When an Alpha is Marked by One of His Own Kind

Chapter 88

October 12th.
The first day of the group stage of the world championships.

The world championship tournament was split into five stages-the qualifying stage, the group stage, the knockout stage, the semifinals, and the finals. Because the LPL was a powerful division, their teams didn't need to play in the qualifying stage. They went straight into the group stage.

A total of sixteen teams would participate in the group stage. They would be divided into four groups, in which teams were split up from other teams from the same division.

Which was to say that DG, WTG, and BLX wouldn't meet up in that stage of the tournament.

After the separate groups were drawn, DG fell into Group A. Their three opponents were a wildcard team, an LCK team, and a team from North America.

BLX ended up in Group C, while WTG was assigned to Group D.

Group D had the strongest opponents; WTG would be in for one hell of a ride.

Worst of all, for WTG, the group stage was played as best-of-one matches in a double-round robin structure, meaning each team would play each of the other three teams twice. The rankings in their group would ultimately be decided by points. This was a structure that WTG didn't typically fare well with.

Once they saw the group assignments and schedule for the group stage, Coach Fang and Manager Zhou flew the players out to Europe right away, so that they could get there early and get over their jet lag. They wanted the players to have plenty of time to adjust to the rhythm and diet of life over there, in order to make sure the change in scenery didn't negatively impact their performance during the tournament.

If all other teams showed up feeling perfectly fine, and Team DG showed up yawning their faces off, their fans would definitely cuss them into an early retirement.

Manager Zhou had also brought along a cook that could make the players Chinese cuisine. He didn't want the players going out and eating random things all day, every day. After all, the esports industry frequently saw reports of players missing out on important games due to upset stomachs or food poisoning-ultimately leading to retirement. DG had already been unlucky enough that year. Manager Zhou didn't even want to take the smallest risks now.

Not only did he bring along a cook, he also reminded the players every single day-

"Report to me when you go out. Don't sneak out to eat. Your salary will be deducted if and when I catch you. Also, don't drink too much coffee. It's not good for you. And..."

Old Wo pointedly covered his ears with his hands. Er-Hua put on his own headphones as well. Qian Bao started to hum under her breath. Zhao Yue and Zheng Zhizhuo shrank into one corner, watching clips from tournament games; they even turned up the volume.

Shen Qiao was starting to furrow his brows as well, and it was Lu Zhe who simply said, "Stop."

Manager Zhou assumed there was something Lu Zhe wanted to say. He paused his own rambling speech and looked over, only to see Lu Zhe cross his arms and smile serenely.

"Can you stop nagging, Big Mouth? I'll watch them for you, alright?"

Then, Lu Zhe said to everyone else, "All of you be good. Or else all your wages will be mine."

Old Wo, Er-Hua, and Qian Bao all stared at him in disbelief.

Was that really a perk of being the captain?

When Old Wo was sure Manager Zhou wouldn't continue prattling, he dropped his hands from his ears and grinned at Lu Zhe. "Captain, using your power for personal gain is inappropriate, isn't it?"