AWM: PUBG - Chap 16
Edited by Tin
“Hello everyone! This is live from the Asian Invitational Cup, the China server’s preliminary competition.”
“There are a total of twenty-four teams in this preliminary competition in China! Among them are teams we are very familiar with, there’s HOG, Fire, Knights, Lioness…”
“The many rich first-class eSports teams will start to compete in two hours’ time, all of them will be fighting for one of the six tickets to Busan. Currently, the different teams are arriving one by one. Can the director cut to another camera? Let’s let the fans that were unable to make it here today take a look at the contestants that are preparing for the competition.
Yu Yang got out of the car and was instantly surrounded by more than ten cameras and a group of fans.
HOG’s pretty female fans1 raised up their fan signs. When they saw the car with the team logo, they hurriedly made their way over, calling out the team name in a frenzy. It was the first time Yu Yang had seen such a scene, and he almost turned around to escape back into the car.
“I…” Yu Yang was a little overwhelmed and started to stammer. “I’m just someone in charge of logistics, don’t interview me…”
Qi Zui could not hold back his laughter, what the hell does he mean by someone in charge of logistics.
“I’m not in charge of logistics, you can interview me.” Qi Zui got out of the car and smoothly blocked Yu Yang, standing in front of him. He smiled gently at his fans. “It’s been a while since we last met.”
“Ah ah ah ah ah ah ah ah!!!!!”
“God-Qi look at me!”
“Where’s Youth? Which of you is Youth? Why are there only four people? I brought gifts for him!”
“Drunk, I’ve also brought you presents! It’s a letter I wrote myself!”
“Ah ah ah ah ah Bu Nana look at me! Fatty I will love you forever!”
The few of them accepted a short interview, and were escorted into the competition venue by security.
“Huff2…”
Yu Yang let out a breath of relief.
“This is nothing. You haven’t seen what happens after we win a competition.” He Xiaoxu raised an eyebrow and smiled proudly. “The organizers even need to prepare security guards for us, otherwise, we wouldn’t be able to leave the venue.”
Yu Yang was still in a state of shock as he raised his head to look at the venue…
It was too magnificent.
Compared to other eSports competitions, for a PUBG competition, there would be almost a hundred professional players participating each round. Every time there was an offline competition, it was like an eSports buffet, all the rich first-class teams’ hundred participants would appear at the venue at the same time. If someone randomly took a picture, there would be a few celebrity participants3 in the photo.
“I’ll bring you to meet some people in a while.” He Xiaoxu told Yu Yang in a small voice. “You can ask them for an autograph.”
Yu Yang disliked interacting with people and shook his head.
Bu Nana laughed and teased him. “He’s already in Team One with Drunk, why would he care about getting anyone’s autograph?”
Captain Qi was currently accepting a solo interview from the organizers. When he heard those words, he turned his head around to take a look, and he smiled.
“They have to warm up first. The organizers are checking their computer accessories, and they need to check them thoroughly for an hour. Let’s go to the lounge first.” He Xiaoxu cheered the team members on before he called Yu Yang. “Let’s go, don’t lower your head! There are people that will follow us and film us… Aiya hahaha camera kid4, film the side of Youth’s face, that’s right, hahahaha, thank you. We don’t have a choice, the fans all want to see that hahahaha…”
Yu Yang forced himself to be thick-skinned, letting himself be filmed all the way to the lounge.
“We’re done with our work. Let’s wait for God Qi to win.” He Xiaoxu sat down, relaxing himself and saying, “Sigh… Actually, the one thing I hate the most is waiting backstage, it’s meaningless.”
“If you’re scared that you’ll be bored, you can help them prepare water.” Lai Hua looked at the mineral water prepared by the organizers that were placed in the lounge, frowning, “Each one of them is more troublesome than the last. There’s even someone who only drinks Evian. So unreasonable.”
He Xiaoxu shrugged. “What can we do? Our team members are just so delicate. If he drinks another brand’s water, he’ll puke, he’ll feel uncomfortable, he’ll feel dizzy… Give me a moment, I’ll have someone move the things over from the car.”
Yu Yang picked up a bottle of water, feeling that it was quite good. He was about to open it when He Xiaoxu reached out and snatched it from him, saying, “Don’t touch it. Drink the one we brought.”
“Bu Nana once drank one that had ‘something extra’,” Lai Hua explained in a low voice from the side. “He fell sick for half a month.”
Yu Yang was stunned and put the mineral water back.
He Xiaoxu talked to Yu Yang for almost an hour about the evilness of the human heart, then spent almost an hour singing praises about how humane and peaceful their eSports team was, and only then did the competition finally start.
Yu Yang, He Xiaoxu, and Lai Hua sat up properly to watch the livestream together.
The first round’s flight path was from Z City5 to the Airport. HOG landed in G City, but they did not land quickly. Instead, they chose to float high6 and based on the direction they were headed in, they were probably headed to the shooting range7.
“I thought that he would choose to land in Downtown. However, Qi Zui is being quite careful.” He Xiaoxu looked at the flight path, muttering to himself. “That’s good, that’s good, it’s better to avoid fights in the early game.”
Lai Hua frowned, but relaxed immediately after, comforting himself that Qi Zui’s choice of location was not bad, it was steady and safe.
Lai Hua was not as optimistic as Qi Zui. To continuously play ten matches, towards the last few matches, Qi Zui’s standard would definitely decline because of his hand injury. Therefore, they needed to do well in the first few matches, to gather enough points to deal with the unknown possibilities in the later matches.
Lai Hua wasn’t greedy, he did not expect to get first place. He had even thought about it already, if they did well in the first few matches, and had a big point lead on the second place and they were sure they could enter the top six, he would have Qi Zui stop playing and Yu Yang take his place.
It was enough to qualify for the Asian Invitational Cup, Lai Hua did not want to take too large a risk and place too much stress on Qi Zui’s body.
However, it was only Yu Yang who did not really understand.
It’s said that Qi Zui’s choice of landing and how he landed was perfect, for this sort of flight path, when he was at his best, he would even choose to land in the airport. Even if he was not in the best state, he would still choose to land in G City or P City8, places with better loot. Going to places with poorer loot to fight in the wild9… Did not seem like something that Qi Zui would do.
It was not only Yu Yang who was confused. Even Qi Zui himself did not think that he would be going to the shooting range.
“Qianxi, if you make this sort of mistake in the next match, I definitely won’t give in to you. You can fight in the wild yourself.” Qi Zui quickly looted the area, his voice indifferent. “Jumping before I say anything, are you rushing to your death?”
Yu Qianxi’s forehead started to become covered in sweat, he swallowed. “I was a little nervous… I didn’t think that I would accidentally press F and jump too early…”
“Anyway, we’ve already landed, so let’s not talk about this first.” Bu Nana whistled. “Is there any pretty lady listening in on the conversation here10? Our team did something dumb, please help us cut out this part. Thank you.”
Lao Kai went into the Shelter11, and said unsurely, “There’s the sound of a car, it’s probably headed towards S City12.”
“They’ve already reached.” Qi Zui’s location perception was more accurate than Lao Kai. He adjusted his headphones, then quickly said, “Take note of the North direction, be prepared to welcome guests at any moment13.”
Bu Nana: “OK, is the loot good in the shelter14?”
Lao Kai came out from the shelter and shook his head. “Nope. All I found were some bottles of medicine.”
Qi Zui hurriedly changed his gun attachments and said mildly, “Report your numbers.”
Bu Nana hurriedly said, “Two-one-three.”(Two first aid kids, one energy drink and three painkillers15)
Lao Kai said, “Zero-two-two, two gas cans.”
Yu Qianxi: “… One-three-two.”
Bu Nana clicked his tongue. “All I have is a holographic sight, Qi Zui has a holographic sight and a red dot, Lao Kai has one red dot, Qianxi has one 2x scope…The fuck, when did the shooting range become so poor? There isn’t even a 4x scope, how can we fight this match?”
Yu Qianxi knew that he was in the wrong, and did not say a single thing.
The safe zone had already refreshed, and the location was very inclined to one side of the map. It was an airport circle16.
Qi Zui did not say anything else, and had the team members quickly split the medicine and ammunition, then found a car to loot along the way as they ran into the safe zone.
The location they landed in was not good, the loot was so little it was pitiful, and they even met a Heaven’s Wrath Circle17, and HOG, due to having a lack of health supplies and ammo, died due to the poison effect before the third safe zone.
When the results came out, Lai Hua, who was in the lounge stood up, controlling himself as much as possible to not curse.
HOG’s first match squad results: 17th place, Drunk 4 kills, Banana 2 kills.
The team’s total score was 160.
“Don’t be anxious, don’t be anxious, it’s just the first round.” He Xiaoxu also felt a little weak, but he had to appease Lai Hua. “There’s still half an hour of break after three round, I’ll call them over, and you can analyse the game for them.”
“What is there to analyse? They shouldn’t have landed in the shooting range!” Lai Hua had been controlling himself for too long, and as soon as he opened his mouth, his voice had unknowingly increased. “What is Qi Zui thinking? They were about to reach the ruins18, but they suddenly started to head towards the shooting range! The fuck is this sort of landing?! When they finally floated to the shooting range, TGC had already gotten a car to go to S City! They were so much slower than TCG!”
Yu Yang did not say a thing.
There was indeed something wrong with Qi Zui’s choice of landing, but he still felt… there was something not quite right.
Yu Yang had just played with Qi Zui in duo and squad the day before, although it was all fish pond matches, but Qi Zui’s ability to see the big picture and his ability to have a whole game plan still caused Yu Yang to feel fear, why did Qi Zui suddenly… make such a huge mistake.
He Xiaoxu did not know if he was comforting Lai Hua or himself, he kept muttering, “It’s just one match, it’s very normal. If they get the chicken dinner in the second match, they will quickly catch up in points, it’s fine, it’s fine…”
However, it was a pity. After the first-seed19, HOG messed up their landing in the first match, they were a complete mess after that.
In the second match, with the flight path of S Mountain20 to Port P21. HOG landed in Town Y, and this time, there would definitely be no problem with loot. However, Yu Qianxi had accidentally fired some shots, exposing their location, and was taught a lesson by the Knights’ team that had landed in the courthouse22, after a gunfight, there was only Qi Zui left.
“Idiots! Truly idiots! Yu Qianxi already made a mistake, but they other two had to feed23, they just had to feed!” Their state in the early game was very different from what Lai Hua anticipated, and Lai Hua totally exploded. “Yu Qianxi was knocked out24 at such a location, why did they try to revive him! Why did they try to revive him! That’s right, one after another, they’re feeding! What the fuck are they thinking?”
Lai Hua was so angry his lungs were about to explode. In a fit of anger, he uttered angry curse words for an extended period of time. In his anger, he did not hold back with his words. “Does he have a problem with his hand or his brain? Ah? What the hell is he thinking?”
“Don’t say such things…” He Xiaoxu’s expression was not very good. He instinctively took a look at Yu Yang. “Qi Zui is still alive, at least they’ll be able to get a slightly better rank.”
Lai Hua was extremely angry. “What’s the use of having a ranking? What they need now is to win a match! Furthermore, he’s alone, and now, he’s even being blocked by the Knights’ squad, what sort of ranking can he get? I just want to know what the hell Qi Zui is thinking right now?!”
In the competition venue, Qi Zui was also curious about what was going on in his teammates’ heads.
Qi Zui scoped in, smiling, “You guys are so brilliant. One after another, are you guys reenacting the scene of the gourd baby saving their grandfather25?”
Bu Nana laughed dryly and said awkwardly, “Qianxi said that he was in a safe spot, and can be revived…”
Lao Kai was the medic in the team, and when he saw that his teammate had been knocked out, he had instinctively gone to revive him. Furthermore, he had said that he was in a safe spot. He had not expected that Hua Luo had already moved closer, and he had just reached Qianxi when…”
Yu Qianxi’s forehead was covered in sweat droplets and he stammered, “It’s my fault, but I really didn’t see any problem with where I was just now, and I was worried about the team losing a member…”
Qi Zui held his breath, then knocked out Hua Luo in one shot, before saying in a mild tone, “Shut up.”
The cold sweat on Yu Qianxi’s face rolled down.
Hua Luo was revived by his teammate. Three of HOG’s members had already died, and there was only Qi Zui left. Hua Luo actually really wanted to team kill HOG, to prevent Qi Zui from getting the chance to stab him in the back later on, but all the locations of his team members had been exposed, and he could not manage to win Qi Zui in an all-out gunfight. Furthermore, it was not easy to navigate around the houses in this area, and it was fine to forcefully rush Qi Zui26, they would definitely be able to kill Qi Zui, but it was very likely that they would lose members in their team, Hua Luo weighed his options. After he got revived, they decided to retreat.
Qi Zui maxed out his boost bar27, and waited for a moment before he started to run to the safe zone.
He was the only one left, and the game was such that in the case where none of his teammates were still alive, if he got knocked out, he would immediately die. Hence, Qi Zui could not directly get into a gunfight with others, and could only play carefully to try to get a higher ranking so as to get more points. The good thing was, Qi Zui’s game sense was outstanding, and he managed to survive till sixth place and killed two people.
Second match’s points: 225.
The overall rankings came out. The first place, TGC’s score was 940, the second place, Knights’ score was 825, the third place Lioness’ score was 710… The seventeenth place, HOG’s score was 385.
Lai Hua’s face was extremely dark.
He had a original plan that was quite good, the first two rounds, they would get chicken dinner28 twice, to make a huge difference in points, so as to let Qi Zui rest and let Yu Yang take his place to just play however he wanted. As long as they kept their place in the top six, it was a success, now…
There was no need to even talk about Yu Yang getting to play, there was the problem of whether the team was even able to enter the top six.
After He Xiaoxu saw the scoreboard, he quickly closed it. After a short hesitation, he opened the forum…
He Xiaoxu’s face turned a little pale and was about to close the app when Yu Yang said in a low voice. “Let me take a look.”
“Aiya, what’s the use to looking at this.” He Xiaoxu instantly forced a smile and kept his phone. “It’s all rubbish said by those keyboard warriors.”
Yu Yang did not force it either, he picked up his phone and installed the app as well.
[666, the Young Master’s team29, do they want to get the first place from the back?]
[A TGC fan here to send a congratulatory message, my Qi, didn’t we agree to go to Busan together? Hahahaha do I not need to wait for you anymore?
[What did I say before? The captain only trains a few hours a day, and the team members spend the whole night livestreaming, if this kind of team can manage to have good results, I’ll eat shit. Serves them right!]
[It’s over for HOG already…]
[Eh? Where’s your God-Qi’s mindless fans? Why have they disappeared? Let me tell you a joke, the Right Hand of God, the Light of eSports managed to get the great result of seventeenth place in a China-based preliminary competition! Congratulations!]
Yu Yang looked at the forum for a moment, then left the lounge and lit up a cigarette.
Yu Yang’s fingers were trembling slightly.
He had not gotten into a fight with anyone for a very long time.
However, just now, he really wanted to return to the base, return to his computer and install a Ch30, to find the few who were the best at talking shit online and have an offline solo match with them.
In the online game, Yu Yang was only scared of Qi Zui, offline, when getting into fights, Yu Yang had never been scared of anyone before.