Cosmic Professional Gladiator
chapter-44

Sun Li sat on his sofa and held a glass of red wine. He swirled it gently and chuckled when he saw the smear of red on the glass under the light.

"I was wrong back then. I thought that Xu Jingming—who ranked seventh during the launch—was young and had great potential. I thought he would be dazzling at the Firestarter Cup," Sun Li said softly. "I wanted to cozy up to the powerful and earn a huge sum of money. Who would've thought that it was nothing of that sort!"

"He's now worse than me; I managed to become one of the ten sharpshooters after all. Although I'm only at the bottom, I'm still a first-rate sharpshooter in China."

Melee warriors are everywhere these days, but sharpshooters are rare. I'm much more popular than Xu Jingming, Sun Li thought. Many large corporations have entered the virtual world to establish teams. Professional teams have the best prospects.

The team leader of the Golden Roc team I joined is Tie Lianyun. The other three teammates are on the same level as Xu Jingming. It was only because sharpshooters are rare that they recruited me. Sun Li was still very excited.

The team leader was Tie Lianyun!

Tie Lianyun had taken first place three times during the World Martial Arts Tournament! Now, only Liu Hai, Lei Yunfang, and Zhou Yi dared to say that they were better than him.

Buzz.

Sun Li looked at the caller ID and put down his glass before picking up the video call.

"Sun Li," a silver-haired youth on the other end of the line said with a smile, "have you received the money?"

"Yup," Sun Li said with a smile.

"We'll see how you perform at the Firestarter Cup," the silver-haired youth said. "This is the Golden Roc Group's first entry into the gaming industry. As a sharpshooter, you are a very important part of the team."

Sun Li nodded and said, "Don't worry, Director Tian. My four teammates are very strong. I'm confident that I can perform better when working with them."

The silver-haired youth nodded. "But there's something I have to remind you—the team is still trying to recruit Wang Yi. If Wang Yi is willing to join our Golden Roc team, you will only be placed as a substitute. Don't worry; you won't get a single cent less!"

"Director Tian, I understand," Sun Li said with a smile. "If Wang Yi joins the team, I will naturally play second fiddle. I'm still very clear about the gap between us."

The silver-haired youth nodded. "Alright, get ready. The training for the tournament will begin in an hour."

"Okay." Sun Li smiled and nodded.

After hanging up, his expression turned gloomy as he scoffed. Wang Yi? She was a Divine sharpshooter on the first day of the virtual world's launch, and she's much more terrifying now. Zhou Yi is the only sharpshooter in his own tier, and only Wang Yi and Zhuang Ziyu are inferior to him! Wang Yi is also a beautiful sharpshooter and a very popular livestreamer. I know that several large teams are vying for her, so is it that easy to snatch her?

I'm so envious of them.

Zhou Yi built his own team and disdained cooperation with any corporation. A group of experts took the initiative to join him!

Wang Yi is the strongest female sharpshooter. She's extremely popular and is sought after by many large corporations.

The Heavenly Note Group signed Zhuang Ziyu and established a team with him as the core.

Sun Li sighed. Only the three of them out of the sharpshooters are special.

There was no other way. Those three were clearly much stronger than the sharpshooters behind them in terms of strength.

For a long time, China only had three super sharpshooters: Zhou Yi, Wang Yi, and Zhuang Ziyu.

These three people became Divine sharpshooters on the first day through the preliminaries. Their archery was terrifying in reality, and they had long entered China's patronage list. After a month of hard training in the virtual world, the archery techniques of these three naturally became even more incredible.

...

In the living room, after Xu Jingming hung up on Sun Li, he turned on the projection and blocked the latter.

"Jingming, don't be angry," Li Miaomiao said softly.

Xu Jingming said, "Actually, I should've realized it a long time ago. Sun Li only joined my team because of the strength and potential I displayed, so it's not surprising that he's leaving now."

Li Miaomiao comforted him. "Don't blame yourself. Sun Li is a vile person; how would you know what a vile person thinks when you haven't stooped as low as him? If he wants to leave, it's best he leaves early. It's already the 25th, and it's the end of the month! The experts have already formed teams, so leaving at this time is really harmful!"

Xu Jingming nodded and said, "He did it on purpose. He couldn't even be bothered to inform his other three teammates! We've trained together for so long, yet he left without even apologizing."

Li Miaomiao said, "It's fine as long as you don't keep in touch with such a vile person in the future. It's not worth getting angry over him. In fact, we should've gotten everyone to sign a contract when we established the team. That way, he won't be able to quit due to the contract."

"Our team was all about verbal agreements to begin with, and we don't have a contracted salary. It's not good to have a contract restricting us," Xu Jingming said. "Since we're not on the same page, it's fine for him to leave!"

Li Miaomiao nodded. "What's most pressing now is to find the last teammate! At the beginning of the month, many people were willing to team up with you. But now, those who are interested in the Firestarter Cup have probably already formed a team. Where are we to recruit anyone now? And it needs to be a sharpshooter."

"I'll think of something. I'll talk to Shuo and the others about this." Xu Jingming got up and walked to the bedroom.

When Li Miaomiao saw this scene, she opened her working chat group. "Sister Kong, Xiaozeng, help me check on all the sharpshooters. Have they joined a team? Is it possible to invite them?"

"Copy that!"

"Roger that!" The two assistants immediately started collecting information.

In his personal space in the virtual world.

"Why did you suddenly summon us?" Heng Fang lay on the sofa languidly as he held a grape and took in the vista of the ice lake atop the mountain outside the window.

"Why isn't Sun Li here?" Liu Chongyuan and Yang Qingshuo sat to the side and ate casually.

They were all buddies, so they made themselves at home.

Xu Jingming sat there. "He quit the team."

Heng Fang, Liu Chongyuan, and Yang Qingshuo were stunned.

"Are you kidding?" Liu Chongyuan found it unbelievable. "It's already the 25th today, and the registration starts in three days. He's quitting? How many times has our team trained together?"

"I've saved his video call with me. Watch it." Xu Jingming posted the video.

"…Help me pass the message. There's nothing I can do about it; I need the cash." In the video, Sun Li hung up after saying his piece.

"A man should honor his words! Was what he was spouting in the past just bullsh*t?" Heng Fang wore a murderous look. "Couldn't he tell us earlier even if he wanted to leave?"

No matter how good-tempered Yang Qingshuo was, he was still somewhat angry. "The virtual world has only been launched for a month, and we've already trained together for 20 days! To suddenly leave the team is a waste of our training time."

"We helped him as sparring partners! We attacked him and honed his close-combat archery skills," Liu Chongyuan said angrily. "His archery skills improved, and he's suddenly leaving the team now!? He didn't even bother informing us!"

"Without the few of us helping him as sparring partners for free, how could his close-combat archery skills improve so quickly? Could he have entered the ranks of the top ten sharpshooters?" Heng Fang cursed. "The competition is about to begin, but he left the team without even apologizing. What an ingrate!"

"He's vile," Xu Jingming said. "The most important thing now is to find the last teammate."

"It's too difficult to find a sharpshooter now." Liu Chongyuan shook his head.

"The registration begins soon. How are we to recruit a sharpshooter now?" Heng Fang also had a headache. "In Fairy Wang's top 100 rankings, there are only ten sharpshooters. The strongest is Zhou Yi. The second tier consists of Zhuang Ziyu and Wang Yi. There are also two in the third tier, and there are five in the fourth tier."

"From what I know, only the second tier's Wang Yi and the fourth tier's Fang Cheng aren't confirmed," Heng Fang said. "Fang Cheng also has several teams inviting him, and Wang Yi is being fought over. The Sky Blue Group previously offered 100 million to sign her, but Wang Yi ignored it. Several well-known large corporations are fighting over her."

"Everyone knows the importance of the virtual world. The popularity of the strongest and beautiful sharpshooter, Wang Yi, is what the large corporations value. The large corporations target popularity," Yang Qingshuo said.

"We don't have the money, so our chances of inviting Wang Yi and Fang Cheng are very low," Liu Chongyuan said.

"Brother Xu, don't you know Wang Yi?" Yang Qingshuo asked.

"We've only fought a few times, so we don't have a deep relationship." Xu Jingming shook his head. "Let's think of a solution first. If we really can't find a sharpshooter, we'll find another warrior. The five warriors will charge together."

"With a sharpshooter, the team will undergo a qualitative change," Heng Fang said. "If we can't recruit any of the top ten sharpshooters, inviting a weaker sharpshooter won't mean much."

"Let's each come up with a solution. We'll meet again in three days. After all, the registration deadline is nighttime on the 31st," Xu Jingming said.

"Alright, let's each come up with a solution."

The four of them temporarily dispersed.

...

"Boss, this is the information we have gathered on all the famous Divine sharpshooters. There are a total of 27 of them, and there are 17 behind the ten famous sharpshooters… Their strength is also very close to Sun Li's, but they are inferior to Sun Li in melee combat," Sister Kong said.

Li Miaomiao looked at the information in front of her and stared at a name on it. "Wang Yi?"

"Wang Yi is a sharpshooter second only to Zhou Yi. She's also in the second tier on the expert rankings set by Fairy Wang," Sister Kong said. "There are only two sharpshooters in the second tier—Wang Yi and Zhuang Ziyu. She's also a beauty and is very popular, so many large corporations are fighting over her."

"We've met Wang Yi, right?" Li Miaomiao asked.

"Dai Xiaoqing brought Wang Yi here. Wang Yi is also your fan, and she loves your songs," Xiaozeng said.

"Sister Xiaoqing and Wang Yi are good friends." Li Miaomiao thought for a moment. "Leave first. I'll talk to Xiaoqing."

"Alright." Sister Kong and Xiaozeng left.

Li Miaomiao immediately invited Dai Xiaoqing.

Soon…

Whoosh.

A tall and cool young girl came to Li Miaomiao's personal space.

"Sister-in-law, what's the matter?" Dai Xiaoqing smiled. She was Dai Tongda's daughter and Xu Jingming's junior sister.