The King's Avatar

Cao Guangcheng really wanted to pounce on Feng Xianjun and pry some answers out of him, but even if he had ten guts, he wouldn’t have enough to do that. Feng Xianjun’s group of three merely asked for Happy’s room numbers before turning and leaving for Elevator A. The staff that received them looked nothing but confused.

The staff began a whispered discussion among themselves, but when they turned their head, what they saw was Cao Guangcheng gaping like a fish.

Cao Guangcheng was a well-known journalist and had checked in, obtaining his pass today, so the staff recognized him.

”Reporter Cao…”

The call woke Cao Guangcheng from his stupor.

”Ah…” How could Cao Guangcheng, who had returned to the present, still have his mind on the problem of interviewing or not? His mind had already supplied a scene for him: inside Happy’s room, Excellent Era’s two big heads and the chairman of the Alliance; what scene would all these big shots sitting together make?

As his thoughts turned to this, Cao Guangcheng couldn’t stand standing around and waiting anymore, dashing to elevator A like a cheetah. However, out of the three elevators, one had just left and two were still at floors above ten. Cao Guangcheng was extremely impatient. Then he thought, well, it was just seven floors and whirled around for the stairs. As he ran, he took out his phone. Was Chang Xian still with Happy’s members?

”Hey, Brother Cao.” Chang Xian answered the call and by his tone, he seemed pretty cheerful.

”Where are you?” Cao Guangcheng asked.

”In the hotel!” Chang Xian replied.

”Which room?” Cao Guangcheng asked.

”723…” Chang Xian had noticed the anxiety in Cao Guangcheng’s tone.

”Who’s in the room?”

”Happy’s team members… Steamed Bun and Luo Ji…” Chang Xian wasn’t a stranger to the members of Happy anymore. He was even playing around in Steamed Bun and Luo Ji’s room now! Though no one had ever taught him, Chang Xian had a talent for being a team reporter. He didn’t try to pry information out of these guys as soon as he saw them, but truly became friends with them, especially with the younger few.

”Which room is that guy called Ye Xiu in?” Cao Guangcheng asked.

”722…”

”Go over there,” Cao Guangcheng ordered.

”Why?” Chang Xian couldn’t understand. Room 722 was Ye Xiu and Wei Chen’s room. In front of these two veteran players, Chang Xian always felt under pressure. So when he was free and wanted to relax, he wouldn’t seek those two out. Chang Xian was closer to Steamed Bun and Qiao Yifan. Since Luo Ji and An Wenyi weren’t often at Happy, so he was more distant with them. Even though he wasn’t as close with them, it was much less nerve-racking than being with Ye Xiu and Wei Chen. Thus, hearing that Cao Guangcheng wanted him to go to Ye Xiu, Chang Xian involuntarily questioned him.

”Hurry up and go; I’ll be there soon,” Cao Guangcheng yelled.

”Ah…” Chang Xian was stunned for a moment. The call had already been ended, but by now, he had realized that this was probably implying that there was huge news to report.

”I’m going to visit the room opposite,” Chang Xian informed Steamed Bun and Luo Ji before charging out. Ye Xiu and Wei Chen’s room 722 was just on the other side of the hall to 723.

Room 722’s door was unlocked and as Chang Xian approached, he immediately heard voices coming from inside. It didn’t sound like Ye Xiu or Wei Chen. Chang Xian didn’t dare dawdle, hurriedly knocking on the door. Hearing a voice inside telling him to enter, he immediately charged inside.

There were many more people inside than he had expected. There were four from Team happy alone. Ye Xiu, Wei Chen, Chen Guo and Tang Ruo were all inside. There was also another two who were standing inside, having yet to sit down. Hearing Chang Xian entering, everyone looked towards him. Chang Xian instantly recognized the two people standing. It was Excellent Era’s owner and its manager, both big shots!

Tao Xuan didn’t know Chang Xian, but Cui Li felt that he was a little familiar. As a reporter stationed in H City, Chang Xian had come to Excellent Era a few times, but he was usually there to run errands for Cao Guangcheng. For Excellent Era, he might recognize others, but others usually didn’t recognize him.

”You’re here, Little Chang,” Ye Xiu greeted him then, but didn’t say anything after that.

”Ah… You seem… Rather busy…” The average person would leave upon seeing that the others seemed occupied with something. However, Chang Xian was a reporter and it was his job to be a bit more nosy than was usually expected. Seeing the two big heads of Excellent Era here, he knew there was bound to be drama, so there was no way he was going to leave.

He stood there dumbly and Happy’s members didn’t chase him out. Cui Li, in the end, didn’t manage to figure out where he had seen this familiar young man before. Tao Xuan had the air of a boss, merely glancing over before dismissing Chang Xian. Even if you wanted to ask someone to leave, it wasn’t the job of a boss. He turned away, saying what he wanted to say without caring about anyone else.

”So this is where you are. What about that captain of yours, Ye Xiu? Where is he? I want to meet him!” Tao Xuan said.

Hearing this, Chang Xian was confused. Captain Ye Xiu? Wasn’t he right in front of them? Was the boss of Excellent Era drunk? Chang Xian sniffed, not smelling any alcohol, and then he saw Captain Ye Xiu smile and say, ”Ye Xiu? Isn’t that me?”

”You really dare to admit it?” Tao Xuan gazed at him.

”Why wouldn’t I dare?” Ye Xiu smiled uncaringly.

”Are you crazy?” Cui Li, standing beside them, couldn’t figure out Ye Xiu’s attitude. ”You’re using a fake identity to play; do you think everyone is blind or something?”

”Who said that this identity is fake?” Ye Xiu retorted.

”Haha,” Tao Xuan laughed dryly after hearing this. ”That’s the funniest joke I’ve ever heard. If this identity isn’t fake, then are you going to tell me that Ye Qiu is a fake identity? Don’t think that because barely anyone recognizes you, you can go around changing your identity freely, Ye Qiu!”

Bang...

The door to the room suddenly slammed heavily. Everyone looked around and saw that it was Chang Xian, who hadn’t really moved after coming in. Hearing Tao Xuan’s words, he had been unable to stay standing straight, stepping back and slamming the unlocked door into its place, which was now locked. He stared, dumbfounded, at Ye Xiu, his face full of surprise. He opened his mouth, wanting to speak, but couldn’t manage to make a sound.

Captain Ye Xiu was Ye Qiu?

So that meant he had seen the God Ye Qiu that brother Cao had never seen multiple times? And spoke to him a lot? He had even interviewed him already?

But how could he also be Ye Xiu?

And how could he use Ye Xiu’s identity to register?

Using a fake identity to enter the Alliance? That was a serious violation of rules! The entire team might be punished because of it! How could they get through this? Though not many people recognized God Ye Qiu, there were still some! Like his ex-teammates from Excellent Era; they must recognize him, so wouldn’t he be caught easily?

Chang Xian’s head full of question marks had quickly turned towards Ye Xiu in worry. That’s when he saw Ye Xiu rise and look towards Tao Xuan with a smile. ”You guessed it. In reality, Ye Qiu is the fake identity. This isn’t a joke, but a… lie.”

”What did you say?” Tao Xuan and Cui Li stared in shock at this.

”Back then, the Alliance was just starting out and the teams had only just been formed. Management wasn’t as structured and ordered. Many people had to go against the rules to become pro players, especially when it came to age…”

”You weren’t of age?” Tao Xuan frowned. When the Alliance was just starting, without the same industrial system and commercial outlook of the present, there were naturally many strict rules regulating things. For example, those who weren’t 18 yet couldn’t become pro players. That was a rock solid rule of that time. After all, video games had long since been seen as a sort of digital heroin. A pro Alliance was a gathering for this addiction in the eyes of many people. They couldn’t do anything but prevent underage people from entering, or else there would be an unbearable pressure from the outside world.

However, while there might be policies from above, there were ways to deal with them down below. To avoid the restrictions placed by this rule, faking your age became a trend of the early years of the Alliance. But Tao Xuan knew Ye Xiu from before the Alliance was formed. He had known Ye Xiu’s age before that and it made the requirements set by the Alliance back then. It wasn’t possible that Ye Xiu was have predicted the formation of the Alliance and the rules and made a lie preemptively.

”No,” Ye Xiu shook his head, ”My situation was much worse than being underage. Back then, I… didn’t have an ID card.”

”So you made a fake ID!” Tao Xuan exclaimed in shock.

”Not exactly, I just borrowed someone else’s ID card,” Ye Xiu said.

”Someone else’s…” Tao Xuan and Cui Li looked like they were listening to a cultivation novel.

”Yeah. Does having a twin make this seem like the plot to a novel?” Ye Xiu asked.

”Twin…” Tao Xuan and Cui Li thought that cultivational novels were far too weak compared to this.

”Yup, that’s how it is. I used my younger twin brother’s ID to register and the Ye Xiu I’m using now is my real identity,” Ye Xiu summarized.

”This… this...” Tao Xuan felt a little dizzy. Something seemed a little wrong about this; he needed to think for a moment.

Cui Li managed to react rather quickly though and immediately sneered. ”You can’t possibly think that now that you’re using your real identity everything would be like nothing had happened. Do you think people are stupid?”

”Of course not.” Ye Xiu shook his head. ”So that’s why we all have to deal with this problem carefully.”

”We?” Cui Li looked like he had just heard a joke.

”Yes, we.” Ye Xiu nodded solemnly. ”Back then, I was in Excellent Era, no? And I even used this identity to win three championships for Excellent Era, or have you forgotten?”

”....” Cui Li didn’t know how to react and Tao Xuan finally realized what he had felt was wrong about this. This guy’s use of a fake identity was strapped to Excellent Era’s name. So now, not only could Tao Xuan no longer use this fake identity issue to bring Happy down, he had to do his utmost to cover this up. He had to do it, not for this guy, but for Excellent Era.