Lord Grim's Plan to Quit the Game

Even though Liu Hao's operations were outstanding, he still couldn't gain the upper hand against Lord Grim in their battle. It wasn't because the Berserker class wasn't strong enough, but rather because the Unspecialized class was too abnormal—or, more specifically, the Myriad Manifestations Umbrella in Lord Grim's hands was too abnormal.

In the end, Liu Hao was undoubtedly defeated.

There was no helping it; the Hateful Sword was only at level 25, unable to use powerful high-level skills. This battle was impossible to win.

However, after losing the match, Liu Hao smiled. Yes, he smiled like a gold prospector who had struck gold.

Indeed, he didn't care at all about the outcome of this match. As for his bet with Ye Qiu? It was meaningless, just a pretence. His real goal was to study the combos of the Unspecialized class, specifically the fast-paced combos developed by Ye Qiu! This was the gold he was looking for.

Liu Hao exited the game, pulled out a USB drive from the computer, and handed it to Sun Xiang.

"How despicable, secretly recording the match," Sun Xiang scoffed.

"This isn't despicable at all; it wasn't prohibited from the start," Liu Hao said calmly. "Take it back and let everyone study it thoroughly so that when Ye Qiu makes his comeback, he won't leave you disoriented in the match."

Sun Xiang frowned but didn't argue with Liu Hao. When he had previously gone solo against Lord Grim, he had been completely overwhelmed. On the contrary, Liu Hao's performance was astounding. Though he lost in the end, Liu Hao managed to extract seven or eight of Lord Grim's combo patterns, nearly forcing Ye Qiu to reveal all his cards!

Su Mucheng silently observed the scene, staring at the USB drive in her hand for a long time before sighing helplessly.

She was still a member of Excellent Era, so that she couldn't share the training plans or other matters with Ye Qiu due to her professional ethics as a pro player.

...

A few days later, Chen Yehui's efforts to promote Tyranny and Blue Rain's hiring of mercenaries to break dungeon records had a noticeable effect, causing much discontent among players in the Tenth Server toward both guilds.

Herb Garden had also planned to hire Lord Grim as a mercenary but narrowly avoided the disaster by being a step too late, saving its reputation from player backlash.

Ye Qiu felt a headache coming on due to Chen Yehui's antics. His Myriad Manifestations Umbrella was only at level 20, and it required a lot of materials to upgrade. Now that no guild dared to hire him to break records, he had lost his source of materials.

This was essentially an internal struggle.

In the big company of Glory, departments like Herb Garden, Blue Brook, and Tyrannical Ambitons could have coexisted peacefully, working a standard nine-to-five. But one day, a new rookie named Lord Grim suddenly appeared, breaking the original 22-point performance record, raising it to 18 points. To avoid falling behind and being eliminated, everyone had to start working overtime, 9-6, and even 7, pushing themselves beyond their limits. Everyone was suffering.

Fortunately, Excellent Era descended like an angel, expelling the rookie Lord Grim and restoring harmony to the Glory family.

...

At Happy Internet Cafe

Chen Guo, after waking up, went downstairs and was startled to see Ye Qiu, who had heavy dark circles under his eyes like a panda.

"Hey, shouldn't you be off work by now? Why aren't you going home to sleep?"

"I can't sleep, Boss," Ye Qiu sighed deeply.

"What happened?" Chen Guo asked curiously.

Ye Qiu immediately recounted his recent experiences. All the guilds were avoiding him as if he were a jinx ruining their fortunes. Previously, they had been fighting to hire him, but now they had all turned their backs on him.

Hearing this, Chen Guo burst out laughing. "Ye Qiu, who told you to lead people into this intense competition? Now that they've figured it out, of course, they don't want to play with you anymore!"

Chen Guo was one of the people Excellent Era had sent to the Tenth Server, so she naturally knew it was her team that caused all this.

"But don't get too upset. Weren't you a retired player from Excellent Era? You must know Chen Yehui, right? Reveal your identity and ask him to arrange a position for you in the guild. You can help Excellent Era break dungeon records, and Chen Yehui can give you rare materials. Isn't that a win-win?"

Ye Qiu's face twitched uncontrollably. Setting aside whether Excellent Era's materials could even support his Myriad Manifestations Umbrella, just joining Excellent Era was an impossible task. Chen Yehui was in charge, and he had a grudge against him. They'd be lucky not to fight on sight, let alone peacefully help each other!

"Forget it. I'll think of another way," Ye Qiu sighed. "I'll go rest for a bit."

"Alright, good night," Chen Guo smiled. "But given the time, shouldn't I say good afternoon instead?"

"Then good afternoon, Boss," Ye Qiu yawned, pulled out his account card, and went upstairs to sleep.

After Ye Qiu left, Chen Guo immediately took out her phone and called Liu Hao to report on Ye Qiu's recent activities.

Yes, Chen Guo might seem like Ye Qiu's kind boss, but in reality, she was a spy planted by Liu Hao to monitor him.

"Dear, I did as you said and invited Ye Qiu to join Excellent Era, but he didn't accept," Chen Guo said.

"It's normal that he didn't. If he had, I'd have to think about what kind of scheme Ye Qiu was planning," Liu Hao laughed.

...

In the days that followed, Liu Hao continued to lead the Excellent Era team in training and competitions, occasionally accompanying Su Mucheng to attend commercial events.

After Sun Xiang joined the Excellent Era, Tao Xuan wanted to change plans and pair Sun Xiang with the Su Mucheng couple, but the fans refused to accept it. Not only did Sun Xiang and Su Mucheng lack synergy in matches, but Liu Hao outshone Sun Xiang in every way.

The fans' comments infuriated Sun Xiang, leading him to stay up late to create a new account and argue with fans over who was a better match for Su Mucheng: himself or Liu Hao. However, the fan he argued with was a master debater who criticised Sun Xiang from appearance to fashion sense to gameplay, leaving him utterly defeated.

With no other option, Sun Xiang deleted his account and logged off.

What Sun Xiang didn't know was that the fans' enthusiasm for the Su Mucheng and Liu Hao pairing was actually fueled by Liu Hao behind the scenes. Otherwise, Tao Xuan could have easily diverted all the attention to Sun Xiang.

The recent system rewards were rather useless and not valuable. For now, Liu Hao still has to rely on commercial events for income.

Meanwhile, Ye Qiu was having a tough time at Happy Internet Cafe. Because the significant guilds had decided to cooperate and no longer hired Lord Grim to break dungeon records, his business was suffering.

To obtain rare materials from the guilds, Ye Qiu took a different approach. He led his small team to dominate all dungeon records, even challenging higher-level dungeons for the first kills.

The guilds were troubled by this, and they secretly held a meeting. Blue River, Ye Qiu's lackey, suggested that each guild contribute some materials to Lord Grim in exchange for him giving up the first kills and records. This proposal was immediately met with widespread criticism from the guilds.

All the guilds in the Tenth Server bowing to Lord Grim? That would be too humiliating!

Seeing this, Chen Yehui, under Liu Hao's influence, seized the opportunity to propose ganging up on Lord Grim, beating him until he was forced to delete his account!

The guilds unanimously agreed to this plan and allied to implement "Lord Grim's Plan to Quit the Game. " Blue Rain was the only guild not to participate, leading to its ostracisation by the other guilds.

(End of this chapter)