CANVAS (springtofu)

The venue was small, its walls lined with neon lights and giant banners of the tournament sponsors. Rows upon rows of seats in front of the main stage, a sea of anticipation from the player's fans, family, and friends as they watched the players walk onto the stage and to their designated seats.

Wang Chaihong peeks at the crowd from under her cap, she nervously scans through the audience, hoping there were not any familiar faces. Her heartbeat thudded so loudly it drowned out the cheers of the crowd, and she could only hear her thoughts 'Please be no one here…Please don't recognize me…'

"Ah…ahh… can you guys hear me?" Yang Jinbao raises her voice as she adjusts her headphones and microphone volume, cutting off Wang Chaihong's thoughts short. She looked over at Kang Dal, who was adjusting his headphones as well " Bao jiejie, Your volume is fine.", giving her a thumbs up.

Wang Chaihong looks back down at her monitor and drinks a mouthful of water to recompose herself. "I know we only practiced together for a few days but let's just take it easy, alright?" 

Wang Chaihong adjusts her mouse sensitivity at the menu, "We just need to play like how we usually do. Leave the lead to me". Her voice was a bit muffled due to the black mask, she could feel the sweat on her forehead.

Yang Jinbao nodded at her, she could see her slightly pale complexion "Xiao Hong, if you feel uncomfortable or anything, let us know. We can back out any time.", reassuring her.

Wang Chaihong nods at her, "I will be okay."

_________

Caster 1: Welcome folks to Lazer's Game Tournament! This tournament's main sponsor, Lazer is celebrating their 10th anniversary. I am Marco, your caster for tonight.

Caster 2: Did you hear? They are giving away customized Lazer mice. I heard they are a limited edition for the winning team! I am Tako, your caster for tonight as well.

Caster 1: The participating teams must be ready to give their all. Tonight, 20 teams will compete for the Lazer's mice. Are you excited for tonight, Tako?

Caster 2: Of course. This may not be a Tier 1 tournament but we might be able to see some fresh blood tonight.

Caster 1: Look at Team 5, they have two females on their team. Looks like they are the only females in the tournament.

Caster 2: It is my first time seeing female players compete in Shooter Legends. Let's hope they can hold it out against the other teams.

Two figures dressed in black from head to toe walk in from behind the venue. Even though they are covered up in black outfit, their presence could not be contained. Whispers from a couple of ladies, couldn't contain their excitement 

'Hey, are the two of them models'

'The taller one has nice proportions'

'We should ask for their numbers later'  

Pretending not to hear the murmurs, Zhang LiQiang and Lu Yufei sat down near the exit, with drinks in hand. Both of them are used to the attention but the reason why Zhang LiQiang is covered up is to avoid any journalist.

Lu Yufei sips his soda and looks at the caster's table from above "Aren't they exaggerating a bit much? It's not like professional female players don't exist at all."

"It's just for the hype. Marco is known to say things without thinking much anyway" Zhang LiQiang checks the large screen above the stage, and he scans through the player names on each team. He recognized a few of the names from Glitch, he waited for the screen to switch to Team 5's name list to see if he had seen any names before.

Lu Yufei's eyes wandered to look for the journalist table, he tapped on Zhang LiQiang's shoulder "Lazer even invited Gogo Game's big brother here, they must have invested a lot for their anniversary" 

Zhang LiQiang's peels away from the screen as soon as he sees Wang's Chaihong's team player list, as he stares blankly at the journalist table, the player list still freshly imprinted in his head 'Bao? Moon? Aren't they Iron Wall Gaming's newest recruits? I remember Coach Ming showing me their player list'

Caster 1: ALRIGHT! Teams are dropping off the ship right now. It seems like 4 teams are gathering at Zero Base.

Caster 2: 3 teams are dropping at Storm Tower and not far from them 3 teams are landing at Scrap Bunker

Caster 1: Looks like some teams are dropping off late, maybe it's a good strategic approach? Who knows?

Wang Chaihong's team piqued Zhang LiQiang and Lu Yufei's interest. Sipping on his drink, Zhang LiQiang points out "They landed at Shipping Yard. Interesting."

"Hmm? You played this game before, Ah Qiang?" surprised that his best friend knew some details of the game. Zhang LiQiang rarely shows interest in battle royale games, he thinks half of the time battle royale relies on luck such as gun type, map rotation, and ring-closing location.

Zhang LiQiang nods once "It was one of the few battle royale games I tried out before."

Caster 1: Team 5 and Team 7 landed at Shipping Yard. That's interesting, don't you think Tako?

Caster 2: Indeed. Only high-ranking players would pick this spot to land. Not only is it hard to find weapons here, the terrain is difficult to move around!

Caster 1: But the good thing about this place is the weapons you pick up are high tier! Seems like the two teams are about to start their fight soon! Who will be the first team sent back to the lobby?