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Are you afraid of me?

Tao Xuan felt the urge to jump out of the window, run across the street, and slap his face until it bled.

“I’m afraid of you???”

Tao Xuan typed it out, but before clicking send, he wondered if his reply seemed too serious. He should be looking down on this question in contempt and express that Ye Qiu didn’t even have the qualification to ask him such a thing.

So maybe I shouldn’t reply back? His mouse hovered over the send button. Tao Xuan hesitated for a long time. Do I reply or not? He finally realized how painful it must have been for enemies to talk trash with Ye Qiu. Just this single question made him furious. If he replied, he’d be angry. If he didn’t reply, he’d still be angry. He could easily imagine how getting aggravated from this question could affect someone’s performance. If a player hesitated like Tao Xuan had right now, the player would be dead.

“Look. He’s not replying. He’s scared.” Across the street at Happy Internet Cafe, Ye Xiu told Wei Chen and the others looking at his chat window. Fortunately, it wasn’t a voice chat, so Tao Xuan couldn’t hear what he was saying. If not, he really might have run across the street and vented his rage.

“F*ck off. He’s probably shocked by your shamelessness!” Wei Chen countered. Excellent Era being scared of a brand new team? What a joke.

“We should always be confident in ourselves.” Ye Xiu advised.

“F*ck, then why are we being so nervous for? We should just fight with Excellent Era in round one. You can go up alone and wipe them out by yourself! Go ahead!” Wei Chen urged.

They argued back and forth. On the other side, Tao Xuan finally replied. In the end, he erased his “I’m scared of you???” message and typed: “Give me a reason to be scared of you.”

“You still need a reason? Everyone in Glory is afraid of me. It’s common knowledge.” Ye Xiu replied.

“Sh*t, I can’t take it anymore. Everyone look at how despicable this guy is!!!” Wei Chen shouted. Steamed Bun and Tang Rou had been playing Glory, so they hadn’t been reading the conversation taking place. Now, Wei Chen called them over. Chen Guo had been watching too. When she saw the reply, she was already bashing her head against the wall.

“Maybe in the past, but now……” Tao Xuan answered back using ellipses.

“Now? You should go to the game and interview people. Both the tenth server and the Heavenly Domain are fine.” Ye Xiu replied.

“Showing off your skills in game! Not bad!” Tao Xuan remarked cynically. Honestly, he almost didn’t believe he had said this. It wasn’t like him, but as the owner of a powerful Club, very few talked to him in this way. Today, Ye Xiu did it! Ye Xiu had brought someone of a higher status down to his level and was talking trash with him on QQ. What an incredible talent for taunting!

“The game is Glory’s foundation. Would you dare to close Excellent Dynasty?” Ye Xiu asked back.

“If you’d like, I can arrange a position for you in Excellent Dynasty.” Tao Xuan let go of everything. He rolled up his sleeves, ready to fight it out with Ye Qiu.

“No need. I recommend paying attention to Excellent Dynasty. Don’t let it close down.” Ye Xiu said.

“Because of you?” Tao Xuan asked.

“Why don’t you ask Chen Yehui? He’d be scared to death.” Ye Xiu said.

This time, Tao Xuan couldn’t think of a reply. Ye Xiu looked as if he had definitive proof that what he was saying was correct, but Tao Xuan didn’t know if it was the truth or not. He had never personally participated in any of these matters! It’s like a debate, where one side raised a strong argument, while the other side couldn’t answer and could only emphasize a previous point. Even though Ye Xiu didn’t raise any strong argument, he still gave off that sort of feeling. His words were rooted in reality, while Tao Xuan’s words were baseless.

“See, he didn’t reply again. I win!” Ye Xiu said.

“F*ck, what did you come here for then!” Wei Chen was fuming. He had watched them talk trash each other back and forth. Ye Xiu’s original goal was to confirm that their team wouldn’t encounter Excellent Era in the first round. He directly asked for confirmation, but after going back and forth at it for a long time, he still hadn’t gotten an answer to the question. A great God and a great boss were bickering like little kids. It was so childish.

“There’s no point talking any further. We’ll talk on stage!” Tao Xuan replied.

“Good. It looks like you haven’t changed. Prove your words on the battlefield.” Ye Xiu replied.

“Ha ha, I’d suggest lighting some incense. You’d better pray you don’t meet us in the first round!” Tao Xuan said.

“Mm, I’ll be praying.” Ye Xiu replied. At the same time, he sent an emoji of a panda burning incense.

Ye Xiu’s words suddenly changed from offensive to defensive. Tao Xuan saw the emoji of a panda burning incense and after a short pause, he answered: “I’ll see you on stage.”

“I’ll see you on stage.” Ye Xiu replied and closed the chat window.

“Done?” Wei Chen stared with wide eyes.

“Done.”

“What’s the result.”

“We’ll see each other on stage.” Ye Xiu said.

“F*ck! Did you get an answer or not.” Wei Chen said.

“He won’t try to rig anything. Who will win and who will lose will be decided on stage.” Ye Xiu said.

“You’re sure?” Wei Chen confirmed.

“Mm.” Ye Xiu nodded his head.

“Why?” Wei Chen didn’t understand. It looked like the two of them had some enmity towards each other.

“I’ve known him for many years. Even though our goals changed, a few fundamental principles still haven’t changed.” Ye Xiu said.

“Why did it feel like even if they hadn’t changed, he was about to change them out of anger after being mocked by you?” Wei Chen said.

“Only someone as immoral as you would do something like that.” Ye Xiu said.

“I really want to throw you out of the window!!” Wei Chen really wanted to bash his head against the wall. Ye Xiu had given him an answer with certainty, but after watching the conversation that had just taken place, he wasn’t convinced that the messages were definitive. Wei Chen was still unsure. Then, Ye Xiu turned around and said to him: “Hurry up and burn some incense!”

“What do you mean?” Wei Chen stared blankly.

“Even if he doesn’t rig the matchups, there is still a possibility for us to meet in the first round. If we don’t burn incense, what do we do?” Ye Xiu said.

“What’s the f*cking point of burning incense?” Wei Chen cursed.

“Then what will work?” Ye Xiu asked.

Wei Chen was stumped. What else would work? Even if Excellent Era didn’t personally rig it, it wasn’t possible to completely eliminate the possibility of them meeting in the first round. If they actually won the lottery and got Excellent Era, they couldn’t run away from it.

“Okay, let’s hurry up and practice!” Wei Chen said and went back to his seat.

The practice room suddenly became quiet again. Wei Chen suddenly asked: “Boss, if we go and rob those elite group leaders, will you still object?”

“That isn’t a good reason to do so, is it?” Chen Guo was surprised by the sudden question, but quickly replied back.

“Great. Everyone has their principles. How great.” Wei Chen muttered.

“Someone as completely unscrupulous like you must feel deeply touched, right?” Ye Xiu said.

“Tch.” Wei Chen clicked his tongue in disdain. He grabbed his headphones and returned to the game.

“It’s f*cking time to start work! Today’s the day that the dungeons refresh! Where’s your energy?! If you guys can’t even stay in your positions and kill yourself like last time, I’ll kick you out of the elite group and you’ll never come back!!!!” Wei Chen roared. He began leading Samsara’s elite group in tackling the dungeon. Wei Chen’s work in Eternal Springs had been very fruitful. In reality, even the top elite groups of the Club guilds could pass through the Seven Great Dungeons every time. They often wiped out after several bosses, but under Wei Chen’s lead, their elite group’s clear rate had improved greatly. Last week, the elite group had performed terribly. The dungeon had ten bosses. On the fourth boss, so many had died that they could no longer continue, making Wei Chen extremely angry.

‘Is he….. okay?” Chen Guo walked over to Ye Xiu and whispered to him.

“Relax. Don’t worry about it. The good thing about old people is that they can take care of their own problems.” Ye Xiu said with confidence.

“Oh, that’s good.” Chen Guo nodded her head. Then, she pointed to Ye Xiu’s screen: “Someone messaged you.”

“Hm?” Ye Xiu clicked on the message, “Oh, it’s Concealed Light!”

Concealed Light had messaged Ye Xiu on QQ.

“Hey, what’s up?” Ye Xiu replied.

“I studied the stuff you sent me. I confirmed that many of things inside are highly likely through the calculations I made. I also corrected a few mistakes through backwards reasoning. There were a few parts of it that I wasn’t too sure of. Later, I asked my professor and, based on the data and calculations made, I created a mathematical model for it with his guidance. I’ll send it to you so that you can take a look at.” Concealed Light messaged.

“Holy sh*t. Wait a minute. I pretty much don’t understand anything that you have said this far. How did your professor get into this?” Ye Xiu was sweating.

“There were a lot of things that I couldn’t figure out, so I could only ask for help. Relax. My professor is Professor Zhang Yichun.” Concealed Light said.

“How can I relax?!” Ye Xiu replied. Chen Guo felt proud: “Amazing. A university professor is even helping us!”

“University professor?” The others were puzzled when they heard this.

“Yeah, Concealed Light asked Professor Zhang Yichun to help us study the data!” Chen Guo exclaimed.

“Who?” The others didn’t have any reaction, but Tang Rou was astonished.

“Professor Zhang Yichun.” Chen Guo said the name again, but she clearly didn’t know who this person was either.

“You guys don’t know who he is?” Tang Rou looked at them helplessly.

“Who is he?” The others asked in unison.

“He’s a world famous mathematician and a member of the National Academy of the Sciences. He’s made several breakthroughs in several fields of mathematics. What type of student is Concealed Light that he’d be personally taught by such a world class mathematician?” Tang Rou asked as she walked over. She wanted to see their conversation too.