Chapter 83 1/2

After leaving the airport, Shengquan was still thinking about the familiar name, Tang Chen.

In the past two years, there have been no hot searches or major news except for the original novel.

Whether it was due to the time travel or being a few years younger, after crossing over, Shengquan clearly found that her memory had improved significantly, and she learned new things much faster.

She quickly recalled the description of Tang Chen in the original novel.

It was about a star participating in an esports competition and being criticized by many esports fans for profaning professional esports. Some even believed it was the beginning of the decline of esports in China.

The star, also a fan of esports, self-mockingly said backstage, “Decline? Esports has declined since Tang Chen died. What difference can I make?”

The artist’s manager, also an esports fan, continued, “In my opinion, esports declined before he died. He just gave it a new lease of life.”

The novel briefly explained that Tang Chen was once the ace player of DE, the largest esports club in the country. He led his team to victory, winning various domestic and international awards.

During the same period, many talented esports figures emerged, and that time was considered the pinnacle of esports in China. Unfortunately, where there’s a peak, there’s a fall. These figures, one by one, “fell” due to injuries and eventually retired.

When Tang Chen left DE, the situation turned ugly. The novel didn’t provide specific details, only mentioning that, in the declining state of esports in China, Tang Chen formed a new team, personally guiding them to success.

In the end, this small and struggling team, which had experienced who knows what to climb up, actually reached the pinnacle of esports—the global finals of “Polaris,” which had the highest prestige.

At that moment, esports fans were ecstatic, thinking that the pinnacle of Chinese esports would be restored.

The result was the news of Tang Chen’s death, who had already become a coach. From that point on, without the biggest support pillar, Polaris, which had been pushed up in the declining esports scene, no longer flourished. After persisting for more than a year, it was announced that it would disband.

Shengquan wasn’t very familiar with esports because, in her previous life, her corporate job left her with no time for gaming habits. She usually played small games like Candy Crush, which helped her relax and think about other things.

After arriving in this world, she had so many outstanding movies and TV shows to enjoy that she was happy for a long time. She naturally didn’t fall into the trap of gaming.

She was still waiting for the hologram.

Esports in this world were quite different from her previous life. Whenever she occasionally saw esports news in her past life, she never saw players wearing VR headsets like they did in this life.

“Don’t say anything; this eye mask looks quite cool.

Moreover, the history of esports in this world should be significantly different from her previous world, as you can tell from the term ‘decline.’ It once reached its peak.

As mentioned before, due to historical divergences, ‘Star Radiance’ is a world where entertainment is highly valued by everyone. People generally prioritize mental relaxation and entertainment. Before Sheng Quan came into the picture, the film and television industry in Huaxia had already become stagnant.

In such a situation, esports became a significant part of Huaxia’s entertainment industry.

Currently, the most popular game globally is ‘Polar,’ released thirteen years ago. It quickly gained global popularity, and with the emergence of professional esports, various countries established professional esports clubs.

In the twelve years of ‘Polar’ development, there were Huaxia professional esports players in the competitions for five years.

However, in recent years, it seems that only one team has made it to the finals, and they were eliminated in the end.

According to Sheng Quan’s research, four years ago could indeed be considered the peak of the Huaxia professional esports scene. There was fierce competition, talented players emerged frequently, and clubs with a bit of fame worldwide were making a lot of money.

However, soon after, clubs, in their pursuit of profits, overlooked other downsides. Huaxia professional esports, on a global scale, became a rising force, but with rapid development, talented esports players became disposable commodities, suffering from frequent tournaments and intense training, resulting in various injuries.

Injuries that could have been easily treated in the early stages were exacerbated by the typical exploitation of clubs. Once injuries flared up, players were immediately sold during the transfer period. No matter how talented they were, they couldn’t withstand such treatment.

While it’s said that the professional career of an esports player is short, it’s not short enough for them to retire after just a year or two. After being played in this manner, the rapidly expanding clubs, even the most successful ones, soon faced difficulties.

The appeal of professional esports lies in victories. No fan wants to see their supported team constantly losing, and no fan likes to see their team on a downward trajectory.

If in the past, the Huaxia teams were just mediocre, it would have been acceptable, but they had reached their peak, dominating the global championships for several years. Having experienced the intense competition, how could the fans accept mediocrity now?

Without spectators, even the largest clubs struggle to survive. Unfortunately, many of them expanded ambitiously during their peak. Getting rid of them now is not easy.

In the past four years, the popularity of esports in China has been decreasing, especially with the rise of the film and television industry. Professional esports have become increasingly neglected.

But now it seems that it’s not that people are not paying attention, but rather that the media is not paying attention. Sheng Quan had occasionally come across esports-related news in her previous life, but at that time, she had never thought about this world, so she naturally didn’t bother clicking on it.

However, Sheng Quan did notice something interesting. In her previous life, when she occasionally came across esports-related content, the names of clubs, teams, and players were often in foreign languages. However, this world doesn’t seem to follow that trend.

Tan Chen’s ID is ‘Bù Shuī’ (not chasing).

The small club he formed is called ‘Pò Shuǐ’ (breaking water).

Although the large club he once served was named ‘DE,’ the fans called it ‘Dede.’ Not many people liked saying ‘DEDE.’ On the contrary, some foreign teams were quite popular for adopting Chinese nicknames. Sheng Quan didn’t know if this had anything to do with the dominance of Huaxia teams in the global rankings in previous years.

Perhaps because they had once reached their peak, Huaxia esports fans were finding it increasingly difficult to accept the decline, especially in a world where entertainment was highly valued. People in each country take pride in collective honor in such matters. It’s okay to support teams from different countries at regular times, but once the global competition starts, everyone naturally expects their national team to win.

Esports competitions in her previous life were probably still niche, taking place once a year, with most viewers being gaming enthusiasts.

But in this world, the ‘Polar’ Global Championship held every three years is undoubtedly a grand event for all countries. However, the media in Huaxia doesn’t seem very interested.

After all, Huaxia has not won an award for four consecutive years. Fans either choose not to watch out of disappointment or, as soon as the news comes out, they madly criticize without even bothering to give a like. Instead of reporting on these matters, they would rather cover celebrity gossip.

Of course, there are still some reports. Sheng Quan found news about the ‘Polar’ tournament in recent times. However, almost every piece of news is filled with criticism because it mostly covers bad news.

Heavenly March narrowly misses the qualifying round.

#Shanghe Team Eliminated

Breaking Water falls into the second round due to tactical mistakes.

The last one is new, and Sheng Quan found it in real-time using keywords. It seems to be a recent paparazzi report.

Sheng Quan felt a bit strange. Didn’t she just hear those two throwing vegetables and cursing in the bottom lane? How did it become a tactical mistake?

However, after confirming the identity of those people, Sheng Quan understood why they were criticized for eating vegetables.

Weren’t they just calling ‘vegetables’ as an insult?

She glanced back; the paparazzi didn’t dare take the elevator with Sheng Quan. They had caught up by now, shooting from a distance.

There was a large group of people from the program behind her, and only two or three stray cats were shooting. In between, there were also two guests’ anti-fans. The staff’s faces could only be described as forcing a smile.

You have to know that, like ‘Song of You,’ most variety shows are almost overworked, live-streaming and recording at the same time, emphasizing authenticity.

But now, authenticity has gone too far. Such things happened as soon as they got off the plane.

Although the coach of Breaking Water immediately came out to divert attention, using humor to respond and accepting the paparazzi’s interview willingly, the scene had become quite awkward.

Fortunately, one of the guests was good at handling situations. He deliberately looked around, exaggeratedly praising her with a joking tone.

“What’s going on? Just now, the production team on the plane said there would be a lot of reporters at the airport, asking us to warmly greet them and be careful not to get separated. The way they spoke made it sound like it was crowded with people. How come there are only three of you?”