Full-time master: I have a spirit behind me.

In the seventeenth season, the Ember team won the championship.

This is another championship after two years, and it is also Qiu Fei's last professional league as captain of the Ember team.

The last original member of the Ember team has officially retired.

As always, Qiu Fei meticulously prepared for the final press conference. On the return flight, he felt a strange, indescribable feeling.

This must be something that other seniors have all experienced, right?
Qiu Fei touched the championship medal on his chest and smiled.

……

"Then let's not say any more nonsense about happy retirement, cheers! Those still in service are not allowed to drink!" Old Wei glanced at the other table and gave a friendly reminder before raising his glass.

Once upon a time, the entire Ember team only needed one table to sit down, but now, the entire team has retired.

Qiu Fei glanced at Li Wen, who was looking at the wine glass in front of him with some difficulty, then at Bai Shu, who was exchanging glances with Fang Rui with ill intent, Sun Zheping, who was silently pouring wine, Zhang Jiale, who was cheerfully urging others to drink, Fang Shijing, who looked helpless, Chu Yunxiu, who was taking pictures of the nine-square grid, and Lin Jingyan, who was telling Lao Lü to pour less wine.

Just like when they once gathered together to celebrate the birth of the Ember team.

very nice.

Qiu Fei smiled and raised his wine glass.

……

"Hey, isn't this Editor-in-Chief Zhao? You've found some free time to drop by our Ember today?"

Little Zhao... no, he should be Comrade Old Zhao now. Old Zhao has long been used to Old Wei's sarcastic greetings over the years.

It's not entirely Old Wei's fault. He always greets people in this sarcastic tone, the same with everyone except his precious daughter and wife.

"What brings you here today?"

Comrade Zhao was considered an unofficial member of the Ember Team, and Lao Wei didn't stand on ceremony with him at all, casually asking him a question.

"Since Xiao Qiu retired, all the original members of the Ember team have retired, so I was thinking of doing a group interview with you all," Old Zhao said with a smile. "Is it convenient for you here, Boss Wei?"

"First me?" Old Wei was taken aback for a moment: "Sure, after all, everyone knows I'm the pillar of the Ember team, the golden beam that spans the sea. Go ahead and ask!"

Old Wei pulled Old Zhao to sit in the rest area. He was almost forty, but he still had the heart of a child.

"How has Captain Wei been doing these past few years?"

"...Do you need to ask me for such an official greeting?" Old Wei rolled his eyes. "You know how well I live. Can you stop making small talk? Have you forgotten how to do basic fieldwork after all these years of working in the office?"

"Uh..." Old Zhao scratched his head: "Subconsciously, subconsciously... well, it's true, I have a wife and kids, a warm bed, and I'm also a shareholder of the Ember Club and the head of a guild department..."

"Having completely left the professional scene for so many years, has Wei ever thought about going back?"

"Yes, I do." Lao Wei didn't hesitate for a moment. Although playing around in online games was quite lively and fulfilling, the feeling on the stage was ultimately different. Lao Wei dreamed of returning to the competition arena as he had in the past.

"Even if it means giving up everything you have now?" Old Zhao asked.

"Besides my wife and children, everything else, even if it means starting from scratch again." Old Wei's face no longer held its usual carefree smile; only nostalgia remained, a longing for the past.

"Getting older, but you've become more responsible, haven't you?" Fang Shijing walked over with a smile, his hands in his pockets, still wearing a white coat, and casually tossed a document to Lao Wei: "This is the material requirements list for the next batch. Take a look and do what you need."

"You fucking..." Old Wei's eyes widened: "So many? Wait, what's in your pocket? You weren't trying to record me saying something wrong earlier and play it for my wife, were you??"

"Ahem, how could that be? No way," Fang Shijing said with a smile. "You two chat first, I'll go now..."

"Ah, Brother Fang, if it's convenient..." Old Zhao quickly explained his previous plans.

Fang Shijing was taken aback. The final interview? This was quite meaningful for the Ember team... Fang Shijing naturally had no reason to refuse.

"Deputy Captain Fang, it seems there was some tension between you and your family because of your professional gaming career?" After confirming that Fang Shijing didn't mind, Old Zhao asked cautiously.

“Yes, we even had two major disagreements,” Fang Shijing laughed. “But things are much better now…”

Fang Shijing's parents were not as open-minded as Sun Zheping and Zhang Jiale's parents. They never thought that being a professional gamer was a respectable profession. When Fang Shijing wanted to play professionally with Lao Wei, he had a big fight with his family.

But how could there be any grudge between parents and children that lasted overnight? After Fang Shijing returned home from his first military service, he completed his studies as arranged by his parents and found a job in administration at a company that was neither too big nor too small.

However, such a life was undoubtedly too oppressive for Fang Shijing, who had once lived his ideal life.

He can still fight, and he wants to fight. He's unwilling to live a muddled, monotonous life where he can see the end from the beginning.

Then, the Ember team rekindled his flames, and with his remaining body, he once again became a source of fire.

But her family still doesn't understand...

"Have you ever regretted it?" Old Zhao asked in a low voice.

“I have regrets…” Fang Shijing laughed: “I regret that I was young and naive back then, and that I said some things that hurt my parents. Maybe I should have just told them what I really wanted, instead of saying those hurtful things…”

However, if you're asking whether I've ever regretted playing professionally... I've never regretted it. The facts prove that both of my choices were correct. Whether it was luck or skill, even if I didn't have the life I have now, I still think those choices were right.

After all, it was my own choice…

Old Zhao fell silent. As a reporter for an e-sports magazine, he was well aware of the sacrifices made by the first batch of professional players. In fact, it could be said that without their sacrifices, there would be no thriving e-sports industry today.

Old Zhao nodded, carefully wrote something down in his notebook, and watched Old Wei and Old Fang leave, bickering and arguing.

Next one...

"Recent work difficulties? No, I'm having a lot of fun doing live streams with Bai Shu." Fang Rui laughed. "The netizens are all very nice and talented. Besides, they can't win an argument with us."

“Yeah, yeah…” Bai Shu sighed, “A lot of my bonus gets deducted every month. Anyway, since I started working with Brother Rui, I haven’t seen what my bonus looks like. I’m thinking of transferring departments now, since I’ll be a deputy no matter where I go…”

"You little rascal..." "Ahem, let's not argue yet." Old Zhao advised, glancing at his notebook: "Gentlemen, what's the thing you regret most in your professional careers?"

"My biggest regret... my biggest regret is that we didn't retreat with Lao Lin, right?" Fang Rui scratched his chin. "Of course, it's not because of anything else, it's just that I should have realized back then that I was completely incompatible with Tang Hao. Staying behind would not only have delayed me, but also dragged down Hu Xiao... Hmm, I didn't say that well, can you help me polish it up?"

There's no need for formalities with Lao Zhao; I just say whatever comes to mind. If I say anything sensitive, Lao Zhao will smooth it out for me.

Old Zhao gave a wry smile: "Alright, alright... then Team White?"

"He retired too early," Bai Shu sighed. "He only got to experience being captain for a short while before retiring. They didn't even win the championship that year, and his reputation was completely ruined..."

"What kind of reputation do you have?" Fang Rui was taken aback. "Don't you have some unrealistic misunderstanding about yourself?"

"My reputation has always been very good, okay?"

"Your shamelessness is making you more and more like Lao Wei!"

"How can you use such foul language!"

"Hey, I've written that down. I'll play it for Lao Wei in a bit. So Lao Wei is using that as an insult in your eyes?"

"Wait, wait, wait, brother..."

Forget it, I probably won't get any information out of you.

Old Zhao sighed, ignoring the two arguing, and quietly left the preparation room.

……

"The luckiest thing? The luckiest thing must be entering the professional league, right?" Zhang Jiale laughed. "It was actually quite a coincidence that I entered the professional league. At that time, the guild I was in and the guild that Da Sun was in got into a fight, and in the end, it was just the two of us left. Da Sun asked if we wanted to form a team together, and I agreed..."

He is widely recognized as the unluckiest player in the league, but his luckiest thing is that he joined the professional league. Although he suffered a lot of injuries and criticism here, everything eventually got better.

"The second lucky thing... is that Da Sun is back, right?" Zhang Jiale thought for a moment and continued, "That guy is really unfair. After injuring his hand, he felt sorry for me and didn't dare to contact me. I went to his house to look for him several times, but he didn't see me. His aunt and uncle said he went out to see a doctor, but I know he was at home."

I'm so happy that my grandson is back..."

He didn't complain about anything from the past of Baihua. After Sun Zheping returned to the professional league and Zhang Jiale joined Yujin, he had already let go of that obsessive obsession.

From then on, Zhang Jiale rediscovered the joy of his former glory.

That trophy is indeed the goal of all professional players, but it's not everything.

Everything I experienced with my teammates, everything I gained along the way, is more important than that trophy...

"Of course, that's just a pretentious excuse; the trophy is definitely important." Zhang Jiale laughed. "Oh, and by the way, don't write that part down!"

"Uh... okay." Old Zhao sighed with some regret.

……

"The darkest moment?" Sun Zheping frowned.

"Ahem, well, if you don't want to talk about it, you don't have to mention Brother Zheping." Old Zhao subconsciously shrank his head.

"It's nothing..." Sun Zheping thought for a moment, "The darkest moment was when the doctor said that even with aggressive treatment, I might not be able to return to the professional league, right?"

Sun Zheping neither believed nor accepted it, and continued his training even after his usual recovery training.

Sleep in one more summer; I just wanted to go back to the summers of the past...

Fortunately, light has once again illuminated Sun Zheping's path forward.

"As for what I was thinking when I saved the person... it's just like what Sun Xiang said after the World Invitational Tournament." Sun Zheping smiled: "At that time, I didn't think so much. I saw someone in danger, and I could save them, so I did... Even if my hand didn't recover, I wouldn't regret it. After all, exchanging one hand for a life is worth it, isn't it?"

Old Zhao was stunned for a moment. He tried to laugh along, but found that he couldn't manage to.

Sun Zheping's retirement report at the time was very simple. It simply stated that Baihua team captain Sun Zheping retired due to injury, without any other information. It was just a simple sentence.

It didn't mention that Sun Zheping injured his hand while rescuing someone, nor did it exaggerate Sun Zheping's selflessness.

Just as Sun Zheping said, this is a very common thing. If it weren't Sun Zheping, he believed that anyone else in the professional league would have done the same.

Those who love glory are not bad people; the worst among them were simply those who wanted to rise to the top.

……

"There are quite a few problems I've encountered at work." Lin Jingyan sighed. "Take recently for example, when I went to an internet cafe to find trainees for the youth training camp, a girl stopped me on the way and insisted on playing professionally... but they were eliminated in the first round, and then they kept shifting the blame."

I said we could just go through the normal process of applying for the youth training camp's assessment, but they insisted that I recruit them through special admission, otherwise it would be considered discrimination..."

Lin Jingyan sighed. Even the Shu sisters, Shu Kexin and Shu Keyi, genuinely possessed professional skills to enter the league, yet they were still called "pretty faces" for a long time. As for these other girls...

"That's true..." Old Zhao scratched his head, unsure whether he should post it or not.

"The professional league, or the entire esports community, has never discriminated against anyone, and will absolutely never treat anyone unfairly because of their gender."

Further afield, there are Chu Yunxiu and Su Mucheng; closer to home, there are Dai Yanqi, Shu Keyi, Shu Kexin, Tang Rou, and Wu Jing—these are all top-tier female professional players, as well as a large number of foreign female professional players…

"There is indeed discrimination in the professional league, but it's discrimination against everyone equally, regardless of skill level... cough cough, anyway, that's the gist of it." Lin Jingyan slumped onto the table and let out a long sigh.

“I understand, I understand… It’s clear that Brother Lin has really suffered a lot…” Old Zhao nodded sympathetically: “Then, why not transfer him to another position?”

"A job transfer... or forget it." Lin Jingyan looked at the bustling training scene in the youth training camp, smiled and shook his head: "I'm old now, but looking at them is like seeing my former self. I've already retired, but looking at my past through them is quite nice..."

It's like how there are always people in the neighborhood who smile and watch unfamiliar children playing.

Looking at them makes me happy... (End of Chapter)