Just as Feng Luo heard the system notifications… Elsewhere, inside the VIP dining room on the top floor of a hotel, two players sat face-to-face, looking at each other. On the table in front of them was also a bottle of the most expensive liquor, the Lucifer 16.
“Thousand, did you really not notice that Invikill guy’s traces back then? With the talent of your eyes, I am not convinced at all.” On the left was an Earth Manipulator wearing a yellow casual outfit that was a little wrinkled. He asked the player in front of him while pouring a drink for himself.
“Cough… cough…”
Seated across the Earth Manipulator was a 20-over-year-old Sniper player who looked pale.
He did not answer the question immediately after hearing the question. Instead, he raised his head and drank the full glass of liquor in his cup in one go. However, he was unexpectedly choked by the strong liquor, which resulted in him coughing a few times.
“It was not easy for you to accumulate fame and become popular. After this battle, we can safely say that you have truly become a wedding dress that accentuated others. You’ve allowed someone else to climb while stepping over you. This isn’t my impression of you at all.” The Earth Manipulator frowned and spoke to the pale Sniper player who was patting his chest while coughing.
“Additionally, the consequences of such a trade is the worst of all. Even if you succeed in crawling out of this in the future, maybe even reaching a greater height, this incident could easily cause a fatal wave to you in the future if someone were to bring it up. What is the reason? Are you really planning on not telling me? We’ve always got to know each other better by exchanging blows. I have to say that I believe that you and I it off the best. We’ve known each other for so long. Old Thousand, you should at least let me know a little bit of the truth? Cough… I need money, fast. A huge sum at that. At the same time, due to the same reason, I have to leave the game for quite some time.” The pale Sniper player was the only Sniper among the Top Ten Masters of Storm City, Thousand Miles, a.k.a “Ghost Eye.”
“Since I’ll be away from the game for a long time, my popularity will take a huge hit, as such, the guild board did not allow it. They said that if I wanted to force a move, they will investigate my action of ‘breaching’ my contract, that they were smiling and begging me to sign back then. It is only now that I realize that I’ve been too cocky. I overly estimated my status. They only value the benefits a person can bring as well as one’s utility value…” Thousand Miles spoke with a sense of irony as well as contempt.
“Indeed, under the obligations of the contract, I have to ensure that I do not do anything that may be detrimental to my popularity, and I have to take part in PK matches and cooperate with commercial exploitative news reports. However, no rule stated that I had to win each of my PK matches. Now that I have utterly lost in the PK match, to those people, my utility value has dropped to the lowest. By now, many are probably hoping that I’ll leave on my own volition.” Thousand Miles said after a few seconds of silence.
“Why didn’t you tell me that you are in need of money?” The Earth Manipulator was currently cutting barbequed meat with kitchen utensils, and after speaking, he forked a piece of meat and put it in his mouth.
After hearing Thousand Miles’ words, the Earth Manipulator raised his head to look at Thousand Miles.
“I am in need of a lot of money. It is not just a few million or tens of millions.” Thousand Miles raised his head and stared at the Earth Manipulator and spoke calmly. “You’re just a solo player who does not want to join any guild. Moreover, you spend a lot of money too. You’re probably just managing to get by with maintaining all those top-class gears to keep yourself among the top players with just those endorsement deals you have, right? Particularly, I heard that you bought a Legendary Grade necklace just a few days ago at a high price. And now, your bank account only has five zeroes, at most.” The Earth Manipulator’s eyes were wide open as his expression said, ‘You’ve guessed right.’
“Hey, Old Thousand, you really are the one who knows me best in the game. Would you believe me if I told you that I am actually the heir of a super mega-rich family? And the reason why I became a superstar player was simply because I was bored? If you really asked, no matter how much it is, I’d have been able to lend it to you.” The Earth Manipulator said while drinking liquor. As he drank, he tore off some animal’s leg and started chomping on it.
His actions were definitely not like someone who had received aristocratic training since a young age, and definitely not the strict dining manners required from the heir of an aristocratic rich family.
However, Thousand Miles spoke without any hesitation, but continued speaking with a calm expression. “I believe you, but I still don’t borrow money from you.”
“Ugh… Cough, cough…” The Earth Manipulator choked on his food, and then on the strong alcohol, which resulted in him coughing non-stop.
“Actually before the PK match, someone else found me and told me that he’d give me the money I needed as well as helping me solve the contractual problems with my guild. That’s why you don’t have to worry about it anymore.” Thousand Miles drank another cup of the liquor and looked at the Earth Manipulator. “Forget about me, how about you? How confident are you in that match against Sword Ki Long River not far in the future?”
The Earth Manipulator touched his chin, and pondered for a while before he spoke. “Hard to say actually. There wasn’t a lot of pressure at first, but after watching your battle, I found this Force thing to be quite hard to deal with. The most troublesome issue is that those with the Force can use the skills of Legendary Grade gears. By then, if he suddenly used something like that, my chance of winning will probably be less than 30%.”
On the Storm City region forum, below the two incredibly popular threads, there was also one thread that had been gradually gaining popularity. At that time, it had already gained the attention of several Storm City players.
“Two Number Ones in the Superstar Ranking list have agreed to a fight. Who is the real number one master in Storm City?” The popularity of the thread had reached over three million, and after the September Guild thread, its popularity had been increasing quickly.
The content of the thread was a teaser of the PK match between the Storm City number one master, Sword Ki Long River, and the other Storm City number one master.
It was natural that titles like “Storm City’s number one master” or “War’s number one Sniper” would spark debate over who was stronger.
However, for two number “one” masters to exist in Storm City, it sounded a little dubious and odd.
Actually, it was quite normal, as the “Top ten masters” selected by the players were never fixed. Using September Night Rain as an example, he had now dropped out of the “Top ten masters” list.
As for Thousand Miles, who was completely defeated in the PK match that became a top headline for the day and had lost a lot of popularity, it was pretty much a guarantee that he would drop out of the “Top ten masters” list by next week.
As such, the so-called top ten masters list actually had more than ten people. Counting from the beginning of the game to now, the number of players who had made it into the list actually numbered in the hundreds.
There was another thing; although players habitually called the strongest superstar players “Top ten masters,” there were actually two ranking lists in the superstar section, superstar power ranking and the superstar popularity ranking.
There was naturally no need to explain the rules of the strength ranking list, as its main metrics for measuring players were in terms of the player’s strength and battle results over a certain period.
As for the popularity ranking, it mainly looked at a player’s popularity. Sword Ki Long River was the number one in the popularity ranking list for over five months. However, in terms of his strength, he never maintained the first place, as his total PK points had always been behind one player, and as such, he was pushed to second place.
As for the person who kept pushing him down, he was the Earth Manipulator player that Storm City players called the “Shell God.”
“Shell God… every time I think of this nickname, I really want to beat up and kill the guy who made that name.” The Earth Manipulator said with a depressed expression.