Lin Feng watched from under the streetlamp as a man, stripped down to nothing but his underwear, was taped to the pole in a mortifying pose.
A stinking sock was stuffed into the man's mouth.
Lin Feng dusted the grime from his hands and admired his handiwork with grim satisfaction.
Then he took the old flip phone he'd pried off the black-clad attacker and dialed the police.
"Hello—officer? I want to report an indecent exposure. Yes, right by the west gate of Jiangcheng University, in the old alley. Super pervy!"
He hung up and tossed the handset into a nearby trash can.
Only after finishing did a tide of exhaustion and hunger wash over him.
Beating a killer was way more tiring than grinding rank all night.
More importantly, a grim realization settled in.
This black-clad man was only a low-level killer.
Behind him stood a massive, unnamed organization.
They'd sent someone to force a real-life takedown over a game companion—this wasn't mere spite anymore. It was lunacy.
If Lin Feng wanted to keep living the life of a lezi ren—a man who lived for kicks—he had to get stronger.
And to get stronger, he needed Break Value.
Money and strength—he wanted both.
He opened the companion app to scout for more "suckers" to exploit. But when the page refreshed, the entire interface had gone gray.
A line of crimson text sat in the middle.
[Your account 'Fengshen' has been permanently banned for violations.]
"Fuck."
He spat the curse under his breath.
Not only was the five-hundred-yuan payout gone—his livelihood was gone too.
…
At Jiangcheng University, the campus forum had a new top post, stamped with a bright red "HOT."
[High reward! Campus e-sports league—seeking a jungler who can carry! Pay negotiable!]
Poster ID: Qingxue.
A simple name with massive pull on Jiang University's boards—because Qingxue was unanimously recognized as the campus beauty and the Computer Science department's top idol: Su Qingxue.
A woman known for both beauty and icy reserve.
Thousands of replies stacked up within minutes.
"Holy—Goddess Su! Pick me! I'm so sweet!"
"Jungler here! National top-100—carry me, goddess!""Stop hyping—Su wants to win the championship. Your skill is just filler."
"I heard Su bet that the loser has to… bark in front of the whole school?"
Lin Feng leaned back, skimming the flood of comments with one eye.
Ice-queen campus belle? E-sports goddess? A public bet? All the elements were in place.
To him, she wasn't a goddess—she was a premium client.
He opened a DM and typed.
[ID: Just a handsome passerby.] [Msg: Boss, still hiring?]
Reply came almost instantly.
[Qingxue: Send your stats.]
Lin Feng thought for a moment and sent a screenshot of his banned "Fengshen" account.
It displayed a string of unreal SVP-level results—losing MVPs stacked like trophies—games full of teammates who'd betrayed him at every turn.
Silence filled the chat for a full minute.
[Qingxue: Isn't this account banned?]
[Just a handsome passerby: Too skilled—got punished by the system.]
[Qingxue: …]
[Qingxue: 3 PM today. Café by the west gate. Second floor, window seat.]
Lin Feng smiled.
Fish hooked.
…
Three o'clock at the café.
He sat in a corner and ordered the cheapest iced water.
Soon a figure appeared at the top of the stairs.
She wore a simple white dress, hair down, no makeup—but the light around her dimmed anyway.
Where she passed, the chatter lowered a few notches.
Su Qingxue.
She sat across from him and placed her phone on the table; the screen flashed his banned account.
"I need a champion," she said bluntly, as cold as she looked. "Can you do it?"
Lin Feng crossed one leg, slouched back, and sipped his water.
"Boss pays, I carry," he said.
He paused, added: "But fair warning—if you play worse than my last client, I'll charge extra."
"Compensation for emotional damage."
Su Qingxue blinked.
At that moment, an ill-timed voice cut in.
"Qingxue, what are you doing sitting with that kind of person?"
A young man in designer clothes and slick hair swaggered over, looking Lin Feng up and down with contempt.
"This is Li Hao, president of our e-sports club," Su introduced without emotion.
Li Hao ignored Lin Feng and smiled obsequiously at Su. "Qingxue, I've already found teammates for the league—our top players. We'll secure the championship. Why hire random players from a forum?"
Lin Feng drawled, "Your elites—guarantee a hundred percent championship?"
"Of course!" Li Hao lifted his chin.
"So why hire me then, Boss Su? Money burning a hole in your pocket?" Lin Feng shrugged.
The barb shut Li Hao up.
His face flickered between red and white; furious and humiliated, he pointed at Lin Feng. "Who do you think you are? Hiding your real ID and still talking big?"
"Qingxue, don't be fooled. He's just trying to get close to you!"
Lin Feng straightened a bit, fixed his gaze on Su.
"Boss, don't look at me that way. I'm not here to chase you—I'm here to work. It's my shift. Do you want to continue the interview?"
His words drew a clear line: this was strictly a business relationship.
Su Qingxue's eyes registered something different—she'd seen every flavor of lecher who tried to approach her, but this was the first one who wore his "I'm just here to make money" on his face.
Interesting.
"All right," she decided. "Li Hao, you said your team is strong?"
She looked at him.
"Let's do a trial match."
"I'll be on his team and pick three random solo players. Your club fields five."
Li Hao brightened—this was a gift from the heavens. To crush this upstart in front of Su? Impossible to pass up.
"Deal! It's on!" he agreed hastily. "We'll meet at Peak Netcafé. I'll call now."
He shot Lin Feng a taunting glare and strode off to summon his squad.
Only Su Qingxue and Lin Feng remained in the café.
"You not afraid to lose?" Lin Feng asked.
"If I lose, it proves my judgment failed—your fee is void." Her voice cool. "But if you lose terribly, I'll make you understand what wasting my time costs."
Lin Feng smiled.
"Boss, you got one thing wrong."
He leaned forward, lowered his voice.
"I'm only responsible for killing—not babysitting noobs."
"You can lose the match. But you must die."
"You catch my drift?"
[Ding! Initial verbal provocation detected! Target 'Su Qingxue' emotional fluctuation—Defense-Break value +10!]
[Ding! Strong hostility detected from 'Li Hao'—Defense-Break value +50!]
Inside, Lin Feng felt nothing but appetite.
This was just an amuse-bite.
He was already looking forward to the sight of the ice-queen frothing in rage because of his trash talk.
That would be far more entertaining than a championship.
Peak Net Café, the most luxurious esports arena near Jiangcheng University.
Li Hao had booked out the entire battle zone. On the massive screen overhead, the match was about to begin, live-streamed to the whole campus.
Students poured in after hearing the news, filling every seat in the audience section.
On the school forum, threads exploded. The campus live channel went live as well, instantly shooting to the number one spot.
Lin Feng sat at the gaming desk, calmly adjusting his equipment.
Behind him, Su Qingxue quietly took her seat. Between the two, an empty chair sat like an invisible wall.
[Ding! Exceptional entertainment environment detected. Limited-time quest issued!][Quest: Melt the Ice Queen!][Objective: In this match, push "Su Qingxue's" tilt value past 5000!][Reward: 1x Silver-tier Lottery Draw!]
Lin Feng flexed his wrists.
The match—and the reward—would both be his.
Across the stage, Li Hao sat down with four varsity starters, each wearing a smug, cat-playing-with-mouse smile.
"Qingxue," Li Hao said into his mic, "don't say I'm bullying you. I'll even let my guys play one-handed."
The crowd roared with laughter.
"Hao-bro's too OP!""Teach that scrub a lesson!"
The game began.
In the champion select phase, Lin Feng instantly locked in an assassin jungler notorious for its insane mechanics.
The entire café went dead silent—then erupted.
"What the hell? That champ's almost extinct in pro play!""This poser's gonna get wrecked!"
Su Qingxue, in contrast, chose a safe mage midlaner.
The match loaded in. Both sides entered the Rift.
Two minutes in, Lin Feng's jungler slipped through the fog like a phantom, cutting an impossible path through the jungle. He appeared behind the enemy top laner—then struck.
A flawless combo, every point of damage calculated to the last digit.
First Blood!
The first kill of the match!
The arena froze for a beat, then erupted into chaos.
The chat on the livestream staggered for half a second before exploding.
"Holy shit, those hands!""No way—that reaction speed's inhuman!"
Li Hao's smirk stiffened.
Meanwhile, midlane.
Su Qingxue, reaching forward for a single cannon minion, got caught out by the enemy mage. Half her HP vanished in seconds, forcing her to burn Flash.
A minor misplay—hardly uncommon.
But at that moment, Lin Feng's mic lit up.
"Miss, are you playing with your feet?" he asked calmly.
"Oh, my mistake. That's insulting to feet."
The entire arena fell into a deathly silence.
The livestream chat froze, then exploded into question marks.
"??????""Wait… did he just—""Did this guy actually flame Goddess Su?!"
Su Qingxue's mouse hand trembled in midair. Her porcelain face turned pale, then flushed with disbelief.
[Ding! Mid-level verbal attack detected! Target "Su Qingxue" emotional state destabilized. Tilt value +300!]
Lin Feng ignored the storm around him.
The match rolled on.
He became a cold-blooded machine of slaughter. Wherever he went, kills followed. Li Hao's so-called varsity elites were nothing more than lambs at the butcher's block.
The rhythm of the game was entirely in Lin Feng's hands.
The audience shifted from shock to feverish excitement.
"He's a jungle king!""Since when did Jiangcheng U have such a monster?!"
By the seventh minute, a skirmish broke out near midlane.
Su Qingxue's mage stood safely behind the frontline. She cast her key control skill—only for the prediction to whiff, hitting the enemy tank instead.
Lin Feng's voice chimed in immediately:
"Your predictions are like my paycheck—always a beat too slow."
Her body stiffened.
[Ding! Tilt value +500!]
"You're basically a moving ward out here," he added. "Except… for the enemy team."
The livestream lost its mind.
"HAHAHAHA! God-tier roast!""I swear, from today, he's my mouthpiece!"[1]
"The guts! No one's ever flamed Goddess Su on stage before!"
Li Hao's face darkened to a bruised purple. He tried to rally his team against Lin Feng—only to realize they couldn't even lay a hand on him.
Meanwhile, Su Qingxue's breathing grew ragged.
Her pride and dignity were being ground to dust by his relentless words.
Her gameplay began to collapse. Last-hits missed. Skills misfired. Positioning faltered.
And every mistake earned her another venomous quip.
"Miss, is this an homage to modern art? The classic piece called 'My Face, Into the Bush'?"
[Ding! Defense-Break value +800!]
"The enemy jungler's falling for you. Every time he visits midlane, you hand him another kill. You're his personal ATM."
[Ding! Defense-Break value +1000!]
The vicious cycle tightened its grip.
The more she tilted, the worse she played.The worse she played, the harsher his roasts.
The crowd had stopped caring about the outcome. They leaned forward in unison, waiting for Lin Feng's next scripture.
Finally, the decisive Elder Dragon fight erupted.
By now, Su Qingxue's mindset was in shambles.
Her screen filled with chaotic colors, but all she heard was Lin Feng's mocking voice echoing in her skull.
She wanted to prove herself!
She Flashed straight into the enemy team's core, desperate to land her damage.
A fatal mistake.
She was instantly deleted. Her screen turned gray.
Her reckless dive left Lin Feng's team annihilated.
"It's over…" someone muttered. "We're about to get wiped."
But just as the game seemed lost, Lin Feng respawned.
Alone, he charged into five enemies pushing high ground.
A razor-sharp dagger plunging into their backline. His movements blurred, damage bursting at max.
Double Kill!Triple Kill!…Penta Kill!
Five kills in a row!
Before tens of thousands of watching eyes, Lin Feng singlehandedly flipped the game with a 1v5.
He smashed the enemy Nexus.
VICTORY lit the screen.
But Lin Feng didn't stop.
He opened all-chat, typing slowly:
"Thanks to the five enemies—and our sixth teammate."
The arena froze.
The livestream chat, for the first time, went utterly silent.
Every gaze turned to the girl in the white dress at midlane.
Su Qingxue sat still as ice, unmoving.
One second.
Two seconds.
Suddenly, she shot to her feet.
CRASH!
With a kick, she sent the heavy gaming desk flipping. Monitor, keyboard, mouse—everything clattered to the floor in a storm of sparks and shrapnel.
She pointed a trembling finger at Lin Feng, chest heaving, her flawless face twisted in humiliation and wrath. Words stuck in her throat.
[Ding! Target's emotional value exceeded limit! Tilt bar maxed!]
[Congratulations, Host! Limited-time quest complete! Reward: 1x Silver-tier Lottery Draw!]
In the silence of the stunned crowd, Lin Feng stood up, stretched, and strolled over lazily.
"Game's done. Boss, time to settle the payment."
He paused, gesturing at the wreckage on the ground.
"And about the desk repairs—those are on you, right?"
Su Qingxue finally found her voice. Each word grated through clenched teeth:
"I'll make sure you can't survive in Jiangcheng."
Lin Feng just shrugged and turned to leave.
At that moment, his phone buzzed in his pocket.
It was a message from an unknown number.
There was only one line:
"We have your people. Eastside abandoned factory. Come alone."
Footnotes
[1]Mouthpiece (嘴替): Chinese slang for someone who perfectly expresses the feelings or frustrations of others, usually by saying out loud the harsh words everyone else is too afraid to.