Volume 2 - CH 1

Playing Fish Trapped in Secret Room

Book 2: You’re Beautiful

Chapter 1

More than ten young men were having fun in the clear water of a swimming pool.

Ai Qing sat on the poolside wearing a long skirt.  She was giving the youngest team member, Inin, a private lesson.

The names Solo and Gun were written on the whiteboard.

“Ten years ago, Solo’s team was known for its ‘ten inconceivables’ in the Chinese CS circle. The two star players, Solo and Gun, were ranked in the top ten in the world for two consecutive years. The team members swept up many personal ranking in the world; the 2nd most consistent player, the 4th best player to draw first-blood in a game, the first and 2nd best at map control, the 4th best player for pistol-only matches, the best shooter, and nominated three times for MVP, etc, etc.” She circled Solo’s name with the pen. “Solo’s expert in tactics.  There was a saying at the time that god always stood behind Solo.  His control of the battlefield was unmatched and it was also the key factor that allowed the team to win every competition.  And Gun’s personal skill at the time had reached the highest peak that a professional player could ever reach.”

Inin sat at the poolside attentively scribbling notes.  “In other words, will our boss lose if they battle with each other?”

What an interesting hypothesis?

She really never thought about it.  “I don’t know.  They have never battled with each other.”

Inin thought for a while. “They never battled with each other for ten years, so they organize two strong teams ten years later to finally have a duel?”

Was that possible?

Her hand holding the pen stayed in the air.

Solo and Gun were really just one entity ten years ago.  Their biggest wish was to win the Grand Slam.

But now……

“Never mind.  Let’s not talk about them.  They are retired old men.”  Ai Qing casually skipped the topic. “The reason I’m introducing the background of Solo’s team is to let you know the style of the leaders of both clubs.  You will discover that they heavily influence the styles of their respective teams.”

Very quickly, she wrote down a list of names on the whiteboard.

Dt, Grunt, 97, Slide, Following, Xiaomi, All……

“Among all the current players, SP and K&K are without a doubt the strongest.”  She circled Dt’s name with the pen. “The research and analysis team have just finished a report ten days ago, .  They have done a systematic analysis of the top ranking one hundred professional players.  It can be said that both Dt’s personal ability and tactics are the best among all players in WarCraft, StarCraft, DotA, and the Secret Room Storm.”

Inin nodded and looked at her with shiny eyes.  “Of course, he’s always impeccable.”

Was he impeccable?

It was a little bit of an exaggeration, but obviously that Dt had never exposed any weaknesses up to now.

“Manager, I’ll let you in on a secret.”  Inin smiled embarrassedly.  “The reason I come to SP is to have the opportunity to be his opponent.”

“Ah?”  She couldn’t stop herself from laughing.  “Isn’t your goal too low?”

“Seriously.”  Inin raised two finger to swear.

“He was the StarCraft champion of the European Regional tournament two years ago and you were the champion of American Region.  Didn’t you two already battle in the final competition?  Haven’t you lost enough?”  She teased the young Inin.

“I did lose, but I still feel like I haven’t played against him enough.”  Inin answered depressedly.

“......haven’t lost enough times to him?”

“Sort of.”  Inin answered seriously.  “It’s very enjoyable to be his opponent.”

Really?

Ai Qing recollected the couple of matches when she was his opponent.

Indeed…...it was very enjoyable.

His teammates could never understand this feeling.

If you wanted to know how strong a player is, then the most direct way was to be his opponent.

She was distracted before realizing that the topic strayed into admiring Dt, so she quickly switched back.  “Though the captain of Dt’s team is very strong, a group battle isn’t just about the individual’s ability.  Every member of our team has won championships.  The ability of our five players are comparable with each other and each of their skill is about the same level as Grunt.  ‘No weak link’ is the biggest advantage of our team, but K&K------”

She looked at the names on the whiteboard.  “Nonetheless, Dt is still too strong.  Among the remaining players, Grunt is the only one qualified to battle us.  The disparity in the strength of their team members is their Achilles’ heel.”

In the final competition of the Chinese Regional tournament in 2007, though it was a fight between two teams, it was better described as a contest between her and Dt.  Because other than the two captains, the others were all too weak.

She lost at that time with no regrets.

And now, these two teams were about to clash on the battlefield of Secret Room Storm. What would be more important, a talented man or a strong team?

She would have to wait and see.

……

“Not finished yet?  We already swam a lap.”  All climbed up from the pool, dripping wet.  He picked up a towel from the sun lounger with a smile to wipe his hair.  “What is there to talk about?  We’ve already seen them at every past competition.  We already know them too well.”

Everybody walked over and sat down around Ai Qing.

Slide took a box of playing cards over from the sun lounger.  He laid a bath towel down on the floor and started to shuffle.  “To appropriately satisfy Gou Gou’s desire to lecture, it’s the responsibility of every member of our team to listen.  Show some respect, man.”