Chapter 43

Sun Li sat on his sofa, holding a glass of red wine, gently swaying it, and gazed at the red hue in the glass under the lamplight. Sun Li let out a light laugh.

"Back then, I really misjudged it. I thought that Xu Jingming, who ranked seventh in the virtual game right from the start, was young and had great potential, and would surely shine in the Fire Seed Cup competition," Sun Li said softly. "I thought of teaming up with a strong teammate to earn a hefty prize. Who would have thought he was a fake strong teammate!"

"Now, he's even worse off than me. I at least made it into the top ten archers, even if I'm at the bottom, I'm still one of the top archers in the Xia Kingdom."

"Now, the world is full of close-combat warriors, and archers are scarce. I'm much more in demand than Xu Jingming," Sun Li thought. "Nowadays, many large corporations are entering the virtual world to form teams, and professional teams are the most promising."

"The team I joined, the Golden Phoenix Team, has Captain Tie Lianyun, and the other three teammates are on the same level as Xu Jingming. It's just that archers are so scarce, that's why they found me." Sun Li still felt quite excited.

The captain is Tie Lianyun!

Tie Lianyun has won the World Martial Arts Competition three times! Nowadays, only Liu Hai, Lei Yunfang, and Zhou Yi dare to claim they are stronger than him.

"Buzz."

Sun Li looked at the caller, put down his wine glass, and then answered the video call.

"Sun Li," the silver-haired young man on the other end of the call smiled, "the money has been credited, right?"

"Received it," Sun Li smiled.

"Looking forward to your performance in the Fire Seed Cup competition," the silver-haired young man said. "This is our Golden Phoenix Group's first foray into the gaming industry, and as an archer, you are a very important part of the team."

Sun Li nodded and said, "Don't worry, Mr. Tian. My four teammates are all very strong, and with their cooperation, I am confident I can perform better."

The silver-haired young man nodded, "But there is one thing I need to remind you. The team is still trying to recruit 'Wang Yi.' If Wang Yi agrees to join our Golden Phoenix Team, you will only be a substitute. Don't worry, you won't lose any money!"

"Mr. Tian, I understand," Sun Li smiled. "If the Great Demon Wang Yi comes, I will naturally be a good substitute. I am very clear about the gap between us."

The silver-haired young man nodded, "Good, get ready. In an hour, we start the training match."

"Okay," Sun Li nodded with a smile.

After hanging up the call, Sun Li's face turned slightly gloomy, and he sneered, "The Great Demon Wang Yi? She was a god-level archer on the first day the virtual world opened, and now she is even more terrifying. Nowadays, Zhou Yi is in a league of his own, and the next best are Wang Yi and Zhuang Ziyu! Wang Yi is also a beautiful archer and a super popular streamer. I know several large corporate teams are vying for her. Is it that easy to compete for her?"

"I really envy them."

"Zhou Yi, who built his own team, refuses to cooperate with any corporation. A group of experts joined him voluntarily!"

"The Great Demon Wang Yi, the strongest female archer, with extremely high popularity, is pursued by major corporations."

"Zhuang Ziyu, who cooperates with the Tianyin Group, is the core of the team."

Sun Li sighed, "Archers, only they are so special."

There's no way.

The strength of archers is divided, and they are clearly much stronger than the rest.

For a long time, the Xia Kingdom had only three super archers: Zhou Yi, Wang Yi, and Zhuang Ziyu.

These three were all rated as god-level archers on the first day, and their archery skills in reality were already terrifying, having long been on the Xia Kingdom's key cultivation list. After a month of intense training in the virtual world, their archery skills have become even more incredible.

...

In the living room, after Xu Jingming finished the call with Sun Li, he opened the screen and added Sun Li to the blacklist.

"Jingming, don't be angry," Li Miaomiao said softly.

Xu Jingming said, "Actually, I should have seen it coming. Sun Li joined my team because of the high potential I showed. It's not surprising that he left now."

Li Miaomiao comforted him, "Don't blame yourself. Sun Li is a small person. You can't understand the thoughts of a small person. If he wants to leave, let him leave early. It's already the 25th, almost the end of the month! The experts who should form teams have already done so. Leaving the team now is really harmful!"

Xu Jingming nodded, "He did it on purpose, even too lazy to say goodbye to the three teammates! We've trained and cooperated for so long, and he just left without even an apology."

Li Miaomiao said, "Such a small person, just don't associate with him in the future. It's not worth getting angry. Actually, when we formed the team, everyone signed a contract, and with the contract, he wouldn't have been able to leave."

"Our team was just a verbal agreement, with no signed salary, so there was no contract to bind us," Xu Jingming said. "Since we weren't on the same page, it's better he left."

Li Miaomiao nodded, "What we need most urgently now is to find the last teammate! At the beginning of the month, many people were willing to team up with you. But now, those who are aiming for the Fire Seed Cup competition have probably already formed teams. Where can we find someone now? We need an archer."

"Let's think of a way slowly. I'll go find Ashuo and tell them about this," Xu Jingming got up and walked toward the bedroom.

Li Miaomiao watched this scene and opened her work group: "Sister Kong, Xiao Zeng, quickly gather all the archers' information. Have they joined teams? Is there a possibility of inviting them?"

"Received!"

"Received!" The two assistants immediately started gathering information.

******

In the virtual world, in his personal space.

"What's the sudden gathering for?" Heng Fang lounged comfortably on the sofa, holding a grape, and gazed at the snowy mountain peak and the ice lake outside the window.

"Where's Sun Li?" Liu Chongyuan and Yang Qingshuo also sat nearby, eating casually.

They were always casual with each other.

Xu Jingming sat there: "He left the team."

Heng Fang, Liu Chongyuan, and Yang Qingshuo were all taken aback.

"Are you kidding? It's already the 25th, and we have to register in three days. He left? We've trained and cooperated so many times!" Liu Chongyuan couldn't believe it.

"I saved our video call. You can watch it," Xu Jingming sent the video.

"… You can tell them for me. I can't help it, I need to earn money." In the video, Sun Li said very bluntly and hung up.

"Men, a word is a nail! Are you going to treat past words like they were just air?" Heng Fang's brows furrowed with anger. "Even if he had to leave, couldn't he have said it earlier?"

Yang Qingshuo, who usually had a good temper, was also annoyed: "The virtual world has only been open for a month, and we've trained and cooperated for twenty days! Now he suddenly leaves, wasting our training time."

"We were his sparring partners! We surrounded him to train his close-combat archery skills." Liu Chongyuan was also angry, "His archery skills improved, but he suddenly left! He didn't even bother to tell us!"

"Without our free sparring, could his close-combat archery skills have improved so quickly? Could he have entered the top ten archers?" Heng Fang scolded, "The competition is about to start, and he left without even an apology. What a white-eyed wolf!"

"He's a small person," Xu Jingming said. "Now, the most urgent thing is to find the last teammate."

"It's too difficult to find an archer now," Liu Chongyuan shook his head.

"It's almost time to register. Now we're looking for an archer?" Heng Fang was also frustrated. "Among the top 100 experts ranked by Wang Xiangu, there are only ten archers. The strongest is Zhou Yi, the second tier is Zhuang Ziyu and Wang Yi, the third tier has two, and the fourth tier has five."

"From what I know, the only ones who haven't determined their teammates are Wang Yi from the second tier and Fang Sheng from the fourth tier," Heng Fang said. "Fang Sheng has been invited by several teams, and Wang Yi is being fiercely pursued. The previous Tianlan Group directly offered a 100 million yuan signing fee to sign Wang Yi, but she didn't even respond. Several well-known large corporations are vying for her."

"Everyone knows the importance of the virtual world. Wang Yi, the strongest female archer, has a high popularity that these large corporations value. The corporations are after popularity," Yang Qingshuo said.

"We can't offer money to invite Wang Yi or Fang Sheng; the chances are very low," Liu Chongyuan said.

"Brother Xu, aren't you acquainted with Wang Yi?" Yang Qingshuo asked.

"Just a few battles, no deep friendship," Xu Jingming shook his head. "Let's think of a way. If we can't find an archer, we'll find another warrior. Five warriors can still push forward."

"Having an archer would be a qualitative change for the team," Heng Fang said. "If we can't find one of the top ten archers, even a weaker archer wouldn't be very meaningful to invite." "Let's think of ways separately and meet again in three days. The registration deadline is the evening of the 31st," Xu Jingming said.

"Okay, let's think of ways separately."

The four of them temporarily dispersed.

...

"Boss, this is all the information we gathered on the well-known god-level archers, a total of twenty-seven. The top ten archers, and the seventeen after them... their strength is very close to Sun Li, but their close-combat skills are not as good as Sun Li's," Sister Kong said.

Li Miaomiao looked at the information in front of her and focused on a name: "Wang Yi?"

"Wang Yi is the second-best archer after Zhou Yi. In the expert ranking list set by Wang Xiangu, she is also in the second tier," Sister Kong said. "The second tier has only two archers, Wang Yi and Zhuang Ziyu. She is also a beautiful woman with very high popularity, and many large corporations are vying for her."

"We've met Wang Yi before," Li Miaomiao said.

"Dai Xiaqing brought Wang Yi here. Wang Yi is also your fan and really likes your songs," Xiao Zeng said.

"Dai Xiaqing and Wang Yi are good friends," Li Miaomiao thought for a moment. "You can leave now, I'll talk to Xiaqing."

"Okay," Sister Kong and Xiao Zeng left.

Li Miaomiao directly invited Dai Xiaqing.

Soon...

"Wow."

A tall, somewhat heroic young girl came to Li Miaomiao's personal space.

"Sister-in-law, what's up?" Dai Xiaqing smiled. She is Dai Tongda's daughter and Xu Jingming's junior.