Chapter 4 – Mysterious Expert

“Sister Chen, you’re eating midnight snacks again... ...”

After buying the midnight snacks, Chen Guo called all of the Internet Cafe employees to enjoy them together. The smell of the dishes recklessly filled the Internet Cafe immediately causing a wave of wailing and protests from the guests. The time for dinner had already passed yet they were being forced to smell the sweet fragrance from the dishes. That wasn’t pleasure. That was a trap.

“Line up orderly if you want instant noodles.” Chen Guo called out.

“Sister Chen should eat kitchen food everyday. We’ll eat instant noodles then.” No one rejected the temptation. They could only grab Internet Cafe instant noodles and eat while jealously watching the employees eat their full course meals of six dishes and a soup.

“If you also want to go out and eat, don’t ask my employees to go on an errand for you.” Chen Guo said.

“Next time, could you tell us in advance? Can’t you help deliver it to us?” A person said.

“The Internet Cafe only has so many people. How could we deliver it all back? Enough of this nonsense, if you really want to eat so much but are too lazy to buy it, go ask for their phone number. Wouldn’t they be willing to deliver it?” Chen Guo said.

“Sister Chen do you have their number? Lend it to me so I can copy it down.” A person said.

“What would I do with their phone number? I have people to run errands for me. Why would I inconvenience the restaurant?” Chen Guo said.

This time, not only the Cafe guests, but the employees cried together until their cheeks streamed with tears. Ye Xiu found an opportunity and took advantage of it to ask: “Boss is surnamed Chen right?”

“Yup, Chen Guo. I’ve seen your ID card. You’re not as old as I am, so I don’t mind you calling me sister. You also won’t lose out.” Chen Guo said.

“Whatever you want... ...” Ye Xiu forced a smile.

“Today’s shredded meat with chili sauce is so spicy. Little brat, go eat it all.” Chen Guo hadn’t eaten much. She only ate a mouthful before throwing away her chopsticks and rushing to the drinking water. After carrying a glass of water back, she kicked Ye Xiu’s stool: “Are you done yet? Hurry up.”

“What’s the rush?” Ye Xiu asked.

“It’s almost time.” Chen Guo lifted her wrist to let Ye Xiu see her watch. It was currently 11:53 PM. There were only 7 minutes until the opening of Glory’s tenth server.

“You’re also going?” Ye Xiu was a little surprised. After playing Chen Guo’s account Chasing Haze, a fifth sever account, if it had started on the opening of the server, then it would now be a full five years old. Of course, although that account couldn’t compare with his professional peak level account, it was still quite good among ordinary players. It wasn’t that easy to just simply give it up.

“Take a look at the excitement.” Chen Guo said.

The opening of a new server really was quite exciting. What had originally been an ordinary day became a time when Happy Internet Cafe exploded with business. The area was packed with players. As far as the eye could see, all of the people had already opened up the registration interface waiting with their mice hovering over the still gray tenth server icon.

Entering the server, players rushed to get on the leaderboards, to clear the first dungeon, to be the first to kill a boss, etc. There were too many things waiting for the players. The opening of a new land caused people’s hearts to bounce in excitement. Chen Guo looked towards these guests and couldn’t help but be aroused by this sort of atmosphere. She looked back at Ye Xiu, who was still picking his food. She was that he was unexpectedly unaffected by this sort of atmosphere, lacking that inner pioneering quality.

“Well what are you waiting for?” Chen Guo looked as if she were more anxious than the guests.

“What’s the rush?” Ye Xiu truly was calm; he wasn’t faking it. But he couldn’t deny Glory’s successful marketing. Glory’s competitiveness among players ranked high in every category. These relied on genuine skill which couldn’t be casually made up with money and luck. Only, to a famed veteran who had once bathed in glory, these things were only ordinary and mediocre.

Only after seeing how Chen Guo’s expression was filled with murderous intent, did Ye Xiu begin considering that it was worth it to give the boss some face. Finally, he reluctantly put down his rice bowl and looked for a computer station to sit at.

“F*ck, it looks like I’m forcing him play. What type of person is this?” Chen Guo berated Ye Xiu behind his back. The employees all suppressed a laugh. They discovered that this network manager was little different. To be able to casually make their big boss go into a bad temper, this wasn’t something an ordinary person could do.

Chen Guo sat at the station beside Ye Xiu and registered her Chasing Haze account. The popularity of the other nine servers hadn’t dropped much because of the opening of the tenth server. The older the server the more this was true. This was because starting in Glory with a new account wasn’t easy. Chen Guo had played on Chasing Haze for five years until it was considered a fairly good account by ordinary standards. How could it be abandoned so easily? What’s more, later, everyone would try to rush to the cross-server Heavenly Domain.

This Heavenly Domain wasn’t a single map. It was another world. The map was as big as the combined worlds of five other servers. This place had difficult instance dungeons, powerful equipment, precious materials, and also freedom. All experts would meet up there. The Heavenly Domain was a player’s final destination.

It was about to be midnight. In the final ten seconds, the Internet Cafe had people who couldn’t help but begin to countdown. As the sounds grew louder and louder and the final “ZERO” erupted, the dull gray color of the tenth server login window faded away. Everyone in the Internet Cafe united into one. They collectively extended their hands and inserted their account cards into the login device. Their mice clicked on the tenth server.

Chen Guo turned his head towards Ye Xiu and nearly spurt out blood. While everyone entered the game, this guy leisurely opened up a web page to look at. Raising her eyebrows, she saw that it was some sort of beginner handguide on the sequence of missions to take.

“F*ck, you don’t even know how to do this? You even need a guide?” If it wasn’t for that genuine first-edition card, even if she were beaten to death, she wouldn’t have believed this guy had ten years of gaming experience.

“I haven’t done this in so long, there’s no way I could remember!” Ye Xiu slowly and unhurriedly said.

“You’ve never helped someone do it before?” Chen Guo said.

“This type of experience... ... I really don’t have any.” Ye Xiu said.

“No sense of community.” Chen Guo disdained.

“I had no time.” Ye Xiu said.

“People with no time wouldn’t come to play. Gamers are people with spare time.” Chen Guo said.

“I was busy playing games.” Ye Xiu said seriously.

“Then what’s your job?” Chen Guo asked.

“Playing games!” Ye Xiu exclaimed.

“Oh, are you a professional gamer?” Chen Guo said.

Ye Xiu laughed: “I was a pretty high level one too.”

“A pretty high level one? Pro-gamer?” Chen Guo stared blankly.

Ye Xiu proudly nodded his head.

“Then you’ve retired!” Chen Guo said.

“How did you know?”

“Obvious, you’re already so old.” Chen Guo said.

Ye Xiu bitterly laughed.

“I was wondering how you were able to beat that guy in 40 seconds. It turned out you were a professional even if you’re an amateur.” Chen Guo said.

“Amateur?”

“I know all of the professional experts. Ye Xiu? I’ve never heard of the name. If you’re not an amateur, what are you?” Chen Guo asked.

“Ha ha, so it’s like this.” Ye Xiu laughed.

“Don’t fake it. You actually haven’t retired. It’s just that you were unable to win a seat, so you were kicked out right?” Chen Guo said.

Ye Xiu was speechless.

“No offense... ...” Chen Guo realized that her words had somewhat stabbed at his sore spot.

“It doesn’t matter.” Ye Xiu let out a sigh.

“Don’t be discouraged. 25 years old isn’t that old. If you keep practicing, maybe you can fight your way back.” Chen Guo said.

“That’s what I plan on doing.” Ye Xiu smiled.

“If that day really happens, then I need to request something from you.” Chen Guo said.

“What is it?”

“Signature.” Chen Guo said.

“Why wait until that day? I’ll sign it now!”

“How shameless! Who wants your signature? I only want you to ask for my idols’ signatures.” Chen Guo said.

“Oh? Who?”

“Su MuCheng and also Ye Qiu. Ye Qiu might be a little difficult. That person likes to hide.” Chen Guo said.

“Oh so it’s like this?” Tears streamed down Ye Xiu’s cheeks. Ye Qiu was currently chatting with you face to face, sister.

“Yup. Only he almost never appears in public. Even if you’re an amateur, I didn’t know you were this out of touch. You didn’t even know about this?” Chen Guo said.

“I know. Of course I know. Let me tell you a secret. Actually, I’m Ye Qiu.” Ye Xiu said.

“Really? Then let me tell you a secret too. Actually, I’m Su MuCheng.” Chen Guo said.

“I really am Ye Qiu.” Ye Xiu cried.

“I really am Su MuCheng.” Chen Guo said.

“I... ...”

“Okay, stop playing around. Let me see your plan!” Chen Guo waved her hand. She would no longer get angry at Ye Xiu’s slow and unhurried attitude.

But after her line of sight returned to the screen, Chen Guo still couldn’t help but say: “If you don’t understand something clearly, you can just ask me.”

“I want to research a bit first. I’ll only do missions for attributes or skills. Other missions with rewards such as experience or equipment, it’s faster to go to instance dungeons.” Ye Xiu said.

“Right. This is the type of thinking a veteran should have. Only, you don’t need to research it by yourself. Flip to the last page of that guide!”

“Oh?” when Ye Xiu flipped to the last page and looked, a sudden wave of shame hit. Thinking about it, this hand guide hadn’t changed much over ten years. This was something players couldn’t update any further. For missions that veterans would choose, how could noone have come up with this type of strategy already? Right now, he needed this type of strategy. Just as Ye Xiu was ready to follow this strategy to take missions, tears immediately began streaming down his face. He was once regarded as textbook level figure! Now with a beginners guide in his hands, how could he endure this shame?