Chapter 317: No Swearing Allowed!
It wasn’t hard to guess what the tournament organizers were thinking. Since they were both first-years, the matchup would definitely make for good entertainment.
Xu Zhi tilted her head slightly. “Is there any benefit?”
“A small portion of the official revenue from that livestream will be shared with you. Other than that, there’s the boost in reputation.”
Players were usually willing to participate in this kind of livestream—it brought plenty of exposure and popularity.
There’s money involved?
“Sure.”
Xu Zhi nodded. Just watching a match, casually saying a few words, and getting paid for it—why wouldn’t she go?
Besides, fame wasn’t entirely useless to her. After all, it was always easier to make an unknown person disappear than a famous one.
Reputation could sometimes be a form of protection.
“Alright. When the time comes, Shu Yushan will go with you. Yushan, keep an eye on your junior. Don’t let her say whatever she wants.”
Xi Min looked slightly troubled.
Shu Yushan nodded solemnly. Clearly, both of them knew that sometimes Xu Zhi’s words could be… extremely punchable.
Usually, she looked polite and well-behaved. But for some reason, every now and then she would say something completely unexpected.
And when someone told her that what she’d just said wasn’t quite appropriate, she would look innocent and say, “Ah? Really? But I didn’t mean it.”
What could they do?
They could only tell her to be careful next time—and then watch her say something equally punchable the next time around.
The reason Shu Yushan was assigned instead of Chu Xiaoyue was simple. Chu Xiaoyue would be positioned as the team’s visible “weapon.” They wanted to maintain the appearance that the team preferred to keep her low-profile and less studied by others.
“These are the arrangements for now. Training will be lighter than when we were at home. Just maintain your condition each day. There’ll be more group-stage matches to watch. When you’re free, gather in the conference room and review games together. Understood?”
“Understood.”
They nodded.
“Good. Go tidy up your rooms. After that, we’ll have a big meal and get some rest. Tonight we’ll watch the group-stage matches.”
As one of the “giant” academies and a regular in the top ten, they weren’t particularly nervous about the upcoming finals. If anything, they were quite composed.
Even though most of them were participating for the first time, being part of a powerhouse meant everyone around them—teachers and classmates alike—acted as if good results were a given. It was hard to feel too anxious under that atmosphere.
“That first-year’s match is in two days, right?”
“It’ll be our junior’s first appearance in the public eye. Hope that first-year match is entertaining. Wouldn’t want her trip to be wasted.”
“Tsk. Listen to that. Arrogant big-city people.”
Tong Zhou shook his head, grinning smugly. Xu Zhi glanced at him and thought he looked a bit like a cannon-fodder villain from a novel.
Not sure. Better observe a little longer.
After dinner, instead of training, they gathered to watch group-stage matches together, occasionally making commentary.
It wasn’t that they were talkative or loved criticizing others. Xi Min required that for every match, each person had to express their thoughts about the battle process. The analysts would record their comments and assess where their combat thinking needed improvement.
Though it sounded serious, the atmosphere was actually rather relaxed.
“Wow, this guy dove the supports and left himself stranded. Is his thought process even okay?”
“That’s too polite. You should just ask if something’s wrong with his brain. Two supports standing together are obviously there to protect each other. Charging in alone like it’s a video game where you can just kill and walk out.”
“First time in group stage after clawing through prelims? Ah, that explains it.”
“Where’s their coach? Didn’t they schedule scrims? This looks like pure prelim-level experience.”
It sounded a bit detached from reality—after all, not every team could just schedule scrims at will. Some new teams from subordinate cities couldn’t secure proper training matches at all. Not everyone had the strongest teaching resources and a queue of teams waiting to scrim them.
“Ugh, ugly coordination.”
“Seriously? They can’t even grasp their own teammate’s ability duration? That control chain was half a second late. Basically wasted.”
“If Tong Zhou were late on the follow-up control, our junior would definitely say: ‘Senior, did you suddenly go blind?’”
“Or she’d flash that terrifying smile and ask: ‘Senior, what were you doing just now? Did your hand suddenly fall off?’”
“The sarcastic tone at the end was spot-on. I approve.”
Laughter filled the conference room.
Xu Zhi sat at the side, a polite smile on her lips. The thoughts in her mind, however, were far less polite.
You approve, huh? Just you wait.
Xi Min mostly stayed silent, only answering when someone asked her a question. She didn’t want to disrupt the atmosphere. In this environment, the team members would naturally voice their instinctive thoughts.
Their combat awareness was already quite solid. Their experience was sufficient. There weren’t many real problems.
Especially Xu Zhi.
The analysts were surprised.
The youngest first-year girl had the most flawless combat awareness.
She almost never made incorrect judgments—but she often proposed extremely risky ideas.
Dangerous, yes.
But if successful, the returns were enormous.
It was hard to call her thinking wrong. According to the data, she genuinely had a high probability of pulling it off.
So while they would analyze and make corrections, they wouldn’t overly interfere with a student’s personal traits. They weren’t trying to mass-produce identical robots.
Xu Zhi’s trait was her willingness to attempt risky plays. The academy wouldn’t correct that just because it was “too dangerous.” They would simply teach her how to maximize the success rate.
Two relatively relaxed days passed.
The finals seed teams all arrived at the hotel. Their brief public appearances drove the league’s popularity even higher. Xu Zhi even noticed her own follower count had increased.
Soon, it was the day she was scheduled to provide commentary.
Before departure, Xi Min warned her repeatedly:
“You’re not allowed to scold others the way you scold your teammates. You must hold back. Understood?”
Xu Zhi paused. “I don’t scold my teammates?”
“Fine. You don’t. But you’re not allowed to ‘educate’ the competitors the way you educate your teammates. Be more tactful. If you can’t manage that, just talk less.”
Xu Zhi felt like Xi Min was brushing her off.
“Alright, alright, I get it. Be tactful. So I can’t call them ‘trash,’ right?”
Xi Min nodded.
“‘Trash’ is not allowed. ‘Small fry’ is not allowed. ‘Handless, brainless waste’ is even more not allowed.”
Tsk.
So basically, she wasn’t allowed to say anything at all?!
