The streamer sucks, please bear with me

They kept working on the hot pot until past eight that evening before returning to the club.

Incidentally.

Kid had ordered the dishes.

He had done the club a huge favor by bringing Lu Chen into IG, after all, so Su Xiaoluo had honored his earlier promise and let Kid order...

Just as everyone finished eating and drinking their fill and settled down to rest.

Online.

News of "C God" joining IG had spread everywhere, and quite a few streamers had joined in on the feast of traffic.

Deyun Se's fat-and-bald duo, for instance.

As a former IG player who prided himself on being an IG veteran, the bald Xiaoxiao was chatting away on his livestream. "Guys, IG is seriously about to take off. Trust me, C God is an absolute monster. This is definitely an upgrade."

Chat disagreed.

"Heh, being good in Ranked doesn't mean anything if he's never played professionally."

"Let's see him play before we decide whether he's any good!"

"Lmao, I'm just waiting for Sun Ya to eat his words. Does he seriously think some solo queue king can slaughter everyone in competitive play?"

"West might suck, but he's still a pro. He's played plenty of matches for IG. Let your C God get a starting spot first. It'll be hilarious if West keeps him stuck warming the bench."

Xiaoxiao paid those messages no mind.

He had long since developed a thick skin, so he merely chuckled. "You don't believe me, huh? I've got inside information."

Beside him, the fat Xika patted his belly and laughed. "We never bullshit our viewers. Keeping it real-that's what we're all about."

Naturally, another wave of mockery swept through chat.

At the same time, some viewers started asking them to reveal their inside information.

Xika spread his hands. "Come on, it's inside information. Obviously, we can't tell you. Anyway, the summer split starts in about a week. Just watch for yourselves then."

The next day.

In the manager's office at the IG club.

Su Xiaoluo held a document, wearing an utterly peculiar expression.

Beside him, Coach Mafa finally couldn't resist asking, "What's wrong?"

"Uh..." Su Xiaoluo glanced at the document again. His lips moved slightly, but in the end, he still couldn't find the words, so he simply handed it to Mafa.

Mafa took the document and looked at it. His eyes immediately widened, and his voice shot up an octave. "R... RNG? H-how is that possible?"

That was right.

The document detailed Lu Chen's previous two years of "professional" experience.

It clearly read: [Lu Chen, substitute player for RNG's youth development team. ID: Chen. Almost never played in a match over the two-year period. Released upon expiration of his contract. Currently a free agent.]

"So," Su Xiaoluo said with a shrug, "do you remember any matches he played?"

Mafa was speechless for a long time before slowly shaking his head. "No."

Coaches like them also watched LSPL matches, since they could scout new talent there.

But he genuinely had no recollection of the ID "Chen"!

In other words, Lu Chen had spent two full years on RNG's youth development team without ever getting to play!

The whole thing was rather absurd. No wonder Su Xiaoluo had looked so strange earlier.

"Hiss..."

After racking his brains and still failing to make sense of it, Mafa could only squeeze out one sentence. "Those people at RNG actually let him go?"

Su Xiaoluo, on the other hand, started laughing. "This is a good thing. RNG basically trained a talented player for us. I was wondering how someone who'd never played a match could adapt so quickly. Now it all makes sense."

Youth development was still professional play!

With two years of youth development experience, it was no wonder Lu Chen had adapted so well to the pace of competitive matches.

Mafa shook his head, unable to understand.

He couldn't make sense of RNG's decision, but it had certainly stunned him.

If he were the boss, he would never have let a player with that much potential leave so easily.

"All right, let's pretend we don't know about this." Su Xiaoluo patted Mafa on the shoulder. "He's with us now anyway. Whatever RNG was thinking doesn't matter anymore."

A little later, in the second-floor training room.

"Lu Chen, this will be your station from now on."

Su Xiaoluo led Lu Chen over to a seat. "The equipment is all new. Just let me know if there are any problems. For instance, do you have any peripherals you're used to?"

Some professional players did have their own requirements for mice, keyboards, and other peripherals.

The most typical example was Uzi. His original SteelSeries Sensei mouse had been manufactured back in 2010 and had long since been discontinued. Anyone looking to buy one could only get it secondhand.

Plenty of people had followed his lead and tried it, but almost all of them ended up complaining about how awkward it was to use.

It was heavy and had an old sensor. Perhaps its only redeeming feature was how it felt in the hand. By today's standards, it was riddled with flaws.

But Uzi simply refused to use anything else.

Even in 2023, Uzi was still using that SteelSeries Sensei.

Some people even said that switching mice would cut Uzi's skill in half!

There was also JackeyLove.

He had always used the Logitech G502. Yes, that classic, bulky mouse that weighed a ton.

For an AD player who needed to click constantly to execute his moves, using that mouse was undoubtedly exhausting for the hand.

But he just couldn't give up the way it felt.

"No need." Lu Chen smiled faintly and shook his head. "I'm not particularly fussy about this stuff."

The peripherals the club provided were already among the best available. There was no need to replace them.

"I see." Su Xiaoluo nodded and continued, "Then I'll explain how training and streaming work."

First came training.

The club had a Ranked-point requirement on the Korean server, but none on the Chinese server. It didn't matter whether they played there or not.

That was why some professional players' profiles showed their ranks as Diamond or even Platinum.

They mainly played on the Korean server.

Then there was streaming.

The club had a contract with Hu Sha, currently the largest streaming platform. Its players had to stream fifty hours a month, which worked out to just under two hours a day.

Of course, things like that.

There were no requirements for gift revenue or anything along those lines.

Players only had to split their streaming earnings with the platform. The club took no cut of that income.

Speaking of which, IG's rules could certainly be considered relaxed.

For truly strict rules, one had to look at established esports powerhouses like EDG. They even imposed strict daily schedules on their players, with everything done according to a timetable.

After explaining the rules, Su Xiaoluo showed Lu Chen around the base's bathrooms, bedrooms, kitchen, dining room, and other areas.

A while later.

Seated at his station, Lu Chen turned on his computer. He first logged into his account with practiced ease, then, under Su Xiaoluo's guidance, opened the streaming software and started his own livestream.

"What should I use for the title?" Lu Chen rubbed his chin.

After a moment's thought, he grinned mischievously and typed out his stream title: [New here. The streamer sucks, please bear with me.]