"The 11th UEFA Cup is about to begin!"

The cold night wind whistled outside the window. Although February was approaching and the warm spring was about to arrive, this was something that would happen later - even the high-tech of the 22nd century could not change the changes brought about by the four seasons.

Winter is coming. Although the house Duan Qing rents has all the basic conditions including energy, heating and cooling, Duan Qing's heart still feels like winter for some reason.

So he gave up tossing and turning on the bed, got up, made a cup of hot coffee, and then browsed the recent news - the afternoon before yesterday, a coworker who had worked before Duan Qing came to his door and paid him an old debt from a long time ago.

This gave Duan Qing a big surprise. To celebrate, he went to the market to do a sweep and prepared a lot of surplus food for his home. The coffee he is making now is one of them. Of course, it is synthetic.

The cheapest kind.

After the coldness in his heart dissipated a little, Duan Qing noticed the most eye-catching headline.

The new UEFA Cup is about to begin again. Although the news of registration for the UEFA Cup is released almost at this time every year, so this kind of event arrangement can no longer be called news. But the game

The world is still paying a lot of attention to this news. On the forums of major platforms, the amount of attention is even greater than the "Emerald Forest" incident a few days ago.

After so many years of hard work, the results of the alliance's efforts have finally emerged. This large-scale event they have spared no effort to organize has become a grand event in the virtual gaming industry. Whether it focuses on the competition between experts or focuses on

Those who want to exchange game skills, even interact with each other, use martial arts to make friends, discover talents, or just join in the fun, will come to participate in this game feast, making this game more lively. Of course, in the ten years since the League Cup was founded,

, many godly players and players have been born here, and all kinds of anecdotes have also been produced in this event, becoming the capital for players to chat after dinner.

What's more, this year's UEFA Cup seems to want to make some changes of its own after experiencing the first ten years.

"A more streamlined event arrangement! Fairer scoring standards! A more relaxed competition environment! What are allies waiting for? Come and sign up to compete and show your true colors!"

Oh, this is still a big deal... But Duan Qing casually looked through the 15-year league competition process that has entered the countdown, and found that there have indeed been a lot of changes.

The new competition events have finally reduced some "feelings" and decisively abandoned the virtual game competition events that are still in the previous generation of game technology. This will of course arouse opposition from some old players, but in the face of the general trend, these will be eliminated in a few years.

The waves of opposition that started a few years ago have finally become powerless.

Two years ago, a new generation of game architecture based on the latest computing methods of optical computers was released and formally tested. At that time, some virtual games that had lagged behind two generations finally began to let go of their glory.

Towards the end of their lives. After all, the designs and architectural traces of these games that have been born for seven or eight years are too old. Even if these projects are retained for competition, they will always have some disadvantages compared with those games of the new era.

Feeling out of place.

In an event that takes place in a real scene in a virtual world, but also has some two-dimensional competition events that rely on images and operations, wouldn't this make people feel... not inconsistent?

After all, they are not on the same level.

Of course, Duan Qing knows that the content of these current virtual games does not seem to have changed much on the surface. Gun battle themes, martial arts themes, fantasy themes, science fiction themes... the content of the games will never exceed human imagination.

.But people like Duan Qing can also see that underneath these surface contents, there have indeed been huge changes, whether it is the design and logical operation methods inside the game, or the operation and reaction methods outside the game.

Otherwise, he would not be so stretched in the free world.

Thinking about other people, they would feel similar to himself... Duan Qing took a sip from the rim of the cup, turned off the news, then flipped through the friend list, and unexpectedly found Xue

The name of the magical ice.

What a dedicated person... Duan Qing thought to himself. Then he sent a message using the input device: "Will you participate?"

As one of the few remaining player parties, no one in the five-person team led by Duan Qing came forward to give any detailed explanation for the soaring light pillars born in the Emerald Forest. However, they had done it with Duan Qing on the Emerald Tower.

The few players in one group came out to show off their power. However, faced with various doubts and not knowing more details, they could not describe all the aspects of the whole story clearly, so they did not make the whole story round.

In addition to exposing more doubts, the only remaining effect is to make this matter more heated.

Of course, the participants still named Duan Shanyue and Xueling Huanbing. As for the rest... they probably regarded Duan Qing and the others as their subordinates or unknown passers-by, so they didn't mention them much.

Already.

In this matter, Duan Qing himself did not, and he did not say anything to warn others - he felt that it was the freedom of his teammates whether to expose this kind of thing. Therefore, in this situation, Xue Ling Huan Bing and

The two guys from Broken Mountain didn't say anything afterward, and he didn't know why - for the two of them, this was a great opportunity to build the reputation of their guild.

Of course, he would not care or care about such things. As for whether someone would come to trouble them after this incident, it was not up to him.

Not long after, he received a reply: "I want to participate, but my level is not high enough."

Then he received another question: "Why is it invisible?"

"Of course... it's for personal reasons. Are you not of a high level?"

Duan Qing also went to the league's Hall of Fame to look up the ID of Xueling Huanbing. He was a player who had appeared in the past three years. Of course, he had some achievements, but from Duan Qing's perspective, these achievements were not in his eyes.

Because she is beautiful and always has a straight face, as cold as ice, fans of Wings of Liberty gave her the title of "Ice and Snow Goddess". After getting along for a period of time, Duan Qing naturally

I somewhat sneer at this title - my skills are not very good, and I am not very cold, but...a little stubborn.

Of course, he couldn't deny that she was beautiful.

"The matter in the Emerald Forest has been delayed for a long time. My level has dropped. If I cannot reach level 40 or above before the registration deadline, the president will not agree."

Insufficient level means that the attributes are not enough and the equipment cannot keep up, which means that the strength is not enough. Even if you participate in the competition, you will probably be beaten. The backstage of Wings of Freedom is probably for the sake of reputation and winning rate, so they make this decision

Such an internal requirement.

"That's it...then we can only work harder."

"I will."

"If...you participate, I will also cheer for you." Duan Qing hesitated for a while, and then added one more sentence. Then he felt that he was really mean.

I've suffered a loss like this once before.

But it didn't take long before he received the same brief reply as always.

"Thanks."

After closing the dialogue window, Xue Ling Huan Bing shook her head, and then put the previously temporarily put aside dialogue in front of her again: "I already know what the president means. Do the people in the first team have any other requests?"

"No...but the team members have been a bit emotionally unstable recently. I'm worried...it will affect their performance in April."

"If you can't adjust your mentality...can you still call yourself a professional player? These are my exact words, and that's what I told them."

Xue Ling Huan Bing, who wrote this, actually felt a little confused in her heart, because during the incident in the Emerald Forest, she more or less showed some instability of will, and...

"Okay, Captain."

Thinking of the ID name of the man she just talked to, Xue Ling Huan Bing felt a wave of emotion in her heart, but it only took a moment for her to return to her previous state after years of training.

"Is there anything else you can ask..."

Green mountains on the road... green mountains... that's right.

As if she suddenly remembered something, she called back the dialog box again: "What happened to the person named Duan Qing who you asked you to investigate before?"

"...There is no result yet, but we are narrowing the scope. What's wrong, captain, the situation is very..."

"It's okay, just...just asking."

She waved her fingers casually in front of the screen, and then temporarily put aside these things and the numerous windows.

"It really... fits her style." On the other side, Duan Qing shook his head, closed the chat window, and deleted a lot of other messages.

Ever since the rumor of "The Sky-Breaking Blade returned to the world" spread, a lot of inquiries would pop up in his friends' messages every day, and even his mailbox was flooded with various similar emails. Duan Qing took out Taishan

His calm attitude pushed all these things aside. He had said goodbye to his past self, whether in reality or in the game.

Now he just wants to play the game.

Randomly flip through industry news, career reviews, and player chatter - the world of games is so exciting, and there is never a lack of topics. Even "Jianghu and Wings of Freedom battle on the battlefield", "Hot-blooded youths fight for NPC masters"

Things like "fighting" and "new skills are released, but ownership leads to disputes" will also be discussed by players with the mentality of watching the fun. There are a few people among them who are either enthusiastic or indignant and curse each other. Most of them

It's just for the views you support, or for the stars and guilds you support. After all, positions and values ​​must be firm no matter what.

But there are some topics that are not suitable for such a routine. For example, the news that Duan Qing saw next.

"Christo dies at age 91."

Duan Qing sighed.

Christo is one of the leaders of the "Liberator" group and the chief designer of the fourth generation virtual game technology. A few years ago, this lovely foreign man frequently appeared on various media terminals, showing off himself

IQ, while showing the research results of their entire group. But he had to rely on the development of those technologies to complete a triple jump in virtual game technology in his later years, and also completed a leap from poverty to billionaire.

This slovenly, humorous designer always looks like an old naughty boy when talking to the media, which makes people laugh and laugh at the same time. At the same time, he is deeply admired. Of course, this admiration is not because of the billions he has earned.

million capital, but because of his contribution to virtual technology. Without the efforts of him and his team over the years, perhaps until now, all games would still be stuck in the peripheral operation and control stage.

However, this old man who opened up a great era in the gaming industry still failed to break through the shackles of time.

Duan Qing opened the news silently, and then after a brief death announcement and life introduction, he saw a video. This video was recorded by Christo while lying on the hospital bed before his death. According to his wishes

, after his death, this video will be released to the world as his last message to everyone in the world.

It can't be something like "Do you want my treasure?" Duan Qing thought maliciously, and then opened this video that has been watched countless times by players.

The video is very short, and it seems that due to the haste of recording and emotional excitement, the camera keeps shaking. As the old man was dying, he did not have much energy to waste. But judging from the picture, he was very excited and full of wrinkles

His face was filled with a flush that was like a flashback.

Duan Qing spent five minutes reading it, then remained silent for more than ten minutes, and finally closed the browsing interface and entered the game.

In my mind, the naughty voice belonging to the old man is still echoing.

"Dear players, I am about to go to another world, a free world."

"My life is colorful. I am honored to be able to create more colorful worlds and then let more people appreciate these worlds."
To be continued...