# Chapter 70
Even Puppy, who was usually the most easygoing, started reviewing the match while eating dinner. Lao Qiao was delighted by this and called out from the second-floor landing toward the kitchen, asking the auntie to bring dinner up.
Their old and new grudges against Saint were long past reconciliation. Several of them were filled with interest in drawing Saint in the group stage at Worlds. While waiting for the auntie to bring the food, Shi Luo even asked Lao Qiao for a pen, grabbed a sheet of paper, and started drawing and calculating probabilities.
"Don't bother calculating. After all these years of watching Worlds group draws, I've developed some experience," Lao Qiao shook his head, speaking with complete superstition. "Don't trust probability theory. Trust in mysticism. Based on my experience, with this kind of ultimate rival, they usually show up in group stage. The team we've had the most old and new scores with is Saint. There's an eighty percent chance we'll face them."
"By that logic, Saint and NSN have accumulated quite a bit of animosity with them too, so they might also face them," Chen Huo retained some rationality. He looked at the formulas Shi Luo was writing and said solemnly, "But we should still believe in science... In group stage, it's four teams advancing two, double round-robin. If we're in the same group as Saint and want to knock them out, we must win both matches in the double round-robin, ensuring Saint's points don't get too high. Then we hope the other two teams in our group cooperate with us and together push Saint down to third place in group standings... Eh, that's a bit difficult."
Shi Luo continued listing formulas. "It would be best to eliminate them during group stage. If we can't stop them there, we can still hope for quarterfinals..."
Puppy nodded. "Quarterfinals work too. Last season's champions eliminated in quarterfinals this season would be plenty embarrassing."
Chen Huo suddenly remembered something and slapped the table. "Worlds is in Berlin this year! If we knock them out in group stage or quarterfinals, they'd get sent home early and humiliated right at their doorstep. That would be too fun."
"Even if we can't face them in group stage..." Shi Luo spread out the paper in his hands. "Premise is, both our teams and Saint advance from group stage. According to the rule that teams from the same region can't be in the same half of the bracket, Saint has a fifty percent probability of being forced to face us in quarterfinals. That's a pretty high chance."
Chen Huo waved his hand magnanimously. "Let's be bolder! If our team and the other Chinese region team both make it to semifinals, then no matter which half we're in, Saint will definitely face us! When we meet, we beat them! Beat them until they go home!"
"So, between us and the other team from our region, we have three chances to intercept Saint before the finals." Puppy smiled. "I like this... Hope the draw favors us. The sooner we face them, whether group stage or quarterfinals, sending our old team home would be quite something."
Zhou Huo was helping the auntie bring the food up. Hearing this, he was startled. "Have you all gone mad? Every other team hopes to avoid facing Saint as long as possible, but you guys are hoping to meet them in group stage. Are you trying to die?"
"They apparently don't want to anymore." Lao Qiao caught their revengeful energy. "Rankings are one thing, but Saint needs to die early."
Shi Luo put away his pen and paper, taking the food. "Eliminating Saint and competing for rankings don't conflict. If we want to keep climbing, we'll eventually have to face them anyway."
"The前提 is we can beat them. If we can't, they'll send us home in group stage." Zhou Huo set down the food. "Going to review while eating?"
Lao Qiao nodded and turned on the projector, starting the review.
For regular practice matches, the review wasn't actually that exhausting. Lao Qiao fast-forwarded through the whole thing, jumping to each timestamp he'd marked while watching and explaining one by one. Where deserved, he'd praise; where deserved, he'd criticize. Everyone except Yu Sui had made some mistakes here and there.
Zhou Huo watched from the side, understanding only half of it. After the review, he said, "Don't schedule any more practice matches tonight, okay? The intensity is too high."
"We won't schedule any more tonight. Even if we did, we couldn't review them all. Remember your mistakes, combine today's with yesterday's ten games, compile them together." Lao Qiao swallowed his food, massaged his neck. "Compile them together, then do your mechanical training on your own tonight."
"For micro-play issues, repeat that specific action to correct it. Repeat it a thousand times, and even the deepest-rooted habits can be corrected. For coordination issues... I can't keep other players waiting, so we'll have to provide you with training partners. Let me know in advance if you need partners for practice."
Shi Luo raised his hand while eating. "Give me one training partner. Someone who can play flanker."
"Sure, I'm free tonight anyway, I'll do it." Lao Qiao looked at Puppy. "You need them too, right?"
Puppy nodded. "Three. No class restrictions."
Lao Qiao agreed. "The data analyst will pull people for you to use as targets. Anyone else need them?"
Yu Sui shook his head. Chen Huo grabbed a napkin and wiped his hands, joining in the conversation. "Are there any girls in our club's training partner roster?"
"Do you think this is paid gaming coaching? Should they also have nice voices for singing?" Lao Qiao shot Chen Huo a look, speaking earnestly. "Training partners at other teams are their own team's junior players doing it for free. Only ours! Either I or the data analyst pulls retired players for you.一个个都是技术到位意识到位的. Do you know how much these training partners cost per hour?"
"A thousand bucks an hour." Lao Qiao felt the pain even saying it. "Puppy, every time you practice your aim, you need at least three training partners. That's a thousand per person, multiplied by several hours. You do the math yourself. And you're not even珍惜 them!"
Zhou Huo smiled beside him. "Seriously, I've been in first-division teams for several years now, and this is the first time I've seen a team this luxurious."
"Old habit from FS." Lao Qiao finished his rice. "Each one of you can spend money like water."
"Where am I being luxurious? When Yu Sui practices his knife work, he always finds four training partners at once, practicing for days on end." Puppy had finished eating. He sat back in his seat. "Can't help it. Our captain has been used to extravagance. But this price, I'm hearing it for the first time. It's gone up to a thousand? I remember it was only five or six hundred when we went abroad."
Lao Qiao said, "Prices went up long ago."
"Look, that's another money-making route. When we retire and really can't make ends meet, you could do this too." Chen Huo slumped in his seat, talking to Puppy. "Didn't you say you were poor earlier? Go do training partner work."
"I can't do that." Puppy shook his head. Still had some time before training, Puppy opened his stream to rack up viewing hours. "If the player you're supporting is a genius, fine. But if their mechanics are worse than mine, I can't restrain myself for a thousand bucks. I'd probably lose my temper and beat them up to teach them a lesson. Training partner chasing the player to beat them up... That画面 doesn't bear thinking about."
As he said this, Puppy lazily turned his head and shouted, "I'm going live! Anyone not dressed properly, fix yourselves!"
Chen Huo reluctantly put back on the shoes he'd kicked off. "This damn thing about wanting more live stream popularity."
"What do you know? Everyone watching my stream is a team fan." Puppy adjusted the camera and greeted, "Yes, I'm live again. Who's behind me? That's our team's Manager Zhou... Tell him to move? Sure."
Puppy slowly turned again. "Manager Zhou, please step aside. You're blocking my fans from seeing Shi Luo."
Zhou Huo quickly moved.
Puppy continued explaining to the fans. "Yes, we just finished dinner. Why is Shi Luo still eating? He eats a lot, that's why..."
Shi Luo shot Puppy a glance and very uncooperatively shifted his gaming chair, turning his back to the camera and continuing his meal.
Chen Huo and Lao Qiao were still discussing training partner wages. When it came to how training partners must have good temperaments, Chen Huo looked at Yu Sui and made a jab at him. "Yu Sui's fine. When he duo-queues with Shi Luo, he has this very training-partner vibe. If we really get knocked out by Saint at Worlds and the team goes bankrupt, Yu Sui could do this. Seriously, I've felt for a while now that Yu Sui has quite the气质 for this."
Team banter always came suddenly, without warning, without reason, and somehow would just start targeting someone. Yu Sui was used to it, not bothered in the slightest. Instead, he asked Lao Qiao, "If I were to be a training partner, how much per hour?"
Lao Qiao愣了一下. He hesitated. "You? For you..."
Lao Qiao couldn't come up with a price. He turned to Zhou Huo. "Is Yu Sui quotable?"
Zhou Huo was stunned. "Are you talking about Yu Sui doing training partner work? Um... Our club doesn't have this service yet. If he absolutely wants to do it..."
Zhou Huo looked Yu Sui up and down and somehow discovered a new business opportunity. He seriously evaluated, "The league's number one medic, last season's championship medic, can heal can fight, occasionally has decent temperament, plus this face, this physique, this voice..."
Zhou Huo broke into laughter. "I really can't put a price on this. How much would it be?"
"What's so hard to figure out? Let's do an互动." Puppy waved at his camera. "Whisper coaching for one hour, bidding now. Anyone brave enough to play for real, put in your bid. Highest bidder wins. Come on..."
Puppy, never one to miss an opportunity for chaos, turned the camera toward Yu Sui.
Yu Sui, due to his stomach condition, never trained right after eating and always needed a short rest. At that moment, he was leaning on the training room sofa, playing on his phone. His expression was more casual than usual. Fans rarely got to see Yu Sui this relaxed and laid-back, so they went crazy spamming the chat.
【Yu God Yu God Yu God Yu God啊啊啊啊啊啊啊......】
【Whisper look here! Look at the lens, I'm screenshotting!!】
【Where's my Luoge?!!! Crying, fine, Yu God works too.】
【What just happened? Why would Yu God do coaching? Is the club out of money?】
【Is Free going bankrupt too? Another one going under? What kind of cursed fate is this for my Yu God?!】
【Is Free having management problems? So Whisper is going freelance as a coach?】
【The camera is already showing Yu God to us, is this for real?】
【Shocked, I knew why he was being so generous showing Yu God to us. So this is the display?!】
【While it's not great to say this, but... If it's Yu Sui, I'm in!!】
【Whisper? Who's not in?】
【I'm blushing... Seriously, I've wanted to say this since watching Yu God and Shi God duo-queue. Playing with Yu God... The experience must be amazing.】
【Maybe Yu God is doing face cam with me? Nosebleed... I'm in too!】
【I'm a male fan... I'm in too.】
【One thing's for sure... Whisper is so gentle and nice when he duo-queues with people, so I especially love watching Luoge's perspective streams. That experience is啧啧...】
【Shy, Yu God really knows how to take care of his teammates when duo-queuing.】
【Wiping nose... Is the bidding really for real?】
As the chat ping-ponged back and forth, the twenty-one-year-old, still a virgin Yu Sui seemed to grow more worldly by the minute.
Yu Sui lifted his gaze and glanced at Puppy. He grabbed the throw pillow from the sofa and threw it at Puppy.
Puppy caught the pillow in one hand. Seeing his stream viewership had climbed to five million, Puppy got excited. "Of course it's real! Bidding, bidding! Yu Sui coaching for one hour. Anyone who can actually pay, put in your offers."
The chat, after a brief moment of frenzy,马上认真了起来.
【Is this a joke or real? If real, a thousand for one hour with Yu God, I'm okay with that.】
【Are you crazy? That's Yu God. Him talking to you, duo-queuing games with you,整整一个小时, a thousand bucks? I'll pay five thousand!】
【If this is real, I'll bid ten thousand.】
【I'm a Whisper skill fan, been following him for five years. Twenty thousand.】
【I especially dislike this kind of objectification of men. Twenty-five thousand.】
【Face in hands, if Yu God turns on his camera, thirty thousand!】
【Same face in hands, if Yu God turns on camera AND agrees to voice chat, fifty thousand.】
Zhou Huo watched Puppy's stream chat in shock. He swallowed hard, muttering to himself, "Life really is full of business opportunities..."
The chat bid against each other, and within three minutes, it had reached one hundred thousand.
Puppy held up a chopstick, seriously announcing, "One hundred thousand, first call!"
No higher bids appeared in chat. Puppy announced solemnly again, "One hundred thousand, second call!"
The chat flooded with envy for the big spender who threw out a hundred grand, still no higher offers appeared.
Puppy was about to click his mouse with the chopstick. "One hundred thousand, third—"
"One million." Shi Luo, who had finally finished eating, interrupted Puppy's ridiculous auction. While收拾碗筷, he said, "包夜. Everyone else can leave."
*(Note: "包夜" means to book for the entire night. This is the climax of the chapter where Shi Luo "buys" Yu Sui for the night, a playful moment that also carries romantic undertones typical of BL novels.)*