Chapter 2

Of course, Jing Huan didn’t get the voice changer link. The other party threw out a line, “At least we loved each other once, and you’re going to humiliate me like this?” before blocking Lu Wenhao’s QQ.

When Lu Wenhao found out, he froze for a few seconds, then broke down: “What the hell? He blocked me? He actually had the nerve to block me first?! I’m going to doxx him! I’ll fight him to the end!”

“Doxxing is illegal, it’s not worth it, Hao’er,” Gao Zixiang said with a headache. “Alright, it’s done, it’s over. Don’t dwell on it. In life, everyone faces setbacks, right?”

Lu Wenhao: “Is this what you call a setback?”

“It’s a tribulation. Once you get through this, your life will be set.” Jing Huan replied, “Hao’er, which server is your game account on again?”

“Heaven-Sent Match.” Lu Wenhao named the server and grabbed a tissue to blow his nose. “Why do you ask?”

Jing Huan shook his head: “No reason.”

He opened the half-packed suitcase and stuffed all the clutter from the desk inside.

Lu Wenhao dragged a chair over and sat down beside him: “Huanhuan, are you moving out today? I’m already so miserable, won’t you stay a few more days to keep me company?”

The school rules were extremely strict, treating college students like high schoolers with nightly curfews and power outages. If freshmen weren’t prohibited from living off-campus, Jing Huan would’ve moved out long ago.

So the moment he became a sophomore, he immediately rented an apartment in the neighborhood near campus.

“I won’t stay. I’m afraid you might get annoyed seeing any man these days.”

As Jing Huan finished packing his luggage, Gao Zixiang had just finished eating a self-heating hot pot. He stood up and said, “Huanhuan, let me help you move.”

Jing Huan locked his suitcase and replied, “No need, I’ve called a small tricycle; it’s waiting downstairs.”

Gao Zixiang insisted, “Then at least let me help you carry it downstairs.”

Since school had just started a few days ago, and Jing Huan planned to replace things like bedding after arriving, his luggage wasn’t much—more than enough for one person to carry.

In the hallway, Gao Zixiang, holding Jing Huan’s computer, tentatively asked, “Huanhuan, are you doing okay?”

Jing Huan raised an eyebrow. “What’s wrong with me?”

Gao Zixiang and Jing Huan had a very strong relationship. They had been classmates since middle school, so Gao Zixiang had a pretty good understanding of his situation.

Jing Huan came from a well-off family, was handsome, and easy to get along with—a true golden boy. The only thing peculiar about him was his extreme devotion to his sister.

Jing Huan’s sister is named Liang Ran. In middle school, he fought for her; in high school, he bought her milk tea and delivered meals; in college, he saved library seats for her. If Gao Zixiang hadn’t known the inside story, he would definitely have misunderstood.

It’s said that when Jing Huan was little, he was almost kidnapped, but Liang Ran held onto him desperately, refusing to let go even when her arm was dislocated, ultimately saving his life.

Since then, Jing Huan has held one firm attitude: you can mess with him, but don’t you dare mess with his sister.

So when Gao Zixiang learned that Liang Ran had been emotionally deceived by a scumbag in the game and was even chased across the server by the scumbag’s original partner, being called a homewrecker, he had been worried that Jing Huan might hire someone to commit murder.

Unexpectedly, the other party showed no reaction at all and even calmly sent Liang Ran to the airport with a composed expression.

“Huanhuan, what happened to your sister is just in the game, just a bunch of data. Don’t take it too seriously,” Gao Zixiang said. “Your sister will definitely return home after some time.”

Jing Huan placed the luggage on the tricycle and turned back to say, “Let me ask you something.”

Gao Zixiang: “What?”

“How did you know something happened to my sister?”

Gao Zixiang hesitated, his expression flickering through a range of emotions: “Well, just… just hearsay.”

Jing Huan frowned and said, “Tell the truth.”

“…” Gao Zixiang somewhat regretted coming down with him.

He had originally wanted to gloss over it, but seeing Jing Huan’s serious expression, he didn’t dare to make up anything and had to admit honestly, “That woman sent multiple server-wide announcements, harassing your sister for several days. I just… happened to see them.”

Jing Huan took a deep breath. “Server-wide announcements?”

Gao Zixiang quickly added, “Yeah, but she hasn’t been spamming them for the past couple of days. I guess she’s backed off now.”

Jing Huan stood for a moment before saying, “Got it, you go on up. I’ll invite you all over for a meal once I’ve tidied up the place.”

Gao Zixiang nodded, still feeling uneasy, and repeated the advice he had given to Lu Wenhao earlier: “You know, Jinghuan, doxxing is illegal, right?”

Jinghuan got into the car: “I know. It’s all stuff from the game. I won’t bring it into real life to settle.”

Gao Zixiang breathed a slight sigh of relief but still felt something was amiss. Before he could think it through, the small tricycle had already set off, heading out of the school gate.

    ——

The apartment Jing Huan rented was over a hundred square meters, brand new and previously unoccupied. By the time he arrived, the place had already been thoroughly cleaned.

He unpacked everything from his suitcase, then turned on his computer and deftly added *Nine Heroes* to the download queue.

After taking a quick shower, he emerged just as the download finished.

Staring at the *Nine Heroes* client icon on the desktop, he felt momentarily dazed.

Jing Huan was no stranger to the game Nine Heroes. He was one of the earliest beta testers when the game launched a decade ago, and he had played it for six years.

If it hadn’t been for his parents warning him about his academic performance in his first year of high school, he wouldn’t have quit the game.

Having been away from Nine Heroes for nearly four years, Jing Huan’s return this time wasn’t for the game itself.

Liang Ran had recently met a man in Nine Heroes. Like many other gamers, they met, got to know each other, and started an online relationship. Liang Ran took this online boyfriend very seriously—so much so that she planned to meet him in person on Valentine’s Day.

Little did anyone expect that just one day before Valentine’s Day, a woman claiming to be the official girlfriend suddenly appeared. She chased Liang Ran in the world chat channel for several days, even posting Liang Ran’s chat logs with that scumbag on the forum, inciting countless “Nine Heroes” players to join in insulting Liang Ran. It could almost be called a small-scale cyberbullying incident.

Not only was Liang Ran “unwittingly made the other woman,” but she was also thrust into the eye of the storm, subjected to public scorn. That scumbag, however, never showed up even once, letting the situation escalate unchecked.

Liang Ran had been doted on by her younger brother and elders since childhood, never having suffered such humiliation before. Within days of the incident, she completely broke down. In a fit of anger, she deleted her game account and went abroad to clear her mind.

When Jing Huan found out about this incident, he almost went to Shanghai to burn down the headquarters of Nine Heroes.

Jing Huan grew angrier the more he thought about it, especially since he had just learned that the other party had even used a server-wide horn—unlike a regular server horn, the message broadcasted through it could be received across all servers.

Liang Ran hadn’t mentioned this to him, probably to avoid upsetting him.

Damn! No wonder his sister deleted her account!

Expressionless, Jing Huan opened Nine Heroes, logged into his alternate account, and entered the server named “Illusory Moon.”

It was the server where his sister played. When Jing Huan learned about this, he made a decision immediately—game-related issues should be resolved in the game. He would kill that scumbag thousands of times in the game, forcing him to apologize and quit the server.

However, things weren’t as simple as he had thought.

The reason why the game “Nine Heroes” has remained popular to this day is largely due to its diverse gameplay. Players can become PK masters, dungeon experts, crafting specialists, guild leaders, or renowned merchants in the game. Each playstyle has its unique charm, allowing players to choose according to their preferences.

Every player’s dream is essentially to climb to the top of their server’s power rankings.

The power rankings are divided into several categories: Top Players, Wealthiest, Most Popular, Most Famous, and Faction Leaders.

In other servers, these rankings are typically dominated by different players, as it’s quite challenging to excel in multiple categories simultaneously.

The “Mirage and Moonlight” server is the sole exception across all servers.

Jing Huan had previously checked the official website and discovered that on this server, apart from the “Faction Leaders” category, the top spot in all other rankings was held by the same player named “Heart’s Desire.”

Jing Huan had just logged in when he noticed two players idling nearby, setting up stalls and chatting.

[Current] Maybe One Day: I was only offline for a few days, and the whole matter with Heart’s Desire is already over?

[Current] Lanbb: Yeah, that mistress has already deleted her account and quit the game. What more could possibly happen?

[Current] Maybe One Day: Tsk tsk tsk, I was hoping for a plot twist.

[Current] Lanbb: How could there possibly be a plot twist to this?

[Current] Maybe One Day: Actually, “Heart’s Desire” is a total flirt—hits on everyone. The account isn’t even married, so who knows who the real homewrecker is here.

[Current] Lanbb: …How do you know that?

[Current] Maybe One Day: Because he tried hitting on me too! Too bad it was just a game booster logged into my account at the time, lol. He also flirted with my friend—she always had her “married” title displayed, and “Heart’s Desire” still dared to make a move. Almost gave her husband a heart attack…

[Current] Lanbb: There’s such a thing… Did her husband say anything?

[Current] Maybe One Day: How dare he say anything? Can’t even beat him in a fight. I bet if all Nine Heroes teamed up together, they still couldn’t lay a finger on him.

Jing Huan pressed the skill hotkey and returned to his sect after a few seconds of casting.

The official website had once released a screenshot of Xin Xiangwangzhi’s character attributes along with several PK videos from the arena back in early last year. These two weren’t wrong—looking across the entire Nine Heroes server, there probably wasn’t anyone who could defeat him.

Skill wasn’t what Jing Huan was worried about – four years ago, he had already topped the rankings on another server and was very confident in his abilities.

But… to build an account that surpasses Xīn Xiàng Wǎng Zhī, it would take at least three years at the very minimum, not to mention that their own skills have been improving over these years as well.

Because of this, Jing Huan had to temporarily shelve his first revenge plan.

But it doesn’t matter.

He suddenly came up with a plan even more ruthless than driving the other player to quit the game.

Jing Huan opened the official exchange platform of Nine Heroes, clicked on the account filter, and began selecting the keywords for the game account he wanted to buy.

Server: Illusory Moon.

Required level: 150, maximum level.

Maxed out cultivation and support skills.

Character gender: female.

Looking at the female accounts filtered on the screen, Jing Huan curled the corner of his mouth and let out a cold laugh.

Heart’s Desire, your daddy has arrived.