Chapter 4

Translator: D4sk

Zhao Mingwei, known by his in-game name "Xixiao" had served as the captain of the Junlin team for seven years. Over the years, many old teammates had come and gone, but only the ID "Xixiao" remained, fighting alongside Junlin for a full seven years.

Now, most of Zhao Mingwei's former teammates had retired, and for the past year, he had been leading this new group of players in the professional league.

Zhao Mingwei was the last to return to the lounge. Before he even pushed the door open, he could hear the hysterical shouting from inside.

"Why was I subbed out in the third game? We were crushed as soon as that old guy came in!"

"Feng Yi! This year, White Sword's vanguard is too strong. Your aggressive playstyle would have only given them more opportunities!"

"So you put Xixiao in for a retirement match? He's already won two world championships! He doesn't care about winning another one..."

The voices abruptly stopped as Zhao Mingwei opened the door and stepped into the lounge. Everyone's eyes turned toward him.

Zhao Mingwei adjusted his black-rimmed glasses and looked at Feng Yi, the starting attacker for Junlin. Feng Yi was a young player with a lot of potential, but he had a strong personality.

When Zhao Mingwei glanced at him, Feng Yi's eyes were red with frustration—clearly still upset about the loss.

"Xiao Feng, winning and losing are part of the game. You'll have plenty of chances in the future." Zhao Mingwei walked over and lightly patted his shoulder, but Feng Yi immediately pushed him away.

"Of course, it doesn't matter to you—you've already won two championships! But this is my first time on the world stage! Do you even know..."

"Feng Yi!"

The coach interrupted Feng Yi again. Overcome with emotion, Feng Yi slumped back into his chair, covering his face as he started to cry.

The atmosphere in the Junlin team was heavy after the loss. Eventually, the coach gathered everyone and they boarded the bus back to the hotel.

Zhao Mingwei sat in the very last row of the bus, beside his old friend—and the only remaining veteran player—Lin Xi.

"Xixiao, are you feeling tired?" Lin Xi asked quietly, noticing Zhao Mingwei's serious expression. "Making it to the semifinals is still a decent result."

"It's not about the result," Zhao Mingwei replied, turning to look into his old teammate's eyes. "Lin Xi, let me ask you something."

"Xixiao! I didn't make a single mistake in those four matches! Well... maybe just one!" Lin Xi quickly raised his hands in mock surrender. Though the two were close, Zhao Mingwei was still the captain.

"You made at least seven mistakes. But that's not what I want to ask..." Zhao Mingwei paused for a moment before continuing slowly.

"When was the last time you smiled while playing this game?"

"..."

Lin Xi was taken aback for a moment, forcing a small smile onto his face.

"Xixiao, we're professional players. This game is our job. We play it to win."

"It wasn't always like this." Zhao Mingwei leaned back in his seat, clearly exhausted, and closed his eyes.

Lin Xi didn't dare to continue the conversation. He was worried that if they kept talking, the topic of "retirement" might come up.

Even though Zhao Mingwei's skills had declined, his popularity remained at the peak among all professional players. As long as he stayed with Junlin, even if only as a mascot, the team's commercial value would skyrocket.

Back in his hotel room, Zhao Mingwei lay on the bed, staring at the ceiling.

Years of professional training had left him feeling utterly exhausted. For four years, he had been motivated by the pursuit of championships, but this year, he really, truly didn't want to play Conflict anymore.

However, Zhao Mingwei had signed a contract with Junlin that was practically a lifetime agreement. He still had two more years of service before he could retire.

Zhao Mingwei took out his phone and noticed a message in the WeChat group chat from one of his former teammates.

"Is there a game more fun than Conflict?"

Seeing this message, Zhao Mingwei couldn't help but force a smile, knowing that the message wasn't a question but rather a joke.

He didn't have the energy to read the messages in the group chat and aimlessly scrolled through his phone, when he noticed a strange new icon. The icon was a downward-pointing triangle, with just two simple words beneath it:

"Sacred Zero."

He didn't remember downloading this strange mobile game.

Zhao Mingwei tried to drag the app's icon to the trash to delete it, but after five or six attempts, the icon wouldn't budge, as if it were nailed to his phone's screen.

Was there something wrong with his phone? After confirming that his phone was fine and that the issue was with the app, Zhao Mingwei opened his antivirus software.

But after a full scan, the antivirus software showed no problems at all.

Could a virus really be this sophisticated nowadays?

Out of curiosity, Zhao Mingwei decided to open the app. The contents were simple: an introduction and a single button labeled "Login."

He skimmed the introduction, which explained that this app allowed users to log into a virtual game world. Once you clicked "Login," you could enter the game world.

Any normal person would think this was a scam. Logging into a VR game directly through your phone? Modern technology hadn't advanced that far yet.

With a "might as well try" attitude, Zhao Mingwei clicked the button. The next second, the scene before his eyes instantly changed. When Zhao Mingwei came to his senses, he found himself in a pure white world.

A translucent data frame appeared in front of him.

As a seasoned gamer, everything seemed very familiar to him: character appearance customization, class selection, character name, etc. It was just that this game had fewer options than Conflict, for example, there was no choice of race.

At the moment, the game only allowed players to start as humans. Zhao Mingwei spent about an hour creating a decent-looking character. Without hesitation, he chose the Fighter class. When it came to naming his character, he typed in the ID "Xixiao" but after hesitating for a long time, he deleted it and instead entered the name "Happy Gamer."

"Character creation complete."

An emotionless voice echoed in Zhao Mingwei's ears, and the bright light before his eyes quickly faded. When he opened his eyes again, he found himself standing on the streets of a grand city.

He looked down at his hands—he was wearing a pair of white half-finger gloves. His clothing had changed from modern attire to a Fighter's training outfit.

"A new player?!"

Before Zhao Mingwei could get familiar with the system, he heard a warm greeting nearby. Looking up, he saw a player dressed as a mage running toward him.

The player's ID was "No Updates Today."