4. Live Broadcast Preview
Shen Huai’s mind was racing. There was no doubt about Song Xueyang’s personal strength, and his command ability was the backbone of the Maple Moon Team. The two were good friends and had great chemistry, so Shen Huai was naturally willing to team up with him.
However, the Maple Moon Team wasn’t his ideal choice.
Shen Huai didn’t want to reject him outright, “I haven’t made up my mind yet.”
A string of messages quickly came through, “Are you really planning to join a professional team?”
Shen Huai: “…”
Every time he talked to Song Xueyang, he would unknowingly get led around by him.
Song Xueyang didn’t rush him, “No worries, with your skills, you can join any team you want. Just think it over carefully.”
Shen Huai replied, “Thanks.”
“Anyway, there won’t be a team more suitable than Maple Moon.”
“…”
“Since you’re going pro, have you considered switching regions? The transfer period only has one month left.”
This was something Shen Huai had thought about too. When he played City of Despair, he just randomly picked a region, only to later find out that all the professional team players were in “Searle’s Danger City.” But over the years, with his acting career, he barely had time to rest, let alone play games, so he never switched regions and just played casually.
Now that he’s preparing to choose a team, he should indeed check out the professional region in advance.
“I have that in mind.”
Song Xueyang smiled slightly, “Then I’ll help you look for an account on the trading platform.”
“Okay.”
In the Maple Moon Team’s training room, Song Xueyang cheerfully opened the official trading platform for City of Despair.
As the captain of a professional team, Song Xueyang was definitely the youngest. At 21, he had already been the captain for three years. He had a pair of curved eyes and slightly upturned lips, making him look like he was smiling even when expressionless. His handsome appearance and a beautiful tear mole under his eye attracted a lot of female fans when he first debuted.
At this moment, he was happy that Cang Yu finally had plans to become a professional player. His crescent-shaped eyes squinted into slits, yet the sharp glint in his eyes made him seem like a calculating fox.
Vice-captain Zhou Ning saw him looking at accounts and connected it to the interrupted live broadcast earlier, understanding the situation.
“Are you helping Cang Yu look for an account? Is he coming to the professional region?”
City of Despair game accounts don’t support region transfers. If you want to play in a different region, you have to either start a new account or buy one on the trading platform. Leveling up in City of Despair isn’t hard, but accumulating merits to exchange for skill points is a big task. Starting from scratch would take at least two to three months, so buying an account is more cost-effective.
Song Xueyang nodded and clicked on an assassin avatar in the platform list, “Cang Yu plans to join a professional team.”
Zhou Ning became serious, “Cang Yu’s skills are impressive. Any team he joins will be like a tiger with wings. Which team is he planning to join?”
Song Xueyang, with his curved eyes fixed on the screen, confidently said, “Xiaolang. Xiaolang Team focuses on melee output, making it easy to accommodate an assassin. Plus, Captain Guan’s personality matches well with Cang Yu.”
Zhou Ning curiously asked, “How do you know Cang Yu and he get along?”
Cang Yu rarely livestreams and is very mysterious. No one in the e-sports circle knows him, and Song Xueyang shouldn’t know him that well either.
Song Xueyang pointed to his eyes, “Did you forget what I do?”
Zhou Ning couldn’t help but twitch his mouth.
How could he forget? Their Maple Moon Team’s captain, Song Xueyang, comes from a family specializing in psychology and is a human-shaped psychological interpretation machine who loves observing people.
“How about this account? Max level, max skill points, new season upgraded weapons, and the equipment attributes are the same attack speed flow as Cang Yu.”
Zhou Ning leaned over to take a look. Although it wasn’t a top-tier account, it had complete equipment and skill points, making it a finished product.
But…
“This account is only selling for a thousand?” Zhou Ning looked at the price in confusion, and when he saw the character ID, he seemed to remember something, “I remember this account isn’t…”
Song Xueyang interrupted him, a glint flashing in his half-squinted eyes, “Shh, I must have Cang Yu.”
Seeing their captain’s amiable smile, Zhou Ning couldn’t help but shiver.
Song Xueyang had a friendly and polite demeanor and a naturally harmless smile, but everyone who interacted with him knew he was a meticulous and cunning character.
Thinking about the series of troubles Cang Yu would face after buying this account, Zhou Ning couldn’t help but light a candle for him. After all, he was targeted by the league’s old fox, Song Xueyang. Zhou Ning decided to prepare a welcome gift for the new teammate in his spare time.
*
Shen Huai took a shower and lay on the bed browsing the forum. He was familiar with all the professional teams in City of Despair, and if he had to choose his ideal team, it would be Xiaolang.
Xiaolang, War God, and WG have always been the top contenders in the playoffs and even the global finals, with no clear distinction in strength.
The War God Team’s ace player, Xiao Zhang, plays as a Qi Master, and his personal strength is so strong that the entire team operates in a 5-protect-1 mode. Shen Huai’s assassin lacks control, making it hard to fit into this team.
The WG Team’s lineup is already very stable. Although Captain Zhang Jiayan often invites him to join during live broadcasts, Shen Huai knows he wouldn’t contribute much to this team.
That leaves only the Xiaolang Team, a team famous for its three swordsmen melee core. This team previously had an official assassin player, and joining Xiaolang would allow Shen Huai to maximize his abilities.
As for the Maple Moon Team, which Song Xueyang invited him to today, it’s a special team.
The origins of the Maple Moon Team are quite mysterious. It wasn’t created to win championships but to attract popularity in the budding e-sports scene.
Investors saw the passionate fans in the e-sports world and initially created an all-female team with a unique selection process—beauty pageants.
As long as you could type on a keyboard and make a character walk, you were in!
The rest was about comparing talents and voices. Whoever had the best figure and softest voice got selected, then they would find a coach for specialized game training, and finally, pick a few with decent skills—official team members, get!
Finishing last in competitions? No problem! Participation is what counts, and they weren’t relying on competitions to make money. They could earn more from endorsements and merchandise than from competitions.
This behavior severely insulted the intelligence of e-sports supporters, and the Maple Moon Team faced severe criticism from the gaming community. Under public pressure, the club had to raise the selection standards, but the beauty threshold remained unchanged.
As more female fans joined the e-sports industry, the Maple Moon Team evolved from an all-female team to a gathering of handsome men and beautiful women, becoming an idol team that was quite well-received, though still more style than substance.
This situation persisted until Song Xueyang appeared.
This handsome and gentlemanly young man quickly won the club owner’s favor. Within three months, he graduated from the rookie training camp and was promoted to captain. He led the Maple Moon Team to win various grassroots competitions.
There are many grassroots competitions in City of Despair, but any player with a bit of fame who participates would get heavily criticized, let alone Song Xueyang, who brought the whole team to participate.
That year, the internet was filled with criticism.
The following year, he recruited a batch of newcomers and led the team to the top eight in the professional league for the first time.
Although they lost in the first round of the top eight, the smiling yet fiercely unpredictable young man left all professional teams in awe.
Now, the Maple Moon Team is a regular in the top eight, ranking around fifth or sixth among professional teams. They recently finished fourth in the national finals, but their unique team style is still evident.
For example, the name Maple Moon Team, which means boundless maple moon.
For example, the vice-captain Zhou Ning, a super handsome art student with medium-length curly hair.
For example, the current team member Fan Jingming, who is 195cm tall and was originally a model!
…
Shen Huai doesn’t look down on the Maple Moon Team, as appearance and skill have no correlation.
However, the Maple Moon Team has many endorsement activities, and the club is very skilled at building player popularity. They almost mandate the number of endorsements and live broadcast times for each player, and they also shoot personal photo albums and team documentaries. Even the real-life background boards for the official Taobao store are changed monthly!
If Shen Huai could accept all this, he wouldn’t have left the entertainment industry. So even if it means letting down Song Xueyang, he can only say—
See you on the battlefield!
He opened the City of Despair forum and was surprised to see it filled with posts about his live broadcast today.
—Bloodthirsty Double Blade Assassin Testing!
—Cang Yu’s Godlike Operation, Discussing the Playability of the “Survival Flow” Assassin!
—Test! Data Emperor Analyzes the Maximum Damage Bonus of Bloodthirsty Double Blade!
These posts were all highlighted, and Shen Huai curiously clicked on one. The poster first analyzed his operations during today’s live broadcast, then used data to test that the Bloodthirsty Double Blade could double an assassin’s maximum damage to 600%, proving that even a nerfed assassin could still one-shot opponents.
After a bunch of analysis, they concluded with four words—Theoretically Feasible.
The comments below were full of complaints.
[OP, you’re a joke! You said so much, but didn’t win a single match!]
[Don’t mention it. Watching Cang Yu’s godlike operation today got me all fired up. I quickly played ten arena matches and lost every single one. This playstyle is too hard. Every time I tried to use a skill, I got one-shot by the opponent and taunted. Damn!]
[I get nervous every time my health drops below 10%. I just want to know if Cang Yu feels uncomfortable seeing the screen flash red?]
[Successfully tested in warrior division. Opponents who didn’t know the routine got one-shot, hahaha! Cang Yu made me believe in assassins again!]
[In the warrior division, I could win with my eyes closed, okay? Cang Yu’s playstyle is impressive but has a very low margin for error. Even professional players can’t pull it off. I advise everyone not to believe in this cult. Stick to the poison flow; that’s the way for us mortals to survive.]
[Those who missed the live broadcast just want to see Cang Yu’s godlike operation again! Does Cang Yu have a Weibo? An explanation would be great!]
[Wake up, the person above! Cang Yu doesn’t even have a fixed live broadcast schedule, let alone Weibo. He doesn’t have one! I’m really impressed.]
The comments quickly turned into complaints about Cang Yu, like his irregular schedule, three-and-a-half-minute broadcasts, waiting for months, and never giving a heads-up, almost forming a poem.
Thinking that he had cleared all his work and had more free time now, and since he needed to play games to practice his skills, he figured it wouldn’t hurt to do another live broadcast and teach everyone.
So, Shen Huai replied to the post.
—I’m Cang Yu. I’ve seen all the questions you guys raised. I’ll be doing a live broadcast tomorrow at 8 PM to provide a more detailed explanation of the Bloodthirsty Double Blade playstyle. Thank you all for your support.
As soon as this reply was posted, the comments went wild.
[Oh my god! Is this Cang Yu? Is it really Cang Yu! Happiness shouldn’t come so suddenly!]
[Dude, you’re blowing your horn so loud, aren’t you afraid it’ll burst? And you’re doing it so convincingly. Do you think I’ll believe… Damn it! Whatever! See you at 8 PM tomorrow! I’m going to reserve a spot early!]
[If the person above is really Cang Yu, then this is the first time Cang Yu has announced a live broadcast in advance… Everyone, make sure to grab a spot early! Cang Yu usually doesn’t announce it, and the live room is always packed. If you’re late, you might not get in!]
The comments section went silent, and some people secretly took out their pads to enter the live room early. Whether it’s true or not, better to get in first!