Chapter 51: Welcome to NXG!

His finger hovered over his phone screen, staring at the five crimson trending topics.

Upon learning the terrifying public buzz around NXG, and being overwhelmed by absurd headlines that made his eyes sting, Jiang Ming was startled.

After spending half an hour understanding the full story, his mood swung like a rollercoaster.

His first reaction was naturally joy—the NXG club had become famous; while other esports teams struggled to gain attention, NXG had already achieved nationwide recognition before even entering the professional league.

With this surge of traffic, seventy percent of the development challenges NXG would face next were already solved.

Indeed, when you're at the crest of the tide, even a pig can fly if fortune smiles upon you.

In the past two weeks, he had desperately promoted himself in livestreams, even renaming his year-old JM meat-pastry shop to NXG Team Flagship Store—but results came painfully slow, and he constantly faced audience mockery.

To them, Jiang Ming, a streamer who built his fame on meat-pastry, trying to enter the professional league was like selling his own foundation and digging his own grave.

Back then, wasn’t NXG’s performance already decent?

Now, the same LPL preseason qualifier—Penguin’s silent test broadcast, paired with a bot-like massacre performance, plus netizens’ “accidental” leak of training hours—

In just one night, it propelled NXG’s audience buildup to a level that might have taken Jiang Ming months to achieve.

The tide of the times is terrifying.

But precisely because of this, Jiang Ming felt a growing unease.

With attention levels so high, player expectations for NXG would be pushed to infinity; if they performed poorly in the LPL—even just mediocrity—it would become their team’s disaster.

After all, the Chinese are best at lifting people or things onto a pedestal, then smashing them into the abyss.

A single label—“water army team”—could shatter all of Jiang Ming’s preparations over the past year.

At that point, true ruin would be inevitable.

Yet, for now, NXG’s sudden viral fame before the LPL season began was clearly more beneficial than harmful—if managed well and this windfall was properly absorbed.

Then NXG’s growth rate would skyrocket to the position he desired.

“A standardized image has been unexpectedly launched; many things ahead will now be much easier.”

Scrolling through forums, seeing that one out of every four or five topics related to NXG, Jiang Ming knew he could move faster.

…

Having won the final server domination match and advanced with a perfect six-win record, NXG had performed flawlessly.

To celebrate the team’s qualification for the LPL preseason, Jiang Ming immediately called Deng Yi and asked her to buy fresh lamb from the market for a hotpot dinner to improve team meals.

Oh, don’t ask why beef wasn’t considered as the soul of the hotpot—answer: esports superstition. Better to believe than to doubt.

Jiang Ming believed it was essential to instill a certain impression in his teammates.

That is: during their tenure with NXG, no member shall ever eat beef!

“Alright, boys, pack up—we’re moving.”

Jiang Ming clapped his hands, drawing the attention of his still-seated teammates.

Actually, the team base had already been renovated two days ago and was ready to move into.

But since the final match hadn’t been played yet, and the training room’s network hadn’t been stability-tested, he decided to wait until after the match.

Pang Ran and the others exchanged glances, none of them rising with any flair.

The NXG underground training room, where they’d spent over three months since September, had been endlessly mocked for its conditions—but now, facing departure, these young men suddenly felt a faint reluctance.

The JM meat-pastry cardboard boxes piled in the corner looked absurd; the panda-printed packaging, under the cold fluorescent lights, gleamed with an old, greasy sheen.

As if reflecting the time that had lingered in this room.

Jiang Ming didn’t rush them.

For them, this small basement was the birthplace of their esports dreams.

Of course, it was also his own and NXG’s very beginning.

That summer: one fan, one dimly lit basement, and six computers salvaged from a shuttered internet cafe!

The boys owned little—each had only two or three faded sets of clothes; even Song Yuan, with the most shoes, wore one pair and kept two more in his suitcase.

“Master, to Qixia District.”

For the move, Jiang Ming had Lin Jingyi arrange a van; the club’s official vehicle had already been ordered through a contact.

But the team logo paint job was still being processed at the shop and wouldn’t be ready until next week.

Saying goodbye to the NXG basement they’d lived in for months!

More than ten minutes passed.

On the van, the earlier gloom had faded; the boys grew excited, their eyes brimming with anticipation for the new team base.

“Hey, hey, what do you think our team base will look like?”

“I heard it’s three stories tall—does that mean we won’t train in the basement anymore?”

“I just hope our dorm has its own shower.”

“Hehe, Lin Jie said we got upgraded computers—wonder if they’ll feel smooth. Ideally, they’d come with massage gaming chairs.”

As the van jolted over a speed bump, Pang Ran teased: “Massage chairs? Just make sure the seat isn’t as hard as a tiger bench.”

“I just want the monitor to work decently—mine before was like a slideshow.”

During this time, the NXG members knew their base was being renovated, but Jiang Ming kept it mysterious, and none dared ask—now that they were about to see it, their excitement was palpable.

The jungler, Shi Zhenyu, broke his silence: “I just want to know what flavor Deng Yi’s hotpot will taste like tonight.”

“Mmm… damn, now you mention it, I’m excited too.”

“I’m eating three bowls tonight.”

“Three bowls? I can eat ten.”

“Move aside, let the old man swallow the entire hotpot base in one gulp.”

Listening to their increasingly absurd chatter, Jiang Ming, sitting in the front passenger seat, couldn’t help smiling.

Outside the window, the shadow of the qixia road’s plane trees began to blur, and the spring wind carried the scent of fresh paint from afar.

Jiang Ming turned his head. “We’re here!”

“Whoa!”

The backseat erupted in a chorus of exclamations.

“Welcome to…”

“NXG Esports Club!”