Chapter 108

"Then why did you decide so suddenly, without even telling us." Xu Nanfang said with a frown, "And can this thing really earn money?"

He had understood CS 1.6 in the past and heard that those players all spent their nights in internet cafes, and even instant noodles were a luxury for meals, so he couldn't help but feel some worry.

"Brother, this belongs to your information blind spot." Xu Beifang explained, "Professional players who play well now actually earn a lot of money. My current weekly salary is 400 Euros."

"400 Euros!" Xu Nanfang was somewhat surprised, "Is playing professionally so profitable now?"

Xu Beifang continued to add to the bottom line: "And for IEM Shanghai, my prize money was about 8,000 USD. This time, winning the championship in Hong Kong, I can get a share of 40,000 USD later."

"So much!!" Both Xu Nanfang and Wang Xiaoya were surprised by the content on the other end of the phone.

They weren't underage students; they had officially started working and knew how difficult it was to earn money.

Xu Nanfang, as a third mate on a near-ocean ship, only earned less than 2,500 USD per month now.

In other words, the money his younger brother earned playing in the tournament this summer vacation was equivalent to him sailing for 20 months!

And although being a sailor was relatively hard, it was also an industry that was inherently quite profitable.

It was just that, relatively speaking, sailing in various countries also involved very high expenses.

"Then the uncle is very amazing." Wang Xiaoya said.

She herself had opened a small flower shop in Suzhou, and when business was good, the profit was only about five or six thousand a month.

She understood even better how exaggerated it was for an ordinary person to earn 50,000 USD in one summer vacation; roughly calculating, it should be about 350,000 to 360,000 yuan.

For a moment, both of them fell into a state of shock, not yet having woken up from the change in their younger brother's status.

"Brother, I can't go to Taizhou Port this time. Tomorrow I have to go to London with the team for training, and then prepare to play in the Major. You help me explain it to Mom and Dad."

His older brother's mindset was relatively young, and saying he would beat him up was just talk.

But if this matter wasn't explained clearly, his dad would really take action.

"Flying to England?" Xu Nanfang was somewhat disappointed; it seemed the watch couldn't be given away this time.

The two chatted for a while longer. Xu Nanfang knew that his younger brother could earn money in this profession, and knowing that he had only suspended his studies, he chose to respect Xu Beifang's choice.

He just urged him for a long time to pay attention to safety while abroad, not to get into conflicts with others, and to take the initiative to seek help from the local embassy if he encountered something he couldn't solve.

"You have to work hard yourself too! You're playing in front of so many people, show off the style of the Xu family!!"

Xu Beifang nodded with a smile.

Now he was in a state of pure joy.

The next morning, his dad called to lecture him, but with his older brother acting as a buffer, he didn't criticize him too harshly.

Xu Beifang also had his older brother help him handle the suspension procedures at school; he had already cleared it with his counselor.

The counselor was very supportive; after all, he had solved an employment issue before even graduating, and even the fact that Xu Beifang had just won the ZOTAC Cup championship could become one of his achievements.

Could there be more students like this?

Carrying the blessings of his counselor and family.

Xu Beifang accompanied the team and officially embarked on the journey to the London Major.

……

There were direct flights from Hong Kong to London, so they didn't need to make a special transfer halfway.

"Young man, first time going abroad, are you nervous?" Before the plane took off, Xiaogui, who was sitting in the back row, patted Xu Beifang on the shoulder.

Because of the connection with Xu Beifang, after inquiring with Tyloo, they had purchased tickets for the same flight to travel together, so at least they could look out for each other.

"Still a little bit."

Xu Beifang didn't hide his inner emotions and nodded in reply.

"It's fine, flying feels the same as going from the mainland to Hong Kong, it's no big deal." Mo comforted Xu Beifang from the side.

Although they weren't members of the same team, their relationship was quite good.

Previously, when Xu Beifang won the ZOTAC Cup, all the Tyloo players had sent him their congratulations.

"Everyone has a first time, but you'll get used to it after flying a few more times." Mo said with the attitude of someone who had been there, "The CS: GO profession is like this; because there is no league system, most tournaments are cup-based, requiring us to travel all over the world for offline competitions."

"But look on the bright side, we can travel for free in various places." Mo moved his leg, which had just recovered, slightly, "Of course, the premise is to get the visa sorted out."

Hearing this, Xu Beifang smiled, then felt it wasn't quite right and hurriedly restrained himself.

But this way, the nervous feeling in his heart was indeed reduced a little.

"It's just that we have to deal with jet lag later! This thing is really annoying!" DD complained from the side.

Jet lag was a painful journey for most players, and this time they didn't have much time left.

The flight on the 31st would arrive in London on the afternoon of the 1st.

Then the tournament would officially start on the 5th. Before that, they had to adjust their jet lag and then enter training mode.

This was definitely not a result a normal person would want.

Moreover, jet lag wasn't just simple fatigue; the pressure of the tournament combined with the player's poor condition could very likely lead to physical problems, with fever or colds being the norm.

Xu Beifang hadn't experienced jet lag yet; although he had experience sailing domestically, the speed difference between a ship and a plane was still very large.

"Little buddy, let me interview you, first time participating in a Major, how do you feel right now?" Xiaogui made his right hand into a microphone shape and placed it in front of Xu Beifang's chin.

"It's okay, I took a look at the players in the qualifiers, I can only say it's difficult, but not particularly so." Xu Beifang replied based on his recent performance.

DD gave a thumbs up: "Young hero, great ambition! It seems you intend to crush it on your first Major participation."

"You think everyone is Douqiang Ge, right." Xu Beifang also smiled and retorted.

DD didn't mind.

However, compared to VP, their pressure was greater.

Although they were the 11th-ranked team in the world, their performance in the last two tournaments had not been good.

This was due to both form and coordination issues.

But since IEM Shanghai, Tyloo had actually been getting better.

The three Chinese players inside were all actively learning English, and the two Indonesians were also actively learning Chinese.

This was the result after disputes, and also a result that everyone in Tyloo was relatively accepting of.

In the following month, they set aside a certain amount of time every day to learn English.

Tyloo was quite accommodating to their needs, even specifically hiring an English teacher to give them lessons, and now the team's overall communication was much smoother.

Seeing the changes in the team, although learning was very painful, they still gritted their teeth and persisted.

They could only hope to achieve a good result in the upcoming Major.

……

The cabin doors began to close, and under the flight attendant's prompt, they stopped chatting and began waiting for the plane to take off.

After a slight bump, things returned to stability.

He admired the scenery from ten thousand meters in the air for a while; this was still quite rare in daily life.

However, after watching for a while, the scenery was all the same, and it didn't seem so rare anymore.

The taste of the airplane meal wasn't very good, but looking at the flight attendant's slender and fleshy long legs not far away, the meal suddenly tasted much better.

After eating, the bored Xu Beifang began to enter the 【Instance-Unlimited Deathmatch Space】, working hard in a place where no one noticed.

After a fifteen-hour long-distance journey, they finally reached their destination—London!

Tyloo and the others got off the plane and gathered together, then Kuben began to contact the tournament organizer, and soon they met up with a middle-aged man with thinning hair.

After a brief introduction, the tournament staff took them onto a bus and began driving to the hotel provided by the tournament group.

"In the next few days, there will be no extra activities for the Major. Only on September 5th, the day we officially start the qualifiers. After the qualifiers end, if you can enter the group stage, there will be an opportunity to shoot a promotional video, and everyone will be notified additionally at that time."

This staff member explained the subsequent schedule to the players on the bus in English.

Then he took out a handful of tournament passes from a bag he brought with him and distributed them one by one.

"Next, to prevent fans from mixing into the hotel, this hotel has been directly booked out. Whether entering or leaving the hotel or the venue, you need a pass. No one will be let in without a pass, okay?" the middle-aged bald staff member reminded.

Student Xu Beifang raised his hand to ask: "Then what if we forget to bring the pass, or if the pass is lost outside?"

Even with reminders, losing items was a very normal thing.

"Find your coach or team leader, or find staff to help verify it. You all have your own photos on HLTV, which can prove this point."

Everyone realized this was true; as long as you could prove you were a professional player, and whether it was in the hotel or the venue, the staff could bring you in.

"The hotel we provide is equipped with a training room, a buffet restaurant, and a gym..." Speaking of this, he looked at a certain muscle-bound man, "I heard your tournament performance depends on the level of the nearby gym? Then it looks like VP is going to explode with performance this time!"

Pasha's eyes clearly lit up. For a fitness fanatic, whether there was a good gym was very decisive for his mindset.

A good mindset was of great help to his performance.

Others hearing this information were also in a very good mood.

The tournament group provided accommodation, training, food, and even entertainment and fitness; this one hotel basically solved all their problems during the competition.

"It seems that in the next few days, besides buying some toiletries, we won't even need to leave the hotel." Xu Beifang laughed.

The bus drove slowly through the streets of London, looking at the blonde-haired, blue-eyed, and often balding people around, which finally gave him some feeling of being in a foreign land.

As they drove all the way to the hotel entrance, they also saw some scattered fans.

They were wearing the jerseys of teams like FaZe, NaVi, and NiP, clearly having known the news in advance and coming here to wait.

It could only be said that as expected of CS: GO players, their information judgment was powerful, knowing that they could catch players here in advance, and if they were lucky, they could get an autograph or a photo.

It was much more practical than the crowded media day.

The VP group also saw one of their fans.

Even Tyloo had a foreign fan.

Players wearing other teams' jerseys also walked over, and there was even a guy wearing a G2 jersey who said to Pasha: "I'm a VP fan."

Xu Beifang held back his laughter but still took a group photo with these passersby.

The passersby left satisfied, and the middle-aged person in charge with thinning hair led them to handle the hotel check-in procedures.

After check-in, the middle-aged person in charge called over another younger staff member, signaling him to take the Tyloo group to familiarize themselves with the area.

He himself led the VP group into the elevator: "The first floor is the reception hall, the second floor is our buffet restaurant, everyone's daily meals can be solved here."

"The third and fourth floors are the rest areas for our staff, the fourth floor is the rest area for media personnel, and the fifth and sixth floors are your own housing areas."

"As for the sixth and seventh floors, they are the training areas for the 16 teams. At the beginning of the qualifier period, you will all be using them."

"But later, if you are eliminated, this training room will have to be used by others."

This point was a bit cruel, but in reality, there wasn't much of a problem.

After all, if you were eliminated, what the hell are you training for!

You're already heading to the airport for the next stop, just be a good spectator, feel the atmosphere of the Major, what else is there to train for.

Arriving at the sixth floor, Xu Beifang followed the main group out and walked all the way to the fifth room on the right.

The person in charge took out a VP sticky note from his small bag, stuck it on the door, and took out a room card to open the door.

"This is your training room for the next few days. You can try to see if there are any problems with the equipment later. If there are, give us feedback in time."

"However, we have already debugged it before, so there shouldn't be any problems."

The VP group all entered the battle room. The overall space was large, with a total of six computers, a projector, a tactical blackboard, and even mousepads with the 7 active CS: GO maps on the desktop.

The space was not small, and the equipment was complete, making the VP group quite satisfied.

They opened their computers one by one and began to debug their equipment.

"Then you guys organize here first, Kuben, you have my contact information, call me if there are any problems!"

The FACEIT platform was preparing for this level of large-scale event for the first time. As one of the liaisons with the teams, the middle-aged bald man's work was not easy.

After confirming there were no problems, he handed the room card to Kuben and left quietly.

The VP group also connected their equipment to the computers. Most people's equipment had no problems, only MiChu's headset somehow had static noise, and the group discussed buying a similar one nearby later.

They didn't start training directly but agreed to go out and start buying daily necessities.

Amidst these trivial matters, they gradually prepared themselves to enter the Major in their hearts.

Monthly tickets have reached 2400, one more chapter.

And the site currency have also accumulated to 20,000 today, 2 chapters.

Because there are many people who tipped, I won't list them one by one here. Coffee really doesn't have that much time right now, I will pull them out to thank them when I have time.

Really sorry.

This is the final transition of this chapter, tomorrow we will start entering the tournament directly.

(End of chapter)