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 endors.e.m.e.nts 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
five million registered Chinese players, few could achieve such a thing.

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.  “<>
Room Storm> already has a prize pool worth over six million US
dollars.  If he could win the world championship, then he’ll win both
fame and money.”

“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 compet.i.tion.”

“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
to him, see you at the Shanghai compet.i.tion.”

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 compet.i.tion.”

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.”