Chapter 15: Soft Rice Tastes Best When Eaten Hard!

Jiang Ming fell into brief thought.

To be honest, even if YY had not offered such conditions, he would still have undertaken the mission to reach the top of the national server for the sake of the team and the online store; the only difference would be whether a live-streaming platform prefix served as an advertisement slot.

The reason the other party was so eager to approach him and offer exceptionally generous conditions also lay in the fact that a certain Shark Platform next door was making similar preparations.

Had it been an ordinary person, they would likely have agreed immediately, but Jiang Ming, who possessed an information advantage and knew the neighbor had the same intention, would certainly not be satisfied with this.

"Brother Xu, allow me to consider it."

"Consider? No, what is there to consider? It's just a matter of changing an ID, or do you feel the conditions are not enough..."

"It's different. Before, I was all alone; now I have a team and an additional identity."

He only considered it, without discussing whether the other party's conditions were good or bad.

Xu Tao suddenly froze; regarding the matter of running a professional team, the platform was naturally aware.

He recalled that in the pre-season qualification list issued by the LPL organizers, the NXG team founded by JM had already secured a professional league spot with four consecutive wins.

Hiss... this is a bit troublesome now.

If the conditions just offered were for a major streamer, they were undoubtedly full of sincerity.

But if this major streamer with his own traffic was also the leader of a professional team, then the value of the two was entirely different.

One must know that the WE team was currently streaming on their channel 90001.

"Do you have an interest in hearing my thoughts?"

"Thoughts?"

"..."

There was actually another reason Jiang Ming had the confidence to negotiate conditions with the platform.

That was the hundred thousand genuine LOL fans he had accumulated over the past year through streaming and tutorial videos; this was a qualitative distinction between him and ordinary Challenger players.

For an ordinary player to reach the top of the national server, the promotion would still require YY to spend money and conduct extra operations.

In contrast, here with Jiang Ming, not only would YY not need to allocate much extra promotional investment, but he could also provide a certain degree of feedback.

Stream while playing ranked matches, or even after the match ends, edit two videos; I have already thought of the titles for YY: "XX Live JM—National Server Top Series." Ask yourself, which one has a better effect for promotion and attracting new players' attention?

Xu Tao fell silent for a while, also realizing where JM's confidence to negotiate conditions lay.

"Wait a few hours for me; we will give you satisfactory conditions."

"Your NXG team has already obtained a professional league spot, right? You probably don't have a live-streaming platform's sponsorship and naming rights yet; YY is also interested in this aspect."

Dealing with smart people is simply refreshing.

Jiang Ming's smile grew even brighter; this was precisely the sentence he had been waiting for. Sponsorship and naming rights—things begged for are not only base, but they also easily interfere with the team itself.

When you demonstrate your due value, not only will you be completely insulated from classic arrogant face-slapping plots where the person in charge flies into a rage because you negotiate conditions and says, "Just you wait, you'll regret it," but various resources will also come to you automatically.

The famous philosopher Mr. Cao Dahua once said, soft rice tastes best when eaten hard.

After hanging up the phone and knowing the other party should be convening a meeting to discuss the specific conditions for the platform's sponsorship of the national server topping event, Jiang Ming thought for a moment and quickly opened his computer.

He logged into the LOL client and opened YY Live.

While the live-streaming platform people were discussing, he still needed to administer another strong dose of medicine to the other party.

The phone call had lasted over an hour; by now, it had crossed the midnight timeline, and the LOL rank update was just being implemented; it was a good time to turn on the stream and play ranked matches.

While waiting for the client to update, Jiang Ming hurriedly ran to the fan group and a certain Weibo to post a notification about going live.

JM-A Ming @ All Members: "Ahem, something small unexpected happened today; I'm rising from the dead to make up my streaming hours for everyone."

A Zhen: "???"

"The missing person has returned."

"Who is this? Playing a high-imitation account? Isn't today Dog Ming's class time?"

"No way, bro, I just came out of the internet cafe, and you're pulling this stunt on me."

Don't be afraid to crush me to death: "Haha, I said that since LOL updated the rank mechanism today, he might go live; you guys didn't believe me. Quick, quick, quick, those who lost the bet, pay me for tonight's all-nighter internet fees."

"Oh ho, A Ming, charge, charge, charge! This first Challenger title must be taken."

"What's the first Challenger? It must be topping the national server."

"Old Ming, you deserve to die a thousand deaths. Since you updated the video on the Shadow Fists, a huge number of ninja dogs and child Zed have appeared in ranked matches to ruin things."

Looking at the replies in the group, Jiang Ming, who was fiddling with the streaming software, felt somewhat awkward.

There was no way; this truly wasn't his fault. Who could blame League players for having no resistance to heroes capable of flashy plays? This was just child Zed; once the Light Speed QA tutorial video was released and that man like the wind went online...

Yu Weiwen, the daycare center, hereby applies to join the child Zed team!

A few minutes later, the complicated live-streaming preparations were finally done; unlike the foolproof one-click go-live of the previous life, live streaming in 2013 was truly a tedious affair.

"Rank Update, Give Me a Chance to Top the National Server as a Challenger?"

Jiang Ming adjusted the camera so his upper body could appear completely in the lens, especially the footage capturing his right hand on the mouse.

He did not have much energy to argue with some people with ulterior motives about whether the number one on the national server was a booster.

"Play the game with your brain, and ranking up is very easy!"

"Hello everyone, this is JM-A Ming's live room, featuring new heroes and new understandings!"

Live streaming often requires a very clear style positioning; Jiang Ming designed his as a typical high-rank player plus a didactic educational stream, supplemented by some catchphrases from the future that easily brought players joy, which could often attract players of a wide skill range.

As soon as the stream started, a huge number of viewers flooded into the room; some jumped over from the fan group, some found it by scrolling Weibo, and many more were players preparing to spend the night in internet cafes fighting for a standout rank.

However, with the top experts on the national server ladder going live, everyone was willing to waste a little time to see which rank they were assigned to.

Thanks to the spread of tutorial videos and the online store adhering to the philosophy of selling genuine goods, Jiang Ming's reputation and popularity among the general public were very good, and there were few black hat trolls in the bullet comments.

【Brother Ming, Brother Ming, hurry and let the brothers see your rank.】

【Exactly, exactly. Before, your ladder score seemed to reach 2400; this should be directly Challenger!】

Seeing the request in the bullet comments, Jiang Ming made no excessive moves and simply jumped the client page to the personal profile section.

The original ladder rank differentiation instantly scattered into a burst of dazzling light, with brilliant blue-white energy condensing in the center.

The system popped up a line of text: "LOL Ranked System has been updated. Based on your previous ladder score, your placement for the new season is—Diamond 2 (0 LP)."