Book 1 — 15

Book 1: Chapter 15

One could tell how famous a player was on the field of competition.

One indicator was the number of fans. The other indicator was the introductions given by the commentators. From the beginning of the competition, the two commentators on stage, in order to excite the audience, kept chattering about the participating players.

“In the past two years, Grunt has been closely gaining on Solo. Frankly these two players have quite a lot in common.” One of the commentators spoke with a more teasing tone. “For example, they’ve both doubled up on Warcraft III and Starcraft II. From talent to performance, they both are the best players in the country.”

Double up……such a nice phrase.

“The Warcraft rankings in the past few years have been quite stable in competitions in both China and internationally. Can’t say if there will be any surprises this time.” The other commentator was obviously trying to raise another topic.

“There certainly will be, especially at this stop at Guangzhou.”

“Tell us about it?”

“Let’s not spoil the suspense just yet. I bet he’ll be the one to give Grunt quite the headache this round.”

The two looked at each other and laughed after they finished talking.

The audience, also esports fans, immediately exploded into cheers.

The elimination rounds were going on for all the players.

Nearly a hundred players were chosen from the pre-selection process. This morning was the elimination round which would determine the sixteen top players. The championship round would be in the afternoon. Naturally, there was no live broadcast of the initial pre-selection and the elimination rounds on the big screen. Everyone was just overlooking the competition area and kept their attention on the list of winners that were being constantly posted on the big screen.

After half an hour, the list was quickly refreshing.

Ai Qing stared at the new list, Dt’s name showed up quickly and after a few minutes she saw 97.

However, Grunt’s name never showed up on the list.

Clamours of comments could be heard surrounding them.

Soon the commentator received a note. He glanced over it and seemed somewhat helpless. “Grunt is missing from the competition. I never thought that we wouldn’t see him again in Guangzhou.” The other commentator smiled somewhat unnaturally. “It can’t be that he gave up the competition again?”

Ai Qing couldn’t understand the meaning of “gave up competition again”, her sister also looked at her nervously. “Why again?”

She shook her head. “Don’t know.”

As the two were wondering, the boy sat behind them kindly came closer and said, “Last year, at the ESWC Chinese final, Grunt forfeited on the spot after protesting about the lack of order in the arena.”

Ai Qing was surprised to hear that.

What an arrogant person. It really was……rare to see someone like that.

When the list stopped refreshing, the sixteen finalists were shown on the big screen.

The organizer purposely asked the commentators to introduce the sixteen finalists, probably because they were afraid some of the audience would leave early since Grunt was absent. Because this was only the final round of one of the stops, about half of the sixteen were not very well known. The commentators only briefly mentioned many names, but they stopped when it was 97’s turn. “Among the esports players I know, 97 is the one who is doing the best in school and who has the highest ratio of female fans. Do you know why?”

“Why?”

“At one of the interviews, he was asked why he started playing esports. He surprisingly said bashfully in front of the camera that it’s because he can’t find girlfriend. He discovered that esports players are very popular among girls, so he decided to join.”

97’s fans in the audience burst out in laughter. They were, for sure, all young girls.

The commentators teased some more. Then, they finally used the laser pen to circle Dt’s name.

“We were hoping to see this person and Grunt fight against each other. Too bad Grunt was absent again.” The commentators switched the screen to show a picture from a computer folder. It turned out to be the group photo of the Chinese Team at the 2007 WCG Asian Tournament. “This is the group photo of the WCG Asian Tournament in Singapore of 07. This is the first time the Chinese team won the group championship.”

In the picture, a whole row of people, with dazzlingly smiles, held an oversized reward check.

Ai Qing was entranced for a short moment. On that picture, Slide was on her left and Dt on the right. That should be the most glorious moment for her and Slide.

The audience gradually quieted down.

The other commentator laughed. “There were many famous teams that year.” His laser pen pointed to the big screen and circled the girl in the picture. “This girl used to be very famous. I was kicked out the final by this girl at the Chinese final in the DotA event that year.”

Her sister excitedly grabbed her arm and said in a low voice, “I really want to throw you onto the stage. This commentator obviously is your fan. Ah……” Ai Qing’s face turned red quickly, her famous big red face.

“Gou Gou.” The one who had digged up the photo jokingly said, “Too bad, she was Solo’s girlfriend when she started her career. Absolutely the kind that you can only watch from distance.”

With a gossip liked this, the quiet audience was immediately turned alive.

Ai Qing felt that her arm was going to swell up in her sister’s hand……

“Ok, back to serious business.”

The commentator deliberately stopped to take a sip of water.

“Dt was the captain of the ‘07 DotA championship team. He was only 15 years old at the time. He’s been nicknamed “God’s left hand” by the whole DotA circle just because of his debilitating gank technique. After that competition, Dt disappeared for three years. In these three years, he has not participated in any competitions or any esports platforms. But it is this year, here in Guangzhou, at this stadium, he’s come back.”