CH 78

The coaches of the previous clubs only thought about ‘recommending popular players to the national team to make them seem special.’ Zhu Hong was the first coach who thought about the problem from the perspective of ‘recommending talents’ since Jiang Shaoyu had inspected so many clubs.

The structure of the national team was different from that of the major teams and the format of the World Series was completely different from the domestic A-grade Pro League.

Players like Xia Li could indeed ‘develop their strengths and avoid their weaknesses’ when placed in the national team. She didn’t need to play every game but should be put where she was ‘needed.’

The thing the national team’s coach had to do was reasonably arrange the players of different teams and different styles to form the best lineup.

The overall strength of the last national team wasn’t good. In the first round of the World Series, they played a total of three matches. Xia Li was a substitute and didn’t have a chance to play. She traveled abroad and returned.

Jiang Shaoyu’s impression of the ‘Third Baby’ was a belligerent and hot-tempered female alpha with a straightforward personality, but there was nothing bad about her. She played games without paying enough attention to detail and rushed forward with a big grin. She could sometimes confuse herself on the map.

However, her advantages were obvious—accurate marksmanship and excellent instantaneous reflexes.

Jiang Shaoyu turned around and asked, “Xia Li is the main force on your SN team, right?”

Zhu Hong nodded. “Xia Li was trained by me and we usually make tactics around her. We also have a substitute assaulter called Liu Xiaorong. He has a different style from her but is more stable than her. I will let Liu Xiaorong play when necessary.”

Jiang Shaoyu didn’t say anything else and watched the game seriously.

The players in the training room didn’t know that the national team’s coach was watching and their expressions were relatively relaxed. In this relaxed state of mind, they could better display their own level.

There were many street battles and encounters on this Cross Street map, especially in the blind area of the sniper’s field of view. The melee fighters, the charger, assaulter and scout were often caught off guard by the enemy’s sneak attack or would bump into the opponent head-on.

This was a test of the player’s instant reaction ability.’

The moment they encountered an opponent, they had to immediately make a judgment. Hide or fight? How to fight and how to adjust the angle of shooting?

If a player had slow reflexes during an encounter, they might be killed by the opponent within a few seconds during the hesitation. Or the shot would miss and a rare opponent would be missed.

Xia Li’s encounter ability was indeed excellent.

Several times when she suddenly encountered an opponent without any vision, she could always shoot at the fastest speed and sweep the opponent to death in an instant! If she was detected and attacked, she could run while hiding. She moved quickly, found a nearby bunker and fell back in seconds.

This was a very aggressive player with a passionate and violent style of play.

This game was the Extreme Duel mode and the 1st team led by Xia Li finally won against the 2nd team led by Liu Xiaofei with a score of 50:44. Xia Li was the MVP of the game and got 20 heads. She deserved to be the main output player.

Jiang Shaoyu suggested, “Let’s fight again and change the map.”

Zhu Hong agreed. “Okay, you arrange it.”

Jiang Shaoyu typed with Zhu Hong’s administrator account and said: One more time. It is Extreme Duel mode and the map is Yuehu Park.

The players were puzzled when they saw this.

Someone typed and asked: Coach Zhu, this map of Yuehu Park hasn’t been practiced recently!”

“It is a large map so it is hard to play.”

Jiang Shaoyu said: You won’t fight if you haven’t practiced it? Will the opponent choose the map according to what you have trained in?

Everyone: “…Indeed.”

“Yes, what if YY chooses this map for the match next week?”

Xia Li rolled up her sleeves. “Come on, let’s practice now!”

The team members pressed the ‘ready’ button one after another and Jiang Shaoyu said: Start.

He directly pressed the start button with the referee’s permission. Soon, the map was loaded and both sides appeared at the two respawn points of A and B.

Yuehu Park was a large combat map and the terrain was very complex. There were lakes, jungles, flower beds and various architectural obstacles that could be used to hide behind. The area was more than five times larger than the Cross Street map just now.

Playing the Extreme Duel mode on such a map definitely wouldn’t be a ‘quick victory.’ It would take a long time to search for opponents.

After the game started, the players of the 1st team spread out in formations of 1, 1 and 3. The sniper went to find the enemy sniper, the scout went around the side to find the enemies and the charger, assaulter and medic were together. The 2nd team acted in a group of five and searched the map in a thorough style.

A moment later, the 2nd team searched near the pavilion and happened to see the three people from the 1st team hiding behind a stone.

The two sides launched a fierce 5V3 battle!

Xia Li knew she was outnumbered but she didn’t die in vain. She picked up the assault rifle and fired, killing a front row player in an instant. However, the sniper of the 2nd team was staring at her and killed her with the headshot the moment she appeared.

Before the medic could rescue her, the players of the 2nd team quickly killed the three of them!

In this small battle, the 2nd team made a big profit.

Xia Li hurriedly said, “Resurrect at Point C. Go around and fight a wave!”

After hearing the order, the sniper and scout immediately moved to point C and met up with the three resurrected teams. They surrounded the 2nd team from behind and caught the 2nd team by surprise. The head-to-head ratio instantly changed from 0:3 to 5:3.

The two sides fought very fiercely.

They fought around the artificial lake and chose another resurrection point after death. Then they went around the flower bed to fight from the front.

Gradually, the number of heads of the 1st team was overtaken by the 2nd team. It was from 10:8 to 10:12. Then it was 13:17…

Shortly after Xia Li resurrected several times, she died under the long-range sniper rifle of the two snipers.

Jiang Shaoyu quickly saw the problem—Xia Li couldn’t play on large maps.

Her small-scale encounters were very strong and she could kill immediately when she encountered enemies, but her overall view was very weak. There was no clear thinking in this type of ‘pull battle’ with complex terrain. She was confused when fighting and couldn’t remember the location of the enemies. She didn’t know how to go around. After being caught several times by the snipers of the 2nd team, her rhythm was a bit chaotic.

Her record in the last game: 20 kills, 8 deaths.

Her record in this game: 7 kills, 15 deaths.

It was really ‘sometimes a king, sometimes a bronze.’ The record fluctuated so much that it was like she was a different person!

Jiang Shaoyu finished watching it and said thoughtfully, “Is she a road idiot?”

Zhu Hong smiled and nodded. “You really have sharp eyes. That’s right, Xia Li’s ability to master 3D maps is very poor. The more complex the map, the less she can fight. The simpler the map, the more powerful she is. Her win rate on simple maps such as Winding Corridor, Central Square, Forest Depths and Factory Ruins is more than 80%.”

Jiang Shaoyu and Qi Heng looked at each other. It was common for a ‘road idiot’ player like Xia Li to have a weak map mastery.

Qi Heng was curious. “She is so weak in playing large maps but you still trained her as the main team? Isn’t it troublesome if the opponent chooses a large map against you?”

Zhu Hong replied, “In our SN team, she only needs to play the home map.”

Qi Heng suddenly realized. “Oh! In other words, you choose a small combat map at home and let Xia Li play it. If it is an away game and it is the enemy’s team to choose a map, you will replace her and let Liu Xiaorong play?”

Zhu Hong nodded. “Yes.”

Jiang Shaoyu chuckled. “This strategy isn’t bad.”

Zhu Hong said in a low voice, “Xia Li’s talent for playing encounters on a small map is one of the best in the entire league. As a coach, I can’t ask everyone to be comprehensive and perfect. I can accept her imperfections and put her in the right place so she can play a role.”

Zhu Hong paused and continued, “Last time, the other assaulter of the national team was Zhou Yiran. Coach Jiang should know Xiao Zhou very well, right? He is your old teammate and he is a very comprehensive and stable player. The national team already has Xiao Zhou so I thought that recommending Xia Li might allow her to play in some special tactics. It is a pity…”

Qi Heng sighed. “It is a pity that the coach of the last national team didn’t explore Xia Li’s talent. In addition, the national team only played three matches and Xia Li didn’t even have a chance to play.”

Zhu Hong fell silent. He sent Xia Li to the national team in the hope that Xia Li could grow. Unfortunately, in the last World Series, many players followed the national team abroad and returned after staying for three days. It was like a ‘tourist group.’ Not only did Xia Li fail to play but she was scolded by black fans when she came back.

This year… the coach was changed and perhaps there would be a turnaround?

Zhu Hong looked at Jiang Shaoyu. “Coach Jiang, are you going to decide the members of this national team?”

Jiang Shaoyu nodded. “Yes, I will give everyone a fair chance to compete. Of course, I will also consider the lineup of the national team when deciding the final list.”

Zhou thought about it. “I have compiled some tactical analysis data of the major clubs in the A-grade League which might be helpful for your future tactical formulation. Coach Jiang, I’ll get it for you if you need it.”

Jiang Shaoyu nodded. “I need it very much, thank you.”

Zhu Hong turned around to get the information. This type of ‘tactical information’ was something that was absolutely confidential in major clubs but the national team didn’t participate in the A-grade Pro League. The clubs and the national team didn’t conflict.

In fact, the national team should have detailed information of all players in order to facilitate the selection of talents and arrange the lineup. Zhu Hong was willing to take the initiative to give the data he analyzed. He obviously hoped that the national team could achieve good results.

Qi Heng was deeply moved. “Hey, if only there were more coaches like this in China. If everyone works together to train players and recommend various talents for the national team, do we need to be afraid that we won’t win in the World Series?”

Unfortunately, many coaches forgot their original intention in playing e-sports and followed the hype to attract popularity. They really didn’t deserve to be called ‘coach.’

A moment later, Zhu Hong came over with a stack of materials. All of them were handwritten and contained a lot of schematic diagrams, arrow markings, analysis of positioning routes, etc. They were unpretentious, handwritten materials and each of them were written extremely seriously.

Zhu Hong said, “I made a copy for you. I hope it can help the national team.”

Jiang Shaoyu finally figured out why the match between the ACE team and the Wolf Clan was so difficult in the promotion and relegation match. It was because the Wolf Clan had such a responsible captain.

Even if the team was disbanded and he retired as a player, he still loved e-sports. He was willing to stay in this rotten circle and retain the pure land of the SN team with his own enthusiasm.

A player like Xia Li had no chance to stand out in other teams. Her partiality was so serious and she still wanted to play? Wouldn’t she become the team’s weak point? However, Zhu Hong trained her to be the main assaulter.

He said, ‘As a coach, I can accept the imperfections of the players. I’ll put them where they should be. This is what a coach does!’

After all, players who were excellent in all aspects were a minority.

Players with special styles like Ye Qingming and Hua Ran needed a suitable lineup to match them. Zhu Hong’s philosophy was actually the same as Jiang Shaoyu’s. Let each player maximize their own advantages and the strength of the whole team could be qualitatively improved.

Jiang Shaoyu took the information that was handed over. Then he looked into Zhu Hong’s eyes and suggested very seriously, “Coach Zhu, you are the head coach of SN and you should’ve signed a contract with SN. I can’t just poach you directly. But… would you like to be a tactical advisor for the national team?”

Qi Heng almost slipped when he heard this!

F*k, God Yu, it isn’t enough to take away players from the club for your ‘stamp collecting’ game. You even plan to take away the coach?

Zhu Hong was obviously stunned when he heard this.

What was the situation? Wasn’t the national team patrolling to pick players? In the end, it wasn’t known if Coach Jiang picked a player or not but Coach Jiang fancied him as a coach?

Jiang Shaoyu smiled when he saw that the other person was in a daze and explained, “I can see that you are very experienced in encounters between players and guerrilla warfare on a small map. At present, we have coaching staff in charge of basic training and a coach who is good at long-term combat on large maps. We need a talent like you who is good at guerrilla battles.”

Zhu Hong: “……”

Jiang Shaoyu said, “If you want, once the domestic A-grade League is played, I hope you can accompany the team to the World Series as a tactical consultant. Of course, the national team will also pay you according to the treatment of a tactical consultant. We won’t let you work in vain.”

Zhu Hong was a bit moved when seeing Jiang Shaoyu’s sincere gaze.

The match five years ago was still vivid in his memory. His team was disbanded after being eliminated by ACE. He would be a saint if he said he didn’t have any complaints about Jiang Shaoyu.

Now they met again many years later and they found that their love for e-sports was still the same as before. Past grievances had long been not worth mentioning. For the sake of the national team, Jiang Shaoyu invited him to be an assistant. What reason did he have to refuse?

Zhu Hong smiled and held Jiang Shaoyu’s hand. “Thank you, Coach Jiang, for your appreciation. I am willing to do my best!”

Qi Heng saw this scene and couldn’t help having a sore nose.

These old opponents had fought hard in the arena and had been killed by Jiang Shaoyu many times. Why were they all willing to support Jiang Shaoyu now?

It was because they were all Chinese. They didn’t want to see the national team play badly in the World Series and be ridiculed by the world. It was that simple!