Rebirth is fine, but I get eight hundred dollars right from the start?

"HWG starting lineup??"

"Who... are we going to face, directly against E-God?"

"Holy crap, playing against the league's number one team?"

"How are we supposed to fight this? Hit it with our heads?"

"No way, in a novel, we'd be beginners who've just learned basic attacks and blocking, and now they're sending us to fight the final boss?"

"Benboerba's authority over eliminating Tang Sanzang and his disciples is still rising."

"We can't say that. This collision might actually be an opportunity for us."

"Nice, finally a chance! I haven't been matched with E much in ranked games. Watch me pull off a solo kill today."

"Just do your best. We don't need to actually beat those monsters, but as long as we perform well, we should all improve our individual ratings."

The room was filled with sounds.

Some people turned pale; others had shining eyes and were already demonstrating their favorite heroes to their teammates; and a few others were quietly scrolling through their phones, quickly jotting something down in their notes app.

It was probably a last-minute cramming session; they reviewed the laning habits and teamfight positioning patterns of each of HWG's starting players that they had learned after joining the youth training camp.

Fang Han and Qin Yijie are undoubtedly among those who have been eagerly anticipating their return.

Qi Zhanming waited for the commotion to last for about ten seconds before raising his hand and pressing it down slightly.

"Quiet."

The training room fell silent again.

"Don't worry about winning or losing. Today's segment doesn't determine scores based on winning or losing."

"So what's the purpose of this match? Three objectives."

"First, I'll let you experience firsthand the difference between professional-level matches and ranked games."

"Many of you here have high rank scores and think your skills are fine—but in ranked games, the enemy mid laner won't coordinate with the jungler to tower dive, and they won't have the support roam around to force you to reposition when you're farming safely. You'll understand these differences after playing one game."

"Secondly, we will assess your ability to withstand pressure."

"After being solo killed in lane, do you hide under the tower and AFK, or do you adjust your mentality and continue to farm? After being ganked and crushed by the jungler, do you argue with your teammates, or do you try to make up for it in other ways? You can't see these things in the training room, nor can you see them in a winning game. You can only see them when you're crushed."

"third--"

He paused, his gaze falling on Luo Yu's row. "And most importantly, I hope you can see clearly how far you are from a real profession."

Qi Zhanming ignored the commotion below and continued, "The rules are simple. You'll draw lots to form groups of five, and you can coordinate your positions yourselves. It will be a tournament match, with normal draft picks, normal summoner spells, and normal runes and masteries. After the match, we'll review the game, and the coaching staff will score you. Losing won't deduct points, but everyone's performance in the match will be included in the overall evaluation."

After the rules were read out, some contestants in the audience started complaining:

"If we don't judge based on winning or losing, doesn't that mean we basically have no chance of winning?"

"truth!"

"What's wrong with you? HWG, who swept the entire league, and North American TSM, who won a single scrim and are already tweeting about it? You think you're better than those seasoned pros?"

"Everyone should have dreams!"

"HWG's starting five, excluding Xiye who has only been playing for a short time, the others have been playing together for a year. Their synergy, tactical execution, and laning details—even if we were all together, we couldn't compare. That's a fact, there's nothing to be ashamed of."

Qi Zhanming ignored the discussion in the training room, took his hands out of his pockets, and patted them: "The group list is already posted on the bulletin board at the entrance. Go check it out yourself. The first scrimmage starts at 2 PM today, and the opponent is the entire starting lineup of HWG."

He turned and walked to the door, his hand on the doorknob, then turned back and added:

"By the way, HWG's starting mid laner today isn't Xiye, it's Emperor!"

【! ! ! 】

What is this?

[Will E-God himself take the stage?]

[Fine, fine, damn it, the LPL Summer Split hasn't even played many games, and you're preparing to play six full games in the academy, huh?]

[Case solved. What's so great about a profession? Making money through variety shows is the real deal.]

Just tell me, are you going to watch it or not!

【look!】

[Quick, quick, spread the word on the anti-Japanese forum, so the brothers don't miss the exciting moments.]

[Interesting, really interesting. The rookies from the youth training program have just left... no, they've barely entered the starting area, and they're already facing the strongest boss on the entire map!]

……

On the other hand, the six lists were directly displayed on the program schedule below the live stream.

Zhao Yicheng is in the third group, and Li Ye is in the same group as him.

Luo Yu was assigned to the fifth group.

Fang Han and Qin Yijie, the two strongest individuals, were assigned to the sixth group, while Jiang Chenglu was alone in the fourth group.

It wasn't even 2 PM yet, and the live stream room was already almost overwhelmed with viewers.

The second phase of the "Next Stop, Pro!" event has just been released, and players are going crazy—

"??? HWG's entire roster is starting?"

"E God? Not Xiye? Am I seeing things?"

"Wow, the LPL Summer Split is so short-lived, they're playing six straight games in the youth training camp! The entertainment value is off the charts!"

"Never mind that, just tell me if you're going to watch it or not!"

"Look! You have to look! You're not human if you don't!"

"Six teams taking on HWG in a row, this is like the final boss spawning right at the starter area!"

The forum was even more lively.

Within minutes, seven or eight posts appeared on the homepage of the "Resist Pressure and Take the Blame" forum, each with an increasingly outrageous title:

E-God himself steps in! Six teams from the youth academy face off against HWG in a tag-team battle – is this a final boss fight at the entrance to the newbie village?

How to evaluate HWG's all-start lineup playing in a training match? Trainee: Did I break a cardinal rule?

"Place your bets! Which team can last twenty minutes?"

The replies below were even more numerous: "Twenty minutes? You think you can hold your head up?"

"Exactly. Even LPL teams might not be able to do that, so why are you expecting a bunch of youngsters who've only been in the youth training program for a short time to achieve it?"

"I'm betting on group six. With the top student and the playboy on board, they should be able to put up a fight."

"Le, it's only been a few days and you already have a nickname, huh?"

"We can only pray that E-God goes easy on us."

"Go easy on him? E-God doesn't hold back even in ranked games, and you expect him to hold back in the academy?"

Unlike the atmosphere on Tieba, many people on Duowan Forum have started technical analysis posts, seriously listing the laning habits, roaming times, and team fight positioning of HWG's starting five players... only to conclude in the end - "Stop analyzing, not getting crushed in fifteen minutes is a victory."

The online buzz gradually spread, eventually reaching QQ groups, where it turned into a series of live stream links being shared.

As time went on, some of the more astute smaller streamers on Huya, seeing this situation, immediately switched to a secondary viewer and created an eye-catching title, causing the number of viewers in their already small live stream of around a hundred to surge several times over.

Once the first person took the plunge, others on the platform followed suit, to the point that at any given moment, most of Huya's game streamers were waiting to broadcast the afternoon's matches.