The King's Avatar Chapter 1064-1065Chapter 1064: Bleak and Desolate Excellent Era

Translator: Nomyummi Editor: Nomyummi

The playoffs advanced like wildfire. Happy’s group had received invites from Lou Guanning and stayed over at Club Heavenly Swords for a few days. The two sides scrimmed with each other every day and watched the matches together. Apart from that, Lou Guanning started a discussion for any possibilities of continuing their collaboration with Happy.

The two sides would be direct opponents in the league next season. There would be a direct collision of interests unlike before. Lou Guanning could be considered as starting off as a commoner and later becoming a nobleman. They first discussed and did a gentleman’s agreement of what would be appropriate and what would be inappropriate for future collaborations in order to avoid any future disputes that would ruin the good relationship between them.

After a hanging around for a few days, Happy returned home. When they left, Lou Guanning carefully told Ye Xiu a piece of news: “Excellent Era seems to want to sell One Autumn Leaf. They’re currently making inquiries of our thoughts on the matter.”

“Oh?” Ye Xiu’s expression was the same as always, “So what are your thoughts?”

“20 million….. I think that’s too much…” It wasn’t known if Lou Guanning intentionally gave Ye Xiu the price. Lou Guanning laughed bitterly, “At our current level, having this type of character is too much of a waste.”

“You’re quite rational now!” Ye Xiu felt moved.

“One step at a time!” Lou Guanning smiled.

“That’s good. See you!” Ye Xiu called out and got ready to leave.

“Then…” Lou Guannign hesitated, but still spoke, “One Autumn Leaf….. If you’re short on cash, just say the word.”

“No need.” Ye Xiu smiled, “It’s the same as Excellent Era. It’s all in the past.”

“But what about Little Tang!” Lou Guanning pointed at Tang Rou.

“If she wants it, then she can buy it herself.” Ye Xiu said half-jokingly.

Lou Guanning stared blankly. Then, he remembered Tang Rou’s background and suddenly let out a laugh. Finally, he shook Ye Xiu’s hands and bade farewell.

City H, Club Excellent Era.

It had been several days since the commotion. The current Club Excellent Era felt cold and desolate despite the scorching summer heat. There were no fans gathered outside the club. The signs scattered everywhere had already been cleaned up by the sanitation workers. There were only a few traces left in certain areas.

The main entrance to Club Excellent Era was still shut tight. The surrounding people all said that the gate seemed to have never opened these past few days.

In front of this entrance, Ye Xiu raised his head and looked at the Team Excellent Era emblem hanging there. Before, the team emblem was cleaned twice a week. Now, the team emblem hadn’t been cleaned in several days and looked a lot duller.

Zhi zhi zhi….

The main entrance was carefully opened a tiny bit. Half a head peaked out and looked at Ye Xiu. That person was slightly surprised and then opened up the door a bit wider.

Ye Xiu and Su Mucheng walked in. The main entrance was immediately closed afterwards. The interior of Club Excellent Era seemed just as cold as the outside. Not a single person could be seen in the entire yard. The two walked towards Excellent Era’s training center. Over here was where Excellent Era’s players lived most of their daily lives: eating, sleeping, practicing… apart from away matches, it was completely possible for a player to not leave a step out of this area. Ye Xiu had lived that type of life for many years.

They entered the building and went upstairs to the player residences. When they passed by the practice room, Ye Xiu heard the tapping of a keyboard and the clicking of a mouse.

It was Glory.

Ye Xiu could tell. This was a game that he was incomparably familiar with. When he heard the rhythm of the keyboard taps and mouse clicks, he could even imagine what that player was doing.

There was still someone playing Glory in the Excellent Era practice room at this time?

“You go pack up. I’m going to take a look.” Ye Xiu said.

“Okay.” Su Mucheng nodded her head and continued onwards to her room in the player residence area. Ye Xiu walked into the practice room.

The door to the practice room wasn’t closed. Ye Xiu walked inside gently and saw someone in front of a computer. He was playing Glory, the online Arena. This person was playing a Battle Mage and was currently in an intense battle with an opponent. However, with just a few glances, Ye Xiu had a rough idea of the situation. Everything went like he expected. Not even a minute passed and the Battle Mage was killed by the opponent…..

“You suck.” Ye Xiu said.

The person sitting at the chair suddenly turned his head. When he saw Ye Xiu standing behind him, he stared blankly at him. For a long time, no words came out of his mouth.

Tao Xuan……

At this moment, the person playing Glory in the Excellent Era practice room was actually Excellent Era’s boss, Tao Xuan. That Tao Xuan who usually stood up high and only came to the practice room for inspections.

Ye Xiu took out a cigarette box and nimbly shook a cigarette out towards Tao Xuan: “Did you stop smoking?”

Tao Xuan was surprised at first and then extended his hands out: “I’ll take one!”

After lighting up the cigarette, Tao Xuan immediately sucked in a deep breath. It was as if he had found something to place his burdens on.

“How’s the sale going?” After smoking until about half a cigarette left, Ye Xiu suddenly asked.

“Not too well.” Tao Xuan said, “There’s too much. There are very few people who could even take it all in the first place. We aren’t in the Alliance either, so the risk is too great. I’ve talked to several people, but the price was pushed down too much. It was impossible to negotiate.”

“So?” Ye Xiu asked.

“Split it up.” Tao Xuan said.

“And then?” Ye Xiu asked.

“Then…..” Tao Xuan stared blankly, “There is no then.”

Yes, there was no then……

Whether he sold the entire Excellent Era at once or parts of Excellent Era at a time, he would still be able to earn a huge amount of money. However, the timing was too poor. A situation where the seller must sell. There was no situation that could be worse than that for a seller. Any buyer who understood this point would calmly drag it on up until the price was satisfactory.

Tao Xuan had always been trying to maximize profits, but in the end, he could only quietly watch as the originally high prices were pushed down. It was a huge mockery to him.

But in any case, Tao Xuan would still be earning a considerable amount of money. But then what? Nothing. There was no place for him anymore in the Glory scene. The only thing that would accompany him would be the money that came from selling Excellent Era.

And then…..

Tao Xuan had thought about it, but he couldn’t come up with anything. Having so much money should have been something that anyone would be overjoyed about, but he was at a loss. He seemed to be trapped in that painful situation where he had nothing but money. He didn’t know how to get out of it. Invest? Start a new business? Tao Xuan had thought about it, but he always felt dispirited and downcast. He might as well just play Glory and have some fun.

Glory. He had obviously been a player once. If not, how could he have gotten to know Ye Xiu and Su Muqiu? But his skill level was limited and he was old. He wasn’t someone who could stand on stage. In the end, he became a team manager.

One charged out onto the battlefield. One operated the logistics of the business.

Tao Xuan had originally thought that they would be the best partners together, but he realized after a while that they were moving farther and farther apart.

Business is business. He began pursuing profits, while his partner only knew how to fight on the battlefield, not keeping up with his path.

Gradually, Tao Xuan began thinking that if it wasn’t for this partner holding him back, where would Excellent Era be at now?

As Excellent Era failed to make profits year after year, this thought started to grow firm and take root in Tao Xuan’s mind. The best partner that he had once envisioned had become the greatest hindrance to Excellent Era’s growth.

Finally, he set out to kick Ye Xiu from the team. But when he thought about it now, was that really for the sake of profits? Or was it due to envy? Tao Xuan didn’t know. He only remembered that everyday, when he thought about how that guy was holding him back, he would often think about how if he were the Battle God, if he were One Autumn Leaf, he would certainly have led Excellent Era to even greater heights.

He also longed for glory. After all, he had once been a Glory player too…..

But what was the point of thinking about all of that now?

Tao Xuan laughed bitterly and shook his head. Suddenly, the sound of the practice room door creaking could be heard. A person pushed the door open and walked in.

Ye Xiu thought it was Su Mucheng. When he turned his head, he saw that it was Qiu Fei.

“Senior…” Seeing Ye Xiu, Qiu Fei was startled.

“It’s been awhile.” Ye Xiu smiled and gave a greeting.

But then he saw Qiu Fei wrinkle his eyebrows at the two of them: “No smoking is allowed in the practice room.”

No smoking is allowed in the practice room? The two stared blankly. Yes, those were club rules, but at this moment, who cared if you followed the rules or not?

One person was the boss of the club. The other was the team’s former captain. They slowly put down the cigarettes in their mouth. Afterwards, they saw as Qiu Fei walked to his seat and sat down. He opened the computer and then started practicing.

Practice?

Ye Xiu looked at the clock in the practice room. It was 9 AM. Yes, this was when Team Excellent Era would start practicing in the morning. Usually, the morning was targeted tech practice through a customized practice routine. In the afternoon, they would start practicing Glory for real. Qiu Fei was currently doing this morning routine, despite not knowing if Team Excellent Era even existed anymore.

Ye Xiu was stunned for a long time. Finally, he let out a smile. He got up and left the practice room. As for Tao Xuan, he just watched as Qiu Fei practiced with single-hearted devotion for a long long time.

Not long after leaving the practice room, Ye Xiu saw someone flash by him like a ghost. That ghost suddenly stepped back three times and rewinded back to that corner. He turned his head and looked carefully at Ye Xiu.

“Old Ye? You’re back?” That person suddenly asked.

“I’m just passing by.” Ye Xiu chuckled, “What are you doing?”

“All club operations have stopped. I’ve got to go too. Sigh, it’s a pity for that new plan I just had…” This person sighed. Club operations had stopped. All employees would be dismissed. They would clearly be facing unemployment soon, but this guy was more worried that his new plan wouldn’t be able to implemented.

“Alright then, why not go to my place to continue doing research, Rongfei!” Ye Xiu said.

“Your place?”

“Yeah, Team Happy.” Ye Xiu said.

“Oh, research what?”

“A lot of things like the Myriad Manifestations Umbrella. Have you heard of it?” Ye Xiu said.

“The Myriad Manifestations Umbrella!” This person’s eyes instantly lit up. Immediately afterwards, he asked: “So when do I start?”

Chapter 1065: Never Come Back Again

Translator: Nomyummi Editor: Nomyummi

For his job, Guan Rongfei was just an ordinary member of Excellent Era’s R&D team. However, if you were considering his importance, he was the true core member of the research and development team. He was passionate about researching all sorts of Silver weapons, and this passion didn’t lose to the passion that all pro player had for victory. Hearing the words “Myriad Manifestations Umbrella”, Guan Rongfei immediately became impatient to leave, making Ye Xiu uncertain if he should laugh or cry as he said, “Wait a moment!”

As he said this, he saw Su Mucheng coming out of her room, carrying a large suitcase. The reason they came back this time was mostly because she had to pack up.

“Rongfei is coming with us, too,” Ye Xiu told her.

“Really?” Su Mucheng gazed at Guan Rongfei cheerfully. “You’re in luck then, there’s a lot of stuff for you to do there.”

“Can we go now?” If any Excellent Era members saw Guan Rongfei’s impatience, they would probably be absolutely heartbroken. He had worked at Excellent Era for so long already, but he didn’t seem to have any feelings for it at all. This had coincided with Excellent Era’s members disbanding, but considering this guy’s response, even when Excellent Era was all well, he would have probably been immediately lured away with a “Hey, we’re researching the Myriad Manifestations Umbrella, you coming?”

It had been rather early on when Lord Grim’s Myriad Manifestations Umbrella had been reported back to the club by the guild department. Excellent Era’s R&D department had also done some research and that was when Guan Rongfei was first introduced to this prodigious creation. However, since this weapon was only useful for unspecialized, it didn’t have much value to Excellent Era, so they didn’t look into it too deeply. This wouldn’t stop Guan Rongfei looking into it in his spare time to try and figure out how this thing was created.

“You’re just leaving like that? Is there nothing you want to take with you?” Ye Xiu looked at Guan Rongfei, a little lost for words.

“Oh yeah!” Guan Rongfei smacked his own forehead and then ran off.

Yet it wasn’t long before he was back, his hands empty and apparently having not packed anything, but his expression was relieved as he said, “It’s all good now.”

“What… did you pack?” Su Mucheng asked.

“The research and data I’ve done on the Myriad Manifestations Umbrella. I almost forgot it.” Guan Rongfei took out an external hard drive from his pocket, waving it in front of the two for a bit before putting it back into his pocket. He looked at the two with eagerness, his face clearly asking: why aren’t we leaving yet?

“Let’s go,” Ye Xiu decided and took Su Mucheng’s luggage for her. The three left together, but bumped into Tao Xuan, who was just leaving the training room, on their way out.

Seeing Guan Rongfei with the two, Tao Xuan seemed to understand and didn’t say anything, just nodding in greetings. It was Guan Rongfei, who didn’t even glance at the boss that had given him his paycheck all these years, already leaving.

“So about Dancing Rain. Why don’t you name a price?” Ye Xiu said to Tao Xuan.

Tao Xuan was puzzled for a moment before remembering the promise he had made when he had first gone to Happy to find Ye Xiu. At the time, he had thought Ye Xiu would ask for One Autumn Leaf, but never expected that it would be Dancing Rain instead.

“How about 450,000?” Tao Xuan suggested.

Ye Xiu and Su Mucheng exchanged a glance.

This price obviously wasn’t Dancing Rain’s true value. As the Number One Launcher character, Dancing Rain was extremely valuable. Even ten million wouldn’t be unexpected.

450,000! If any passerby heard this, they’d probably think they were hallucinating, but Ye Xiu and Su Mucheng knew where this price came from. 450,000 was the price Tao Xuan had originally bought out this character for in Excellent Era’s name.

During the very beginnings of the Alliance, the characters were all brought into the club by the players. These were all characters that the pro players had slowly built up themselves. Back then, the club management had already realized that strong characters would be an important asset of the club, so they arranged for the ownership of these characters to be removed from the players and given to the club early on. That’s how the system today was created: the ownership of characters all belonged to the club, and there were rarely any characters that belonged to the individual. Then, after that short period of time in the beginning, these resources were able to be utilized. If any new players joined, the club would provide characters directly. These characters would usually be far stronger than the characters that the players originally used in the game.

Su Mucheng joined the Alliance in season four. By then, it was rare for powerful characters to be brought into the club by the player. However, there would be special circumstances where players would continue using their online characters. Because the characters that the players had brought with them wouldn’t be that strong, the clubs wouldn’t buy them for an exceptionally high price. They treated it as giving that the player a small money bonus for signing the contract.

Dancing Rain was bought by Excellent Era under these circumstances. 450,000 wasn’t a price that any random character in the online game had. It was because Ye Xiu had already put some effort into strengthening this character that it was worth more. But for a completely unknown character, that was the most it could be sold for.

The Dancing Rain back then couldn’t be compared to the Dancing Rain today.

Apart from powerful equipment, the current Dancing Rain also had the accumulation of all the effort put into her all these years as well as the halo of the title of Number One Launcher. This sort of character wouldn’t just increase the strength of a team, but also how influential they were.

Situations like during last the summer, when Team Samsara had bought the Tiny Herb Grappler Flying Drops and dismantled him into equipment, were extremely rare. In the end, it was because Flying Drop’s influence wasn’t enough. He wasn’t like Hundred Dazzling Blossoms who could send his player into the All-Stars purely through the nostalgia fans held of him.

Flying Drops wasn’t so grand, so what if he was dismantled? If it was a God-level account, never mind the fans objecting, even Samsara themselves would never bear the thought of dismantling it.

Dancing Rain had only been bought for 450,000. After so many years, even if Dancing Rain’s strength hadn’t been raised at all, just through sheer renown, the character’s price would definitely be higher.

The 450,000 Tao Xuan had given today was undoubtedly a friends rate.

“Okay, that’s settled then!” Ye Xiu nodded and didn’t say much more.

He could tell that everything ended here. This 450,000 RMB transaction would probably be the last interaction they had that bore any sort of emotional investment. After that, they would go their separate ways. They wouldn’t know if they would ever interact again, but the past would never repeat itself again.

“Good luck.” Tao Xuan offered his right hand to Ye Xiu.

Ye Xiu glanced at it before finally stretching out his hand to shake.

“I never need luck.” After that, he turned and left.

Guan Rongfei didn’t let up with the impatient looks at all as they left, forcing Ye Xiu and Su Mucheng to hurry. Getting to the ground floor, the entrance of the training center, they saw two people walking in from the front door.

“Ms. Su Mucheng… Ye Qiu… I mean, God Ye Xiu.” The person on the left slowed down upon seeing the three and greeted them. Then he looked at Guan Rongfei and, not recognizing him, didn’t greet him.

Ye Xiu looked at Su Mucheng, feeling a little lost. Though he was a God as well, he was so discreet all these years that he wasn’t at all used to this sort of celebrity situation where others recognized him and he didn’t recognize them. It was Su Mucheng who smiled at the newcomer and greeted him with a hello.

The person didn’t introduce himself, just starting a conversation with Su Mucheng, “I hear you’re joining Team Happy?”

“Yes.”

“What a shame. I really hoped that we would get a chance to cooperate.” The other replied.

Su Mucheng simply smiled.

“Then… I wish you three a good day. Excuse me.” The person didn’t have the intentions to chat for too long and left with that.

“That person from Tiny Herb is probably here to negotiate some sort of transaction…” Su Mucheng didn’t wait for Ye Xiu to ask before explaining. Since Ye Xiu was so lowkey in the past, he mostly only knew pro players in their circle. Apart from that, he would keep his interactions with other members as low as possible. This was one person he had never seen before.

“Oh…” Hearing Su Mucheng’s explanation, Ye Xiu nodded.

“It’s probably… about Qiu Fei’s transfer?” Su Mucheng guessed. Team Tiny Herb had never hid their interest in Qiu Fei. They had expressed interest during the Challenger League. It was evident that it didn’t matter if Excellent Era was eliminated or not, Qiu Fei was someone they would be interested in transferring over regardless. However, Tiny Herb probably felt that they had more of a chance with Excellent Era’s current situation!

Thinking of that figure still in the training room, Ye Xiu realized that Qiu Fei did have that sort of ‘I won’t give up even if the world is ending’ demeanor to him. Tiny Herb… Would he join them?

As they were thinking of this, the door was opened once more and someone else entered. This person wasn’t just someone Ye Xiu and Su Mucheng recognized, even Guan Rongfei recognized him. In the past year, this was the person who took the position of Excellent Era’s vice captain. With his eyes set on the future, he was like coal in the harsh winter for Excellent Era. Yet the coal hadn’t even flickered to life yet before they had all frozen to death together. Xiao Shiqin’s figure seemed to hold that sort of desolation. It hadn’t even been a month since the end of the Challenger League Finals and this guy seemed to have already gotten thinner.

The two sides met at the door and spent a long time in silence, enough so that Guan Rongfei began to look impatient again.

“You haven’t left yet?” Ye Xiu asked.

“Yeah.” Xiao Shiqin nodded.

“What are your plans?” Ye Xiu asked.

“I don’t know.” Xiao Shiqin shook his head. He had sacrificed a year and made a resolute decision. However, he had completely failed. The defeat at the Challenger League wasn’t a small blow for Xiao Shiqin.

“How about you come to Happy?” Ye Xiu suggested. Xiao Shiqin’s contract was only a year long. That meant, he was the same as Su Mucheng. His contract ended at the end of June and he could transfer for free. Happy was willing to try and get a player that didn’t require a transfer fee.

“Happy?” Xiao Shiqin thought for a moment before smiling bitterly and shaking his head, “What can I do in Happy? Happy doesn’t need me.”

Ye Xiu didn’t know how to react to that. Xiao Shiqin’s talent was tactics, but Happy had Ye Xiu. The loss in the Challenger League, in reality, was also Xiao Shiqin’s loss to Ye Xiu in tactics. This loss had killed his confidence in Ye Xiu’s presence. It was clear that he didn’t think he would be of any value in Happy.

“I still have something to do. Excuse me.” Xiao Shiqin didn’t seem to want to speak with Ye Xiu further and quickly excused himself and left.

“What a shame.” Ye Xiu gazed at Xiao Shiqin’s retreating figure with disappointment.

“Are we leaving or not!” Guan Rongfei wouldn’t hold in his impatience any longer.

“Alright alright alright, let’s go.” Ye Xiu didn’t know if he should laugh or cry, leaving Excellent Era with this guy. After walking out of the doors, he couldn’t help but glance back.

This place… he’d probably never come back again.