Chapter 21: Show of Force

The application report from the e-sports team, requesting authority over personnel appointments and dismissals, landed on Cen Lan’s desk.

Xiao He asked in confusion, “Deputy Minister, did the Sports Department make a mistake?”

Cen Lan finished reading the report quickly and replied with a smile, “No, this is their way of giving us a warning.”

“A warning?” Xiao He understood almost as soon as he spoke. “It’s about that incident last time, isn’t it? The Sports Department was unhappy with our interference, so they’re using the guise of interdepartmental cooperation to deliberately send the report to you for approval?”

“Exactly. In such a highly specialized competitive field, the last thing they want is for outsiders to dictate to the experts.” Cen Lan leaned back, the corner of her mouth curving in a subtle, almost imperceptible smile. “To outsiders like us, who don’t know the first thing about this, this application report is a hot potato. No matter whether we approve it or not, if anything goes wrong, the blame will fall squarely on our External Communications Department.”

“And they wouldn’t dare trouble Minister Li, so it has to be you, the Deputy Minister, who takes the heat.” Xiao He said, a note of dissatisfaction in his voice. “Deputy Minister, what should we do?”

“What should we do?” Cen Lan opened the contacts list on her terminal. “Of course—we call in our external support.”

On the other end of the virtual call, Feng Jingyu’s figure appeared.

“Sister Cen Lan, is there something you need from me?”

“There’s a matter I’d like you to help me decide.” Cen Lan explained the situation in detail.

When she finished, a complex expression crossed Feng Jingyu’s face.

“Is it a difficult problem?” Cen Lan leaned forward slightly.

“No… it’s just reinforced my stereotypical impression of the Sports Department…”

·

Perhaps Feng Jingyu’s expression was simply too hard to describe, for Cen Lan let out a light laugh. “Tell me what you think.”

“Sister Cen Lan, the Sports Department just wants to maintain their existing system. That’s understandable—after all, in e-sports, there’s only room for first place.” Feng Jingyu spoke gently and steadily. “But our ‘Federation Showdown’ is retro e-sports, a completely different system from mainstream e-sports today. Every position exists to serve the players. Our Captain Gu is keenly aware of this, so she wants to have a say in things. It also shows she’s a captain with a very strong desire for control.”

“She’s very controlling? Is that good or bad for the team?”

“That depends on the captain’s ability. Our Earth team is made up of the top players selected from all the major clubs. Even though every member is first-tier, it’s very possible that no one wants to take orders from anyone else. But look at our Captain Gu—she’s the youngest, yet she can keep all these seasoned veterans in line, and no one questions her decisions. That’s pretty terrifying, and it also proves, from another angle, that her strength is beyond doubt. On the battlefield of the game, she’s the brain of the entire team, and her commands are executed with maximum efficiency.” Feng Jingyu paused, then smiled. “So, how could such a strong-willed captain possibly be willing to give up her authority?”

Cen Lan understood. “So, your suggestion is to approve it.”

“Of course. Anyway, this personnel authority is only valid until the end of this competition.”

Cen Lan was taken aback. “Until the end of the competition?”

“That’s right. This year’s Earth team was assembled at the last minute for political reasons. Once the competition is over, the team will be disbanded on the spot. Next year’s competition won’t be such a small-scale affair. We’ll have a completely new system, and teams will be formed by the clubs themselves. The matches will be organized by our Interstellar Federation E-sports Joint Affairs Committee, reporting directly to the highest AI, with no involvement from the Sports Department.” Feng Jingyu explained.

“I see. Then I won’t keep you any longer. Goodbye.” Cen Lan ended the call and turned to Xiao He. “Did you hear all of that just now?”

“I did.” Xiao He’s smile was radiant. “As expected of Ms. Feng—she went straight for the root of the problem.”

Cen Lan signed her name electronically on the document, smiling as she did so. “Then send this approved report to the Sports Department. Also, I think today’s conversation with Jingyu will make for excellent discussion material.”

Xiao He caught her meaning immediately. “I’ll make sure to talk about it with everyone.”

·

After the head coach submitted the report, he was never able to feel at ease. There was no response from above, and he was so anxious he could hardly eat or sleep.

Fortunately, all the training and tactical drills for the team were entirely handled by Gu Qingyun. As long as he kept a low profile, his nerves wouldn’t affect the team’s overall atmosphere.

Two days later, the shoe that had been hanging in the air finally dropped: approval came from above, granting the request for authority over personnel appointments and dismissals.

When the head coach saw the official reply, he couldn’t believe his eyes. He read it over and over again before finally walking briskly to the training room.

“I have some good news to share with everyone…”

But before he could finish, Gu Qingyun interrupted him mercilessly.

“Coach, you’re just in time. Here’s the list of support staff. Please notify them to report for duty today, and send away anyone not on the list.” Gu Qingyun transmitted the file to the coach via the terminal. “Thank you for all your hard work, coach. You’ve been great—we’re all proud of you.”

With that, Gu Qingyun called the team members to enter the holographic game pods.

The head coach stood there in a daze for a long moment before coming back to himself. “So everyone already knew about this?”

The training room was silent; everyone who could have answered him had already logged into the game.

The head coach cursed silently at the empty air, then began sending notifications to each person on Gu Qingyun’s list.

·

What the head coach didn’t know was that, once the team members entered the game, a lively discussion broke out.

“Did you see the coach’s face just now? Looked exactly like me when I flash my ultimate and miss, hahahahaha.” Zhou Tong slapped the table, laughing wildly.

“You sound pretty proud of yourself. If you missed your ult like that in a match, I bet our captain would climb over the wall in the middle of the night just to beat you up.” Yan Zhen changed the subject. “But the coach’s expression really was priceless, heh heh heh…”

“Our captain is gentle—she’d never beat me up.” Zhou Tong turned to Gu Qingyun. “Captain Yun, you were at the youth training camp with our captain, right? Back me up here.”

“Mm.” Gu Qingyun nodded.

“Captain Yun’s actually standing up for Zhou Tong today. I’m glad, though—finally, some peace and quiet. If this were our team, there’d never be so much chaos.” Gao Tiankai shook his head.

“If it weren’t for upholding Earth’s reputation as the ‘holy land of e-sports,’ I wouldn’t even want to be here,” Yuan Ziyi said with distaste. “I just hope the competition ends soon. I don’t want to spend another day in this place.”

“By the way… next year’s tournament format is changing completely. No more hastily assembled teams like ours—next time, it’ll be regional teams competing against each other. I hear a lot of clubs have already started registering their teams. I’m actually looking forward to next year’s competition.” He Zheng’s gaze swept slowly over the group, and he smiled. “Next year, we’ll all be each other’s opponents.”

“Hearing it like that, I’m actually getting fired up.” Zhou Tong said excitedly. “Captain Yun, next year our captain will lead us to victory!”

“Zhou Tong, don’t talk so big. Next year’s champions will definitely be our team!” The others all retorted in unison.

Watching her temporary teammates banter and bicker, a faint smile appeared on Gu Qingyun’s face. This was exactly what she wanted.

This year’s championship would belong to their “Winner Winner, Chicken Dinner” team.