The ten team members got out of the bus after the handshake.
Team Leader Su was shocked once again. He looked at the small bus, to Zhang Yuan, and then finally at the players.
Those who did not know would think that this was the car of some sports delegation! These members were all tall and muscular. They were more like gymnasts than esports players. The five in front were alright; they looked normal. However, what was with the five muscle monsters at the back?! They seemed to be good at fighting.
Team Leader Su thought to himself silently. This looked totally different from what I imagined!
No other esports club had such types of members? What kind of training did you undergo usually?
Question marks floated over the head of Team Leader Su.
It was just that it was obviously impolite to ask these questions so Team Leader Su suppressed his curiosity forcibly. He brought Zhang Yuan and his team into the H4 Club.
They would first visit the club and then find an internet cafe nearby for a mock competition according to the previously finalized itinerary.
Zhang Yuan really wanted to visit the other esports Club and learn from their experiences.
The DGE club had been training very well according to Boss Pei's methods, but Zhang Yuan was still feeling unreliable. He wondered if he could glean some experiences from these old brands.
Huang Wang and some other members were obviously particularly excited. They were finally unveiling their adored H4 Esports Club! Were they able to meet their favorite players and ask for autographs?
Everyone followed Team Leader Su into the training hall of the club.
It was said to be a training hall, but it was actually the original living room. There were seven computers placed in a circle around the living room.
It was not big originally. Now that computer tables and seats squeezed into it, then there was only a small area of about two meters by two meters left in the middle. There was also a coffee table, but these seven people had no more space for movement. There was an H4 Club poster on the wall, but they looked old and out of place.
The tables, chairs, computers, etc. nearly made the eyes of Huang Wang and the others fall out of their sockets.
It was a little too shameful!
They were all very old-fashioned computer desks. Other than being narrow, they did not consider the most important ergonomic factor.
The position of their hands was significantly higher than the elbow, and the range of the mouse was not enough. One would be very uncomfortable if they played for an extended time.
The computers were obviously not new either.
That was because, for some clubs, the main esports games they played were all old games. Even for the new games, to ensure that everyone had the same experience, the configuration would not be very much different.
Therefore, when purchasing computers, many clubs would save some money in this area to ensure that the games could run smoothly. Why did one need to add a few thousand yuan per laptop to get the highest specifications?
However, in Huang Wang's view, these training computers were from the Stone Age when compared to the ROF Computer-Installation.
The configuration of these system units was definitely not good since there was no light on the chassis!
Huang Wang whispered to Old Zhou. "We are not going to use these computers to compete right? Please, no, I'm afraid that I wouldn't even be able to utilize 50% of my strength with these computers."
Old Zhou replied quietly, "I don't think so, there are not enough computers. We'll probably be heading to the nearby internet
cafe."
Huang Wang was relieved. "That's great."
Team Leader Su began introducing the base to Zhang Yuan enthusiastically. In fact, the approach was similar to DGE Esports Club, but the club definitely rented the villas or apartments to save costs. The residences were similar. It was nothing more than to change the living room into a training room and the bedroom into the players' dormitory.
But, that did not mean the experience was similar even if the approach was.
This villa might be in the suburbs of Shanghai, but every inch was worth its area in gold therefore these villas were not very spacious. It was a huge difference compared to Ming Yun Villas.
The training hall of DGE Esports Club was spacious and comfortable. Here, it was even squeezier than a normal internet bar. The DGE Esports Club had two to a room; here, they had upper and lower bunks which could squeeze four in a room. Only meritorious players could enjoy the treatment of a single room.
During the visit, Huang Wang met his favorite Starcraft professional player and obtained his signature happily. However, his good impression of H4 had completely collapsed.
Where was the good old club? Where were all the formality and high standards? These players were originally internet-addicted teenagers who joined DGE Esports Club when they first started playing professionally. They were really surprised by the superior environment when they first started training at Ming Yun Villas. It also gave them the illusion that good domestic esports clubs were the same. Everyone suddenly realized that their training conditions were too good after visiting the H4 Esports Club. Moreover, eating here seemed to rely purely on takeaways. Don't be mistaken; it was not like the Fish-Catching Take-Outs, but random takeaways. They would throw it away if it was not nice and order again when they were hungry.
That made Huang Wang and the others feel incredible.
That was because Coach Yaling repeatedly emphasized the concept of nutrition. It had taken deep roots into everyone's hearts and was completely in accordance with fitness standards. Eat at least five small meals a day, including extra meals and all sorts of food to maintain balanced nutrition.
Looking back to where they were here, wasn't it just a huge dubious internet club?
No one would have felt that anything was wrong if they had not been in the DGE Club. One could achieve a seamless connection from an internet club like this.
However, after enjoying such a good training environment and supporting facilities in the DGE Club, they immediately felt that the conditions here were too scant.
The players looked at each other and understood that they were all having the same feeling from each other's faces.
That was too disappointing!
Of course, they would not say anything. They understood basic courtesy.
The players of H4 Club were also secretly observing them while they were visiting. Many of them showed shocked expressions on their faces.
The first reaction was: What was this? Is our club going to be associated with the gym? What was this? Why so many guys? The group of people had strong muscles and had tall statures. They felt as though they would burst their clothes in the next second and shout 'the Sacred White Sword, follow me', it made them scared.
After Huang Wang and the others went around the club, the H4 Club had roughly figured out that this was a visit by the other clubs.
However, that was even more bizarre this way.
What kind of mystery club was this? Was it for the esports club, or was it for traditional sports?
In short, both sides looked at each other with their expectations totally off track.
The visitation ended in no time.
Zhang Yuan was a little disappointed; he did not manage to learn about anything! It seemed like Boss Pei was right. The domestic clubs were indeed too irregular, and he could not learn anything from them. It seemed as though Boss Pei's method was the most effective.
Everyone returned to the living room, and this place immediately became crowded.
"Alright, thank you, Team Leader Su. Shall we start the mock competition?" Zhang Yuan suggested
Team Leader Su nodded. "Sure, everyone, please wait outside. I'll get my team members ready. We'll head to an internet cafe nearby.
"Uh, did everyone bring their own keyboards and mouses?" Zhang Yuan nodded. "Of course."
It was common sense to bring your own keyboard and mouse when you were out for competitions. A set of handy mouse and keyboard was as important to the players as handy weapons were to a fighter.
After ten minutes, everyone came to an internet cafe nearby.
Everyone frowned again.
This... Was simply too far from the standards of Fish-Catching Internet Cafe!
Everyone used to play in similar internet cafes previously, and the environment of this high-end internet cafe was better than the internet cafe they were in previously. However, Huang Wang and the rest had subconsciously used the standard of Fish-Catching Internet Cafe and imposed it onto other high-end internet cafes.
One should at least meet the standards of Fish-Catching Internet Cafe 2.0-or even 1.0even if they could not meet the standards of the latest Live Esports Museum at Fish-Catching Internet Cafe 3.0?
However, this internet cafe was basically a little better than Xing Le Internet Cafe. According to Team Leader Su, this was the best Internet cafe nearby. Everyone was feeling melancholy, but there was no helping it. They were outside so they had to make do!
The two teams must choose a private room to ensure sound insulation. Huang Wang could not help but think of his funny experiences of participating in an internet cafe competition before entering the DGE Club.
At that time, all participating teams were allowed to choose their seats freely in the lobby of the internet cafe. Before the start of their game, most of them entered their custom rooms, and no one knew where their opponents were seated.
However, it was impossible to hear your teammates because the lobby was very noisy so they all had earphones on and spoke.
As a result, Huang Wang realized that the guy opposite him speaking loudly to his teammates seemed to be in the match with him.
The five at the opposite team were his own opponent! However, the commander from the opposite side did not recognize it at all being fully immersed in the game. Halfway through the match, he shouted at the top of his lungs 'steal the dragon, steal the dragon'. Huang Wang heard everything loud and clear so he brought his team to the nest of the dragon. The hall was noisy, but his opponent shouted so loud that his voice could probably be heard outside the Internet cafe. That made Huang Wang very embarrassed. Could they feign that they could not hear what they were shouting about and really let them steal the dragon? That made no sense.
He could only slurp it all up with tears. Brother, I did not want to eavesdrop. You can only blame yourself for shouting so loudly; I could hear it even if I wore earplugs.
After the game, both sides shook hands. The expressions on the opposite side were simply brilliant. Especially the commander, this competition might just leave a shadow in his heart forever.
There would not be such confusing behavior now that both sides had their own private rooms.
Zhang Yuan looked at both captains. "Which team goes first?"
Huang Wang gave it some thought. "We should definitely strive for a good start to the first match? Team One goes first."
Team One was better in tactics, coordination, and personal skills. Huang Wang's developed biceps and chest muscles were the best proof. Jiang Huan nodded. It made no difference to him.
Zhang Yuan nodded. "Okay, Team One will go first. Remember, the arrogant soldiers would be defeated. The strength of a big club is not something we can imagine. We must go all out!"
"I'll record down the results of all matches; if you lose, the entire team will go back for additional training," Coach Yaling added coldly.
Chapter 571 Coach Ma, How about You Play?
Team One entered the private room while Team Two switched on five computers in the lobby near the private room.
Logically speaking, Team Two should go in and watch the game, but Zhang Yuan was worried that the H4 Club might think it was unfair that Team Two watched and commanded Team One. He, therefore, did not let Team Two in.
To be fair, Team Leader Su suggested that the team leaders of both sides enter to watch the game without saying a word or give any command.
Zhang Yuan readily agreed.
In fact, Team Leader Su was being sneaky. He was thinking how could they possibly fight if the personal trainer and special tactical coach went in to guide them?
Captain Zhang seemed to be the only one who did not understand much about the game; it was probably alright for him to enter.
Therefore, Ma Yang and Li Yaling were waiting outside.
Huang Wang turned on his computer and asked the other players. "Should we play solo, or should we customize it?"
Generally speaking, they should play solo. The mock competition would definitely be longer than a single match. The timing might be just right for the mock competition when they were done with their solo.
However, Old Zhou looked at the computer in the internet cafe with a little disgust. "Custom. The configuration of this computer does not look very good. I'm afraid of losing my ranking if we play solo."
Huang Wang pondered this for a moment, thinking that it made sense.
He could not help but worry about Team One. The configuration of the computer here was incomparable to ROF. He did not know if Jiang Huan and the rest could get used to it.
Ma Yang was feeling a bit bored. He wanted to go in and watch the battle. Unfortunately, this special status of 'Coach Ma' aroused the alarm of Team Leader Su. He could only watch on as Team Two played their custom match.
Coach Yaling fidgeted her arms and wrists subconsciously.
It was a painful thing for her not to go to the gym during their time in Shanghai. However, this was for work as well so she could not do anything. She had nothing to do now so she moved her joints around to keep them active.
After twenty minutes...
Team Two's custom training just reached a sweet spot. The players had finally summed up a set of effective practice methods during the routine custom practices.
At first, everyone thought it was boring and fooled around with it. However, they slowly began to consciously analyze some data, repeatedly using skills to enhance muscle memory, and repeat for every hero.
Twenty minutes meant they were only halfway through after they were used to such boring training
However, right at this point in time, the door to the private room opened. Zhang Yuan walked out with a blank look on his face.
Huang Wang was stunned as well. "The game was suspended? Someone went offline?"
Twenty minutes had passed. Adding the banning process, they were only 15 minutes into the actual game. They should be in a fierce battle right about now. What did it mean for him to have come out now?
However, the door of the next private room opened as well. Team Leader Su walked out with a blank expression as well to see Coach Yaling exercising.
Team Leader Su's face changed. Why was the personal trainer of his opponent showing him such actions? Was this... threatening him?
As expected, they were unfriendly opponents!
Zhang Yuan and Team Leader Su looked at each other, unsure of what to say to each other.
They were flattened in less than 15 minutes! Their bases were taken directly without exterminating the three lanes, farming, or even taking the dragon.
In fact, the game could be extended if the DGE Club played casually. However, Jiang Huan was obviously a firm person. He held respect for his opponents so he went all out and flattened them quickly. The results were that both leaders were confused.
Zhang Yuan was confused as well. His opponents were professionals; they might not have formed the team too long ago, but they were also the crème de la crème. How could they be beaten so easily?
Team Leader Su was confused as well. Yes, could the members of my team be fake crème de la crème? Was I fooled?
Why couldn't they even retaliate? Obviously, there were also huge differences between pros. Those teams that dominated in the secondary leagues were all experienced and led the match by the nose. Five pros could only be beaten by regulars if they did not have good tactics and cooperation. Zhang Yuan said at the beginning, for Team One to go all out.
Therefore, Jiang Huan used all sorts of tactics. The players from H4 in the high-end ranking had never seen such tactics. They felt that their knowledge of the entire game had been overthrown.
They were beaten 0-5 at the start. All their wild areas were lost, and they quickly lost their fighting spirit. In the end, they struggled symbolically, but it all went down the drain.
In short, the final headcount was fixed at 0 – 14. That was in the situation where Team One was thinking about having a quick fight without killing unnecessarily.
Zhang Yuan could not say anything either. He couldn't possibly say 'Sorry, my team played too seriously. I'll get them to play less seriously in the next game', right?
Team Leader Su coughed awkwardly. "Captain Zhang, erm, the gap between our teams seems to be too big. Our club had just been formed after all. To ensure the training effect do you want to change to... Team Two?"
Team Leader Su understood now. The five on the opposite team were simply not humans. Their gaps were so big that there was a need to continue the mock competition. There would not be any training effect if they continued this way. It would only make the confidence of the players collapse and start doubting their lives.
If it was Team Two...
It seemed like they were physically stronger than Team One so they should be much worse?
Zhang Yuan also had this intention. He nodded and agreed. "Okay, Huang Wang, bring your own keyboards and mouse and change team with Team One."
Huang Wang was at a loss, too. The opponent might have lost, but they would not have been flattened in less than 15 minutes?
This Jiang Huan was too ruthless! He did not show any mercy at all.
You should have realized that the opponents were not your match halfway through. How could you still bear to do this? You should let them leave with their pride.
Team Leader Su hurriedly went back to the private room, seeing DGE's Team Two move their stuff.
Obviously, it was to urgently formulate tactics and to boost morale.
Huang Wang was about to enter the private room but was pulled back by Zhang Yuan. "Erm, Team One was a bit ruthless. What if the opposing team was hurt too badly and did not want to practice with us anymore? It would be a wasted trip then, and it seemed to be bad for their pride.
"I'm not asking you to lose on purpose, but just play as steady as possible and prolong the match, understand?" Huang Wang patted his chest. "Don't worry, I understand!"
Team One and Team Two swapped. The door of the private room was closed, but Zhang Yuan did not enter.
Ma Yang was a little curious. "Are you not going to watch the game?"
Zhang Yuan shook his head silently. "It's too tragic, too inhumane. I really cannot continue watching it..."
Ma Yang became excited when he heard it. "Really? I want to watch it!"
Zhang Yuan hurriedly stopped him. "Don't. Watch the recording back at the hotel."
They would definitely be suspected by the other party if 'Coach Ma' were to enter.
Team One also practiced with customized games.
Ten minutes had passed.
Half an hour had passed.
Fifty minutes had passed...
Zhang Yuan looked at his watch, wanting to enter into the private room to ask what was going on. Could some bug appear in this match and stop it? Why else would it take so long?
The room of the private room opened and out walked Huang Wang.
"How was it?" Zhang Yuan asked hurriedly.
Huang Wang slapped his chest. "It's done! It would definitely be long enough this time!"
He lowered his voice and said, "Every time we gained an advantage, we would definitely give in on something so that both sides would return onto the starting point and continue to fight.
Unfortunately, they made a serious mistake in the last bout. We accidentally gave them a 0 – 5. We could not continue on with the pretense anymore and flattened them." Zhang Yuan blinked in confusion. It sounded very reliable but felt something somewhere was wrong...
The door to the private room of the H4 club opened, and three team members rushed towards the restroom. The other two players leaned weakly onto the computer chair as if they were hollowed out.
On the other hand, Huang Wang and his team were still alive and kicking, showing their physical advantage.
Team Leader Su's expression was no better than his team members. If the last round was sudden death, then this round was a slow cat and mouse game before the final blow...
The opposing team would give something up with their botched acting skills every time the opposing team took the lead. That would lead both of them back to the same point.
However, this performance was too obvious. It nearly became a turn-based game!
The more humiliating thing was that one knew the other party would destroy one ruthlessly in the next match, but they suddenly sent one warmth, and they would ruthlessly destroy one again...
However, one had no way to break out of it!
The players at the side of H4 realized it early. As players with backbone, of course, they desperately tried to fight back. However, after fighting back several times, they found that there seemed to be no difference in resisting or in not resisting...
What was more tragic than rapid death was to be played in the palms of the opponent like a toy...
So infuriating!
Their key was that the other side leveled the playing field with money and equipment, and yet they were no opponent of theirs.
There was a sense of fated powerlessness.
Everyone was stunned when the last game was lost too fast. This round was delayed for too long and made everyone clearly realize the gap between them.
The members of H4 were getting drowsy especially in the long battle. Their operations went out of hand where Huang Wang accidentally defeated them 0-5.
There was some awkwardness on both sides.
Looking at Team Leader Su's expression, Zhang Yuan instantly realized what was going on. Obviously, their acting was too bad and the other side saw through it. What was more terrifying than not having EQ was thinking that you had EQ... However, Huang Wang could not be blamed. These were all internet-addicted teenagers; what EQ would they possess?
If they really had EQ, would they have killed Boss Ma 0 – 28?
Team Leader Su was a little sad. "Captain Zhang, do you... have Team Three?"
It was a question that went directly to his soul.
He was very helpless as well. They could not tell which team was better between Team One and Team Two. They all did fanciful abuses.
The training on both sides had no effect at all if the gap was too big!
To the DGE team, playing with teams on a lower level than them would cause them to degenerate. To the H4 Team, they would not be able to improve if they were abused every day. Their confidence would most likely be destroyed.
The sentence 'Do you have Team Three?' really stopped Zhang Yuan. He was silent for a long time before he looked at Ma Yang and suggested, "Perhaps... Coach Ma, how about you play?"
Load the players and balance their strength?
Zhang Yuan was still thinking that Ma Yang was a calefare previously. Now, it seemed like Boss Ma was a crucial weight to balance both sides on the capability scale!
Chapter 572 Coach Ma, We're Evenly Matched!
When Ma Yang heard that he would have the opportunity to go up, he was elated. "Alright, I'll start warming up right now!"
He ordinarily used Fish-Catching Internet Cafe's mouse and keyboard when he played as well. Thus, it did not take long for him to warm up.
Huang Wang did not seem bothered. After playing a game against the H4 Club, he could guess his opponents' standard. Even if Boss Ma kept feeding the opponents kills, it would not matter. There were four against five; it would not be an impossible fight.
Boss Ma could choose a slacker. No matter how many times he died, he would still eat up the opposing team's resources. If they activated their defense outfits and equipment, they would probably still be able to win.
However, Zhang Yuan gathered all ten contestants very seriously. After that, he started to lay out the battle plan.
"Let me tell you: not a single one of you should be thinking about sacrificing Boss Ma! You might feel happy after the game, but if Boss Ma loses 0-28 again, would he be able to continue playing?
"He wouldn't play anymore, and then who would balance out the skills? Coach Yaling doesn't know a thing about this game, and I... what if the opponents still stand no chance against us once I step up? It's entirely possible!
"I'm telling you: let Boss Ma take the bottom path. Let the supporter protect him as much as possible. Boss Ma has to have a positive KDA. If you could give him more kills, it would be best, understand?"
Huang Wang was shocked.
"That's... asking too much, isn't it?"
The team could easily have won if Boss Ma chose particularly useful support and farmed creeps under the tower at the bottom lane while the mid-laner and jungler defeated the opponents' mid-laner and jungler before covering the bottom lane.
Yet, they were now supposed to let Boss Ma play the center?
Not only would they miss many hits at the start of the game, but they could even be crippled in the later part of it.
What's more, Boss Ma was so horrid at the game that any slip up could lead to him being killed. Wouldn't it be too difficult to try and guarantee a positive result for him?
All would still be well if Boss Ma didn't die too much, but if he did, then they would have to find a way to give Boss Ma more kills.
However, a player like Boss Ma might not even be able to successfully kill an opponent despite how hard the rest of the team tried to assist him!
Zhang Yuan's expression darkened. "What do we mean by balancing the skills? The possibility of either side losing means that the skills are balanced! How else would you be able to train? We're not here to have fun! If the game isn't difficult, we have to create hurdles for ourselves!
"Stop trying to bargain with me. Not a single one out of ten of you should even think about running away. Suck it up and get up there. Whoever fails the mission... Coach Yaling, remember him and give him extra training when we get back!"
At once, all the members' grins disappeared. Now, they looked like they were facing a formidable enemy.
They had still been chatting and laughing earlier, thinking that they would easily be able to win even with four against five. However, now they realized that they had been too optimistic!
Huang Wang immediately stopped his three other teammates. "We have to quickly discuss our strategy." From the other side, Team Leader Su saw the entire series of events and became very confused.
What? Has Coach Ma gone to warm up?
Judging from how professional Coach Ma was and how he could become the special tactical coach of such a strong team, Team Leader Su guessed that he was at least a Grand Master.
Would they still try their best, seeing how strong the opposite side was?
Weren't the skills supposed to be balanced?
Yet, Team Leader Su felt too ashamed to ask. The other parties had already said that they wanted to balance the skills out, and so they would have to play a match to see the results!
The doors to both private rooms closed.
Obviously, the six team members outside were in no mood to train on their own. Every one of them felt apprehensive inside. That was because it was going to be their turn soon!
Zhang Yuan continued waiting outside, his expression extremely worried because he feared that the team members would feel so high that they forgot about Boss Ma.
After ten minutes, Jiang Yuan leaned his ear against the door to listen to what was going on inside. He could hear faint voices inside the private room.
"Escape first, escape first. It's not stable. Don't fight, don't fight!"
"Steady yourself!" "I have a chance; I'll kill him myself!" "Quickly, top-laner, come down! They want to advance through the bottom lane!"
"Quickly, quickly, quickly, quickly..."
The situation was more intense than he had imagined. In fact, during their usual mock competitions, Zhang Yuan had never heard Huang Wang shouting in this manner before.
The entire match lasted about forty minutes. The voices in the private room slowly quieted down.
This time, the door to H4's private room opened first.
Team Leader Su's expression still looked slightly regretful, but there was also a smile on his face. "Ah, what a pity. We were just a short way from winning!"
Huang Wang opened the door to his private room and walked out. Quietly, he patted Jiang Huan on the shoulder. With that, he seemed to say 'The next round is your turn. Good luck!'
Before this, Huang Wang had looked flushed and re-energized after the match. It looked like he had just been playing and not competing at all.
Yet, now, Huang Wang looked exhausted. Although he was normally talkative, he spoke very little now as he opened a bottle of water and began drinking.
Zhang Yuan heaved a huge sigh of relief. Excellent, I've created more competition to train them!
Both parties' skills had been very different before. Even with Ma Yang, it merely made them play four against five. All they had needed was to come up with some tricks at the start and allow the jungler, top-laner, and mid-laner to take off. Then, the competition would undoubtedly be killed off.
However, Zhang Yuan added a limiting condition. Boss Ma's KDA ratio had to be positive. At once, the game became extremely difficult, and the gap between both parties was closed.
That was because each time the four other members wanted to fight, they first had to consider if Boss Ma would survive and be able to kill the opponents.
If the team won, but Boss Ma died, they would still get extra training when they returned.
Thus, the four of them had to surround Boss Ma and play. Their range of tactics had immediately been reduced. Everyone had been kept within a small range of operations as they tried hard to close the gap. Of course, there was another important reason. The H4 Club had thought about aiming for Coach Ma, but DGE's mid-laner and jungler paid close attention to the bottom lane. In addition to the protection of the support, H4 had to give up trying to kill Coach Ma at all costs.
Thus, after an extremely close fight, DGE barely emerged victorious. Boss Ma's final KDA ratio was 2-2-3, which was considered a positive result.
Ma Yang walked out of the private room with a grin on his face.
What a good time!
He felt like the universe revolved around him
– he had participated at an overwhelming level.
Team Leader Su rushed over at once and grabbed Ma Yang's hand. "Coach Ma! Thank you! Thank you very much!" Zhang Yuan sighed inwardly. Ai, there's nothing I could do. The fact that Boss Ma can't play GOG at all has still been exposed. He could not help it either. To make the training more difficult for the team, he could only resort to this. No matter how foolish the opponents were, they would still have been able to tell that Boss Ma was bronze-tier standard.
Yet, Team Leader Su looked very genuine and grateful as he said, "Coach Ma, you're so thoughtful! You knew that the two teams were worlds apart, and so, as you trained them tactically, you closed the gap between our skills!"
Zhang Yuan: "?"
Obviously, Team Leader Su could tell that the two teams were of vastly different standards. Since he knew that Ma Yang was a special tactical coach, he assumed that Ma Yang was instructing the team on tactics no matter how badly he played.
Before Coach Ma played, the team acted clumsily. Although there were five members on both sides, H4 stood no chance. Despite fighting as hard as they could, they failed miserably. One could say that it had been a catastrophe.
However, after Coach Ma came on board, the opponents' acting skills became passable and even realistic. Every one of them deserved an Oscar. The teams had really been on par at that time!
The change was not that simple! Coach Ma was lousy and his agility was horrible, but that alone would not have equalized the teams.
If DGE had a burden on their team, the other four members could have sent him to die. Ma Yang would still have to do what he had to do, and the fight would not have been so anxiety-inducing. However, due to something that Coach Ma had done, the entire team's battle skills were lowered. In the end, both teams had an extremely close and exciting competition!
Obviously, Boss Ma's guidance had brought the team from acting poorly to being capable of winning Oscars!
It was difficult to make a lousy team capable through instruction and tactical planning alone.
However, it was equally difficult to make a great team horrible through those methods!
One only had to observe the situation to know that Coach Ma had a unique understanding of the game. That was the only reason why he could equalize both teams through his instructions and cause both teams to learn something from the mock competition!
Thus, Team Leader Su felt infinitely grateful to him. Although Coach Ma was horrible at the game, he was extremely experienced in terms of tactical planning.
Zhang Yuan was speechless. He had not thought that his simple reference to Ma Yang as a 'special tactical coach' could have won Team Leader Su over so easily...
However, it was inappropriate for him to clarify things now. Thus, he had no choice but to let the mistake fester.
Still smiling, Team Leader Su said, "Coach Ma, we're evenly matched. Let's play again!"
Ma Yang grinned and said, "Alright!" Zhang Yuan rushed to the second team, led by Jiang Huan, and then shot them a look. "Go ahead."
Once everyone entered the private rooms, Huang Wang sorrowfully said, "Brother Zhang, would all the clubs we'll be visiting be like them? If so, we'd be better off returning to Jingzhou earlier.
"Even with Boss Ma in our team, we're tied. These teams are horrible, aren't they?"
Zhang Yuan sighed. "We can't go back because we haven't finished spending the funds. Boss Pei wouldn't allow us to return.
"Just bear with it, everyone. Based on our current itinerary, we'll visit a new club every three days. Let's play with the five most famous clubs before we decide on our next move.
"If all of those clubs are this horrible, we'll forget about the smaller clubs later on. Once two weeks pass, we'll go home."
July 7th, Thursday...
Chen Kangtuo walked out of Thriller Hostel's third project, looking extremely sad but excited. Finally, he had fulfilled Boss Pei's requests! His experience over the last few days was inexplicable.
At first, he had wanted to bluff Hao Qiong into experiencing Thriller Hostel with him. If both of them had gone through it together, at least he would have had company.
However, Hao Qiong did not fall for it. He had said, "Boss Pei only requested that of you and not of me. I still have loads of work to do." In short, no matter how Chen Kangtuo tried to bluff him, he was immovable.
Thus, Chen Kangtuo had no other option but to go through Thriller Hostel's third project again and again, all by himself.
The fact that Chen Kangtuo had gone to the "Smog Mountain' State Mental Hospital in the United States did not mean that he would not be scared by Thriller Hostel.
Of course, the 'Smog Mountain' State Mental Hospital was more terrifying
When they started working on the third project of Thriller Hostel, they had not thought about turning customers away. Instead, they had applied the same concept that they applied to games: they wanted to bluff customers into coming and then slowly increase the horror levels so that the experience became scarier as they ventured further into the haunted house.
Chen Kangtuo had designed that himself. Thus, to some extent, he had dug his own grave...
When he first entered, he had been tortured and felt extremely terrified. However, the more he entered, the more familiar he became with the surroundings and the less afraid he felt.
That was to be expected. It was like many employees who worked in haunted houses; they got used to their surroundings quickly. Chen Kangtuo proudly picked up his phone and called Boss Pei.
"Boss Pei! I did as you said and familiarized myself with all the details in every project of Thriller Hostel! Please, come and review my performance!"
On the other side of the line, Pei Qian fell silent.
Review your performance? How am I supposed to do that? Do you want me to enter the haunted house with you and watch how easy it is for you to get out?
In the end, would it be you or me who gets frightened?
Dream on! Pei Qian sniggered. "There's no need. That's not important."
Once he said that, he hung up at lightning speed.
Chen Kangtuo looked at his cell phone, confused.
"Boss Pei said... it's not important? Then, why did Boss Pei make me memorize every detail of Thriller Hostel?"
After considering this for a long time, a realization dawned on Chen Kangtuo. "Could it be... Boss Pei isn't saying that this particular thing is not important, but that it's not important for him to review my performance?
"It's important that I memorize every detail of Thriller Hostel...
"In other words... Boss Pei wants me to memorize all the details in the hopes that I would experience it from a visitor's point of view. Am I supposed to find all the shortcomings and work to perfect them, to improve customers' experience?"
Chapter 573 Good News—the Largest Haunted House in Jingzhou has Opened!
July 8th, Friday...
As usual, Pei Qian had breakfast at Fish-Catching Internet Cafe and then drank coffee as he perfected his mind map. "Hey, Boss Pei, isn't today the opening of the Thriller Hostel? Why aren't you watching over it?" Xiao Peng couldn't help but ask curiously when he saw how calm Boss Pei was. Pei Qian sipped his coffee and smiled, saying, "I'm not going."
What's so interesting about an opening?
One doesn't even have to think to know that there would be many people!
With the backing of Tengda's reputation in Jingzhou, the advertising done by the shared phone booths, 'Top Student, Come Quick', and the other investors, and the traffic directed by Tengda Games and Quanmin Reviews... it would be perfect-and too good to be true—to Pei Qian if the Thriller Hostel was deserted on this opening day. Therefore, Pei Qian didn't see a point in hoping for that. He just had to lie low in the next few days after the opening. More importantly, he had to observe the developments after this first wave of customers visited Thriller Hostel.
Pei Qian had not given up on the Thriller Hostel yet... mainly because this project had its last line of defense, which was also the first line of defense: its sales model.
Of course, Thriller Hostel had had three or four lines of defense, such as its remote location, inconvenient transportation, the lack of surrounding facilities, insufficient publicity, and so on. However, those lines of defense had collapsed even before Thriller Hostel opened. It was very sad indeed.
Still, Pei Qian could rely on the last line of defense.
This was Pei Qian's pricing strategy: the first project—where many people would go-would be extremely cheap; the second project would be scarier and moderately-priced, but if one wanted to complete it, they would have to memorize every project's procedures and operations; the third project would be more expensive, but only those who passed the second project would qualify to enter.
That way, most people would be attracted by the first project but stopped at the second project. Visitors who entered the third project and ended up paying for it would be very few, and most of them would not visit again.
A lot of money had gone into the construction and maintenance of Thriller Hostel. The first project had limited space, and even if it was fully packed throughout the day, it would not make much money. As long as visitors did not enter the second and third projects on a large scale and they did not spend crazily in the Golden Maze, then Thriller Hostel would not be profitable.
In any case, the first wave of visitors would be the most dangerous. There would be haunted house enthusiasts from Handong Province, old customers of Tengda, and even enthusiasts of Tengda's games from all over the country.
However, they certainly could not visit haunted houses every day. Once the novelty and popularity passed, the Thriller Hostel would be safe. That was why Pei Qian intended to stay away from the limelight over those two days. Going to Thriller Hostel now would definitely result in nothing good.
Yet, looking at Boss Pei's nonchalant expression as he silently drank coffee and typed on his computer, Xiao Peng could not help but feel like the former was planning for possibilities.
How could Boss Pei resist going to Thriller Hostel on its opening day even though the key project had required such a huge investment and had taken such a long time to build?
What kind of perseverance did that show?!
Moreover, that was not something that could be done by perseverance alone. Boss Pei had to have absolute confidence in the Thriller Hostel project to maintain such a calm demeanor.
Xiao Peng could not help but sigh. Boss Pei was extraordinary!
Inspired by him, Xiao Peng found a quiet corner and began to seriously consider the upcoming work that he had to do for Fish-Catching Internet Cafe. That included the locations and preparations for the new branches.
As Pei Qian continued working on his mind map, his cell phone rang.
Ding. He frowned and thought to himself: could there already be bad news from Thriller Hostel? It couldn't be.
When he picked up the phone and saw who it was, Pei Qian rejoiced inside. However, he soon became startled and almost couldn't stop himself from blurting out a 'holy sh*t'.
He had rejoiced because he had just received the income from Ruan's skins! Ruan, the hero, had only been released at the beginning of the previous month. Until now, exactly one month had passed.
Of course, this would not be the only time he would receive the income.
It seemed like exactly a month had passed, only out of coincidence. It just so happened that the team had to review the sum of money before distributing it. Thus, payment had been delayed from the beginning of the month to this Friday, which was the 8th.
Still, that was already considered quite efficient. There was nothing to be unhappy about.
What caused Pei Qian to nearly mutter 'holy sh*t' was that he had not expected to receive so little money.
The message clearly stated that the total amount he had received was 41,366.40 yuan. It was a proper account. At first, Pei Qian did not register it clearly. After counting the digits, he finally confirmed that he had received a five-figure sum-just 40,000 yuan.
"Did someone steal from me?"
The thought sprang up in Pei Qian's head instinctively. It was not that he did not trust his own finance department, but that amount was much less than he had expected, wasn't it?
He quickly accessed the platform and checked out the data. After checking it, Pei Qian realized that everything seemed correct.
At the moment, GOG had more than 1.7 million players online simultaneously. The local MOBA game market accounted for more than sixty percent of that. Those numbers were not that far off from that of LOL's national server in the first half of 2012, as Pei Qian remembered.
In other words, there were a lot of players.
LOL subsequently became so popular, mainly because of its development throughout a couple of years. It pushed the boundaries of MOBA games and caused many players of other types of games to enter the pit.
GOG had only been released less than a year ago. Of course, it could not achieve that kind of popularity yet. The fact that there were more than a million players simultaneously online in the local server was already a miracle, and there was a lot of room for the game to develop in the future.
Of course, that was just one million people online at the same time. The actual number of players was much higher than that. Some people only played the game once in two or three days, and they would buy skins as well.
More than four hundred thousand players had purchased Ruan's skin. That was Ruan's first skin, which was an epic skin sold for 18 yuan per piece.
That skin had only been sold two weeks after Ruan was released because GOG's project team was investing all of their efforts into developing new heroes. Producing new heroes was of a much higher priority than producing new skins. Thus, releasing a new skin two weeks after the hero's release was already considered a feat.
Pei Qian had been the one to set the price of the skin. Brave skins would be distributed for free, epic skins would be sold at 18 yuan, and legendary skins would be sold at 45 yuan. 400,000 x 18 x 5% amounted to 360 thousand yuan. However, the problem was that there was another rule for collection of ideas for heroes on GOG's Creative Community: Once the new heroes designed by gamers were launched, the first skin would be sold at a ninety percent discount, the second at fifty, and the third at twenty. All gamers would be able to enjoy that promotion for up to a month.
Active users in GOG's community would have more benefits.
In other words, gamers could buy that skin for about 1.8 yuan.
It was no wonder that a proportionately larger number of people had bought it. Many players in the game would not play Ruan. In fact, before each ranked game, it would be the first to be banned. Many people were only buying it as a collectible because it was so cheap.
The main source of income for GOG was from the skins of heroes that had not been designed by players. Those skins would not be sold at the discounts of GOG's Creative Community, and profits would not be shared with players.
Pei Qian had mixed feelings inside.
Logically speaking, forty thousand yuan was a lot for his current income level. Yet, why did he feel a faint sadness in his heart...?
Was this what it felt like to shoot himself in the foot...?
To minimize the game's income, Pei Qian had set extremely low prices for all the skins. Min Jingchao had obviously implemented his suggestion, thinking that unprecedented discounts were being given just to encourage players to actively participate in design work for GOG.
As a result, Pei Qian found that his income for the first month was only 40,000 yuan. He had to admit that he had caused all of this.
Pei Qian sipped his coffee and tried to calm himself down.
Calm down and stay optimistic. Forty thousand yuan is quite a lot. What's more, it would only increase.
Think about it carefully, I won't lose out in any way.
GOG is burning money to fight for a greater market share, and that would help me incur losses and take advantage of the System. In the future, once GOG becomes popular, I would earn hundreds of thousands or millions of yuan from each type of Ruan's skin.
It'll be good to take this money as pocket money in the short term. Anyway, I'll receive a certain sum each month.
Indeed, after taking another perspective, Pei Qian felt much better.
"The first group of visitors should have entered Thriller Hostel by now, right?"
Pei Qian glanced at his watch. "I wonder what the situation is like over there."
At that moment...
At the entrance of Thriller Hostel...
Qiao Liang got off Thriller Hostel's bus and scanned the surrounding crowd. He had a strange feeling that he was visiting an amusement park.
Er, that was not right. Thriller Hostel was an amusement park to begin with. It was just that it only contained a haunted house at the moment. "Jingzhou! I, Teacher Qiao, am back!"
He was setting foot on Jingzhou's soil once again. For some reason, he felt a sense of familiarity and warmth. It was like saying hello to an old friend whom he had not seen in a long time.
Qiao Liang retrieved his cell phone and clicked on his fan group. One by one, messages quickly appeared.
"Brothers, gather at the entrance!"
"I'm on the next bus, and I should be arriving soon. Wait for me."
"Where's Teacher Qiao? Come and lead the group! I am under the tree in the parking spaces!"
Qiao Liang quickly found his own fans. They had successfully met.
"It looks like there are fewer people than I imagined. I remember Disney and Universal Studios being very crowded. The lines were so long that I thought I would queue to death," said one of the fans.
Qiao Liang laughed. "What are you talking about? How could it be possible to reach the standard of Disney and Universal Studios? Just one of Disney's amusement parks cost billions of US dollars to build. How much had gone into this one? Take this as a slightly bigger haunted house, and that would be good enough.
"Still, I believe that Boss Pei would surprise us as he always does!"
For some reason, Qiao Liang felt a strong trust in Boss Pei.
News of the Thriller Hostel's opening had long been circulating in Qiao Liang's fan group. As an old friend of Boss Pei's, Qiao Liang had no reason not to come and see it for himself even though he was terrified of haunted houses.
If he was simply a customer of Tengda, of course, it would not matter whether he came or not. However, he was also Boss Pei's friend. Now that Boss Pei had opened a haunted house, how could he not visit it?
Qiao Liang treasured his friendship with Boss Pei a lot.
As for what he would do if the haunted house was too scary... he would decide what to do when he came to it. At most, he could grit his teeth and go. Very quickly, Qiao Liang's fans gathered. Those people came from all over the country. Usually, they talked and bragged to one another on the Internet but never had the opportunity to meet. This time, they jumped at the opportunity. However, Qiao Liang soon discovered an upsetting truth: he did not seem to have many female fans.
A group of impressive men walked into Thriller Hostel together.
"Frankly, this is not small at all, and the supporting facilities are not bad. There are restaurants, hotels, shops, and parking. It must have cost two or three hundred million altogether, right?" "I heard that Boss Pei was not the only one who paid for all of these. Many other investors in Jingzhou pooled their money together and played their part. I'm afraid that this expenditure might have been too huge for Tengda to bear on its own."
"Well... Boss Pei has to think about diversifying his risks after all."
"Huh? Aren't they checking our tickets at the entrance? We're already in."
"It seems like the tickets for each project would be sold and checked separately. There are joint tickets, but I didn't buy them because they cost two hundred yuan. They're not that much cheaper..."
"Let's go in and see which project looks fun, and then we'll decide how to buy tickets."
Chapter 574 (Desperate Escape)
Qiao Liang looked around and sighed with emotion. Boss Pei was always able to come up with new tricks.
The experience of the Thriller Hostel was different from other places.
Basically, all the buildings were remodeled by the old industrial zones so they had a sense of age. At the same time, the style of the entire area was very uniform. There was no feeling that a certain building was particularly outstanding. The feeling of the entire area was that it was very open, just like a park.
Many amusement parks need to purchase entrance tickets to limit the flow of people so they would appear relatively closed. Tourists were more anxious after entering because time was limited. They all wanted to hurry to the famous projects, queue up, and play so they would not feel at ease to hang out.
What was different here was that they could enter and exit at will. It gave people the feeling of walking in the nearby park, which was more relaxing
In no time, everyone came to the central square and saw the peculiar maze and healing fountain in front of it.
Looking towards the distance, they could see large workshops where the three projects were located. The road signs clearly pointed out the directions. The names of the three projects were: Desperate Escape, Haunted House Nightmare, and Ultimate Horror.
There were leaflets at the entrance of nearby shops which could be picked up by tourists. In addition to the map of the entire Thriller Hostel, there were also introductions to the different projects.
Someone took a few leaflets and distributed them to everyone.
"Fu*k, the prices differ so much? Desperate Escape is only 10 yuan when Ultimate Horror is 100 yuan?" "Ultimate Horror sounds like something that spent a lot of money to build."
"Ultimate Horror' had no introduction, only two words: Don't go? Fu*king advertisement, I'm more tempted to go now..."
"But there is definitely a big problem with this pricing strategy? Reading the introduction, Desperate Escape seems to be a replayable model like Be Quiet. Since it was replayable, shouldn't the price be sent higher? At least 30 yuan?"
"The Ultimate Horror is rather expensive. It's just a large factory space. Many people were scared out of it within five minutes. Wouldn't most people be worried about their wallets and not dare to go?"
"Who knows? Let's enter and see how it is."
It was still the year 2011. Jingzhou was a second-tier city so 100 yuan on a haunted house ticket was relatively high. Of course, Desperate Escape, which cost only 10 yuan, was very affordable.
Since the park was just open and it was still Friday morning, the flow of people had yet to reach the peak. Desperate Escape had a queue, but it was not too long.
They quickly entered the tail of the queue.
Judging from the number of people-other than those wandering around and shopping in the Golden Maze, 70% of the tourists were prepared to experience the first project, 30% went to the second project, and none were at the third. The sporadic few asked about it but were soon told to pass the second project first.
It was obviously best to queue for the first project when there were still few people.
In the process of queuing, Qiao Liang observed the number of people they let in each time. He found that they would let in about a hundred people each time and then wait for fifteen minutes to let the next set of people in.
Qiao Liang looked at the leaflet in his hand again and realized that the interior of this large factory building was divided into ten parts with a total of five different decoration styles. Each of them was more than four hundred square meters which could be experienced by ten people.
Therefore, the queue walked fairly fast, but many tourists from the exit ran to the end of the queue again, seemingly excited and wanted to play a second time.
Qiao Liang and others were in rather advanced positions. It was his turn after waiting for fifteen minutes.
Everyone had seen the specific rules of this project on the sign beside it while in the queue. It gave Qiao Liang the feeling of a simplified version of Be Quiet. The scene seemed to be similar, probably used similar art styles in the game. That added on to his anticipation.
Before entering the project, a staff handed out a special bracelet to everyone to be returned after the game.
This bracelet seemed to have a heart-monitoring function. It also had a bright and every eye-catching light on it.
Everyone could choose the scene freely before entering. There were mental hospitals, lunatic villages, country hotels, castles, and schools. These scenes were obviously consistent with the classic scenes in Be Quiet, just a miniature version.
Moreover, it was certainly impossible to build an old castle in the factory, just as close as possible in style.
The map was reduced, gameplay simplified, and the pace accelerated. It was obviously to reduce the time required to learn and only retain the most interesting gameplay. It was so that the tourists could understand the gameplay in the shortest time and have fun while at it.
Desperate Escape was a special escape room from the point of view of the rules. All tourists play the role of ordinary people being locked in. Everyone's common goal was to find the decryption spell in the setting, activate it, and find an exit to escape.
The decryption spell was arranged in advance and scattered throughout the entire venue. There were a few dozen of them, but only one dozen of them would be activated in each round which created randomness.
The tourists would be able to accumulate their progress by bringing their wristbands near to the decryption spells. It would be permanently activated, bringing them one step closer to winning the game.
There would be a staff who acted as a lunatic, wandering around the venue. He would have a portable speaker, playing terrifying roars and BGM to remind tourists that terror was approaching
The staff looked like they were trying to capture tourists, but they would not really chase after them lest it caused them to fall and become injured. There were potential safety hazards.
Therefore, the only correct way to play was to search for the decryption spell while the staff slowly patrolled the entire venue. They immediately found a place to hide while the staff approached them.
Moreover, the wristbands given to the tourists were the sanity meter in the game, Be Quiet. The wristbands would detect the heart rate of the tourists. The color of the wristbands would gradually change color if the heart rate of the tourists rose abruptly or remained high.
Green represented healthy, yellow meant danger, and red meant out of control.
The staff also had a small remote control in their hand. If a tourist were to appear in his field of vision, he could directly change the heart rate calculation up to make it red faster.
Once it turned red, the tourists would not be able to activate the spell through the wristbands anymore. On the contrary, if a tourist with a red wristband appeared within a certain distance of other tourists, there would be a 'contagious' phenomenon where the wristbands of other tourists would also turn from green to yellow and then to red.
However, the game also had a corresponding 'safe house' design in the game. Some specific areas could only be entered by normal tourists, but tourists with red wristbands and staff could not enter the area. In this area, the wristbands would not be affected by the outside world.
Therefore, it was very stupid for a tourist with red wristbands to stare at other tourists to infect them. The best method was still to scare others and spread the infection.
If the players escaped within the time limit, then all the 'healthy' tourists win; if the players fail to escape within the time limit, then the victory would be in the hands of the 'out of control' tourists.
Fifteen minutes later, Qiao Liang and the rest left the exit with yearning expressions on their face.
"How interesting, I'm even a little hooked! I want to try it again!" "I did not have enough of it yet. The sense of substitution is quite strong. It's a little like playing Be Quiet live!"
"That staff really knows his thing. I heard him coming so I quickly hid into the cabinet. He knew I was in the cabinet so he deliberately wandered around and looked through the cracks of the cabinet. My heart was beating so fast in fear that my wristband became yellow!"
"Old Qiao, you're such a scumbag! You actually came out to chase us after your band turned red. Are you still a human?" "That's right, we almost cleared it, but you came out to stir sh*t. My wristband was originally yellow, but it turned red after I was scared by you so I could only join you."
"That's the rules of the game. The fact is that I won, so?" Qiao Liang retorted.
Everyone said that they had never seen someone so brazen! He might be despised by everyone, but Qiao Liang himself had fun.
He could now understand why so many tourists immediately rejoined the queue after playing it once because it was really addictive!
As a game UP Master, Qiao Liang could see many mature design concepts from the design of this project.
The basic gameplay of this project was actually rather primitive. It was basically a cat and mouse game with the packaging of Be Quiet. However, when compared to many escape rooms and other haunted house projects, its biggest advantage was in two main points: replayability and moderate sense of horror.
Most escape rooms and haunted houses had the same layouts due to space constraints. One would not want to experience it a second time after one played with it once. However, Desperate Escape was a multiplayer game. Each entry was guaranteed to be different through the random refresh of decryption spell positions.
The staff acting as a lunatic would cooperate in the game according to the different reactions. Every action was random and elusive. The heart rate change of every player was different. They became 'out of control' at different times; their actions after becoming Tout of control' were different which would affect the overall situation. Therefore, players would need to adopt different strategies every time they played.
This project was moderately scary but was not so scary that people would not dare to participate. In fact, the game hinted through the atmosphere it created—such as the staff acting as a lunatic, the horror BGM, etc.—to the tourists to be always careful when looking for decryption spells. They should observe and quickly find a place to hide when the BGM approached.
At the same time, the staff moved very slowly and would not really catch people. Moreover, the visibility of the place was not too bad so they would not be overly frightened.
Therefore, even a timid person like Qiao Liang could also stick throughout the process and have fun.
Qiao Liang himself was a loyal 'Be Quiet' player. In his opinion, this project simplified the complicated gameplay in the game and was more suitable for offline plays. In short, such a fun project only cost 10 yuan per try. He would feel it a waste not to play three or four times!
Qiao Liang looked towards the end of the line. There seemed to be hundreds of people in line The estimated waiting time was probably going to be more than an hour.
"There are already so many people? Will the queue for this project be at least three hours in the future?" A fan exclaimed.
Qiao Liang shook his head. "Not necessarily. It is normal to have many people in the near future. The Thriller Hostel did their advertisements after all. Many locals in Jingzhou came to experience it. The key was to wait for the first crowd of people to pass to see if such a fever would remain. That is the key to subsequent profitability." Everyone pondered on this for a moment, thinking that it made sense.
Were
Many haunted houses and amusement parks were very popular when they first opened. However, whether they could survive for long or not would depend on its ability to sustain the crowd after the initial popularity.
"What do we do now?" Someone asked.
Experience Desperate Escape again would need them to queue for at least an hour. It might not be long compared to other amusement parks, but... there were two more projects beside them with a lot fewer people.
"Or shall we try the Haunted House Nightmare? We can only go on to Ultimate Horror after we clear the Haunted House Nightmare anyway," a fan suggested.
"Okay, we're here already anyway." Someone agreed. Qiao Liang shook his head hurriedly. "I don't want to go! There must be a reason why there are so few people! i'll definitely be scared sh*tless!"
The fans exchanged glances before holding Qiao Liang directly. "All the more we have to go! We agreed to try everything together; no one can dream of escaping!"