E-Sports Boss Wants To Post Messages With New Players Every Day Chapter 53

Chapter 53

Shen Xiao stepped down, and Yuan joined the team.

Although Xu Ziyan felt curious, he didn’t say anything. Seeing the expressions of the others, they clearly anticipated the current situation, which made him start to doubt himself. Was he really that insensitive to changes in team strategy? It hadn’t been mentioned in previous meetings or chats.

As if to answer his confusion, Xie Wei said, “After the version change, the frequency of double frontlines on the defending side will increase.”

Xu Ziyan immediately understood his meaning. With increased health for all players and extra initial shields for Assault Players, if the Medic paid attention to replenishing shields, the difficulty of killing two frontline Assault Players would greatly increase.

Yuan Shaofeng quickly adjusted his various settings and opened his mic: “I’m ready.”

“OK.” Xie Wei led the team into the room.

Today’s scrim opponent was FTK. For the playoffs, they had recruited UNC’s Sniper to strengthen their roster. Their original 2-2 strategy—one Sniper and one Assault Player, one Medic and one Assault Player—had been further refined.

Since it wasn’t an official match, the atmosphere was much more relaxed. FTK’s Medic even greeted Yuan Shaofeng in the public chat.

FTK-Lin: Fengfeng, long time no see~

TWG-Yuan: Who are you?

FTK-Lin: ?

FTK-propro: Hahahahaha I’m dying of laughter, why is Fengfeng so mean?

FTK-Lin: I’m your dad.

Yuan Shaofeng clearly hadn’t genuinely forgotten who he was and let out a short laugh.

TWG-Yuan: Alright, good boy.

Xu Ziyan asked curiously, “An acquaintance?”

“Yeah,” Yuan Shaofeng replied. “He and I were good buddies when we were in the Youth Training Camp.”

“TWG Youth Training Camp?”

Yuan Shaofeng said, “No, I transferred to TWG from the FTK Youth Training Camp.”

So that was it. No wonder the FTK players seemed so familiar with Yuan Shaofeng.

FTK-Elia: Ice~ Sniper God Ice~ I’m your fan, can I add you on Line?

FTK-Elia: T T I never got a chance to talk to you during the preseason. You didn’t reply to my private messages on Weibo either! I can only fangirl here.

Elia was FTK’s veteran Medic, known for stable performance and a very kind, gentle personality. She was a lovely Beta girl.

Xu Ziyan hadn’t expected her to be his fan. He quickly typed an explanation about rarely using Weibo and sent his Line ID.

FTK-Propro: Hahaha, ever since Ice God’s Medic crushed Elia in that last match, she’s become a total Ice God fangirl. She keeps pestering us to play the Medic-flanking-the-backline strategy, forcing me to duo Assault with Lin, this idiot.

FTK-Lin: You think I want to?

The chat box immediately erupted into another argument.

While the players were bickering, Xie Wei was confirming the map and mode for the scrim with FTK’s newly arrived Sniper.

Xu Ziyan accepted Elia’s friend request, then looked up and said, “Doesn’t the Captain usually handle this?”

“Propro used to do it,” Bai Chen answered. “But ever since the new Sniper joined the team, he’s completely checked out.”

Shen Xiao, who was still in the voice channel, chimed in, “Propro is just a lazy dog. He used to reluctantly do some work when FTK didn’t have a reliable person, but once Quit arrived, he completely gave up.”

Xu Ziyan let out an enlightened “Oh,” then realized something was off and asked curiously, “How do you all know so much?”

“What’s there to know? Everyone’s in the same group chat, so naturally, we all know,” Shen Xiao said. He suddenly realized something. “Wait, Ice, you haven’t joined the player group chat yet, have you?”

Xu Ziyan genuinely didn’t know such a thing existed. He hadn’t been in a group chat when he was on the second team, let alone the first team.

He said, “No, I haven’t…”

Yuan Shaofeng said, “I’ll add you later then.”

A question mark slowly formed above Xu Ziyan’s head. Yuan Shaofeng only joined the first team today, and he was already in the player group chat??

He pondered for a moment, then turned his head, squinting at Xie Wei with a scrutinizing look. “Captain?”

Shen Xiao also realized the problem and quickly backed him up. “Captain Xie, what’s going on? I thought you added Ice to the group ages ago. It’s been months!”

Xie Wei didn’t change his expression. While submitting the match map, he said, “I forgot.”

“Nonsense!” Shen Xiao tried to say more but was ruthlessly kicked out of the voice channel by Xie Wei.

Xie Wei stated, “Unrelated personnel should not linger in the voice channel.”

Shen Xiao was nearly fuming.

However, he somewhat understood Xie Wei’s initial intention for not adding Xu Ziyan to the group.

When Xu Ziyan first joined the first team, there were all sorts of malicious speculations online, opposition to his presence, and endless doubts. That was absolutely not the right time to introduce him to the group.

As for later…

The player group chat was lively, often full of wild talk, and mostly consisted of Alphas and Betas, with very few Omegas.

When Qu Qingyue first joined the group, she immediately became the center of attention. People often joked about persuading her to join their team. Privately, many added her as a friend, and she was constantly bothered by swarms of admirers.

There were times when Shen Xiao was so frustrated by this that he couldn’t sleep.

Xu Ziyan was handsome, his Medic skills were sharp, and the next version was the most suitable for him. He just didn’t use social platforms like Weibo much; otherwise, his inbox would definitely be overflowing every day.

Ultimately, it was just Alpha possessiveness.

Shen Xiao glanced at the two people sitting close together in the training room and sighed faintly: He wondered where his Omega and his love were.

Loading the match map: Philadelphia, West Town.

This was a classic Escort map. Unlike other maps, the escort objective in Philadelphia stopped inside a ranch, meaning that to escort the payload, they not only had to pass checkpoints but also had to first attack and secure the ranch to obtain the objective.

Conversely, the number of checkpoints they needed to pass through would be reduced by one.

Next to the ranch was a Western saloon. The map details in Resist were excellent; leaning against the windows of the saloon, one could hear laughter, cursing, and the clinking of glasses from inside.

First round: FTK on defense, TWG on offense.

The town was winding and complex. Although there were many high-ground Sniper spots, the visibility for those below was not good, making it easy to turn a corner and be ambushed and killed by a single burst.

This map was extremely unfriendly to the attacking Medic.

Xu Ziyan gave up his pistol, still only carrying healing vials and the stun gun. The terrain was complex enough, and the Sniper spots were high, meaning he could use his positioning and the winding paths to evade Assault Players trying to flank him, relying on Xie Wei’s support to escape difficult situations.

He trusted him.

The preparation time ended. Yuan Shaofeng shouldered his rifle and confirmed with Xie Wei, “Captain Xie, I’ll flank and prioritize taking out the Medic, right?”

“Yes,” Xie Wei said. “Go through the alley by the eastern hotel.”

Yuan Shaofeng immediately knew that this was a spot Elia habitually stayed in. He raised an eyebrow in surprise; he and Elia had been teammates for a while and often Duo Queued, so he knew this.

But Xie Wei knew the small habits of a player on another team on a specific map… He already knew how formidable Sniper God Xie was, but being on the same team felt even more different. He suppressed his excitement, flexed his fingers, and said, “OK.”

Xu Ziyan flashed into a small house nearby. Hearing the surprise in Yuan Shaofeng’s tone, he nodded in understanding.

When he first started playing matches with Xie Wei, he was often amazed by Xie Wei’s sudden callouts about an enemy player’s habits. This led Xu Ziyan to become increasingly paranoid about his positioning. In matches, unless the map had only one specific route, he rarely stayed in the same place twice.

Xie Wei was completely unaware of the significant impact he had on others. As soon as he left the safe zone, he quickly climbed to high ground to relay the positions of the enemy players to the team.

“Medic is in the alley entrance, Sniper position unknown,” Xie Wei said. “They want to hold the road entrance.”

Bai Chen hummed, “I’ll coordinate with Yuan.”

Xie Wei said, “Watch out for the enemy Sniper. The most likely position is the water tower at ten o’clock, or possibly the second floor of the saloon.”

The first floor of the saloon was inaccessible to players, but the second-floor room with a balcony was. To get up there, one had to jump from the second floor of another building.

Since footsteps were clearly audible in the adjacent building, lurking on the second floor of the saloon was quite safe. Even if they realized someone was coming to flank them, they could escape in time.

Xu Ziyan briefly checked the sightlines and said, “The enemy… doesn’t seem to be planning to flank the backline.”

Xie Wei said, “They are practicing the double frontline strategy in advance.”

Xu Ziyan asked, “Practicing it now?” The new version hadn’t even updated yet.

Xie Wei said, “Yes, FTK is the first team to play in the playoffs.”

The implication was: they didn’t have much time left to prepare.

No wonder they were squeezing in practice for the new strategy now. Xu Ziyan understood, and his slightly relaxed positioning became alert again.

At the same moment, in the FTK voice channel.

Quit was lying prone on the second floor of the saloon, his cold Sniper rifle aimed out. Below, laughter and cheers continued. He scanned through his scope while carefully listening for movement next door.

After a long time, he lightly clicked his tongue. “No good. Their Medic isn’t showing their head at all. I can only target the Assault Player.”

“That’s normal, it’s Ice after all,” Lin jumped and reloaded. Suddenly, there was a loud bang. A Sniper bullet grazed the side of his face, narrowly hitting his shoulder, instantly dropping most of his health. He flinched in fright and cursed, “Damn, Shining is too insane. I was already positioning and strafing, and he still almost hit my head?”

He summarized angrily, “How did those two end up on the same team? …How did a good prospect like Ice end up going to TWG?”

“What?” Propro forced Bai Chen back around the corner, flashed against the wall, and reloaded. “Even if he came to our team, would you want to replace Elia?”

Elia let out a faint “Oh?”

Lin quickly chuckled, “How could I? How could I? I was just joking…”

As he spoke, he retreated. His defensive position was the front of the ranch. To avoid being hit by Shining again, he chose to fall back behind the saloon, letting Elia heal him to full health before re-engaging.

As Lin reached the side of the saloon, he keenly distinguished an abrupt set of footsteps amidst the laughter inside.

Alarm bells went off in his head. Years of competitive experience told him someone was behind him.

But it was too late. The moment he realized it, before his fingers could react, the sound of a stun gun rang out behind his head.

His character instantly froze in place. Immediately after, the nearly dead Bai Chen jumped out. Taking advantage of Propro still reloading, he cleanly finished off the low-health Lin.

Lin was startled again. “Damn it!”

Propro was also surprised. “When did Ice get here?”

Quit frowned and took out Bai Chen. “…He didn’t come from the second floor.”

While the second floor of the saloon was safe, it had a drawback: it was almost impossible to detect footsteps that weren’t coming up to flank you.

He exhaled. “My bad. I’ll be sure to watch out next time.”

Propro smiled. “It’s fine.”

With Xu Ziyan’s successful play, Yuan Shaofeng no longer crouched. He charged straight into the hotel alley and took out Elia before she could react.

FTK instantly lost two players and could no longer maintain their defense. TWG successfully captured the escort objective.