Chapter 55: The LPL Begins!

After handling all the miscellaneous tasks such as the team’s relocation, signing new player contracts, and taking profile photos, Jiang Ming and his NXG team fully immersed themselves in preparing for the LPL.

Every day from 1 p.m. onward, they rigorously practiced individual fundamental skills, expanded their hero pools, studied tactics, honed vision control and team coordination, and engaged in scrimmages with other teams. Fueled by the motivation of promotions and salary increases, each player operated like a finely wound machine, tirelessly striving for self-improvement day after day.

Of course, as the current source of the team’s funding, Jiang Ming also managed the YY platform live streams and video production simultaneously.

He spent the days conducting intensive training sessions with the players, then, after assigning tasks for the evening, retreated alone to the third floor of the base to grind for a living.

Since the peak sales event ended, the online store’s daily sales had noticeably declined, urgently needing consistent exposure.

Streaming was more stable, simply playing ranked matches on the national server to maintain his top spot.

Thanks to his exceptionally high win rate, Jiang Ming had surpassed the second-place player by nearly two hundred victory points, making it unlikely for anyone to overtake him in the short term.

This allowed him to focus more on the entertainment value during streams, attempting all kinds of flashy, skillful plays to boost viewer engagement.

Editing videos, however, began to show signs of strain. As a time-consuming task piled on top of many other responsibilities, Jiang Ming had to intentionally reduce the frequency of each video update.

Fortunately, the two video editors recruited by Senior Lin were quite competent.

With their addition, for the foreseeable future, Jiang Ming only needed to write scripts, entrusting much of the video work to them.

After a couple more training sessions, as they gained experience, the two would gradually be able to independently create content.

There were also some interesting moments recently. When the head of the Penguin Sports LPL League came to the base for funding, player contracts, and team registration, the sharp three-story standalone building of NXG left the visitor quite impressed.

“Even WE isn’t decorated as nicely as you guys!” the official remarked.

For NXG, decoration was secondary to providing players with a clean and bright living environment, home-style but absolutely healthy and delicious meals, and additional equipment like air conditioning and freezers in the training room.

From what he saw, especially the rigorously standardized management rules inside the training facility, NXG was truly among the very front-runners in the domestic esports clubs.

Yet, this entire club was actually founded by a university student.

To be honest, knowledge is something that, when you have the ability, can offer many unexpected advantages.

“Director Jiang, if we need your advice on the league’s future development, we hope you won’t hesitate to share your insights,” said the official respectfully as he departed.

Jiang Ming smiled as he saw the LPL staff off outside the base, replying, “Certainly. As participants in the LPL, we hope it continues to grow and improve.”

...

Days passed.

After gaining fame online, NXG no longer lacked teams willing to scrimmage against them. Their highly disciplined and standardized playstyle made a strong impression, so both domestic and foreign teams eagerly sought to challenge them from time to time.

Faced with a flood of scrimmages, Jiang Ming began deliberately lowering his own team’s win rate, prioritizing training and cohesion over victory. Besides constantly experimenting with new systems, he also increased the players’ training load with various weighted drills. After all, wins and losses in scrimmages wouldn’t affect official matches.

Yes, I’m specifically calling out that invincible esports cult known for their scrimmage dominance.

Riot still owes them a championship trophy for scrimmages.

With his focus fully on the team and the next phase of development, Jiang Ming embraced this fulfilling routine as the LPL’s opening day arrived.

January 29, 2013!

At eight in the morning, the alarm rang once. Before it could sound a second time, a slender arm decisively pressed down on it.

Time to get up!

Jiang Ming tidied his bed first, then entered the washroom. He filled a glass with water, squeezed out some toothpaste, and swallowed it down as he brushed his teeth.

Afterward, he washed his hair under the half-open faucet.

This was a small, unusual habit of his—not washing his hair during the previous night’s shower. Drying it with a blow dryer in the morning made him feel more refreshed.

After blow-drying his hair, he stood before his wardrobe.

To prepare for the upcoming LPL matches, he had specially ordered two suits from the clothing supplier of his online store.

Yesterday, Senior Lin and he had taken them to the dry cleaners.

He slowly put on a shirt and admired his reflection in the mirror.

Not bad.

Wearing a suit made him look a few years more mature.

Hmm, no need to style his hair like a grown-up today.

“Why is everyone up so early?” he wondered.

After taking about an hour to get ready, Jiang Ming descended from the third floor, only to find the players already gathered together in the dining hall.

Pang looked a bit embarrassed. “Too excited to sleep.”

“Pang, it’s just a regular match, and it’s only preseason. Getting so worked up you can’t sleep is a bit much,” Song Yuan teased, patting him on the shoulder.

“But Old Song, you were tossing and turning around midnight last night, and you got up at seven today. Looks like you didn’t sleep well either,” the straightforward Shi Tou shot back without mercy.

“You don’t understand, I’ve been quitting smoking lately. Do you know about withdrawal symptoms?”

“No, I don’t!!”

“You used to swear by how cigarettes were the soul of gamers…”

“Cough, cough, you must have misheard.”

“Haha, alright, enough bickering.”

Jiang Ming interrupted their banter. “Let’s eat breakfast first. We’ll spend quite a bit of time on the road, and lunch will be in Shanghai.”

Lin Jingyi was checking the players’ luggage with Aunt Deng. “Did everyone bring their player badges and team jackets?”

“Oh no, I left mine under my pillow!” Xu Jing suddenly slapped his thigh. “Lin Jie, wait for me. I’ll go get it right now.”

Wu Zhiqiang grumbled, “Why the hell did you slap my thigh?”

“Make sure to pack your keyboard and mouse sets with their boxes to protect them during transit,” Jiang Ming reminded the peripherals team.

Of course, the LPL officials provided standardized keyboard and mouse gear, but compared to the battle companions they’d used for months, the players naturally preferred their own trusted equipment.

“Let’s go!”

Outside the base, Uncle Zhou had already warmed up the car and was waiting.

It was a nine-seater medium-sized van, converted from a Wuling model, exclusively for the team.

The main selling points: cheap, sturdy, and durable!