The King's Avatar

”Team Tiny Herb!” Tao Xuan’s expression darkened. Just this name alone was enough for him to take things more seriously.

Team Tiny Herb had a somewhat strong start, but weak finish in this past season. They were the season seven champions and entered the new season at a high. In the beginning, Team Tiny Herb didn’t let down their fans and led the regular season in first place. Unfortunately, in the second half of the regular season, they were passed by Team Blue Rain and Team Samsara, ending the season with third place.

A team’s placing in the regular season didn’t determine who would be the championship winners. Once a team reached the playoffs, no team would slack off. As the defending champions, many thought Team Tiny Herb’s chances at winning were quite high, but although Team Tiny Herb smoothly entered the semifinals, they ended up under Team Samsara’s feet as their stepping stone. Team Samsara beating top teams like Team Tiny Herb and Team Blue Rain one after the other only made their championship victory that much more glorious.

”Tiny Herb? Who is this Qiao Yifan?” Tao Xuan turned to ask Xiao Shiqin.

”That...” Xiao Shiqin felt a bit embarrassed. Qiao Yifan was truly too invisible. How could an outsider know such information on someone who had never played in an official match? Xiao Shiqin could only say what he knew: ”He has never participated in an official match before, so there isn’t much information on him. From what I know, he uses an Assassin, but the only time he’s ever appeared on stage was in the All Star Rookie Challenge. However, at that time, he used a Ghostblade. He challenged Li Xuan and the outcome…..”

The outcome was a tragic sight, but Xiao Shiqin was kind person. Even though Qiao Yifan wasn’t in front of him listening, he still tried to find the appropriate words to soften the harsh truth.

Tao Xuan had some impression of this year’s All Stars. It was a once a year event after all.

That Ghostblade who lost to Li Xuan? Tao Xuan hadn’t bothered to remember that kid’s name because there was nothing noteworthy about that kid’s performance. How many remember the loser?

Xiao Shiqin’s words still let Tao Xuan know that this Qiao Yifan’s official class was an Assassin, but in the Challenger League, he played a Ghostblade. Could he have been hiding his strength and simply playing in the Rookie Challenge for fun?

Tao Xuan started to become a bit uneasy. He paced about the room and even opened the door to look outside, but he didn’t see Ye Qiu’s group returning. If they planned on welcoming Qiao Yifan here, they should have come up by now. The first floor wasn’t that far away? It seems like they don’t want us to see him?

”Let’s go.” As a result, Tao Xuan quickly made his decision. Just like how they barged in, he decided to go down and see what they were up to.

”Ah? You’re going to leave? You’re not going to wait for my boss to come back? Are you sure you don’t want any water?” Little Li saw that the three were getting ready to leave, so he quickly called after them.

”No thanks. We have something we need to do, so we’ll get going.” Tao Xuan didn’t need to go so far as to take his anger out on an Internet Cafe employee. After politely responding, he and the other two left the practice room. When they exited the room, the three quickly put their sunglasses on and started walking quickly and carefully.

It didn’t matter much for Tao Xuan, but Sun Xiang and Xiao Shiqin were like sheep in a tiger’s den coming to an Internet Cafe. If they didn’t disguise themselves a bit, the fans would quickly nab them like wolves.

Happy Internet Cafe. This is the right place…..

Qiao Yifan came directly to their door. Of course, he had told Ye Xiu beforehand. If not, he wouldn’t have known the Internet Cafe’s location or name. After knowing that he wouldn’t be staying with Team Tiny Herb and that he didn’t have any offers from any other Club teams, Qiao Yifan decided to seek shelter under Ye Qiu’s wing, who had been of great assistance to him. He would be fine even if Ye Qiu only wanted him as an apprentice. Coming from a championship team, he had been quite proud in the beginning, but after a year, there wasn’t much left of it.

Ye Xiu obviously didn’t reject Qiao Yifan and also told him their plans for the future. After listening to it, Qiao Yifan happily accepted. He wanted to learn and improve, and it couldn’t be any better if he could also have the chance at becoming a pro player again.

While Qiao Yifan waited in front of the Happy Internet Cafe’s reception desk, he was still feeling uneasy. However, he soon heard the employee go upstairs to send the message. A bunch of footsteps soon followed. It seemed like quite a few people were coming down.

”Is it them?” Qiao Yifan thought to himself. His gaze had already shifted to look in that direction. He soon saw one, two, three, four, five people come over. Qiao Yifan recognized Ye Qiu among them.

”Senior.” Qiao Yifan immediately went up to meet them and gave a respectful greeting.

”Ha ha, not bad, little kid! You’re very polite!” One of them reached out his hands and gave his shoulders a heavy pat. This person was seemingly a middle-aged guy with a gruff face. Qiao Yifan leapt up in fright. Did I get the wrong person? I don’t think I did?

Qiao Yifan wasn’t sure what to say, when he heard the person who he thought was senior: ”Ha, he can be considered your senior too. Wei Chen. Have you heard of him?”

Qiao Yifan had never heard of him.

If he were a Warlock player or someone from Team Blue Rain and understood the team’s history, perhaps he would have heard of the name Wei Chen before, but his current knowledge was the same as Sun Xiang’s. He didn’t recognize this name at all. However, Sun Xiang dared to say ”Who’s that?” Qiao Yifan didn’t have that sort of arrogance and hastily said a ”Hi senior” to Wei Chen.

”Ha ha ha, good, good. You’ve got a good future ahead of you, little kid!” Wei Chen patted Qiao Yifan again. He didn’t seem to mind that Qiao Yifan had no idea who he was.

”Steamed Bun, Soft Mist. You’ve played in the game together.” Ye Xiu introduced Steamed Bun and Tang Rou. Steamed Bun laughed loudly as his greeting. Tang Rou didn’t lack manners and greeted him politely. She had a good impression of Qiao Yifan.

”This is our boss.” Ye Xiu introduced Chen Guo last. Chen Guo was actually at a loss of what to do facing such a proper introduction. In the end, she treated him like they were family and said: ”So you’ve arrived? I’ve already arranged living quarters for you. Later, Old Wei and Steamed Bun can bring you over.”

”Thank you, thank you.” Qiao Yifan hastily replied.

Just when they were getting acquainted with each other, noise could be heard from the stairs again. Tao Xuan’s group grew impatient from waiting and went downstairs. The three wore big sunglasses as if they were from the Matrix.

Even though everyone recognized the famous pro players, they mostly saw them on the screen, so it wasn’t as easy to identify them in real life. Thus, sunglasses were usually good enough as a disguise. However, Qiao Yifan was different. Although he might be just a ”water dispenser”, he still went around with the team everywhere and would encounter anyone Team Tiny Herb encountered. These three walked directly towards their group, giving Qiao Yifan plenty of time to recognize them. At first, he felt that these three faces looked quite familiar. At a second glance, he began to identify them. At a third glance, he cried out all of a sudden: ”Senior Xiao Shiqin? Senior Sun Xiang? Hi…..”

Qiao Yifan was so polite! Sun Xiang had only registered a year before him and Qiao Yifan already considered him a senior. After crying out their names, he walked forward weakly and greeted them.

He may not have spoken very loudly, but he hadn’t spoken very quietly either. Quite a few people nearby had heard it. Numerous customers lifted up their heads to check. Now that they were deliberately looking for these two pro players, the sunglass facade collapsed like paper. Sun Xiang and Xiao Shiqin were quickly recognized by Glory fans.

”HOLY SH*T! IT’S SUN XIANG! IT’S XIAO SHIQIN!!” Someone shouted loudly. Many had already leapt up from their chairs and dashed over. Such a large commotion immediately startled even more people. It was as if a brick had been thrown into a pond. Waves of people began crashing around inside the Internet Cafe.

Not everyone at an Internet Cafe played Glory, and not everyone who played Glory was so passionate about chasing after stars. Happy Internet Cafe existed before Glory existed. When the Glory Alliance was established, it just happened to be located across the street from Club Excellent Era. Chen Guo paid a lot of attention in caring for Glory and Excellent Era fans. Happy Internet Cafe could be considered a gathering place for Excellent Era’s fans.

With Sun Xiang and Xiao Shiqin having been exposed, the passion from the surrounding fans was practically the same as when Excellent Era played in their home stadium. A huge number of customers left their seats and quickly walked over to watch.

”Not good!”

Tao Xuan, Xiao Shiqin, and Sun Xiang weren’t the only ones crying this out in their hearts. Ye Xiu’s group also felt the same! Fortunately, they were still at the front desk. The door was very close, so they rapidly scurried away. Tao Xuan’s group reacted too slowly. Then again, the fans weren’t going to hurt them. If they ran away, it might hurt their feelings too much and result in a bad reaction. During their short moment of hesitation, the three were surrounded in an instant. Not long afterwards, a pair of sunglasses flew off and was kicked around by the crowd. One of the lenses even fell off. In the end, it was thrown at Ye Xiu’s feet.

”What a pity.” Tang Rou picked up the sunglasses, ”They’re Ray Bans too. They’re ruined now.”

”It’s okay if the sunglasses are ruined. They’re not going to get ruined, right?” Steamed Bun asked.

”Should we go over to Club Excellent Era and call their security over?” Ye Xiu wondered.

”I….. I…..” Qiao Yifan was nervous. He felt like he had invited disaster onto them.

”I knew you had a bright future ahead of you!” Wei Chen praised.

”It’s such a mess. No one’s going to try and use this chance to not pay their bill, right?” Chen Guo was also worried.