Chapter 253 – Miracle Village
The league gave the members of the national team three days off, allowing them to go back and say goodbye to their loved ones. After all, they would be spending the next few weeks abroad.
For many people, this was their first time going abroad. Their parents naturally weren"t very comfortable with them going so far away. Then they thought of their children partic.i.p.ating in the national team and representing the country, causing them to be filled with pride!
"I heard your son is going to the United States to play the game?"
"Yes, he will leave in two days. I"m not too sure. This is the first time he is going so far!"
"What"s the game?"
"It is a compet.i.tive game!"
"Compet.i.tive game?"
"I don"t know much about it. It is… using the keyboard to play the game?"
Many people didn"t understand what "e-sports" was. However, the Miracle League"s advertis.e.m.e.nt of the national team was amazing. The Internet was full of news about the World Compet.i.tion and many friends and relatives cheered for them in their circles. For a time, the term e-sports quickly spread.
In the past, parents saw e-sports as just "playing around". Once they saw this World Compet.i.tion, they no longer strongly opposed the children who had talent for games and wanted to be e-sports players.
In the training camps of the major teams, the number of newcomers who rushed to sign up broke a record high.
Of course, there was no time for the national team"s members to pay attention to this. They were making final preparations to leave the country.
Li Cangyu provided small tips in the chat group. [Bring a few sets of clothes to change into, shampoo and shower gel can"t be brought, the hotel will provide them. Everyone should bring their own water bottle and don"t forget an umbrella…]
The captain was like a big housekeeper as he worried about the team members. The vice-captain Ling Xuefeng was responsible for contacting people at headquarters in the United States. His English was very good and he could communicate with the person directly in English.
***
In the blink of an eye, September 25th arrived and all members of the national team came to Beijing Capital International Airport with Chairman Nan Jiangang and took a flight to New York.
The flight that spanned almost half the earth lasted for more than 10 hours. At first, everyone was quite excited and talked about going abroad. Later, the lights turned off and everyone gradually became sleepy, falling asleep one by one.
It was afternoon when they arrived in New York. The Miracle League headquarters sent people to pick them up. The huge pick-up sign with English and Chinese characters that said "Miracle League" was particularly conspicuous.
Ling Xuefeng stepped forward and exchanged a few words with the girl who picked them up. She was Chinese and her Chinese was also very good. She had already arranged the vehicle and once everyone got their checked baggage, they followed her to the officially arranged accommodations.
They had slept on the plane for two long. Now everyone was awake and extraordinarily lively when looking at the buildings outside the window.
Cheng Wei asked excitedly, "I wonder what hotel the league arranged? I hope it is a single room…"
This was immediately denied by Tan s.h.i.tian. "The possibility of a single room isn"t big. There are 22 contestants from each country, as well as the team leaders, a.s.sistants, photographers, etc. The 16 countries can add up to over 400 people. Will they be able to arrange more than 400 single rooms?"
Cheng Wei glared at him. "If it is a double room, this time I want to stay with Cat G.o.d…"
Tan s.h.i.tian rudely ruined his dream. "Do you want to die? Cat G.o.d will definitely live with Captain Ling to discuss tactics every day. How can he stay with you?"
Cheng Wei felt a bit lost and muttered, "I don"t want to stay with you."
Tan s.h.i.tian whispered in his ears, "Why?"
Cheng Wei didn"t speak. Tan s.h.i.tian smiled slightly and spoke in a voice that only he could hear. "Are you afraid of kissing me?"
"…" The distance was too close and heat touched his sensitive ears. Cheng Wei"s face turned red as he yelled, "Tan s.h.i.tian, get out of here!"
The group looked back with expressions asking, "What happened?" Li Cangyu was the only one who was different, his eyes saying, "Don"t be too emotional in public."
Cheng Wei angrily stared at Tan s.h.i.tian, his round eyes looking particularly cute.
Tan s.h.i.tian reached out and gently patted him on the head. "Don"t be angry. I"m joking."
Cheng Wei twisted his head and ignored him.
Su Guangmo asked the female guide, "Where is the hotel arranged by the hotel? Is it going to take a long time?"
The Chinese girl smiled. "Yes Captain Su, in order to avoid being disturbed by crazy fans, the players" residence has been arranged in a quieter suburb."
Su Guangmo was surprised. "Eh, you know that I am Captain Su?"
The girl winked at him. "Of course, I have watched the Chinese league. Didn"t you also partic.i.p.ate in the Carnival?"
Su Guangmo smiled. "Yes, I came to New York last year for the Carnival and stayed at a hotel."
"This time, the number of players from the various countries is very high and arranging hotels are too hard. The league has arranged a residence for everyone to stay. Hey, we are here!" The Chinese girl was very cheerful and she pointed to a group of buildings outside. "It is there!"
The group looked outside and sure enough, they saw a row of neatly arranged buildings.
Behind the row of buildings was a small playground with a standard rubber track, a variety of fitness equipment and an open-air swimming pool. It was obvious that in order to prepare for the first World Compet.i.tion, the league worked hard to transform the residence of the players.
The vehicle stopped at an open s.p.a.ce in front of the buildings and everyone got off it. Once they got off the bus, they saw a row of spectacular sculptures in front of them. It was actually sculptures of the six races of Miracle!
Large maps in English, Chinese, j.a.panese, Korean, French and other languages were placed to one side of the sculptures. Everyone gathered and looked at the map. The labels were very clear, stating things like dormitory, dining room, activities area, supermarket etc. Even if they didn"t know English, they wouldn"t get lost. The Miracle League in the US was quite reliable.
Under the leadership of the female guide, the members dragged their luggage to the Chinese team"s dormitory.
There were traces of the Miracle game along the way. The street lights were made into the shape of a priest"s staff, the signs were full of the various Miracle cla.s.ses and even the trash cans were made in the shape of the elf summoner"s four water, fire, wind and thunder pets…
Li Cangyu pointed to a water spirit trash can and asked, "Do you like this type of trash can?"
Of course, he was talking to Ling Xuefeng and everyone was aware of this. Ling Xuefeng look at the lovely water spirit trash can and said, "I don"t want to throw rubbish into it."
Li Cangyu agreed. "Yes, I want to take one back as a commemoration."
***
Everyone walked through the village and despite being in a foreign country, they felt intimate and warm because the place was full of Miracle elements.
Qin Mo secretly pulled Xiao Han and whispered as he pointed to the sign in front of him. "What does Miracle Village (Eng) mean?"
Xiao Han replied, "It can be understood as a small village dedicated to MIracle."
Qin Mo muttered, "…Oh."
Once he arrived in the United States, he firmly hugged Xiao Han"s thigh. From today on, Xiao Han was his English teacher!
The World League had specifically built a Miracle Village to host the annual World Compet.i.tion. This intimate design proved their far vision and sincerity towards the World Compet.i.tion.
The main office"s sincerity could be seen from these details.
They might be players from different countries, they might have different religious beliefs and customs, but there was one thing they had in common—they were all e-sports players who loved Miracle.
In the Miracle field, all players were equal and every opponent was worthy of respect.
It didn"t matter if they didn"t have a shared language. They would use their skills to speak!
***
The Chinese girl took everyone to the third building. Then she said to Ling Xuefeng, "There are a total of 14 room on the 3rd and 4th floors that belong to the Chinese team. The flag of the Chinese team is hung next to the rooms. The captain should arrange for everyone to check in."
She thought Ling Xuefeng was the captain and spoke facing Ling Xuefeng.
It was natural since the person who always contacted the league headquarters was Ling Xuefeng. Li Cangyu didn"t mind since they were inseparable…
For the accommodation arrangements, Ling Xuefeng asked, "Shall we continue to follow the arrangements from the secret base training?"
The group immediately agreed.
The lone Cheng Wei couldn"t object and he could only follow Tan s.h.i.tian in a dejected manner.
That night, everyone took a shower and went to the dining room to have dinner. On the food side, the United States didn"t have as much variety as domestically. Many people wisely brought snacks and didn"t go hungry.
After dinner, Li Cangyu took everyone to the hall arranged by the league to register.
The World Compet.i.tion would use a new server since there were new maps decided by the World League and the submitted maps from each country. The players" information must be re-registered and their IDs couldn"t have complex symbols such as Chinese, j.a.panese and Korean characters. Only numbers and English letters could be displayed during the match.
All players needed to submit their ID card and national team invitation letter. Li Cangyu and LIng Xuefeng went to the reception and discussed it with each other. "What ID do you plan to use?"
Ling Xuefeng said, "LXF, just like my previous Carnival pinyin abbreviation."
Li Cangyu nodded. "Then I will use Old Cat."
"Yes, just use this."
Tan s.h.i.tian used his old Tenday, Cheng Wei had no idea and directly used his name in pinyin, ChengWei. Then he looked at the registration ID of the other players.
Su Guangmo used MOMO to sell meng, Yu Pingsheng followed him with YUYU and Xie Shurong followed the brothers with XIEXIE. Bai Xuan couldn"t help spitting out, "Thank you, you really want to take advantage of people."
Xie Shurong smiled innocently. "Thank you! How about you use XuanXuan?"
Bai Xuan didn"t do this to avoid his IQ being pulled down. He used the more distinctive White Fox. Look at the white fox that got up and smashed Xie Shurong ten streets away.
Lou Wushuang and Zhang Shaohui used a pair of brother IDs—Killer Lou and Killer Zhang to indicate the Lou Zhang brothers.
Xiao Han directly used his English name Xavier.
Qin Mo"s English was too rotten and he asked Xiao Han to give him an English name. Xiao Han thought about it and had him register as Adrian. Qin Mo couldn"t read this world but looking at the shape, it seemed to match Xiao Han. The name was quite good? Thus, he happily registered the ID.
Zhuo Hang registered Navigator, which was consistent with his domestic ID.
The three sisters of Red Fox used their surnames of Liu, Yang and Meng as their IDs. This inspired the other players who weren"t good at English. Thus, Chu Yan, Zhu Qingyue, Yan Ruiwen, Guo Xuan, etc all used their surnames as the ID. At this point, everyone discovered that there was no repeated surnames in the national team!
It took an hour for everyone to confirm their information and successfully create their character.
Previously, they were worried about the visa or something going wrong on the road. Now that they successfully arrived at the Miracle Village and registered their information, the stone in everyone"s heart was finally let go.
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Chapter 254 – Fight in the Carnival Again
That evening, Li Cangyu called everyone together for a small meeting. The league made sure to arrange a meeting room for each floor, allowing the players to meet and discuss tactics.
This meeting wasn"t about the World Compet.i.tion. It was for the upcoming appetizer—the 2nd World Carnival.
The players who partic.i.p.ated in the first Carnival were voted by the domestic audiences. However, this year was more exciting and intense due to the World Compet.i.tion following the Carnival event. Thus, the league announced a new regulation. Every country"s Carnival players should be directly selected from the national team by the captain.
In other words, this time the Carnival had no voting. The national team"s captain would directly send people.
Li Cangyu had many benefits but it wasn"t good for him to make private decisions. He called everyone to discuss the Carnival partic.i.p.ants. "The Carnival is just an entertainment project, with events like basketball, racing, etc. My suggestion is that the partic.i.p.ants of the first Carnival should give the opportunity to others. What do you think?"
Su Guangmo readily said, "I have no opinion. I have already played last time. Do you want to go this time?" He was looking at Yu Pingsheng. The latter smiled shyly before finally managing to say, "Ah Shu should go."
Xie Shurong replied, "I don"t have much interest in this type of entertainment. I will keep training."
Li Cangyu asked, "Who especially wants to go?"
Cheng Wei raised his hand. "I want to try!"
Lou Wushuang looked over at Zhang Shaohui. "Last time, you helped me get votes. This time you should go and play."
Zhang Shaohui was excited. "Okay, I"ll go as well!"
Chu Yan and Liu Xiang partic.i.p.ated last time. Li Cangyu asked, "Captain Jiang, do you want to go? You can look at the hunters from other countries."
Jiang Xu nodded. "No problem."
Red Fox"s Meng Jie asked said bluntly, "Is there still room? I want to see it!"
Yan Ruiwen followed up. "Can I go?"
Li Cangyu nodded. "Yes. Then the temporary partic.i.p.ants this time are Cheng Wei, Zhang Shaohui, Jiang Xu, Meng Jie, Yan Ruiwen and me. This Carnival will be led by me while Xuefeng will stay behind to arrange everyone"s training. Players who can"t go to the Carnival shouldn"t feel too lost. After all, it is only an entertainment project. The key is the World Compet.i.tion."
“The main purpose of the Carnival is to meet the players of other countries. For the arrangement of these six places, everyone can directly give their opinions."
The few newcomers actually wanted to go but Xiao Han and Qin Mo"s qualifications were too shallow to rob the places of the great G.o.ds. It also wasn"t good for the players who partic.i.p.ated last time to go again.
The opportunity was limited and first come, first served. Everyone had no opinions and Li Cangyu finalized the list.
***
The list of Carnival partic.i.p.ants was released and many domestic netizens questioned it.
[Captain Ling, Su and Tan aren"t going! Isn"t the lineup a lot worse than last year?]
[How was this selected? The lineup is too poor…]
However, there were many sensible people.
[It is probably to hide the great G.o.ds. Too much exposure isn"t good for the World Compet.i.tion.]
[I have discovered that the five tactical commanders didn"t go. This is the right choice. The Carnival runs for two days and it is better to study tactics during this time.]
[The World Compet.i.tion is about to start and the players" energy is limited. It is correct that the tactical commanders don"t partic.i.p.ate in an entertainment project!]
Regardless of the Internet, Li Cangyu had a decisive nature and wouldn"t change his mind once he made it.
He submitted the list to the World Carnival and didn"t carefully arrange any tactics. The first day of the entertainment project didn"t need any arrangements because it was just playing basketball, racing, etc.
His focus was still on the World Compet.i.tion.
Through the window, he could see that another country"s team had just arrived in the Miracle Village. It was only one week away from the World Compet.i.tion and it was almost impossible to find out the tactical ideas of each country in such a short period of time. Therefore, each step must be cautious. He couldn"t be too careless!
***
At noon the next day, the second Miracle World Carnival finally opened to the expectations of the Miracle fans!
The opening ceremony of the Carnival was still as grand as it was last year. However, this year"s entertainment project had been replaced by new events. The first day basketball game was changed to beach volleyball, a two person match that was decided by drawing lots.
Zhang Shaohui drew the American team"s Thomas and almost coughed up blood. This madman always threw the ball in the wrong basket last time. This time, he put the volleyball on his own side. He was truly a pig teammate!
Cheng Wei drew a female Korean called Kim Yoonhee. She had handsome short hair and was a very popular bard who had debuted for a long time. Her reputation in the world was a lot bigger than Tan s.h.i.tian.
She was obviously a very beautiful sister but Cheng Wei was uncomfortable working with her and felt Captain Tan was better. Her aggressiveness was too strong and always made him feel embarra.s.sed, not knowing where to place his feet…
Li Cangyu didn"t partic.i.p.ate in the entertainment projects and waited for the 3v3.
For this year"s 3v3, China still sent two teams. Li Cangyu, Cheng Wei and Zhang Shaohui were one team while Jiang Xu, Meng Jie and Yan Ruiwen were the other team. One group took the a.s.sa.s.sination route while the second group took the negative states and trap route.
This team, there were 16 countries partic.i.p.ating and the other captains had the same thoughts, sending two groups to the 3v3 project. This led to the emergence of 32 teams in the 3v3 project. They were divided into 8 groups of four and played at the same time.
Sending so many teams was just to learn more about the players of other countries.
Li Cangyu"s team was a.s.signed to Group A. The other countries in this group were Sweden, Australia and the United Kingdom.
In the first game against Australia, Cheng Wei"s white magician was the main control, Li Cangyu"s summoner burst out and Zhang Shaohui looked for an opportunity for a sneak attack. The trio won relatively easily.
The other tactical commanders watched from below the stage and kept their eyes on players from other countries. Ling Xuefeng even took notes.
Australia"s overall strength was low among this year"s partic.i.p.ating countries and Li Cangyu"s win was expected. The following Swedish and British teams didn"t cause too many obstacles for Li Cangyu and they successfully entered the round of 16.
From the round of 16, it was a knockout match. Li Cangyu went all the way to the finals and once again met the three people of the United States!
This time, the US team"s lineup was different from before. Last time it was Jack Josh"s summoner, Thomas"s bard and Edmund"s a.s.sa.s.sin. Li Cangyu was the behind the scenes strategist, provided Ling Xuefeng with a novel tactic that allowed them to violently counterattack and win the 3v3 championship.
For this year"s Carnival, the American star summoner Jack Josh didn"t come. The 3v3 lineup only had the blood kin a.s.sa.s.sin Edmund, while the other two were new faces. They were the terran swordsman Angus and the angel healer Winfrey.
Winfrey was one of the few female players in the Miracle circle and had the t.i.tle of "world-cla.s.s G.o.d milk."
She was a typical Caucasian, with long curly blond hair, a fair complexion and eyes as blue as the sky. This image almost perfectly coincided with the image of the angel priest in the Miracle game. As a result, she had a large number of fans around the world and her reputation was higher than Bai Xuan and Liu Xiang.
She was the vice-captain of the American national team. She was said to be very calm and good at grasping opportunities. The captain of the US team didn"t come, sending the vice-captain to observe the players from other countries.
She didn"t have a deep impression of the name Old Cat.
She liked cats and had a beautiful Persian cat at home.
There weren"t many Miracle players with the word "Cat" in their ID. She would"ve had an impression if she met this player before.The strange thing was that she didn"t have the slightest impression of this ID.
She just heard that this player was the captain of the championship team in the seventh season and became the captain of the national team. She was more familiar with the vice-captain Ling Xuefeng and saw his wonderful commanding at the previous Carnival. She knew that Ling Xuefeng was a summoner on the same level as Jack.
This elf summoner in front of her… she had never heard of him before in the world"s Miracle circle.
Was this a dark horse who suddenly emerged or a newcomer who won the championship through luck?
Winfrey was a bit confused but her keen instincts as a professional player allowed her to calm down. She quickly issued an order on the voice channel. "Kill the summoner first!"
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