Full-time Night Shift

Won?

Chen Guo was stunned for a moment. The appearance of the word "Victory" was the iconic symbol of winning in the arena, equivalent to "K.O."

But how long had she been away since she walked off? 40 seconds? 50 seconds? Chen Guo glanced at her watch; it definitely hadn't been a minute. And the result? The opponent she had lost 52 rounds to was just "Victoried" by this person in less than a minute?

Chen Guo even forgot to rush up to reclaim her account; she hoped this person would play another round so she could watch properly, but instead, she saw him skillfully exit the game. He stretched, seemingly not too interested in the computer, and began looking around. When he turned his head, he saw Chen Guo staring at him with wide eyes and quickly explained, "You didn't exit the game when you left, and the battle had already started when I sat down. I won it for you, don't worry!"

"How long did it take?" Chen Guo asked.

"About 40 seconds," Ye Kai replied.

Chen Guo's mouth fell open, but the other party added with a hint of regret, "My hands were frozen stiff; otherwise, it would have taken only 30 seconds."

30 seconds... To defeat an opponent she couldn't beat in 52 rounds in just 30 seconds, who could this person be?

Could it be a professional expert from the Jiashi team? Chen Guo suddenly thought. She knew that the Jiashi club wasn't too far from her internet café. But then she thought again, she would recognize someone from the Jiashi team, unless it was Ye Kai, the master who never showed his face.

Ye Kai! The thought of this name excited Chen Guo, but considering this expert's low profile, he would most likely not admit it if she rushed up to ask. Hesitating for a moment, Chen Guo suddenly remembered something and ran back to the front desk.

"What's the name of the customer at machine C47?" Chen Guo asked the girl at the bar.

"Ye Kai," the girl replied.

"Ye Kai... Ye Kai, huh? It really is!" Chen Guo was excited. To her, this was like leaving three hundred taels of silver here without a trace, which confirmed that this person was Ye Kai. If he had really written "Ye Kai," she would have been more skeptical!

"Hehehe..." Chen Guo's smile was sly; she was already planning to scavenge everything she could find to get this person's autograph. Ye Kai's autograph, who has it? Nobody!

While she was thinking, the girl at the bar casually added, "He even forgot his ID card here."

"ID card?" Chen Guo was taken aback, only then realizing she had been too excited. Internet café registration required real-name verification, and one had to show an ID card. Who could register under a false name?

"Where's the ID card? Let me see." Chen Guo took the ID card from the girl and saw it indeed bore the name Ye Kai, which made her feel a wave of disappointment, almost wanting to change the character for "repair" to "autumn."

After learning that this person was not the low-profile expert she had long admired, although she was still curious about his strength, her interest had waned considerably. Chen Guo returned to machine C47 somewhat disheartened and handed Ye Kai his ID card back, "You forgot to take your ID card."

"Oh, thanks," Ye Kai quickly took it back, "Are you with the internet café?"

"Yeah, I'm the owner."

"Oh? Owner, that's great. I just saw on your internet café's webpage that you're hiring a network manager, right?" Ye Kai asked.

"Ah... yes..." Chen Guo didn't expect this sudden question; she was thinking about how to get him to spar with her, and this provided a good excuse.

"I've read it, and I think I meet the conditions. I have no issues with the work and pay. What do you think? Consider it, boss," Ye Kai said.

"Oh, but you have to win a Glory duel against me first," Chen Guo said.

"What? Is that a requirement?" Ye Kai turned around to look.

"Don't bother looking, I just added it," Chen Guo said.

Ye Kai was taken aback, then realized that he had won the previous game too professionally, and this beautiful boss was curious about his strength. Unfortunately... Ye Kai shook his head with a wry smile and said, "I can't win against you."

"Why?" Chen Guo was surprised.

"Because I don't have an account that can win against you," Ye Kai said.

"Account... What level is your account? What equipment?" Chen Guo asked.

"No level, no equipment," Ye Kai replied.

"Really?" Chen Guo was somewhat incredulous. To defeat a strong enemy she couldn't beat in just over 40 seconds, how could such a person only have a new account with no level? How did he develop such skill?

"I gave my original account away," Ye Kai could only say.

"Oh, I see... You're quite generous," Chen Guo remarked, knowing that with his strength, his account must have been strong. Valuable accounts were worth a lot of money, and to give one away so casually was quite bold.

"Yeah, too generous," Ye Kai said with a wry smile. The account he had given away was the God-level account Autumn Leaf, and to describe it as merely "generous" was honestly an understatement.

"Are you planning to play in the new district?" Chen Guo asked.

"New district?" Ye Kai was startled, then glanced at the date and suddenly realized.

Tomorrow was the tenth anniversary of Glory's operation. Starting from the second anniversary, Glory would open a new district at midnight on the anniversary day each year. The sale of the tenth edition account cards had started three months ago. Old players who were not satisfied with the old district and newcomers ready to enter Glory were all eagerly awaiting this day with their new district accounts.

Now, the tenth district of Glory was about to open. Ye Kai remembered that Autumn Leaf was an account from the first district of Glory. Later, during the update of Glory's Chapter 05: Domain of Gods, along with many experts, he reached the standard by completing skill challenges and became one of the first batch of players and accounts to have access to the public map Domain of Gods.

Now that Autumn Leaf had changed hands and his professional career in Glory had come to an end, he coincidentally encountered the annual new district opening. Ye Kai's thoughts were stirred, and a decade of memories suddenly flooded his mind.

"New district?" Ye Kai murmured to himself.

"I remember you can apply for a district transfer before the new district opens, right?" Ye Kai suddenly asked Chen Guo.

"Only empty level 1 accounts can," Chen Guo said.

"Then I'll give it a try." Ye Kai took out an account card from his pocket and quickly entered the Glory district transfer application page. Chen Guo was surprised to see the account card: "Isn't that a first edition card?"

"It is a first edition card," Ye Kai smiled. Glory's account cards were released annually, and the first edition card was nearly ten years old.

Chen Guo looked at Ye Kai in amazement: "How many years have you been playing Glory?" Cards are inanimate, but people are not; a card can be ten years old, but that doesn't necessarily mean the person is.

"Almost ten years," Ye Kai confirmed that he was one with his card.

Chen Guo, with her five years of experience, already felt like an old-timer, but she didn't expect this guy in front of her to have twice as much experience. Ten years, that's from the first batch of Glory players. To still be playing now and even interested in the new district, what kind of spirit was that?

While they were talking, the page displayed "Transfer Successful."

"It's done," Ye Kai pulled back his account card, holding it in his hand, and suddenly remembered all the moments contained within this first edition card.

"You said you wanted to be a network manager?" Chen Guo suddenly brought up the topic again.

"Yes," Ye Kai quickly returned from his memories to reality.

"Which position did you see?" Chen Guo asked.

"The night shift one," Ye Kai said.

"Oh, are you sure?" Chen Guo was surprised. The night shift was from 11 pm to 7 am, with a monthly salary three hundred yuan higher than the others, but few people applied for it. After all, not many people were willing to live a nocturnal life every day, so Chen Guo's staff currently took turns. If someone really applied for the full-time night shift, everyone would be relieved.

"I'm sure, I like being busy at night," Ye Kai said.

Chen Guo carefully sized up the person in front of her. His hair and beard hadn't been groomed for at least half a month, his face was a bit puffy, and although pale, it was an unhealthy pallor. His eyes were fixed on her, somewhat listless. She had seen this look often; the young guys who frequently stayed overnight at her internet café often looked like this. This guy wasn't young, yet he was just as decadent, contemptible.

Despite her contempt, Chen Guo was still very welcoming of someone willing to be a full-time night owl, especially since she was curious about his ten years of gaming experience. She immediately made a decision: "Alright, then I'll hire you."

"Thanks, boss."

"You've seen the conditions, just follow those," Chen Guo said.

"No problem."

"Then come with me!" Chen Guo was decisive. Having hired Ye Kai, she immediately started bossing him around as an employee. She had him move a bunch of new keyboards that had arrived today to the storage room on the second floor.

Chen Guo's internet café was called "Xingxin Network Club," considered a high-end café with two floors and over a thousand machines. The second floor was slightly smaller but obviously more luxurious, the premium area. Moreover, it had a hidden gem, a two-bedroom suite with a storage room inside. Ye Kai was busy moving keyboards up and down, having already scoped out the suite. The job posting had stated: food and accommodation included. Ye Kai had just left the club and hadn't figured out his next step, so the offer of food and accommodation was like arranging a place for him to stay, which piqued his interest in the network manager position.

Now it seemed that the suite was probably the "accommodation" part. Although the decoration was simple, it was clean and tidy, very nice, and Ye Kai was quite satisfied. As he thought about it, he moved the last few sets of keyboards up and arranged them.

"That's it, this is your place now." Seeing Ye Kai finish the work, Chen Guo immediately pointed to the low bed crammed in the storage room.

"Ah?" Ye Kai was taken aback. He had imagined his living space to be the bright and clean suite outside, even the living room sofa would do. Here... Ye Kai looked up and saw a small window on the west wall at the top of the small storage room, seemingly directly facing the streetlight outside on the road. When the storage room light was turned off, the light from the small window became dim, like a haunted house.

"Uh, this is a bit lacking, just make do for now... Actually, my internet café doesn't really need you that much, we're not short of people, the recruitment you saw was quite old," Chen Guo said.

"Oh, I see! No problem, no problem, this is pretty good," Ye Kai immediately expressed his acceptance, and his indifferent attitude made Chen Guo feel a bit guilty; this small storage room really didn't seem like a place for people to live.

"When you're free, just play on the computers downstairs, it's okay, we don't charge our own people," Chen Guo said.

"You're quite generous too, boss!"

"Cough, with over a thousand computers, what's one less?" Chen Guo said.

"How's the customer flow usually?" Ye Kai asked.

"Not bad, I'm quite satisfied," Chen Guo said, "Of course, the night shift you'll be on is less busy, mostly just college students from nearby universities coming to stay overnight. You don't really have much to do, just keep an eye on the place."

"Got it."

"How about this, to get used to the new job, why not stay up all night tonight? I'll also assess you, see how your overnight ability is," Chen Guo said.

"No problem, full ability," Ye Kai gave Chen Guo two thumbs up to indicate that staying up all night was his forte.

"Alright, let's go, I'll treat you to a late-night snack to welcome you," Chen Guo said.

"Oh? What are we eating?"

"It's late, but there's a small diner across the street that should still be open. Go check it out and grab some dishes to bring back. I don't eat celery," Chen Guo said as she dug out two hundred yuan from her pocket and handed it to Ye Kai.

"It's snowing!" Ye Kai protested.

"It's just across the street, not far at all. How much snow could possibly fall on you? Hurry up and go," Chen Guo urged.

Reluctantly, Ye Kai went out into the snow to buy some late-night snacks. He had just started a new job and was already being ordered around, but he didn't feel too down about it. This woman, who would casually chat with anyone and not treat them like strangers, had a familiarity about her that was quite comforting and endearing. It was at this moment that Ye Kai suddenly realized he hadn't even asked what his new boss's name was.