[QZGS TL] Butterfly Blue Interview from the “All Knows” Yan Ling Artbook
This interview was included in the Yan Ling artbook from (I believe) 2016. Thank you to dtriad for the images!
As usual, normal disclaimers apply, translator notes in brackets, and please let me know if you notice any mistakes.
Past BB Q&A translations are available on my blog: /tagged/bb-interview
Finally, happy belated birthday to Butterfly Blue!
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Q1: What was the initial turning point [motivation; opportunity] for the creation of The King’s Avatar?
A: Mostly, it all came from technique. Weak narrative has always been a common shortcoming of novels about online gaming, and so when TKA combined online gaming and competitive esports, there was a clear narrative to be told.
Q2: Are the characters in TKA based on anyone? For example, is God Ye based on yourself?
A: I don’t think they’re really based on anyone. I’ve just drawn inspiration from many real phenomena in the esports circle, but I haven’t targeted any specific one person.
Q3: Can you reveal a bit of God Ye’s family situation?
A: I really haven’t thought that much about this, and I don’t plan to.
Q4: Does Zhou Zekai have high value in the entertainment industry? Or is he just exceptional in gaming, that’s all?
A: He’s exceptional all-around.
Q5: It seems that Sun Xiang and Zhou Zekai have two very different personalities, so how were they able to work together so well as to become Best Partners?
A: To work together on the battlefield, first and foremost you need skill and awareness. As two exceptional, top-level players, they wouldn’t be lacking in this professionalism. As long as they’re willing to coordinate, personality would not become an obstacle on the battlefield. Learning how to work together is the process of understanding each other’s skills and habits, and high-level players will naturally be able to complete this kind of mutual recognition very quickly.
Q6: When training, does Team Happy usually order takeout? Does the boss invite someone to cook for them?
A: This isn’t the important point of this novel, is it!
Q7: Almost all of Samsara is of the same generation. Will the eventual transition be painful?
A: Pro players are constantly moving through transfers. Right now it looks like they’re basically all of the same generation, but after year after year of movement, this might not be the case later. The ideal generation transition would occur gradually through this kind of movement. For example, Samsara currently has the younger Sun Xiang, and in the future they will continue to recruit exceptional young players.
Q8: What would Ye Xiu and Su Mucheng do after retirement?
A: They’ll simply continue to live their lives in whatever way suits their position.
Q9: When Zhou Zekai truly wants to speak, how many words could he say?
A: Speaking is only one method of communication. And Zhou Zekai doesn’t like, nor is he good at, this method. Perhaps under some circumstances he would be forced to use this method to express himself, but there isn’t really such a thing as “a time where he truly wants to speak.”
Q10: Which pro players have a bit of a belly?
A: Everyone gets some belly when they’re old.
Q11: Does Wang Jiexi’s Magician style have a weakness / counter?
A: A mature playstyle will have changes and adjustments in varying conditions; it won’t be restricted to one pattern. If, under these kinds of conditions, a so-called “counter” still exists, then that simply means that the playstyle is not yet mature enough, or that there’s a huge drawback. For Wang Jiexi to become famous in this way, his playstyle certainly would not be this kind of unskilled immature style. But ultimately, what determines the strength of the playstyle is the player. Thus, there is only one Magician, Wang Jiexi.
Q12: How many housing properties does Big Eye have in Beijing? And why is so he keen on undermining foundations? [T/N: referring to his “digging for players”, e.g. TR, QF]
A: Why are you bringing up housing properties? Because he was chatting about housing prices? They were just talking about a trending topic, it has nothing to do with properties, okay! As for saying that he’s keen on undermining foundations I don’t know where you’re getting this from… even if there is, as the captain of a team, inviting outstanding players to join his team is just his professional responsibility. It’s not his passion, it’s his job.
Q13: Just how well-off is Tang Rou’s family? Will Du Ming be able to catch her?
A: Well-off enough that she’s set for life without worry. Wealth will never be a bargaining chip to sway her. I think it would be very very hard for Du Ming to pursue her.
Q14: Have you seen the TKA donghua? What are your thoughts? [T/N: this would be referring to the not-yet-released Season 1]
A: Like everyone, I saw the few promotional trailers that were released. I think the artstyle is excellent. So long as there are also no issues with the plot, I can thoroughly anticipate it.
Q15: Can you reveal any news about the TKA movie or TV series? Do you have any dream choices for Ye Xiu’s actor? Or actors for any of the other characters?
A: It’s all still in the preparation stages. For now I can’t discuss actors or whatnot.
Q16: Having created such an iconic IP as TKA, what do you think is the most important thing when creating a work?
A: Probably perseverance in reading and writing.
Q17: You’ve created many novels about gaming, so are you yourself a gaming expert?
A: TKA is actually the only novel I’ve written about competitive esports, the other games were just ordinary online gaming. My own skill is average.
Q18: Could you talk about something that’s left a deep impression on you recently?
A: Recently I’ve been at my old home, the weather’s been cool, I’ve been visiting old friends and family. My deepest impression is: a hangover ruins three days.
Q19: When it comes to creating works, what are your plans for the future?
A: I still have a lot to write for my current serializations, so the future is still far-off for now. As for hopes for the future, I hope that I can write works that are more excellent and refined.
Q20: What would you like to say to the fans that have supported you all these years?
A: I knew it, I knew that this question would be the finale!
To those that have supported me for so many years, thank you, thank you, still thank you.
The words are simple, but truly, only these two words can most accurately express what I wish to say.
Hello! Bringing another Butterfly Blue fan Q&A translation here today. This one is from August 15, 2015, for an event he was doing in Taiwan.
This is a translation of a transcription of a recording. Because it was spoken, there’s some filler words and awkward phrasing; I focused more on getting the gist of what he was saying. A few notes have been included in [brackets]. Also, the transcriber said that they lost the recording of the second half of the talk, so this is only a portion of the event.
The transcription was originally found at this link, http://sinstar529.lofter.com/post/3330e5_7e8c0e7, but the Lofter seems to have been purged. To keep a record and some accountability, the Chinese is included in this post. As always, let me know of any major errors.
past BB translations here: /tagged/bb-interview
Please enjoy! As always, BB has some fun and interesting insights.
Q: Bug Dad, how was Sun Xiang discovered back in the day? Was he discovered in game, or did he join a training camp himself?
A: Sun Xiang, he’s rather talented. I actually haven’t thought about this (audience laughter). People will always pay attention to such a talented player.
提问：王杰希的接班人高英杰是怎么被挑选当选手的？
虫爹：这不是跟上一个问题一样吗？ （全场笑）因为表现得比较有天赋就会比较让人看重
Q: How was Wang Jiexi’s successor, Gao Yingjie, chosen to become a pro?
A: Isn’t this the same as the last question? (audience laughter) Talented performance will always attract attention.
Q: Bug Dad, do you think Du Ming can chase down and get together with Tang Rou?
A: I think it’d be relatively difficult (audience laughter). And plus it’s still a secret crush, he still hasn’t even taken the initiative to express it. So from that… mm, I think he… couldn’t (audience laughter)
Q: Um, Sun Zheping and Captain Han are both that sort of, strong-willed, uh, men. So I wanted to ask, who’s more, manly?
A: Those two? Probably about the same, there’s no need to compare personalities
Q: Then if they PKed, who do you think would have a higher chance of winning?
A: Are you talking about a real-life PK? (audience laughter)
Q: Real-life PK is fine too
A: Let’s not talk about real-life PK (laughs). But if we’re talking about the outcome of a match, that’s hard to say. Not even someone as strong as Ye Xiu can 100% guarantee victory over another person. So who’s stronger or weaker, I think there isn’t really a conclusion. Because the more matches played, the greater the number of victories and losses, it’s something like that.
Q: Bug Dad I want to ask, what was Mo Fan doing before joining Happy? How could he just drop everything and come to Happy, and then get abducted without needing to return home? (audience laughter)
A: Oh you’re talking about his real-world work? Mm according to what I had in mind, he was just a pro in-game player, scrap picking, selling equipment, and then trading this for some spending money every day. Because he’s not too old, he’s still relatively young
[Q about prequel release in Taiwan - unlikely because too short for the publisher]
Q: Then could you write a bit more prequel content ~
A: This would probably have to be a bit slower, writing two books at once is still a bit of a struggle, and when I’m writing the serialization right now, sometimes I still don’t know what I should write. So it would be slow
Q: Bug Dad I’m just curious, how tall is Muqiu? Because I’m his fan, so I really hope to know his height
A: Muqiu? Eh this I still haven’t figured out, I’ve only done around half of the character profiles so far. I’m still working on the second half, so I haven’t done this yet
Q: Did the first-generation gods ever meet in the real world? Because sometimes when we’re somewhat familiar with people in-game, we’ll go out together, meet up, get a meal, chat, etc. Did they ever do these kinds of things?
A: This… probably varies from person to person, I feel that the first generation… Because they’d meet later when playing matches, so these kind of activities… I’ll think about it. For example Ye Xiu probably wouldn’t be very interested in these things haha
Q: Bug Dad I want to ask, when did God Ye pick up his bad cigarette addiction?
A: Uh… He might have picked it up after many nights of staying up late… Your question is too specific, I haven’t thought about it before. Because when I was writing the prequel, hm, when he was fifteen I don’t think I described any scenes of him smoking? Then it would have been later… after he left home?
Q: Bug Dad I want to ask, because many people are curious about the later world championships, will you ever write about this?
A: For now I haven’t thought about writing any sequels, because I’m very happy with the ending I have. If I write it now, it’d be like drawing feet on a snake. That’s why the extras I’m writing now are all prequels, so I can fill in more details about their past feelings and such, but right now I don’t want to write about the future.
Q: How does Jiang Botao know what Zhou Zekai is saying?
A: I think someone asked this question yesterday too. If you’ve played an online game before, for example if you have a few friends you play with often, then they’ll tend to know what action you’re likely to take next, you’ll have that tacit understanding, you know that, uh, tacit understanding (audience laughter)
Q: Bug Dad I want to ask, there are a few fan creators writing derivatives of your work, what is your opinion on that?
A: Mm… Derivatives tend to come from everyone’s thoughts and ideas about the original work. Personally I haven’t looked at them, so I can’t give a judgment, but there isn’t much to object to. As long as everyone’s happy that’s good, I won’t mind too much
Q: Bug Dad I’d like to ask, during the period of time Sun Zheping was retired, did he ever contact Zhang Jiale?
A: While retired, hm, personally I think there wouldn’t have been much contact. Because his retirement was rather sad, as we’d describe it, it wasn’t something he could fight against, it was the most helpless kind, so I think that he probably… wouldn’t really want to maintain contact
Q: At the time, what drove you to come up with this work The King’s Avatar?
A: When I was about halfway through writing Close-Combat Mage, I wanted to write a gaming novel, but writing about a person playing games all day felt a bit, mm, like neglecting honest work. The only way around that would be to make him a professional, relatively official. That’s esports, like normal sporting events. So at the time I wanted to write about esports, and then I added sections about the game, because this kind of transition felt a bit smoother, and it wouldn’t be as monotonous as just having endless matches.
Q: So if you were to use one sentence to describe Wang Jiexi, what would you say?
A: One sentence? I wrote so many words in the book and you want me to use one sentence to describe him? Then why’d I write so much?
Q: Then what’s your deepest impression of him?
A: Mm I can’t think of an answer right now, but I feel that he’s the type of person to take responsibility for things, and then he has an extremely high vision for his team’s future - how to put it - like his hopes and expectations for Tiny Herb, so he has a very deep sense of responsibility. [transcriber’s note: “??? Didn’t hear clearly”]
提问：我想问叶修的家庭到底是怎么样的，让他会那么怕他的爸爸
虫爹：呃我觉得会怕家长这是尊重吧，因为不好、太忤逆所以他干脆不敢面对就离家出走了
Q: I’d like to ask, what is Ye Xiu’s family like, for him to be so scared of his dad?
A: I feel that this “fear of parents” is just respect. Because he wasn’t good, too rebellious, so he just didn’t dare confront them and instead ran away from home
提问：想请问虫爹在写文章的时候会听音乐或同时做其他事情吗？比如说吃东西
虫爹：呃、呃我没有吃东西，听音乐嘛……就是……尽量写吧（？
提问：那请问在写战斗画面时是想像然后就直接打出来吗？
虫爹：你说我、自己还要、打出来吗（惊）当然没有啊（？）只是脑补而已你想太多了←虫爹好像误会了www
Q: When you’re writing, do you listen to music or do other things at the same time? Like eating?
A: I don’t eat while writing… listening to music, I… guess I try to focus on writing [transcriber note: “?”]
Q: Then when you’re writing battles, do you imagine it and then directly hit it out?
A: You’re asking me if I – myself – fight out the battle? Of course not? I’m just imagining it, you’re thinking too much
[transcriber note: “BB seems to have misunderstood”] [translator note: I think it’s a pun-misunderstanding of “to type” vs “to hit/fight”?]
Q: Why didn’t you want to write a story about grassroots youth rising to the top? That is, why is he a god starting over again? Why didn’t you think about writing his origin as a nobody?
A: Because many of my previous stories were all like that, so I wanted to do something different. For example, wuxia stories like Jin Yong’s stories were like that, but I prefer Gu Long’s hehe, where they’re rather invincible from the start
Q: Since Sun Zheping was mentioned earlier, I thought of Wei Chen. After Wei Chen retired, did he really never contact Huang Shaotian? Because Huang Shaotian was the one he brought in from the game, he was like his apprentice. Did he really not want to contact him at all?
A: This… it’s retirement, you’re changing your way of life, haha. So even though he was still playing Glory, in-game is still quite different from the pro circle. There wouldn’t be much intersection anymore
Q: But wouldn’t Huang Shaotian want to contact him?
A: If he’s vanished, how is he supposed to contact him? Hahaha
Q: But Ye Xiu found him!
A: Ye Xiu just happened to run into him by chance, because Ye Xiu had time to play in-game haha
Q: Bug Dad, over the course of these ten years that you’ve been writing, do you have any particularly deep impressions?
A: For this, you’d have to trace back to the very beginning. Back then, I was reading a gaming novel, but after reading half of it there was no more. At the time I didn’t realize, it wasn’t that there was no more, it was that the rest was paywalled hahaha. And so I didn’t read any more, but I was thinking… I felt wronged, you know? And then I saw his second work, but I felt… why not write a complete story? At that time I was just about to start university, my classmates were often going to play at internet cafés, and so we’d hang out in the internet café. They would play games, but I would stay off to the side and start to write novels. Similarly, while my classmates were playing games and watching movies late at night instead of sleeping, I would just be writing off to the side, and so they would watch me working hard at writing, as though I were a total idiot. At that time, it was very hard work, but I felt that writing was a very happy thing for me, and so I didn’t think too much about other things. This early period left the deepest impression on me.
Q: Then did you ever go back to read that first story that inspired you?
A: Oh, back then it was because he made his real debut after writing half of it, so I didn’t even know that there was more. Later I realized that it existed but was paywalled, then I just figured I didn’t want to read it anymore hahahaha
Q: Bug Dad I know many people have asked this question before but I want to know – can Zhang Jiale win a championship QAQ
A: In the story as it currently stands, he hasn’t won a championship. As for the future, I haven’t written it so I can’t answer either. I just know that you guys are like this haha so everyone please don’t ask me these kind of “future” questions because I haven’t written it haha
Q: Because you’ve always been good at writing these kinds of gaming novels, have you referenced any online games or played any online games?
A: I’ve played before, when I was in school I would sometimes play DNF (Dungeon Fighter Online), so a few classes in The King’s Avatar are from there. The design of the classes was influenced by this game because at that time it was the most popular game in the mainland
Q: Bug Dad you’ve eaten your way from Taipei to Kaohsiung, so what’s been your favorite food?
A: I didn’t spend all my time eating! Uh, do you want me to narrate every meal? I’ve always liked spicy foods, I feel like Taipei’s flavor is a mix of a lot of things, but personally I’m not a huge fan of that, I’d think it’s strange when you start mixing things together. But it’s still pretty good once you get used to it, it’s very refined, and the portions are small, so you can eat a lot of different things at once hahahaha. When my family goes out to eat we usually order two dishes max, because otherwise you wouldn’t finish and there’d be a lot left over, but in Taiwan I could order four or five without a problem. The portions tend to be smaller, which I think is very nice
提问：虫爹我想请问今天有没有更新
虫爹：啊、啊昨晚啊，昨晚昨晚昨晚因为我躺到床上就起不来了哈哈哈哈，今晚回去再写吧
Q: Bug Dad I’d like to ask, did you update today
A: Ah? Last night… last night last night last night… I was lying on my bed and couldn’t get up hahahaha, tonight I’ll go and write
Q: I want to ask a question about fanworks, because most of them are targeted toward a female audience, Bug Dad do you have any thoughts on that?
A: It’s all everyone’s own ideas, right, so all I can say… Danmei, right? You’re talking about danmei? Then… People just like these kinds of ideas, I can’t really say anything, everyone likes it. But I want to emphasize that the original work doesn’t have any of these characteristics haha
Q: Then do you have any opinions on this?
A: This… my personal opinion is that, if you’re writing the characters like that, I don’t really think they can be considered the original characters anymore, because they just don’t have any of these characteristics hahahaha
Q: Then then then I want to ask, what kind of girls does Ye Xiu like? (audience goes wild)
A: I… Ye Xiu is still focused on his work, he hasn’t had the time to consider this question hahaha, I think he wouldn’t care about this question too much right haha
Q: I want to ask a hypothetical question is that okay? […] If Su Muqiu were still alive and partners with Ye Xiu, how many championships would they have received?
A: Well, they at least wouldn’t lose the three at the beginning. But I feel that I can’t say too much about this, because the other competitors are also very strong. You can’t just say that “because they have this person then this would happen…” Because matches can’t be predicted, maybe someone had a stomachache the day before and then… So I can’t really answer these kinds of hypotheticals, and moreover, answering would be disrespectful to the other competitors.
Q: Bug Dad, when you’re writing, do you ever suddenly find that you can’t write any more, or run into writer’s block or whatnot? If you have, how do you solve this struggle?
A: This… I often do, because I have to write every day, so every day… If I can’t write anymore then I just take a break from updating, otherwise what else can I do hahaha… Sometimes I spend a bit more time, sometimes… if I can’t write then there’s just no update. There isn’t really anything technique-wise that can solve this
Q: In Blue Rain, after Yu Wenzhou and Huang Shaotian both retire, is it for sure that Little Lu will become captain? Or would they pick a more experienced team member to become captain?
A: They haven’t yet begun to choose a next captain, because Little Lu… that is, Lu Hanwen, he’s primarily being raised to take over Huang Shaotian’s account Troubling Rain after his retirement. So he wouldn’t necessarily become captain. Maybe later there’ll be an even more suitable choice. He’s still small, he’s still young haha
[QZGS TL] Butterfly Blue 2019 Ye Xiu Birthday Interview
For Ye Xiu’s birthday on 05/29/2019, Butterfly Blue did an interview with thepaper.cn (澎湃新闻). You can read the Chinese here: https://card.weibo.com/article/m/show/id/2309351002454377326526805418?_wb_client_=1
I’ve translated most of it below. I omitted some questions that I felt weren’t super relevant, such as the progress of the live action (since it’s already out now), and some of his other works.
As always, let me know of any major errors! Past translations that I’ve done of BB’s words may be found /tagged/bb-interview.
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Q: Ye Xiu’s birthday is coming up, is there anything you’d like to say to him?
A: Happy birthday, you not-old youth.
Q: Asking on behalf of many fans, why don’t you establish a pairing for Ye Xiu?
A: Glory is his official pairing.
Q: Where did the inspiration for Ye Xiu’s character come from?
A: Michael Jordan was an inspiration, the idea of “even after retiring I can still do this.” I’ve actually always been following basketball and soccer, first through newspaper, and then through blogs and media. I’ve accumulated a lot, and when I was writing The King’s Avatar I used all of it. Many people have asked me if I know a lot about esports, but in reality I know less about esports. More inspiration came from sports that were more developed. I drew on real sports and esports, and at the time I even watched many Chinese Go competitions.
Q: Ye Xiu has many female fans, because his personality is quite different from many classic male webnovel protagonists.
A: It’s because his character setup is different, he’s not some lowly noob. Even though he’s 25 at the start of the novel, which sounds young, in reality his mental age is much higher than his actual age when it comes to his professional resume. He’s calm and stable, because he knows that he’s already at the top of this profession. It’s like if you took a professional soccer or basketball player and put them into a high school league, they’d feel no pressure at all. In general, that’s what being in-game is like to him. Later on when he’s playing matches, he still has that confidence, because he has strength, and he has already proven this strength.
Q: Why didn’t you add a romantic storyline to The King’s Avatar?
A: It might have to do with personal views. In particular, female writers when writing esports might include a romantic storyline, romance above all else, anything can change for the sake of love, etc., but I don’t really agree with those kinds of views. When I write love, even though it’s important, it’s not the most important, and many things can surpass it. So when the career storyline becomes the main storyline, it doesn’t really matter whether love is present or not. It can be a helping thing, but it won’t be the main focus when I’m writing. I hope to write a relatively pure story. You can fall in love, but it can’t interfere with your profession.
Q: I’m actually somewhat curious, have you watched Love O2O?
A: I have. When I first wrote about gaming, there were three main types. One type was where it became more romance-focused as it developed, and the focus was not on gaming but on falling in love. Another type was alternate world [i.e. isekai], the type where you enter the world of the game. Then, the third type was esports. My earlier books were only focused on playing games, and it was very cut off from reality. Whatever results you had in-game, they couldn’t really help you in real life. Gaming was just a pastime. But esports is different, esports is a profession. The King’s Avatar is like this.
Q: How do you feel now that The King’s Avatar has gotten so popular?
A: It’s nice not having to work. Actually, we writers all were writing right as this profession was developing. The webnovel profession was developing really quickly, and we reaped the rewards of being a part of this emerging industry just as it was experiencing explosive growth. Because this was the early days of this new industry, many people had tremendous gains. We joined at just the right time - this is luck. You have to enter this industry, and then if you persist, you will most likely profit.
Q: In The King’s Avatar, are there any shadows of your real self in there?
A: Not really, to be honest. I play games myself, the first time I really got into them was in college. But at that time, I wasn’t in so deep that I’d be helping guilds or anything, I wasn’t that sociable. The game I played was called Westward Journey (大话西游), and I was basically still in the stage of treating it as a chat room. Very different from mobile games now, where you have to join a WeChat group or QQ group as soon as you enter, otherwise you’ll get wiped out.
Q: What are you aiming for now?
A: Accuracy, the accuracy of my words and sentences is what I’m aiming for. When there’s something I want to express, I want to be able to find an idiom, a phrase, to accurately express it. Funny or not funny, I’ll let it come naturally, I don’t need to purposely try to build a moment to make people laugh, I don’t need to purposely edit in an online segment just for that purpose anymore. In the past I might have done this, but this is the difference between my past and current self. It’s not that my style has changed, it’s that I realized that that’s useless work, it’s putting the cart before the horse.
Q: Now that you already have God Ye Xiu as such an iconic character, how will you surpass that?
A: Ye Xiu will always be 25-26 years old, and now it’s really been a while since I’ve written him, so I’m a little distant. Now, I’m already 35-36. I feel that I’ve already written enough about Ye Xiu. If I were to write more, there’s really nothing more I could write. For pro esports players, continuously playing matches is enough, but for me there isn’t much meaning anymore. It’s all repetitive, and there isn’t going to be any big turning points. I still want to find some new material.
Q: How do you feel about your position right now? If you could use a few keywords to describe your current life, which words would you choose?
A: Stable, everything’s revolving around stability.
Q: Do you think it’s more important for life to be interesting or for life to have meaning?
A: What meaning. I’m one of those people who, since I was young, was very worried about dying. I actually discussed this with Mao Ni [t/n: another webnovel author], and we talked about ghosts in hotels and whatnot. I actually really want to meet a ghost, I think that if I met a ghost I would be very at ease, because if I knew that we become another kind of existence after dying, then there’d be no need to be so afraid.
Q: Many people online say that, looking at Bug Dad’s words you can tell he’s quite a good person. Is there anything you’d like to say to that?
A: They have sharp eyes, it’s irrefutable.
Q: It seems like there’s some story about you circulating online, that you always like to pay the bill.
A: No, that’s just politeness, we’re adults, we have to refuse each other, you know? But in the end none of them took out their wallets.
Q: Is Bug Dad normally a cold and distant person?
A: I’m alright, but it’s true I don’t speak much.
Q: Why do you have the nickname of “goddess”?
A: Because of my pen name, people think that I’m a female author, and people admire me!
Q: If you write too much and become bald, then what?
A: I’m already balding. [t/n: BB commented in his Weibo retweet of this interview that the picture of him that they used is old; he has much less hair now]
Q: If your daughter wanted to play esports in the future, would you support her?
A: Yes.
Q: Why did you choose to grow your hair long? Is it because you don’t have time to have it cut?
A: Because there’s no need, after all there’s not many strands left.
Q: Is there anything you want to say to the fans?
A: Whether or not you’re a female or male reader, I am incredibly grateful for everyone who likes my works.
Another translated Q&A with The King’s Avatar author Butterfly Blue! This one is from May 23, 2015, at a signing event. The event was transcribed and compiled by this user here: https://weibo.com/p/1001603845803637668081.
There’s a few typos in the transcription, so I’ve done my best to just convey the gist of the questions and answers. The transcriber’s notes are in [brackets], and my own notes are denoted by [T/N: ]. As before, the Chinese is included for reference. A few questions have been omitted, for being no longer relevant (after all, this is 5 years old now). However, as usual, Butterfly Blue’s insights are extremely interesting!
Past BB Q&A translations may be found here: /tagged/bb-interview
Q: I’m a Tang Hao fan, is his personality just relatively prideful? Does he have any other personality descriptions? For example, does he try to hide his own shortcomings?
A: Personality-wise, the novel should have mentioned everything. For things that haven’t been mentioned, don’t go around randomly making things up. If I haven’t written about him hiding his shortcomings, then he doesn’t do that…
Q：世锦赛叶修真的没有带账号卡吗？会不会出现叶修拿着一叶之秋的账号卡场面？
A：应该不会，在我写的设定里，账号卡是锁定每一位选手的，不能随便更换。其他没写到的不要随便脑补了。
（提问的汉子紧接追了句什么不清楚，虫爹说没写过。我：呵呵呵呵呵呵，拜托尊重下孙翔好不好？！！！）
Q: Did Ye Xiu really not bring his account card to the World Championship? Would it ever happen that Ye Xiu takes over the One Autumn Leaf account?
A: It shouldn’t. Based on how I wrote things, every account is locked to a character, they can’t be randomly swapped around. Other things that I haven’t written about, please don’t make things up.
Q：吴羽xiu（策）为什么执着于鬼剑士的账号？
A：谁 ？
Q：吴羽策 虚空战队吴羽策
A：什么执着啊？
这里非常混乱，有个汉子（大概是上面那个。）问为什么用女号？
A：性别不重要，我说账号卡的性别
Q：不是性别，我说职业。
A：没有人要求他换啊
Q：经理啊。
A：啊经理啊（呆萌笑），那是他个人的选择。喜欢吧
Q: Why does Wu Yuce [misspoke the name] insist on using a Ghostblade?
A: Who?
Q: Wu Yuce, Team Void’s Wu Yuce?
A: Insist what?
[very chaotic here, someone else asked why he used a female account]
A: The gender doesn’t matter. I mean the gender of the account
Q: Not the gender, I meant the class
A: No one asked him to switch classes
Q: The manager?
A: Ah, the manager. [laughs] It was his own choice. Probably he just likes it
Q：范围里说孙哲平，叶修身边有吴雪峰，我想问下，一开始孙哲平喜欢的是叶修还是吴雪峰？
A：他没有喜欢，只是认为他比较强。
Q：那就是喜欢他们这个组合，所以要找张佳乐做组合？
A：不是说喜欢这个组合，是觉得这个组合很强。（大孙立场）一个人应该打不过他们，我也需要一个帮手。
Q: About Sun Zheping in the prequel – Ye Xiu had Wu Xuefeng by his side, I wanted to ask, at the very beginning, did Sun Zheping like Ye Xiu or did he like Wu Xuefeng?
A: It’s not that he liked them, he just thought they were strong.
Q: So it was that he liked this partnership, so he wanted to find Zhang Jiale to form a partnership?
A: It’s not that he liked this partnership, it was that he felt that this partnership was very strong. He felt that one person wasn’t enough to defeat them, so he needed a helper as well.
Q：叶修有没有官配？是千机伞吗？
全场笑开花，女神自己也是裂开嘴了。
A：下限，这是下限……千机伞只是道具！
Q: Does Ye Xiu have an official pairing? Is it the Myriad Manifestations Umbrella?
[entire audience laughs]
A: Shameless, this is shameless… The MMU is just a prop!
Q: When Ye Xiu left home, was he using the name Ye Xiu or Ye Qiu?
A: In my [choice?], only Su Mucheng and Su Muqiu, with whom he was very close, knew that he was Ye Xiu.
Q: Then when he left home at the very start, he was already using his brother’s name? Does he have any morals?
A: He was Ye Xiu. It was just later on when playing online games, we all use internet names [laughs].
Q: So in other words, he was using the name Ye Xiu at the very start?
A: Right, right.
Q: So if Ye Xiu was using the name Ye Xiu immediately after he’d run away, then why did Su Mucheng come up with the name One Autumn Leaf?
A: Oh huh, that’s right. Then maybe it didn’t directly come from his name. Maybe it was just a typo. There was already one typo in the name so might as well have two.
[T/N: The account name “One Autumn Leaf” (一叶之秋, yi ye zhi qiu) is a typo of the phrase/proverb “one leaf knows autumn” (i.e. “one leaf signals the coming of autumn) (一叶知秋, also pronounced yi ye zhi qiu). Ye Qiu’s name (叶秋) uses the same characters.]
Q：到底是叶修和黄少天在一起还是喻文州和黄少天在一起。（台下就各种喻黄叶黄地喊了。）
A：你说如果队友性质的话那就不用我来回答了啊。
Q: Are Ye Xiu and Huang Shaotian together, or Yu Wenzhou and Huang Shaotian together? [audience: shouts of “yuhuang” and “yehuang”]
A: If you’re talking about being teammates, you don’t need me to answer that.
Q：你记得邱非吗？想问新嘉世。
A：新嘉世嘛，就是回到联赛里，继续努力，和每一个队伍都一样嘛，为了冠军。
Q: Do you remember Qiu Fei? I want to ask about New Excellent Era.
A: New Excellent Era, they just return to the Alliance and continue to work hard, just like every other team, for the championship.
Q: When Ye Xiu went to Shanghai to watch All-Stars the first time, and later when he went to sell the skill point guide, why did he have to take a flight? [audience laughter]
A: Because… [sounding guilty] [somewhat unclear/paraphrased:] I didn’t know Hangzhou very well, I didn’t check. Who asked!! At the time, I didn’t consider it carefully enough.
A: That’s the prequel chapter I just wrote, you all haven’t seen it right? It hasn’t come out yet right? It’ll come. The prequel has rather a lot of Fang Shiqian, because Tiny Herb is a focus.
Q: When Tiny Herb appeared in the novel, it was like a championship character, the previous year’s champions. Early on, were you planning for them to be the final boss? And were their results these past two years because of systemic problems?
A: No. From the very start, Tiny Herb was designed to be a team in the middle of transitioning styles. A team that had just faded a little after winning the championship, not because of any systemic problems.
Q：你当时是处于一个什么样的考虑把苏沐秋给写死了？
A：从一开头就看到这个人是不在的，不是什么目的，是因为我只需要一个主角。
Q：为什么是一个悲惨的死法，不是正常的死法啊！为什么是车祸死的，比较意外啊
A：这样比较突然啊啊，不让你让叶修伏在病床前照顾他吗？
Q: At the time, what were your considerations when you decided to write Su Muqiu as dead?
A: From the very beginning, this character was absent. There wasn’t any goal, it was just that I needed such a character.
Q: Why is it such a tragic death and not a natural way of dying! Why is it a car accident, so unexpected
A: This way it’s more sudden. Otherwise, do you want Ye Xiu to hover over his hospital bed taking care of him?
Q: If you were to write Season 11, after Lin Jingyan retired, what kind of new character would join? If you were to write it, which team would be most likely to win the championship?
A: I haven’t considered it
Q: Then how likely do you think it’d be for Tyranny to win?
A: I truly can’t answer this. When I finished writing, that meant that the future was no longer up to me to design.
Q：小点到底死了没有？
A：狗的话，（笑）我没养过狗啊，我不太清楚狗到底能活多久？
Q: Has Little Dot died?
A: If it’s a dog… [laughs] I haven’t raised a dog before, I’m not too sure on how long dogs can live?
Q: Because Old Han is about at that age, if he retires, would he remain in Tyranny as a coach or advisor or something like that?
A: With the personality that I’ve written for him, that’s pretty likely. Including at the end when he declined joining the national team, that was all for Tyranny. So he probably would stick around.
Q: Then what about Zhang Xinjie, would he stay at Tyranny?
A: Zhang Xinjie, that’s harder to say.
Q：当初取账号卡的名字，像微草全是中草药的名字，然后各种名字都不是很非主流。
A：是这样的，非主流的，因为字也不好打对吧？取这些名字的话，显得我比较有文化一些。
[T/N: Honestly, I can’t really tell what the question is supposed to be asking or what his answer is supposed to mean… so take this one with salt]
Q: When coming up with names for the account cards, Tiny Herb’s were all names of herbal medicines, and then all sorts of names weren’t very non-mainstream [T/N: “alternative”].
A: This is how it was, non-mainstream names are harder to type, right? I picked the names that I did because it makes me sound more cultured.
Q：黄少是出于什么考虑选择机会主义者的风格？
A：这不是他的选择，这个正好是体现他的特点，天生的性格而已。
Q: Why did Huang Shaotian chose his opportunistic style?
A: This wasn’t his choice, this just perfectly reflected his characteristics, his natural personality.
Q：那问下刘小别拿了喻文州的钱包买了饮料之后究竟去了哪里，他回来了吗？
A：（笑笑笑）他肯定会回来，我只是没写而已，比赛正在激烈地进行中。
Q: Then when Liu Xiaobie took Yu Wenzhou’s wallet to go buy drinks, where did he go after that? Did he come back?
A: [laughs] Of course he came back, I just didn’t write about it. The match was getting intense at that point.
Q：蓝雨和微草的风格，一个是放养型的，一个圈养型的，你觉得哪个更好？
A：没有哪个是放养型的？
Q：蓝雨
A：蓝雨也没有很放养，也是在悉心照料下的 两个人
Q: Blue Rain’s and Tiny Herb’s styles, one is more free-range parenting, one is more helicopter parenting, which do you think is better?
A: Neither is free-range though?
Q: Blue Rain?
A: Blue Rain isn’t very “free-range”, they’re still being taken very good care of by their two leaders
Q: I want to know, after Wang Jiexi retires, Gao Yingjie is supposed to take over Vaccaria’s account, but Gao Yingjie’s personality is a bit soft, so who’s going to take the lead within the team? Who will lead Tiny Herb?
A: In the current The King’s Avatar, Gao Yingjie’s personality appears relatively soft, but the entire team is looking forward to his growth. This requires some time, but there’s also still time before Wang Jiexi’s retirement.
Q：老韩还可以再战几年？
底下全是一百年一百年。
A：他心里意愿的话，应该就是一百年。
Q: How many more years can Old Han fight?
[audience: “one hundred years!”]
A: If his heart is willing, it should be one hundred years.
Q：你后来手机丢了换了什么牌子的？
（荣耀荣耀）
A：我没有换荣耀，还是华为（……），刚才摔了一下。（笑）
Q: After you lost your phone, what brand was your new phone?
A: I didn’t switch to Honor [T/N: “rongyao” aka “Glory”], it’s still just a Huawei [something], I dropped it earlier [laughs]
Q：苏沐秋到底死在哪儿？死在哪条路上？你可以告诉我吗？
A：我不知道，这个我不知道
Q: Where did Su Muqiu die? What road did he die on? Can you tell me?
A: I don’t know, this I don’t know
Q：你是为什么要根据地下城来改编这部小说的？（原提问，汉子可能措辞不太对）
A：你说游戏是吧？因为当时正在玩，然后觉得游戏职业设定挺好的，启发了我的
Q：你玩了什么职业？
A：玩了好多号（笑）
Q: Why did you want to adapt this book based on Dungeon Fighter Online? [this was the original question, wording may not be entirely correct]
A: You’re talking about the game, right? Because I was playing it at the time, and then I felt that the class design was pretty good, so it inspired me
Q: What class did you play?
A: I played many [laughs]
Q：喻文州开始是怎么跟黄少天把关系搞好的？
A：我不是写过番外吗？没看到吗？
Q：那里不是也不鸟吗？
A：因为有实力啊。
Q: How did Yu Wenzhou improve his relationship with Huang Shaotian at the beginning?
A: Didn’t I write the prequel? Did you not read it?
Q: Even then, wasn’t he kind of ignored?
A: It was because he had strength. [T/N: I assume this is addressing the original question, and I assume BB is referring to YWZ]
Q：王杰希喜欢什么，除了荣耀，平时有什么爱好吗？
A：这个我没做过设定
Q：不会是算命吧？
A：不会不会（笑）
Q: What does Wang Jiexi like, aside from Glory? What kind of hobbies does he have normally?
A: This is something I haven’t decided
Q: He wouldn’t do fortune-telling, would he?
A: No, no [laughs]
Q：之后的番外会写虚空相关吗？
A：虚空啊，虚空暂时没有写到
Q：有肖时钦吗？
A：肖时钦啊，也没有。最近写完的一个是微草，再一个算是霸图吧。这两个在一个赛季里的
Q: Will there be any later prequel chapters about Void?
A: Void, I haven’t written about Void for now
Q: Will there be Xiao Shiqin?
A: Xiao Shiqin, also no. The one I just finished was Tiny Herb’s and then the next can be considered Tyranny’s. These two were in the same season.
Q: I want to ask a more serious question. This book has brought me a lot of feelings and joy over the years, so I wanted to ask, do these books have any special significance to you?
A: This book has brought me a rapid increase in income. [everyone laughs] My achievements have come from this book. I think this book has done the best out of all of mine so far.
Q：你在起王不留行这个账号卡名的时候，你知道它的功效吗？
A：我知道啊，因为搜索的时候会看到，但是我觉得这个名字挺酷的，疗效这个无所谓的。
Q: When you named the account card Vaccaria, did you know the herb’s usage?
A: I knew, because I saw when I looked it up. But I felt that this name sounded pretty cool, so it didn’t matter what its medicinal effect was.
Q：能为我们描述一下蓝河的性格吗？番外里确定没有他吗？
A：你说哪个里面没有他？
Q：番外
A：目前写到的番外里没有他，暂时的计划里也没有他。
Q: Can you describe Blue River’s personality for us? Is it true the prequel won’t have him at all?
A: You said what won’t have him at all?
Q: The prequel
A: The prequel chapters that I’ve written so far don’t include him, and my current plans don’t include him.
Q：关于黄少话唠的这个梗，因为他在比赛喜欢刷文字泡，我想问下，他现实中是话唠到什么程度？
A：话唠这个，我觉得就是，能用一句话说清楚的东西，他可能会用更多的字来描述，不是说一句话重复三遍。
Q: About Huang Shaotian’s talkativeness, because he likes to send messages during matches, I wanted to ask, to what degree is he talkative in real life?
A: His talkativeness, I feel it’s like, for anything that can be said in one sentence, he might use more words to describe it. It’s not that he’ll repeat one sentence three times.
Q：在你的设定里，小卢未来会用流云呢还是会接手夜雨声烦？
A：他这种的培养的话，黄少天退役之后，他是可以接过来的。
Q: In your plans, in the future will Little Lu use Flowing Cloud or will he inherit Troubling Rain?
A: With how he’s being raised, after Huang Shaotian retires, he would be able to inherit Troubling Rain.
Q: Later, do you plan on writing prequel about Yu Wenzhou and Huang Shaotian in Blue Rain training camp?
A: Haven’t I written that?
Q: Will you write prequel about Samsara? How will Samsara develop in the future?
A: My prequels follow chronological order. In theory, as a team that really started to take off around Season 5 and 6, Samsara is a team I should write about, if I continue to write. They are a very strong team, without a doubt, because they have very strong players
Q：老韩是会拿到冠军完美落幕呢还是会一直打下去直到退役？
A：他拿过冠军啦，第四赛季就拿过了。
Q: Would Old Han win a championship as a perfect end to his career, or would he keep playing all the way until his retirement?
A: He has gotten a championship already! He already won in Season 4.
[QZGS TL] Butterfly Blue’s interview regarding the movie For the Glory (08/15/19)
Because the movie was released (and English subbed) online fairly recently, I thought I’d go back and translate this interview that BB did about it. It’s pretty long, but quite interesting! (As always, please let me know of any errors.)
bilibili interview link (remove spaces):
https ://www.bilibili. com/video/av63863201/
Q: As this is the first movie of TKA, how did you choose the topic?
A: We’ve already done a donghua, which already covers the plot of the main novel, so when we were picking the subject of the movie, we didn’t want to repeat a story that we’ve already told. I’d written some side stories [i.e. the prequel] earlier, which fills in a few stories of our characters during the ten years before the main story starts. So, we wanted to use the movie medium to help fill in the early stories or whatnot of our characters, so everyone can have a better understanding of these characters. Especially for people who might be curious about The King’s Avatar, or who might not have even heard of it before – if they watch our movie first, they’ll start from the very beginning and watch as these youths, with Ye Xiu as the focus, grow.
Q: When you were writing TKA, had you ever thought about Excellent Era’s Season 1 roster?
A: Of the characters, only one was mentioned in the novel, that’s Wu Xuefeng, who was a most reliable helper at Ye Xiu’s side during the first years he won those championships. As for the others, in terms of characters, I hadn’t really thought about them when I was writing the main novel, because by that time in the story they’d all retired or they weren’t relevant to our main plot. But back then, because they were a team, players on a team all had their own accounts, and everyone’s accounts had a class. The classes were actually always maintained, Excellent Era had always passed them down. So, when we were making this movie, we maintained all of this. That is, every original character in the movie, the accounts they used, you’ll find that those IDs appear in the main novel – Excellent Era’s Elementalist, Spellblade, etc, they are all these same account IDs.
Q: Why was the first user of Peaceful Hermit changed from Guo Mingyu to Lu Liang?
A: Oh, this is a bit awkward. While I was writing, I forgot, the one who I initially had – well I forget which it was but – anyway, I wrote two different first-generation users, so basically it was actually a mistake in writing, a bug. Then, in the movie, they helped me patch it up, so by using a plot point they were able to fix this mistake in the original that I could no longer go back and change myself, they were able to cover my error. So, we have two users, and between them they have a relationship of partnership and inheritance.
Q: Given that we already know that Excellent Era wins the Season 1 championship, how does the movie make matches more interesting and exciting?
A: For this, we basically started from Excellent Era’s opponents at the time, Royal Style as a team. Following the original work, Ye Xiu had met a few friends in-game, and then under the support of an internet café boss, the eventual boss of Excellent Era, Tao Xuan, they formed a team. Their team was fairly grassroots. But we considered the world background as a whole, and Glory definitely wasn’t the only game, nor the only competitive esport. So under our understanding, in this profession, there are a number of professional teams, but Ye Xiu and the others aren’t a part of all this. In contrast, Royal Style is a professional team, but at the start, Glory wasn’t one of the games they played professionally. But after the Glory Pro League was established, the professional club Royal Style decided to create this kind of team to play in the Glory Pro League. So, compared to Ye Xiu and co’s background, Royal Style is more “professional,” more advanced along the professional path, they have professional systems or training methods, that’s the kind of team they are. And then, compared to Ye Xiu and the rest of them, Royal Style might be more cohesive, more powerful, with better training and logistical support backing them up. We hope that Ye Xiu can encounter such a powerful foe, so everyone can see how Ye Xiu was able to stand upon the summit of Glory in Season 1.
Q: When Ye Qiu gave the mask to Ye Xiu, was that because something changed about his attitude?
A: From the fact that he brought the mask prepared to give to him, we can see that Ye Qiu’s attitude didn’t actually change. In their hearts, the two brothers understand each other. Ye Qiu knew that even if he came over here to find his brother, there was no way he would be able to bring his older brother back. So when he said you should go home etc etc, that was more just fulfilling his duties as the younger brother, or like this is a job the family gave me, but after he did that he immediately gave him the mask; he knew things would end up like this, there’s no way you’re coming back. But he also knew where his older brother’s qualms lay, or the things that would be inconvenient for him, so this mask demonstrates his understanding of and consideration toward Ye Xiu.
Q: What was the biggest pleasant surprise of this movie for you?
A: For me, the biggest surprise was this one scene – so after Su Muqiu died, he left his account card to Su Mucheng, and during this time Su Mucheng was feeling very downhearted, and she kind of rejected this game. But then one day, she took this account card that her brother left her, and when she logged on, Dancing Rain’s avatar appeared, and the avatar said to her, something like, “did you miss me? I’m always here.” That moment was the most moving part of the movie for me, because when we were making this movie, we were really trying to let it have more positive energy, so we tried to focus on the esports and competitive spirit side of things. But in this moment, I saw the significance that ordinary games have in our lives. It doesn’t have to do with dreams or fighting spirit, but they enter our lives and bring to you thoughts and memories.
Q: Say something to the TKA fans on Bilibili!
A: The fans on Bilibili are probably mostly those who watched the donghua, right, so I feel that, come watch our movie as well, see if you like it. Thank you everyone for your support all this time.
(reading Weibo posts)
“2019 June 16, I wrote down in my planner that on August 16 I had to go to the movie theater. 2019 July 16, I tragically received notice that my school’s military training was on August 16…”
Well, August 16 is just the release date, we’ll be in theaters for a while after, you can just go later haha
“I saw Tao Xuan in the trailer. At that time, they were all going to the pro circle for their dreams, for their own Glory!! And now, Excellent Era’s things are still here but the people are no more…”
This user is sighing emotionally about Tao Xuan. But even if Tao Xuan changed later, earning money is still a dream, we can’t think that just because of this he’s all that… it’s just that the road he took is different from Ye Xiu’s.
“Guo Mingyu, you think that just by changing your name you can get away from your debt?”
[laughing] That’s my mistake!
“Zhang Jiale perfectly avoided all chances of appearance.”
He actually does appear, everyone look closely!
“This TKA movie you speak of, is it a good watch?” [bb misspeaks at first lol: “quan zhi dian ying gao shou,” all-class movie expert]
Of course it’s good, you’ll know when you see it!
Q: Why does Ye Xiu go on morning runs in the movie?
Probably because we still wanted to have a movie with more positive energy, let him maintain a relatively healthy physical condition. After all, by the time we see him in the main novel he’s a 25-year-old player, and by the time he wins the championship again he’s already 27-28. For an esports player, that’s extremely old, but even at such an old age he could still maintain that good of a competitive condition. If we wrote that off as natural gift, that doesn’t seem very suitable, so when we were writing this prequel, we wanted to have an explanation for why even when Ye Xiu became so old and many people had already retired, he could maintain such a high competitive skill level. It’s because he had a foundation in taking care of his body.
Q: Why was Su Muqiu so focused on self-made weapons?
A: Because he relied on gaming to raise his little sister, his family, so in my original design, the most fundamental reason he focused on Silver weapons was that it was profitable. He needed greater income or whatnot, so after he discovered that this game had these Silver weapons, his thoughts would go in that direction. Because we have a saying in-universe, “the strongest weapons are Silver weapons,” so this had the greatest utility for him, it was a very down-to-earth judgment, it was an opportunity that would provide the greatest payoff, so he put a lot of effort into this area. To be honest, I feel like his goals are almost a level above the later dreams and “for the championship,” because he was doing this for existence, for life, for his home, for his little sister. So, when he’s going all out for this, it’s closer to our real lives, closer to an ordinary person’s attitude.
Q: Why does One Autumn Leaf get long golden hair in the trailer?
A: That was his Awakening skill during the finals match. In the novel, we can use words to describe how awesome something is, but this kind of scene in an animation, we want to visually show a character transformation, something that will immediately make people know, “the One Autumn Leaf in this moment is stronger,” let everyone perceive this feeling more directly. So, we made him enter this long golden hair, cooler and more dazzling state.
Q: When Ye Xiu was still the little captain, what was his guiding principle for leading Excellent Era?
A: This is actually the story we tell in the movie, how he led the team in the beginning, and then how he established those “golden phrases” or “fundamental creeds,” of his, such as what might be his most famous “Glory isn’t a single-player game,” in the movie we can see how this statement became Ye Xiu’s core spirit. And then in the finals, we use that kind of battle to show how his teammates supported him until the very end, how he relied upon the help of every one of his teammates to defeat the opposing Royal Style, which was a powerful team with top-level pro players.
Q: What function did Wu Xuefeng serve in the team, as Excellent Era’s vice-captain?
A: Mm, to me, Wu Xuefeng this person, he’s a bit older than Ye Xiu and the others. When Ye Xiu became the little captain, he was barely an adult, only 18 years old, and in comparison, Wu Xuefeng was more mature, more stable. On the team at the time, I feel that he was in a steadier condition than Ye Xiu was. At that time, Ye Xiu was still young, he could be impulsive, he could be volatile. But Wu Xuefeng, at his side, was a very reliable character, he was the godly needle that stabilized the ocean [i.e. in Journey to the West, the pillar in the ocean that Sun Wukong took to serve as his iconic weapon]. Whenever problems appeared in the team, he would be the one mediating, he would be more rational, he would be a more balanced and steady character. I feel that he was a very good vice-captain at the time. Ye Xiu’s most reliable helper, that was how we defined him.
Q: What was the turning point for Ye Xiu when he decided he wanted to become a pro player?
A: Well, first, when he left home, he didn’t have a very clear goal in mind. His family didn’t want him to play games, so he wanted to come out and play some games. And then he met Su Muqiu and Su Mucheng, and they were together for a while. At first, I feel like his life state was pretty similar to Su Muqiu’s, he would just do some power-leveling or some other very ordinary things just to earn a living, he didn’t have a clear plan. But the turning point was when Glory this game appeared, it was like Su Muqiu discovering Silver weapons in this game. After seeing the complexity of this game, how widespread it was, the things that this game was establishing, as well as his own ability and skill with this game, I feel that it was a gradual, step-by-step process and he decided, or wanted to try, “can I become a pro player.” And he had partners beside him, partners like Su Muqiu, and his boss at the time Tao Xuan, and a few good friends in-game, and everyone began to come together on this tide, this opportunity was here, and so with everyone he successfully stepped onto this road – and never looked back.
