Win?
Chen Guo was dumbfounded for a moment. The word that flashed on the screen, Glory, was the Arena's victory symbol meaning "K.O.".
Only, she had only left for how long? 40 seconds? 50 seconds? Chen Guo lifted her wrist and looked down at her watch. It definitely hasn't been a minute yet. But the result? The opponent I had lost to 52 times in a row was defeated in less than a minute?
Chen Guo even forgot to rush up and snatch back her account. She wanted to see if this person could duel again for her to examine properly. But in the end, she saw that the person had already logged-out of the game. He stretched out his arms as if he weren't too interested in the computer and glanced around left and right. Turning his head, he saw Chen Guo looking at him with wide eyes and hurriedly explained: "You hadn't logged out yet and when I sat down, the fight had already started. Don't worry, I helped you win!"
"How long have you used it?" Chen Guo asked.
"40 seconds!" Ye Qiu said.
Chen Guo's mouth dropped open when he said somewhat regretfully: "My hands were frozen cold or else 30 seconds would've been enough."
30 seconds… … 30 seconds to beat the opponent that I lost to 52 times in a row? Who is this person?
Could it be a professional gamer from the Excellent Era Team? Chen Guo suddenly thought. She knew that the Excellent Era Club wasn't too far away from the Internet Cafe . But she thought again.I would have recognized him if he was from the Excellent Era Team! Unless it's that expert that never shows his face Ye Qiu.
Ye Qiu! Chen Guo became excited as soon as she thought of the name, but thinking how low-profile this expert was, he probably wouldn't admit to it if she asked him directly. After hesitating for a bit, Chen Guo suddenly thought of something and quickly ran back to the reception desk.
"Who registered as Area 3 Number 47's guest?" Chen Guo asked the girl at the counter.
"Ye Xiu." the girl said.
"Ye Xiu… … Ye Qiu? It really is him!" Chen Guo excitedly thought. It looked like she really had uncovered his hidden identity! This showed that he really was Ye Qiu. If she had seen the name Ye Qiu written, then she wouldn't have believed it.
"Heh heh heh… …" Chen Guo's laugh could only be called sinister. She had been prepared to use everything she owned to get his signature. Ye Qiu's signature, ah! Who had it? No one!
Just as she was thinking this, the receptionist girl said without thinking: "He even forgot his ID card."
"ID card?" Chen Guo stared blankly after hearing this. Only then did she realize that she had turned silly from excitement. Internet Cafe registration had a system for identifying customers. An ID card had to be shown. How could someone use a fake ID?
"Where is it? Let me take a look." Chen Guo looked at the ID card in the girl's hand. Sure enough, Ye Xiu was written on it. A wave of disappointment washed over and she a strong urge to change the word Xiu into Qiu.
After finding out that he wasn't the low-profile expert she admired, although she was curious about this person's strength, her interest had already largely disappeared. Chen Guo angrily returned to Area 3 Number 47 and handed over Ye Xiu's ID card: "You forgot to take your ID card."
"Oh, thanks." Ye Xiu immediately answered, "Do you work in the Internet Cafe?"
"Yeah, I'm the boss."
"Oh? The boss, that's good. I just saw on the Internet Cafe's homepage, is your Internet Cafe hiring?" Ye Xiu asked.
"Ah… … yes… …" Chen Guo didn't think that this person would suddenly ask this. She had just been thinking to compare notes with this person. This would be the perfect excuse to.
"I looked at it and felt that I match all of the qualifications. Work and pay aren't a problem. How about it?" Consider it for a moment, boss." Ye Xiu said.
"Oh, then you have to beat me in a duel in Glory." Chen Guo said.
"What? There's this condition?" Ye Xiu turned around to check.
"You don't need to look for it. I'm adding it." Chen Guo said.
Ye Xiu stared blankly. Only now did he realize that his prior victory was too professional. This beautiful boss was curious about his strength, but… … Ye Xiu bitterly laughed shaking his head: "I can't beat you."
"Why?" Chen Guo startled.
"Because I don't have an account that can beat yours." Ye Xiu said.
"Account… … what level is it? What equipment?" Chen Guo asked.
"No levels, no equipment." Ye Xiu said.
"How?" Chen Guo didn't believe it. He had defeated the opponent she couldn't beat in 40 seconds. If this type of person didn't have a leveled account, then how did he practice to this level of skill?
"I gave away my original account." Ye Xiu could only say this.
"Oh, so it's like this… … how generous." Chen Guo sighed with sorrow. This person's strength was powerful, his account definitely wouldn't be weak. Powerful accounts were extremely valuable. Gifting it away so easily was very valiant.
"Yeah, too generous." Ye Xiu forced a smile. The account he had given away was the Battle God Ever-Stay. To only use the word "generous" to describe him was truthfully too petty.
"Is it to get ready to play in the new server?" Chen Guo asked.
"New server?" Ye Xiu stared blankly and suddenly glanced at the date.
The next day was Glory's tenth anniversary. Glory, starting from the second anniversary onwards, would open a new server on every anniversary. The registration for the tenth server had already started three months ago. Old players who weren't satisfied with the old server would prepare to enter Glory again looking forward to this day.
Now, Glory's tenth server was opening. The distant Ever-Stay was an account in Glory's first server. Later, in Glory's fifth expansion, a lot of experts obtained the qualifications to complete the Challenge skill becoming the first ones possessing access to all servers.
Now Ever-Stay had already exchanged owners. His career as a professional in Glory also left with it, but he coincidentally met up with the start of the new server. Ye Xiu's mind stirred. Ten years of memories suddenly flashed through his mind.
"New server?" Ye Xiu mumbled.
"I remember that at the start of a new server, you can transfer to it right?" Ye Xiu suddenly asked Chen Guo.
"Only Level 1 accounts can." Chen Guo said.
"Let me try." Ye Xiu fished out an account card from his pocket and quickly applied for a server transfer on the Glory home page. Chen Guo looked at the account card amazed: "Isn't this a first-edition card?"
"It is." Ye Xiu smiled. Glory had a new edition every year. A first-edition card would be from almost ten years ago.
Chen Guo looked at Ye Xiu astonished: "How long have you been playing Glory?" Cards weren't living objects. People were. Even if a card had been around for ten years, it didn't mean a person had been.
"Almost ten years." Ye Xiu answered confirming that he and the card were one.
Chen Guo had thought that she, with five years of gaming, was already considered a veteran. She wouldn't have thought that the guy in front of her had a full double her experience. Ten years. That was Glory's first group of players. To continue playing up until now yet still having interest in entering a new server, what type of drive was this?
While thinking this, the home page had already displayed "Server Transfer Successful".
"Done." Ye Xiu pulled out the account card. He once again recalled the little details contained with this first-edition card.
"Are you saying you want to become a network manager?" Chen Guo suddenly brought up this matter.
"Yes."
"Which one are you looking at?" Chen Guo asked.
"The night shift one." Ye Xiu said.
"Oh, are you fine with that?" Chen Guo surprised. The night shift one went on from 11PM to 7AM. The monthly income was greater than others by three hundred, but very few applied. After all, not many people were willing to have day and night reversed everyday. As a result, everyone had to take turns completing the task. If there truly was someone who took on the special night shift task, then everyone would be relieved.
"No problem, no problem. I like working at night." Ye Xiu said.
Chen Guo carefully sized up this person in front of her. His hair looked as if it hadn't been taken care of in at least half a month. His face didn't look too healthy. Although it was white and clear, it was that sort of sickly pale. His two eyes gazed at her listlessly. She had seen this appearance many times. The youths that frequently visited her Internet Cafe often look like this. The guy in front of her didn't look too young, but was unexpectedly also so dejected and disdained.
Disdained was disdained. As long as he wanted to be a full-time night cat, then Chen Guo would welcome him. What's more, she was also curious about the strength of this person with ten years of gaming experience. She clapped her hands on the spot: "Okay, then you're hired."
"Thank you very much boss."
"Look at the terms carefully. It'll be in accordance with those." Chen Guo said.
"No problem."
"Then good, come with me!" Chen Guo handled matters crisply. After hiring Ye Xiu, she immediately ordered him as an employee to tidy up a pile of keyboards and move them to the second floor for storage.
Chen Guo's Internet Cafe was called "Demeter Internet Club", considered a fairly high-class Internet Cafe. There were two floors and over one thousand computers. The second floor was somewhat small, but was clearly luxurious — a high-class area. And the inside was a paradise hiding two small inner rooms and storage room. Ye Xiu busily moved keyboards up and down having already inspected this small room. The recruitment page wrote: Food and shelter included. Ye Xiu had just left the club and hadn't yet thought of the next step. Food and shelter, these sort of conditions, would give him time to settle down and think about what to do next. Only then did he feel interested in taking a position at the Internet Cafe.
At first glance, this small room was probably the "shelter". Although the decoration was simple, it was clean and tidy. Ye Xiu was very satisfied with it. He continued pondering as he arranged the keyboards that he brought up.
"Good, that's where you'll be sleeping." Seeing that Ye Xiu had finished the work, she pointed towards the small bed crammed into the storage room.
"What?" Ye Xiu stared blankly. He imagined that he would be sleeping in that bright and clean room. Even the drawing room sofa would be good. Here… … Ye Xiu lifted his head to look. On the west wall of the small storage room was a tiny window that directly faced the streetlights. When the storage room lights were closed, dusky light immediately shone through the tiny window as if it were haunted.
"Eh, it's a little lacking. Just put up with it for now… … In reality, my Internet Cafe isn't lacking people. With you, we don't have too many. Without you, we don't have too few. The recruitment fliers you saw are a fairly old." Chen Guo said.
"Oh, so it's like this! No problem no problem. This is pretty good." Ye Xiu declared at once. His approving attitude made Chen Guo feel very apologetic. This small storage room truly wasn't a place for living.
"In your free time, you can go on the computers and play. It's not a problem, employees don't have to pay." Chen Guo said.
"Boss, you're also very generous!"
"Cough, as if I cared about a single computer among a thousand!" Chen Guo said.
"How is the flow of customers ordinarily?" Ye Xiu asked.
"Not bad. Enough for me to be satisfied." Chen Guo said. "Of course, there won't be as many in the night shift. Most of them are students from the nearby university pulling all-nighters. There's really not much to say. You'll see when it's time."
"Got it."
"In order for you to adapt to the workplace, how about starting today? I also want to observe and see your ability to work all night." Chen Guo said.
"No problem. My energy's at full capacity." Ye Xiu gave her two big thumbs-up showing that working all night was his specialty.
"Okay then. Let's go down. I'll treat you to a midnight snack." Chen Guo said.
"Oh? To eat what?"
"There's not much at this time. There should be a small restaurant nearby that hasn't closed yet. Go look and buy a few dishes to bring back. I don't eat celery." Chen Guo said as she fished out two hundred dollars from her pocket and slipped them to Ye Xiu
"It's snowing though!" Ye Xiu said.
"It's just across the road. How much snow would get on you? Hurry up." Chen Guo said.
Ye Xiu had no other choice. He crossed the road and bought a few midnight snacks. He had just been hired but had already been ordered in quick succession. But he wasn't feeling depressed at all. After speaking with her for only a bit, they were no longer strangers. This sort of natural friendliness made him feel comfortable. Ye Xiu suddenly realized. Even after all this, he had never asked for his boss's name.
"Sister Chen, you're eating midnight snacks again..."
After buying the midnight snacks, Chen Guo called all of the Internet Cafe employees to enjoy them together. The smell of the dishes recklessly filled the Internet Cafe immediately causing a wave of wailing and protests from the guests. The time for dinner had already passed yet they were being forced to smell the sweet fragrance from the dishes. That wasn't pleasure. That was a trap.
"Line up orderly if you want instant noodles." Chen Guo called out.
"Sister Chen should eat kitchen food everyday. We'll eat instant noodles then." No one rejected the temptation. They could only grab Internet Cafe instant noodles and eat while jealously watching the employees eat their full course meals of six dishes and a soup.
"If you also want to go out and eat, don't ask my employees to go on an errand for you." Chen Guo said.
"Next time, could you tell us in advance? Can't you help deliver it to us?" A person said.
"The Internet Cafe only has so many people. How could we deliver it all back? Enough of this nonsense, if you really want to eat so much but are too lazy to buy it, go ask for their phone number. Wouldn't they be willing to deliver it?" Chen Guo said.
"Sister Chen do you have their number? Lend it to me so I can copy it down." A person said.
"What would I do with their phone number? I have people to run errands for me. Why would I inconvenience the restaurant?" Chen Guo said.
This time, not only the Cafe guests, but the employees cried together until their cheeks streamed with tears. Ye Xiu found an opportunity and took advantage of it to ask: "Boss is surnamed Chen right?"
"Yup, Chen Guo. I've seen your ID card. You're not as old as I am, so I don't mind you calling me sister. You also won't lose out." Chen Guo said.
"Whatever you want..." Ye Xiu forced a smile.
"Today's shredded meat with chili sauce is so spicy. Little brat, go eat it all." Chen Guo hadn't eaten much. She only ate a mouthful before throwing away her chopsticks and rushing to the drinking water. After carrying a glass of water back, she kicked Ye Xiu's stool: "Are you done yet? Hurry up."
"What's the rush?" Ye Xiu asked.
"It's almost time." Chen Guo lifted her wrist to let Ye Xiu see her watch. It was currently 11:53 PM. There were only 7 minutes until the opening of Glory's tenth server.
"You're also going?" Ye Xiu was a little surprised. After playing Chen Guo's account Chasing Haze, a fifth sever account, if it had started on the opening of the server, then it would now be a full five years old. Of course, although that account couldn't compare with his professional peak level account, it was still quite good among ordinary players. It wasn't that easy to just simply give it up.
"Take a look at the excitement." Chen Guo said.
The opening of a new server really was quite exciting. What had originally been an ordinary day became a time when Deme-Cybercafé exploded with business. The area was packed with players. As far as the eye could see, all of the people had already opened up the registration interface waiting with their mice hovering over the still gray tenth server icon.
Entering the server, players rushed to get on the leaderboards, to clear the first dungeon, to be the first to kill a boss, etc. There were too many things waiting for the players. The opening of a new land caused people's hearts to bounce in excitement. Chen Guo looked towards these guests and couldn't help but be aroused by this sort of atmosphere. She looked back at Ye Xiu, who was still picking his food. She was surprised that he was unexpectedly unaffected by this sort of atmosphere, lacking that inner pioneering quality.
"Well what are you waiting for?" Chen Guo looked as if she were more anxious than the guests.
"What's the rush?" Ye Xiu truly was calm; he wasn't faking it. But he couldn't deny Glory's successful marketing. Glory's competitiveness among players ranked high in every category. These relied on genuine skill which couldn't be casually made up with money and luck. Only, to a famed veteran who had once bathed in glory, these things were only ordinary and mediocre.
Only after seeing how Chen Guo's expression was filled with murderous intent, did Ye Xiu begin considering that it was worth it to give the boss some face. Finally, he reluctantly put down his rice bowl and looked for a computer station to sit at.
"F*ck, it looks like I'm forcing him play. What type of person is this?" Chen Guo berated Ye Xiu behind his back. The employees all suppressed a laugh. They discovered that this network manager was little different. To be able to casually make their big boss go into a bad temper, this wasn't something an ordinary person could do.
Chen Guo sat at the station beside Ye Xiu and registered her Chasing Haze account. The popularity of the other nine servers hadn't dropped much because of the opening of the tenth server. The older the server the more this was true. This was because starting in Glory with a new account wasn't easy. Chen Guo had played on Chasing Haze for five years until it was considered a fairly good account by ordinary standards. How could it be abandoned so easily? What's more, later, everyone would try to rush to the cross-server Heavenly Domain.
This Heavenly Domain wasn't a single map. It was another world. The map was as big as the combined worlds of five other servers. This place had difficult instance dungeons, powerful equipment, precious materials, and also freedom. All experts would meet up there. The Heavenly Domain was a player's final destination.
It was about to be midnight. In the final ten seconds, the Internet Cafe had people who couldn't help but begin to countdown. As the sounds grew louder and louder and the final "ZERO" erupted, the dull gray color of the tenth server login window faded away. Everyone in the Internet Cafe united into one. They collectively extended their hands and inserted their account cards into the login device. Their mice clicked on the tenth server.
Chen Guo turned his head towards Ye Xiu and nearly spurt out blood. While everyone entered the game, this guy leisurely opened up a web page to look at. Raising her eyebrows, she saw that it was some sort of beginner handguide on the sequence of missions to take.
"F*ck, you don't even know how to do this? You even need a guide?" If it wasn't for that genuine first-edition card, even if she were beaten to death, she wouldn't have believed this guy had ten years of gaming experience.
"I haven't done this in so long, there's no way I could remember!" Ye Xiu slowly and unhurriedly said.
"You've never helped someone do it before?" Chen Guo said.
"This type of experience... I really don't have any." Ye Xiu said.
"No sense of community." Chen Guo disdained.
"I had no time." Ye Xiu said.
"People with no time wouldn't come to play. Gamers are people with spare time." Chen Guo said.
"I was busy playing games." Ye Xiu said seriously.
"Then what's your job?" Chen Guo asked.
"Playing games!" Ye Xiu exclaimed.
"Oh, are you a professional gamer?" Chen Guo said.
Ye Xiu laughed: "I was a pretty high level one too."
"A pretty high level one? Pro-gamer?" Chen Guo stared blankly.
Ye Xiu proudly nodded his head.
"Then you've retired!" Chen Guo said.
"How did you know?"
"Obvious, you're already so old." Chen Guo said.
Ye Xiu bitterly laughed.
"I was wondering how you were able to beat that guy in 40 seconds. It turned out you were a professional even if you're an amateur." Chen Guo said.
"Amateur?"
"I know all of the professional experts. Ye Xiu? I've never heard of the name. If you're not an amateur, what are you?" Chen Guo asked.
"Ha ha, so it's like this." Ye Xiu laughed.
"Don't fake it. You actually haven't retired. It's just that you were unable to win a seat, so you were kicked out right?" Chen Guo said.
Ye Xiu was speechless.
"No offense..." Chen Guo realized that her words had somewhat stabbed at his sore spot.
"It doesn't matter." Ye Xiu let out a sigh.
"Don't be discouraged. 25 years old isn't that old. If you keep practicing, maybe you can fight your way back." Chen Guo said.
"That's what I plan on doing." Ye Xiu smiled.
"If that day really happens, then I need to request something from you." Chen Guo said.
"What is it?"
"Signature." Chen Guo said.
"Why wait until that day? I'll sign it now!"
"How shameless! Who wants your signature? I only want you to ask for my idols' signatures." Chen Guo said.
"Oh? Who?"
"Su MuCheng and also Ye Qiu. Ye Qiu might be a little difficult. That person likes to hide." Chen Guo said.
"Oh so it's like this?" Tears streamed down Ye Xiu's cheeks. Ever-Stay was currently chatting with you face to face, sister.
"Yup. Only he almost never appears in public. Even if you're an amateur, I didn't know you were this out of touch. You didn't even know about this?" Chen Guo said.
"I know. Of course I know. Let me tell you a secret. Actually, I'm Ye Qiu." Ye Xiu said.
"Really? Then let me tell you a secret too. Actually, I'm Su MuCheng." Chen Guo said.
"I really am Ye Qiu." Ye Xiu cried.
"I really am Su MuCheng." Chen Guo said.
"I..."
"Okay, stop playing around. Let me see your plan!" Chen Guo waved her hand. She would no longer get angry at Ye Xiu's slow and unhurried attitude.
But after her line of sight returned to the screen, Chen Guo still couldn't help but say: "If you don't understand something clearly, you can just ask me."
"I want to research a bit first. I'll only do missions for attributes or skills. Other missions with rewards such as experience or equipment, it's faster to go to instance dungeons." Ye Xiu said.
"Right. This is the type of thinking a veteran should have. Only, you don't need to research it by yourself. Flip to the last page of that guide!"
"Oh?" when Ye Xiu flipped to the last page and looked, a sudden wave of shame hit. Thinking about it, this hand guide hadn't changed much over ten years. This was something players couldn't update any further. For missions that veterans would choose, how could noone have come up with this type of strategy already? Right now, he needed this type of strategy. Just as Ye Xiu was ready to follow this strategy to take missions, tears immediately began streaming down his face. He was once regarded as textbook level figure! Now with a beginners guide in his hands, how could he endure this shame?
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