Offside game

After dinner, Su Yi and Ji Feng returned to his room. Ji Feng logged into his LeChang account and entered the expert section of the Counter-Strike game.

After creating a map, Ji Feng said to Su Yi, "Master, why don't you play a few rounds with this person?"

"Who is it?" Su Yi asked.

"Hehe, a very skilled expert. Master, wouldn't you like to give him a try?"

At this moment, the other party walked up to the thugs inside, and seeing that there was no movement, typed a question mark on the screen. Ji Feng quickly typed "Wait a moment" and said to Su Yi, "Master, hurry up, they're getting impatient."

Su Yi sat in front of the computer, adjusted the mouse sensitivity, and then started refreshing the game.

The game has officially begun.

Su Yi saw that the opponent was a person named Ro'J, this was the Dust2 map, the opposing team was police, and he was the terrorist. According to the rules, C4 could only be placed in the A minefield.

Su Yi had played CS with Ji Feng a few times on LeChang, so he knew Ji Feng's general skill level. Therefore, after a few rounds, he realized that this guy named Ro'J was about the same skill level as Ji Feng. This surprised Su Yi a bit. Ji Feng was currently firmly in first place on LeChang's CS leaderboard, so Ro'J should be in the top three. So, while playing the game, he said to Ji Feng, who had a sly grin on his face, "Xiao Feng, be honest, isn't this your cousin?"

"Ah, Master is really amazing! She's my cousin Ji Rong. Hehe, I told her I always get beaten by Master, and she said I was bragging. Ugh, what's so great about that? Today I'll let her taste that feeling, haha."

Because Ji Rong's skill level was comparable to Ji Feng's, she always suffered crushing defeats against Su Yi. In the end, she was forced to passively defend the A minefield. Since the map only allowed C4 planting at A, it was highly advantageous for the police, allowing them to occupy better terrain for defense. However, Ji Rong's defense was currently quite disorganized, leaving her very frustrated. She couldn't understand how her cousin's shooting skills had suddenly become so abnormal, always getting headshot the instant they met. Twice, he'd even been headshot through boxes! She seriously wondered if a cheat device had been developed that could bypass the anti-cheat system of the LeChang gaming platform.

After Su Yi headshot Ro'J again, he saw her quit the game.

Then Ji Feng's phone rang. Ji Feng glanced at the number, made a face at Su Yi, and said, "My cousin called me. Oh, Master, you're so heartless."

After saying that, he answered the phone and said, "Hey, cousin, what's up?"

Su Yi, who was standing next to him, could hear the voice coming from the phone: "Kid, what's wrong with you today? You don't usually perform like this. Confess, did you use a cheat device?"

"Hehe, how could I possibly use a cheat device? That would be so tasteless, cousin. How was it? You got thrashed, didn't you?"

"You're one to talk! I've never been this frustrated before. Tell me, how did you do that? Even a professional player couldn't beat me like this."

"Well..." Ji Feng was about to keep her in suspense when he heard a fierce voice on the phone: "You won't tell, huh? Then I'm coming to your place right now and see how I deal with you!"

"No, no, cousin, I'll confess. I told you I have a master who's a super expert, but you never believed me. Now you believe me, right? The guy you were fighting just now was my master. Hehe, now you know how frustrating I am."

"Really? You really have such a great mentor? Why don't you have him guide our team? Don't forget, the competition is about to start." Hearing Ji Feng's words, Ji Rong became somewhat interested in this mentor. After all, she knew her own skill level. Ji Rong had previously used connections to arrange exchanges with several well-known professional players from Europe, so she was very clear about her own level. Even they couldn't possibly be like that person, making her look so pathetic in every game without dying even once. That kind of skill was simply terrifying.

"Master is very busy too, but as I told you last time, he promised me that if our team wins first place, he'll sponsor us to start a professional club. Cousin, if that really happens, you won't need to ask Uncle for money to build the club," Ji Feng said to his cousin, receiving a chorus of agreement. This made Ji Rong even more curious about Ji Feng's master. She decided that when she saw Ji Feng again, she would try to get more information about his master from him.

Amidst the anticipation of all Yanjing CS players, the CS tournament finally began. This tournament was originally a promotional event to celebrate the second anniversary of the Free Man Internet Cafe chain, the largest internet cafe group in Yanjing.

However, everyone noticed that the competition's name had been changed to the Lechang-Free Man Cup Game Tournament at the opening ceremony. It turned out that after Su Yi learned of this, he had the idea of ​​joining the competition. After discussing it with Liu Jun, Lechang Networks sent personnel to urgently negotiate with the Free Man Internet Cafe chain, ultimately reaching a decision to jointly host the tournament. After all, being able to co-organize such a CS tournament with the largest e-sports platform in China would greatly benefit the Free Man Internet Cafe chain's brand awareness. As a result, the prize money for the final champion team increased to 50,000 RMB. At the opening ceremony, Han Xue, the public relations manager of Lechang Networks, delivered a speech on behalf of Lechang Networks and announced that the champion team would be able to join the first professional e-sports club in China, sponsored by the Lechang e-sports platform.

The competition began with elimination rounds in each district of Yanjing. From the outset, the organizers divided Yanjing into five districts, setting up registration points in designated internet cafes in each district. During the elimination rounds, all registered teams participated in single-elimination matches within their respective districts, with the top three teams from each district advancing to the next round of the group stage.

The fifteen teams that advanced to the group stage were drawn into five groups of three teams each, and played a round-robin tournament. One team from each group was eliminated at the end of the round, and then the final ten teams were determined.

The ten teams will first be drawn into a brutal single-elimination tournament, and then the remaining five teams will play a round-robin tournament to determine their final rankings based on their points.

This competition will last for half a month, and the winning team will receive a championship prize of 50,000 RMB and the opportunity to join a professional club.

And the championship is precisely the goal of Ji Feng and his team.

Because of the large number of universities in Ji Feng's district, there were even more teams participating. If it weren't for the requirement that each participating team pay a registration fee of fifty yuan per person, the number of registered teams would likely be even greater. According to the organizers' rules, if a team successfully advances to the regional finals—that is, achieves a top-three finish in their region—then all the registration fees for that region will be split equally among those three teams. In other words, even if they don't make it into the top ten, they will still receive a decent reward.

All users of the Lechang gaming platform noticed an additional studio in the CS section. All matches in the final stage of this tournament will be broadcast live from this studio, and users can also watch the matches on demand afterward. This is an experiment for the Lechang gaming platform. This tournament will also help Lechang Network accumulate experience for organizing future nationwide gaming competitions.

After the final tally, it turned out that a total of 48 teams from Ji Feng's district had registered, meaning that four rounds of single-elimination matches would be held to determine the final three teams. The elimination matches took place at the largest internet cafe near the university, called Free Man, and lasted for five consecutive days.

Finally, Ji Feng's team defeated four opponents, securing a spot in the next round. Each qualifying team also received a prize of 4000 yuan. This prize money came from the registration fees of all teams that registered in this region. Their region also received the most prize money. This was even after many teams originally registered in this region but, seeing the teams from this region advance, went to register in neighboring regions instead.

After the regional qualifiers, the fifteen teams that advance will draw lots at the flagship store of Freeman Internet Cafe to determine their respective groups. After a day of rest, the group stage will begin.

In the previous regional qualifiers, Ji Feng and his team unexpectedly encountered two strong teams in succession. It has to be said that the single-elimination format in the regional qualifiers is brutal. These two teams were no less skilled than the other two teams that ultimately advanced, but because they faced Ji Feng's team, they were eliminated early and had to leave the competition in frustration. The other two teams that advanced, having avoided Ji Feng's team, at least secured their place in the regional qualifiers and also received the 4000 yuan prize.

According to some observant individuals, information and general strength of many teams have been discussed on Lechang's official forum, culminating in a list of five most formidable seeded teams, including Ji Feng's team. Of course, some argue that the seeded teams are meaningless, as they could easily be eliminated in the individual matches after the group stage. The gossip about which team seems most unlucky has also attracted considerable discussion.

However, the hottest topic so far, and also the most gossipy, is that one of the fifteen teams is an all-female team, composed entirely of beautiful girls, called the Guns and Roses Team. There's even a dedicated fan club on the forums to cheer them on. Many of the female members of the teams have also gained a large following, with the most prominent being Ji Rong from the Dragon and Beauty Team, a strong contender boasting the highest player score on the HaoFang platform. It has to be said, sometimes the appeal of beautiful women is indeed powerful.

Ji Feng once whispered to Su Yi that this name was suggested and forced upon him by his cousin Ji Rong, which he found extremely perverse...