Book 3: Glory on the Other Side


    Chapter 28


    “Me?”  Ai Qing was surprised.  “Everybody knows that I’m with SP.


    Why is he tagging me for?”


    “Probably just a publicity stunt.”  Slide laughed.  “In the internet


    world, a newbie, high ranked, young, and with a potential to be an


    idol, who can hype the news to make himself popular, then he can


    easily get endorsements or be a famous host or something even if


    he doesn’t win the championship.”


    Everyone had different reactions to what Slide had said


    But Solo found the prospect quite interesting.  He smiled slightly.


    “Sometimes, even aggressive people might be very interesting.”


    A player at such a young age and ranked number 3 among the over


    Images of the past flashed through his mind.  This rookie reminded


    Solo a lot about himself.


    Back then, he had also exhausted every means to make himself


    famous.  Only then could he have more opportunities and find investors.


    It wasn’t because he wanted a quick success, but…...he wanted


    to walk farther.


    ……


    “If he really wants to make money, then he can just join SP.”


    All completely looked down upon these kind of rookies.  “<Secret


    Room Storm> already has a prize pool worth over six million US


    “I heard that Taotao’s team wanted to meet SP in the preliminaries.


    They waited till we registered at the Shanghai region then registered


    in the same region.”  Slide continued.  He turned around to look at


    his teammates,  “How about it?  Any comments?”


    Some people laughed.  Some people shrugged their shoulders.


    They were all used to having people challenge them by now.


    To these new rookies, whatever the challenge might be, their reply


    was always: “See you at the competition.”


    “How come?  Aren’t you going to do anything after being tagged?”


    Slide laughed and looked at her.


    “Me?”  Ai Qing was straightforward.  “My job is behind the scenes.


    You guys are the actual players on stage.  I have just one response


    They all laughed.


    Two hours later, A team was dismissed.


    Solo called Ai Qing before she left.  “Ai Qing.”


    She paused and turned around.  She saw Solo sitting behind the


    desk, slowly twirling a pen between his fingers.


    That hand had won numerous championships before, but had left


    the world of video games for a very long time.  For some unknown


    reason, she thought about Solo when she heard that Taotao had


    asked for an investment from her.


    Ai Qing stopped for a while, waiting for him to say something,


    “Anything else?  I-- --”


    “I’ll take a short vacation.”  His eyes restored his usual calmness


    gradually.  “You take care of the Shanghai competition.”


    Vacation?


    Was he going to be absent in the preliminary of the first tournament?”


    It wasn’t his style at all.


    Obviously Solo didn’t want to say why he was taking a vacation, he


    kept telling her other things she needed to be aware of.  Finally he


    told her, “You don’t need to have too much pressure.  They are all


    very mature professional players.”