The King's Avatar

Fang Rui himself never would have imagined that as soon as he arrived, he would be thrust into a rotating battle session against Happy's entire roster.

At first, Fang Rui was truly and thoroughly beaten up. He was unable to immediately change his longtime habits and decision-making, which led to flaws in his Qi Master playing and resulted in defeat after defeat.

However, as time passed, he gradually adjusted to the class, and his win rate steadily increased. Facing the rookies, he was no longer defeated so soundly.

"As expected of the class-changing expert!" Ye Xiu said, standing up. This round, Ye Xiu's Lord Grim lost to Fang Rui's Qi Master Boundless Sea.

"Class-changing expert my ass!" Fang Rui maintained that his earlier classes weren't changing classes, but rather choosing a class in the first place.

With this victory against Ye Xiu, Fang Rui felt as though he had just successfully achieved a major accomplishment. He stretched, and casually glanced at the clock. What he saw made him jump in shock.

Three hours. It had already been three hours.

Fang Rui had completely forgotten the time. His entire heart had been immersed in Glory, his mind had been filled only with thoughts of how to play with the Qi Master in his hands and defeat this whole crowd of Happy players. And during these three hours, Happy had been rotating its members, while he hadn't had any rest aside from the time it took for them to switch.

Fang Rui's ability to adapt to the Qi Master, as well as his energy and focus, were all worthy of admiration. After Ye Xiu stood up, no one went to take his place. Fang Rui looked around, and it seemed like no one else was going to come, so he began to give his commentary on the match that had just ended.

"You made too many mistakes in this match," Fang Rui said to Ye Xiu.

"You're right. After seeing you play so hard, I truly couldn't bear it anymore, so I went a little easy on you," said Ye Xiu.

"Fuck, if you're not satisfied then let's go again!" Fang Rui yelled. This "going easy" wasn't considerate at all, at least pretend to hide it! And it was one thing to throw a match so obviously, but to just directly admit it like that after it was over? Just because he was the master of playing dirty didn't mean he had no dignity.

"Don't be like that, let's eat first and then go again!" Ye Xiu said.

Fang Rui stared blankly. Only now did he realize that he really was a little hungry now, it was about time for dinner.

Chen Guo had already made dinner plans for all of them, making a reservation at a nearby, relatively nice restaurant. All of Happy headed over, as well as Fang Rui.

At the table, Fang Rui didn't say much. His appetite seemed fairly normal. After quickly eating his fill, he played around with the straw in his drink.

"You played the Qi Master pretty well, you have a lot of potential!" At this moment, Ye Xiu gave him a high degree of recognition.

Fang Rui rolled his eyes and didn't bother to answer. In reality, Fang Rui knew better than anyone else whether he could play a Qi Master. After all, he wasn't some newbie, and he had played Qi Master very early on. He was very clear on whether or not he could manage it, and the fact that he hadn't immediately turned down Ye Xiu's offer showed that he knew the possibility existed. And he also knew that Ye Xiu could see this as well; there was no way he had pulled him over here just to test him and see how things went from there.

This afternoon of battling was, in theory, to test Fang Rui's ability to change classes to Qi Master. But in reality, it was a way for Fang Rui to see Happy's strength.

Happy's strength surpassed Fang Rui's expectations. Each of the rookies had their own styles, and as Ye Xiu had said, they all had plenty of room to grow. Once they completely matured as players, what kind of power would this team possess?

And over the course of this afternoon, not only did he see Happy's players, he was also able to see their characters. Dancing Rain and Boundless Sea were All-Star characters that didn't need to be mentioned, as they'd be a strong addition to any team. But Happy's other characters were plenty strong as well, each with Silver equipment. Although they couldn't compare to a powerhouse team, they were extremely well-off for a new team.

"How about it, after seeing everything in person, how do you feel about Happy?" Ye Xiu now asked him.

"Mm… not bad," Fang Rui said. He didn't directly say that Happy was approaching powerhouse levels, but from what he had seen, whether the players or the characters, they had all surpassed his predictions.

"Good, then let's talk about your compensation. You saw us, our conditions right now are rather poor, a whole bunch of people crowded in an Internet cafe to train. Ten people at a meal and we only have eight dishes, and no soup. What's your current salary? 6.5 million? Is that before or after tax?"

"Before tax," Fang Rui said.

"It's already that much before tax. Do you have no shame?" Ye Xiu said.

Fang Rui was speechless. What was there to be ashamed about? If you're trying to bargain down my salary, then just directly say it! But the problem was, he clearly still hadn't agreed to join Happy! Why were they already talking about his contract? And also, what was this about eight dishes and no soup? Wasn't that just because the rest of dishes hadn't been brought out yet?

The door of the private room was suddenly pushed open. The server entered with a large tray and placed two more dishes on the table.

"This was really bad timing…" Ye Xiu complained. The rest of the table was silent. To use that as an argument, are you treating Fang Rui as someone who can't count? He was clearly right here with all of us when the dishes were being ordered!

But no matter what, Happy still hoped that Fang Rui would concede a little bit when it came to the contract. This point, at least, Ye Xiu made clear to Fang Rui.

"If you have any thoughts, just say them directly! Don't sit there being sneaky." After seeing Fang Rui playing with his drink without saying anything for a while, Ye Xiu spoke up again.

"Damn!" Fang Rui was gloomy. He was just taking some sips of his drink, what was so sneaky about that? Besides, what thoughts could he have? Happy was really not bad, better than he had expected, but something about this still didn't sit well in his heart. He still feared this drastic change, and this fear caused his hesitation. Even if what he saw at Happy surpassed his expectations, his worry still had yet to be eliminated completely.

"I don't know…"

I don't know, that was that. If only he knew, then Fang Rui would have a way of getting rid of the worry in his heart. Happy was clearly better off than he had imagined, and he had even begun to anticipate Happy's future, so why was he still so uneasy?

Was there something about Happy that still nagged at him? The simple accommodations? Fang Rui was never one to care about that. A contract where he'd have to make some compromises? Fang Rui also wasn't one to care too much about money. The identity of being new to the Alliance? To be honest, Fang Rui rather liked this identity, it allowed them to bring more surprises.

He thought and he thought, but he was still at a loss. He didn't know what he was worried about, but he was worried.

The room was quiet. No one even moved to touch the dishes that had just been brought up, and the overall atmosphere was rather cold. Fang Rui, lacking something to say but not wanting the silence to drag on, tossed out a very ordinary question: "How did you all come together anyway?"

"Us?" Ye Xiu blinked, and then casually went around the room, describing all of their backstories to Fang Rui.

Fang Rui had only wanted to lighten the atmosphere, and so he asked a question that could be discussed for a while. To be honest, he didn't really care about the answer. But as he listened, Fang Rui suddenly jolted. He realized what was worrying him about Happy. After Ye Xiu finished his introductions, Fang Rui immediately asked a question that was important to him.

"How many more years do you plan on playing?"

"Me?" Ye Xiu said.

"Yes, you!" Fang Rui said.

"I hope that I can continue to play forever!" Ye Xiu said.

"But we both know that that's impossible," Fang Rui said. "Especially for you, playing an unspecialized, that's a heavy burden on you, and it will definitely shorten the lifespan of your career. The fact that you've been able to maintain this condition up until now is already a miracle in my eyes. But, how much longer can you maintain it? One year? Two years?"

"This… who can say for sure?" Ye Xiu said.

"Then, after you retire, what about Team Happy?" At last, Fang Rui asked the question that had been worrying him all this time.

Every team had its motivation in being established, and this motivation would be the most fundamental force pulling together the members of a team. Just looking at the current Alliance, every team's existence was undoubtedly based on profit. All of the bosses of the teams were trying to maximize their profits, so they concentrated on the expansion and development of their teams. But what about this Team Happy?

This team was pulled together by Ye Xiu after his retirement. It didn't have any major financial backing, and the so-called boss was just the boss of an Internet cafe who was severely limited in power. Fang Rui could sense that the authority of this supposed boss was ultimately less than that of Ye Xiu.

Then what was Ye Xiu's motivation in establishing this team?

It could be anything, but Fang Rui was certain that it wasn't for profit.

Relying on profit to sustain oneself was an uncomfortable feeling. But unfortunately, this was the cruel reality of the world. Only profit was eternal. Aside from that, things like the players' love of Glory, or their pursuit of the championship title, would always fade with the passage of time. And, with their declining condition, the players would ultimately have no way of continuing.

Ye Xiu was unquestionably the foundation upon this team could exist, and Fang Rui would never doubt his support and passion for this game. But even with such a heart, Ye Xiu would leave one day, and this day could come very soon. When that time came, what would happen to Team Happy? Would they have the cohesion that they showed today? Just considering Happy's boss and her financial power, it was uncertain if she could even hold onto all of these talented players. The better Happy performed, the more tragic the scene would be when that day arrived.

Speaking of which, Happy's rookies were already exceptional, and Fang Rui was rather surprised that none of them had been pulled away so far. Happy's financial power couldn't compete with any of the other teams. Was Ye Xiu's presence alone enough to keep them here? Was this guy's personal charisma really that great?

Fang Rui had his doubts. But regardless of his charisma or lack thereof, if this team had completely relied on Ye Xiu to come together, then that only increased the worry in his heart. In this sort of situation, it was truly difficult to predict what Happy's future would look like. If Fang Rui came to Happy, he would be switching classes. He couldn't take such a large gamble on a team that would disperse after Ye Xiu's departure.

"You want to know about Team Happy after my departure?" Ye Xiu said. "Then you'd better ask my boss!"