Gold Medal Coach

According to the schedule, the first round of the playoffs would end in mid-August and the Asian Championship was held from August 1st to 5th. The players in the playoffs definitely wouldn’t be able to catch up with this competition. Only the players who remained at the base could represent the national team.

Jiang Shaoyu called the coaching staff for a meeting to discuss strategies.

“For this Asian championship, only Pei Feng, Hua Ran, Qin Xueyao, Shu Chen, Shi Xiaobin and the youth trainee Gui Siyang can participate for the national team. We are also pressed for time, so don’t hesitate to suggest anything in terms of lineup and tactics.”

He paused before adding, “I’ve formed a sparring team to help them. If there are fewer people, the lineup changes aren’t as rich but it will be easier for them to develop a tacit cooperation.”

Old Xu asked, “Isn’t Pei Feng a free person? He can play in various positions, not just sniper. Pei Feng is a free person and there are more lineups available, right?”

Jiang Shaoyu explained, “I don’t want to expose Pei Feng’s free person style so early. There is no need to show our trump card at the Asian Championship. We have only one month to train. If Pei Feng keeps changing positions then it will be too late.”

The other coaches heard this and nodded in agreement.

When fighting a mob, how could they directly use a big move?

No matter whether it was Pei Feng’s free person style of play or the novel tactics for the five star difficulty map, it would definitely be better for these things to come out in the World Series. Otherwise, if they exposed their trump cards too early, the Chinese team would be targeted by the opponent if they won the Asian championship.

Coach Zhu suggested, “Xia Li and Xiao Zhou aren’t here and there is a lack of assaulters. The output of the front row isn’t enough. We can send Xiao Gui to form a double sniper cooperate with Pei Feng and play the long-range kite flow tactic.”

Coach Gu proposed another idea. “Didn’t Shi Xiaobin play a charger before? This child is timid and likes to hide and wait for opportunities. After becoming a medic, his mastery of the map and his rhythm is much stronger. I think he can play a charger medic. He can bring a submachine gun to replenish the output and bring the gauze and helmet to save his life.”

Old Chang heard this and couldn’t help laughing. “I have taken Xiao Bin all over the map during this time and his position is indeed like a little mouse. He is very cautious. It is okay to let him play a charge, He can output, fire one set and then run away. The enemy won’t be able to find him. If he is injured, he can hide and wrap gauze around himself.”

Coach Gu said, “In this way, it can complement Hua Ran. Hua Ran goes to rush while Shi Xiaobin hides and fights a guerrilla battle. The output of the front row is enough. The back row can depend on the situation. Do you want two snipers?”

Jiang Shaoyu synthesized everyone’s opinions and finally decided. “We will prepare three sets of lineups for the time being. The first is Pei Feng and Gui Siyang’s double sniper and long-range kite tactic. The second is Shi Xiaobin and Shu Chen’s double medic tactic. We will use a war of attrition to drag things out. The third one will have Shi Xiaobin return to the charger position while Shu Chen also takes a gun. They can break through the front row. What do you think?”

“I think it is okay!”

“It is already very good to be able to practice these three lineups in a month. We can’t be too greedy.”

“That’s right. The Asian Championship is mainly for training so that the players can accumulate competition experience. There is no need to engage in too complicated tactics. If it is too complicated then it is easy to overturn.”

Old Chang asked, “What about the map? How to choose?”

Jiang Shaoyu answered, “I want to focus on regular maps with three or four star difficulty. These maps are familiar to every player and it will be quicker for them to get used to it. If we go directly to a five star map, they aren’t skilled enough with a five star map now. In addition, the tactic of exposing the five star maps in advance aren’t conducive to playing strong teams in the World Series.”

They deliberated among themselves for a while before agreeing.

Jiang Shaoyu asked, “Coaches, what other suggestions do you have for the selection of maps?”

Coach Zhu was good at guerrilla warfare and he suggested, “The large map of Yuehu Park has a complex terrain. I think we can go with two medics for it and fight a war of attrition, dragging the opponent to death.”

Coach Gu also put forward his own ideas. “The Logistics Park map can be used. I remember that Pei Feng used this map in the Rising Stars Cup. He has a strong ability to master the light and shadow. The sunlight shining through the windows around the warehouses on this map are convenient for snipers to see and it can be the double sniper tactic…”

The coaches’ chatterbox opened and everyone had their own ideas. The tactical team discussed it late into the night and finally selected nine maps to focus on for this Asian Championship.

Life and Death Explosion maps: Guanghua Middle School, Bewitching Townand Kunlun Bridge.

Endless Bloody Battle maps: Ghost Castle, Logistics Park and Cross Street.

Extreme Duel maps: Hope Port, Winding Corridor and Yuehu Park.

Among them, the Endless Bloody Battle and Extreme Duel mode maps were shared and could be flexibly changed.

The advantage of these maps was that they were often found in the professional league and had to be mastered by all players. Therefore, it was relatively simple to practice teamwork on the familiar maps.

Among the team members participating in the Asian Championship this time, Shi Xiaobin was the only one who appeared once in the last World Series. Pei Feng, Hua Ran and Gui Siyang had never played in an official match.

Shu Chen might be a veteran player but he had been on the bench for a long time and hadn’t played in almost two years. Qin Xueyao had always been in the B-grade League and the intensity of the B-grade League definitely couldn’t be compared with international competitions.

Therefore, Jiang Shaoyu was bringing a team with ‘zero experience’ to the Asian Championship. This was very risky. In addition to the performance during the competition, he needed to pay close attention to the players’ psychological state and ability to withstand pressure.

Regardless of the outcome, he would let them accumulate some competition experience and hone their mental quality to be ready for the World Series at the end of the year.

Jiang Shaoyu convened a meeting of the players and announced the three sets of lineups discussed and decided by the coaching staff.

Pei Feng + Xiao Gui’s double sniper kite flow, Shi Xiaobin + Shu Chen’s double medic consumption flow and Shi Xiaobin’s charger and Shu Chen’s melee breakthrough flow.

Gui Siyang was very excited when he heard that he could play. “C-Can I also go to the Asian Championship? But I’m not a player of the national team, am I?”

Jiang Shaoyu said, “Why not? You are the captain of our Chinese youth training team. This year, you will go to play with the national team first. Once next year comes and there are a few more youth trainees, you can lead the team independently. On South Korea’s side, if there is no accident, they will also be sending their youth training team to participate in the Asian Championship.”

Gui Siyang nodded excitedly. “Okay!”

Jiang Shaoyu looked at Pei Feng. “Xiao Pei, you are in charge of command. Is there a problem?”

Pei Feng confidently replied, “No problem!”

Jiang Shaoyu glanced at everyone. “Starting today, the players of the national team will continue doing basic training every afternoon. Qin Bo has updated the map library and added these nine Asian Championship maps. Be sure to become familiar with it. The training match is played from 7 o’clock to midnight. You have to study the playing style for each map.”

In the following time, the national team entered an intensive training period.

In the Life and Death Explosion mode, they had to determine who would carry the explosives package, who would lure the enemy away, how to break through when they were the bandits and how to defend when they were the police. The commander had to give clear instructions in time.

For Endless Bloody Battle mode, they had to know how to fight each wave of team battle and how to adjust when losing a small game. This also tested the ability of the commander.

Not to mention, the Extreme Duel mode was one where 50 heads determined the winner or loser. It was more intense than any other mode. In the case of a tight score, they had to pay attention or they might be overtaken by the opponent.

It could be imagined how important the command was.

Jiang Shaoyu discovered that Pei Feng’s tactical awareness was indeed very good. If there was no Pei Feng at this Asian Championship, the Chinese team would have no chance of winning a prize. However, Jiang Shaoyu was a bit more confident with Xiao Pei around.

After all, the thinking of the commander was clear and flexible. This greatly improved the combat capabilities of the entire team.

During the time when they were in ACE, Jiang Shaoyu had personally cultivated his apprentice’s tactical awareness. Pei Feng was still not at the level of his master in the past but he had learned a lot from his master.

This Asian Championship was also a ‘touchstone’ for him.

After a week of continuous training, several members of the sparring team were also very stressed. They experienced the ‘nightmare training intensity’ for the first time!

Xiao Yezi asked Hua Ran privately, “My master said that the players of the national team have to write a self-criticism if they perform too badly. He left me a box of them as an inheritance. Is this true?”

Hua Ran was mysterious when he replied. “It is naturally fake. Coach Jiang is a very gentle person and the national team is simply heaven! Next year, try to make it to the national team and you will know.”

Xiao Yezi scratched his head in confusion. “…Is that so?”

He always felt that something was wrong. Who was deceiving him?

In the blink of an eye, it was July 18th, Pei Feng’s birthday.

When Xiao Pei celebrated his birthday at ACE, Jiang Shaoyu had prepared a gift for him. It was a small model of the Balot firearm to encourage his little apprentice to practice the gun well. This time, he didn’t prepare a gift for his apprentice.

Previously, he didn’t give anything when Hua Ran and Xia Li celebrated their birthdays. If he just gave it to Pei Feng then the players of the national team might have opinions, as if he favored Pei Feng.

The two of them were originally master and apprentice and he made Pei Feng the captain, which caused controversy among the netizens. It was better to avoid such ‘preference’ as much as possible.

But at midnight on the 18th, Jiang Shaoyu sent a message to Pei Feng on time. “Happy birthday.”

Pei Feng’s mood immediately improved after he received the message and he replied, “Master has been so busy recently but you still remember to send me the blessing at midnight sharp. I am so happy~~”

Jiang Shaoyu saw the familiar waves and the corners of his mouth slightly curved up. “I didn’t prepare a gift for you separately this time. I’m afraid that other players will have opinions.”

“I will send a birthday red envelope.”

Jiang Shaoyu sent a red envelope. The amount was 666 yuan and it was a very auspicious number.

Pei Feng opened it and accepted it. “Thank you, Master~”

Jiang Shaoyu said, “I will give everyone a break tomorrow night. Have you booked a place to eat?”

“It is already booked. It is the private restaurant opposite the national team and we can directly walk over. I didn’t book a place that was too expensive out of fear that others would say that our national team was extravagant and wasteful.”

Xiao Pei was still very thoughtful when doing things. Jiang Shaoyu felt relieved and said, “Don’t buy a cake. I’ll order it for you. I have already placed an order.”

“Okay!”

Jiang Shaoyu: “Go to bed early.”

“Yes, Master. Good night~”

On the afternoon of the 18th when everyone finished training, Jiang Shaoyu took the initiative to say, “You have practiced for a week. Everyone has worked hard and you can have tonight off.” He looked at Pei Feng. “Today is Pei Feng’s birthday. Happy birthday.”

Everyone in the training room finally reacted and applauded. “Happy birthday!”

Pei Feng smiled. “Thank you. I will invite everyone to dinner tonight.”

The streamer Fred’s Weibo also had an official birthday announcement. Fans knew that today was his birthday and all sent various congratulatory messages. “Happy birthday, Fred!”

“Congratulations to Fred on becoming one year older.”

“Isn’t there going to be a live stream tonight? You haven’t streamed live in a long time. Have you forgotten that you are a streamer?”

“Fred said: I am now the captain of the national team and streamer is just a side job [dog head.jpg].”

“I saved up a bunch of votes for you. But how long has it been since you disappeared?”

Pei Feng saw many fans complaining that he hadn’t started a live stream so he sent an announcement: Thank you for the birthday wishes. I have been training in the national team recently and I’m relatively busy. I temporarily won’t open the live stream. Everyone doesn’t have to give gifts to me. I have received your heart. Thank you very much. [Bow.jpg].

The other players who weren’t with the national team also forwarded the Weibo post.

Liu Shaozhou: “Happy life! I am half a year older than you [smile.jpg].”

Ye Qingming: “Can you leave a piece of the cake for me? Keep it frozen in the freezer for me to come back and I can eat it as ice cream.”

Lao Lin: Happy birthday! Here is a red envelope.”

Even Mo Hantian and Xia Li forwarded it and gave their blessings.

Netizens saw this scene and found that the relationship between the players of the national team seemed quite harmonious. Not long ago, Xia Li and Hua Ran celebrated their birthday together and now it was Pei Feng’s birthday.

Some netizens discovered a key point. “Fred’s birthday is July 18th so he is a Cancer? I heard that alpha Cancers are particularly gentle and very good at taking care of people. Is this true?”

Someone left a reply: Cancer and Scorpio are a perfect match! One is gentle and one is cold. Is there a Scorpio in the national team?”

“I checked the information of the players of this national team. There is no Scorpio.”’

“God Wing seems to be a Scorpio.”

This comment stunned netizens.

God Wing? His cold and serious appearance was indeed in line with the characteristics of a ‘Scorpio.’

A Cancer and a Scorpio were a perfect match but… Pei Feng and his master? Why was it a bit scary to think about?

If Xiao Pei dared to be disrespectful to his master, would he be punished to kneel on his keyboard by his master?

At this time, in a small group called ‘ACE’s Retirement and Pension Fans’, someone found very important information. “What was the room number of Xiao Pei’s live stream room on the Xing Network? 1024, right?”

“Yes, he is 1024 on Xing Network. After jumping ship to Little Bear, his live stream room is still 1024. Big streamers can choose their own room number.”

“His live stream room number is the birthday of God Wing? F*k! What did I find?!”

“Fred has always been God Wing’s number one brainless fan. He regards his master’s birthday as the number of his live stream room… absolutely. If fans treat him like this then I am really touched.”

“Why do I suddenly want to ship this pair of master and apprentice? Wake me up.”

“I… I also kind of want to ship it? A cold demon king master and a loyal dog apprentice who worships him?”

“It is fine to ship it secretly but don’t mention it on the public platforms. You will be shot in the head by God Wing. [Light a candle.jpg.].”

“[Frightened.jpg].”

For other e-sports CP fans, they dared to build a super talk and send all sorts of jokes and fanart so everyone could eat sugar together.

However, the ‘Master and Apprentice’ CP fans didn’t dare to do this. After all, Wing’s aura was too strong and with his temper… he wouldn’t be tempted by anyone, right?