Chapter 122: The First WCG [Fourteenth Installment]

"So this is the first-ever WCG eSports tournament?" Looking at the sparse venue and the bustling crowd before him, Huang He had to admit that there was quite a gap between dreams and reality.

In Huang He’s imagination, the WCG should have been packed to the rafters with guests, swarming with tourists, and countless gamers crowding the entrance, cheering loudly for their home countries and teams.

In reality, however, while there was a queue at the entrance, it was by no means long. There were no scalpers to be found, as one could simply walk up to the ticket window and purchase an entry pass on the spot.

Huang He, accompanied by Leng Zhimeng and an interpreter, took only half a minute to queue before entering the venue.

Inside, the crowd was slightly larger, but the venue design was incredibly primitive. A stage composed of a few television screens sat in the center of the hall, with two glass rooms placed on either side containing computers. Aside from that, there was nothing else.

Compared to the LPL stages of the future, this setup was utterly pathetic.

Even this stage was reserved only for major matches and the finals. At other times, competitors had to sit at computers arranged like those in a common internet cafe, facing each other directly during matches.

Fortunately, the organizers had the sense to arrange them face-to-face rather than back-to-back, otherwise, they would have been able to see each other's screens directly.

Huang He, who had once held infinite fantasies about the WCG, felt deeply disappointed. Leng Zhimeng, however, was incredibly excited. To the gamers of 2001, such a crude stage already appeared luxurious. After all, playing video games was still viewed by parents as a social plague—something that had to be kept in the shadows. To be able to stand in the light as a professional player and participate in such a dazzling competition was the dream of countless gamers.

"Brother-in-law, let’s go find the Chinese players and cheer them on!" Leng Zhimeng said excitedly. Huang He nodded, though he was clearly distracted; his gaze was fixed more on the booths of the various manufacturers.

Did they really think Boss Huang came to the WCG to fulfill a dream? If he truly wanted to fulfill a dream, he could have just hosted his own WCG without any trouble.

Huang He’s purpose for coming to the WCG was to meet the game developers present. After all, there were few occasions where gaming companies from all over the world gathered, mostly just the annual E3 and the future ChinaJoy.

However, E3 took place in July and had already passed, and the first ChinaJoy would not be held until 2004. Thus, the WCG was the only place currently hosting a large gathering of game manufacturers.

Of course, the number of game developers at the WCG wasn't actually that large—mostly just those who had games featured in the tournament. But that didn't matter; Huang He’s goal was singular: Blizzard.

When it came to Blizzard, everyone in China would eventually know the name, but that would only happen after the explosive popularity of *Warcraft III*, *World of Warcraft*, and *Dota*. At this time, Blizzard had little popularity in China. Their only notable title was *StarCraft*, which was the only game they were featuring at this WCG.

Regrettably, Huang He didn't know anyone at Blizzard, so even if a representative walked right past him, he wouldn't recognize them. Furthermore, there was no designated rest area for manufacturers in the hall. After searching for a while without finding the right people, he could only wander the venue with Leng Zhimeng in search of the Chinese players.

This proved to be quite difficult, as the Koreans and Chinese looked fairly similar. Leng Zhimeng circled the area several times but couldn't distinguish who was who.

It was our sharp-eyed Boss Huang who, after a few casual glances, spotted a gathering of Chinese people and led Leng Zhimeng over.

"Brother-in-law, how did you know they were Chinese?" Leng Zhimeng asked, puzzled.

"It’s a matter of temperament," Huang He yawned. "All Koreans carry a certain pettiness, a mix of self-pity and arrogant, thieving vanity. I can sense it the moment I look at them—it's easy to tell who is Korean and who is Chinese!"

"Really?" Leng Zhimeng was shocked.

"Absolutely true!" Huang He said with a serious face. However, this was only half-true. It was true that he felt Koreans had that temperament, but the lie was that he hadn't identified them by that. He had recognized one of the eSports players he knew: Ma Tianyuan, the first and only Chinese WCG *StarCraft* champion, known by his ID, mty.

Some might exclaim that if they scoured the records of past WCG *StarCraft* champions, they were all Korean—where would a Chinese champion come from?

That was because Ma Tianyuan had won the *StarCraft* team event, having teamed up with another Chinese player, DeeP. This was the only eSports player at the venue that Huang He recognized.

(P.S.: I apologize, I could not find the real name of DeeP. Additionally, detailed information regarding the participants of the first WCG is impossible to find; only the winners are recorded. This is the so-called "the success of one general is built on the bones of ten thousand." Therefore, the names of some of the eSports players appearing next are purely fictional and do not represent real people. As for the later-famous Sky, he had just joined an eSports team at this time.)

"Go, China! Go!" Upon hearing the familiar Chinese language, Leng Zhimeng excitedly waved her fists to cheer them on. This startled the Chinese players, but once they saw such a cute girl, they immediately broke into smiles and began chatting with Huang He and his group.

These people were indeed the Chinese national team for the WCG, totaling 16 members, covering all the tournament categories.

"The *Quake* project is a bust," one player sighed. "We were eliminated in the qualifiers. It seems we have no chance in that one."

"It’s alright, mty and I are in good form; we've already entered the playoffs for the team event," DeeP said.

"You all must do your best! Whoever wins the first championship, I’ll let him be my boyfriend!" Leng Zhimeng continued to wave her fists, shouting boisterously. This left the boys present breathless—after all, Leng Zhimeng was truly too beautiful. If she were to become one of their girlfriends, that would be simply...

It was fortunate they didn't watch *Focus Report* in their daily lives; otherwise, if they had recognized Leng Zhimeng as the CEO of OO, they might have been even more agitated.

"By the way, do you know where the Blizzard official office is?" Huang He already knew the results of the future matches, so he wasn't too concerned; he was just desperate to make contact with the Blizzard team.

"Blizzard?" The group looked blank, completely unfamiliar with the name. Only one thin boy tentatively asked, "Are you referring to the developer of *StarCraft*, Blizzard Entertainment?"

"That’s the one!"

"Their workspace is on that side of the hall. There’s a row of temporary rooms, and one of them has their company logo on it. You can find it there!" the boy said.

"Thanks!" Huang He nodded, then took a few more looks at the boy, suddenly feeling that he looked familiar.

"What is your name?"

"My name is Fei Le."