Chapter 24: Master and Disciple Relationship
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It took Pei Feng a full two months to go from ‘playing badly’ to ‘playing well’ as assessed by his master.
After the young Pei Feng came into contact with Gun King, the first game he watched was ACE’s battle against a team in the secondary league. In a situation where all his teammates were dead, God Wing reversed the 1V5 situation and neatly achieved five kills!
The young Pei Feng’s heart seemed to be filled with hot blood that was boiling. He couldn’t help saying, “This man is so handsome!”
Ever since that day, he became a die-hard fan of ACE-Wing and followed ACE’s games. He set an alarm clock to watch every game and witnessed the ‘grassroots’ team that wasn’t favored by anyone in the secondary league fighting back all the way to the professional league, obtaining the qualification for the A-grade League.
Then Pei Feng boldly ran to the base of the ACE team to introduce himself.
That day was the first time he saw the legendary God Wing up close. Just like in front of the cameras, his eyes were exquisite and beautiful but his face was frighteningly cold. His cold eyes showed a stern aura of ‘don’t mess with me’ while the bright red mole at the corner of his lips made his facial features vivid and bright.
Pei Feng said cheekily, “God Wing, I am your die-hard fan. I want to worship you as a teacher and learn how to be a sniper from you!”
Jiang Shaoyu looked at him with surprise and raised an eyebrow. Then he turned around and asked Yu Mingxiang incredulously, “Where did this child come from?”
Sister Yu laughed lightly. “He took the initiative to find the base and insisted on worshiping you as a master. He said that if you refuse to accept him as an apprentice, he will kneel at the door of the base until you accept him.”
Jiang Shaoyu: “……”
The weather was very hot that day and the scorching sun was hanging high above their heads. Jiang Shaoyu looked the sweaty teenager up and down. Just as Pei Feng thought that Jiang Shaoyu was soft-hearted and wanted to accept him as an apprentice, he heard the other person coldly ask, “Did you get the chuunibyou disease from watching too many TV dramas?”
Pei Feng, “……?”
His idol’s vicious tongue made Pei Feng feel cold for a while. The development of the matter was beyond his expectations.
Sister Yu couldn’t stop laughing on the side. “Xiao Pei, accepting an apprentice isn’t a casual matter. He won’t accept you even if you kneel for two days. Playing e-sports isn’t as simple as you think… otherwise, Ah Yu, he came all this way for you. You can’t let him run here in vain. Why don’t you take him to do the test?”
Jiang Shaoyu nodded and called Pei Feng to do the test.
Pei Feng foolishly followed Jiang Shaoyu to the little black room and completed some tests of an e-sports player’s reaction ability.
His results were all full marks.
Jiang Shaoyu indifferently said, “Your talent is okay. You can stay for the time being. If you can stay in ACE for a week and don’t want to leave then I will officially accept you as an apprentice.”
Was this the legendary pre-apprentice test? This was what was done in the TV dramas.
Pei Feng agreed excitedly. “I can do it! Forget one week, even if it is one day, I can stay in ACE for a day!”
He thought, ‘What is the point of holding on for a week? Can ACE eat people?’
However, it turned out that the devil-style training Jiang Shaoyu had arranged for him was too terrifying.
On the first day, Jiang Shaoyu had him shoot a moving target in the arena. The fast-moving target made him nauseous and he couldn’t hit it. The next time, a random target appeared in a 360 degree area in the air and he needed to shoot all the targets to end the training. The targets were everywhere and he couldn’t shoot them all even if he turned the muzzle quickly. Pei Feng’s eyes were about to go blind. The third day was map positioning training and Pei Feng was completely stunned by the map with a five star difficulty.
His dizziness lasted for three days afterward…
On the fourth day, Jiang Shaoyu dragged him to the arena and had him go head-to-head with Ye Zi. He was stabbed to death by Ye Zi’s Scarlet Blade at least 50 times.
On the fifth day, he was shot to death 60 times by Xiao Zhou with an AK-47.
On the sixth day, he was shot into a honeycomb by Lao Lin with the submachine gun.
Pei Feng was abused to the point of being unable to fight back. He was like a rookie who kept dying.
Just as Pei Feng thought this was desperate enough, on the last day, the great demon king God Wing personally appeared. He took out a sniper rifle and simply used the ‘headshot’ method to shoot Pei Feng 100 times in a row—it was exactly 100 times!
In the end, Pei Feng was numb to death. He was like a rag doll that had lost consciousness and could be beaten at will.
The poor boy was abused by the great demon king, God Wing to the point of losing confidence, doubting life and wanting to uninstall the game.
He even turned into a state of empty eyes and his soul leaving his body as he stared at the computer screen in a daze.
Then Jiang Shaoyu asked him calmly, “Do you still want to worship me as a master?
Pei Feng’s mind returned. There were tears in his eyes as he nodded firmly. “I want to! I want to learn how to be a sniper!”
Jiang Shaoyu raised his eyebrow. “Even if you have to be abused by us every day in the future?”
Pei Feng gritted his teeth. “It is fine! Even if I die, I can still get up and continue to die!”
Jiang Shaoyu’s tone became milder as he looked at the little teenager who had been abused for a week and still refused to back down. “Yes, then call me Master.”
Pei Feng stared at him with wide eyes.
Ye Zi jeered from the side. “God Yu wants to accept you as an apprentice. Aren’t you going to serve him tea?”
Lao Lin patted his head. “Why are you in a daze?”
Xiao Zhou thoughtfully poured tea in advance and put it on the table.
Pei Feng finally reacted and turned around excitedly. He brought over a cup of tea, respectfully held it in front of Jiang Shaoyu and exclaimed excitedly, “Master!”
The clear voice made the corners of the always indifferent Jiang Shaoyu’s lips rise slightly.
He took the teacup and sipped lightly before saying, “If you want to be an excellent sniper, you must have a firm mind. Even if you are shot in the head by the opponent, you must immediately adjust your emotions and start the next round in the best state. This is the first lesson I will give you.”
“Don’t be afraid of losing. Get up whenever you fail.”
“You have done it, Xiao Pei.”
Pei Feng stared at the person in front of him in a daze.
It turned out that in the past few days, Master was testing his ability to resist pressure.
If his confidence was destroyed and he wanted to quit then Jiang Shaoyu wouldn’t accept him as an apprentice.
The career of a professional player wasn’t that good. Every day consisted of boring and tedious training. Sometimes they would be beaten by the opponents and also scolded by netizens. It was easy for their mentality to collapse…
Yet after each failure, they should get up and move on.
This was a professional!
Pei Feng understood what Master meant.
From that day on, he followed Jiang Shaoyu to study seriously.
In the beginning, Master was sharp-tongued and scolded him for moving like he was sleepwalking and shooting with no awareness….
Pei Feng was scolded, tortured and killed every time. He gradually got used to his master’s sharp-edged tongue and grew rapidly.
After a month, Master scolded him less often.
Two months later, he almost won against Master in a head-on battle and received Jiang Shaoyu’s evaluation, ‘It is okay.’
Pei Feng was so excited that he almost went to set off fireworks.
It was okay!
He knew that for the always sharp-tongued Jiang Shaoyu, being called okay actually meant he was very good.
His master might have a cold temperament and didn’t like to laugh, but he was always good to Pei Feng.
From a firm mind to superb operation skills and excellent field awareness, Master trained him in all aspects, teaching him bit by bit, step by step, patiently explaining his various small problems.
He gave it to Pei Feng without any reservations.
How fortunate was Pei Feng to meet such a good master?
Pei Feng’s heart suddenly surged with very complicated emotions as he thought of these unforgettable past events.
For him, Jiang Shaoyu was his teacher and the person he admired the most in his heart.
Even though Jiang Shaoyu suddenly retired despite everyone trying to stop him and there was no news in these years, Pei Feng always felt that…
Master would come back.
He didn’t dare waste a single moment of training.
In addition to the live stream at a fixed time every time, he would use the remaining time to click on a software called “ACE’s little black room” on the computer.
It was the basic training exercises that all players did every day during the ACE period.
Repeatedly moving, shooting, dodging…
Every day, Pei Feng forced himself to do the monotonous and boring basic exercises that only professional players could do.
He couldn’t help thinking that if one day his master came back and he had become weak, would his master dislike him? Then his master would say, “The disciple I taught is at this level?”
In that case, what face would he have to see Master again?
Even if he became a streamer, he had been holding himself to the same standard as professional players.
—It was because he was God Wing’s apprentice.
He couldn’t disappoint his master or fail to live up to his master’s training.
Pei Feng took a deep breath and forced back the hot tears in his ears. He typed a line in the game: Boss, can I add you as a friend?
Jiang Shaoyu didn’t think much of it and privately sent his WeChat ID.
Pei Feng’s account was still the original one and the avatar was the cute ‘Fred’ letters that he drew himself.
Jiang Shaoyu’s WeChat had changed after he went abroad. Now he used a new number and his avatar was his puppy.
Pei Feng was stunned when he saw the puppy avatar and he asked on WeChat: Hell, Boss. Is this avatar your puppy?
Jiang Shaoyu: Yes, it is a little toy poodle.
Pei Feng: It is very cute~
Master had never had a pet before. Was this a new one during the five years they hadn’t seen each other?
He clicked into the Moments. There was the message ‘This friend only shows the Moments of the last three days’ but there was nothing. It was the same as before.
Jiang Shaoyu never posted any Moments.
Pei Feng was silent for a moment before asking calmly: Boss, you only play on the international server. Are you abroad? If you need to adjust to the time difference in the future, I can take the time to take you to score points.
Jiang Shaoyu: There is no need to adjust it. I am in China.
Pei Feng: “……”
He did come back!
Judging from the reactions of Ye Zi, Brother Zhou and Lao Lin, the three of them obviously knew about Master’s return?
What other reason could there be for Ye Qingming replying so quickly today when he usually slept late every day? In the e-sports circle, only God Wing could handle Ye Qingming!
He didn’t know why his master didn’t look for him directly and instead came to the live stream room under another identity to send gifts.
Master must’ve done this for a special reason.
However, Pei Feng didn’t want to wait.
He missed his master too much.
He had been looking forward to the return of his master for many years. The disbandment of ACE was a regret that would never be erased from his heart. No matter whether it was rebuilding ACE or building a brand new team, Pei Feng could immediately throw everything away and become a professional player again as long as his master said a word.
He had always been prepared for this.
Now he was no longer afraid of any capital.
He had enough ability to help his master and make up for all his regrets.
Pei Feng took a deep breath and quickly opened a mobile app. He booked a flight to the capital tomorrow on the booking page.
He wanted to see Jiang Shaoyu and ask in person.
—
Jiang Shaoyu had no idea that his identity had been revealed.
He sent a message to Pei Feng: You can continue to live stream. I have some things to deal with here.
Pei Feng: Okay, I will see you tomorrow Boss~~
He said ‘see you tomorrow’ and it was really seeing him tomorrow. The plane was in the morning and he would arrive at the capital at noon. Then he would go to the national team to see his old friends from ACE.
Pei Feng’s resolute actions were also his true inheritance from his master.
At this time, in the coach’s office of the national team, Jiang Shaoyu turned off his computer and looked up. “Come in.”
At exactly 3 o’clock, the self-criticisms of the Gourd Babies Squad arrived.
The five people lined up and walked in with their heads hanging down. They looked like middle school students going to the office to receive criticism from the director of teaching.
Mo Hantian, who took the lead, said timidly, “C-Coach, we are here to submit the self-criticisms for review.”
Jiang Shaoyu took their self-criticisms and looked at them carefully.
Mo Hantian’s words were like ghost symbols and it was really difficult for him to reach 1,000 words. Shi Xiaobin’s handwriting was very neat and each stroke was like it was printed. It looked pleasing to the eye and he did a profound analysis of his mistakes. The writing wasn’t bad.
Xia Li was a bold and unrestrained girl and her messy, cursive handwriting was about to fly off the page. Most of it couldn’t be understood.
Lu Xingyun and Tang Kai wrote the self-criticisms very carefully. There were no signs of alteration, which proved that they first wrote it on the computer and then copied it by hand after making corrections. This experience was probably taught by Ye Qingming.
Jiang Shaoyu put down the self-criticism documents and looked at the five people in front of him. “I scolded you this time because you disappointed me too much. Now that the self-criticism has been written and you have realized your mistakes, I won’t pursue the previous matter. Starting from today, take out the attitude of a professional player, do you hear me?”
The five people nodded in unison. “We hear you!”
Jiang Shaoyu said, “The method to choose the next national team will be decided by the coaching staff. I don’t care how you entered the team in this season. Every player next year will have to enter in an upright manner. If you don’t want to fail to enter the team, you should train seriously.”
The five people nodded like they were mashing garlic and their movements were very neat.
Jiang Shaoyu couldn’t help smiling. “Go.”
The five little ones immediately ran away.
Jiang Shaoyu looked at the fleeing backs and sighed.
How many of these gourd babies would be left in the next season? It would depend on their subsequent performance.
The one Jiang Shaoyu cared about most at the moment was Pei Feng. Judging from today’s contact, Pei Feng had the strength to play professionally as well as an excellent overall view of the game and commanding awareness. If Pei Feng was willing, Jiang Shaoyu wanted to train him to be the chief commander of the World Series.
However, he didn’t want to use his status as a master to put pressure on Xiao Pei.
He would take another look.
After all, Xiao Pei’s current life as a streamer was very good. He had no reason to let Xiao Pei give up his current comfortable and relaxed life to run and bear more pressure.
Jiang Shaoyu rubbed his temples before turning and walking toward the training room.