Chapter 23: Ye Qiu's Retirement (Part 2)

  The club can invite new generation masters like Sun Xiang to revive. But for a legendary player, he can only bear the erosion of time alone and choose to leave quietly at this moment.

  He walked away with ease, but his heart was not willing. He still wanted to struggle, he hadn't felt that his career had reached its end. But he had no choice. Accept the conditions and stay in the club as a sparring partner? This seemed like another humiliating choice, but Ye Xiu saw through it more clearly. He knew the club was certain he would be unwilling to accept such humiliation and would definitely choose to leave, which is why they gave him this option. If he unexpectedly accepted, the club would think of other ways to force him out.

  It's cruel, but for the club it's just a business decision, never mixing any personal feelings in it, and the league has become ruthless due to commercialization.

  Ye Xiu was not yet ready to retire, and in fact, the club understood this point. Using retirement as a condition was proof that they were clear about this point. They wanted to get rid of this burden, but at the same time, they feared that other competitors would take advantage of the situation and become stronger. They would rather Ye Xiu rot away than let him become an opponent.

  So forcing Ye Xiu to retire became the result they most desired, and undoubtedly, they succeeded. Ye Xiu could understand all of this, but he could only follow their script. A desperate struggle until death? He didn't want that, because he still had a road to continue on. One year after retiring, this choice that was forced upon him might not necessarily be an opportunity, taking a step back to gain a broader perspective! Although this step seemed a bit too big...

  "It's over..." When the subtitles rolled by on the projection screen, Ye Xiu finally couldn't take it anymore. This media program was intentionally trying to stir up emotions, and some people in the internet cafe were already crying out loud. But when it came to heartache, nostalgia, and bitterness, which of the audience members present could compare to him, the person involved? Ye Xiu squeezed his way out of the crowd and escaped from the internet cafe, standing outside the door to take a deep breath, only to hear sniffling sounds coming from behind him. He turned around to see Chen Guo hiding behind the door, her eyes also shining brightly.

  They both found each other, and it seemed impolite not to greet, so Ye Xiu could only say: "Boss, crying?"

  "You beast, don't you have any feelings at all?" Chen Guo said.

  "This is too much! Can't hold on and escape?" Ye Xiu said.

  "Get out!" Chen Guo cursed, "Do you have paper?"

  Ye Xiu patted his body: "Will a pack of cigarettes do?"

  “……”

  "I'll go get it." Before the boss could blow up, Ye Xiu hastily ran back to the internet cafe to find some paper.

  The sobbing in the internet cafe seemed even louder, with both men and women crying. Ye Xiu couldn't hold back his own heartache this time, and he knew exactly who these people were crying for. Thinking of this, his eyes also grew hot. Ye Xiu hastily ran to the front desk to grab a pack of tissues, rushed out and stuffed them into Chen Guo's hands, turned around, pulled out a cigarette, lit one up, and took a deep drag.

  "What's wrong? Are you crying too? Do you want some tissue?" Chen Guo seemed to have noticed something.

  "How could I, how could I cry?" Ye Xiu turned around, conveniently spitting out a mouthful of smoke, spraying Chen Guo's face full. The sentimental tears had just been wiped away with tissues, but the smoke made them flow again.

  Chen Guo waved his hand and opened the cigarette, unexpectedly didn't say anything, stuffed the pack of tissues back into Ye Xiu's hands, turned around and went back to the internet cafe.

  Ye Xiu leaned against the outside of the internet cafe, quietly finishing his cigarette. He took out a tissue and blew his nose hard before striding towards the small restaurant across from the internet cafe.

  Ye Xiu returned to the internet cafe with a satisfied expression, chewing on a toothpick. The memorial screening for Ye Qiu had finally come to an end, but the atmosphere in the cafe still lingered, and many people's eyes were red from crying. Fortunately, most people in the room were like this, so there was no need to feel embarrassed. On the other hand, someone like Ye Xiu who looked calm and collected would easily be seen as a heartless beast. If you didn't explain that you weren't playing Glory of Kings, it wouldn't even be embarrassing to greet others.

  Chen Da Boss is nowhere to be found now, Ye Xiu went to the front desk to ask Xiao Mei about it, mainly asking what's going on with this special event.

  It wasn't until I asked that I found out that Xingxin Internet Cafe would often host live streaming sessions like this whenever there was a Glory match. Today, there were no matches scheduled, but the major event of Ye Qiu's retirement happened, and the e-sports channel quickly produced a special episode, so Xingxin Internet Cafe decided to broadcast it as if it were a match.

  If it were in the past, after watching the game, everyone would be excited and enthusiastic, with a strong desire to play games, leading to crowded internet cafes and high revenue. But today, after this match, Honor players are unusually subdued, some went home immediately, some went out drinking with friends, of course, there are also those who stayed in the internet cafe to continue playing games, after all, not everyone is a fan of Ye Qiu, and there are always those who are indifferent to his retirement. However, under the influence of the overall atmosphere, they were also affected, although they persisted in playing games, but with less enthusiasm.

  The entire Xingxin internet cafe was very quiet, normally at this time, the Glory players would be holding their headsets or chatting enthusiastically or shouting loudly, it was usually very lively.

  Ye Xiu was thinking about what to do next when he saw Chen Guo come down from the second floor, and hurriedly went up to greet her: "Boss, am I officially starting work today?"

  "Go ahead," said Chen Guo, "but when you're officially on duty, you can't just sit anywhere, you have to guard the counter."

  "Can we play games?"

  "Okay, use that one." Chen Guo pointed at the computer that Xiao Mai was currently using to watch Korean dramas.

  "Do you smoke?" Ye Xiu asked.

  Chen Guo glanced at him and nodded helplessly: "Go ahead, but when I come over in the morning, there must be no smell of smoke, nor any cigarette ash falling down."

  "I understand." Ye Xiu said.

  Then Chen Guo taught Ye Xiu how to turn on and off the computers for guests. Finally, he said: "Actually, most of the time it's just some overnight guests, they all line up before 11pm and automatically shut down at 7am, basically nothing to do with you, just guard the place. If there's anything wrong, the guest will ring the bell."

  "What if it's a machine failure?" Ye Xiu asked, although he wasn't an expert in electronics, but also didn't have the skills to handle failures.

  "Reboot," said Chen Guo.

  Ye Xiu wiped his sweat: "Is rebooting still no good?"

  "Change the machine," said Chen Guo.

  Ye Xiu wiped the sweat again, just wanting to ask another question, when Chen Guo hastily said: "You're all on night shifts, there are plenty of empty machines, you can switch freely, but if the machine has any problems, you have to take note and find someone specialized to deal with it tomorrow."

  "Oh, I see." Ye Xiu nodded.

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  Tonight's broadcast ends earlier, everyone can go to bed early.