The King's Avatar

Two battles of the individual competition were now over. Whether through luck or strength, Happy now had a 2-0 lead. For this upcoming third match, the digital displays showed the players’ names and the players stood up. After a pause from the audience, there was suddenly a small wave of cheers.

”Old Wei, can you really do this?!” In the audience seating near Happy’s player area, someone hollered at him.

Wei Chen evidently heard it. He turned in the direction of the shout, swept his gaze over, then lifted his index finger and waggled it in that direction. Void’s players were dumbstruck. Waving your index finger wasn’t as much of an insult as showing your middle finger, but there was at least some scorn in the gesture. To do this towards your own home audience, what was he thinking?

But what surprised them more was that the audience members whom Wei Chen gestured at, although they were boiling and starting hooting at him, were in an undisguised laughing and joking mood.

Anyone could tell, it wasn’t that they didn’t support Wei Chen. This was a sort of good-natured teasing between close friends and people who knew each other well. If people didn’t have a close enough relationship, they couldn’t crack such jokes.

To have such a relationship with fans?

Void’s players continued to stare. It seemed somewhat unacceptable, but in their hearts there was a bit of… envy. They didn’t have this, thus they felt envy. It was a very natural thing.

In this kind of atmosphere, Wei Chen went onstage. Happy’s fans didn’t have this same kind of relationship with the other players of Happy. The reason for this was that after everyone became pro players, only Wei Chen still had the air of being close to the earth with them.

Even now, his Windward Formation would still make frequent appearances in the game.

His professional career had only lasted two years, but he had spent over a decade in the Glory game. This was a deeply-ingrained part of his life that had no way of being eliminated. Preventing him from going into the game would be even more difficult than preventing him from smoking.

Windward Formation wasn’t an especially famous name, and it was clear that Wei Chen’s primary role at Happy was just as a substitute, so he didn’t receive much attention. His character in-game wouldn’t be surrounded or gawked at to the point where he couldn’t move.

Since he was playing the game, he couldn’t avoid interactions with other players. So the understanding that many people had of Wei Chen didn’t solely come from the Alliance, the team, or the official reports from the media. It came from casual conversations in the guild chat, or chatter from a dungeon raid.

And so Wei Chen became this particularly special pro player. Plus, he also carried a record of his own - he was the oldest pro player to date to participate in the Glory Alliance. People even asked him, since you’re still coming to play even now, why did you leave a blank space of so many years?

Wei Chen couldn’t answer this question.

He only knew, he stood here now. Even though he couldn’t do much anymore, he would still put in his full effort. Because, he was a pro player.

Individual competition round 3, begin.

Happy, Wei Chen, Warlock Windward Formation.

Void, Yang Haoxuan, Launcher Translucent.

Yang Haoxuan, a pro player from Season 7, entering Void’s training camp at age 15 and offered a professional contract at age 17 from Team Void. Now, he had worked at Void for four years, and wasn’t even 20 yet.

”How young…” Wei Chen sighed.

The battle quickly began. Against a Launcher, Windward Formation’s high attack range naturally wasn’t much of an advantage, so as soon as the battle began, Wei Chen began strategic movement. He had chosen the map, so of course he was very familiar with it.

And Yang Haoxuan? When the match began, he did the same thing as Wei Chen, strategic movement. His character Translucent also took a roundabout path on the map. He quickly made his way to the center and didn’t see the opponent’s character, so he instantly understood what was going on.

Boom!

Yang Haoxuan immediately had his Translucent to fire a cannon shot, planning to use the sound to lure Wei Chen to expose the position of his Windward Formation.

But when Wei Chen heard the shot, he didn’t look around, instead directly controlling Windward Formation to make a U-turn. Everyone saw that this new direction was exactly the direction towards Translucent’s current position. The old veteran’s hearing ability was still exceptional.

But after Yang Haoxuan fired this shot, he didn’t have Translucent stand there motionlessly. He moved Translucent to a different position with a wider view like an oriole behind a mantis.

The method of luring a snake out of its hole.

Many viewers were used to seeing this kind of strategy. Wei Chen had been around for so many years, would he fall for it?

The audience saw from the omniscient view Wei Chen’s Windward Formation, creeping bit by bit toward Translucent’s original position.

The crowd was becoming anxious. They worried for Wei Chen, but Wei Chen was just foolishly going ahead, as though this possibility of a trap hadn’t even occurred to him.

Windward Formation revealed himself, and the crowd sighed.

Yet Yang Haoxuan didn’t begin his attack immediately. This strategy was so low-level that even ordinary players could see through it. Wei Chen had the judgment to make his way here through sound alone, how could he not know this sort of simple strategy? Especially now that he could see that the opponent’s character wasn’t here, it should be even more obvious to him. So Yang Haoxuan didn’t think that Wei Chen was just hastily crashing over here, he had to have some defensive preparations. If he attacked immediately, he felt that the opponent’s defenses would be at their highest, and he might not be able to achieve any good effect. Better to hide and wait patiently, wait until the opponent felt that this wasn’t a trap and lower his guard.

And so Yang Haoxuan didn’t move.

And so Wei Chen spoke. ”I’m here already, come out and fight! What are you hiding and dawdling for? You think I’ll just let down my guard?”

He’s trying to trick me! I’m not moving, thought Yang Haoxuan.

”Yes, I’m talking to you! The one at position 45, 56,” Wei Chen said.

Yang Haoxuan jolted, and glanced at the coordinates of his Translucent’s position. Indeed: 45, 56.

The crowd burst into applause. What incredible judgment! To predict the opponent’s movements so accurately and clearly, this demonstrated an incredible all-around familiarity and understanding of both the map and the opponent!

His coordinates were exposed just like that, Yang Haoxuan felt very awkward, but he knew that right now there were countless people watching them. If he just walked out like this, that would be too humiliating!

As he agonized, Wei Chen continued to yell. ”What, you’re still not coming out?”

The helpless Yang Haoxuan prepared to control his character to reveal himself…

”Haha, I know, you’re actually at 48, 31!” Another message from Wei Chen suddenly jumped out in the chat. Filled with confidence, Windward Formation scurried in that direction.

Fuck!

Just as he was about to charge out, Yang Haoxuan brought himself to a screeching halt.

”This old fox!” Yang Haoxuan’s forehead was covered in cold sweat. He had really been just about to reveal himself. Good thing he had spaced out for a moment. It looked like this round, luck was now on Void’s side!

After thinking about Wei Chen’s final shout of position 48, 31, Yang Haoxuan had Translucent walk out, preparing to carefully circle around and then bombard Windward Formation with continuous heavy firepower.

Yang Haoxuan took several deep breaths, bracing himself for the intense moments to follow.

But the crowd was filled with the sounds of tsking.

”Young people!” someone sighed.

Yang Haoxuan, among the esports players, couldn’t be considered young. He was 20 years old, right in the middle generation that was at its peak. But compared to Wei Chen, who was older than him by over a decade, he really was just a young person.

The young person prepared for the upcoming intensity, but suddenly, a Hexagram Prison descended from the sky. Before he had time to dodge, Translucent was already locked in.

Shit!

Yang Haoxuan instantly knew that, in the end, he had been tricked.

Luring the snake out of its hole. Same strategy, different execution. The older the ginger the spicier it was!

With this ambush, Wei Chen gave himself an excellent advantage. And then, after several exchanges in this sneaky and complicated map, he finally defeated Yang Haoxuan.

A win in every individual match, 3-0!

The live crowd became a wave of excitement.

10-0!!

Countless Happy supporters were shouting. To win all of the individual battles, that was the rhythm of a 10-0!

Yang Haoxuan walked out of the competitor booth, downtrodden and depressed as he came offstage; on Happy’s side, Wei Chen lingered inside for quite a while.

”That old thing, trying to act dull on the outside, but he’s really passionate on the inside!” said someone in the audience, laughing. Because there was a relatively long break between the individual round and the group arena, the judge didn’t immediately come to urge him out.

Wei Chen sat in the competitor booth, a cigarette stuck between his fingers, but eyeing the ”no smoking” sign above his head, he still didn’t dare light it.

”That was close…” Wei Chen’s gaze turned to the computer screen, and he looked at Windward Formation’s remaining health: 8%.

He won, but it wasn’t easy. That ambush early on had greatly succeeded, instantly giving him a 30% health advantage, but in the end, his health had been whittled all the way down to 8%. This made Wei Chen rather unhappy, and in his heart, an agitated voice once again reminded him of that reality.

”I really am old…” Wei Chen said to himself. ”And so, this is my win method.

”But 8% or 80%, does that matter? Tch, this isn’t the group arena,” Wei Chen muttered. He stood up and exited the competitor booth.

When he finally showed his face, the crowd burst into thunderous applause.

”That’s right. A win is a win. As long as this is the outcome.” Wei Chen smiled, and his heart suddenly felt lighter.

”Old Wei, you did it!!!”

As he walked along the side of the stage, the audience members nearby again cracked jokes with him. Some of them might not have actually known him well, but seeing other people do the same, they felt that Wei Chen was the type of player you could interact with like this, and so they followed along.

Wei Chen didn’t disappoint them by refusing interaction. Towards those who were shouting at him, he responded, even cracking some dirty jokes like ”this old man’s still got it.” He gave a wink and proudly and gleefully walked by.

”A small character like that, I can defeat him with a wiggle of my finger.” Upon returning to Happy’s player area, Wei Chen gestured with the tip of his little finger and spoke.

”Very strong,” everyone praised him.

”You really should’ve given me a spot on the main roster. An old guy like you should rotate out and rest more!” Wei Chen gruffly patted Ye Xiu.

”Thanks!” Ye Xiu laughed. ”But I’m still very young!”

”As long as you don’t brag, that’s best,” Wei Chen said.