C Area, No. 47

"Ugh, acting all high and mighty!"

"It's for his own good that he retires, what else can he do?"

"Exactly, at least he knows better than to stick around the club and retire in comfort."

Ye Kai and Su Mucheng left, leaving the people in the meeting room as if suddenly coming back to their senses, and the whispering discussions started again. Sun Xiang's face, however, was changing, he didn't join in but approached the manager and said, "I don't understand, how could he accept these terms?"

"He had no choice," said the manager.

"Why?"

"Because he couldn't afford the penalty for breach of contract," the manager explained.

"No... really?" Sun Xiang was surprised. Ye Kai was a top professional player who had been competing in the league for seven years. Even if he refused all kinds of commercial activities, his salary alone should have been enough to afford the penalty for terminating a year and a half contract.

"You're not from that era; you haven't experienced it. In the early days of the league, professional players were not as glamorous as they are now, everyone was just barely making ends meet, and most people were part-timers. Those who were washed out in that era had it tough, spending their prime years on games without mastering any skills, and most of their lives afterwards were in hardship. Ye Kai was a genius from that era, making it to today with his skills, but he has many friends like that."

"You mean, he spent a lot of his wealth helping those friends?" Sun Xiang widened his eyes.

"Exactly."

"Then, since he also needs money, why wouldn't he accept commercial activities?" Sun Xiang asked.

"No one knows the reason," said the manager.

"Do you have any guesses?" Sun Xiang asked.

"Perhaps, it has something to do with his family," the manager suggested.

"Oh?"

"No one knows anything about his family, and he never talks about it, which is strange, so I have this suspicion," the manager explained.

"This person... has so many stories!" Sun Xiang, holding the Autumn Leaf account card given to him by Ye Kai, knew that Autumn Leaf was an entertainment account Ye Kai used in online games before the professional league was even formed, and has been using it to this day, one of the oldest accounts in the Glory world.

"Alright, let's not talk about him anymore. The boss had something to do today and couldn't come, but he specifically left me this bottle of red wine he's been collecting for years, just to welcome you," said the manager.

"Haha, thanks a lot! With me here, Jiashi is going to turn things around."

...

Ye Kai left.

Su Mucheng stood at the entrance of the club, watching Ye Kai walk away until he disappeared. He kept turning back and waving at her, while Su Mucheng had already been in tears.

Without saying much, Ye Kai only said eight words: "Take a year off, then come back."

Su Mucheng didn't say a word, just nodded heavily. She was no longer the naive little girl she used to be; she had the courage to take on many things alone.

Snowflakes began to fall from the sky, this winter was so cold.

...

Is it snowing?

When Ye Kai left the club, he hadn't figured out his next step. The life he had been living for so many years was about to change, and he was somewhat uncomfortable with it; he just wanted to walk around like this, keep walking until he figured things out.

But it seemed that even the heavens didn't give him this chance, as it started to snow at this moment, and it got heavier. The swirling snowflakes quickly wet his shoulders and his hair started to form icicles; he had to find shelter.

Ye Kai looked around and saw an internet café on the roadside, still brightly lit in the deep night, and immediately ran towards it.

The internet café was warm. Ye Kai, who rushed in, shook off the snowflakes on his body and opened a computer at the front desk.

"C area, number 47 machine," the girl at the bar reported the location of the machine, then handed back the ID card of the person who opened the machine, but when she looked up, the person was already gone. The girl wasn't surprised, obviously, this kind of thing had happened a lot. She silently put away the ID card, knowing that the missing person would naturally come looking for it.

C area, number 47 machine, Ye Kai followed the numbering to find it. The internet café was not small in scale, with a considerable number of machines, and there was even a second floor. C area... Ye Kai saw the area sign hanging from the ceiling, so he didn't need to go upstairs.

When he reached machine number 47, Ye Kai was taken aback; there was clearly a woman sitting there, playing Glory, in the arena fighting one-on-one, her intense operations making her high ponytail swing back and forth.

Looking at her side face, seeing her character, a Gunner, in the screen, Ye Kai was a bit dazed; he almost thought it was Su Mucheng sitting in that position.

But he quickly realized it wasn't; Su Mucheng was always so gentle and calm, even during intense PK confrontations, she could maintain a smile. Sometimes, Ye Kai felt a bit chilly watching her smile as she blasted someone to pieces and then politely apologized.

As for the girl in front of him, her appearance was equally beautiful, pure, and gentle, but the fierceness with which she gnashed her teeth and battered the keyboard and mouse made her appearance seem like a complete deception.

"The murderous aura is too scary, but it's a pity..." Ye Kai saw the screen clearly; he saw that this woman was about to be in trouble. Sure enough, a flaw she just exposed was caught by her opponent, a combo came over, and her remaining little life was immediately wiped out.

"Damn!" Ye Kai heard the woman curse, slamming the keyboard and directly closing the game.

Ye Kai was hesitating whether he still wanted this spot when the woman had already turned around, spotted the hesitant Ye Kai, and asked angrily, "Are you going to play?"

Ye Kai nodded.

"Sit here then!" The woman said and had already left.

Ye Kai shook his head at the lack of composure of this ordinary player in competitive quality, and finally took his seat.

Chen Guo was frustrated, very frustrated. She had just been dueling someone in the Glory arena, played 52 rounds, and couldn't believe she hadn't won a single round.

Her account was not bad; Chen Guo touched the "Chasing Clouds and Moon" in her pocket, which could be considered quite strong among ordinary players. And Chen Guo's level wasn't low either; she had been playing Glory for a full five years. Her opponent just now had an account that was inferior to hers, yet she couldn't win a single round out of 52.

"He's a great master," Chen Guo nodded and came to a conclusion.

"Boss, didn't you exit the game? How come that person started playing?" Chen Guo was walking and thinking when suddenly a sentence came from beside her. Chen Guo turned her head and saw that on the machine next to her was a regular customer of the internet café, peeking his head towards the machine she had just been sitting at.

Not good! Chen Guo was shocked and hurriedly rushed back. The popularity of Glory had made the Glory account login device a standard component of computers, especially indispensable in internet cafés. Since the account card only needs to be inserted when logging into the game, in places like internet cafés, people usually insert the card to log in and then keep the card safe.

One card corresponds to one account; losing the card can be reported for loss, so account theft is virtually extinct. But in places like internet cafés, it's common for people to carelessly forget to log out or fake log out, resulting in the next user taking advantage of it, picking up money and equipment. Chen Guo, who had just lost 52 rounds in a row and was quite irritable, didn't pay attention and didn't exit the game but only switched back to the computer desktop.

Chen Guo hurriedly rushed forward and indeed saw that guy controlling her account, but it seemed he wasn't sweeping equipment but was enjoying fighting someone in the arena. Chen Guo hadn't had the chance to yell when she saw two big words jump out on the screen: "Victory!"