Earth’s Best Gamer

“Oh, hey, Mister Ling.”

Ji Ye returned and saw Ling Chen standing outside his door with a sad look. A small pile of cigarette stubs on the floor had told him that this man had been waiting there for some time.

“You finally came, Ji Ye…” Ling Chen forced up a spirited smile while looking at him with a pair of reddened eyes due to lack of sleep.

They knew each other well by then and would speak like friends, especially after that “serpent ecology lesson.”

Ling Chen was almost sure that the mysterious streamer was Ji Ye, so he went there to wait for him as soon as the stream ended, while assuming that Ji Ye would return as soon as the serpent had been dealt with.

He didn’t think he would have to wait for an entire night, though. And when Ji Ye didn’t show up as he expected, he became so anxious that he forgot how many cigs he had finished.

“Ji Ye, my friend, you finished that settlement mission, didn’t you?” Ling Chen asked eagerly as if the world depended on it.

“Huh? Well, yeah.” Ji Ye was a little surprised by the question, but still admitted it.

“You were using a crossbow, right?”

“Wait… There was a stream fixed on me, wasn’t there?” Ji Ye quickly realized what was going on.

He already had a hunch that players who were capable of achieving “flawless missions” might trigger a stream which could be viewed by citizens in the same city. Guessing the answer was not hard.

Ling Chen nodded. “That’s right. We saw it. Man, so it was you? That looked awesome!

“The authorities sent someone important to meet you. Quick, let’s head to the director’s office if you have the time right now.”

Inside the confederation office of Yang City, two middle-aged officers were chatting on a sofa.

For some reason, neither of them looked pleased.

The taller one, who was Director Zhou of Yang City, asked while impatiently fiddling a tea cup in his hand, “Sun, why did they send you, of all people? Did you perhaps come here to snatch our guy?”

The man sitting on the other side was Sun Changsheng, the deputy director working for Yang City’s provincial confederation office. Just by seeing how this man showed up as soon as the stream ended, anybody could tell that the provincial government was highly interested in the player they had seen.

Sun Changsheng was Director Zhou’s former workmate and friend. However, Zhou was not exactly happy to see him, because Sun Changsheng was also working for the confederation office of the provincial capital, Guan City.

Guan City was one of the biggest cities in this country. It had all sorts of advantages over Yang City including finance, job opportunities and political resources. Naturally, it was a giant magnet that attracted able citizens from nearby cities.

As revealed by recent studies, over 33% of the players originated from Guan City, and yet, the city only held 20% of the total provincial population. This implied that most professionals and elites went there to make a living.

“Don’t be like that, Zhou.” Sun Changsheng sipped his tea while maintaining a friendly smile. “I came on behalf of the provincial office. The ‘stream’ in Yang City has granted our province a chance to show our brilliant players to the whole world. Of course I must assist you.”

“Hmph.” Director Zhou didn’t buy that at all.

Beep!

The PBX phone on the table rang; Director Zhou quickly picked it up.

“He’s offline? Are you sure? Good. Bring him here!”

A few minutes later.

“Mister Ji Ye. As a representative of the confederation subdivision office of Yang City, I hereby grant you 100,000 Yuan, in celebration of your great contribution to the city,” Director Zhou spoke to Ji Ye gently, “Trust me, we could have presented you with more if we had been allowed more funds, which is… not the case right now.”

Such a sum was indeed a trifle, considering how Ji Ye had basically helped all of mankind.

“100,000. Zhou? Isn’t this a bit paltry as a reward? Mister Ji, how about moving to the capital? We always give new streamers at least a million. Initially. If you agree, we’ll also allocate a moderate-sized house for you to live in, all expenses on us.”

As expected, Sun Changsheng tried to lure Ji Ye to his side. And he looked sincere when making that offer.

As soon as he determined that Ji Ye was indeed the player who was doing the mission, he did some investigation and found all of Ji Ye’s personal information. Everything looked pretty good.

But Ji Ye’s answer didn’t come out as he expected.

“It’s fine, I don’t really need money. As for a place to live, I already own a multi-storied apartment downtown. It’s just that, I’ve been neglecting it for a while now. Can’t be helped since you know, duty calls.”

Sun Changsheng looked stumped, whereas Director Zhou almost laughed out loud.

Ji Ye was speaking the truth. His parents had left him enough money to spend freely for the rest of his life, as long as he didn’t lose his mind.

In fact, all the people in the room were aware that those who were selected to be players didn’t have problems with money. They could easily become the richest people in the world by selling the technologies they learned inside the Land of Inheritance. This was why the confederation prepared more ways to compensate players.

“Mister Ji, I thank you for the great deed you’ve done, which will undeniably benefit our nation,” Director Zhou claimed with a serious look. “The guidelines regarding an ‘Honor System’ will come out roughly in the next month, by which we will grant you Honor points accordingly.”

“Honor System?” Ji Ye raised an eyebrow.

Sun Changsheng explained this part, “Yes, we came up with the idea by copying the same Honor System inside the Land of Inheritance. Our experts are working to establish a comprehensive plan right now. Later, you’ll be able to use these Honor points to exchange for the assistance of specialists, or you can even borrow confidential intelligence to read, which is only available to some of the most important staff members in the office.” Sun Changsheng interrupted.

As the leader of the provincial government, he understood this better than Director Zhou.