmed.
During this week, Liu Hao slept in the morning, went to the gym in the afternoon for exercise, and trained late into the night.
Although there wasn't much obvious progress in Glory, his active exercise, coupled with the help of genetic drugs, brought about significant changes in his appearance.
His back straightened, his physique towering and robust, his six-pack abs as hard as iron. The slightly creepy aura he used to exude completely disappeared. He walked with his head held high, exuding a proud and confident air. He seemed like a completely different person. It wasdoubtful if any fan could recognize him as Liu Hao.
Ye Qiu and Su Mucheng noticed Liu Hao's changes. Not only did he actively train, but he also always greeted them very friendly. They felt that Liu Hao seemed much more pleasing to the eye now, and his professional attitude had improved a lot. They felt that Liu Hao seemed to have truly turned over a new leaf, until the management of Excellent Era issued an appointment notice.
Liu Hao was appointed as the vice-captain of Excellent Era by Tao Xuan. Ye Qiu seemed to have foreseen it early, so when the appointment notice was issued, he didn't show much emotion.
But Su Mucheng was quite upset. She felt that Liu Hao was downright malicious. On the surface, he greeted her with "hello, have you eaten?" but secretly, he actually colluded with the boss to openly clash for power with Ye Qiu? What's the next step? Is he going to push Ye Qiu out and become the captain himself?
If it were the old Liu Hao, Su Mucheng didn't think he had the courage to covet the position of captain. But now, with Liu Hao being so proud, it seemed not impossible for him to become the captain of Excellent Era.
So, Su Mucheng felt that Liu Hao was a thorough villain. During this week, she never invited Liu Hao to have dinner again.
Ye Qiu didn't explain to Su Mucheng. He watched Su Mucheng and Liu Hao compete openly and secretly with a smile. Liu Hao didn't intend to waste words with Su Mucheng either because he felt that Su Mucheng would never believe that he was genuinely kind and on Ye Qiu's side.
...
Liu Hao continued training for over two hours and felt a bit tired. He decided to take a break and watch some live broadcasts for relaxation.
He opened the live streaming platform intending to enjoy watching some pretty girls dancing and send them some gifts worth a few hundred yuan to relax. But he suddenly noticed that Glory's official channel was live.
Curious, Liu Hao clicked on the live stream.
He recognized the two anchors in the live stream, Pan Lin and Li Yibo, two well-known commentators of the Glory Professional League. They were sitting in front of the stage, chatting casually with their cue cards in hand. The topic was the playoffs of the upcoming season.
It was only then that Liu Hao realised that tomorrow was the start of the seventh season playoffs.
Should he go to the venue to watch the games?
Professional players going to watch games in person could easily cause disturbances, but nobody could recognize Liu Hao now, so it shouldn't be a big problem.
Just then, there was a loud bang as the training room door was pushed open.
Liu Hao turned around and saw Su Mucheng coming in. It was already this late, and even Zhang Xinjie(Vice captain of Tyranny) would have gone to bed for rest and health. Su Mucheng hadn't gone to sleep for beauty sleep?
Su Mucheng accidentally made eye contact with Liu Hao and immediately put on a fierce look, glaring at Liu Hao before skipping over to sit beside Ye Qiu.
"Ye Qiu, are you free tomorrow? Accompany me to S City to watch the game. Xiu Xiu invited me to watch her match, and she gave me two VIP front-row tickets," Su Mucheng said, shaking the tickets in her hand.
"Oh," Ye Qiu seemed indifferent, still concentrating on his screen.
"Accompany me, it's boring to watch the game alone," Su Mucheng pleaded, holding Ye Qiu's arm.
A girl as cute as her would have already melted most men's hearts, but unfortunately, Ye Qiu was a straight man. He had no women in his eyes, only Glory. He pulled his arm out of Su Mucheng's embrace, his face stern, "Don't be silly, I'm playing a game."
"Oh." This time, Su Mucheng's enthusiasm waned.
"Which game?" Ye Qiu asked.
Su Mucheng's eyes lit up, thinking that Ye Qiu had agreed, and quickly said, "Tyranny versus Hundred Blossoms, tomorrow night at eight in S City, the playoffs quarter-finals. I've already bought the plane tickets."
"Tomorrow…" Ye Qiu's attention was still on the game. "I might not be able to go."
"Why? Don't tell me you're staying at the base to play games, then I won't agree," Su Mucheng refused.
"Hehe, no, it's because of Old Han. A week ago, I promised to accompany him to a training match. In return, he gave me two tickets to watch Tyranny versus Hundred Blossoms in the quarter-finals tomorrow night, with the plane tickets reimbursed.," Ye Qiu explained.
"So are you going to watch Tyranny's match?" Su Mucheng asked.
Ye Qiu was somewhat helpless, "I have to. I already promised Old Han. I'm going to Q City to watch Tyranny's match tomorrow night, and I even managed to get an extra ticket for you. Do you want to come with me to Q City?"
"I promised Xiu Xiu that I would cheer for her tomorrow," Su Mucheng regretted.
The two fell into a moment of silence. They both turned to look at Liu Hao behind them and found Liu Hao also looking at them, like a shining light bulb.
"What are you looking at? Even if I had an extra ticket, I wouldn't give it to you," Su Mucheng said with hostility, sticking out her pink tongue.
Liu Hao couldn't help but roll his eyes, "Hehe, even if you gave it to me for free, I wouldn't take it."
Ye Qiu found it amusing. These two seemed like two childish elementary school kids. Clearly, there was no real animosity between them, yet they acted like archenemies.
"Sorry, Mucheng, I'll accompany you to cheer for Chu Yunxiu(Captain of Misty Rain) next time," Ye Qiu said.
"Next time?" Su Mucheng was taken aback.
"When Tyranny battles Hundred Blossoms, it's highly likely that Yanyu will advance. When it comes to the semifinals, I'll accompany you to watch Yanyu's match," Ye Qiu explained.
"Okay, I'll take your word for it. It's just a pity that Xiu Xiu's ticket went to waste," Su Mucheng lamented.
Su Mucheng put the two tickets in her pocket and once again glared at Liu Hao fiercely, like an angry white rabbit, before bouncing out of the training room.
After finishing the arena battles, Ye Qiu took out the two tickets from his pocket. They had been mailed a couple of days ago. After some thought, he stood up and walked to Liu Hao's side, placing one of the tickets on Liu Hao's desk.
Liu Hao was puzzled and turned back, "What does this mean? You rejected Su Mucheng's invitation, and now you're inviting me? Sorry, I'm straight."
Ye Qiu's face instantly darkened. What nonsense was Liu Hao spouting?
"The ticket was sent by Han Wenqing, and also, you contributed to the training match back then, so it's only right to give you one," Ye Qiu explained.
"Oh, I see," Liu Hao nodded as if he had finally understood, "Thank you, I misunderstood you just now. You're actually quite a nice person."
Ye Qiu's face turned even darker.
(End of Chapter)
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