AWM: PUBG - Chap 49
Chapter 49
Unedited
He Xiaoxu wanted to have a meeting again.
He wanted to call everyone together to have a proper discussion about what kind of position they should give Qi Zui, the unofficial member of HOG.
“To prevent him from causing trouble because he has nothing to do all day long!” He Xiaoxu collapsed, “All the forums and Weibo accounts are talking about him! Is he sick!!! The manager of the Knights called me just now to complain! He! Said! That! Qi Zui! Insisted that the Knights pause their training! To gather together! To listen to him tell the story about everything that happened with Youth in the past! Is he crazy?!”
“Don’t get agitated, don’t get agitated, I just got my driving license not long ago, your constant nagging is making my hands tremble,” Xin Ba, who was the only person who did not drink alcohol wiped his sweat and held the steering wheel, “Captain-Qi is probably used to working, and he’s probably feeling very uneasy now that he’s suddenly taking a break…”
“Is he taking revenge on me?” He Xiaoxu was so angry that he hit Bu Nana’s thigh with all his strength. “Just because I didn’t let him take up the role of the coach for Team One, he’s taking revenge on me? He can go around and ask everyone! Am I easy to bully?!”
“You’re not easy to bully, you’re not easy to bully, calm down, calm down…” Bu Nana’s thigh was numb from He Xiaoxu’s hits, he gritted his teeth and endured it, “He wants to become the coach of Team One?”
“That’s right! The truth is! He just wants to be the private coach for Youth!” He Xiaoxu rolled his eyes, “Do you think I don’t know him? Right now, he’s doing it in private and unofficially. When he teaches Yu Yang now, it can only be considered as him giving tips to his junior, but it is different if he becomes the coach.”
Bu Nana saved his fat leg from its fate with much difficulty. He rubbed his thigh, his heart aching, adding on, “I’m all ears.”
He Xiaoxu sneered, “He’s always disagreed with how Youth trains for so many hours and kept wanting Lao Lai to cancel Youth’s additional training, but both Lao Lai and Youth disagreed, so it was put on hold. When he becomes the coach, won’t this be handled in no time?”
Lao Kai felt ashamed on hearing those words, “Youth was losing a lot of points while playing solo matches in the Korean server, but I was in the clubhouse drinking alcohol and singing songs…”
“Shut up!” He Xiaoxu was not done talking. “That’s one thing, but what about the problem of the usual punishment? Currently, when Youth makes a mistake in a training competition, he would be yelled at by Lao Lai. What about when Qi Zui becomes the coach?! Wouldn’t the third-floor training room immediately become some place for sexual training? During the training competition, Qi Zui will just sit by the side and take note of Youth’s mistakes right? I’ve already helped him to think up the whole scenario for the post-competition reviews! If you can’t control your gun’s spray, I’ll kiss you once, if you chose the wrong spot to land in, I’ll give you a French kiss, if you lose in a gunfight, I’ll touch your chest muscles once…”
Bu Nana covered his face in embarrassment, lightly pushing He Xiaoxu, almost pushing him off the car.
The more He Xiaoxu thought about it, the more he thought that Qi Zui was taking revenge on him because he had drunk some alcohol, he felt even more sorrowful and said pitifully, “Why is my life so hard? Youth is such a good cash cow, but before he’s built his army of wife fans, he was ruined by Qi Zui. I had once thought that I would be able to rely on Qi Zui to feed me for the first half of my life, and Yu Yang for the second half of my life, having a rich and prosperous life with no need to worry about food and clothes…”
On the way back, He Xiaoxu kept sighing and complaining about how hard life was. When he returned to the base, he could not even raise his eyelids and had to be carried by Lai Hua into the room.
Before he entered his room, they even met Qi Zui.
Qi Zui whistled, “Are you two coming out of the closet too?”
“Get lost!” Lai Hua, who was completely straight, was so angry that his face turned red, “He scolded you the whole way back, and was so tired that he fell asleep!”
Qi Zui knew that he was in trouble and tried his best not to laugh, “The two of us didn’t slack off. During dinnertime, we helped you two sort out the materials of the youth trainees, we’ve come up with the areas for individual guidance for each person.”
Lai Hua said resentfully, “At least you have some conscience.”
“You’ve all drunk alcohol, so you definitely can’t wake up in the morning tomorrow. You might as well have a half-day off,” Qi Zui was being strangely nice, “There’s no need for He Xiaoxu to follow us to the event tomorrow, it’s enough that I go.”
Lai Hua did not think too much and felt that it was quite suitable. He nodded, “Alright, then I won’t wake He Xiaoxu up tomorrow and have him sleep, you can accompany Youth there.”
Qi Zui smiled, satisfied.
At eight in the morning the next day, after the alarm rang, Yu Yang quickly woke up, bathing and blow-drying his hair. He then tied his hair up and changed into a new set of the team uniform, grabbing his accessories bag and packing some necessities into it, leaving the base and getting onto the car.
The driver had been waiting since early in the morning. When he saw that Yu Yang arrived, he greeted him.
Yu Yang looked around, “Where’s Manager He?”
“I don’t know,” The driver also found it quite strange. “The previous day, I was told to prepare the car before eight in the morning today, to bring the two of you to the event. It’s almost eight-thirty, but he’s still not here… he’s usually on time.”
Yu Yang was about to call He Xiaoxu when the main entrance of the base opened.
Yu Yang was stunned.
Qi Zui was wearing the newest Fendi suit of this season, wearing the Gucci leather shoes, sorting out his cufflinks as he came out.
Qi Zui got on the car, “Let’s go.”
Yu Yang swallowed his saliva, “Manager He…”
“Oh, he drank too much yesterday, and had me take his place,” Qi Zui was very calm, “I’ll take the manager’s place for a day and bring you to the event… what’s the matter? Is that not allowed?”
“No!” Yu Yang hurriedly shook his head, “That’s quite good.”
Qi Zui rarely wore such elegant clothes and Yu Yang could not help turning his head to glance at him from time to time. He could not help but think in his heart, it was not without a reason that the number of Qi Zui’s wife fans was much greater than the others.
This man… How could he be so handsome?
Yu Yang did not want to act so infatuated and cleared his throat, trying to find something to say, “The script that was shown to me yesterday was a little vague, all it clearly said was the timing and the location. They did not introduce anything else in detail. What… is the event today?”
Qi Zui was stunned for a moment. He did not know either.
Qi Zui smiled, “It’s a secret, a surprise.”
After they arrived at the venue, it was the make-up session as usual. Yu Yang and Qi Zui both rejected the make-up artist politely and waited at the side.
The other teams slowly came over, TGC, Knights, Wolves, FIRE, Lioness…
They were all teams that had participated in the Asian Invitational Cup.
Everyone was quite shocked when they saw Qi Zui. Besides Hua Luo who refused to be in the same frame as Qi Zui, everyone else came to say hello.
Ye Huo smiled at Yu Yang, “Oh, little Captain… Before you, I was the youngest captain here. There are always talents appearing every generation, you’re only nineteen… it’s scary.”
Yu Yang and Ye Huo fist-bumped, saying mildly, “You’re being too polite.”
Ye Huo’s manager caught him and brought him to do his makeup, everyone else was also slowly being called away by their managers one after another. When everyone had left, Zhou Feng walked over alone.
“Please take care of him,” Qi Zui smiled at Zhou Feng, “This is our new Captain, Youth.”
Mute-Zhou nodded his head. That was his way of greeting people.
Zhou Feng looked towards Qi Zui, hesitating a little, before he looked at Yu Yang again, seemingly wanting to say something.
Qi Zui smiled, “If you have something to say, say it.”
“If I didn’t remember it wrongly…” Zhou Feng said in a low voice, “Apollo is one of your sponsors right?”
Qi Zui nodded his head.
Apollo was a first-class brand in the country that sold accessories and had sponsored HOG for three years straight, they were considered the main sponsor.
Zhou Feng’s tone was calm, “Since they’re your sponsors, and you’re still under a contract with them, why did they suddenly contact our team?”
Yu Yang’s pupils shrunk and he looked towards Zhou Feng uneasily.
Qi Zui paused and smiled, “It’s normal, you should be happy, the sponsor feels that TGC has a brighter future.”
“I’m not joking with you, I don’t care about those things concerning the sponsor, and I’m not interested either,” Zhou Feng said mildly, “I was just giving you a prior warning, I’ll be leaving now.”
Qi Zui patted Zhou Feng’s shoulder and smiled, “Let’s get a drink together next time.”
Zhou Feng walked off and the smile on Qi Zui’s face slowly faded.
Yu Yang was quiet for a moment, then said, “The sponsor thinks that my skill level is too horrible compared to yours?”
“What rubbish are you saying?” Qi Zui smiled, “The new star of the eSports circle, a record-breaking nineteen years of age, you think that you can’t make it?”
Yu Yang shook his head, “In the Asian Invitational Cup… You were first place in the solo competition, Zhou Feng was third, and I was fourth.”
Qi Zui laughed, “That was one competition. As long as it’s a competition, there’s an element of luck involved, what can one competition represent?”
“But we need competitions to show our strength,” Yu Yang lowered his gaze, “I’m a lot worse than you… and I can’t compete with TGC’s Zhou Feng.”
Without waiting for Qi Zui to comfort him, Yu Yang asked again, “Of the few sponsors in the team, how big a percentage is Apollo’s sponsorship?”
Qi Zui was silent for a moment before he said, “Fifty percent.”
Yu Yang turned his head to look at the embroidered Apollo emblem on his left shoulder, unable to say anything for a moment.
Half of their sponsorship would soon be gone.
A lot of people outside called HOG a team of young masters, not only because Qi Zui and Bu Nana had money and were willing to spend money, and it was also not because He Xiaoxu was born to scatter cash.
The welfare of the team was so good because it had been fought for by generations of the Right Hand of God. It was a result of the many sponsors that had flocked to them and given them a lot of money.
There were six sponsors’ logos that were embroidered on HOG’s team uniform, and not long after, one would be removed.
The others… Yu Yang was also not very optimistic about them.
Qi Zui had already retired, and this was just the beginning.
A HOG that does not have Drunk was already being looked upon unfavorably by others.
Yu Yang took a deep breath. Before that, he had also heard Qi Zui and the rest teasing the Knights team, HOG would often joke among themselves, mocking themselves and saying that they’ve joined hands with Knights as teams on the road to being fallen teams. But jokes were just jokes, and Yu Yang did not feel much about it. Now, their main sponsor was about to sponsor another team, and the fact that they were becoming a fallen team was truly exposed in front of him.
The HOG that had originally been first place in many ways was about to be replaced by TGC.
“These are all things that me, He Xiaoxu, and the rest of the higher-ups need to consider. It has nothing to do with you, all you need to do is to focus on your practice,” Qi Zui raised his hand and lightly touched Yu Yang’s face. Then, he smiled, “Captain, your responsibility is to lead the team properly, to make the team’s results better… Don’t give yourself unnecessary stress.”
Yu Yang’s heart felt heavy. Before this, he was even able to hide the matter with Xu Dawei completely even though it was something so major. Qi Zui truly was very worried about him and could not help but say, “It’s also normal to change sponsors, don’t look down on He Xiaoxu, he’s quite good, without Apollo, there will still be other sponsors…”
“When Captain Lai retired…” Yu Yang raised his gaze to look at Qi Zui, “Were there also sponsors that withdrew their funding?”
Qi Zui was silent.
Qi Zui could not lie and after he was silent for a moment, he shook his head, “No. At that time, I was already a celebrity eSports player, my commercial value was enough to support the operation of the whole team.”
Yu Yang understood, Qi Zui could do it in the past, but right now, Yu Yang could not do so.
Qi Zui tried his best to make his voice as gentle as possible, “But I was older than you at that time, and I started to play eSports from a young age, I…”
“I’ll work hard.”
Qi Zui was stunned.
“It’s fine even if Apollo doesn’t sponsor us, and for the rest…” Yu Yang looked at the logos on his body and said in a serious voice, “It’s fine if they want to leave…”
“It’s fine even if there are no more sponsors’ logos on the team uniform.”
“It’s fine even if the welfare of the team is bad, I’ve always been able to endure hardships.”
“I’ll work hard… to bring Bu Nana, Lao Kai, and Xin Ba to victory… I’ll also watch the youth trainees.”
Yu Yang comforted Qi Zui stiffly and clumsily, “I won’t let HOG wither away. I’ll endure and survive in the way you managed to survive through hard times in the past.”
Qi Zui looked at Yu Yang in disbelief.
Was Yu Yang… comforting him instead?
“Even if in future competitions, we no longer have any more logos on our team uniform, it’s fine. As long as we have our team logo and our national flag on our uniform, I can continue fighting.”
