The King's Avatar

Chen Guo had initially been unsure of what tone to use when talking to Ye Xiu. But after being infuriated by Ye Xiu’s attitude as if nothing had happened, she took out her usual furious state for Ye Xiu.

“Okay.” Ye Xiu calmly said and nodded his head: “What do you want me to explain?”

“You……” Chen Guo looked like she could pounce and attack him at any moment. Tang Rou hastily stepped in to be the mediator. She pushed the two into the room, while saying: “How about you two take a seat first before talking!”

“Pick anywhere you’d like.” Ye Xiu brought them into his room and took the role as the room’s owner.

“What exactly is up with you?” After Chen Guo sat down, her tone became much calmer, but it could easily be heard from her voice’s ups and downs that she was trying to keep her emotions under control.

“I’m Ye Qiu. Didn’t I already tell you that a long time ago?” Ye Xiu finally spoke.

“That counts?!” Chen Guo turned angry.

“Then how am I supposed to make it count?” Ye Xiu countered back.

Chen Guo fell silent. True! How was he supposed to say it so she’d believe him? Chen Guo couldn’t refrain from thinking about it. But after thinking for a while, she suddenly remembered: why had she been so certain that Ye Xiu wasn’t Ye Qiu? Wasn’t it because she had seen his ID card?

“If you’re Ye Qiu, then what’s up with Ye Xiu?” Chen Guo immediately questioned.

“Ye Xiu is me as well!”

“Why do you have two names?”

“Now that’s a much more complicated question.” Ye Xiu said.

Chen Guo sat upright, ready to listen to why he had these two names. In the end, her upright posture was for nothing as Ye Xiu was done talking. He then moved a bit as if to tell Chen Guo that he was waiting for Chen Guo’s next question.

Chen Guo’s expression began to gradually grow stiffer. Tang Rou silently turned her head to look out the window. The reason for having two names was something that anyone would be curious about, but Ye Xiu had clearly expressed that answering the question wasn’t convenient. He wasn’t going to change his mind.

From the window’s reflection, Tang Rou could see Chen Guo grip her fist and say: “Why do you have two names?” Chen Guo didn’t think that Ye Xiu wouldn’t be able to recognize that this was the question that needed the most explaining.

“I can’t tell you that.” Ye Xiu said.

“Why?”

“Because…… it’s a secret.” Ye Xiu said helplessly.

A reply without any substance, which hid everything of importance. No matter how badly Chen Guo wanted to know, she couldn’t force him to speak. She breathed in deeply and calmed herself down. She then asked: “Then which one is your real name?”

“Guess?” Ye Xiu asked back.

Deep breaths! Deep breaths!

Chen Guo took several deep breaths and then slowly stood up. She paced back and forth and then stopped at the window’s side and actually guessed.

“I’ve seen your ID card. Even though I personally can’t tell if it’s real or not, when I registered your name for the hotel, your ID wasn’t a problem, so it looks like it’s real.” Chen Guo said.

“But you’ve also been in the Pro Alliance. From what I know, the players in the Pro Alliance have to use their ID cards as well. I don’t know if the Alliance allows you to change your registered name; since most people don’t care, I’m not sure about that.”

“You’ve played in the Pro Alliance for seven years and you’ve never revealed your identity to the public. If I said you simply did it because you liked to be secretive, it wouldn’t make sense because you told me you were Ye Qiu when we just met. You definitely have other reasons for not wanting to show yourself to the public, so your name of Ye Qiu is probably fake and is also a cover up for your real identity. That means that Ye Xiu is your true name, right?”

Chen Guo explained her guess and was quite logical. After saying this, she looked at Ye Xiu, waiting for his response.

Ye Xiu was silent for awhile, before nodding his head: “It seems like it was pretty easy to guess, huh.”

“What do you mean, easy? Are you looking down on my ability to analyze things?” Chen Guo said angrily.

“It was a beautiful analysis.” Ye Xiu applauded.

“So you’re saying I’m correct?” Chen Guo said.

“Is it okay if I don’t say it?” Ye Xiu said.

“You’re really intent on not letting me sleep!” Chen Guo grinded her teeth.

“Okay, I concede. You’re correct. Ye Xiu. I’m Ye Xiu.” Ye Xiu nodded his head.

“Why do you need to use a fake name? Why don’t you want to reveal your identity? What are you hiding for?” Chen Guo was beginning to ask more deeply.

Ye Xiu stood up. He also walked over to the window and looked outside. Tang Rou looked at his face and discovered an unexpected expression of hesitation. This sort of wavering look was something she had never seen on Ye Xiu’s face before.

Chen Guo silently went back to her seat. She had asked what she wanted. If Ye Xiu didn’t answer, then she wouldn’t force him, so she simply sat down, silent.

“Uh……” Ye Xiu turned around. His face now held a self-ridiculing smile: “The reason is actually very embarrassing.”

“Oh?” The two girls’ ears perked up. Was he actually going to say it?

“It’s because I ran away from home.” Ye Xiu said.

“You….. ran away from home?” Chen Guo repeated stupidly. Tang Rou gave Ye Xiu a weird look, which quickly disappeared.

“Why did you run away?” Chen Guo asked.

Ye Xiu didn’t answer. His face said “You know why.”

Chen Guo immediately understood and, along with a face full of astonishment, she said: “It’s not because you wanted to play games, is it?”

Ye Xiu smiled bitterly.

Chen Guo and Tang Rou looked at each other. Even for Chen Guo, who loved Glory, she couldn’t understand his actions. Running away from home to play games and becoming so addicted… Was there something wrong with his mind?

The room immediately fell silent. Amidst the cloud of awkwardness, no one knew what to say. Ye Xiu also returned to his seat. His expression continued to stay calm. But when Chen Guo looked at him again, apart from the skilled God and the infuriating smoking demon, he had another face: an extremely naive child.

“You…….. When did you run away?” Chen Guo was the one to break the silence.

“Ten years ago!” Ye Xiu said.

“When Glory came out?” Chen Guo asked.

“Around then.”

“You ran away just to play Glory?”

“Not exactly. I played other games before that, as well.” Ye Xiu said.

Chen Guo didn’t dig deeper because there wasn’t much of a point. In the end, in order to put in every effort he could into playing games, he ran away from home. Then, after Glory came out, he threw himself into Glory, entered the pro scene, and then became a skilled God-level player.

The result was very spectacular. On the other hand, Chen Guo was hoping that he had some sort of tragedy occur to him that forced him to run away. If that had happened, then it would have been a lot more moving to listen to.

Though unfortunately, Ye Xiu had already said that he had run away to play games and he also admitted that it was very embarrassing.

Ye Xiu understood this very well. He had been very lucky to be talented at the game and also succeed upon the release of Glory. If not, then running away from home might have ended in a tragedy.

“Then what about now? You’ve never gone back home to visit?” Chen Guo asked.

“I have.” Ye Xiu said.

“Oh?”

“We parted on bad terms.” Ye Xiu said.

“How?”

“Because in their eyes, playing games for a living will never be seen as an honest profession.” Ye Xiu calmly said.

Chen Guo was silent. As a gaming fan, she clearly understood this sort of view. Even though Glory’s eSports scene was thriving and the pros had a luxurious income and a tremendous popularity, it required that the players give up on school. In addition, a pro’s career was very short. There also wasn’t a good system to guarantee their life’s well-being after their retirement. These sort of problems still existed.

The chance to become a pro was also very low. Of all of the players playing Glory, only two hundred of them were able to make it into the pro scene.

No family would encourage their child to walk this path. Every single one of the pros in the Alliance had a moment of bitterness in their past. And Ye Xiu seemed to be among the more tragic ones.

He had run away from home to play. Chen Guo and even Ye Xiu himself felt that he had gone somewhat overboard. And for those who looked down on gamers, this sort of behavior would only seem that much worse to them.

“At least you succeeded!” Chen Guo suddenly said because she suddenly felt that the disdain in her heart wasn’t right. For some, gaming was seen as a terrible drug, the electronic version of heroin. As for Chen Guo and other players, they saw it as a way to kill time. But what about for Ye Xiu and those other pros?

Ye Xiu hadn’t run away from home just to have fun. Chen Guo felt that seeing things like what the majority of society did was somewhat harsh.

Ye Xiu had ran away from home for his passion, for his ideal, for his pursuit of a dream.

If a youth ran away from home to pursue his dream in music, would he receive the same harshness?

If a youth ran away from home to pursue his passion for science, wouldn’t people see it as a testament to his ambition and drive?

There were many many examples of this. It was just that not many would accept gaming as one.

But for Ye Xiu, his dream and passion would never change.

“I wouldn’t get tired even after ten years!”

Chen Guo recalled Ye Xiu’s smile when he said this and suddenly felt the urge to cry.