The heat on the Internet lasted two whole days. During this process, there were no waves in the GH base. Everyone knew the 'relationship' between them so the GH players basically entered the tacit Buddhist mode.
After all, their captain and coach hadn't come out publicly so they naturally didn't dare ask or say anything. On the contrary, they always paid attention to the situation of the closet door. They had to be prepared to sacrifice themselves when appropriate. The team spirit ignited without warning. The tacit understanding of the team also reached its highest point due to this strange cause.
However, the person involved, Lin Yan was completely unaware of this. He had no idea that the youngsters in the family were worried about him.
The regular season had officially opened so Lin Yan devoted all his attention to preparing for the match. On the third day after the opening ceremony, GH ushered in the second match of the autumn season. This time, the opponent was the AIR team.
All matches during the regular season would be held in the arenas of three first-tier cities. This week's host city was Ningcheng, which was where the Burning Hot League's headquarters was located. It wasn't too far from GH's base. After lunch that day, everyone boarded the business car with their peripherals.
On the way to the arena, Luo Mo used his phone to take a few daily photos for publicity. After arriving at the parking lot, they followed the staff to the lounge.
The day before yesterday, Lin Yan had told everyone about AIR's style of play. At this time, he had stopped cramming but there was always a strange feeling along the way. He leaned back lazily against the sofa with a thoughtful expression.
Jing Yuanzhou approached when he noticed Lin Yan's expression and asked, "What's wrong?"
Lin Yan frowned slightly. "I can't tell. I just feel that something is weird today. I always feel that many people are staring at us."
Bi Yaohua couldn't help looking over and correcting it. "Coach, your feelings aren't wrong. However, they weren't staring at us. They are simply staring at you."
Lin Yan wondered, "Why are they looking at me?"
Bi Yaohua looked surprised. "Don't you know how popular the person who burst out recently is?"
Lin Yan wondered, "Who is it?"
He had been studying tactics against AIR for the past two days and didn't care too much about other things.
Bi Yaohua held his forehead while counting with his fingers. "Look, you have the best game skills and the best coaching tactics. The most important thing is that you are the club's golden boss behind the scenes. Tsk! Talent and appearance co-exists and you are also rich. This is the perfect male image in many love stories! It isn't surprising that some people covet you, don't you think?"
Lin Yan almost choked on air. He had stopped paying attention for one day and the rumors outside had become exaggerated to this extent?
In fact, Bi Yaohua was usually more ostentatious. This time, he considered Jing Yuanzhou's presence and was relatively euphemistic. The situation on the Internet was much more exciting than what he said. In a nutshell, their coach was on fire!
Lin Yan had been busy these days but Jing Yuanzhou had paid close attention to the comments on the Internet. At this time, he just smiled. "However, it is estimated they can only covet him."
The other people in the lounge heard this sentence and fell silent.
Captain, there was no need to abuse the single dogs. They all knew that the coach had a partner, okay!
The match was about to start. A staff member came to notify them about it when they came across this sour atmosphere. Everyone in GH immediately grabbed their equipment bags and walked out of the lounge without looking back. "Match! Go to the match!"
The AIR team hadn't performed well in the mid-season. At that time, it had been hard for them to beat LARK and return their professional league qualification. In terms of strength alone, it was much weaker than the MEN team they had met in the opening match.
Theoretically speaking, the current GH should be at ease playing against AIR, but Lin Yan still bothered to make arrangements. He couldn't say he was worried. He just didn't want any accidents. He also wanted to protect the new tactics as much as possible while ensuring the winning rate.
The accumulation of points in the regular season was mainly to make it into the top eight. This might be important but the truly wise team would be absolutely unwilling to expose too much of the lineup at this stage.
The things that really pressured others definitely couldn't be used in this period of time. Showing the trump cards too early was equal to giving the opponents made opportunities to prepare before the battle. There were still the quarter-finals, semi-finals and finals... looking further, there was even the future world championship.
For a team, there was no retreat if their foundation was exposed too early. Therefore, practicing a new system was a science and how to maximize the use of this system was another science. A careful person like Lin Yan was naturally racking his brain to push all the chips of their team to the extreme.
The BP process soon ended. Lin Yan finished his mission and walked down from the stage. Not surprisingly, he felt the scene suddenly boiling.
Many of the fans present today were GH fans and these fans were loyal viewers of the previous Burning Hot Assembly. They still had vivid memories of the warm-up game with the LARK team on the day of the finals. At this time, they saw the exact same lineup on the big screen and it was indeed difficult not to blow up.
The format for this BO1 was exactly the same as the warm-up game at that time, except that the LARK team was replaced with the current AIR team. The ultimate output lineup of four assassins once again appeared in the arena without warning.
"Hahaha, daring to release this? Shouldn't the AIR coach have studied GH before the match?"
"I think it was studied but they probably didn't expect the Go Home team to be so wild in the professional league."
"I have to say that AIR's BP is already very vigorous. If the strong heroes in this version of the game were released then it would be even worse, right?"
"Sure enough, AIR's hero pool is still too soft. There aren't many who play assassin heroes and the routines are obvious."
"Why do I feel like Coach Lin is a great master? Both AIR and LARK are bottom teams so let them enjoy the same treatment?"
"The last sentence I gave to LARK will also be sent to AIR: May there be no slaughter in Heaven! Hahaha!"
"Che, is it interesting to play the same routines every day? Does GH have no new tricks?"
"Listening to this tone, is it a black fan? In fact, there is no need to be black just for the sake of being black."
"Indeed, it is normal to keep back tactics in the regular season. It would be stupid to expose it in advance."
"That's right. Why care so much? Just win!"
GH did win this match and the win was pretty excellent. AIR wasn't even able to hold on until the team battle stage. Their lanes were completely crushed. It took only 30 minutes to end this one-sided game.
Obviously, the current AIR team was a lot stronger than LARK during the previous warm-up game. However, the GH team was fiercer and more decisive than back then. This type of transformation was too obvious and every moment of collision on the field had a strange brilliance.
If the original match against MEN was still suspected of being won through luck, the victory in this match completely caused the so-called passersby to have no doubts about the strength of the new team, GH.
In this match, the MVP was Jing Yuanzhou and the interview process was much easier than Gu Luo's interview.
On the way back after the match, Lin Yan took out the schedule and flipped through it. Then he couldn't help laughing. "Speaking of which, our team really deserves to be the 'son' of the league.' The schedule is almost comparable to the first-tier teams."
The regular reason lasted a total of four weeks. During this period, all teams would play a single cycle of BO1 against every team in turn. No teams could be avoided but the specific order of matches was extremely careful.
The low ranked teams such as MEN, AIR, PILL etc were basically experience babies in the early stages. In a short period of two weeks, they were arranged against all the major teams to lay the foundation for the ranking of these teams. As for whether they could enter the top eight, it depended on their scoring during the last two weeks.
Compared to these teams who could be regarded as giving away their heads, the playing arrangement for GH from weak to strong was simply top treatment. Based on the schedule, they wouldn't meet any strong teams in the early stages. Top giants such as Three and PAY would only be met after the third week. This made scoring in the early stages easier.
In the first week of the regular season, a total of three matches was arranged for GH. Following the crushing victory in the previous two matches, their third match was also successfully won. As a result, GH's name was impressive in the standings after the first week.
Meanwhile, LDF only had two matches arranged in the first week. GH temporarily surpassed a giant team and were full of momentary glory. Seeing the fans of the official Weibo soaring, the hard-working manager Luo Mo almost burst out crying tears of joy. "It's finally like the popularity of a professional team!"
Lin Yan couldn't help glancing over. He didn't see to understand why his former assistant could feel so much joy and sadness after taking over the club. However, compared to the issue of the club's popularity, he was more concerned about the team's actual performance.
The first week of the season had ended. Judging from the points, the situation of their team was pretty good indeed. However, the opponents encountered this time were too weak. Starting from the second week, the overall test would gradually become tougher. He didn't care much about the other teams. The main thing was the first match that followed.
Their opponent was SUU. Putting aside the complex personal factors, it was difficult from the perspective of strength alone. In addition to Peng He, the current captain of SUU, there were the two newly introduced South Korean players who were very strong.
If SUU was still getting used to each other in the mid-season then based on the just concluded first week of the autumn competition, this team had already turned into a sword with a sharp edge! Obviously, they would be a tough opponent.
The second week of the regular season would be carried out in Nancheng. Coincidentally, this was Jian Ye's hometown and the base of the secondary league team where he originally played as a substitute. They knew that Jian Ye was coming, so his original teammates called him in advance, saying they would gather after a match and invite the entire GH team to have a meal together.
Jian Ye had been on this team for two years as a substitute. He might not have played much due to his hero pool but his relationship with his teammates was quite good. He received the call and agreed very happily.
Lin Yan naturally had no opinion on this. As the competition day approached, he had Luo Mo book the tickets for everyone in advance and took them to the airport. According to the flow of the regular season, each team would basically have one or two days between matches.
This obviously wasn't very friendly for teams that needed to travel back and forth. Most teams would choose to book a room for one week at a local hotel and arrange the corresponding computer equipment. Then the daily training could be done at the hotel.
Lin Yan wasn't the type of person who liked to make twists and turns. He considered the comfort of the players and proudly chose the highest star Mingui Hotel near the arena.
All the participating teams chose the locations by themselves. Lin Yan didn't know the arrangement of other clubs until he got off the plane and drove the hotel. Walking into the lobby, he saw familiar team uniforms. It seemed many other teams had made the same choice as them.
Minghui Hotel was the highest rated hotel near the competition venue. The price of a room was naturally very impressive. It seemed that GH wasn't the only one attracted. The arrival time of the teams was slightly different. Once GH arrived, they could see the SUU team checking in while the BK team was waiting in the adjacent rest area.
SUU got the room cards and was allocating them. Therefore, they didn't notice the group of people who entered the lobby. It wasn't until Peng He instinctively turned his head at the noise behind him that he became slightly stunned when he discovered the identities of the people who had come.
After all, BK and GH were familiar with each other. They met face to face and instinctively started chatting. Peng He didn't realize that the expression on his face was slightly stiff. His instinctive gaze at one of the figures was somewhat strange and he stood there for a long time, forgetting to move.
The support looked back and saw the captain's strange reaction. He followed Peng He's gaze and asked with surprise, "GH is actually staying here? Captain, should we... also go over and say hello?"
Peng He's mind seemed to return. His eyes flickered and he withdrew his gaze. "No, it isn't necessary."
He glanced at the assigned room card and turned around. "Let's go."
The others found his attitude somewhat strange but they didn't say much. They followed behind Peng He and walked to the elevator.
Bi Yaohua was the first to notice the movement and reminded BK, "Hey, SUU is finished. Isn't it your turn?"
"Oh yes." Ku Tianlu collected the ID cards and handed them over to Manager Wang. "Brother Wang, I have to trouble you."
Earlier, Manager Wang had been really scolded by the management due to the matter of Jing Yuanzhou's transfer.
At this time, he faced the people of GH and his mood was naturally extremely subtle. He wasn't satisfied with Ku Tianlu's blatant attitude but he couldn't stand there and attract people's attention. Thus, he turned around and walked to the hotel counter.
Gu Luo's eyes remained on the backs of the SUU team and he asked curiously, "Are the two yellow-haired people the foreign aid they invited? Are they as powerful as the Internet said?"
"When we played against SUU in the mid-season, the two of them were really strong individually. They just lacked a tacit understanding with the team. I don't know how well they have learned Chinese. I still remember that they couldn't say anything during the handshake part after the game." BK's shooter paused here before saying, "However, in the games last week, SUU played really beautifully. They have obviously improved a lot from the mid-season."
Ku Tianlu heard the conversation, looked over and reminded them in a serious tone, "If I remember correctly, your next opponent is the SUU team right? In any case, you have to be careful. The two foreign aids didn't only bring themselves to our competition area. They also brought a lot of tricky tactics from South Korea. It has been useless so far but if they feel that their chances of winning in the next game isn't enough, they might take them out."
"Tricky tactics? How tricky can they be?" Gu Luo blinked slowly when he heard these words and accidentally revealed the true thoughts in his heart. "I don't believe anyone can be dirtier than our coach... Oops—"
Before he finished, he was hit on the head. Lan Min couldn't hold back and burst out laughing. Lin Yan was holding a volume of an e-sports magazine in his hand and there was a smile on his face. "Who is dirty?"
Gu Luo who stopped speaking: QAQ.
It wasn't only Lan Min who laughed. Thanks to this interaction, a shallow smile even flashed in Chen Yushen's eyes. He gently patted Gu Luo on the shoulder to express comfort and by the time he raised his head again, the elevator door diagonally opposite them had already closed.
After a slight pause, he withdrew his gaze without much emotions. No matter what happened in the past, all their intersections in the future would probably be on the field. Since they were opponents, then it was enough to win.
The BK team was settled and it was finally GH's turn. This time, they brought the team manager Luo Mo. There were seven people so they booked a total of four rooms. Luo Mo came back with a stack of room cards. He barely thought about it as he handed one to Lin Yan. "Boss, this is yours. It is a single room and has a double bed."
The moment he finished speaking, the eyes of the others toward Luo Mo wasn't quite right. Luo Mo waited a while. Before Lin Yan could grab it, he felt the different gazes and finally reacted. "Ah, of course... if you think it is too boring to live alone, I don't mind changing with you."
Lin Yan hadn't managed to speak when he heard the person next to him suddenly laugh. This very casual sentence instantly made the surrounding atmosphere become subtle.
Lin Yan's lips pressed together tightly. He gently hit Jing Yuanzhou with his elbow before controlling the expression on his face. "You better live there and I'll just share a room with Captain Jing. It's more convenient for discussing tactics at night."
Jing Yuanzhou coughed cooperatively. "Yes, I think so as well."
The other team members felt that they had no eyes at the sanctimonious attitude of the two men. Didn't their consciences hurt saying this?
Once Lin Yan and Jing Yuanzhou's room was confirmed, the distribution of the rest was extremely simple. In the end, it was still in pairs like the variety show recording while the superfluous team manager Luo Mo enjoyed the treatment of a single room.
All the rooms were on the same floor. Lin Yan watched the others entering their own rooms before closing the door. He turned around and glimpsed Jing Yuanzhou who had never stopped smiling. He couldn't help asking, "Why are you smiling?"
"I don't know why. I just feel that my mouth is uncontrollable when I think about you wanting to actively discuss tactics with me." Jing Yuanzhou took off his jacket and hung it up. "If you don't like to see me smile then I'll try to control it a little bit?"
"...No, you can just smile."
The moment he finished speaking, he saw the curve of Jing Yuanzhou's mouth become more distinct. Lin Yan's heart slightly jumped and he suddenly retracted his gaze, turning to open his suitcase.
The large box actually only contained a few sets of clothing. The thing that took up the most space was the laptop he usually carried around. He took it out and placed the laptop on the desk by the wall.
Jing Yuanzhou was stunned when he saw Lin Yan pressing the power button. "Aren't you going to eat?"
"No, I'll order takeout later." Lin Yan didn't care about the half-open luggage and sat down at the table. "Ku Tianlu reminded me of something just now. I have always been referring to SUU's previous videos for tactical reference but I forgot there is also the Korean tactical system. I will take advantage of the day we have tomorrow to adjust and rearrange all the information I have prepared."
He finished speaking but didn't hear a response from Jing Yuanzhou for a long time. Lin Yan was feeling puzzled when the shadow of a person came up behind him and firmly covered him. Jing Yuanzhou's voice was heard from behind. It sounded a bit regretful and also helpless. "It seems that you really want to discuss tactics..."
Lin Yan choked up.
Jing Yuanzhou sighed again. "Unexpectedly, I would also have a day when I shower affection on an uninterested person."
In such a narrow space, every small movement seemed magnified. Lin Yan vaguely felt his hair shaking slightly from this person's breath. He couldn't help his Adam's apple moving up and down. In a trance, he heard his own voice say, "In fact, after the busy work is over... we can, cough, discuss something else."