Chapter 1: Never Give Up

Dragon E-sports Club, the dining room.

Captain Max was sitting at the table for dinner. He had been very fond of eating fish since he was a child. Today, the braised fish made by the cafeteria’s chef was fresh and delicious and Max finished the meal on the plate. This man looked serious and upright when working and would only show a relaxed smile when eating.

Vice-captain William passed by with his dinner plate. Once he saw that Max was eating fish, he smiled and said, “Captain, let’s go to the training room. The manager wanted me to pass on a message to you.”

Max made a sound of agreement and quickly finished the fish in front of him.

He was very skilled at eating fish. He would eat it cleanly and could even peel off the complete fish bone. The team members often joked, “Are you are cat?”

In addition, his game ID was ‘Old Cat’ so the fans affectionately called him ‘Cat God.’

Three days ago, Wulin’s official 16th season of the professional league had ended. The Dragon team missed the trophy again.

In the past few days, the Dragon team had been listless. They worked hard for half a year only to get no results, the team members were naturally not happy. Captain Max looked calm but he could guess that it wasn’t a good thing that the manager looked for the vice-captain.

However, he was the captain and couldn’t hide from the problem.

Max wiped his mouth, tidied up his dishes and returned to the team’s training room.

Several players hadn’t turned on their computers and were chatting to each other. Once they saw him come in, a trace of embarrassment flashed across their faces and they stopping their conversation. They called out in unison, “Captain…”

Max smiled and walked over to pat the shoulders of his teammates. “Don’t be too discouraged. Cheer up and refuel for next season.”

When he smiled, he revealed neat and white teeth. His features were very handsome and manly, while his smile was very confident. He gave off a very reliable and trustworthy feeling.

In the era of effeminate and pretty-faced men, such handsome men like him were uncommon.

“There will be no next season.” The vice-captain, William suddenly said, “The manager told me to tell you that the team’s performance in the last two years hasn’t been very good. He has experienced losses with funding and can’t sustain the daily operations of the team. Thus…he wants to settle our salary for the season and then…disband the Dragon team.”

William’s words were very difficult to say and Li Cangyu listened to him in silence.

This wasn’t the first time the team had been disbanded

At present, there were two hot e-sports games in country. One was Wulin and the other was Miracle. Max wasn’t a competitive player on the side of Wulin. His debut was actually in Miracle, a large-scale 3D Western fantasy online game. At the time, he was still young and he established a team with William and several friends. It was called FTD, an acronym for ‘For the Dream.’

Just look at the name and you would know that this team carried many teenager’s dreams.

Unfortunately, the performance of the FTD team wasn’t very good and it was impossible for FTD to reach the playoffs for two consecutive years. Eventually, the FTD team was disbanded due to a lack of sponsorships.

At the time, Max was in his early 20s. Despite the fact that the strength of a 20 year old competitor was likely to decline, he wasn’t reconciled with being quiet. After the team was disbanded, he refused the offers from many giant clubs. He moved with a few friends to another game called ‘Wulin.’

When he left ‘Miracle’ and transferred to ‘Wulin’, he was undoubtedly under tremendous pressure. The Miracle players thought he was fleeing while the Wulin players thought he was an annoying outsider.

He was sandwiched in the middle, neither on the inside or outside.

However, Max’s purpose in making this choice was very simple. He just wanted to win the trophy with his friends.

In the domestic gaming circle, Max was one of the few players to switch games.

From Miracle to Wulin, everyone thought he would quit. But he persisted. He clenched his teeth and built a new team called Dragon. Then he entered the Wulin professional league and reached the quarterfinals of the playoffs.

Unfortunately, they could only stop at the quarterfinals.

The professional league masters were like clouds. Despite the fact that Max and William were in the Dragon team, the level of their other teammates wasn’t outstanding. The overall strength was still weak and it was impossible to compare with those top players who were like clouds.

For three consecutive seasons, they lost in the first round of the playoffs and the trophy was always one step away.

This step looked very close, but also very far.

Max sometimes felt that as long as he tried harder, he might be able to touch the edge of the trophy. However, the results were always regrettable or disappointing.

Today, he once again heard the words ‘the team is disbanded’ from William. Max’s mood was much calmer than the team members had imagined. He was only silent for a few seconds before he asked, “How will the players be settled, did the manager say?”

“The manager said that anybody willing to stay in the game can wait for the transfer window and see if any other team accepts them. For those unwilling to continue the league, he will help them find another job.” William carefully conveyed the manager’s words.

Max nodded. The manager was doing his best with just this. Max was actually very grateful for the manager for taking over the mess after the team was disbanded. After all, he was a businessman and not a philanthropist. He had been losing money for two consecutive years after investing in the team. How could he continue to lose money?

The ones to blame were the team members for not having enough strength. Without the trophy, there were no league tournament prizes. The rank of the team wouldn’t go up, advertisements and endorsements would decrease and the investment in team operations would be lost.

Max didn’t blame the manager for his decision. Li Cangyu was realistic. This was the team he built and now that it reached a dead end, it was time to finish it.

After a moment’s silence, Max’s eyes calmly swept over everyone. He said in a low voice, “A few years have passed since we set up the team together. I didn’t take you to win the trophy. This is a dereliction of my duty as captain.”

“Now the team is disbanded again. I don’t want to force you to stay. If you are willing to continue playing, you can try to transfer to other teams. If you are tired and want to change course, I will help you find another job.”

“Brothers, everyone will now scatter. I only hope that you don’t regret the experience of playing with me all these years.”

The captain’s words were very calm but every word seemed to carry a heavy weight. Several members couldn’t help having red eyes.

Their captain had played games since he was 17 years old. Despite struggling step by step, he didn’t get any good results. However, the days when everyone worked hard together were the most precious memories kept.

Max was a good captain, this was the consensus of all the Dragon team members.

During the Miracle League, Max barely failed in the singles stage. He had an outbreak of nearly 600 hand speed and this was at the level of world-class e-sports players. When he played a summoner, he took first place in the professional rankings for a long time. The captains of several powerful giants in the Miracle League were envious of him.

At his level, he could clearly have better development. But he couldn’t give up on his good brothers and insisted on staying with the weaker team. He was a very loyal and affectionate man.

Now that the team was going to disband, he still wanted to help them find jobs. With such a captain, even if the end result wasn’t satisfactory, there was nothing to regret about the past few years.

Max saw that everyone was depressed and stretched out his arms, hugging a few good friends. He said, “Don’t frown. There are other ways, even if you can’t be an e-sports player. After all, we are still friends!”

The group listened to him and couldn’t help letting go of their heart’s grievances. The group of great men hanging their heads with expressions like they were at a funeral, wouldn’t it be shameful if they were seen by outsiders? They might’ve lost the game but they couldn’t lose their backbone.

“Captain said it well! Disbandment is disbandment. We are all still friends! We will often contact each other!”

“It is better to go out and have a drink. Let’s get drunk tonight!

“We will team up to take down the captain!”

The group of people went to a restaurant they often frequented and asked for a private room. This last meal meant people were excited and most of the players became drunk. Max had a high alcohol tolerance and remained sober despite drinking with them to the end. Vice-captain William didn’t touch a single drop of alcohol.

After eating and drinking, William helped Max bring the drunkards back to the dorms. Then the two people returned to the double room at the end of the corridor.

At the door, William habitually poured two glasses of water and handed one cup to Max. Max drank to soothe his dry throat and said, “This isn’t like the last time we disbanded. Many players have already reached the retirement age. I can no longer form a new team with everyone. They should think about other ways. Some people want to go and I won’t stop them.”

“I understand.” William whispered. “They all have their own plans. No one will blame you for disbanding the team.”

“What about you?” Max looked back at him. “What are you doing to do?”

“I want to study abroad. I have studied English. If I go for further study abroad, I might be able to become a professional translator.”

Max looked surprised, “You aren’t playing anymore?”

“Well, I am tired.” William shrugged helplessly. “I’m not like you. You’re not young. You still aren’t giving up?”

Max smiled. “Give up, these two words have never been in my dictionary.”

William couldn’t help looking at Max. Max's expression was as calm as ever.

Yes, the man in front of him had experienced many setbacks. However, he always remained calm and confident no matter what difficulties he faced. William believed that there was no difficulty that could knock Max down, because his heart was always rock solid.

As his partner, William was well aware of Max's level when it came to game playing. He was the real deal. Unfortunately, he had the bad luck to not meet strong teammates who could fight next to him. He didn’t receive a trophy for years and couldn’t prove his true level.

Regardless of whether it was Wulin or Miracle, individual heroism wasn’t popular. The team was the most important thing during the competition. A strong personal ability was useless if the teammates couldn’t keep up. The disbandment of the Dragon team was painful. However, this was also a new opportunity for Max. Perhaps he could find a team more suitable for himself?

William thought about this and couldn’t help wondering, “Since you don’t want to give up, you can try going to other teams. Looking at the current teams on the Wulin side, your style of play can only be integrated into the Dragon Warriors team right?”

“That’s right. Max took out his phone and called a person’s number in his address book.

–Hoah.

This person was the manager of the Dragon Warriors team and also the executive director of the country's E-sports Association.

“Cat God?” The call was quickly accepted and a gentle voice was heard. There was clearly a smile in the person’s tone. “This is the first time you took the initiative to call me. Suddenly looking for me in the middle of the night, did you go on a late night adventure with your team?”

“I wanted to talk to you about a serious matter.” Max said seriously. “The 16th season has just ended and the transfer period is approaching. As a manager, are you interested in accepting a homeless god-level player?”

“……” The other person seemed to be choking. After several coughs, they asked with surprise, “Who is the homeless great god player? Who is it?”

“It’s me.” Max said calmly.

“……” The silence lasted for a few seconds. Then the other person spoke at a very fast speed, “Are you sure you’re not drunk? Wait, I’m going to buy a plane ticket. I will meet you at noon tomorrow!”

Noah's actions were as quick and as energetic as Max. He quickly bought a ticket.

William made a facial expression, “You are thick-skinned enough to call yourself a great god?”

Max smiled and said, “Don’t you know that I just called Noah? In order to deal with his thick skin, I need to be more thick-skinned. Tactically speaking, this is fighting poison with poison.”

“……” What was with the poison? William rolled his eyes and asked, “Are you really going to the Dragon Warriors team? Aren’t you going to think about others?”

“Yes.” Max had already made his decision long ago and he spoke without hesitation. “I know Noah and I believe that only he can provide me with the best platform.”

Feeling self-pity because the team was disbanded wasn’t Max’s style. He preferred to take the initiative and seize opportunities.

A talent scout couldn’t find a good steed, then the good steed would find his own talent scout.

Opportunities were only reserved for those were ready, wasn’t this the case?

Noah couldn’t help smiling at the thought of seeing the shameless team manager tomorrow

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