Chapter 160: The Ways of the World

"It is very simple: use money! There is nothing that cannot be solved with money, and if there is, it simply means the money is not enough," the boss said.

The coach pondered for a moment and said, "You are right, Boss, but to poach such a major streamer and turn him into a professional player will likely require a hefty price."

It was an open secret that money could be made in the live-streaming industry nowadays.

In fact, the reason so many people scrambled to become streamers in recent years was inextricably linked to the astronomical signing bonuses from back then.

During those years, the annual signing bonus for a top streamer could reach tens of millions, or even over a hundred million.

The impact of such exorbitant signing bonuses was staggering, planting the seed of becoming a streamer in the hearts of countless people.

The current craze of the live-streaming industry owed a great deal to those capital maneuvers from the past.

For a wildly popular streamer like Jiang Zheng, the signing bonus might not match those peak historical figures, but it would certainly be immensely lucrative.

To make him abandon his thriving streaming career and transition to professional esports leagues—just imagining the price it would take was staggering.

"As long as we can poach him, no price is too high," the boss said.

Hearing this, the coach said no more. After all, he wasn't the one footing the bill.

***

The third match ended, and Jiang Zheng emerged victorious.

The opposing team only had five starting members, and these were the exact five who had won the championship.

By now, Jiang Zheng had pulled off a clean sweep of three players—they had lost all their face.

To still be swept three-nil in a gauntlet match was utterly humiliating.

While they suffered a loss of face, Jiang Zheng's reputation soared even higher; their fame had served as stepping stones for Jiang Zheng's glory.

In the fourth match, the opponents exhausted every conceivable method and strategy, but to no avail.

They lost the match all the same.

Thus, Jiang Zheng had secured four consecutive victories.

***

"We must not lose this final match!"

Several members of the club declared among themselves.

If they had been reluctant about tonight's match at the very beginning and felt forced into battle, now they had to fight to protect their honor!

They had already been swept four-nil; they could not allow a five-nil sweep. That was their bottom line.

If they were truly swept five-nil, they wouldn't have a shred of dignity left.

"Right! We cannot lose. All our hopes rest in your hands," Xiao Jiu said to the final team member who had yet to take the stage.

"It's all up to you."

Carrying the hopes of the entire team, the final member stepped onto the stage.

***

Meanwhile, in the top-floor office of the club.

The coach said anxiously, "Boss, the opponent has already swept four of our players. We cannot afford to lose this one."

The club's boss understood as well. Their team was a championship-caliber team, not some ordinary roster. Losing a match or two was acceptable, but being swept five-nil by an opponent was out of the question.

The damage to their reputation would be too severe, and recovering from it would be no easy feat.

"Rest assured, this match will not be lost," the club boss said.

"The opponent has played four matches in a row; his condition surely cannot be as good as before," the coach noted.

"Indeed. So you can rest easy—winning four matches is quite enough for him," the boss replied.

***

The fifth match was about to begin.

Jiang Zheng looked at his live-streaming interface, his fingers trembling slightly.

He had played four consecutive matches without a single break in between. Such high-intensity, continuous gaming was immensely draining on both physical stamina and hand endurance.

Throughout the matches, Jiang Zheng had operated at peak hand speed. His fingers moved so fast they blurred into afterimages, which was the only way he could handle the relentless onslaughts and still execute brilliant plays.

Consequently, both his hand speed and energy were now severely compromised by the grueling matches.

This upcoming battle would be the greatest challenge he had ever faced.

To face a top-tier professional player while suffering from declining physical condition meant that a single mistake would cost him the game.

So far, the system had not issued a notification that the quest was completed, which meant he could not afford to lose.

Suddenly, Jiang Zheng received a message.

It was sent by Lin Yu. Since Lin Yu was currently broadcasting live as well, he could only communicate via text messages rather than a direct phone call.

The match had not officially started yet, so Jiang Zheng glanced at the message.

Immediately, his brows knitted together.

It read: "Brother Jiang, let's just play this fifth game as a matter of human courtesy and worldly sophistication."

Jiang Zheng naturally understood the implication behind those words.

Being addressed as "Brother" by someone older than him did not bring Jiang Zheng any joy; instead, it stirred an inexplicable sense of sorrow.

The so-called "human courtesy and worldly sophistication" was merely a polite way of asking him to throw the match.

Jiang Zheng also understood the platform's stance perfectly.

He had already won four matches; he had gained all the fame he could want, and he had proven his technical skill beyond doubt. In this fifth match, he could ease up and voluntarily concede defeat.

After all, the opponents were a championship team. If he really pulled off a five-nil sweep, they would lose all face, and it would put the platform in a very awkward position.

Thus, Jiang Zheng could understand why the platform had prompted Lin Yu to send this message.

If he weren't trying to complete a system quest, he probably would have agreed. Walking through this society required giving others a certain amount of face; social graces and human connections still needed to be maintained.

If you didn't leave any face for others, you would only make enemies everywhere you went.

However, Jiang Zheng had a quest to complete, leaving him with no choice but to show no mercy and disregard these social pleasantries.

Since he was currently live streaming, and he feared the platform might pull some dirty tricks behind the scenes, he could only pretend he hadn't seen the message.

As for the platform and his opponent, he could only say in his heart: I'm sorry.

Having received no reply from Jiang Zheng for a long time, Lin Yu grew anxious and sent two more follow-up messages to inquire, but still received no response.

This made Lin Yu increasingly worried.

The match was beginning. Though anxious, Lin Yu was helpless; Jiang Zheng had already entered the game, and there was no way to interfere with him now.

As soon as the match started, his opponent came at him with ferocious momentum. Having absorbed the failure lessons of his four preceding teammates, his playstyle was specifically tailored to counter Jiang Zheng.

After exchanging a couple of blows, Jiang Zheng realized that he might genuinely be outmatched.

Had he been in peak condition, he wouldn't have had any problems winning and wouldn't have felt afraid.

The reality, however, was that he was far from optimal, and his physical state was visibly declining.

If he maintained the same aggressive playstyle as before under these conditions, there was a high probability he would lose.

During the fourth match, he had already found the fighting extremely strenuous.

He could no longer rely on brute force; he had to outsmart his opponent!

This thought flashed through Jiang Zheng's mind.

He temporarily avoided the opponent's sharp edge. Even when forced to engage, he fought with extreme conservatism.

Jiang Zheng's conservative playstyle brought a wave of relief to his opponent.

Sure enough, Jiang Zheng was just as they had analyzed: after enduring four grueling matches, his condition had inevitably dipped and he was no longer as dominant as before.

Under these circumstances, their probability of winning had significantly increased.

Winning this way might seem a bit unheroic, but at this point, an unheroic victory was still infinitely better than being swept five-nil.

Had their opponent not been so monstrously strong, they wouldn't have wanted to fight such an ungraceful match either.

The first kill was handed over by Jiang Zheng.