The King's Avatar

Chen Yehui ran to the boss’s office. When he entered the room, he could swear an oath to everything within a five hundred meter area. Ye Qiu was using Lord Grim. He had personally confirmed it in game. The two of them had even spoken face to face!

But a character was linked to an account card. Ye Qiu could use an account card. Others could use it too. Chen Yehui could only bet on that single interaction. It only proved that when he met Lord Grim, the person who was using Lord Grim had been Ye Qiu. Yet now, the person who registered Lord Grim wasn’t Ye Qiu.

This was completely possible. The mistake was that no one had realized this point. Chen Yehui felt very wronged because what he concluded wasn’t wrong. As for Lord Grim not being Ye Qiu right now wasn’t a question that he had thought of, but Cui Li and Tao Xuan hadn’t either, no? When they came up with the plan to reveal Ye Qiu’s identity, all three of them had agreed on it. Even though Chen Yehui had proposed the idea, he was unwilling to take full blame for this mistake!

Tao Xuan was muddle-headed from anger. His logic was all over the place: ”Could he have intentionally plotted for you to make this kind of misunderstanding?

Chen Yehui pondered over this question for awhile. He couldn’t penetrate the profoundness of this theory. He looked attentively at Tao Xuan and cautiously said: ”Ye Qiu... intentionally making us think he’s Ye Qiu... then isn’t he still Ye Qiu?”

”Boss...” Cui Li couldn’t understand Tao Xuan’s confusing logic either and hastily said: ”Ye Qiu is hiding behind Lord Grim. That’s for certain. We’ve talked with him before. He’s right across the street at Happy Internet Cafe, no? Team Happy cannot be unrelated to him. It’s just that now, we know that Lord Grim isn’t registered under Ye Qiu’s name.”

This reasoning wasn’t complicated. Tao Xuan wasn’t stupid. When he received the news, he had thought of this conclusion. Understanding what had happened was one matter though. Because of their carelessness, they neglected this possibility and committed a grave error. How were they supposed to explain all of this to the fans outside their door?

Tao Xuan felt like he had lost face. In his search for an explanation, his reasoning became convoluted.

”Tell me your thoughts on how we should wind down this situation.” Tao Xuan composed himself. Getting angry wouldn’t solve the problem. Looking into who was responsible was unnecessary too. It wasn’t any single person’s fault, but everyone’s.

”If Ye Qiu isn’t using Lord Grim, could he be registered under another character’s name in Team Happy?” Cui Li said.

Tao Xuan immediately went to the Challenger League website. When he searched ”Happy”, the site came up with 62 results.

Several days had passed since Chen Guo had registered the team. The Happy family had 17 new members. To know which one was the Happy next door, they would need to look through the details of each one. Tao Xuan was feeling impatient. He wasn’t in the mood to investigate each one right now. Cui Li had sharp eyes though. After glancing at the screen, he volunteered himself for the task: ”Shall I take a look?”

”No need.” Tao Xuan clicked on a Team Happy. He wasn’t lucky enough to click on Ye Xiu’s team on the first try, ”There won’t be any information on their real names here. We’ll have to call the Alliance and ask.”

The PR spokesperson, Wang Sheng, who arrived at around the same time as Chen Yehui, interjected: ”Did the reports say that there was no Ye Qiu?”

”Did they?” Tao Xuan had heard the news straight from Cui Li. When he saw the fans change sides, he knew that it wasn’t fake news, so he didn’t personally look it up himself. After hearing Wang Sheng’s words, he asked Cui Li for verification.

Cui Li couldn’t answer it. He had heard the news from a subordinate too. He hadn’t read the actual article. Wang Sheng immediately followed up: ”They did. The reports said that the Alliance confirmed that Team Happy has no one with the name Ye Qiu in their records.”

The media had clearly spent more effort in digging up details than them. When they heard Lord Grim wasn’t Ye Qiu, they also asked if Team Happy had a Ye Qiu and received this reply. The public statement was like a slap to Excellent Era’s face.

Fortunately, ESports Home was very fair. The article analyzed: even though the Alliance has confirmed that Team Happy does not have Ye Qiu registered, Excellent Era had no reason to speak without thinking. Team Happy must be related to Ye Qiu in some way. Lord Grim should be related to Ye Qiu. It’s just that Ye Qiu didn’t use this character to register for the Challenger League.

Tao Xuan finally grasped the full picture of the report. The author had helped them understand everything that could be understood. What else could they ask about? They couldn’t just barge into the Internet cafe and press down on Ye Qiu’s head until he gave them a proper statement!

”Then let’s explain it from this perspective... emphasize how Ye Qiu is connected to Team Happy.” Tao Xuan instructed.

”Okay, I understand...”Wang Sheng nodded his head. He was in charge of the PR department. He was a professional in this area. He asked the boss for advice in order to get a general direction so that he wouldn’t be fully blamed if a problem arose. If he could get an instruction from the boss, it would be equivalent to obtaining an imperial sword. When he did things, it was more official, no?

Wang Sheng immediately got busy. Talking to the media and fans was his job.

Cui Li and Chen Yehui remained in Tao Xuan’s office. The mood was heavy. The boss was still clearly angry! The two looked at each other, and then Cui Li opened his mouth: ”If there’s no other business, we’ll be going too.”

”Okay…... ” Tao Xuan replied. Cui Li and Chen Yehui promptly left.

In the office, Tao Xuan sat there gloomily for a long time before getting up to look out the window. The fans gathered at the Club entrance had already dispersed. Happy Internet Cafe was the same. Numerous fans were pacing back and forth, unsure of what to do. They would go that way and then head back the other way. The fans needed face too. Before, Happy had caused a huge ruckus. Then, the media reported that Lord Grim wasn’t Ye Qiu. There was no Ye Qiu in Team Happy. Not only was this a slap to Excellent Era’s face, but to the fans, jeering at Team Happy. How could the fans not feel embarrassed when Excellent Era was embarrassed?

Excellent Era had explained their actions to the fans, recognizing that they might have made an error in certain areas, but they also emphasized Ye Qiu’s involvement in Team Happy. They had no real proof though. The fans weren’t so stupid as to believe whatever they were told. Being able to accept the club’s explanation was already quite good. As for Happy Internet Cafe, no one was in the mood to make another commotion over there again.

The commotion winded down. Excellent Era and their fans were left with red faces. As for Happy? They didn’t say anything from start to finish. Once the media found the truth, Excellent Era’s statement crumbled. Getting relegated was bad enough. After committing this mistake, no one in Excellent Era even dared to look at the Glory forums. There would certainly be a lot of ridicule towards them flying around everywhere.

Of course, people would mock them. There wouldn’t be any lack of gossip either though. Just like the report pointed out, although Excellent Era made a huge mistake, their mistake wasn’t without reason. Ye Qiu and Happy and Lord Grim must be related in some way. There was no question about that.

If Ye Qiu registered, was that allowed? Couldn’t retired players only return after a year? The Alliance was the authority over these rules. The employee from the Alliance, who was interviewed, felt a bit embarrassed too. Rules related to retired players never mentioned the Challenger League. Thus, according to the rules, the employee could only admit that there was no violation of said rules.

Apart from that, there was all sorts of gossip such as the conflict between Ye Qiu and Excellent Era, the bloody winds and rain set off by Lord Grim from the tenth server to the Heavenly Domain, and even the other registered characters in Team Happy.

The person most thankful for all of this was Zhang Jiale. Before, even though he said he would join Team Tyranny, it had not even been a year since he retired. It had only been confirmed verbally. No actual action could be taken. He could only officially return on August 29th.

During this time, there was still gossip floating around about Zhang Jiale, especially a few unresigned Hundred Blossom fans. They even created a petition for Zhang Jiale to return to Team Hundred Blossoms, which obviously didn’t conform with Team Hundred Blossom’s own plans, but fans were like this. The team could influence them, but they couldn’t control them. Fans would do as they pleased. These die-hard Zhang Jiale fans didn’t care if you were going to be the new core of a team, nor did they care about Club Hundred Blossoms trying to get them to understand that the past was the past and we should be looking at the future together.　

Club Hundred Blossoms was a bit scared too! They hadn’t left a spot for Zhang Jiale in their plans. They even sold off Dazzling Hundred Blossoms. The fans actually made such a move. If Zhang Jiale was moved and suddenly decided to change his mind, deciding to return to Hundred Blossoms, that would put the team in an awkward situation.

Fortunately, it seemed like Zhang Jiale was firm with his decision. When he announced his return, he once again expressed his thanks and regret to Hundred Blossoms.

”But no matter the case, there are things I must pursue.” Zhang Jiale said during the press conference.

”Are you talking about the championships?” The reporter asked.

”Yes.” Zhang Jiale nodded his head.

”Is being the champion really so important?” A reporter had asked slightly disdainfully. Hundred Blossom fans were doing their utmost to win Zhang Jiale back. They were practically hugging his leg and begging. Zhang Jiale refused to turn back. Quite a few couldn’t accept it, including a few reporters. It was hard to avoid feeling a bit emotional.

”Yes, very important.” Zhang Jiale looked straight into the reporter’s eyes, ”It’s more important than anything else.”