February was supposed to be the season when everything comes back to life, but inside the TES base, Guo Hao and Luo Sheng felt nothing but ice in their hearts. The two of them looked utterly exhausted.
They had promised upper management that the team would definitely change this year, that they would challenge for better results.
Yet now, money had been poured in one investment after another, and the team's performance had instead sunk to a historic low.
Six consecutive losses to start the season.
At that moment, the phone in the manager's office rang.
Both of them flinched—they knew exactly who was calling.
Guo Hao's hand trembled slightly as he picked up the phone. The pressure on him was enormous.
"Hello…"
"Guo Hao, what is going on? This team's results are completely different from what you promised before the season. Not only that, we even spent money to bring in Mark—so why hasn't the losing streak stopped?"
As the boss's voice came down like a hammer, Guo Hao lowered his head. Everything being said was true. There was no way to argue.
"If you don't fix this, and you still can't win next Wednesday's match, the two of you can pack up and get out."
After nearly an hour of relentless scolding, Guo Hao and Luo Sheng finally relaxed their stiff faces slightly. They exhaled deeply and collapsed onto the sofa.
Find the reason? But how were they supposed to find it?
When a team's roster has no obvious problems—every player among the best in the league—yet the results are complete garbage, you can look back at S5 OMG as a reference. Something inside the team must be wrong.
But TES hadn't had any internal conflicts so far. Everyone got along, especially the two core players, JackeyLove and Knight.
When JackeyLove was first signed, they had carefully observed the dynamic between the two. Both were young, and there had been concern about clashes over status within the team.
But nothing ever happened. It had been over two years. It clearly wasn't an issue of internal power struggles.
"Then we can only look at the players' private lives…"
A sudden drop in form—if it isn't team conflict—can only mean their energy is being drained elsewhere.
Professional players are mostly young men in their early twenties. Fame and money come early, and temptations follow.
From S2 to S12, the league had been running for ten years—countless scandals had surfaced.
The most recent was S10's Huan, who everyone thought had trained himself into exhaustion—only for it to turn out he was busy meeting fans.
Not an exaggeration to say he burned away his entire form through that.
JackeyLove had already been reported to have a girlfriend last year, yet his performance had remained solid. Even in losses, his damage numbers were maxed out—he just got impatient when playing from behind.
Knight, on the other hand, showed nothing impressive across six games.
And in every loss, he carried a big share of the blame—especially the recent match against RNG.
He had been completely smashed by Xiaohu. Mid turret fell early, every single game.
"Keep a closer eye on Knight. His state really isn't right." Guo Hao scratched his head.
Luo Sheng agreed.
Thinking back, Knight had been leaving the base quite often lately—and every time he returned, it was one or two days later.
If that really was the issue, he needed to rein it in. Guo Hao shook his head. They had to talk to him properly.
Such an innocent kid—once exposed to this kind of thing, it was hard to handle.
"But the official team Weibo exploded yesterday. We even had to temporarily shut down comments."
After six straight losses, calling it 'TES's 48-group debut' was already being polite.
TL: 48-group debut is saying the team is playing like pop idols, they bring in people but they're absolutely horrid at playing
The harsher ones were insulting entire bloodlines.
Before, people could still dump the blame on Lin Fan. But now the support had been changed—who were they supposed to blame?
And even the hardcore JackeyLove haters had crawled out.
"Didn't you say the new support would dominate bot lane? Why does it look like they're getting beaten with zero resistance?"
The official account had become absolute chaos.
If they wanted to change the situation, there was only one way—win a match. Stop the losing streak.
Luo Sheng had already talked to Knight three times. He even considered pulling up a substitute mid from the academy team.
But TES's academy mid wasn't ready. And promoting him would leave the academy with a hole—which meant spending more money.
That idea had to be dropped.
Still, there were two games of margin left…
If it became eight straight losses, playoffs would be nothing more than a mathematical fantasy.
Luo Sheng could only clench his fists and wait for Wednesday's match.
February 16th. Week 4, Day 3 of the LPL.
At 4:30 p.m., the venue was already packed.
On the caster desk, the commentators began warming things up.
Besides the golden duo, Wawa and Miller, the third caster today was the female commentator Tongxi.
Sitting in the center, Wawa smiled.
"We've already talked about TES's current situation. They desperately need a win to change the team atmosphere. Six consecutive losses—you can imagine the pressure they're under."
Miller followed up.
"TES is a team everyone knows well. They have multiple star players, even two World Championship winners. But this spring split has truly gone terribly.
Six straight losses. Every single player wants to change this situation, especially with the standings nearing a critical point.
This affects playoff qualification and even Worlds slots—though that's still far away. Right now, TES only has one goal: win this match against TT."
Tongxi nodded beside them.
"TT's record isn't good either—one win, six losses, third from the bottom. Both teams will definitely give everything they have today, fighting for a single win."
Everyone couldn't help but sigh.
A TES team once filled with expectations was now fighting TT—a third-tier squad—just to scrape out a win.
To put it bluntly, this was a battle of who sucked less.
"TES's starting lineup today remains unchanged: Top Zoom, Jungle Tian, Mid Knight, Bot JackeyLove, Support Mark. Have they adjusted their form and recovered from earlier losses?"
"TT's lineup is Top New, Jungle Beichuan, Mid Ucal, Bot Puff, Support Southwind."
Given both teams' awful records and TES's massive fanbase, Wawa didn't stir controversy by asking who the others favored. In this situation, it was better to talk less and just cast the game.
Otherwise, angry fans might storm them afterward.
Meanwhile, Lin Fan sat on the bench, bored, picking at his fingernails.
If he remembered correctly, TES was supposed to beat TT 2–0 and sound the horn of their counteroffensive.
But as he watched, his expression gradually turned strange…
TL: If you want to read ahead by at least ten chapters, patreon.com/EdibleMapleSyrup