Chapter Eight

Zhou Qiao and Tao Xuan had met once before. At that time, Zhou Qiao was still a trainee at Excellent Era's training camp, and her name was Xiao Xiao.

At the end of the third season, Team Excellent Era, led by Dou Shen, achieved a three-peat, a dynasty at its peak, unmatched in its dominance. Even the club's in-game guild was renamed Excellent Era. However, some veteran players retired, creating vacancies within the team.

Xiao Xiao's classmates were all hoping to be noticed and signed as substitutes or even starters, but Xiao Xiao only saw Excellent Era as a place to spend the summer, clocking in in the morning and going home at night. When Tao Xuan came to the training camp, he said some encouraging words in a pretentious manner, but judging from his expression, Xiao Xiao felt that even he himself didn't believe his own words.

Sure enough, Excellent Era signed Su Mucheng after that and bought her account card, Muyu Chengfeng. Su Mucheng had never been to the training camp, but some people knew her and knew that she was the girl next to the God of War. Therefore, although they were dissatisfied with Su Mucheng becoming a signed player first, they did not dare to show it openly. At most, they would say a few words behind her back, saying that she was just a pretty face. After all, no one had seen Su Mucheng's level, but she was a pretty girl, so this became her weakness. They felt that Su Mucheng was able to debut directly because of her appearance.

Xiao Xiao had heard such words before, but since they were none of her business, she didn't take them to heart.

One day in August, the manager approached Xiao Xiao and asked if she would be willing to represent the Excellent Era training camp team in an exhibition match. This was a signal—the team was interested in signing her. However, becoming a professional Glory player was a future direction Xiao Xiao had never imagined, so she declined.

The boys in the training camp were already envious of Su Mucheng being signed directly, and now that they saw Xiao Xiao might also debut, they became even more resentful. Not daring to target Su Mucheng, they focused their hatred on Xiao Xiao.

Another day passed, and Xiao Xiao finished her daily training and was about to go home when Liu Hao stopped her and invited her to the arena for another match.

Having just defeated his opponent in a 1v1 match that morning, Xiao Xiao felt embarrassed to refuse Liu Hao and agreed.

It wasn't until half an hour had passed since the person who said they were going to the restroom hadn't returned that Xiao Xiao finally realized something was wrong—she had been locked in the training room.

H City was sweltering in the summer, like a sauna. After the central air conditioning was turned off, Xiao Xiao couldn't sit still. She tried to open the window, but the training room windows were rarely opened, and the locks were rusted shut; she couldn't budge them no matter how hard she tried. To make matters worse, Ms. Zhou suddenly finished her business trip and returned home early. Finding Xiao Xiao not home, she called. Xiao Xiao didn't dare tell the truth and lied, saying she was studying in the study room outside.

When Ye Qiu, who was passing by, heard the noise in the training room on the second floor and opened the door, Xiao Xiao had just finished considering whether to take the monitor off and smash the window or take the computer off and smash the door—she decided to take both off first.

Ye Qiu, who saved the club's assets in time: ...

*

"Xiaoxiao?"

Chen Guo's voice pulled Zhou Qiao out of her reverie. Looking around, Zhou Qiao realized where she was.

"Didn't you get enough rest?" Chen Guo pressed her palm against Zhou Qiao's forehead and breathed a sigh of relief when she found that the temperature was normal. She then patted the top of Zhou Qiao's head. "Do you want to go back and sleep for a while?"

"No, I was just thinking about the past." Zhou Qiao smiled, and the group went upstairs together to resume training.

As soon as he entered the room, Ye Xiu dropped a bombshell: "Old Wei, we have enough materials to upgrade Death's Hand to level 65."

"Really..." Wei Chen hadn't come to his senses yet.

Zhou Qiao, who seemed to have missed a hundred episodes of a TV series, exclaimed: "The Hand of Death?"

When Zhou Qiao retired, the level cap had just been raised from 65 to 70. Wang Jiangnan's silver weapon, Xiangsi, had not yet finalized its upgrade plan for level 70. For her, the level 65 silver weapon was also quite interesting.

Then Wei Chen drove away the onlookers, saying that looking at him made him nervous.

"Tsk." Zhou Qiao went online again to fry fish.

Unfortunately, Sun Zheping was offline, and Zhou Qiao didn't encounter any more professional players who seemed to be using smurf accounts. Even more unfortunately, no boss spawned all day, and Zhou Qiao spent his day smurfing.

The same thing happened the next morning; Zhou Qiao had no choice but to open the training software for her daily training.

"This software was made by Xiaoyezi, right?"

"How did you know?" Chen Guo asked curiously.

Zhou Qiao was speechless: "Who else but her would do this kind of thing?"

Adding a small, annoying sound like someone jumping and waving ice rain next to the training track was something Zhou Qiao noticed immediately.

Ye Xiu coughed and said, "This computer was used by her before."

"No wonder, this woman."

Zhou Qiao took a picture of the annoying sound of the night rain and sent it to Yan Yu.

Xiao Qiao must strive to become stronger: You scumbag woman, you have the right to remain silent, but anything you say can and will be used against you in court.

Little Leaf Chirp: ?

Little Leaf Chirping: Is it wrong for fans to support their idols?

Xiao Qiao wants to become stronger: Do you dare to send me your location?

Little Leaf Chirping: [Location: University Town, City B]

Little Leaf Chirping: Hehe.

Xiao Qiao needs to work hard to become stronger: ...

Zhou Qiao posted the photos on her WeChat Moments again.

Xiao Qiao strives to become stronger: She captures a cute but single Night Rain Fan.

Huang Shaotian commented instantly.

I really want to block you: Did you take this photo with the door lock?

I really want to block you: You son of a bitch! So what if I don't have a girlfriend! This Sword Saint just hasn't started looking yet!

Xiao Qiao wants to work hard to become stronger. (Reply: Hehe.)

Upon logging into the game in the afternoon, Ye Xiu received a message that two bosses had spawned simultaneously, and he led his team to the Crimson Cloud Dojo. Nightless Marquis disappeared as soon as they reached the vicinity of the coordinates, forcing Ye Xiu to contact her via chat.

Wu Daojun: You're not an assassin anymore.

Nevernight Marquis: I'm setting up my sniper rifle, don't panic.

Wu Daojun: ? Don't slack off.

The Undying Marquis: My heart is broken. Am I that kind of person?

Wu Dao Jun: Aren't you one?

Zhou Qiao was furious. She declared that she would prove herself with her abilities, and she truly was.

The Undying Marquis quickly occupied the high ground of the Crimson Cloud Dojo, turned on his sniper scope, and scanned the people below.

Is Lanqiao Chunxue, the Marquis of Nevernight, one of the five masters of Lanxi Pavilion?

Zhou Qiao had also frequented the God's Domain forum and knew a few elite players from major guilds.

Wu Daojun: What, you saw him?

Marquis of Nevernight: ? Why do you sound like you know him so well?

Wu Daojun: That's a long story.

Nevernight Marquis: I have enough data, take your time, I'm not in a hurry.

Wu Dao Jun: Stop fooling around, no slacking off.

The Undying Marquis: Huang Shaotian may be here.

Wu Daojun: ?

The Undying Marquis pasted Liu Yun's ID into the chat box.

Is Huang Shaotian's alternate account in the tenth district called Liumu, or something else?

Wu Daojun: I don't remember.

Marquis of Nevernight: Then I'll give it a try.

Unnight Marquis canceled his sniping, slowly descended to the vicinity of the artificial hill, and fired a shot at Liuyun, who was jumping around on the artificial hill.

The probing shot missed, so Liu Yun leaped into the air and unleashed a reverse Falling Phoenix Slash at Bu Ye Hou.

Marquis of Nevernight: It doesn't seem to be him.

Marquis of Nevernight: But he has some skills too.

The fact that the Nightless Marquis dodged the Falling Phoenix Slash greatly surprised Liu Yun: "Wow! Who are you?!"

The Undying Marquis: Huang Shaotian.

Liu Yun: "What? I don't believe it! How could you be Young Master Huang!"

Liu Yun's voice was clear and lively, still childish, and sounded like she hadn't gone through puberty yet.

Unnight Marquis: Kid, are you from Team Blue Rain?

Liu Yun: "I'm not yet, so who are you?"

Nevernight Marquis: A person who almost joined the Blue Rain team.

Marquis of Nevernight: It's a pity that Yu Wenzhou didn't recognize my talent and rejected me.

Liu Yun: "The captain's refusal is definitely your problem!"

Marquis of Nevernight: ? Kid, you have a big problem.

Although the two chatted non-stop, their hands didn't slacken at all. With Zhou Qiao's deliberate pulling, Liu Yun was quickly led out of the sight of most people in Blue River Pavilion.

After taking several powerful attacks from Liu Yun, the Nightless Marquis's health quickly dropped to around 30%. Suddenly, a white light fell on her, abruptly pulling her health back to a safe level.

Liu Yun was shocked: "You actually called for help! Despicable!"

Unnight Marquis: Who told you this was a one-on-one fight? It's perfectly normal to call for help when playing online games.

Liu Yun saw the ID of the person who treated the Undying Marquis: "Senior Ye Qiu?"

Wu Daojun: "I am. Who are you?"

Liu Yun answered loudly, "My name is Lu Hanwen!" As he spoke, Liu Yun's figure split into eight and rushed towards Wu Daojun.

Marquis of Nevernight: Wow, that's amazing, he has one more than Huang Shaotian.

Unnight Marquis: This kid is fierce, Ye Shen, be careful not to get killed.

Ye Xiu immediately identified four of the figures as fakes, and then used his skills to probe for Liu Yun's true form. Seeing the text bubble from Bu Ye Hou, he said irritably, "Xiao Wu Sui, you said you wouldn't slack off?"

At close range, Bu Ye Hou sniped Liu Yun and hit him on the shoulder.

Zhou Qiao was taken aback.

Lu Hanwen: "You actually ambushed me again! How despicable!"

The Undying Marquis: This kid is really amazing.

Although she didn't aim carefully, she should have gotten a headshot with one shot. It was Lu Hanwen who noticed Bu Yehou's action of switching from handgun to sniper rifle and changed his route.

Ye Xiu came to fight the BOSS. After testing his skills, he had a good idea of ​​what was going on and signaled the knights in the group to take Lu Hanwen away.

Seeing Liu Yun being dragged away by the knights, yelling angrily, Zhou Qiao couldn't help but feel sorry for him: "That's too mean. Bullying a junior like that will bring retribution."

Ye Xiu didn't take it seriously, but he didn't expect the retribution to come so quickly: the Tyranny Guild had arrived.

Wu Daojun: "Zhang Xinjie, what's wrong with you? You're leading a team to steal a level 55 boss?"

Marquis of the Nightless City: Every cause has its effect, and your retribution has come.

Zhang Xinjie saw the text bubble from Nightless Lord the moment he heard Ye Xiu's shout.

Seeing this nonsensical way of speaking, for some reason, his forehead started to hurt.

With Zhang Xinjie in charge, the Overbearing Ambition team quickly took over the BOSS from Blue River Pavilion. Ye Xiu sent a team to try and break through, but they were unable to advance due to the resistance of the Overbearing Ambition team.

Wu Daojun: "Xiao Wusui! Xiao Wusui, stop slacking off!"

Marquis of Nevernight: Damn it! How am I, a sharpshooter, supposed to charge?! Do you think I'm Zhou Zekai?!

Just then, a swordsman charged into the encirclement, and as he appeared, Lu Hanwen's voice rang out: "I've broken in!!!"

Looking at the clouds and mist over the mountains: ...

Marquis of Nevernight: ...

Wu Daojun: "Young man, you have such a bright future!"

Ye Xiu was so excited that he shouted it out.