107. The Big Dog that Everyone Dislikes
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The game competition was set to be held at the Grand Playground’s stage, which had been neatly arranged over a week ago.
Three gigantic screens, a combination of multiple small displays, surrounded the stage in a left, center, and right configuration. Compared to last week’s somewhat shabby setup, this week there were ten computers lined up on the stage. With half an hour left until the competition, around a hundred students were already gathered, observing the scene.
A few members of the eSports club were waving their phones, capturing the event and streaming it to Douyu. This freshly registered streamer’s room was heating up with a flurry of comments, even managing to outshine some popular streams with over a hundred thousand fans.
At two o’clock in the afternoon, the four from the dormitory plus Dong An arrived on cue.
Lin Nan timidly made his way to the makeshift backstage, right behind the giant screen, feeling that this competition resembled a beauty pageant more than anything.
“Don’t be nervous, or your thousand bucks will vanish!”
They stood in a row, waiting for the host to call them on stage. Chen Yao and Dong An seemed nonchalant, while only Xiong Da shared Lin Nan’s slight tension.
“One thousand bucks, one thousand bucks!” Lin Nan muttered to himself, trying to hype himself up.
It was just a game on stage; watching LPL matches mostly meant standing in place for an introduction before returning to the computer.
Plus, he was wearing a jacket today, so he shouldn’t be recognized too easily.
“Nan Nan! Nan Nan! Nan Nan!”
Lin Nan suddenly heard a loud cheer calling for his nickname. Moments later, he couldn’t tell if he was swept up by the enthusiasm or if the audience was just being rowdy, but the stands erupted with cheers.
“What’s going on?!” he exclaimed, bewildered, turning to Chen Yao.
“Sounds like it’s Big Dog?”
“…”
Since it was Big Dog, Lin Nan didn’t want to make a fuss. He wasn’t too familiar with him, but Big Dog was friendly, making it awkward to argue.
Another team arrived ten minutes before the competition.
Lin Nan glanced over at them and was surprised to see Li Sisi, who had distributed flyers with him earlier, was in the mix.
Aren’t those students from another school?
Although he heard this competition wasn’t limited to just school representatives, he didn’t expect to run into someone he knew among the external participants.
Typically, girls playing games are a bit worse than guys, just like in professional matches where you rarely see female players.
“What rank is that girl?” Lin Nan curiously asked, pointing at Li Sisi.
“Let me check.” Chen Yao looked through the roster and found the most feminine-sounding name, “Must be Li Sisi? Diamond II ADC.”
“Impressive!”
If it weren’t for Lin Nan’s tacit cooperation, Chen Yao might never reach Diamond I, let alone getting close to Master level.
“Yeah, from the Zaun district.” Chen Yao sighed, addressing Dong An, “You sit on the far right, close to them. If they want to lane against you, just roast them back. Junhui, you take position two from the right to support Dong An. I’ll be in the center; if you can’t handle them, I’ll jump in to help.”
Lin Nan’s laning skills were a bit shaky, and he had been emotionally unstable lately, so he was placed on the far left, the furthest from those players.
It’s said everyone from the Zaun district is talented. Lin Nan didn’t quite believe it, but seeing Li Sisi’s presence made him feel that rumor might have some truth.
The host and commentator on stage were trying to warm up the atmosphere, mimicking professional eSports events.
Unfortunately, this host was just a student, and his hosting skills were far from professional, leading to a few awkward moments. Although there were plenty of spectators, most were merely gossiping and didn’t even pay attention to what the host was saying.
“Nan Nan! Nan Nan! Nan Nan!” Big Dog endlessly shouted from the crowd, while Lin Yuan, holding a bottle of dark magic cola, stood beside him, noticing the crowd had shifted their attention towards them. He quietly stepped back, pretending not to know Big Dog.
Other spectators probably didn’t even know who Nan Nan was, but they joined in the cheering nonetheless, filling the Grand Playground with a chorus of “Nan Nan! Nan Nan!”
Lin Nan at the back stage was turning green, feeling more embarrassed than a green pickle.
“Next, let’s welcome our two teams on stage! First up, give a round of applause for my cute little Nan Nan’s team!”
The audience erupted in cheers, with Big Dog’s voice particularly standing out.
Oh man! How is this more embarrassing than when I had to wear a swimsuit?!
Lin Nan was stunned by this sudden wave of cheers; he had never expected to be this popular at school.
Hearing the host call for their team, Chen Yao stepped forward first, and Lin Nan hastily kept his head down, trailing behind Chen Yao.
As he took the stage, another wave of noise erupted from the audience, sounding like a tsunami.
He could barely lift his head, only daring to glance down at the crowd. Where there had only been around a hundred people previously, it seemed that at least three to five hundred were now cheering.
Even the makeshift stools prepared by the organizers weren’t enough, and most of the audience had directly stood on the grass or were peering in from the sidelines.
The stage was very close to the audience, and Lin Nan could even see the excited expression on Big Dog’s face and Lin Yuan’s slightly annoyed look.
“Nan Nan! Nan Nan!”
For the love of all that’s good, stop shouting!
Lin Nan’s lips twitched.
“Welcome, the ‘Pee-Pee Shrimp, We Are Coming’ team! Give it up for them!”
This cheer was noticeably quieter, since Lin Nan still had some internet fame and was regarded as the school’s not-so-famous pseudo-girl boss; the opposing team, however, was just a bunch of unknown students.
“Next, we have the player introductions! Lin Nan! Diamond I support player!!”
Previously, the organizers—the eSports club—had already briefed Lin Nan on the pre-match process. He turned beet red and took a step forward, slightly bowing before hastily returning a couple of steps, hiding half his body behind Chen Yao’s shoulder.
“Nan Nan, I love you!” Big Dog’s shout rang out again.
This is too embarrassing! Can you please shut up! MMP!
Lin Nan shot a glare at Big Dog, but there was a distance between them. Big Dog continued shouting, “Nan Nan, number one in the world!”
A crowd of students, regardless of whether they knew Lin Nan or not, was wildly cheering, turning the player introductions into something resembling a star meet-and-greet.
“Chen Yao! Diamond I ADC player!”
“Chen Yao, I want to have your babies!” Big Dog jumped with excitement.
Just moments ago enjoying the spotlight, Chen Yao suddenly found the attention turned back to him, his face turning dark.
Thanks to Big Dog, who was cheering and acting silly down below, the atmosphere in the venue finally heated up. No matter whether the audience recognized the players or not, as long as they were shouting and cheering, that was all that mattered.
Soon, the pre-game preparations concluded under the sour faces of all ten players, and the much-despised Big Dog finally shut his mouth, waiting patiently to shout again when Lin Nan’s eyes met his.
