Chapter 207
After a day of self-hypnosis, Sophia finally convinced herself to continue living a life of ease and leisure.
Stanley paid a New Year’s call to them early in the morning of the third day of the New Year. Festively
dressed in a red hat and a red scarf, he searched all over the ce for Michael—who would stay home
over these two days—as soon as he stepped through the door. After extending New Year greetings to
Michael as per their family’s custom, he stood up and demanded a present from Michael. “Where is my
New Year’s present, uncle?” he asked.
Atst, Michael wasn’t d in Pikachu-themed or frog-patterned pajamas that day. However, he was
dressed in a pair of pink coral fleece pajamas, which was an unbearable sight to behold even with his
striking good looks. It was a mystery as to who had chosen such a horrible-looking colorbination for
him.
Upon hearing Stanley’s words, he took out a big, bright red packet out of his coral pajamas. Stanley
promptly took the packet from him before bowing and scraping with delight, “Thank you, Uncle! Thank
you! Hehe, hehe!”
However, he still seemed unsatisfied after getting the red packet. He kept on pestering Michael and
asked, “Is that all, Uncle? Is there anything else?”
Michael answered, “There’s nothing else.”
Having finished his sentence, he turned around and went upstairs to his study expressionlessly. Stanley
went after him and bbered on and on along the way as he said, “Please give it to me, Uncle. Can’t
you give me that as a present? You’re the best person in the world, Uncle. I’m begging you, please!”
It was early in the morning, and Sophia had just helped Nathan to wash up, brush his teeth, and leave
home when she saw Stanley following Michael into the study like a wagging little tail.
Jeez, he’s here so early in the morning! He really clings to Michael a lot, she thought to herself.
This New Year was quite stressful for Michael. After all, no man could celebrate the New Year happily
when his wife was targeted by a pervert.
However, Stanley seemed to have no idea about his unhappiness right now. He pestered Michael like a
pet dog and said, “Uncle, please give your god-tier weapon—the Hundred-Mile Streamers—to me! Since
you don’t y the game anymore, why don’t you give it to me as a present? Just give it to me, please!”
He then added, “If you’re not willing to give it to me as a present, can’t you lend it to me for a few days?
I’ll give it back to you once this time’s Esports World Championship is over, alright? Uncle, uncle! Please
say something!”
The Hundred-Mile Streamers was a god-tier weapon Michael made in the game using materials he had
bought himself. Despite being forged many years ago, this weapon had never been revealed to the
public; this was probably because Michael had never encountered any equally-matched opponent that
required him to use this weapon. After all, he was the most formidable yer across all of the game’s
servers, so it no longer mattered whether he used the Hundred-Mile Streamers or not.
A couple of days ago, Harry had borrowed the Hundred-Mile Streamers from him with the purpose of
showing off. Having spotted the weapon, Stanley kept messaging Michael via Messenger since then; he
wanted to persuade Michael to give it to him, but Michael wouldn’t budge at all.
“Uncle, I’ll be entering thepetition very soon. With our team’s invincibility, we can definitely make our
way out of Cethos—perhaps even Asia. By then, we will bepeting against teams from all over the
world, so we’ll be at a great disadvantage without a powerful weapon!” said Stanley. Then, he continued,
“You have no idea how savage the teams from other countries are. We’ll be at a great disadvantage
without a powerful weapon!”
Without saying a word, Michael switched on hisputer and checked the current progress of the
Esports World Championship’s ‘Swordsman Game’ division. Selective trials had begun in other
countries, resulting in fiercepetition among the teams. On the other hand, Cethos was to host this
year’s championship, so its progress was a little slower. Furthermore, everyone in Cethos was busy
celebrating the New Year right now, so selective trials in this country would only begin after the New Year
celebrations had ended.
The ‘Swordsman Game’ was one of the earliest online games that emerged in Cethos. Not only had it
been on sale for ten years, it was also the first online game to make its way out of Cethos and create a
huge impact worldwide. At the moment, the game produced an annual ie of more than one
billion with several billion yers worldwide.
However, the game was only a small part of Michael’s properties; he merely invested in online games as
a hobby.
Stanley piped up behind him in an unnecessarily exaggerated manner, “Wow, Uncle! Look at how
powerful this team is! This yer is said to the first overseas yer of the ‘Swordsman Game’, and he is
super formidable! Uncle, you’re probably the only person in the world who can be a match for him!”
Then, he continued, “Their vice-captain is super formidable too! What should we do, Uncle? You can only
fight against one yer at a time, and I’m afraid I can’t beat the vice-captain if I were to fight against him.
Just look at how powerful his weapon is! Things will be different if I have the Hundred-Mile Streamers,
though…”
Belonging ? N?velDram/a.Org.
In the end, he still wanted to have the Hundred-Mile Streamers for himself.
Michael shut down theputer and said bluntly, “I have given it to somebody else.”
“What?!” Stanley’s eyes widened in disbelief. “Who have you given it to?”
Michael didn’t have many friends in the game mainly because he was too formidable; no ordinary person
was qualified enough to be friends with him.
He couldn’t have given the Hundred-Mile Streamers to Beast—it would be a sheer waste of resources if
that brat got his hands on the weapon!
However, Michael wouldn’t spill who he had given the weapon to. Stanley could only leave in a sulk as
he said, “Uncle, don’t forget toe online at 7 p.m. sharp today. The selection trials begin on the eighth
day of the New Year, and one game will be held each day!”
Having seen Stanley off, Michael left the study to see Nathan standing at the door. Also dressed in bright
red pajamas, he had his hood up with a pair of fox ears on it. These pajamas were called something like
‘Foxy.’
The father and son stared into each other’s eyes for over one minute without saying a word as they
skipped talking to each other altogether. Instead, they beganmunicating with each other via
telepathy.
Nathan stared at him intently without moving his round eyes at all.
In the end, Michael was the first to lose the battle. He took a red packet out of his pocket and put it in
front of Nate before saying, “Come, call me Daddy.”
Naturally, Nathan did not want to call Michael ‘Daddy’—he simply took the red packet and ran away.
Michael shook his head in resignation. He thought to himself, This brat is so aloof even when demanding
a New Year’s present!
Going back to his room, Nathan opened the red packet and took the glistening red banknotes out of it
before counting them one by one. He wasn’t short of money to spend, but New Year presents seemed to
carry a different meaning from the ordinary ones.
He wouldn’t bat an eyelid even if Michael transferred a million into his bank ount. On the contrary, if
Michael gave him a thousand as a New Year present, he would feel very pleased as he held on to it
dearly.
Sophia had no idea about New Year presents until she saw Nathan counting the cash.
Seeing the stacks of cash in Nate’s hand, she was consumed with envy.
She had little memory of receiving New Year presents. Many rtives would drop in on her family every
year to extend New Year greetings during the New Year celebrations, but they had always seemed to
deliberately ignore her when it was time to give New Year presents to the children.
Giving New Year presents took a lot of learning; people would only be willing to give New Year presents
when they could expect to get something in return.
Nobody in her family could give New Year presents to children from other families in return when
someone from these families gave her a New Year present. Nobody would have gone along with this, so
nobody was willing to give her a New Year present as well.
The only New Year present she had memory of receiving was given to her by her grandmother many
years ago. Even though it was a worn red packet with only five bucks in used banknotes, she was
overjoyed upon receiving it.
Five bucks was an enormous sum of money to her back then. Her grandmother had no ie, so she
often took her to town to collect recyble garbage and drinking bottles in exchange for money. She
must have collected tons of drinking bottles to umte that five bucks!
Sophia lived a miserable life back then, staying on the city’s outskirts while relying on her grandparents
for survival. Since her two uncles never cared about them, they farmed crops when times were busy and
collected garbage in exchange for money when they were free. Five bucks was a huge sum of money
that she had never dared to imagine.
She almost felt like she had the whole world in her hands when she opened up the red packet and saw
five bucks inside.
Unfortunately, she could no longer receive New Year presents. ording to her hometown’s custom,
one could no longer receive New Year presents upon his or her marriage. Now that she was a married
woman, she probably wouldn’t see something like a New Year present until her next life. Moreover, she
didn’t have anyone who could give her a New Year present…