The handshake had just finished, and the ten team members also came down from the vehicle one after another.
Team Leader Su was shocked once again.
He looked at the minibus, then at Zhang Yuan, and finally at the team members.
If someone didn’t know better, they might think this was some sports delegation’s vehicle!
These team members each had upright postures and solid muscles. They didn’t look like esports players at all, but rather resembled gymnasts.
The five people in front were still okay, looking somewhat normal, but the five behind—what kind of muscle monsters were they?
They looked like they could fight.
Team Leader Su silently noted that this scene was completely different from what he had imagined!
When we meet other esports clubs, they don’t have team members like this.
What kind of training programs have you been doing?
Team Leader Su’s head was full of question marks.
However, asking such questions would be too impolite, so Team Leader Su forcibly suppressed his curiosity and led Zhang Yuan and his group into the H4 Club facility.
According to the previously agreed schedule, they would first tour the club, then find an internet café nearby for practice matches.
Zhang Yuan wanted to visit other esports clubs this time to learn from their advanced experience.
Although the DGE Club was currently training quite well according to Mr. Pei’s training methods, Zhang Yuan still felt unsettled and wondered if he could learn some experience from these established clubs.
Huang Wang and several other team members were particularly excited.
The long-admired H4 Esports Club was finally going to reveal its mysterious veil! Would they be able to meet their favorite players and get autographs?
Everyone followed Team Leader Su to the club’s training hall.
Though called a training hall, it was actually just the original living room, with a total of seven computers arranged in a circle around it.
The living room wasn’t very large to begin with, and after being occupied by computer desks and seats, only a small area of about 2m x 2m remained in the middle, with a tea table placed there. With just six or seven people, it was already cramped.
On the wall hung H4 Club display boards, though they seemed to have been there for some years and looked quite outdated.
As for the tables, chairs, computers, and so on inside the room, they made Huang Wang and others feel like their eyes were burning.
It was a bit too undignified!
They were all very old-fashioned computer desks, not only narrow but, most importantly, with no consideration for ergonomics. The hand position was much higher than the elbow, and the mouse area wasn’t large enough. Playing like this for a long time would be uncomfortable.
As for the computers, they were not the latest configuration.
For some clubs, their main esports projects were mostly old games, and even for new games, to ensure the experience of most player groups, the configuration wouldn’t be very high.
So when purchasing computers, many clubs would cut costs in this area, ensuring that games could run smoothly was enough, why add several thousand yuan more to each computer for the highest configuration?
But in the eyes of Huang Wang and others, these training computers compared to ROF’s assembled computers were practically from the Stone Age.
One look at the case with no lights, and the configuration definitely couldn’t be good!
Huang Wang whispered to Old Zhou, “We’re not going to compete using these computers, are we? Don’t mess with me. With these computers, I’m afraid I can’t perform at even 50% of my ability. They look very difficult to use.”
Old Zhou also whispered, “It shouldn’t be that bad. They don’t have that many computers here, we’ll probably go to a nearby internet café.”
Huang Wang relaxed, “That’s good.”
Team Leader Su began enthusiastically introducing the base to Zhang Yuan.
The approach was actually similar to the DGE Esports Club, as clubs would definitely rent villas or apartments to save costs. The layouts of these residences were all similar, generally turning the living room into a training room and bedrooms into player dormitories.
But, similar approaches didn’t mean similar experiences.
Land in Shanghai was incredibly expensive, and even in the suburbs, these villas weren’t very spacious. This living room was far inferior to the villas at Mingyun Mountain Villa.
DGE Esports Club’s training hall was spacious and comfortable, while this one was more cramped than an ordinary internet café.
At DGE Esports Club, they had two people per room, but here, the bedrooms had bunk beds accommodating four people, with only a very few veteran players enjoying the privilege of single rooms.
During the tour, Huang Wang met a professional player from the “Star Sea” project whom he admired, and was very happy to get his autograph. Apart from that, however, his good impression of H4 had completely collapsed.
What happened to this being an established club?
What happened to it being high-end and professional?
These players were originally internet-addicted youths who had just started their professional careers by joining the DGE Esports Club. When they first arrived at the training base at Mingyun Mountain Villa, they were indeed surprised by the superior environment, but this also gave them the misconception that all good esports clubs in China were like this.
Now, after touring the H4 Esports Club, everyone suddenly realized—our club’s training conditions are too damn good!
Moreover, meals here seemed to rely entirely on takeout. Don’t misunderstand, not the kind from Slackin’ Takeout, but random ordering, eating whatever was available, taking a couple of bites of unpalatable food, and throwing it away, then eating again whenever hungry.
This left Huang Wang and others feeling incredible.
Because at the DGE Esports Club, Coach Yaling repeatedly emphasized nutrition concepts that had become deeply ingrained. Everything followed fitness standards—eating small meals frequently throughout the day, at least five or six meals including snacks, with a variety of foods combined to maintain balanced nutrition.
In contrast, wasn’t this place just a large internet café?
If they hadn’t stayed at the DGE Club before, everyone wouldn’t have felt anything inappropriate, since the transition from internet café to this kind of place was seamless.
But after enjoying such a good training environment and supporting facilities at the DGE Club, looking at this place, they immediately felt the conditions were far too poor!
The team members exchanged glances, each reading the same meaning from the other’s face.
This was too disappointing!
Of course, no one would say anything, as they understood basic courtesy.
While everyone was touring, the players of the H4 Club were also secretly observing them.
Many people’s faces showed expressions of shock.
Their first reaction was: What’s going on? Is our club going to socialize with a gym? That can’t be right, they’re all men, what’s the point of socializing?
Each of these people had solid muscles and upright postures. It felt like they might burst out of their clothes at any moment and shout, “White Emperor’s Holy Sword, follow my blade,” making people nervous.
After Huang Wang and the others had toured the club, the H4 Club players roughly understood that they were visitors from another club.
But this made it even more bizarre.
What kind of mysterious club was this—were they practicing esports or traditional sports?
In any case, the two groups looked at each other, completely missing each other’s wavelength.
Soon, the tour was complete.
Zhang Yuan was a bit disappointed—there was nothing to learn here!
It seemed Mr. Pei was right; domestic clubs were indeed too unprofessional now, and there was nothing to learn from them. Following Mr. Pei’s training methods seemed to be the most effective.
Everyone returned to the living room, which immediately became crowded.
Zhang Yuan suggested, “All right, thank you, Team Leader Su. Shall we start the practice match now?”
Team Leader Su nodded, “Sure, everyone, please wait outside while I have the players get ready. We’ll go to a nearby internet café.”
“Um, did you all bring your keyboards and mice?”
Zhang Yuan nodded, “Of course.”
Bringing keyboards and mice to away matches was common sense. A comfortable keyboard and mouse for a player were as important as a handy weapon for a warrior.
Ten minutes later, everyone arrived at a nearby internet café.
Huang Wang and others frowned again.
This… was far from the standard of Slackin’ Internet Café!
Although they had all played games in similar internet cafés before, and this high-end internet café was better than the ones they had frequented previously, Huang Wang and his team had unconsciously begun to judge other high-end internet cafés by Slackin’ Internet Café’s standards.
They didn’t expect these places to meet Slackin’ Internet Café 3.0 Esports Lifestyle Hall’s standards, but at least reach the 2.0 or 1.0 standards!
However, this internet café was only slightly better than Star Joy Internet Café, and according to Team Leader Su, this was already the best internet café they could find nearby.
Everyone felt dejected, but there was nothing they could do. When away from home, they had to make do!
The two competing teams each needed a private room to ensure sound isolation.
Huang Wang couldn’t help but recall a ridiculous experience from a café tournament he had participated in before joining the DGE Club.
At that time, all participating teams were arranged in the café’s main hall to choose their own seats freely, and before the match began, everyone entered the custom game room separately, with no one knowing exactly where their opponents were sitting.
Moreover, because the hall was noisy, they couldn’t hear their teammates speak when wearing headphones, so everyone wore headphones and used voice chat.
Halfway through the match, Huang Wang suddenly realized that the guy loudly shouting commands to his teammates across from him seemed to be playing in the same game.
The five people opposite were his opponents!
However, their commander completely failed to realize this, playing extremely immersed. Halfway through the match, he shouted “Steal dragon, steal dragon!” so loudly it could be heard throughout, and Huang Wang heard every word clearly, leading his brothers to wipe out both the dragon and the enemy team.
Although the hall was noisy and it was hard to hear conversation, the other side’s shouts were simply too loud, probably audible even outside the café, which made Huang Wang very embarrassed.
If he pretended not to hear them shouting like that, was he supposed to just let them steal the dragon? That didn’t make sense either.
He could only tearfully accept the situation. Brother, it wasn’t that I wanted to eavesdrop; it’s just that you shouted too loudly. Even if I plugged my ears, it wouldn’t have helped!
After the match, both sides stood up to shake hands, and the expressions on the other side were simply magnificent.
Especially the commander—this match would probably leave him with a permanent psychological shadow.
With each team in their private room, this kind of confusing behavior wouldn’t happen.
Zhang Yuan looked at the two team captains, “Which team goes first?”
Huang Wang thought for a moment, “For the first match, we should try for a good start, right? Team One goes first.”
Team One had better strategies, cooperation, and individual skills—Huang Wang’s developed biceps and chest muscles were the best proof of that.
Jiang Huan nodded; it didn’t make much difference to him.
Zhang Yuan nodded, “All right, then Team One goes first. Remember, pride goes before a fall. The foundation of a major club is beyond our imagination, We must give it our all!”
Coach Yaling coldly added, “I’ll record all the match records. If you lose, the whole team gets extra training when we get back.”