On the day of the match, J Team"s members were led onto the bus by the leader and headed for the tournament venue.
Esports was getting increasingly valued, hence, in this parallel world, even the secondary league like LSPL was also hosted in Shanghai"s famous electronics exhibition halls. The halls would be able to accommodate around 4000 live audiences.
Buthe LSPL was definitely not as popular as the LPL. The hall for 4000 individuals would normally have around 1000 audience and it was already considered not bad.
But today was an exception.
The exhibition hall was very close to the city area and two hours before the matches, one would already notice a huge crowd outside the tournament venue and they had formed a spectacular queue!
The roads were nearly blocked and those drivers didn"t have a choice but to make a detour before leaving.
Car horns were echoing and one of the youth in the car had extended his head out. When he took a glance at the road black area, he said, “I am going to faint. There are actually so many people, just like a huge celebrity"s concert.”
A girl at the front pa.s.senger seat had already leaned forward to see all sorts of costumes and hats.
“The car cannot enter. Why don"t we walk in from here?” The girl at the rear seat had suggested.
“What is going on at the front? I cannot move forward anymore!! I still have a plane to catch!!”
“What is going on? Why is the traffic stuck here?!”
“Can you see that roadblock ahead? Detour, detour!”
Among the noise, there were a few individuals wearing baseball caps and sungla.s.ses. They alighted the car and swept a glance at the crowd.
“It seems like they are all waiting to enter.” Liu Xuejing took a glance at the queue and didn"t really understand what was happening.
Cheng Sijia looked further inside and when she realized that all these young people were actually here for the matches, she was astonished as she said, “Are all these people crazy? Why would they come all the way here to watch Esports matches? There are actually so… so many people!”
Baobao covered her mouth and giggled, “You people wouldn"t understand. Esports is now a very popular sports event. League of Legends is the most popular game in the Esports event.”
The others were all very surprised. League of Legends was indeed popular, but this was only the LSPLS. Wasn"t there too many people?
How many people were here?
In summary, when Liu Xuejing and the others started walking from the car for ten minutes, the entire journey was filled with people!。
“It seems like we came too late and cannot get inside…” Liu Xuejing stood on tiptoe and looked ahead.
There was still at least 500 meters before reaching the venue. According to the queue, it was basically hopeless to get any tickets, let alone getting a ticket with a good spot.
“WTF. What is going on today? Is there a change of schedule and it became the LPL matches instead?”
There was a fashionable man who had obviously dressed up. When he alighted the car and saw the vast crowd, he nearly p.i.s.sed himself from the shock.
“Don"t worry, I have already asked my friend to purchase the tickets for us in advance. It is something a little money can do.” Another man walked over and said.
These two men were Yu Tian and Xiang Yang(Nathan Hartono). They didn"t wish to come but J Team belonged to Jay Chou and if they didn"t come they would be disrespecting Jay Chou.
Furthermore, the relationship between Xiao Ran and Jay Chou was obviously better than them. They didn"t wish to further deepen the conflicts.
“Big Brother Tian, you don"t actually have to follow us since you don"t understand any of this.” Liu Xuejing said to Liu Wentian.
“It is fine. There are so many people here, it would be great to enjoy the atmosphere. I am also very curious how a video game can become so popular. It feels just like a concert.”
Liu Wentian finished his reply before looking at Liu Xuejing and laughed before he exposed her, “Furthermore, you don"t understand the game either right?”
Liu Xuejing"s face blushed as she stuttered and explained, “This… I… Xiao Ran sent me a message and said that he wished for me to come and cheer for him.”
Baobao saw Liu Xuejing"s embarra.s.sed face and pulled her hand to help her, “It is League of Legends, what else can it be? The entire world is playing this game. In our country, from elementary students, to middle-aged men, all of them are playing this game.”
“Is it that popular? Then what are these matches about?”
“These are matches between professional players. It is similar to the country"s soccer teams and basketball teams. Professional players would have to distinguish themselves out of millions of players. They are all very skillful.” Baobao explained to them.
Liu Xuejing still didn"t understand and felt weird. Why would a music prodigy be so pa.s.sionate about an internet game?
Xiao Ran wore the team uniform with the J Team"s logo and got off the bus. The players walked through the staff, guests, and players" pa.s.sage to enter the ma.s.sive venue.
There was a silver structure that was standing tall like a western style spire. Above the entire rhombus-shaped exhibition hall reinforced gla.s.s had been drawn across the blue sky.
This was a venue hall that could accommodate 4000 individuals. The silver and smooth steel walls were embedded with white patterned marble and the spiralling metal frames had filled the place with a majestic and modern atmosphere!
The government had definitely invested greatly in League of Legends. After all, it was an Olympic Event and it had a large target audience and a very profitable event. Hence, be it the government or the people, the attention level was very high.
This was a virtuous cycle. The more popular an event was, the more profitable it was, the more attention the country would pay to the event, the higher the investment.
Therefore, it gave people who loved League of Legends the chance to enjoy an Esports event in such a huge exhibition hall!
“h.e.l.lo, good afternoon everyone. Welcome to the LoL Secondary Pro League. Today will be Week 8 of the tournament and we are already at the halfway mark. I will be the commentator today, Rita, Light Rain-san.”
“h.e.l.lo, everyone, I am wawa.”
“I am Mille.”
Rita: Today, we will be helping to a.n.a.lyze and comment on the three matches today. The matches are J Team vs WYD, 2144D vs 2144, ING vs IM.
(TL note: WYD – WYDream, 2144D – 2144 Danmu Gaming, 2144 – 2144 Gaming, ING – IN Gaming, IM – I May)
Mille: 2144D and 2144 are actually from the same organization and should be considered sister teams. Each team"s overall skill is around the same. There is nothing to say about IM and ING. IM is the no.1 team of the LSPL now, while ING has the two superstar players, Vasilii and TBQ. As such, this match would be the highlight today.
wawa: Oh? I feel that the first match today with J Team is the highlight today.
Mille: J Team is very popular but it is because of Director Jay. After the first seven weeks, everyone can also see that J Team isn"t competent enough. In tournaments, skill and results are most important, thus, the popularity of J Team is no longer the same as before.
Rita: I feel that wawa should be talking about ‘G.o.d Kun" right?
wawa: That"s right, it is because of G.o.d Kun! Mille"s wife just gave birth and he isn"t really updated in the Esports circle. Everyone please understand.
Mille: Eh, something isn"t right. The previous time I asked you, didn"t you say that he reached the no.1 rank of China server"s Challenger tier by hugging the legs of Clearlove, Smlz, Flandre, and five?
wawa: Don"t talk nonsense or I will sue you for slander. I said that Clearlove, Smlz, and the others had helped greatly. Furthermore, who is G.o.d Kun? He is the music prodigy in , Xiao Ran. Have you ever seen a handsome, talented producer, great singer, and also a great player? That"s right, it is G.o.d Kun. That is why I feel today"s highlight is definitely J Team.
Mille: After you said it like this, I can also feel it. When have there been so many audiences during LSPL matches? Could it be that more than half of the audience are his fans?
wawa: You just need to hear the cheers to know. Audiences down there, please tell me loudly if you are coming to the matches for G.o.d Kun?!
When wawa didn"t say anything, it was fine, once he asked, there were thunderous cheers and screams from below.
Even Rita nodded forcefully and said, “To be honest, I paid a lot of attention to G.o.d Kun too. I am looking forward to seeing his performance today.”
wawa raised his voice and said, “All the players are already prepared. The director is bringing the screens of the players to us. Let us give our pa.s.sionate cheers to welcome your favorite professional player and let them hear it!!”
< =="=">> Chapter 63