It was a cold and windy night, when Su Muqiu left the club building of team Excellent Era. It was the coldest night of the year, when Su Muqiu left his former team and his beloved sister behind. It was a cold and silent night, when he was tossed on the street with nothing more on him than his clothes. It was a winter night, when he waved goodbye to his crying sister and down the snowy pavement.
All of this wasn't surprising at all. He had anticipated it a long time ago, yet he still had hoped to make it through the whole season. Unfortunately, he was forced to stop halfway. He had been forced into retirement. For one year he would not be able to play Glory professionally. It would be a lie, if he said it didn't bother him. Honestly, it hurt like hell, to be treated like this and to have to wait one year to be able to come back. The worst was the fact that it was a friend, at least he had considered them friends, who was behind all this and that he had to leave his sister behind in the wolf's den.
Despite what just had happened, he hoped that his former team would now get back on their feet again. The reason team Excellent Era had performed so horribly in the last years, was because of the lack in teamwork and the scheming of the higher-ups. Although he had been the one, who brought them their Glory, he was now seen as a thorn in their side that had to be removed no matter what – even when that meant losing matches. Glory was not a single player game, one could only win as a team. He was only one person and not a team, so there was nothing he could do. His own performance was as great as ever, but the teams loses overshadowed him and people started to think he was not good enough anymore.
Now he was walking down the pavement properly disguised, otherwise his fans may recognize him and this was the last he wanted to happen. Although he had barely partaken in any sponsoring, his face was still known by the fans – maybe only at the second glance, but they would recognize him in the end. At this moment he was quite happy that he wasn't like Su Mucheng, who really was recognized even by people that did not care about games and Glory. She was a real celebrity – at least more than he was. His name was more well-known than his face.

After checking that no car was coming, Muqiu crossed the street and slipped into the Internet Café there. Unexpectedly the Internet Café was crowded. Not that this was strange for an Internet Café in general, however after secretly paying some visits every now and then, Muqiu had a relative good understanding of the popularity of this Internet Café. Was something special happening tonight? Or was there an event going on? Well, whatever it was, he would find out soon anyway.
Muqiu made his way to the reception. No one was cared about him being here. The man behind the reception was around Muqiu's age. His face was pale, as if it had never seen the sunlight, and his eyes looked tired. A cigarette hung between his lips. Wasn't it a bit too early for him to be here?
"Computer?", the other man asked with his eyes glued to the screen in front of him.
"Yeah, that would be great. Maybe one in a dark, isolated corner?", Muqiu answered cheerfully, what earned him the attention of the other one.
"Muqiu?"
"Yep."
"Why are you here? You're quite early today", the other one remarked.
"And you are quite early as well. Your shift hasn't started yet, but you're still sitting here. Or have you changed shifts? You should have told be beforehand. What if I had come over later and some stranger would welcome me? You're so irresponsible!", Muqiu jokingly complained.
"Someone got sick, so we had to improvise."
To have a better look at the current situation in the Internet Café, the other man stood up from his chair and looked around. Costumers everywhere and he knew it wouldn't get any better today.
"Sit down here", he said, while he pushed back the chair next to him. "This might not be a dark and isolated corner, but at least I can have an eye on you and call the police or the ambulance, when your fans come at you. You should have stayed in the club for tonight. It's quite dangerous now that so many Glory fans are around."
With a soft laughter Muqiu went behind the reception and sat down in the offered chair.
"It's fine. No one has discovered me until now. So I think, I am fine. Just don't use me to do your work!"

Muqiu was sure that the other man, Ye Xiu, understood that something was not alright with him, but was considerate enough to not ask any questions. As soon as Excellent Era made their announcement of their captain's retirement, the other one would know everything anyway. Tonight Muqiu didn't want to think about anything related to Excellent Era or the Professional Alliance. Just because he understood his former team somehow, didn't mean that he wasn't hurt. Yet what to do next was a thought for tomorrow. Now he would play a bit with his friends in the tenth server – although he had to make a new account and level it up. His previous account was the property of club Excellent Era, thus he had to leave it behind. The same applied for his other server accounts. However, he should have some accounts for the first to third server that belonged to him somewhere in his former room. Mucheng would take good care of them for now.
After sitting down, Muqiu put his right hand into his pocket to get an account card, just to realize that he had none with him. Within less than a second he had completely forgotten that his cards were back at Excellent Era. Maybe because he was so used to have one with him all the time, his brain couldn't wrap itself around the thought of not having a card at hand. Letting out a sigh he leant back into his chair. What a great evening. Now he couldn't even play Glory, this was probably the worst that could happen to him.
Muqiu's left hand went up to his temple. If this was going on any longer, he would get a headache. Was he really that old? Was he really that forgetful? Did his expulsion really affect him that much?
"What's wrong?", Ye Xiu asked.
He looked worried. The way he looked, Muqiu was convinced that he already knew everything. Well, it wasn't that strange, since Muqiu had told the other one about the conflict between team Excellent Era and him, so all the other one had to do was putting one and one together. Never before had Muqiu come over before Ye Xiu's shift started. Whenever he came over, he had an account card with him. Muqiu without account card was impossible! But now he was here, long before nine o'clock, without an account card. One really didn't need to be a genius to understand, what was going on.
"I left my account cards behind", Muqiu admitted.
He sounded as if he wanted to cry over this fact. And in some way he actually wanted to cry about it. How should he play Glory now?
"Here, take this one."
Ye Xiu passed him an account card.
"Don't tell me you have forgotten what day we have. In a few hours the new server will be opened. You should start over there. Built up our guild, annoy the big guilds and meet up with the rest of us in the Heavenly Domain", he explained when he saw Muqiu's confused expression, when taking at the passed card.
"Ah, so that's why so many people are here tonight. Good to know and good for the business. But what about you guys? Won't you come to the new server as well? It will be boring without you."

The new server would open as soon as the third of December would start. Today was the second of December. In about an hour Ye Xiu's original shift would start, then it was another three hours until midnight, which was the start for the new server. Consequently, Muqiu had four hours to fill without Glory.
"Um… I will tell the others to come over to the new server, if they want and have time. By the way, have you already eaten something?"
One could think that Ye Xiu was worried about his friend, which he indeed was to a certain extent, but he mostly wanted to other one to get some food for them, since he himself was too lazy and occupied with Glory, to get something.
"I haven't, but I am also not hungry", Muqiu replied.
However when he saw his friends expression, he understood the real meaning of his friend's words. With a sigh he stood up, he had nothing better to do right now anyway.
"Anything specific you want?", he asked.
"No. Just the usual."
Without looking at Muqiu, Xiu got some money out of his pocket and gave it to Muqiu. Between the bank notes was a coupon. Muqiu took a look at it, just to make sure it wasn't expired. Wouldn't be the first time. Ever since Muqiu started to pay this Internet Café a visit from time to time, he had bought Ye Xiu something to eat every now and then, because the latter had to stay at work. Sometimes Muqiu felt a bit dumb doing so, since the other one could eat something before the shift started, but in the end, he never complaint or refused. It wasn't worth it. Truth be told, he also liked it in a strange way to come back and see his friend's happy face, when bringing back the wanted food. Also they always shared it with each other – and sharing food was something Muqiu actually enjoyed a lot, as long as he shared with people close to him.
"Ah, maybe you could get me one of those toy figure they have right now", Ye Xiu suddenly said.
"What?"
Toy figures? Seriously?
"Yeah, you know at the moment they sell Glory figures. I guess it depends on where you are, but the McDonalds across should have your team's main roster avatars. So, get me one of them."
This was a joke, right? The other side just tried to mess with him!
"Alright, a toy figure for the old man."
"You can get yourself one as well."
No, definitely not! Muqiu may be a child at heart, but he was definitely not into toy figures anymore. Never had been in the first place. Mucheng like these kind of things, so maybe he should get one for her?
"I am going now."
And so Muqiu left the Internet Café to get something to eat and a toy figure.