Club Se7en's headquarters, Jianghai district.
Shen Zeyan was in front of a computer, engaged in a Solo FPP match. Gao Yunyang was reclined on a sofa, his eyes slightly closed.
Su Changming, wearing glasses, was seated in front of a desk and was scribbling on some doc.u.ments.
Li Muqiu was pacing in circles in the middle of the conference room.
He was scrolling through his smartphone with a finger. His face looked savage.
"Too much! This is too much!" he said indignantly.
"It's one thing that they said I'm a newbie. But they even said that I'm riling the fans of the club!
"Slander! This is nothing but bare-faced slander!"
"Don't let me find out who it is, I'll sue their pants off!"
Creak!
The door to the conference room opened.
Liu Zilang stepped in, and behind him, Misaka Mikoto poked her head inside.
Liu Zilang and Li Muqiu's eyes met.
"Whatchu lookin' at me for?"
"What about it?"
"I'll get angry if you keep looking at me!"
"What if you get angry?"
"…"
Liu Zilang noticed that Li Muqiu was not his regular self. He turned to the others and asked, "What's up with Ol' Qiu?"
Shen Zeyan did not respond.
Gao Yunyang lifted an eyelid to look at him before turning away.
Su Changming lifted his head and adjusted his glasses. "That kid has been under the attack of anonymous trolls on Weibo. He's been like that for a week," he said while smiling.
"Oh!" Liu Zilang nodded as he stole a glance at Gao Yunyang. Then, he said seriously, "That's perfectly understandable."
"Alright, so Gao Yunyang should have already briefed you about the basics." Su Changming clasped his hands together. "The sub-team will be based in Se7en's headquarters, and I will be your captain, coach, and club manager."
He looked at each one of them. "Same as usual. Yunyang and Muqiu will be the riflers, Zeyan will be the sniper.
"As for Zilang, you're the free role and the team captain. Any questions?"
It had been their team roster in the past, and no one had any problems.
However, Li Muqiu was a little unreconciled.
He would have felt better if Su Changming had given him a formal invitation to join the sub-team.
What happened was, Su Changming had called for an emergency meeting and told him that he was negatively affecting the image of the club. Hence, he should be temporarily relegated to the sub-team.
'Temporarily… relegated?'
How could Li Muqiu take it sitting down!
That resulted in the scene earlier.
Li Muqiu noticed Liu Zilang and Gao Yunyang exchange glances and a smile, and he cast a suspicious eye at them. Then, he suddenly had a brainwave and ventured a daring conjecture…
'Wait!
'What the f*ck?
'Don't tell me that there are two traitors among us?'
Meanwhile, Su Changming noticed Misaka Mikoto who was standing behind Liu Zilang. She was staring at Liu Zilang with round eyes, and she turned around to look at him.
She looked like a homeless puppy that was sitting next to a roadside dumpster, wagging her tongue.
"Zilang! What's Menhera-chan…" Su Changming had to ask.
"Oh, right, she's out of team SST," Liu Zilang said while smiling, "I was thinking about how the team currently lacks a substitute, and I was wondering if she fits the bill."
Substitutes were necessary for a typical professional esports team.
Professional esports players were nonetheless human.
Attending a tournament nursing a fever or a headache was a bad idea. Losing the tournament was least of their concerns, however, a slight illness had the chance of deteriorating into something worse.
Su Changming lowered his head slightly after hearing Liu Zilang's suggestion. He then nodded.
"How about this? Since you brought her here, you vouch for her. As long as she can maintain a K/D ratio of 6.0 and above in random matchmade games, she's in."
'Yay!'
Unbridled joy appeared on Misaka Mikoto's face. She was nevertheless a professional player, and that target was nothing to her.
She took a deep ninety-degree bow, and then with seriousness on her bao-like face, she said, "Sank you, Shifu! Sank you, Coach!
"I will do my best!"
Liu Zilang saw this and took a silent sidestep to stand in front of her.
He looked at her with doubtful eyes.
After that was the signing of the contract. The five people were former teammates, and the mutual trust was already there.
One could say that there had never been a shorter nor more transparent contract in the entire esports industry.
After the signing of the contract, information on the new team 'Se7en2' was submitted to the tournament organizers through their website.
One coach, four players.
Oh, right, and a 'secret weapon' -- The mascot, Misaka Mikoto.
With such a lineup, the PUBG tournament organizers at Tencent were shocked. It was huge!
It was going to be a long night…
Indeed, after the team had officially been inducted into the roster, Se7en's official Weibo account which had been peaceful for over a week, made big waves. It was as if they had thrown a boulder into a pond!
On their official Weibo account, they congratulated the formation of the sub-team and revealed the team line-up along with the substitute player. Then, they tagged the Weibo accounts of three team members and the team's coach, Su Changming.
Gao Yunyang and Misaka Mikoto were not on Weibo, so they were not tagged.
Drama enthusiasts who had been keeping an eye on Liu Zilang and Shen Zeyan ever since they had departed from their respective teams, felt like a gigantic tub of popcorn had fallen from the sky and landed on their heads.
After the news broke out on Se7en's official Weibo account, it received over a thousand comments in ten minutes, and over ten thousand in an hour.
Many esports media outlets tried to share the spotlight by sharing the news. It became one of the top ten trending topics on Weibo.
Soon after, Liu Zilang, Shen Zeyan, Li Muqiu, and Su Changming shared the news one after another and tagged the official Se7en Weibo account in their comments.
Liu Zilang: "We meet again. Toward the summit! @Se7enClub."
Shen Zeyan: "@Se7enClub"
Su Changming: "Honored to be the captain and coach of #Se7en2. We won't let out fans down, stay tuned! @Se7enClub"
As for Li Muqiu, who had been under relentless attacks on Weibo, he posted this: "I haven't been performing up to my standards in recent tournaments. I volunteered to be relegated to the sub-team for training. I need some peace @Se7enClub"
Many of his fans felt sorry for him when they saw his post…
"What happened to the attackers? Why aren't they posting anything today?"
"I feel sorry for Guru Qiu! I feel like crying."
"Those anti-fans, repent!"
"What kind of fans are we talking about here, ceiling fans? Stand fans?"
"Go away! Anti-fans!"
"…"
Those people were the minority. Most people were more concerned over the news that the old Se7en had reconvened. It meant that the PUBG circle was about to enter a new dark age.
In the recent California Invitationals, Liu Zilang and the others' performances had been laid bare for all to see.
The thought of seeing many top-tier teams in the country being curb-stomped by a 'sub-team' of a club in the league…
Everyone felt a little horrified, but at the same time, excited.
…