Chapter 41: danking: I was totally confused at the time

"Who do I support in the Gambit vs. Grayhound match? I definitely support Gambit, of course! Who would like Grayhound?" danking said to the viewers on his phone. "First, these Australians love to yell; second, Gambit has a god! That top-tier economic HE Grenade—do you understand the gold content of dosia?"

"That HE Grenade from the god is of a level that will go down in history, but this Gambit's strength isn't ridiculously strong either. Once Zeus left, their strength declined quite severely." Sitting in the stands, Xu Beifang watched the Red Bear, who were currently in a fierce battle with Grayhound on the big screen, and muttered.

"So you think Grayhound will win?" danking's voice came over.

"Not at all, Gambit can still win."

Although Grayhound was temporarily in the lead, he didn't think this Australian team could threaten Gambit.

Although this team, Gambit, didn't have many fans, they were, after all, the team that won the 2017 Krakow Major Champion, a strong team of Major Champion caliber.

Now, they were only missing the departed Zeus from their full Major roster.

But to be in a grueling battle while playing against a world-ranked 39th Australian team like this was somewhat sigh-inducing.

Today was already the second day of the IEM Shanghai main event. Xu Beifang and danking, sitting in the front row of the stands, fully felt the enthusiasm of the Huaxia audience and the charm of offline tournaments.

They were incredibly expectant for every spectacular kill on stage; the two of them, sitting in front of the stands, could hear the audience's gasps every single time.

"Tell me, when will we be able to stand on that stage?" danking listened to the cheers of the audience in his ears, his mind filled with thoughts of his own dazzling, eye-catching moments on stage.

"……Soon."

Xu Beifang didn't know the answer either, because he hadn't been able to play until now.

On the first day of the IEM main event, VP's opponent was HellRaisers, also from the CIS region.

This team was jokingly called HR by netizens, but it also had another title—the CIS talent cultivation base.

This obscure team had cultivated a series of talents such as Da Jin Ya, Markeloff, the god, s1mple, AdreN, woxic, Hobbit, Wang Defa, and so on.

Even now, nearly half of the teammates in Gambit had come out of HR.

But it had one shortcoming: it couldn't keep its talent.

HR's characteristics were somewhat similar to Europe's mouz; the talent they cultivated would always fall into the arms of other strong teams.

For VP, this was a decent result, because among all the teams, HR's strength was also in the relatively weaker batch.

Xu Beifang wasn't called to play on the first day; Coach chose to let the old lineup play first, wanting to get a good start so the newcomer wouldn't be under too much pressure.

The final map was confirmed as Cache, and after a round of fierce fighting between the two sides.

VP lost with a score of 12-16 and entered the lower bracket.

The old VP members actually performed quite well on this Cache; michu got 26 kills in this match, which was 3 more than the opponent's top player.

Coach, acting as the in-game leader, also got 22 kills, which could be considered "old but still sharp."

byali and neo got 20 and 15 kills respectively, which wasn't too bad either.

The problem lay with morelz; this Cache match lasted a total of 28 rounds, yet he only got 8 kills, and his Average Damage per Round was only 36, which was truly too ridiculous.

He directly turned into Pyke, dragging the entire VP team down with him.

Xu Beifang didn't receive notice on the first day, so while everyone went to prepare for the match, he and danking enjoyed the atmosphere of the offline tournament Under Platform.

After VP lost their first-day match, Xu Beifang actually began to feel a faint sense of expectation in his heart, because with morelz's state, plus the fact that Coach had promised him playing time, he began to prepare fully.

But Coach never called him to play, so he could only continue to be "brothers in misery" with danking, doing outdoor livestreams.

The idea of starting the livestream was brought up by him, and it wasn't because he missed the friends in the chat room.

It was because this guy danking could talk too much!

Sitting next to him watching the match, his little mouth would blabber on non-stop; he couldn't even hear Ma Xixi's commentary clearly.

So when the first day ended, he came up with this idea to let danking do an outdoor livestream.

He let the fans in his livestream room endure the torment of "Egg," while he happily enjoyed watching the match in peace.

The match between Gambit and Grayhound finally reached a conclusion, and it was basically consistent with his judgment; although Gambit's level had declined severely, they weren't someone Grayhound could bully.

"Who do you think will win the next match between your Coach and 5power?" danking asked him from the side again. He actually wanted to say VP could win, but the strength VP showed yesterday was indeed a bit too lackluster.

Xu Beifang smiled upon hearing this: "That's definitely supporting my Coach; I'm not familiar with 5power anyway."

Saying he wasn't familiar with them, but in fact, he did know one of the people in 5power.

That was qka, whose real name was Fu Zhihai.

At the current stage, 5power was still somewhat famous in the domestic CS: GO scene; after all, there were only so many teams in the country.

danking replied casually: "Then I'll support 5power. Beifang, want to bet a Butterfly Knife?"

"Sure!" Xu Beifang agreed casually. After signing with VP, his weekly salary was around 400 Euros, so he could afford a Butterfly Knife.

While chatting, the phone rang. Xu Beifang took a look; it was Coach calling.

"What's wrong, Coach?"

"Where are you? We're about to prepare to go on stage here, come to the backstage quickly."

Xu Beifang replied in Polish: "I'm playing today? I'm still watching the match."

"What else? He put up another 8/21 today?" Coach's voice was a bit irritable; clearly, morelz's performance in yesterday's match didn't satisfy him. "Just walk to the stage from the side, otherwise there won't be enough time. Your peripherals have already been brought for you."

"I'm coming over right now."

As Xu Beifang said this, he suddenly stood up.

"What's wrong? Going to the Toilet again?" danking chuckled, "Didn't you just go 10 minutes ago? Beifang, your body really isn't up to it."

Xu Beifang pointed to the stage: "Coach is calling me to go on stage."

"Stop kidding." danking smiled, then with an "I understand" expression, he began to play along with Xu Beifang's performance, "Go on, go on, you must win!"

That bird language just now sounded just like the real thing.

Xu Beifang was getting a bit anxious; he directly took off the custom Jersey of danking's that he was wearing, revealing the VP Jersey underneath and the staff badge hanging around his neck: "No more chatting with you, otherwise Coach is going to lose his temper in a moment. I can't handle those sandbag-sized fists of his."

Handing the Tyloo Jersey to danking, Xu Beifang ran directly from the player tunnel nearby toward the stage.

danking felt that Xu Beifang had the potential to be a stand-up comedian because his dad jokes were all too clumsy.

"Making it sound just like the real thing," danking said to the viewers in the livestream, "Going to the Toilet is just going to the Toilet, what's this about him playing? He even specifically took off my Jersey. I wouldn't say anything if you supported VP, but playing in a match? There's Coach's name on the back!"

【Exactly, exactly, who doesn't know that.】

【Never expected that the usually quiet Xu Beifang had this side to him.】

【How is going to the Toilet not a competition!! (Angry)】

【It is fantasy time now!!】

The livestream chat was filled with a cheerful atmosphere.

"Hey!! How did that guy next to you run up onto the stage?"

A passerby sitting next to danking tapped him on the shoulder and asked him with some curiosity.

Hearing this, danking also looked over: "What is Xu Beifang doing? He doesn't actually think the Performance Match has started, does he!"

"It's over, he's going to make a fool of himself now."

Just as danking was confused, the voice of the commentator came out from the huge speakers at the venue:

"Oh—VP has chosen to let a substitute play in today's match. The substitute is nice, a 22-year-old player from our Huaxia. There are no previous records for him, so we can look forward to their performance in this match."

As the official commentator, Ma Xixi's voice was incomparably clear; every word reached danking's ears, and also reached the ears of the countless viewers in the livestream.

He seemed to say nice, right...

Standing at the Under Platform, danking rubbed his head, staring at Xu Beifang who had appeared on the stage—dumbfounded!

The livestream room belonging to Xu Beifang in front of him also, in the span of just a few minutes... completely exploded!!

The next chapter is still being written, I will post it directly in a while.

(End of this chapter)