Xu Shilong was taken aback. Did this mean they wanted them to throw her a welcome party? This little star was too much trouble. He wondered if those troublemakers would even cooperate. It seemed he would have to waste time talking to them again.
Seeing that he didn't answer for a long time, and seemed to be lost in thought, Zhou Paihuai had to remind him more clearly: "The crew members are all here too, including the cameramen." This building is not much different from the boys' dormitory in the school. What if they film something they shouldn't? Although it's not a live broadcast, no one knows how the crew will edit it.
Having said all that, Xu Shilong naturally understood. He quickly said, "Thank you for reminding me, Miss Zhou. I'll talk to them." These rascals really liked to be disheveled in the dormitory building; if Zhou hadn't mentioned it, he would have forgotten about it.
After Manager Xu escorted Zhou Paihuai to his dormitory, she busied herself reminding the others. The accompanying host, having recovered by this time, asked, "Zhou Zhou, what are you planning to do when you get back to your dormitory?"
Logically speaking, Zhou Paihuai should be practicing her gaming skills diligently in the dormitory. Although she was destined to be the one who dragged the team down, it was better to have a serious attitude than to just get by. But to everyone's surprise, Zhou Paihuai gave her a strange look and said, "Of course I should rest well when I get back to the dormitory. Didn't you hear what Manager Xu said? It's my sleeping time now. I don't start training until 2 pm."
"Huh?" The host was dumbfounded. Was Zhou Paihuai really going to have to follow the e-sports players' schedule for the entire month? Wouldn't that mean she would have to stay up all night every day?
"I'll have to work hard for you from now on!" Zhou Huaihuai winked at the host, looking playful and cute.
But the host wasn't in a good mood. Esports players usually don't get up in the morning or sleep at night. If she really stayed up like that for a month, how bad would her skin look? Zhou Paihuai is an artist after all. Is she really planning to follow this schedule? Isn't she afraid that she won't even have the capital to be an actress after a month?
The host was full of complaints about Zhou Paihuai, believing it was all her oversight. She completely failed to realize that the production team was the real idiot. Swapping lives was one thing, but to replace an e-sports player with an actress, even if it was only for a month, what if it wasn't Zhou Paihuai, who had some understanding of the e-sports scene, but the original Zhou Paihuai, who knew nothing about it? What kind of online harassment would she face when she appeared on screen, completely bewildered? Unfortunately, the production team didn't care about any of that; they only cared about their ratings...
When Zhou was resting, the production crew wouldn't follow her or film. She was staying in a single dormitory room, so she only truly relaxed once she was inside. After the host and cameramen left, she tidied up her room, made her bed, and prepared to sleep. She really wasn't joking with the host. For the next period of time, she slept at the same time as everyone else in the club, did what everyone else did, and followed the production crew's instructions completely. No one could say anything about her.
However, after lying in bed, Zhou Paihuai found herself unable to fall asleep. She never slept during the day, and having gone to bed early last night, she wasn't sleepy at all. She had to hand in her personal phone before coming here, and she was extremely bored, with nothing to kill the time.
Zhou Paihuai lay in bed for less than five minutes before getting up. No, she was just too bored. She remembered finding some books in the bookshelf while tidying up; she'd find one to read to pass the time. However, the books on the shelf weren't classics or novels, but rather high school textbooks and practice problems.
"..." Zhou was speechless for a moment. Even the club's bookshelves were working against her. She was angry!
Half an hour later, Zhou was sitting at his desk with a brand new workbook in his hand—doing math problems.
If the question were to ask what you do when you're most bored, Zhou Paihuai would be sure her answer would be at the top of the list, since probably no one would do something as bizarre as she does. However, it must be admitted that doing math problems can calm one's emotions. Like now, a ray of sunlight shines through the window, bathing Zhou Paihuai and the two books in front of her at her desk in its warmth. Everything is so harmonious and peaceful, making one feel much more relaxed.
Zhou Paihuai was enjoying a peaceful life, but the production team of the show "Life in Play" announced the pairing guest list for this episode on their official Weibo account and posted several videos that were just filmed today. As a result, after three weeks of silence, Zhou Paihuai, who had disappeared for a while, once again topped the trending searches, and was met with a barrage of criticism.
"They must have some powerful connections! Even with all that, they still managed to get on 'Life Exchange'!"
"Is 'Life in Play,' my last sanctuary, now being coerced by capitalists?"
"Look, Zhou Paihuai is all gloomy on variety shows, like someone owes her money. If you don't want to come, then don't come. We fans don't want to see you!"
"Is he crazy? Doesn't he know his own limitations? How dare he replace a professional player in a game? Is he just after all the money?"
"Looking forward to the day when Zhou is left lingering on the court, getting beaten to tears."
... ...
When Ji Anxi woke up, Zhou Paihuai was indeed trending on social media again. She clicked on the trending topic and almost spat out the water she had just drunk. Zhou Paihuai was actually on the variety show "Life Swap," wasn't she supposed to be on a game-related show? And it was about swapping lives with esports players? Have variety shows gone this far now? Zhou Paihuai really has a big heart; she actually accepted a job like this. It seems she hadn't been criticized enough before; she'll be getting a lesson from the esports fans.
After gloating for a while, Ji Anxi clicked on the video under the official Weibo account of "Life in a Play". Lately, they hadn't edited any negative content about Zhou Paihuai, which made her, as a hater, seem particularly unprofessional. She decided to repost and comment on the video after watching it; she was going to be a dedicated hater. However, perhaps because of the friend she had on her QQ contact list, Ji Anxi found Zhou Paihuai in the video much more agreeable now, and not as repulsive as she had been.
The video, which wasn't very long, was quickly finished. Ji Anxi belatedly realized that she hadn't found any fault with Zhou Paihuai in the video, except for her initial slightly gloomy expression. But that gloomy expression was understandable; it wasn't that she was impolite, but rather that the "Life for Play" program team was being inhumane. If you're going to find guests, just find guests! Why would they really find an e-sports player to pair with Zhou Paihuai? Can you just replace someone like that? It seems she hadn't learned her lesson from what happened before!
But I couldn't find anything to criticize her about. What kind of material would she edit? Once Zhou Paihuai gets a phone and sees that I didn't criticize her, she might get smug again and send me some weird messages. No, absolutely not!
Thinking of Zhou Paihuai inevitably brings to mind their conversation. As Ji Anxi pondered, a sudden inspiration struck her: she could start with the game! Zhou Paihuai's appalling gaming skills in the exhibition match a few months ago were still fresh in everyone's mind. How long has it been since then, and she's already exchanging lives with a professional player again? She truly has no respect for the e-sports industry. If she doesn't criticize her, who else should she criticize?
Without hesitation, Zhou Paihuai turned off the videos under the official Weibo account and went to find the celebrity exhibition matches from "Peak of the Azure Sky" a few months ago. Perhaps because of the celebrity exhibition matches, or perhaps because Zhou Paihuai's performance was unforgettable, these videos were edited extensively and had high view counts, making it particularly easy to find material. It has to be admitted that Zhou Paihuai has really supported a group of people who make a living by riding on the coattails of trending topics.
But when it came to actually editing these videos, Ji Anxi was in a dilemma. She hadn't edited any videos on this topic before, mainly because she didn't play games. It was definitely not feasible for her to start playing now. Did she have to download a game and play a couple of rounds herself?
After a while, the background music from "The Summit of the Sky" started playing. When choosing a login method, Ji Anxi selected the Tencent QQ account login.
Chapter 20 Training and Competition Secrecy
At noon, Zhou, who was immersed in a sea of problems, heard a rapid knocking on the door. He scribbled heavily on the paper, but alas, he still couldn't solve the last big problem.
After standing up and stretching his limbs a bit, Zhou Paihuai slowly opened the door. It was Manager Xu who knocked, with the production crew following behind him, but this time they didn't speak first.
"Miss Zhou, I'll take you to the cafeteria!" Xu Shilong came to take Zhou Paihuai to the cafeteria for lunch. The other club members had also arrived at the cafeteria by now, so this was a good opportunity to get to know each other.
"I'm a little hungry too, thank you, manager!" Zhou Huai smiled at him.
Xu Shilong, a man nearing forty, was momentarily captivated by that smile. He secretly swallowed before saying, "Miss Zhou, you're too kind."
Upon arriving at the cafeteria, Zhou Paihuai naturally greeted the members of the TKL team. Before coming, she had already learned some basic information about the TKL team. Her paired guest was Jiang Fei, the mid-laner of the TKL team, whose game ID was Flying Eagle. Before his hand injury, he was barely considered a key player for the TKL team. The other members of the team were Ningluo, the top-laner, Shilong, the bottom-lane duo of marksman Jiu'an, and the support Chushang.
Seeing Zhou Zhou accurately call out everyone's names, the show's host couldn't resist chiming in, saying, "It seems Zhou Zhou did her homework beforehand. Do you know them all?"
Zhou Paihuai curled her lips into a mocking smile once again: "Yes, it's thanks to the production team for telling me in advance that I had time to prepare. After all, we're going to be colleagues, how can I not even know the person?"
Even though there was nothing wrong with what she said, the host had a vague feeling that something was off. Just as she opened her mouth to say something more, Zhou Paihuai had already sat down with the other members of the TKL team to prepare for dinner.
"..." The host was once again left speechless. Zhou Paihuai was completely out of line. But having offended her and the production team, what good could come of it? Just wait and see, they'll meet again someday, and she'll regret it eventually.
Zhou Paihuai ate in the cafeteria without any discomfort, while Ning Luo and the others were quite reserved. After all, Zhou Paihuai was a celebrity, and such a beautiful one at that. Even though none of them were her fans before, having lunch with such a beautiful person made them forget how to use chopsticks. They even tried to hold chopsticks with their left hand and almost got into a fight with Jiu An.
Xu Shilong looked at them and felt that his bunch of rascals were really embarrassing. The club was hoping to gain fans and increase its commercial value through this variety show, but with these guys around, it would be good if they didn't lose their value, let alone increase it.
After leisurely finishing his lunch, Zhou Paihuai did not choose to leave, but continued to watch his teammates eat.
Ningluo, Shilong, Jiu'an, and Chushang all had the same thought at this moment—why hasn't this person left yet? If this continues, they won't be able to have lunch.
However, they eventually managed to finish lunch, albeit with difficulty. Seeing them put down their chopsticks, Zhou Paihuai said excitedly, "You've finally finished eating! Shouldn't we go to training now?"
Indeed, it was already 2 PM, the team's practice time. But their mid laner wasn't there, so what was the point of practicing? Were they going to rely on this third-rate actor who could feed kills to the turret even when the team was being thrown in an all-star exhibition match? Just thinking about that possibility made all four of them feel a stomachache, an unbearable stomachache.
Seeing that none of them spoke, Xu Shilong had no choice but to smooth things over: "We usually use professional training machines during training. It was my oversight that I hadn't prepared a training machine for Miss Zhou..."
“I’ll use Flying Eagle’s. I’ve watched his streams, and his rune setup and item build are similar to mine.” Before Manager Xu could finish speaking, Zhou Paihuai interrupted him, “Are we leaving now?”
“... ..."
After a moment of silence, Ning Luo, as the team leader, stepped forward and said, "Okay, let's go to the training room."
Upon arriving at the training room, the accompanying filming crew and host attempted to follow them inside, but were stopped by Zhou Paihuai.
"What are you doing?" The host's patience was completely gone. It was one thing for Zhou to keep finding fault with her before, but now she was even trying to stop her from doing her normal work. Did she really not want to continue working in the entertainment industry?
Zhou Paihuai looked at her innocently and asked, "Don't you know that team training is kept secret? If you filmed the whole thing, other teams will definitely train accordingly online. How will we be able to participate in the competition then?"
The "Life for Plays" program team did indeed sign a confidentiality agreement with the club beforehand. Even the most brainless club wouldn't leak their own training and competition details. But how could the program team have imagined that Zhou Paihuai would actually participate in some competition training? If she had obediently followed the script, although she might have made some harmless blunders on camera, she would have gotten plenty of screen time. Wouldn't that have been a win-win situation? Why did she insist on not playing by the rules?
Zhou Paihuai didn't care what the host and the accompanying filming crew were thinking. If they wanted to edit the footage haphazardly and embarrass her, they needed to have something to film first. They could just sit at the door and film the air!
As Zhou swaggered into the training room, the accompanying cameraman asked the host, "What should we do now?"
“We’ll just wait here! She can’t train there all day, it’s evening, right? Let’s just wait it out, who’s afraid of who!” The host took off his headset. “Let’s call it a day and rest for now. We’ll continue when she finishes training.”
They waited for four or five hours, until after 6 p.m., when Zhou Paihuai and the others finally came out of the training room. The cameraman and the host thought they could finally start filming, but it turned out this was only the first half. They were just taking a break to have dinner, and after dinner they had to go back to training.
Seeing the host about to faint from anger, Zhou Paihuai leaned in and put on an innocent look: "Ah, you guys have waited for so long, you must be exhausted. But you can go back and rest for a while now, and come back after nine o'clock, when training will be over."
"Nine o'clock? How can it be so late?" This time, the host looked at Xu Shilong when he spoke.
The coach makes all the decisions about training, so why ask him? Xu Shilong had no words to express his frustration, his face scrunched up in a frown. Besides, it wasn't late at all; it only ended at nine o'clock. That means there's still some time before the main competition. In another two weeks, let alone nine o'clock at night, training matches will probably go on until one or two in the morning.
“Nine o’clock isn’t late!” Zhou Paihuai explained for him. “Not to mention pre-match training, even the main competition can end after midnight.”
"Then we'll come at nine o'clock!" The host waved his hand and left with the cameramen. Waiting here all afternoon had really taken a toll on their energy.
Watching the production crew walk away, Ningluo walked up to Zhou Paihuai and gave her a thumbs up: "Amazing! I never expected you to be so good at mid lane! But why did you have to keep it a secret?"
Just now in the training room, Zhou Paihuai's mid-lane performance was truly amazing. Although training sessions are supposed to be kept secret, Zhou Paihuai isn't a professional player after all, and her talent doesn't need to be hidden. If her skills could be publicized, it would definitely enhance her image among casual viewers.
Zhou Huahuai certainly wouldn't tell them that he was going against the production team, so he just smiled and said, "One should keep a low profile. I just want to quietly climb the ranks."
--------------------
Author's Note:
A hater who watched the entire show: ? ? ? Where is Zhou Paihuai? Am I supposed to edit this training room video to bash him?
Chapter 21 Live Broadcast in Progress
At nine o'clock in the evening, the host and cameraman arrived earlier than anyone else. As the contestants came out of the training room one after another, the cameraman was ready to film.
"Zhou Zhou, where are you going next?" the host asked sarcastically. "You're not going to stop us from filming, are you? We can't keep doing our work if you do that."
"Of course not! You can take as many photos as you like now!" Zhou Huahuai gave a sincere and bright smile this time.
The host thought she had changed her ways, and even gave a disdainful smile when she wasn't facing the camera. Zhou Paihuai saw this, but she didn't care. She wasn't afraid of her being smug; she just hoped she could still smile later.
Zhou Paihuai and the other members of the TKL team left the training room and quickly entered another room. When the host saw the sign hanging on the door that read "Live Broadcast Room," a strong sense of foreboding suddenly rose in his heart.
"You're going to do a live stream?" the host asked incredulously. Had Zhou Paihuai gone mad? She slept in the morning, couldn't even film training in the afternoon, and now she was going to do a live stream? Since she was going to do a live stream, what need was there for editing the video? The audience had already seen it all. At worst, they could find the replay. Who would still watch their variety show?
Zhou Paihuai nodded and said, "I need to make up for the time I'm watching. There haven't been any matches lately, so I have to make up for the live stream time after finishing training early."
Seeing Zhou's self-righteous and confident demeanor, the cameraman and host both wanted to quit, as they really couldn't continue working. However, they couldn't just quit, so the host let the cameraman go inside first, while he found a secluded spot to call the director.
Zhou Paihuai was unaware of their little tricks, or perhaps she knew but didn't care. She went to Jiang Fei's live stream and, with the help of her assistant, learned how to set titles and adjust the camera, thus beginning her first live stream.
Although the pressures of life had made Zhou Huaipai's personality noticeably more outgoing lately, she was still essentially the same socially awkward person who disliked living under the gaze of many people. She was still somewhat reserved in front of the camera, but once she opened the game interface, that feeling lessened considerably, and her attention became entirely focused on the game.
Zhou Paihuai declined his teammates' invitation to play ranked matches and created a new smurf account, titling his stream "Bronze Mage King!" Starting from Bronze rank, even his amazing plays wouldn't attract the show's attention; losses were just for fun, and there was no real financial loss.
Zhou Paihuai still had some influence. When she first started streaming, only Feiying's previous fans were watching. Before she even entered the game, the number of viewers in the live stream exceeded ten thousand, and it was still increasing. Looking at the screen full of comments mocking her skills, it was no surprise that some hater who was more devoted to her than her fans had spread the news that she was streaming. But let them watch if they want; it wouldn't hurt her anyway. Zhou Paihuai thought to herself, and then simply turned off the comments.
Viewers in the live chat: Are you a sore loser?
At this point, Zhou Paihuai had already entered the game. According to the matchmaking mechanism of the Sky Peak, it was impossible for her to encounter a pro player stomping in her first ranked match as a "newbie". Her teammates and opponents should be AI, or rather, newbies who are more like robots than AI. Therefore, she should be able to win this game easily.
Zhou Paihuai's livestream title was "I'm Going to Play a Mage," but unexpectedly, someone else picked Jones first. Jones is a mage that beginners often like, with both control and burst damage, and all of his skills are non-targeted. Logically, it's not impossible to play with two mages in a Bronze-level game, but Zhou Paihuai prefers to choose a suitable lineup, so after her teammates had all decided on their heroes, she picked a powerful support, Qingcang. Not only is his name imposing, but his in-game appearance is also very imposing—a muscular man with eight-pack abs.
Because she had turned off the live chat, she was unaware that the chat was currently filled with criticism of her. Not only was she playing a hero unrelated to the title, but she was also playing a brutal support hero with absolutely no entertainment value. Of course, they weren't actually looking down on the hero Qingcang, but rather on Zhou Paihuai's gameplay. A few months ago in a celebrity exhibition match, she played Shen Suo, a hero that was practically just a chain to her teammates, and they couldn't even land the chain. Qingcang is much more difficult than Shen Suo, so it's not hard to imagine how terrible Zhou Paihuai's gameplay must be; no wonder she only dares to play in Bronze-level games.
Zhou Paihuai habitually tried to follow the mid laner, but when they reached the second tower, the mid laner kept pressing the retreat button. Oops, she'd forgotten it was only a Bronze rank. So she decided to follow the marksman instead. She turned from the mid lane second tower to the bottom lane, where she ran into her own marksman who was farming jungle monsters. Poor thing, he was almost killed by the monsters. Zhou Paihuai had no choice but to go and tank the damage for the marksman. As for the jungler losing his jungle monsters, that wasn't her responsibility. Besides, in a Bronze rank, junglers probably wouldn't care too much about jungle monsters.
After clearing the jungle camps and consuming a whole wave of minions, the marksman, disregarding his nearly depleted health, grabbed a health pack and charged towards the enemy support and marksman. Zhou Paihuai followed but couldn't save the marksman who had dove the tower to take down both of them; he could only tearfully secure the kills on the enemy marksman and support duo, achieving a double kill.
The marksman typed a question mark, and Zhou Paihuai thought the marksman was blaming him for not protecting him well. Unexpectedly, his teammate typed a string of words: How are you so good?
Immediately afterward, her teammates started typing effusive praise, even Jones, who had just told her to retreat, was sending her "666" (a Chinese internet slang for "awesome"). This was the sheer joy of playing in Bronze rank, and Zhou Paihuai's pride was instantly ignited. She began to completely dominate the opposing team, leading her teammates to victory with a score of 17 kills, 0 deaths, and 4 assists. After finishing the game and giving her teammates a thumbs up, Zhou Paihuai resumed her joyful climb to higher ranks...
Happy times always fly by. Just as Zhou Paihuai was engrossed in her game, Ningluo and the others told her to end the stream; it was already past midnight. Zhou Paihuai had just finished a game, yawned, and said to the camera, "Let's continue tomorrow," before quickly ending the stream. Afraid of affecting her mood, she didn't even glance at the comments. Naturally, she didn't know that towards the end of her stream, the comments weren't all negative; some were praising her instead.
... ...
Ji Anxi had been playing the game for almost the entire day. She had said she wanted to learn a little about the game so she could edit a video, but she couldn't stop playing once she started. However, this game was really difficult. She always won and lost inexplicably; she killed people inexplicably, and she died inexplicably as well. She had no idea what was going on. Even so, she would always start another game after finishing one. She was probably what people call someone who was bad at the game but had a huge addiction.
This is the last game, truly the last one! Ji Anxi made up her mind and entered the game. When it came to hero selection, she chose Jones, a hero she always played. He was good-looking, and getting kills was relatively easy. After playing for a day, she knew Jones was a mid-lane hero; she just needed to push the mid tower. But unexpectedly, someone was following her at the start of the game. Was she trying to steal her lane? No way! Gold was very important in the game; she wanted to monopolize the experience. So she frantically clicked retreat, hoping that person would have some self-awareness.
However, Ji Anxi soon felt a pang of embarrassment because her teammate was simply too skilled. He managed to kill two opponents single-handedly and didn't even die. It happened once, then twice... The game ended quickly. This was truly the easiest game Ji Anxi had ever played. But since it was the last one, it was the last. After the game ended, she clicked exit, intending to use the remaining time to edit some videos.