Chapter 13: The Great Western Expansion Era of Esports!
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Over here, since Mr. Jiang Baopi had already disbursed the pitiful allowance half a month in advance, Lin Jingyi sprang up from her half-reclined, lifeless state on the bed.
“Worker by day, overtime warrior by night! No one’s stopping me from working late today!”
Following Jiang Ming’s instructions, Lin Jingyi swiftly edited the recruitment notice on her computer.
Having completed it at lightning speed and double-checked for errors, she promptly tossed it into the part-time job QQ group for Jinling University.
That’s right—Miss Lin Da-A-Mong was still one of the administrators of the university’s part-time job group.
What Jiang Ming needed—campus part-time recruits—might seem like a hassle to others, but for her, it was just a matter of a few keystrokes.
“Jinling University Campus Part-time Jobs Group!”
(Admin) Lin Yidan:
[Campus Part-time | Recruiting Video Editing Interns]
[Media/Film-related majors preferred!]
[…]
[Urgent | Four Part-time Package Handlers Needed]
[Wages: 15-20 yuan/hour + option for same-day payment]
“…”
Unlike the packaging job, which straightforwardly offered an hourly wage and could be done with some physical effort, recruiting for video editing required experienced candidates, as Lin Jingyi well knew from Jiang Ming’s working style.
No sooner had she posted the recruitment notice than the QQ message alert exploded like popcorn.
“Senior! Are you still short on package handlers? I can do fifteen pull-ups in the fitness test!” — a classic opening line from a muscular guy in the Physical Education Department.
“Sis Lin, do you need a portfolio for the video editing position? I’ve done remix videos for Bilibili creators!” — Chen Yuting, a sophomore from the Media College, attached screenshots of her work.
Lin Yidan’s fingers danced across the mechanical keyboard until she noticed a sarcastic message: “Oh, the great admin Lin is recruiting Jiang’s ‘young ladies’ again? How many bed warmers this time?” She sneered and clicked on the sender’s profile — sure enough, it was Wang Hao from the Accounting Department, who had been rejected by Jiang Ming last time. She immediately right-clicked to report, block, and blacklist him in one go, then messaged the admin group: “Be vigilant for spam accounts. A weirdo sneaked in recently. Let’s verify before inviting anyone in the future.”
…
While our Senior Lin’s keyboard was practically smoking, the laid-back Jiang Ming returned to the team’s underground training room just before the LPL preseason qualifiers began.
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There were six teams with a 2-0 record. Unlike previous rounds where the top seed got first pick and the second seed picked second, the remaining teams were generally those with notable strength in their regional queues. If a team could win one more match, a three-win streak would essentially guarantee a spot in the LPL preseason.
Because in the next round, their opponent would be drawn from the pool of teams with a 0-3 record.
Jiang Ming’s NXG faced the top seed of the Black Rose team in their third match. After two rounds, Black Rose was considered among the top three strongest teams besides theirs.
“Watch Vayne! Watch Vayne!”
“Our carry’s here! One-shotting the AD, one-shotting the AD!”
“Backline, watch the backline—I have the shield, they can’t kill me.”
“…”
In the third round of the LPL preseason qualifiers, the individually skilled Black Rose team, first seed in their queue, still couldn’t block NXG’s path.
During this match, Jiang Ming deliberately chose a less aggressive hero composition for his players to help them build resilience under pressure.
“Remember, fifteen minutes in, you’re ninja turtles; twenty minutes in…” Jiang Ming raised his voice, “you’re Super Saiyans!”
Top lane: Malphite; Jungle: Jarvan IV; Mid: Orianna; AD: Ezreal; Support: Zyra.
In contrast, Blue side’s CX team picked a highly aggressive lineup: top lane Renekton; jungle Lee Sin; mid LeBlanc; AD Vayne; support Blitzcrank.
Compared to NXG’s lineup, Blue side pushed the offensive to the extreme. Upon seeing Malphite in the top lane, they deliberately picked Vayne—the most suitable AD champion this patch for taking on tanks.
From a glance, NXG’s composition appeared to lack game sense, relying purely on stacking ultimates.
Unfortunately, the two teams were operating on completely different levels of understanding.
Early laning phase saw NXG gain some advantage through individual skill and hero traits, but their wave management was virtually nonexistent. Renekton, equipped with ignite, failed a level 3 all-in attempt, after which the game’s rhythm shifted entirely in favor of Malphite.
The minion waves piled up in front, slowly melted by Sunfire Cape. When Blue’s top laner attempted a strong push, Orianna and Jarvan had already arrived to defend.
Compared to the first-round teams, CX not only had stronger individual skills but also better team awareness, knowing when to leverage hero power spikes to force fights.
Sadly, the strategic value of the S3 dragon was negligible. The small extra gold gained was easily offset by differences in basic farming skills.
NXG’s five players took their captain’s advice to heart: “Avoid forced team fights before your composition hits its power spike.”
At seven minutes, NXG employed a lane swap tactic to prevent the enemy from forcing a fight. Durable Malphite moved to the bottom lane, while Ezreal and Zyra went top.
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At that moment, both the top-lane Renekton and bottom-lane Vayne fell silent.
Behind the NXG players, Jiang Ming scratched his head. Lane swapping was just too advanced for today’s Chinese server players.
The entire 22-minute match saw NXG rarely engage in proper team fights with Blue side. They were either swapping lanes or en route to do so. Just as a few young players were about to lose their composure, NXG suddenly initiated a Baron fight, securing a two-for-five team wipe that left the CX squad utterly frustrated.
“Never won before, huh? Never won before, huh?”
The support player spammed question marks in chat before the Nexus exploded.
They’d never seen a team play like that.
“Ahem, ignore them. Let’s take a break and review the game. If we win the fourth match, we officially step into the professional scene.”
Jiang Ming cleared his throat, catching the attention of the fiery young players.
They were all hot-headed youth; if they started trash-talking publicly, it would be chaos.
Shi Zhenyu and Pang Ran exchanged glances and shrugged. Those who needed water drank water; those who needed to head downstairs to the restroom went on their way.
Trash talk?
No chance. For these League of Legends players, nothing was more satisfying than mentally breaking their opponents in-game.
“Heh, I can’t help laughing at their Lee Sin getting controlled right after casting his ultimate.”
“Not everyone’s like Ming Ge, mastering a new champion right out of the gate. They’re just copying poorly.”
“Lao Xu, from your veteran AD perspective, how would you rate their mid lane Zed?”
“Mid-tier ninja at best.”
“Their jungler doesn’t even understand warding F4!” AD player Sorry pointed at the looping Lee Sin in the replay. “How did this team even get into the qualifiers?”
“Because this is the Wild West era of esports,” Jiang Ming tore open a pack of their signature meat floss cake, “a time when all you need is a shovel and the know-how to swing it to dig up gold.”
“…”