"Ka-ka-ka, ta-ta..."
A pair of nimble hands danced across the keyboard and mouse, their rhythmic tapping like a light, lively melody. On the screen, a sky full of brilliant light flashed past, and the opponent collapsed in a spray of blood.
"Heh." Ye Qiu smiled and raised his hand to remove the cigarette from the corner of his mouth. The silvery-white ash had already formed a long, unbroken column, yet not a single flake had been shaken loose through all his mouse-waving, keyboard-pounding maneuvers. The cigarette was quickly stubbed out in a strangely shaped ashtray on the desk, and Ye Qiu's hands flew back to the keyboard. He was just about to say something to his opponent when the door was flung open with a bang.
Ye Qiu didn't turn around, as if he had been waiting for this moment all along. He simply asked, "Here?"
"Here." Su Muqiu's—no, Su Muocheng's answer was just as brief.
"Then let's go!" Ye Qiu declined his opponent's invitation to another match, gently slid a card out of the login terminal for the MMORPG Glory, and stood. On his way to the door, he plucked his coat from the rack beside it.
The night was already quite deep, yet the Excellent Era Club was still brightly lit. Ye Qiu and Su Muocheng walked out of the room and down the corridor to its end. There sat a very spacious conference room. Upon entering, one's eyes were immediately drawn to an electronic display screen that occupied nearly an entire wall, showing the Glory Professional Alliance's standings and various technical statistics.
Standings: Team Excellent Era ranked nineteenth overall, second from the bottom.
For a flagship team that had once claimed three consecutive league championships, this result was especially glaring, and now it hung boldly on the wall, as if mercilessly mocking everyone present.
Yet the atmosphere in the room was not at all gloomy; on the contrary, it was rather lively. The Excellent Era players were clustered around one person like stars circling the moon. They paid no attention to Ye Qiu's entrance into the conference room, and those who did spare him a glance had eyes full only of coldness and mockery.
"Ye Qiu, the club has decided that Sun Xiang, the new transfer, will take over as captain, and One Autumn Leaf will be controlled by Sun Xiang from now on." The club manager turned and spoke the moment Ye Qiu entered. No prior communication, no tactful phrasing—he opened with this ice-cold announcement, as heartless as tossing away a crumpled wad of used tissue.
Su Muocheng opened her mouth to speak, but Ye Qiu gently held her back, shaking his head at her with a smile to show that he didn't mind.
"Ye-ge, sorry about this—coming in and taking your spot right away." The first seat on the left side of the conference table—the seat reserved for the captain of Team Excellent Era, a seat that should have belonged to Ye Qiu. Sun Xiang lounged in it carelessly as he said this, but his eyes didn't even glance at Ye Qiu. This was no longer disregard; it was pure dismissal. His gaze, in fact, settled more on Su Muocheng, who had entered alongside Ye Qiu.
To be fair, Su Muocheng did indeed draw the eye more than Ye Qiu—she was known as the number one beauty of the Glory Professional Alliance. Even outside this circle, dropped into an entertainment industry brimming with beautiful women, she would still be a rare and stunning girl.
Even Excellent Era's players, who saw Su Muocheng every day, were momentarily dazed when she walked in. But they quickly recovered, because at that moment they felt there was a more important focal figure deserving of their attention.
"Haha, Xiang-ge, that's well said—this seat suits you perfectly." The others, having recovered, hurriedly chimed in to pick up the thread of conversation.
"Indeed! Certain people are already old and past it!"
"One Autumn Leaf should absolutely be controlled by you, Xiang-ge—that's the only way the Battle God's true strength can be brought out."
This was the focus of everyone's attention: Sun Xiang, a genius-level player of the new generation in the Glory Professional Alliance. In his debut season last year, he had secured the Rookie of the Year title with ease, his individual stats rivaling even that year's MVP (Most Valuable Player). This season, Sun Xiang had led the unremarkable Yueyun Team to eighth place in the league, with a shot at the playoffs—yet midway through, he transferred to the abysmal Excellent Era Club. All because, despite Excellent Era's terrible results, it possessed an account character renowned in the game Glory as the Battle God: the Battle Mage, One Autumn Leaf.
This young man, not yet two years into the league, wasn't even that old, yet these Excellent Era players shamelessly addressed him as "ge," clearly having recognized that Sun Xiang would be the future boss of their team. Sun Xiang comfortably accepted all this flattery and finally deigned to turn his head and glance at Ye Qiu, his eyes full of contempt.
"Ye Qiu, hand One Autumn Leaf's account card to Sun Xiang," the club manager said.
However free-spirited Ye Qiu might be, a sting was unavoidable in his heart at this moment. Ye Qiu, One Autumn Leaf—anyone could tell from the name the connection between the account and the man. It was the very account he had created when he first entered the world of Glory. Ten years. This account had accompanied Ye Qiu for a full ten years. The rookie of back then had become a master hailed as the textbook of Glory; the little Battle Mage of back then had become the illustrious "Battle God" whose name resounded throughout the game. But seven years ago, upon entering the professional scene and signing his contract with the club, ownership of One Autumn Leaf had passed to the club. Ye Qiu had long known this day of parting would come. And now, at last, it had.
Ye Qiu's fingers trembled slightly. For a professional player, steady hands were essential—yet now, the trembling was happening to Ye Qiu, a veteran master whose mental fortitude could not possibly be any harder. Su Muocheng turned her head away. She didn't want to see this scene, yet she was powerless to stop it.
Under the gloating gazes of the crowd, One Autumn Leaf's silver-white account card was passed before Sun Xiang.
Excitement and greed flashed through Sun Xiang's eyes. He had willingly transferred to Excellent Era, a club in decline these past two years, precisely for the sake of its top-tier account, One Autumn Leaf. One Autumn Leaf's original controller, Ye Qiu, had performed poorly in recent years and had clashed repeatedly with the club. Sun Xiang was one hundred percent confident he could replace him.
"It's mine!" The instant he caught the account card, Sun Xiang felt a surge of excitement—yet he sensed a faint resistance from the card.
Sun Xiang felt Ye Qiu's reluctance. He laughed proudly. "Let go, Ye-ge. Look at your hands—actually trembling like that. How could hands like these bring out the Battle God's strength? Better leave it to me! I'll make the Battle God's name ring out across all of Glory once more. You? You're retired!"
Just as he finished speaking, Sun Xiang saw in Ye Qiu's eyes—eyes that had remained indifferent all along, showing reluctance only at the handover of One Autumn Leaf—a sudden flash of sharpness. To his shock, he discovered that Ye Qiu's slightly trembling hands had abruptly gone perfectly still.
"Do you like this game?" Ye Qiu suddenly asked, looking Sun Xiang straight in the eye.
"What?" Sun Xiang was taken aback.
"If you do, then treat all of this as glory, not as something to show off."
"What are you talking about? What business is it of yours?" Sun Xiang lost his composure. In that instant, for some reason, he felt as if he had shrunk a head shorter than Ye Qiu. He didn't want to lose to this man in presence. He had come to replace Ye Qiu. He had come to obtain the Battle God, One Autumn Leaf.
"Keep it safe." Just as Sun Xiang was trying to muster his momentum again, Ye Qiu had already released the account card, saying this in a flat tone before turning to leave.
"Ye Qiu!" At that moment, the manager suddenly called out to him.
Ye Qiu stopped and tilted his head slightly, hearing the manager speak from behind him: "For now, the club doesn't have a suitable competition account for you, so you'll serve as a practice partner on the team."
Practice partner... A master who had built a dynasty in the league and swept every individual honor, now reduced to being a practice partner.
Sun Xiang found this arrangement fascinating and immediately picked up the thread with a loud laugh: "With your skill, Ye-ge, you'll do just fine as a practice partner. The number one practice partner of the Glory Professional Alliance—you're the only one for the job!"
"Heh." Even subjected to this humiliation, Ye Qiu could still laugh. He turned around to face the manager. "Practice partner? I don't think that's necessary. Let's terminate my contract."
"Terminate? You're proposing to terminate your contract yourself?" The manager's expression was quite something to behold.
"That's right. I demand a contract termination."
"Don't be rash!" Su Muocheng rushed over to stop him. The league had its rules: during the term of a contract, barring special circumstances, whichever party proposed termination had to pay a penalty. Ye Qiu still had a year and a half left on his contract with Excellent Era; forcing a termination would mean a heavy loss. But for Su Muocheng, what she feared more was Ye Qiu leaving.
"The boss isn't here yet. Wait until the boss arrives," Su Muocheng said, hoping Ye Qiu would calm down.
But Ye Qiu had already caught the flicker of mockery at the corner of the manager's mouth. He shook his head bitterly at Su Muocheng. "Muocheng, don't you understand yet? Getting me to leave is the boss's goal in the first place. My existence has no value to the club anymore. I'm just a burden on the payroll."
"No, how could you be a burden? Your skill is second to no one," Su Muocheng said.
"It's not just a matter of skill. This is business, and I've never had any commercial value," Ye Qiu said.
"You should have had it. You chose to give it up yourself," the manager cut in coldly at that moment.
"That's right. It was my choice," said Ye Qiu. The Glory Professional Alliance was flourishing now, with sponsors of every stripe emerging endlessly. Star players in the league were, naturally, hot commodities for advertisements and endorsements. Yet Ye Qiu, one of the very top players, had always refused any advertisement or endorsement, even declining all manner of interviews and press conferences. He was like a netizen of a very old era, carefully concealing his true identity within the virtual world.
The club was deeply dissatisfied with this. They watched a mountain of gold sitting right beside them, yet could not excavate a single sliver of profit from him. Fortunately, Ye Qiu's strength was overwhelming—he had made the club's name in the league and earned it honors aplenty—which was why they had tolerated him all along. But with the recent poor results, everything was no longer what it used to be.
"The league's commercialization is what kept us alive, but now..." Ye Qiu couldn't finish the sentence. He himself didn't know whether this development was good or bad. The league today was steeped in the smell of money. The first consideration of every club owner was how to use their team to rake in profits. Driven by love of the game, striving and toiling for the sake of honor—Ye Qiu missed that league of the past, when it had just begun to grow. And now, even the pursuit of honor was merely a means to pursue greater profit.
Su Muocheng said nothing more. She had walked this road alongside Ye Qiu; she was a veteran master who had witnessed all of it too. Her eyes brimmed with tears. She knew Ye Qiu was truly leaving now. Trying to stop him would only make him suffer more.
"In that case, I..."
"No need." Ye Qiu cut her off with a smile. He knew what she was about to say. "Don't worry. I'm not at the point of despair yet. I'll be back."
"That's right—that's the Ye Qiu I know. Real backbone! Well then, let's talk about this penalty clause. Honestly, after all your years of hard work at Excellent Era, we won't be heartless about it. Since you want to leave, let's all sit down and negotiate the termination properly. How does that sound?"
"Just say it. What are your conditions?" Ye Qiu asked.
"Straightforward. The condition is simple: you announce your retirement," the manager said.
"Retirement! And you call that not being heartless?" Su Muocheng was furious. Ye Qiu was twenty-five this year—already an advanced age for professional esports players, so retiring at that age wouldn't be strange. But Ye Qiu had just declared that he wasn't ready to give up yet, and the manager's very first negotiation condition was retirement. It was obviously a targeted move.
A retired player, of course, forfeited the right to compete professionally. There were comebacks after retirement, yes, but the Glory Professional Alliance stipulated that a retired player had to wait a full year before returning—this to prevent people from retiring one day and transferring to another team the next. Ye Qiu was already in the twilight of his career; every day was precious. Now he was being made to squander a year for nothing. And after that year, even if he did return, with his advanced age and a year without high-level matches to maintain his form, whether any team would even take him on the strength of his old reputation alone was a serious question. Keep in mind, Ye Qiu also had one fatal flaw: he refused to engage in any commercial activity.
This was, on its face, an utterly unacceptable negotiation condition—yet Ye Qiu nodded simply and crisply. "I agree."
"Are you insane?" Su Muocheng was horrified.
"I've been tired all these years. What's wrong with resting for a year?" Ye Qiu smiled.
"You... what on earth are you thinking?" Su Muocheng couldn't understand it at all.
"Nothing much." Ye Qiu turned his head. The manager had already produced several documents and handed them over. Ye Qiu took them, looked them over, and smiled. They really had come prepared! With that thought, his pen flew across the page as he signed his name.
He was really leaving... Ye Qiu cast one last look at this place where he had spent seven years. He said no polite parting words, and turned silently to go.
"I'll see you out." Su Muocheng was the only one who followed behind him.