The Great Thief

Translator: Exodus Tales Editor: Exodus Tales

There were many peculiar people in the professional world of gaming and Short Road was one of them.

He was recognised as the most physically-weak player out of everyone.

When Lu Li first entered the game in his previous life, Short Road was not a well-known player. However, after two years, he represented Glory Capital and entered many competitions. He won many, but also lost many.

Not much could be said regarding his wins. After all, wins didn’t come with ease.

However, a major part of his losses didn’t come from a lack of skill. Many of his losses came from a result of him fainting in the middle of battle. As a result, the game would forcibly log him out, which meant that he would automatically surrender.

This man could very well be labelled as a legendary person. He seemed like the main character of many movies. He was an orphan with a weak and frail body, resulting in many episodes of sickness. The orphanage then closed down, so he was forced out into the streets. Through his sheer determination, he managed to survive, but his body was still frail and weak, so he fainted every now and then.

Soon after, the fainting became more and more regular. Using his graduation money, he went and got himself checked up. It was only then that he discovered that he had a sickness that made him faint regularly.

This sickness was a rare one. The victim of this sickness would faint easily, and the effects of fainting also worsened over time. The body would also grow to be weaker and weaker, so he grew closer to death with each passing day. The whole medical world was curious about this case, so he was subject to experimentation as well as examination while the specialists investigated his disease.

After a few years, there was some progress and the specialists managed to find a possible cure.

Unfortunately, the treatment was quite expensive. The specialists had already used a lot of their money to fund this research project, so he didn’t want to use more. As such, he only left with knowledge of the cure.

Since he didn’t go to school, he wasn’t particularly educated. He didn’t have any special skills either, and he spent most of his time out on the streets.

If he was a normal and healthy person, he would be able to do some manual labour and earn money that way. Obviously, that wasn’t an option for him either. He couldn’t even stand for a while without breathing heavily, so without Lu Li’s indication for him to sit, he immediately sat down first. It wasn’t because he was impolite, but it was because he was unable to stand any longer.

It was through luck that he was able to find his talent in playing games.

After entering the game, he managed to grind levels quickly, then began earning money. In doing so, he had already taken care of his food and housing. However, he still needed more money to heal himself, so he set his sights on becoming a professional player.

If Lu Li hadn’t met him today, he would have eventually joined Glory Capital after.

Mr. Patient, Short Road!

Mr. Patient was his nickname. Some said it in a derogatory sense, while some said it out of admiration and respect. Short Road was his game ID. He said it himself in an interview, that his life was destined to be a Short Road ever since he was born.

He had another nickname, because he was a Mage.

In Lu Li’s previous life, Sorrowless was planning on training him to be his successor, had he been healthy.

Unfortunately, Sorrowless didn’t have the chance to even think of that in this life.

“From my understanding, you requested our organisation to give you 2 million as a condition to join our camp. Is that right?” Lu Li asked, trying his best to keep his voice normal to avoid scaring this man away from them.

“Yes. If you are unable to give that much, then half of the amount is okay too. I know Ruling Sword doesn’t take external finances.”

“The money is not a problem…” Lu Li said, then curiously asked: “Why didn’t you choose other organisations over Ruling Sword? There are many who are much richer than us, for example…Glory Capital. Although Sorrowless is a rival, I acknowledge his judgment and status.”

Sorrowless would be willing to give 5 million for Short Road, if he was worth it.

In this world, opportunities to show kindness were not rare. However, there was nothing that could compare to the opportunity of saving a life. The Short Road that was sitting across from Lu Li was near death. He could not stay awake for more than 10 hours each day.

“Hehe…” Short Road weakly chuckled and replied, “Glory Capital has Sorrowless. I know my own strengths, and I know for a fact that I can’t compare to him. Furthermore, they also have other Ice-element Mage experts. As for Ruling Sword…You guys don’t have a single Ice Mage good enough to enter into competitions.

Lu Li was speechless.

Then he realised something. In his previous life, Sorrowless was already on his way to retirement, which was why Short Road was able to enter the competitive scene quickly.

In this life, he managed to kill Sorrowless and continuously pressure Glory Capital.

At that time, no Ice Mages would even consider being where Sorrowless was. After all, Sorrowless was the strongest Ice Mage in Dawn.

How lucky!

Lu Li collected his documents, then reached out to shake Short Road’s hand and said, “Congratulations. I hope we’ll be working well together in the future. I will let our finance team know to transfer 2 million into your bank account. Your housing and meals will also be taken care of. There is a good hospital near the club. Because my sister was once quite ill, I got to know the doctors there well. I’ll introduce you to them.”

“Why?” Short Road asked as he stood up, clearly needing some effort. Then, he reached out to shake Lu Li’s hand.

At that moment, he felt like he was dreaming. The few interviews that he was in before weren’t that easy. They required multiple confirmations through phone and also many more questions. He couldn’t believe that Lu Li accepted his condition to join that easily.

Although he had some reputation in the game, it wasn’t that of a professional player at all. In fact, he was still among the lower-levelled players.

There was no way for Lu Li to have known about him, so how would Lu Li have judged him to be a genuine person?

“I looked at your exam scores, as well as gaming experience. I feel that we are quite similar. Even if you end up unable to do anything for the club, then I would have only lost money. However, if you end up becoming a professional competitor, then I would be rewarded with your performances.”

“Thank you! Thank you so much!”

Short Road was overcome with gratefulness.

He didn’t know that Cat Dad had given him a score of S grade, which was the highest score. There was a principle while scoring, which was not to limit any potential.

Even Wandering, a generally harsh and lazy person, said that if Short Road was able to recover from this sickness, he would definitely be a formidable star player. Even if he couldn’t recover in the near future, his ability would still garner well-earned respect.

As for Lu Li, how would he be able to reject this person despite knowing so much?

The first week of the training camp was destined to be dominated by Short Road. As a player who fainted often during matches, they hoped that he would recover, or at least have a control over his sickness. The cure that he held was also useful, since Lu Li hadn’t heard of Short Road fainting again in his previous life.