It was eight o’clock in the evening when we left the Municipal Bureau.
Chen Zemian sat in the passenger seat, leaning against the car window, looking at the bright lights in the office building, and sighed, “The police are so hard-working; they are still working overtime so late.”
Lu Zhuonian responded, turned the steering wheel, and guided the car onto the main road, where traffic was endless.
The reflective coating of the road signs lit up one after another, soon left behind the car one by one, while the street lights approached and receded.
Light and shadows intertwined inside the car, shifting repeatedly, much like Lu Zhuonian’s doubtful thoughts.
He hadn’t gotten any answer from Sun Yueping and could only guess the answer based on Sun Yueping’s reaction when he heard the question.
This was not an easy task.
Sun Yueping was deep and steady, and his emotions were well concealed.
As the director of the Municipal Bureau and head of tens of thousands of police officers in Beijing, Director Sun—who was a criminal policeman—had interrogated at least 8,000 suspects.
He knew how to extract information from others and, of course, how to prevent the other party from revealing any clues during questioning.
But a person is not a photo after all.
As long as one is alive, changing, and moving, there are traces to follow.
Lu Zhuonian unconsciously stroked the steering wheel with his right hand and suddenly called out to Chen Zemian.
Chen Zemian turned his head and looked over. “Hmm?”
Lu Zhuonian asked, “Do you know why I suddenly got sick this time?”
Chen Zemian blurted out, “You’ve been holding it in for too long?”
Lu Zhuonian tilted his head slightly, not sure whether he was looking at Chen Zemian or the rearview mirror. “That can only be considered a physiological reason.”
Chen Zemian caught the implication and asked, “What about the psychological reason?”
Lu Zhuonian looked forward. “I got some very bad news that made me restless and anxious.”
In the past two days, Chen Zemian had also noticed that Lu Zhuonian worried and frowned more often. He thought it was a sequela of sexual addiction and was too embarrassed to ask.
Now that Lu Zhuonian brought it up, Chen Zemian immediately acted as if listening attentively. “What’s wrong?”
Lu Zhuonian didn’t answer directly, just said, “I wanted to talk to you that day, but you didn’t answer the phone.”
Chen Zemian immediately caught on—Lu Zhuonian was digging up old grievances.
Without missing a beat, he threw Xiao Kesong under the bus.
“I was asleep, okay? The night before, Xiao Kesong dragged me into playing mahjong. We went till five in the morning! I was practically hallucinating by then. By the end, a Four Dot tile looked just like an Eight Dot—double vision, triple vision—I was this close to collapsing.”
Lu Zhuonian replied flatly, “Oh, is that so? I didn’t know you’d gone to bed that late. That’s why I waited until morning to call.”
“Do you need to check the time when you call me? Just call me whenever you want,” Chen Zemian said considerately. “If I could answer your call and comfort you, maybe you wouldn’t be sick.”
Lu Zhuonian glanced at Chen Zemian and said, “It’s okay, I’m fine now.”
Chen Zemian’s curiosity was aroused. He asked, “Do you mean you’re fine now, or that the whole thing’s been resolved?”
Lu Zhuonian tapped his index finger absently against the steering wheel, his tone contemplative. “Could be either. Hard to say for sure. What do you think?”
Chen Zemian, ever confident in Lu Zhuonian’s uncanny streak of luck, didn’t hesitate.
“Hard to say for anyone else. But for you? No matter how bad it gets, it always turns out okay.”
Lu Zhuonian gently curled the corner of his lips. “If that’s the case, then I’d consider myself very fortunate indeed.”
Chen Zemian also smiled.
Although he didn’t know what Lu Zhuonian was talking about, he was still happy that his friend’s mood had improved.
*****
To celebrate Young Master Lu’s recovery, Ye Chen personally hosted and invited Lu Zhuonian and Chen Zemian to a small gathering at Lushui Pavilion.
Lu Zhuonian covered the microphone and asked Chen Zemian, “Do you want to go?”
Chen Zemian was still thinking about his good brother Xiao Kesong. He firmly opposed small private gatherings and refused, “Young Master Xiao should be back in two days. Let’s get together then.”
So Lu Zhuonian told Ye Chen that he would not go.
Although Ye Chen could not hear this conversation, there was a sudden silence on the other end of the phone for a few seconds. It was obvious that Lu Zhuonian was communicating with someone. Hearing Lu Zhuonian say he could not come, Ye Chen thought it was Chen Zemian’s intention, so he said nothing and just chuckled.
Lu Zhuonian said indifferently, “Is it funny?”
Ye Chen asked back, “Isn’t it funny?”
Lu Zhuonian’s tone was unenthusiastic. “Then hang up.”
“Wait,” Ye Chen said. “Give the phone to Chen Zemian. I have something to tell him.”
Lu Zhuonian didn’t know what Ye Chen wanted to say to Chen Zemian, and he didn’t want to know, so he said, “No.”
Ye Chen was silent for half a second. “I have Chen Zemian’s phone number. Do you want me to call him privately?”
Lu Zhuonian handed the phone to Chen Zemian. This time he didn’t cover the microphone and even turned on the speakerphone directly. “Ye Chen insists that you answer the phone, otherwise he’ll contact you privately.”
Ye Chen let out a disbelieving laugh, more exasperated than amused.“Lu Zhuonian, so your illness is miraculously cured now, huh?”
Lu Zhuonian wanted to say something, but Chen Zemian raised his hand to cover his mouth, and he didn’t say anything else.
Chen Zemian said, “Young Master Ye, what’s the matter?”
Ye Chen said, “I have a younger brother named Ye Xi. You still remember him, right?”
Chen Zemian replied, “I remember.”
Ye Chen started abruptly, “He ran away.”
Chen Zemian was stunned. “Ah?”
Ye Chen’s words were intriguing. He didn’t tell the whole story but led Chen Zemian to ask, “Well, he ran away from school?”
Chen Zemian asked, “Why?”
Ye Chen said concisely, “He said he didn’t want to go to high school and wanted to join the youth training class of an online game team to play professional e-sports competitions.”
Chen Zemian choked on his saliva when he heard this. “Is he so rebellious? What game?”
Ye Chen said the name of a game. “Temple of Glory.”
Temple of Glory is a mobile game that has been popular for a long time. It is similar to King of Glory. It is a 5v5 team-based tower-pushing game, but in King of Glory, it’s about pushing crystals; here, it’s a series of temples.
After Chen Zemian crossed over, he downloaded it and compared it with King of Glory to study user preferences and optimization directions.
Chen Zemian analyzed it from a professional perspective. “This game peaked in S4 and S5. Now it has passed its hottest period and gradually cooled down. Overall… there aren’t many career prospects.”
Ye Chen said, “He won’t listen to any of this right now.”
Since Ye Xi ran away from home, he stopped answering his parents’ calls. He could still barely read Ye Chen’s WeChat messages but didn’t reply much. Today, Ye Chen sent a message to Ye Xi, saying that he had arranged dinner with the founder of Re-conferring the Gods at the Lushui Pavilion and asked if he would come.
Ye Xi replied and said he would come.
Chen Zemian listened to Ye Chen’s explanation and said, “So that’s the case. Then I can go. I just didn’t realize this was why you were calling me.”
“If you don’t want to go, then don’t,” Lu Zhuonian said to Chen Zemian. “You don’t have to accommodate him.”
Ye Chen didn’t want to talk to Lu Zhuonian, so he just said, “Chen Zemian, I really want to ask for your help. Can you go somewhere Lu Zhuonian isn’t and talk to me alone?”
Chen Zemian glanced at Lu Zhuonian, got up with his phone, and walked into the study room, where he learned about Ye Xi’s situation from Ye Chen.
Ye Xi has good grades and studies in an international high school. He will graduate in June this year and is at a critical juncture in his life.
As long as he finishes the last semester step by step, he can attend a very good university, whether he takes the college entrance examination or studies abroad. But now he doesn’t even want to go to high school, which is indeed an emergency.
Chen Zemian is a game planner who understands the e-sports industry and user psychology. With the endorsement of the popular Re-conferring of the Gods, Ye Xi can always listen to the words of industry masters even if he doesn’t trust others.
Chen Zemian said he could give it a try.
Ye Chen thanked Chen Zemian and said, “My family has also asked other practitioners to talk to Ye Xi and even asked his favorite e-sports player to come, but it was useless. In the end, the e-sports player was persuaded by Ye Xi and was willing to introduce him to their club for a trial.”
Chen Zemian was a little surprised. “He’s very talented if he can get the recognition of professional players. What’s his current rank? Has he entered the national rankings?”
Ye Chen was silent for a few seconds. “Before, Zhuo Nian always said that your attention is very strange, and I thought he was too harsh.”
When Chen Zemian heard Ye Chen say this, he understood why Ye Xi was unwilling to communicate with his family.
Perhaps, in the eyes of the Ye family, the e-sports player’s introduction of Ye Xi to their club for a trial was just a favor to the young master of the Ye family, but Chen Zemian knew how difficult it was to gain recognition from professional players.
It can’t be blamed on Ye Chen for missing the point. After all, only those who “know the business” understand how hard it is to be recognized by professional players.
Outsiders always misunderstand insiders, just like many think that those who work in IT can repair computers—just stereotypes.
27-year-old Chen Zemian can understand and accept differences in perspective, while 16-year-old Ye Xi only feels that “no one understands me.”
However, it’s impossible to piece together the whole picture just by listening to these fragments.
Chen Zemian took a neutral attitude and made his position clear to Ye Chen in advance. “I can try to persuade Ye Xi to go back to school, but I can’t persuade him to give up his dream.”
Ye Chen said coldly, “It’s better to let him give up.”
Chen Zemian politely refused. “I think that’s too arbitrary. Dreams are precious.”
Ye Chen did not refute. “You will know after meeting Ye Xi.”
*****
The next afternoon, Chen Zemian met Ye Xi at Lushui Pavilion.
He and Ye Chen look so alike, as if carved from the same mold.
The moment he entered, Chen Zemian was momentarily stunned, as if he had double vision, standing there in a daze.
The two sat side by side—it was simply Ye Chen and Ye Chen from three years ago.
After Lu Zhuonian said, “That’s Ye Xi,” Chen Zemian finally reacted, walked into the box, sat down, and greeted Ye Chen and Ye Xi.
Before Chen Zemian and the others arrived, Ye Xi had just quarreled with Ye Chen, and his face looked very bad.
Ye Xi knew Chen Zemian was a lobbyist hired by his brother, but he couldn’t resist the temptation to meet the founder of Re-conferring the Gods. He felt conflicted and awkward—on one hand angry that his brother knew how to control him so well; on the other hand angry at himself for being so shallow and easily controlled.
In his entanglement and boredom, he said nothing out of anger.
Ye Chen looked cold and handsome, raised his eyes, and glanced at Ye Xi. “Speak.”
Ye Xi had a bad temper but was blunt, and said quickly, “I don’t want to talk.”
Ye Chen had a blank expression. “Didn’t you talk anyway?”
Ye Xi threw the napkin in his hand onto the table, suddenly stood up, turned around, and was about to leave.
Ye Chen didn’t even raise his eyelids. “Sit down.”
Ye Xi had been holding back his anger for a long time. He stopped when he heard this, turned around, pointed at Ye Chen, and yelled, “Ye Chen! I came to eat because I believe you are my real brother. What does the bodyguards’ car downstairs mean?!”
Chen Zemian was startled by the sudden roar.
He didn’t expect Ye Xi to have such a hot temper, which was completely opposite to the calm and steady Ye Chen.
Lu Zhuonian gently pressed Chen Zemian’s arm, indicating it was okay, and said lightly, “Don’t make noise.”
Ye Xi took a deep breath. “Brother Zhuonian, you guys eat. I’m leaving.”
Ye Chen glanced at Chen Zemian, wanting him to ask Ye Xi to stay.
Chen Zemian thought, Why bother? He obviously cares about his brother, but doesn’t express it properly.
However, it seems the original book mentioned that the Ye family’s atmosphere is like this. The father is fiery, strong, and violent. Ye Chen is very depressed at home and is often interrupted and refuted before he finishes speaking, so he slowly developed this cold and taciturn character.
Every time his father got angry, Ye Chen had a blank expression, quietly watching him lose his temper.
Ye Xi’s personality was somewhat similar to his father’s—he was impatient and prone to temper tantrums. Ye Chen was used to dealing with his father’s anger with an indifferent attitude and naturally couldn’t say anything to comfort Ye Xi when he was angry.
But Ye Xi was different from his father. His father consolidated his patriarchy through violent means, while Ye Xi obviously just wanted to be coaxed. He was just a spoiled and domineering young master.
Chen Zemian was the best at coaxing these young masters—he was practically born for it. Even the super difficult-to-coax Lu Zhuonian, he could easily coax.
Chen Zemian stood up and walked toward Ye Xi. “If you don’t want to eat here, then let’s go eat something else.”
Ye Xi wanted to leave but didn’t dare to, for fear that he’d be held down by the bodyguards and taken back to the Ye family as soon as he left the house. His father was really irritated by him this time.
Going home and getting a beating was nothing. If he was forced home like this, his father would most likely send him to an internet addiction school.
His brother was his only support now. Logically, he shouldn’t quarrel with his brother, but he didn’t know how the conversation got started. After this quarrel, no one could lower their heads and speak softly.
Ye Xi was standing there, unable to save face, when Chen Zemian came over to talk to him. It was the first time he’d met Chen Zemian, and being polite to someone he didn’t know well was the most basic courtesy.
Ye Xi found a way out for himself and spoke in a gentler tone. “What do you want to eat?”
Chen Zemian said, “That depends on what Mr. Ye wants to eat.”
Ye Xi glanced at his brother, not too obviously. On the surface, he was asking Chen Zemian, but in fact, he was asking his brother’s opinion. “Is it all right?”
Ye Chen didn’t say anything.
Chen Zemian gently pushed Ye Xi. The two left the box one after the other, and Ye Chen didn’t stop them.
Ye Xi left the box, his back relaxing slightly. After taking two steps, he worried that Chen Zemian wanted to trick him out. What if he just walked out of the door of Lushui Pavilion and was forced into the car by the Ye family’s bodyguards?
Ye Xi regretted his hasty appointment and lost his curiosity about the founder of Re-conferring the Gods. He only thought about how to get rid of him and run away.
As he was thinking, Ye Xi slowed his pace and fell behind Chen Zemian, trying to find a chance to slip away. Just as he turned around to run, Chen Zemian reached out and grabbed Ye Xi’s collar from behind without even turning his head.
Chen Zemian said, speechless, “Why are you running?”
Ye Xi replied very warily, “I don’t want to eat anymore. I’m leaving.”
Chen Zemian didn’t care whether Ye Xi ate or not. “Okay. If you want to leave, tell your brother first.”
Ye Xi: “Why?”
Chen Zemian: “I took you out, and I have to take you back. Otherwise, I can’t explain it to your brother.”
Ye Xi shook his arm and broke free from Chen Zemian’s grip, saying irritably, “I’m so old—can I still get lost? You explain to him!”
Chen Zemian frowned. “Do you think I want to control you?”
Ye Xi sneered. “My brother asked you to persuade me. How much money did he give you? What’s the benefit if you persuade me? Tell me—I’ll double it.”
Hearing this “young master,” Chen Zemian silently repeated in his heart three times, This is a minor, and you can’t fight with him, before reluctantly swallowing his anger.
He had to admit he’d spoken a little too boldly to Ye Chen earlier. Chen Zemian had thought Ye Xi was an esports genius who wasn’t understood. After meeting him, he realized he was actually just an irritable kid.
Yes—if it were a child under discipline, Ye Chen wouldn’t have come to him so easily.
It didn’t matter. If he couldn’t beat Ye Xi in the real world, he could bring him into the game to beat him.
Chen Zemian took out his phone and asked Ye Xi, “What games are you good at?”
Ye Xi showed disdain. “Why? Do you want to play SOLO with me?”
Chen Zemian only said two words. “Log in.”
Ye Xi logged into the game and saw Chen Zemian’s unranked ID. He couldn’t help but say, “Are you kidding me? I’m in the top ten of the national server.”
Chen Zemian: “Do you want to play?”
Ye Xi entered the 1v1 mode, typed the room number and password, and said, “I can kill you alone at level one.”
Chen Zemian entered the game. “What if I kill you?”
Ye Xi immediately said, “If you can win, I’ll do anything.”
Two minutes later, [System broadcast: First Blood]
Chen Zemian said lightly, “Win.”
Ye Xi stayed where he was, his face darker than the screen.
Chen Zemian completely forgot that he’d been confident just yesterday, emphasizing to Ye Chen that dreams were precious. He ruthlessly expressed his doubts to Ye Xi. “You still want to play professionally?”
Ye Xi angrily quit the game. “Again!”
Chen Zemian accepted the invitation and killed Ye Xi again in the game.
Ye Xi gradually doubted his life but soon reacted. “No—how could you predict my position in advance like that? I just released the skill, and you dodged it.”
Chen Zemian said calmly, “What? Can’t you hear the skill sound effect?”
Ye Xi snatched Chen Zemian’s phone. “What skill sound effect? You must be cheating! Change phones to play!”
Chen Zemian readily accepted and killed him three more times with Ye Xi’s phone.
After five consecutive losses, Ye Xi was in a trance.
“Impossible. This is impossible!”
Ye Xi asked Chen Zemian loudly, “Is this your smurf? You must be in the top ten of the national server—the founder of Re-conferring the Gods. My brother hired you to play my role.”
Chen Zemian leaned against the wall and asked Ye Xi with his head tilted, “Then change the game?”
Ye Xi thought about it and said, “Okay.”
For the next half-hour, Ye Xi experienced various fancy ways of dying in one game after another. Lost miserably—it was horrible to watch.
At the end of the game, the battery alarm popped up on the phone.
Chen Zemian shook his wrist. “I don’t want to play anymore. The battery’s out.”
Ye Xi had completely lost his temper. “No!”
Chen Zemian was calm. “Haven’t you lost enough after so many games?”
Ye Xi: “…”
Chen Zemian: “I remember someone said, If I win, I can ask him to do anything?”
Ye Xi took a deep breath. “What do you want me to do?”
Chen Zemian said, “Go back and finish high school—and go to college when it’s time to go to college.”
Ye Xi looked at Chen Zemian for two seconds, suddenly broke the agreement, turned around, and ran away.
Chen Zemian’s prediction speed in reality was faster than in the game. He raised his hand and grabbed Ye Xi’s collar from behind.
“Are you Chen Zhe?” Seeing Chen Zemian’s agility, Ye Xi suddenly reacted. “The Chen Zhe who beat Liu Yuebo, beat Xu Shaoyang, and beat Tang Tiancong a while ago?”
Chen Zemian: “…”
No one could remain indifferent to such achievements—especially since these were all bad records of suspected fighting.
Ye Xi had been used to fighting since he was a child. It was impossible for him to just surrender. Seeing Chen Zemian grab his clothes, he took off his coat directly.
Chen Zemian couldn’t help but smile.
He remembered the first time he’d met Lu Zhuonian. At that time, Lu Zhuonian had reached out to grab him, and he’d also lifted his clothes and run. It was also in Lushui Pavilion.
In the blink of an eye, time had flown by—he’d been in the book for so long.
Thinking of this, Chen Zemian was absent-minded for a moment.
Ye Xi took advantage of Chen Zemian’s distraction and unexpectedly raised his hand to push him. Taking the moment Chen Zemian turned to avoid him, he ran away.
Chen Zemian didn’t chase him but stood there, sighed, and went back to the box directly.
Ye Chen wasn’t surprised to see Chen Zemian return alone. He just said calmly, “Is he difficult to communicate with?”
Chen Zemian told him what had happened after they’d left the box. “I tried my best.”
Ye Chen disagreed. “You can even manage Liu Yuebo. How can Ye Xi be worse than him?”
Chen Zemian said, “But Liu Yuebo doesn’t run away.”
Ye Chen: “I have a way to prevent Ye Xi from running away, but I don’t know if you’re willing to manage it.”
Lu Zhuonian refused. “He doesn’t have time and doesn’t want to.”
Ye Chen glanced at Lu Zhuonian, then turned to Chen Zemian. “Either I ask you to watch him every day, or I ask you to play games with him.”
Chen Zemian was a little surprised. “Play games?”
Ye Chen nodded slightly and said in a cold tone, “Kill him a few more times—until he doesn’t want to play anymore.”
The game Temple of Glory had a [Confrontation] mode. Players could choose to be “irreconcilable” with teammates or enemies they met in the game, ensuring they’d never become teammates again—only enemies.
If they opened the Narrow Road Encounter challenge simultaneously, then as long as both parties were online at the same time, the probability of being matched in the same game increased significantly.
To protect the game’s fairness, the Narrow Road Encounter challenge was limited to low-rank players targeting high-rank players. High-rank players couldn’t bind Narrow Road Encounter to low-rank players. Additionally, to prevent point cheating, if the high-ranking side won a game, the binding would automatically release, and they couldn’t challenge again for a set period.
In short, under Temple of Glory’s mechanics, the greater the rank gap, the higher the chance of being matched.
Ye Xi was in the top ten of the national server. Chen Zemian’s rank was as low as possible.
This meant that once Chen Zemian challenged Ye Xi, as long as they were online simultaneously, they’d almost always be assigned as enemies. Only if Ye Xi won would the binding release—otherwise, Chen Zemian’s account would linger, bound until he quit the game.
Chen Zemian heard Ye Chen’s plan and said, “This is a bit cruel.”
Ye Chen continued, “The playing fee is calculated hourly.”
Chen Zemian said, “Mr. Ye, don’t joke. This isn’t about money.”
Ye Chen calmly offered a price. “One hundred thousand per hour.”
Chen Zemian hesitated. “Mr. Ye, I think—”
Ye Chen raised the price: “Two hundred thousand.”
Chen Zemian blurted out, “Okay.”
Seeing Chen Zemian agree, Lu Zhuonian didn’t object.
While they talked, the Ye family’s bodyguards had already caught Ye Xi and escorted him into the box.
Ye Xi cursed at first, but after entering and seeing Ye Chen, he fell silent and sat back down obediently.
Now, his life was at stake—whether he’d be taken back to the Ye family depended on Ye Chen’s decision.
At this critical moment, Ye Xi finally learned his lesson and accepted his brother’s arrangement to have Chen Zemian practice games with him.
Seeing everyone present, the staff served the dishes swiftly.
Once he started eating, Chen Zemian forgot everything else.
Lushui Pavilion’s official dishes were light, delicate, and exquisite. All ingredients were precious, cooked with strict timing—truly delicious.
Lu Zhuonian served a bowl of soup and asked Chen Zemian if he wanted it.
Chen Zemian nodded, and Lu Zhuonian set the soup beside him without serving another, as if it had always been meant for Chen Zemian.
Ye Chen glanced at the soup bowl, his eyes lingering on the jade spoon.
It was Lu Zhuonian’s spoon.
Chen Zemian seemed not to notice. He picked up the bowl, scooped the soup, and took a sip.
Lu Zhuonian said, “It’s hot.”
Chen Zemian hissed, biting his tongue with white teeth, breathing in to cool it. He complained, “Why didn’t you say so earlier?”
Lu Zhuonian’s gaze fell on the bright red tip of his tongue, staring for two seconds.
Seeing him stare, Chen Zemian turned. “What’s wrong? Did you get burned?”
“…”
Ye Chen glanced at Lu Zhuonian.
Lu Zhuonian withdrew his gaze as if nothing had happened and said lightly, “Hm.”
*****
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