Chapter 22: The New Analyst

After training ended, the two returned to the dormitory.

Lao Zhang, who had been holding it in for several hours, closed the door and eagerly said:

"Hey brother, surely the level here isn't just this, right?"

"Pretty much."

Liang Yan opened the wardrobe, took out a set of clean clothes, and got ready to take a shower.

While answering Lao Zhang's question:

"I haven't run into any strong teams here yet; they might be a bit better, but these mid‑ and low‑tier teams really are just at this level.

"Overall, this region's average level is about the same as our LSPL; the bottom‑ranked teams might be even weaker, roughly comparable to the TGA finals.

"Think back when Tianci dominated North America—you'll get it. Europe is slightly stronger than North America, but actually they're pretty similar."

"But we don't need to worry about that. When we have scrims, we play seriously; normally we play more on the Korean server, avoid the European server to prevent getting assimilated.

"Can you even play with such high latency?"

"You just get used to it.

"In short, just do your own job well.

"There's a match tomorrow; you'll probably play, so get a good rest tonight."

"Huh?"

Liang Yan switched topics a bit quickly, and Lao Zhang didn't react in time.

No, in fact, even now Lao Zhang still didn't truly feel that he was already a professional player.

Fortunately he's broad‑minded; after washing up and drying his hair, he fell asleep as soon as his head hit the pillow.

Soon after, a faint snore came from the next bed.

He must really be exhausted.

Liang Yan glanced at the air‑conditioner temperature, picked up the remote and lowered the preset by two degrees, then turned off the light, lay down and pulled the covers over himself.

I probably won't get a chance to play tomorrow.

But I don't know if I can go over and have a look; talking to Ka Lao Si should be fine, right?

With these thoughts running through his mind, Liang Yan also drifted off to sleep quickly.

The night passed in silence.

……

The next morning, a little after eight, Liang Yan and Lao Zhang finished washing up and came to the base cafeteria.

Before even entering, they saw a woman with her back to the door, sitting inside eating breakfast.

From the back she looked like a young Western girl, but not tall; her silhouette seemed petite, she wore a black strappy top, her brown hair tied in twin tails rested on her round, slender shoulders, her skin was pale enough to be striking, yet it wasn't the typical Western pallor—it had a East‑asian rosy hue and was fine and smooth.

Liang Yan and Lao Zhang exchanged a glance.

Over by the office there were also two young women, but they both lived off‑site and usually didn't come here for breakfast.

This girl must be someone directly affiliated with the team, and she's new—Liang Yan has been at G2 for several days already and hasn't seen her before.

As they walked toward the serving counter, passing by the girl they couldn't help but steal a few more glances; once they saw her side profile clearly, they realized she was of mixed heritage.

The girl heard the movement, lifted her head; her dark pupils held a cold glint, her indifferent gaze swept over the two of them, then she lowered her head and kept eating.

Lao Zhang, with his back to the girl, quietly gave a thumbs‑up.

Liang Yan smiled and gave an affirmative hum.

To be honest, the girl's looks are indeed high, striking.

They got their food, sat down, and ate quietly until the girl cleared her tray and left the cafeteria; only then did Lao Zhang dare to speak loudly:

"Is that the analyst Ka Lao Si mentioned the day before?"

"Probably."

"Holy shit, we're in luck!"

Lao Zhang exclaimed, his face full of joy,

"And she's mixed‑blood! I just don't know if she speaks Chinese."

Liang Yan offered no comment.

Based on his first impression of the girl, frankly, although Lao Zhang is also fairly handsome, Liang Yan felt he wouldn't stand a chance.

The girl was too cold.

……

When the two returned to the second‑floor training room, sure enough they saw the girl standing beside Ka Lao Si.

Seeing them enter, Ka Lao Si waved them over:

"Liang, Zhang, come over; let me introduce you to our new teammate."

The two walked over.

"Anna Tang, former coach of the DG Girls Team, has joined us as an assistant coach, responsible for data analysis work.

"Anna, these two are Liang Yan and Zhang Hu; they both come from your grandfather's hometown, China, so you should have plenty to talk about."

Tang Anna gave both of them a slight nod.

Liang Yan and Lao Zhang were both a little surprised.

The girl who looked so young in front of them was actually a coach of the girls' team.

Sensing their doubt, Ka Lao Si laughed and said:

"Don't be too surprised—Anna is only nineteen this year; back in Season 2 she was a bona fide pro player and even reached rank 1 on the European server.

"Then why did she stop playing?"

"Such a strong female player isn't common, so Liang Yan couldn't help but ask curiously."

Tang Anna glanced at him, then shifted her gaze elsewhere.

Ka Lao Si's expression, however, became somewhat subtle:

"Well, if you know enough about esports, you should know that female players always have to endure more difficulties, but this is Anna's private matter; we shouldn't pry too much."

"Sorry."

"It's fine."

That sentence was spoken by Tang Anna in Mandarin, with proper pronunciation and tone.

Liang Yan looked at her in surprise.

She can speak Chinese.

After that, communication became much easier.

After the others entered the training room, Ka Lao Si gave another round of introductions.

AP shouted excitedly:

"Wow! We've got a beautiful analyst! How happy we are, brothers!"

Mithy also said, to Tang Anna's face:

"Goodness, you're really good-looking!"

Tang Anna wasn't angry, which made Lao Zhang stare blankly, feeling that his earlier cautious demeanor made him look like a fool.

Actually, Lao Zhang overthought it.

Complimenting someone's appearance to their face is quite normal in Western social customs.

But AP's monkey-like jumping around and shouting is not normal behavior.

The downstairs second team, having heard from somewhere that the first team had a great beauty, came running up one after another to take a look.

Tang Anna, however, sat down at the workstation Ka Lao Si had arranged, quickly entered work mode, leaving only a slender silhouette for the onlookers by the door.

Ka Lao Si waved his hand to shoo them away:

"Get out! Get out! What's there to see!"

"Do you want to be a starting player for the first team?"

"All of you, get back to training!"

After chasing the second-team spectators back downstairs, Ka Lao Si began arranging the practice matches.

This afternoon they'll officially go onto the battlefield; this morning's few practice matches are specifically for the players to warm up.

The warm-up matches naturally won't be too intense; Ka Lao Si specially invited an average-strength team, ROC, which placed ninth in the spring season.

After a few practice matches, Ka Lao Si had finalized the starting lineup for today's opening match, returned to his workstation, and began editing the announcement.

Liang Yan wasn't on Ka Lao Si's starting lineup, so naturally he had no chance to join the practice matches; as usual, he was goofing off in the ranked games.

Between ranked matches, he unintentionally glanced at Tang Anna's position.

She sat at the computer in the corner, the screen filled with various data windows, looking as if she were making a PowerPoint.

The girl's silhouette was calm and quiet.

Liang Yan suddenly felt that her situation was actually somewhat similar to his own.