Chapter 781: New World Famous Painting
The compet.i.tion was not over yet. SUG Club still had to fight with another unlucky team for the last ticket to the IOI World Tournament. However, the audience could not take it anymore.
That was too much!
They had played three sets of ‘best-of-five’ matches the entire day, and all of them were long drawn. Each game lasted between 35 minutes to 50 minutes. They were about to puke no matter how exciting the game was.
What’s more, the top seeded team had already been decided. While this set of ‘best-of-five’ matches would be the final compet.i.tion, it would not be as exciting as the compet.i.tion for the top seeded team.
It was late and Shanghai was huge. Some viewers were afraid that they would not be able to make it home on time by subway, so many people left early.
It might be a little wasteful to give up watching since they had already bought the tickets. However, considering that they watched the three crazy set of ‘best-of-five’ matches today, it was completely worth the price of the tickets so they would not feel like it was a total loss.
All in all, all of these factors combined to cause the audience to leave the stage one by one. Many empty seats in the venue appeared.
Pei Qian slumped back in his seat, looking up at the sky with mixed feelings.
The entire day of the compet.i.tion was akin to being tortured to death!
He had wanted to watch FV Club lose two sets of ‘best-of-five’ matches and go home happily. He had not expected FV Club to become more and more courageous as the battle progressed. They had won both sets of ‘best-of-five’ matches and became the King of the Bladder!
Every time Pei Qian felt that FV was about to fail, these players would find a way to turn the tables in the face of adversity.
Pei Qian could only sigh.
He had no choice. He could not possibly rush onto the stage and ask his team to lose, right?
He looked at his watch. It was slightly past nine.
The question was, what should he do next?
The other viewers had left the venue early because their accommodations were far from the venue and they needed to catch the train home. However, Pei Qian’s hotel was near this shopping mall and it was only a five-minute walk.
Nine o’clock was still too early for Pei Qian to go to bed. He had nothing to do when he returned to the hotel.
At that moment, Pei Qian’s cell phone rang. It was Wu Yue.
“Boss Pei! Where are you? I’m planning to bring my team over for supper before coming back for the expedition ceremony. Please come with me!”
Wu Yue’s voice was filled with excitement and ecstasy.
It would have been unimaginable for FV Club to achieve such results a month ago!
In the past, the FV Club was just a small, unknown club. It did not have any star players or thick stack of funds, much less any reputation.
Even in IOI, which was not popular at all in the country, FV Club could not be ranked at the top. It could be said that they were purely just playing around.
However, everything changed after Boss Pei invested!
He had a celebrity team, results, attention, and everything was going well!
The first seeded entry for the IOI World Compet.i.tion this time had proven that FV Club was currently the strongest club in the country. They should be able to gain a lot of attention and fans soon.
They would gain even more fans once they make a name for themselves in the international compet.i.tion!
As long as these results could be maintained for a period of time, as IOI’s top club, FV would definitely receive more sponsors.h.i.+ps and endors.e.m.e.nts. There would also be more fans, and everything would get better!
Therefore, Wu Yue was especially happy and wanted to treat his players to a feast.
He had to ask Boss Pei along since he was here.
Wu Yue was not sure if Boss Pei would come along. Perhaps Boss Pei had other matters to attend to, and he might not be able to invite this great Buddha himself. However, it was still necessary to ask. That was the most basic courtesy.
The corners of Pei Qian’s mouth twitched.
What? You want to eat a meal after the compet.i.tion and give me another whipping again?
Pei Qian rejected it immediately. “I still want to watch the compet.i.tion. I won’t join in the fun.”
“The protagonists today are the players. Let them have a good meal and rest.”
Wu Yue saw that Boss Pei was determined and did not insist. “Alright, Boss Pei. Please call me at any time if you need anything.”
Pei Qian sighed silently after hanging up.
It was still too early to go back to sleep.
He would continue watching two more compet.i.tions and would go back to sleep around 11 PM. The timing was just right.
The compet.i.tion continued, and the remaining two teams fought for the last slot.
The commentator was very professional and was still using his hoa.r.s.e voice to stir up the atmosphere, but the audience still left silently one after another.
Even Pei Qian could not bring himself to pay attention to the compet.i.tion.
There was no helping it. He had watched too many compet.i.tions today. He was almost numb to it. It was already very kind of him to stay and listen to the compet.i.tion.
Pei Qian yawned and took out his cell phone, wanting to browse the internet.
After a while, he did not notice a few more messages. They were all from Zhang Yuan and the others.
“Boss Pei, you’re so smart! You used yourself as bait to catch a big fis.h.!.+”
“Long Yu Corporation thinks they’re fishermen, but they’re actually the fis.h.!.+ All of the popularity that Long Yu Corporation has been trying so hard to generate has been earned by the GPL and FV Club. Boss Pei managed to turn the tables without much effort. Such a strategy is too powerful!”
A row of question marks appeared on Pei Qian’s head as he read the message.
???
What did that mean?
Weren’t the public opinions on the internet still trampling on FV Club and GPL?
Why? Had the winds changed so quickly?
He quickly opened Weibo and various gaming forums to check on the players’ discussions.
“I’m laughing. Is this the IOI Qualification Compet.i.tion? Which idiot came up with this mentally r.e.t.a.r.ded compet.i.tion schedule? They haven’t even finished playing from morning till late at night. They’re playing a full set of ‘best-of-ten’ matches in a day. The audience can’t even take it, let alone the players!”
“At the end of the game, both sides are making serious mistakes. Their conditions have deteriorated too much, and they have lost their viewing pleasure. The organizers should take the blame. Why did they have to create such a strange compet.i.tion system?”
“I have a friend at the venue. I heard that after FV’s game ended, a large number of viewers slipped away. They really could not take it anymore. Watching the compet.i.tion today is even more tiring than running a marathon.”
“I’m dying of laughter. It’s rare to see a compet.i.tion that takes the audience away. The organizers are really talented!”
“What about those people who stepped on FV Club previously? Come out now? Say something like ‘Boss Pei’s All-Stars Team is just like that’, ‘It’ll shatter with a single touch’, ‘Boss Pei is just playing GOG, and he’ll be beaten up when he gets to IOI’? Are you still going to continue? Didn’t FV destroy all your teams?”
“What a joke. So many veteran clubs have been crushed by Boss Pei’s team that had just been established less than a month ago? This is a demotion wave!”
“The facts have proven that Boss Pei has the power to turn something rotten into something magical. He could casually set up a club to play in IOI’s territory and beat all of IOI’s veteran clubs!”
“Don’t exaggerate. The five members of FV are the star players of IOI. Their hard skills are not bad to begin with. Do you expect Boss Pei to take credit for this? What has this got to do with him?”
“Think about it carefully. Are you sure this has nothing to do with Boss Pei?”
“Think about it carefully. Who invested in FV Club and poached the right five players from different teams?”
“FV’s playing style is obviously different from other clubs. It’s more inclined towards GOG’s tactics. Who arranged for it?”
“These five players have obviously trained harder, and their physical fitness has improved. That’s why they can maintain a good state in the sets of ‘best-of-ten’ matches. Who advocated this idea?”
“Boss Pei is still taking the time out of his busy schedule to supervise the battle and encourage the players. Do you think FV’s tenacity in their gameplay has nothing to do with this?”
“Boss Pei might not have partic.i.p.ated in the team tactics meetings, but didn’t Boss Pei solve all of these macro problems? Obviously, no one can replace Boss Pei’s role in completing today’s set of ‘best-of-ten’ matches miracles!”
“I’ll reluctantly agree to other things, but isn’t it a little far-fetched to win the set of ‘best-of-ten’ matches because of physical training? It’s only been a few days since the team was formed, right?”
“Indeed, these people have been working out for less than a month. However, working out not only increases muscles, but also means that their working hours are regular, they have sufficient rest, and their diet is balanced. As long as they maintain it for more than a week, they will definitely feel that their mental state has improved significantly.”
“These players might not be comparable to muscular men like Huang w.a.n.g, but they definitely have an advantage over the skinny internet addicts!”
“What’s more, the schedule was beneficial to FV. FV played the first and third sets of matches of the day, while the opponent played the second and third games. The opponent’s advantage was that playing two or three consecutive sets of ‘best-of-five’ matches would become more familiar with it at the start of the game. Thus, FV lost the first round of the game without any suspense. However, the advantage of FV was that there would be sufficient time to rest and adjust between the two games. This was also a key factor in maintaining a good state during a long battle!”
“Now that I think about it, there’s a problem with the compet.i.tion system! That’s not fair!”
“That’s right, but this is not the FV’s fault. As I said before, the organizers are trash. If the organizers had not arranged this brainless compet.i.tion through ‘best-of-ten’ matches, it would be hard to say what would have happened.”
“That’s why I said that Long Yu Corporation might be a big company, but it’s not professional at all when it comes to organizing compet.i.tions. It’s far from being comparable to Tengda! Just look at the comparison between the IOI Qualification Compet.i.tion and the GPL pre-season Compet.i.tion. From the venue, the details of the compet.i.tion, and the schedule, GOG is a complete mess! This is the difference between professional and amateur!”
“To be honest, IOI’s compet.i.tion is too draggy. Each game is too long! A set of ‘best-of-five’ matches can’t be played for five hours. The tempo is too slow. I can’t say that the viewers.h.i.+p of IOI would be good if the world compet.i.tion is still the same.”
“Indeed, the difference is too great. There won’t be any IOI compet.i.tions for the time being. Let’s go watch the GPL. It’s much better than this.”
“I wonder how Boss Pei felt when he was there?”
“Hehe, some people even said that Boss Pei went there because IOI’s compet.i.tion is better than GPL’s? What an international joke! I think Boss Pei’s thinking should be: How can they still have the cheek to organize a compet.i.tion like this? They don’t even know how to copy homework properly!”
“Boss Pei’s presence today was obviously a provocation! The club I invested in directly took away your number one seeded entry, and you can’t do anything to me. Are you angry? What’s more, I’m going to personally witness FV Club win the champions.h.i.+p and mock you. What can you do to me?”
“Indeed, Boss Pei is probably invincible in GOG. He doesn’t feel threatened at all and has lost his pa.s.sion. That’s why he used FV Club to fight IOI. He wanted to have some fun, but IOI’s teams were so weak that they broke at one touch! If I were Boss Pei, I would only feel that life is as lonely as snow. It’s so boring!”
“I don’t think Boss Pei will be watching IOI’s compet.i.tions in the future. It’s so disappointing.”
“I was watching the replay of the compet.i.tion when I suddenly realized that Boss Pei’s close-up seemed to have a deeper meaning. Look, Boss Pei might be wearing a mask and keeping a very low profile but his posture is very relaxed. He looks like he had victory in his hands. When the camera panned to him, he was completely indifferent and calm. Did he expect the results of today’s compet.i.tion?”
“Handsome, handsome, handsome, mummy loves you, the Boss Pei that doesn’t reveal your face!”
“He personally went to the venue to watch a compet.i.tion organized by a compet.i.tor’s company, sit in the first row and watch the club he invested in win the first seeded team. How domineering!”
“I think that Boss Pei only wanted to keep a low profile and not slap Long Yu Corporation in the face too hard. He didn’t think that Long Yu Corporation would take the initiative to bring the camera to him! I’m dying of laughter!”
Pei Qian was stunned as he read the comments.
What are these idiotic netizens talking about?!
There was only one thing that was right: Boss Pei felt that life was as lonely as snow.
Everything else was wrong!
I only wanted to watch FV lose the compet.i.tion. I didn’t think so much!
However, it was useless to say anything now. The trend of public opinion had already formed online!
After Zhao Xuming and Long Yu Corporation discovered that Boss Pei had personally appeared at the scene, they used this as an excuse to buy hot searches and hire fake reviewers to boost their popularity. Once FV lost, they would be able to direct all of their popularity to the IOI World Compet.i.tion.
However, the script was completely different now!
In the end, FV won the first seeded team by tras.h.i.+ng the ‘best-of-ten’ matches. Thus, all of the comments that Zhao Xuming had prepared to use to guide public opinion, discredit the GPL, and generate popularity for IOI World Compet.i.tion were all ruined!
It had not been easy for him to acc.u.mulate popularity, but now it was all concentrated on FV Club and GPL!
The winner of the E-Sports compet.i.tion was king. Whether it was 3: 0 or 3: 2, the audience would only remember the winner and view the runner-up as the biggest loser.
At first, not many people paid attention to FV Club, probably only the older fans of the players. However, the audience knew that it was Boss Pei’s club after Long Yu Corporation spared no effort in introducing the club. The attention naturally soared now that it had achieved results!
Pei Qian sighed softly, feeling that life was meaningless.
…
“It’s a pity that there are no more miracles. SUG Club lost this crucial game with 0-3 and failed to obtain a slot in the world compet.i.tion.”
“To be honest, it’s really a pity. SUG team displayed very good compet.i.tive skills in today’s first set of ‘best-of-five’ matches. It was originally very hopeful. However, perhaps this is what they mean by ‘Spurt on the first try, tired on the second try and fail with exhaustion on the third’. I can clearly feel that they were not particularly prepared for the second set of ‘best-of-five’ matches. Their compet.i.tive state was also not very good…”
“I can only hope that they can continue to work hard in the following matches…”
Ding Gan was so angry that his blood pressure rose and he almost fainted below the stage.
Even though he had a premonition about this, he did not expect the SUG to be wiped out with a 3: 0!
The main reason why they were in such a state was because SUG had spent most of its energy on the first set of ‘best-of-five’ matches. In the end, they failed at the last step and the team’s mentality was greatly affected.
Many times in the elimination rounds, they had to hold back their anger. That was because they would collapse once that anger was released.
Ding Gan subconsciously looked at the audience. Most of the audience had left by now. There were not many people left.
After all, it was already past 11 PM. There would be no subway if they were to leave any later.
Boss Pei’s figure stood out in the empty front row seats.
Ding Gan was very angry but he could not hate Boss Pei for some reason.
Logically speaking, it was Boss Pei who reorganized FV Club and s.n.a.t.c.hed a spot in the international compet.i.tion. That was why SUG Club could not qualify. It also caused Ding Gan to lose all his investment in this team.
However, Ding Gan felt that this was not Boss Pei’s fault but Zhao Xuming’s!
Would the team have been torn down if Zhao Xuming had come to the club earlier to discuss the IOI World Compet.i.tion?
Zhao Xuming patted his chest confidently and guaranteed that SUG would definitely make it into the international compet.i.tion. What happened in the end? The moment something happened, he immediately threw SUV aside!
How did he come up with this brain paralysis compet.i.tion?
Was there a way to arrange the schedule for a game ithrough morning till late at night?
If he split the two sets of ‘best-of-five’ matches into two days, SUG would have more time to prepare. Perhaps the results would be different?
Indeed, Boss Pei was the reason why SUG Club did not qualify.
However, Ding Gan knew very well that Boss Pei was not targeting SUG Club.
Boss Pei had reorganized FV Club. His primary goal was to slap the faces of IOI and Long Yu Corporation. SUG had been accidentally AOE[1.’AOE’ refers to Area of Effect where everything within the area takes damage or healing]by Boss Pei.
Zhao Xuming was the one to blame for not being able to qualify SUG!
If not for the fact that Zhao Xuming was such a good-for-nothing who could not even fight back after being beaten by Boss Pei, would the SUG be dragged down?
The more Ding Gan thought about it, the angrier he became.
“Zhao Xuming! I’ll be a dog if I follow you around!”
“I would rather play GDL in the future and never enter GPL in my life than to touch IOI again!”
For some reason, the more Ding Gan looked at Boss Pei, the more despair he felt.
He should not have had anything to do with Boss Pei’s chess games. How unlucky!
He had made up his mind to follow Boss Pei. So what if he had been unhappy before and had been a little worse off previously? It was still better than being pulled into an AOE for no reason!
Ding Gan’s face was ashen. He did not intend to look for Zhao Xuming anymore. He flicked his sleeves and left.
On stage, the three teams that had qualified for the next round went on stage one by one in the expedition ceremony.
However, the audience in the front row had already left. After all, it was really too late. What’s more, there was nothing much to see during the expedition ceremony.
At first, Pei Qian stood up and wanted to leave. However, after taking two steps, he realized that there were many people at the exit. If he left now, he would be squeezed into a crowd. After some thought, he sat back down in the middle of the crowd. He took a look at the expedition ceremony and waited for everyone to leave before leaving.
He would arrive at his hotel in five minutes anyway, he was in no hurry.
At that moment, an audience member who was about to leave suddenly had a stroke of inspiration. He took out his cell phone and took a photo of Pei Qian’s back in the empty front row.
Click.
In the photo, Pei Qian sat in the middle of the first row of audience seats. In front of him was the compet.i.tion stage and the big screen. His lonely back view was particularly eye-catching.
On the stage, the fifteen players of the three teams were lined up in a row. The five players of FV Club returned after finis.h.i.+ng their supper. They stood in the middle, closest to the front, and echoed Boss Pei in the audience.
In fact, Pei Qian had originally been seated near the front row because he did not want to attract too much attention. However, he happened to sit right in the middle after he tried to leave but decided against it.
The enthusiastic viewer took a look at the photo and was very satisfied with the composition. He posted it online.
Another new world famous painting: The Last Spectator!