148: Chapter 147 is about to conclude the second stage.

In an internet café behind Shenzhen University.

Inside a private room labeled 'Team Training Room'.

Fatty took off his headphones, let out a long sigh, and picked up a piece of bread nearby to take a few bites.

On the screen in front of him was the victory screen, the stats having just been tallied. This decisive match had left them drenched in sweat, with hair sticking to their foreheads.

Beside him.

A-Shui told his teammates through the headset that they had worked hard, then took his own headset off and placed it on the table.

Liu Yang, who had been watching them play this final match from behind, finally let out a sigh of relief and handed over two bottles of mineral water.

"Good thing we won; the opponents this time were strong."

"The opposing jungler's early-game tempo was too aggressive. We were almost tower-dived in the bottom lane several times, but A-Shui, you held your ground. Their lineup lacked strength in the late game, and we managed to drag it out to a comeback point."

"Yeah."

A-Shui took the mineral water, unscrewed the cap, and took a gulp.

"With this stage of the tournament ending, there are only about ten days left."

"After this win, the remaining opponents aren't particularly strong. Based on the current point rankings, we can securely enter the top sixteen."

At this point, A-Shui paused, a flicker of burning ambition appearing in his eyes.

"When that time comes."

"Even if we get eliminated in the first round of the top sixteen, we still have..."

The three of them exchanged glances.

The next second.

"One hundred thousand!"

In the tone of all three, there was an uncontrollable excitement.

From fighting through the first round of open qualifiers to the second round, battling their way from over a hundred teams in the second district into the top ten, and then playing against the top ten from other districts up to now—maintaining their ranking had not been easy for them.

Over these past few months, they attended classes during the day and trained at night, spending their entire weekends holed up in this internet café room. Although there were still a few matches left, the opponents were weak, and they were almost certain they could make it to the third round of offline tournaments.

When that time comes.

Their hard work over these nearly four months would finally pay off.

"One hundred thousand."

"That's one hundred thousand, after all."

Liu Yang kept muttering.

During this period, he helped A-Shui and the others with bans/picks and opponent analysis, earning everyone's recognition.

You have to know.

Several times they lost the first game, but it was Liu Yang who, by analyzing the opponents' habits and changing their hero bans and picks, as well as their early-game tactical direction, turned the situation around and eventually won two games in a row.

Even though they hadn't met the other three teammates yet, everyone had already decided.

Whatever prize money they received, all six of them would split it equally.

"One hundred thousand, oh one hundred thousand, enough to spend for a lifetime!"

The more Liu Yang spoke, the more exaggerated his tone became.

"With this money, we could eat on the snack street behind the school for who knows how many nights, replace the broken chairs in this room with gaming chairs, pay off all the internet fees and food bills we owe the café owner, and treat the owner to a good meal."

"We can even add two eggs to our instant noodles!"

A-Shui turned his head to look at him and shook his head helplessly.

"Can you look at the bigger picture?"

"What if we win the Great Xia regional championship? That's three million!"

"What's one hundred thousand? The top sixteen is the starting point, not the finish line."

"I have a faint premonition that we might actually be able to go for the championship. When that happens, five hundred thousand each—that'll be awesome."

Listening to the two of them.

Fatty put down the half-eaten bread in his hand and swallowed.

"Why not look even further? The Global Finals championship—ten million dollars!"

"Even the runner-up gets five million dollars!"

"When that time comes, hehe..."

After Fatty finished this sentence.

The three of them looked up at the ceiling of the room simultaneously and actually started giggling, no one knowing what they were fantasizing about.

Even vaguely.

It was as if they could already see themselves holding that giant check, standing under the spotlight, with the roaring cheers of the crowd below.

If gaming and esports tournaments really had significant influence, then they must seize this opportunity—perhaps the only one in their lives—to change their destiny.

It was A-Shui who first snapped back to reality, waving his hand in front of the two.

"Alright, alright, stop dreaming and let's talk about something practical."

He opened the schedule file sent by the organizers in the tournament group chat.

"The second stage of the tournament ends in just ten days, and the organizers have given us the schedule for the follow-up period."

"After the second stage ends, there will be about half a month of rest. After all, the top sixteen teams need to travel to various provinces and cities across the country for the offline matches, and the organizers need time to coordinate venues and equipment."

"The third stage and the final Global Finals will both last for a month, and the match schedules are no longer restricted to just weekends."

"But since summer vacation is just around the corner, the next two months are our chance to change our destiny."

He looked up at Fatty and Liu Yang.

"With no classes, we must devote ourselves entirely to the tournament. When the time comes, whether or not anyone watches the offline matches, everyone must give it their all."

The three of them nodded simultaneously.

And at this moment, which was supposed to be very inspiring, a rumbling sound—someone's stomach growled.

A-Shui looked down and said to Liu Yang.

"Coach, help us order some takeout. We've been playing all afternoon and are starving."

Liu Yang nodded, took out his phone, opened Ele.me, and prepared to order the pork knuckle rice they usually got. A-Shui also lowered his head to operate his own phone.

A-Shui opened Pinduoduo and was browsing the phones in the 618 Shopping Festival Billion Subsidy zone.

He clicked his tongue while looking.

"This Billion Subsidy is really great; a lot of electronics are heavily discounted."

"I've wanted a new phone for a long time. The one I'm using now is nearly three years old, and it lags whenever I switch out to reply to a message while gaming."

"I was planning to wait for the Taobao 618 Shopping Festival discount to buy one; my budget was just enough for a mid-range model. I didn't expect Pinduoduo to be even more exaggerated—with the same budget, I can get a higher configuration."

"It's just a pity."

"This Billion Subsidy seems to be a limited-time event. It would be great if this event were always available."

Fatty, who was nearby, also nodded. During this time, he had also been frequently browsing Pinduoduo's Billion Subsidy to see what to buy that day.

He already had over ten items from the Billion Subsidy in his shopping cart.

"If the Billion Subsidy were always available, I'd buy all my electronics through it for the rest of my life."

And right at this moment.

A-Shui had just exited the Billion Subsidy interface when he suddenly saw a brand-new entry point on the Pinduoduo homepage.

"Pinduoduo Flash Sale?"

He was stunned for a moment, clicked in, and saw that it was actually a food delivery interface!

The key point was.

This delivery interface was almost identical to Meituan Delivery. The only difference was a banner at the top offering an instant discount for new users' first order, plus an exclusive red envelope coupon.

"Why is Pinduoduo even doing food delivery?"

"This is getting a bit off-track. The Billion Subsidy that just launched a few days ago hasn't even started properly, and now there's food delivery."

As he spoke.

A-Shui flipped through it a few times and found that they were giving away several delivery red envelopes. He tried clicking on a store to look, and found it was even cheaper than ordering on Ele.me.

So he looked at Liu Yang nearby.

"Have you ordered yet?"

Liu Yang didn't even look up.

"Still looking. Why is there suddenly a one-dollar delivery fee today? I'm not really feeling like ordering from this place."

Although they were striving towards becoming professional esports players, they were still students after all and were usually quite frugal.

A-Shui turned his phone screen for him to see.

"I'm using Pinduoduo. The delivery on here seems to have promotions, and everything is very cheap."

The three of them leaned in and discovered that there were indeed discounts.

For the same items, the prices on Pinduoduo Flash Sale were several yuan cheaper than on Ele.me, and even cheaper than on Meituan's own delivery service.

Although it didn't look like much.

But you have to know.

The takeout they ordered each time cost at most ten or twenty yuan, so saving a few yuan was already quite good.

For many college students, if you asked them to take photos and write a review for a three-yuan cash rebate, they might not do it. But if another app offered a price that was three yuan cheaper right from the start, they would switch apps to place the order without hesitation.

Without hesitation, A-Shui placed the order, muttering to himself.

"Even the food delivery they've set up is low-priced."

"This Pinduoduo is really determined to push their low-price advantage to the end."

Soon after ordering the food, A-Shui leaned back in his chair and looked at the two people beside him.

"If this low-price delivery and the Billion Subsidy keep going, who knows, Pinduoduo might really be able to beat Taobao."