The Great Thief

Lu Li couldn’t help but take a look at the reporter; it seemed like this person was chasing a major story.

“I believe you may have a misunderstanding. Lu Li only stayed in the guild for a week and he signed a contract as a gold collection member,” Square Root 3 began, then turned his head and asked, “I’ve always wondered. Why did you sign such a low contract back then?”

This was the art of speech – staying for one week wasn’t enough to explain anything, but the fact that Lu Li had signed such a low contract at some point would’ve been something worth talking about.

At that moment, many focused their attention towards Lu Li as questions were tossed out one following another. The scene quickly became chaotic.

“Everyone, please be quiet. I can confirm that I’ve worked as a simple gold collection member before,” Lu Li said as he stood up and gestured for everyone to be quiet. He wasn’t the happiest about Square Root 3 dragging him out under the spotlight; he thought he could stay invisible.

Unfortunately, the scene didn’t go quiet as he had hoped – it became even worse.

People wanted to hear the origin story of a legend, but no matter how many versions were told in the history of gaming, no one would have been able to beat Lu Li’s meteoric rise.

This wasn’t an encouragement; this was insane!

Why did someone so legendary start as a gold collection member? Was it just so he could come into contact with Square Root 3?

The gazes made Lu Li and Square Root 3 uneasy; there were many girls into gay love stories lately. Lu Li quickly explained, “I couldn’t afford a helmet back then, so I had to start somewhere, and a gold collection member seemed like a good option. However, my time wasn’t as pleasant as I had expected, so we eventually parted ways…”

Couldn’t afford a helmet?

Couldn’t afford a helmet!

Only a small portion of people knew of Lu Li’s background, and none of them were the type to run their mouths. As such, this made a lot of people guess about his background.

Most thought that he had an affluent background, or else, where could he have found the resources to build Ruling Sword? The biggest evidence to support this was the fact that Ruling Sword had turned down many investment offers in the past.

Besides having your own resources, what else could possibly explain this?

Also, if he wasn’t wealthy, then how did he attract the attention of Water Fairy? Water Fairy was well-known for her affluence and just the slightest wealth that slipped from her hands would be enough to build a major guild.

“This is part of the original contract. Everyone can take a look,” Square Root 3 said. He was obviously prepared and took out the contract they signed with Star Moon Union in the past. Obviously, they won’t show the details, but this was enough to serve as evidence for Lu Li’s words.

The questions grew messier and messier, but without a doubt, the focus was on Lu Li’s rise.

What else could be more encouraging than this?

After the morning had been sorted, they rested for half a day before they entered the game for the match. The time setting in the game was the opposite to reality; it was morning time.

This was an away game for Ruling Sword against Peerless City, and a very exciting match up amongst the top 8 guilds.

The few hundred tickets were almost sold out in an instant. Although many said that something fishy was going behind the scenes, many still wanted to see it.

This time, the analysts were the classic Dragon and Phoenix. Dragon referred to a player called Four Seas Dragon. He was nicknamed ‘big dragon’ to differentiate himself from another player called, Lone Smoker Long, who was nicknamed as ‘little dragon’. Big dragon was a competitor that had been around for a long time. His time of fame was around 20 years ago. He would be in his forties by now, but was still doing well int he gaming industry.

The ‘phoenix’ referred to Jiufeng, a current competitor who belonged to Freedom Sky.

Jiufeng was better with her analysis than her competitive talent; she was only a second or third tier competitor. However, she was a first-tier analyst – otherwise, they wouldn’t have let her commentate for a top 8 match.

Besides this, Jiufeng was an apprentice to Four Seas Dragon. They had about a 10-20 year age gap, and apparently had already been married in real life. Rumor had it that they had even already had children. Many fans were fond of this uncle and little girl couple, especially their daily interactions.

“Big Dragon, who do you think we should support today?” Jiufeng asked. She always started the match in an interesting style; analysts usually didn’t pick sides.

“I personally support Ruling Sword. I feel like Lu Li relates to me a lot,” Four Seas said. He was a Warrior and was nothing close to Lu Li at all. Their styles were different and there shared nothing in common in real life. Four Seas Dragon had a wealthy family background and was also popular amongst girls after he became famous. He was famous for both his achievements and his flirtatious personality.

“Hmph, then I’m going to support Peerless City. I think they’ve got a decent chance,” Jiufeng said, deciding to pick the opposite team.

At this time, competitors from both parties had already began to enter the gaming capsules and were preparing for today’s match.

The current match style had two types of spectating mode – one was from reality where most of the audience were local players. For them, it was like watching a singer in the center of a sports gym. Compared to the audience in the game, only 50000 tickets were sold as the space for the gym was limited.

The gaming capsules were placed on a round stage at the center while a virtual projector revealed all 360 degrees of the match in real time above the stage. It would almost be no different to these players being in the match themselves.

Lu Li took a deep breath and closed his eyes after he entered the gaming capsule.

He didn’t really like this situation; he felt exposed lying here. Perhaps this had something to do with his quiet character, or perhaps he just wasn’t used to the way how these matches were conducted.

After he made some preparations in the game, he confirmed and was sent away to the match grounds. They were welcomed with warm applause, as opposed to the near-silent real-life fans.

After all, the attendees were locals and would support their own people. The scene was filled with fans screaming for Peerless City; the few fans that cheered for Ruling Sword could barely make a sound.

This was probably the advantage of being the host.

The audience seats in the game didn’t have this sort of issue. This were millions of players who could be fans for either side.

For the one-on-one battles, Lu Li assigned Moonlight first!