Real World
Wang Lan hadn't seen Xia Yi for a long time. Ever since Xia Yi left the boxing team, they hadn't met. It was still okay at the beginning. At least when the boxing team members sent messages to Xia Yi, Xia Yi would reply and answer their calls. But later, as they lost the games, the audience of the fighting games blamed all the mistakes on Xia Yi, and the scolding of Xia Yi became more and more intense. Xia Yi gradually stopped replying to their messages and stopped answering their calls.
After the boxing team was disbanded, Yunying would send a message to Xia Yi every year at the team's gathering, asking her to come over.
But I never received a reply from Xia Yi.
I didn’t expect to meet Xia Yi here again. Xia Yi’s fate with his teammates continued!
Wang Lan looked at Xia Yi's slightly unfamiliar face and asked shamelessly: "Yiyi, you have changed a lot. Did you receive the message Yunying sent you? Are you free today? If you are free today, we can move the party to today. Everyone in our team is free this afternoon and evening." She looked like she was going to call everyone in the team to come and keep an eye on Xia Yi if he didn't agree today.
Xia Yi was in a complicated mood. He didn't expect that besides Ming Xue, there would also be Sister Wang Lan here.
Before she could reply, Gao Mingming beside her enthusiastically spilled the beans about Xia Yi's activities today. "Hello, sister. My name is Gao Mingming, and I'm Xia Yi's assistant. Sister Yi Yi doesn't have any other work scheduled for her today besides registering for this competition."
"Really?" Wang Lan looked at Xia Yi for confirmation.
Xia Yi looked up at Wang Lan. Sister Wang Lan had changed dramatically. Her demeanor had gained a gentler grace than before. She'd been too embarrassed to attend her wedding before, only gazing from afar. She'd thought seeing her again would be awkward, but when they finally did, the oppressive feeling of unfamiliarity quickly dissipated, replaced by an indescribable joy. Xia Yi nodded imperceptibly under the expectant gazes of Wang Lan and Gao Mingming.
Wang Lan caught on: "Great, I'll notify the team right away."
Xia Yi vaguely saw Ming Xue's surprised face through the gap between Wang Lanyi's clothes.
"Sister Mingxue, call for help! She didn't see you!" Sitting next to Mingxue were her two assistants, both very young. They weren't in charge of business matters, but were hired specifically to take care of her daily necessities. One of them tugged at Mingxue's sleeve and said loudly, practically yelling for Wang Lan to come over to chat, "She'll definitely come if you call her."
"Then you sit here first. Mingming, let's add each other as friends. If Yiyi tries to escape, you have to help me catch her." Wang Lan added Gao Mingming as a Star Network friend. "I'm coordinating today's activities and have other things to do, so I can't accompany you for now." Wang Lan said, then turned and walked away. It's not that she didn't see Mingxue; she also heard what Mingxue's assistant said. If Xia Yi hadn't come today, she could have given Mingxue's company a favor and reminisced about the past with Mingxue, listening to Mingxue's flattery. But with Xia Yi here, reminiscing about the past wouldn't be appropriate.
"No need." Mingxue bit her lip. It was like this again. In the boxing team, she was never as popular as Xia Yi. She was clearly in a team that was ahead of her, so why did they all get along better with Xia Yi one by one? Mingxue subconsciously sorted out her thoughts and realized that it was Xia Yi's problem. "Maybe it's been too long since we last met. Sister Wang Lan doesn't remember me very well."
Assistant Mingxue turned around to look at Xia Yi, but before she could say anything, Gao Mingming glared back at her fiercely.
After a while, the venue became quiet and the lecture on ladder players began.
"...This year marks the second Ladder Players Competition. The government's support this time is definitely no less than the first, but the number of matches will also be less than the first. We only have two rounds this time." As the old professor on the podium finished speaking, a low commotion arose from the audience.
Xia Yi was also genuinely surprised. The first-tier players had six rounds of competition, starting with the normal knockout rounds and ending with the finals. This normal process laid the most solid foundation, and the traffic profit obtained was also the highest.
After two games, the audience may not even recognize you before the game is over.
"Everyone's data has been compared to determine our elimination quota. There are 388 people worldwide, divided into four groups. After the first round, the top two in each group with the highest overall scores will win, and the remaining eight will compete in the finals."
"The winner will receive 1 million interstellar coins and a one-time repair device obtained in the ladder game."
"The winner will be promoted on all platforms for two months. While protecting your own lives, please do your best to become the number one."
The entire lecture was basically one long explanation of ladder players.
Those who can meet the registration requirements in the ladder rarely have insufficient patience.
The professor spoke for forty minutes, and the small auditorium was quiet for forty minutes. Apart from the sound of the professor's speech, you could hear a pin drop.
When leaving, Xia Yi and Ming Xue looked at each other. Ming Xue's expression was complicated, but soon, her eyes turned calm, and she even showed a sweet smile to Xia Yi. Xia Yi closed his eyes and looked away first.
Wang Lan walked over and cut off Mingxue's scrutiny. "Let's go. Yunying and Zhang Duoduo will be here soon. I only called them. Back then, the four of us were the Iron Four. Now that we've caught you this time, we won't let you escape again."
"Bang!" Suddenly, fists hit someone's body, and the sound of flesh colliding with flesh came from the alley around the corner. "You dare to report to my boss? You must be tired of living! Do you know what level I am in Taekwondo?" "Bang bang bang!!"
"Another fight?" Gao Mingming frowned in disgust. "There are people who dare to fight right in front of the city hall!"
Xia Yi looked towards the entrance of the alley, but before he could see the whole picture, he was quickly pulled away by Wang Lan and Gao Mingming. Xia Yi looked up at Wang Lan. If Wang Lan was young, she would never allow anyone to bully others in front of her.
"Don't look at me. I will still call the police if I encounter a serious situation. But there are so many fights now. I can see one almost every few days. I can even see people being stabbed and bleeding profusely every month. How can I help? Sometimes I feel numb when watching the fights." Wang Lan said.
Xia Yi shook his head: "It wasn't like this before."
"It's because of the ladder game. You haven't been out much in recent years. In the past few years, you were law-abiding when fighting. When you encountered troubles, you would just go out for a drink and sing. But I don't know when it started, but more and more people started fighting over a disagreement. I work in the government and have seen the data. Junior and senior high school students are the most likely to fight. The data is too high." Wang Lan said.
"The country doesn't care?" Xia Yi was stunned. She had never paid attention to these things.
"Of course we can control it. There's already a policy prohibiting children under sixteen from watching live broadcasts, and there are more and more psychological counseling classes. But unless we eliminate the ladder from our lives, how can children not watch it? If something happens and they find themselves in the game, watching more might help them survive. If parents secretly let their children watch it, how can the government still control it?" Wang Lan shook his head. "If only Black Emperor were still here."
"The number one on the live broadcast list? The number one that no one has ever seen?" Xia Yi said. She had also read news about Black Emperor on the Internet. When her first game copy ended, the overwhelming momentum of Black Emperor's disappearance had dissipated a lot, but it still occupied Xia Yi's entire news page.
"That's him. He was originally said to be the one with the best chance of leading us through the game," Wang Lan said with a smile. "Everyone knows it's a bit ridiculous to put all your hopes on one person, but this person has truly disappeared. We don't know whether he's alive or dead. It's really sad."
Gao Mingming was browsing the Star Network, handling some work, when she suddenly received an email from a ladder player: "Sister Yiyi, please stop discussing this. It's so frustrating. Look, the group list is out so quickly. I'll look for you. Sister Yiyi, you and... you and Mingxue are in the same group!" Gao Mingming was shocked!
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