Chapter 2: C Area, Machine 47

"Ugh, what’s he getting all high and mighty for?"

"Making him retire is for his own good. What else can he do?"

"Exactly, it’s a good thing he knows his place and didn’t try to stick around the club to live off it."

Ye Qi and Su Mucheng left, and the people left in the meeting room, as if suddenly coming to their senses, began to gossip again. Sun Xiang’s expression was unpredictable. He didn’t join in but instead moved closer to the manager. "I don’t understand, why would he accept these terms?"

"He had no choice," the manager said.

"Why?"

"Because he can’t afford the breach of contract fee," the manager said.

"No... no way?" Sun Xiang was surprised. Ye Qi had been a professional player in the league for seven years and was one of the best. Even if he refused all commercial activities, his salary alone should have been enough to cover the breach of contract fee for a year and a half.

"You didn’t come from that era, you didn’t experience it. In the early days of the league, professional players weren’t as well-off as they are now. Most of them barely made ends meet, and many had part-time jobs. Those who were cut in that era had a tough time. They spent their best years on the game, had no special skills, and mostly lived in poverty. Ye Qi was a genius of that era, and he made it to where he is today through his skills, but he has many friends from that time."

"You mean he used a lot of his wealth to support his friends?" Sun Xiang’s eyes widened.

"Exactly."

"If he needs money so much, why doesn’t he accept commercial activities?" Sun Xiang asked.

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

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

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

"Oh?"

"Nobody knows anything about his family, and he never talks about it. It’s very strange, so I have this suspicion," the manager said.

"This guy... has so many stories!" Sun Xiang held the account card of One Autumn Leaf that Ye Qi had given him. He knew that One Autumn Leaf was an entertainment account Ye Qi had used in the online game long before the professional league was formed, and it was one of the oldest accounts in the Glory world.

"Alright, let’s not talk about him anymore. The boss can’t come today, but he specially gave me this bottle of his cherished red wine to welcome you," the manager said.

"Haha, thank you! With me, Jia Shi will turn things around."

Ye Qi left.

Su Mucheng stood at the club’s entrance, watching Ye Qi until he disappeared. He kept turning back to wave at her, and Su Mucheng was already in tears.

There weren’t many farewells. Ye Qi only said eight words: "Take a year off, then come back."

Su Mucheng didn’t say a word, just nodded firmly. She was no longer the naive girl she once was; she had the courage to take on many responsibilities alone.

Snowflakes began to fall, and the winter was very cold.

Snow?

When Ye Qi left the club, he hadn’t decided what to do next. After living this way for so long, suddenly changing was a bit hard to adapt to. He just wanted to walk and think until he figured things out.

But the sky didn’t give him that chance. It started snowing, and the snow got heavier and heavier. The swirling snow quickly wet his shoulders, and his hair began to freeze. He had to find shelter.

Ye Qi looked around and saw a net cafe on the side of the road. Even at this late hour, it was brightly lit. He immediately ran towards the net cafe.

The net cafe was warm inside. Ye Qi shook off the snow on his body and went to the front desk to get a machine.

"C Area, Machine 47," the girl at the front desk said, then handed back the ID card. When she looked up, the person was already gone. The girl wasn’t surprised; this happened often. She quietly put the ID card away, knowing the person would come back for it.

C Area, Machine 47. Ye Qi followed the numbers. The net cafe was quite large with many machines and even a second floor. C Area... Ye Qi saw the area sign hanging from the ceiling and didn’t need to go upstairs.

When he reached Machine 47, Ye Qi was taken aback. A woman was already sitting there, playing Glory, and was in the middle of a one-on-one match in the arena. Her intense operations made her high ponytail swing back and forth.

Looking at her side profile and the Gunner character on her screen, Ye Qi felt a bit dazed. For a moment, he thought it was Su Mucheng sitting there.

But he quickly realized it wasn’t. Su Mucheng was always so gentle and calm, even during intense PK matches, she could maintain a smile. Sometimes, when Ye Qi saw her smiling while blasting someone to pieces and then politely saying sorry, he felt a strange chill.

As for the girl in front of him, she was equally beautiful, pure, and gentle, but her fierce and determined way of pounding the keyboard and mouse made her appearance seem like a complete deception.

"The aura is too scary, but what a pity..." Ye Qi saw the screen and realized the woman was about to lose. Sure enough, a mistake she made was immediately seized by her opponent, who landed a combo that quickly drained her remaining health.

"Damn!" The woman shouted, slammed the keyboard, and closed the game.

Ye Qi was hesitating whether to take the machine when the woman turned around, saw him, and asked angrily, "Are you getting on?"

Ye Qi nodded.

"Sit here!" The woman said and left.

Ye Qi shook his head at the unstable competitive spirit of ordinary players and finally sat down.

Chen Guo was frustrated, very frustrated. She had just played 52 rounds in the Glory arena and didn’t win a single one. She couldn’t believe it.

Her account wasn’t bad. Chen Guo touched the "Zhuyanxia" in her pocket; among ordinary players, her account was quite strong. And Chen Guo’s skills weren’t low; she had been playing Glory for five years. Her opponent’s account wasn’t as good as hers, yet she lost all 52 rounds.

"He’s a big expert," Chen Guo nodded and concluded.

"Boss, you didn’t log out of the game. How did that person start playing?" Chen Guo was thinking as she walked when someone next to her spoke. Chen Guo turned her head and saw a regular customer at the net cafe, who was looking at the machine she had just been using.

Oh no! Chen Guo was alarmed and quickly ran back. The popularity of Glory made the account login device a standard accessory for computers, especially in net cafes. Since the account card only needed to be inserted when logging into the game, people usually took it out and put it away after logging in in public places.

One card, one account. If the card was lost, it could be reported, so account theft was almost non-existent. However, in net cafes, people often forgot to log out or pretended to log out, and the next person would take advantage of it, picking up money and equipment. Chen Guo, after losing 52 rounds, was so frustrated that she didn’t notice she had only switched to the desktop instead of logging out.

Chen Guo rushed over and saw the person controlling her account. They weren’t looking for equipment but were enjoying a match in the arena. Before she could shout, the screen already showed two big words: "Glory!"

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End of Chapter 2.