Chapter 22 — Middle Road Rules

Sunday morning, the City Center Arena was filled with seats. This year's NHEC Grand Final has a record appeal, not only because of the scale of the prize, but also because of the fairy tale (Cinderella story) of Hoàng Diệu school and the scandalous appearance of the former prodigy "Shadow".

Inside the backstage area, the atmosphere was so tense that it was suffocating.

HD E-sports was standing around warming up in front of the waiting room, when a group of people wearing red uniforms embroidered with the VG logo aggressively approached. Leading the group of trainees was Lê Hoàng, and walking next to him, an extremely familiar face made Hải Đăng's pupils shrink.

Trần Quốc - the former Jungle Captain of VG, the man who arranged the match and ousted Đăng - was standing there with a smirk. He wore a professional jersey and smiled mockingly.

"Well, look who's here. The kid who betrayed the football team is shepherding a bunch of elementary school students?" Quốc let out a mocking remark and raised his head to look at Đăng.

Bảo Châu was angry and wanted to rush back and curse back, but Đăng raised his hand to stop her. He took a step forward, facing Quốc directly, his face expressionless.

"What about students? It's better to judge based on your true ability than to sell your honor at night, former Captain," Đăng replied, his voice as cold as ice.

"You!" Quốc blushed and raised his fist. But Lê Hoàng quickly grabbed Quốc's hand and pulled him down, because there began to be a few television cameras around.

"You don't need to be strong, Shadow," Lê Hoàng smiled faintly. "Today I brought Quốc here to witness your pathetic end. What can that throwaway hand do in front of the trainees I train for 12 hours a day? Today, we will beat you so you don't dare to step out of the house again."

Having said that, Lê Hoàng waved his hand and led the arrogant trainees out onto the stage amid the resounding cheers of the powerful fan base.

Hùng 'Gaur' spat a lot of saliva into the trash can. "Damn, look at their arrogant faces. I almost have to cut off the legs of their generals to be satisfied!"

Đăng turned back to look at the four boys and Châu. He smiled slightly. "Lê Hoàng is right about one thing. They are trained as perfect machines. And machines always operate according to a certain process."

Đăng raised his right fist in mid-air. "But processes... are meant to be broken. Are you ready, guys?"

The remaining four fists immediately slammed into Đăng's hand. Châu also smiled, placing her small hand on top. "Destroy the VG machine!"

The whole team followed each other out onto the stage.

the stands were divided into two distinct halves. The red half of VG cheered loudly, mixed with banners booing Shadow. The other half, although more sporadic, was made up of students drawn to Hoàng Diệu High School's enthusiastic style and refusal to give up.

Two teams sit in a soundproof cabin. The countdown sounded through giant loudspeakers.

The first match (Game 1) of the BO3 final series officially began.

Hải Đăng started very cautiously. He held a familiar control champion, focusing on matching Last-hit skills with the opponent's Mid Lane.

But the level of professional trainees was quickly revealed. VG's Jungle and Support move as one. They controlled their vision so tightly that wherever Tuấn 'Compass' went, his face was revealed. All of Tuấn's ganks were broken.

At the same time, Hùng 'Gaur' in the Top Lane, although he really wanted to cause trouble as Đăng told him, was suppressed by the opponent's Gladiator with his outstanding individual skills (Micro). Hùng continuously lost health, froze his minions, and could not farm.

Meanwhile, in the Mid Lane, Hải Đăng was constantly questioned by the opponent's sudden moves (Roam). They were in no hurry to rush in and take down Đăng. They did something even more cruel: Forcing him to constantly use moves to defend, forcing his right wrist to operate at full capacity right from the first minutes.

Lê Hoàng stood outside, smiling proudly. Attacking Đăng's physical strength was the key to destroying Hoàng Diệu's team.

At 20 minutes, VG Academy organized a team fight in the Dragon cave. With the difference in gold and equipment being too large, Hoàng Diệu's squad quickly fell apart. Although Đăng tried to use his ultimate to get back two lives, that was not enough to prevent the wave of super soldiers from entering the main base.

Game 1 ended quickly with an overwhelming victory for VG Academy.

The four Hoàng Diệu boys took off their headphones, their faces blank and sweaty. The difference was too big. The feeling of helplessness was like fighting a rock with an egg.

"Sorry, Mr. Đăng... They hit me so hard, I couldn't breathe in the Top Lane," Hùng scratched his head.

Đăng silently twisted his wrist slightly, frowning slightly. Châu quickly gave him a bottle of mineral water.

"It's okay," Đăng took a sip of water, his voice strangely calm. "Game 1 was just to test the limits of their tolerance. Now I understand how this VG machine works."

He looked at his four discouraged teammates, the corner of his lips slightly raised.

"Game 2, no need to farm, no need to defend anymore. Play your street style. Stab and slash like crazy for me."

Hùng laughed and punched his chest hard. “Finally, there is an order that suits your liking!”

Bảo Châu stood behind, looked at the four faces that brightened up after just one sentence from Đăng, shook her head slightly and laughed. “I never thought that one day I would have to support a tactic called 'crazy stabbing'.”

“Sometimes the best tactics are the ones that aren't in any books,” Đăng replied, his eyes still glued to the VG Academy squad analysis screen that had just appeared. "They are trained to deal methodically. We will give them a taste of chaos."

Kiên rotated the mouse in his hand and took a deep breath to calm down. “It sounds so grand, but my heart is beating like a festival drum.”

"If you hit fast, hit fast, your hands still have to be accurate," Đăng lightly tapped on the table, signaling the whole team to get into position. "Break time is over. Put on your headphones, forget everything that just happened in Game 1. We start again from zero."

The four members nodded in unison, stood up and headed towards the competition cabin. Before entering, Hùng turned around and winked at Đăng and Châu standing in the training area. “Sit still and watch journalist Hoàng Diệu perform.”

The cabin door closed. The indicator light turned red. Game two of the Finals, and perhaps also the game that would determine the school careers of those five people, was about to begin.

While waiting for the system to load the map, Đăng stood still, looking through the soundproof glass into the cabin, where four teammates were sitting in position. He remembered the first night he met them — four lazy, undisciplined boys who only knew how to blame each other every time they lost a match. The road from there to here, standing on the doorstep of the National Finals, was longer than any of them ever dared to imagine.

Bảo Châu stood next to him, also looking at the screen monitoring the team's parameters. "Do you think losing Game 1 had much of an impact on their psychology?"

"Definitely yes," Đăng admitted, not shying away from the truth. "But that's also why I chose to let them play instinct in Game 2. When the mind is too stressed to calculate, sometimes instinct is the most reliable thing."

A whistle sounded, signaling that the match was about to start. Đăng and Châu both retreated to the coach area and sat down in front of their own monitor screen. On the other side of the stage, Lê Hoàng stood with his arms crossed, his eyes still full of confidence after the overwhelming victory in Game 1, unaware that the chaotic storm that HD E-sports was about to unleash was about to make his perfect machine stagger.

The countdown display ran to zero. The game began to load, and in that short moment of waiting, Đăng gently clenched his hands, silently sending a silent wish to his four teammates who were preparing to enter the most important battle of their student lives. Next to him, Bảo Châu also quietly clasped her hands in front of her chest, her eyes not leaving the screen that gradually lit up a familiar map image. In the stands, the applause and cheers of the crowd gradually subsided into a waiting silence, as if the whole Gymnasium was also holding its breath with five people about to enter one of the most important games of their school lives, a game that could rewrite the entire story of HD E-sports forever.