"Tch, what's with all the swagger!"

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

"Exactly. He knew what was good for him, not trying to freeload at the club until he's old."

Ye Qiu and Su Mucheng left, and the people remaining in the conference room seemed to suddenly snap back to reality, and the gossip started up again. Sun Xiang's face was a mix of emotions. He didn't join in, but instead moved closer to the manager: "I don't understand. How could he accept these conditions?"

"He had to," the manager said.

"Why?"

"Because he couldn't afford the penalty for breaking his contract," the manager said.

"No... way?" Sun Xiang was surprised. Ye Qiu had been a professional player in the league for seven years, and one of the best. Even if he refused all kinds of commercial activities, his salary alone should have been enough to pay the penalty for breaking his contract by a year and a half.

"You weren't around back then, you didn't experience it. In the early days of the league, professional players weren't as glamorous as they are now. Everyone was just barely scraping by, and most people had other jobs. People who were eliminated back then were in a terrible situation. They spent their best years on the game, with no marketable skills, and their lives afterwards were mostly difficult. Ye Qiu was a genius of that era, relying on his skill to get where he is today. But he has many friends like that."

"You mean, a lot of his money went to supporting those friends of his?" Sun Xiang's eyes widened.

"Correct."

"Then if he needs money, why wouldn'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's related to his family," the manager said.

"Oh?"

"No one has ever known anything about his family, and he never talks about it. It's very strange, so I suspect it," the manager said.

"He has... so many stories!" Sun Xiang held the One Autumn Leaf account card that Ye Qiu had given him. He knew that One Autumn Leaf was Ye Qiu's entertainment account in the online game long before the professional league was formed, and he had been using it ever since. It was one of the oldest accounts in Glory.

"Alright, let's not talk about him. The boss couldn't make it today, but he specifically asked me to use this bottle of red wine that he's been collecting for years, especially to welcome you," the manager said.

"Haha, then thank you very much! With me, Excellent Era should turn things around."

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Ye Qiu left.

Su Mucheng stood at the entrance of the club, watching Ye Qiu walk away until he disappeared from sight. He kept turning back to wave at her, and Su Mucheng was already in tears.

There weren't many farewell words. Ye Qiu only said eight words: "Rest for a year, 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 on her own.

Snowflakes began to fall. This winter was so cold.

================================

Snowing?

When Ye Qiu left the club, he hadn't thought about what to do next. After so many years of the same life, suddenly having to change, he was a little disoriented. He just wanted to walk like this for a while, to keep walking until he figured things out.

Who knew that even the heavens wouldn't give him the chance? It started snowing just then, and it was getting heavier and heavier. The swirling snowflakes quickly soaked his shoulders, and ice formed in his hair. He had to find shelter.

Ye Qiu looked around. There was an internet cafe on the side of the road, still brightly lit in the middle of the night. He immediately ran towards it.

It was warm inside the internet cafe. Ye Qiu, who had rushed in, shook off the snowflakes on his body and booked a machine at the front desk.

"Area C, Machine 47," the girl at the counter announced the location of the machine and handed back the ID card of the person who had booked it. But when she looked up, the person was already gone. The girl wasn't surprised at all, as it was clear that this kind of thing happened often. She silently put the ID card away, knowing that the person who was missing would naturally come looking for it.

Area C, Machine 47. Ye Qiu followed the numbers to find it. This internet cafe was quite large, with a lot of machines, and even had a second floor. Area C... Ye Qiu saw the area sign hanging from the ceiling. He didn't have to go upstairs.

When he reached Machine 47, Ye Qiu was stunned. There was clearly a woman sitting in that seat, playing Glory, dueling with someone in the arena. Her intense actions made the ponytail she had tied high behind her head sway back and forth.

Looking at her profile, seeing the Launcher character on her screen, Ye Qiu was in a daze. He almost thought that Su Mucheng was sitting in that seat.

But he quickly knew that it wasn't her. Su Mucheng was always so gentle and calm, able to maintain a smile even during intense PK battles. Ye Qiu sometimes felt a chill when he saw her smiling as she blasted someone into ash with a shot, and then politely saying sorry.

As for the girl in front of him, her appearance was just as beautiful, pure, and gentle, but the way she gnashed her teeth and ravaged the keyboard and mouse made her appearance seem like a complete and utter deception.

"Her killing intent is terrifying, but too bad..." Ye Qiu saw the screen clearly. He could tell that this woman was about to be in trouble. Sure enough, her opponent seized the opening she had just revealed, and after a series of combos, the little bit of health she had left was instantly wiped out.

"Damn!" Ye Qiu heard the woman shout angrily, slamming her hand on the keyboard and closing the game directly.

Ye Qiu was hesitating whether to still take this seat, when the woman turned her head and saw the hesitant Ye Qiu. She stood up angrily and asked, "Want to use the machine?"

Ye Qiu nodded.

"Sit here then!" The woman said before leaving.

Ye Qiu shook his head at the lack of composure that ordinary players had in competitive gaming, and finally took his seat.

Chen Guo was depressed, very depressed. She had just dueled with someone in the Glory arena, playing 52 games, and she hadn't won a single one. She couldn't believe it was true.

Her account wasn't bad. Chen Guo touched the "Chasing Haze" in her pocket. Among ordinary players, her account could be said to be quite strong. And Chen Guo's skill wasn't low either. She had been playing Glory for a full five years. Just now, her opponent's account wasn't as good as hers, but he had beaten her in all 52 games.

"He's a master," Chen Guo concluded with a nod.

"Boss Lady, you didn't log out of the game? How come that person's playing?" Chen Guo was walking and thinking when she suddenly heard a voice beside her. Chen Guo turned her head and saw a regular customer from the internet cafe on the machine next to her, craning his neck to look at the machine she had just been sitting at.

Not good! Chen Guo was shocked and ran back immediately. The popularity of Glory meant that the Glory account login program had become a standard computer accessory, and it was essential in internet cafes. Because the account card only needed to be inserted when logging into the game, people generally inserted the card to log in and then put the card away in public places like internet cafes.

One card per account. If the card was lost, it could be reported as lost, so account theft was practically extinct. But in places like internet cafes, people often forgot to log out or pretended to log out of the game, and as a result, later users would pick up the loot and equipment. Chen Guo was quite agitated after losing 52 games in a row, and carelessly switched back to the computer desktop without logging out of the game.

Chen Guo rushed over and saw that the guy was indeed controlling her account, but it didn't seem like he was looting equipment. Instead, he was playing in the arena and having a great time. Before Chen Guo could shout, two big words appeared on the screen: "Glory!"

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Niao Ni