Inside the coffee shop.
The real Maomao gently smoothed her skirt as she took a seat.
With a slight nod and a soft voice, she said:
"It's been a long time since I've gone out, and I didn’t know your true identity."
"That’s why I asked a local friend to meet you in my place first."
"I apologize for my rudeness. I’m truly sorry."
Her words and demeanor were refined and courteous.
Though her voice was quiet, she showed no trace of timidity.
She perfectly matched Lin Yu’s subconscious image of a "well-bred lady."
Her slightly flamboyant hair color and outfit did nothing to diminish her gentle aura.
If this Maomao was putting on an act,
then her acting skills were simply too impeccable—
so flawless that there wasn’t a single hint of pretense.
On Mo Shangying’s end, she had indeed been furious about Maomao sending a stand-in.
But she belatedly realized that she, too, had stepped in as a substitute.
So, resigned, she spoke into her earpiece:
"Forget it, forget it, Master. Just accept her apology."
"Online, she seemed like a total obsessive, but who knew she’d be this polite?"
Maomao’s use of a stand-in had been exposed
because the stand-in sister was afraid of messing things up.
So every word she spoke followed the real Maomao’s instructions.
Lin Yu, on the other hand, hadn’t been caught
precisely because he didn’t blindly follow remote commands.
Forgive her?
That would mean throwing away the upper hand he’d just gained.
Shangying’s brain was sharp when it came to coding,
but reading situations and deciphering people?
She was utterly out of her depth.
"I came here in good faith, and you had the nerve to send a stand-in to meet me?"
"Do you not see me as a person?"
"And here I was, remembering it was your birthday today, even bringing you flowers."
"An apology? I won’t accept it!"
"I’m furious right now!"
Accepting the apology would mean leveling the playing field.
Right now, the other side was in the wrong.
Time to put this cat in her place!
Maomao’s startled expression vanished in an instant.
His refusal wasn’t unexpected.
This was, after all, "ZerO’s" usual modus operandi—
seizing the slightest psychological advantage to ruthlessly press the attack.
But now they were face-to-face, not online.
Maomao’s social etiquette wouldn’t allow her to lose composure in public.
She continued softly:
"Today is the birthday listed on my ID, but it’s not my actual birthday."
"I appreciate your kindness, but I was the one who acted improperly."
"And also…"
"That last line you said—it’s from Young and Dangerous, 12 minutes and 20 seconds in, spoken by Ugly Kwan."
"I understand what you’re subtly implying."
Lin Yu: "???"
Whether today was her birthday or not didn’t matter.
The real bombshell was what came after.
To pinpoint the exact minute and second of a movie from an offhand remark?
No way she wasn’t bluffing!
Mo Shangying’s fierce voice erupted in his earpiece again:
"There it is again! Master, this is definitely not a stand-in—it’s Maomao herself!"
"What I hate most about her is how she flaunts her memory like this."
"I refuse to believe it! Master, test her—"
"Ask her where The Last Porn Emperor comes from!"
Lin Yu: "..."
You damn disciple, what kind of nonsense is rattling around in your head?
This is something you say in public?!
Ignoring Mo Shangying, Lin Yu nodded approvingly.
"Still got that sharp memory, huh?"
Maomao rattled off at lightning speed:
"Fifth, fourth, sixth place, CTNY competition, CTNY competition, age 12, 095532."
"Those are the answers to all your previous questions."
Lin Yu: "..."
Who even asked you?
Clearly, Maomao didn’t just have a good memory—she was also fiercely competitive.
Facing ZerO, she probably wanted to prove herself even more.
What was worse—
after answering, the corners of Maomao’s lips curled up ever so slightly.
It was as if she was declaring in a victor’s tone:
Mentally, I’m not losing to you. The initiative is mine now!
Even if he weren’t ZerO, just an ordinary person,
Lin Yu wouldn’t let himself be outmaneuvered by a little girl.
In a sudden move, he slammed the table and stood up:
"You go to a convenience store and buy something that costs 39.80. You hand the clerk two 20-dollar bills. What does he give you back?"
Maomao clenched her fists. "He gives you… two 10-cent coins?"
Lin Yu: "He gives me a piece of bubblegum!"
Maomao: "???"
Lin Yu leaned in slightly.
"Fishing for hairtail, hairtail on the island, fishing for hairtail… Repeat it three times!"
Maomao’s throat tightened. "Fishing for hairtail, hairtail on the… dai— My memory only works for movies and shows! This is cheating!"
Lin Yu moved even closer.
"Calling it cheating? Hardly!"
"What’s the first line Liu Neng says in Country Love Story: Variations, Season 3, Episode 6?"
Maomao’s eyes widened. "I— That… I haven’t watched it…"
Lin Yu: "Tch. So you’re just… a small-time nobody."
Maomao: "That’s not the line! The actual line is—"
The scene fell abruptly silent.
Maomao could only watch as Lin Yu smugly settled back into his seat.
Her mind echoed with his final, disdainful jab.
That last one wasn’t a test—it was a straight-up insult.
ZerO in real life…
was even more terrifying, even more domineering than online.
A hundred times worse!
……
In the budget hotel room across the street.
Ye Mengfu adjusted her nearly slipping black-framed glasses and let out a long exhale.
The audio feed was so clear it felt like she was right there.
It dredged up old memories.
The immersion was too strong…
As if she were the one being interrogated by Lin Yu’s relentless barrage.
When Lin Yu got aggressive, he was downright terrifying!
"Fishing… for hairtail…"
Ye Mengfu attempted the tongue-twister in a whisper before promptly giving up.
Mo Shangying, who had temporarily lowered her binoculars, grinned triumphantly.
"Amazing! Master is too good!"
"Honestly, he feels more like ZerO than I do!"
"Thinking about it, if I ever retire, maybe Master can take over as ZerO."
Ye Mengfu’s face was a canvas of confusion.
"Just… who’s the master here?"
"And who’s the disciple?"
Just as Mo Shangying was lost in her fantasies, her phone buzzed with a notification.
An identical message also popped up on Lin Yu’s phone.
……
Back in the coffee shop.
Ding! Ding!
The simultaneous alerts from Lin Yu and Maomao’s phones interrupted their battle of wits.
The sender was none other than the representative sent by 860 Group’s headquarters.
Lin Yu skimmed the message and smirked.
"Tsk tsk. The folks from 860 Group’s HQ are about to arrive."
"Looks like today’s war of words is another win for me."
The moment the words left his mouth—
Crack.
The sound of knuckles tightening was unmistakable.
The refined "well-bred lady" instantly puffed up her cheeks like an angry pufferfish.
Though her voice remained soft, her tone was full of defiance:
"I won’t lose!"
Lin Yu blinked. "???"
Well, well.
Her competitive streak runs this deep, huh?
Still a feisty little cat, after all?
And here I am, the undefeated tiger!
Maomao’s fiery aura lasted only as long as that single sentence.
Then, like flipping a page, she reverted to her usual composed self.
"Sorry for the intrusion."
"ZerO, I was wondering—are you free tomorrow?"
ing gift was a patch of barren land, and disciples were all picked up along the way. He spent fifty years diligently building three "ramshackle little sects," thinking he could finally live a carefree life relying on his disciples. But right at the fifty-year mark, he was suddenly swept away by a spatial rift and exiled to the Chaos Desolation, the Disorderly Ruins. There was no spiritual energy there, only slaughter. Relying on the cultivation feedback from his disciples, Gu Changyuan hacked his way through a sea of blood for eleven hundred years. When the system finally fished him back out, he discovered the ramshackle little sects he'd built back then had developed a rather... unusual style. Hold on... I vanished for a thousand years, so how did my ramshackle little sects become holy lands?!
ut it can buy an entire year of absolutely perfect training results! Su Yu stared at his empty wallet and decisively opened up various online loan platforms. “Borrow a thousand bucks! Recharge my vitality!” Boom! His vitality broke a hundred points, shattering the limits of the human body! “Borrow ten thousand bucks! Recharge my combat skills!” Boom! A basic punching technique so common it was everywhere instantly maxed out, revealing the ultimate assassination technique of Five Elements Unity—Inner Force! When a rich kid hired assassins for a midnight ambush, aiming to break both of his legs, they instead ran headfirst into a monster—a human-shaped tyrannosaur, brimming with dragon-like vitality. With just two fingers, Su Yu snapped a steel staff reinforced with alloy. Staring at the killer’s stash of stolen cash—a staggering quarter-million dollars—he showed a corporate-sincere smile: “Thanks for the pre-exam gift pack, Mr. Zhao! I’m gonna go re-invest this!” Three days later, at the National Martial Arts College Entrance Exam, while everyone else struggled just to reach the passing line, Su Yu threw a single punch—and more than a thousand vitality points literally detonated the entire arena!
] [Lone Wolf, No Male Gaze] [Protagonist is pursued early on; extreme protagonist-stans, stay away!] The "Carnival Paradise" descends and slowly devours the real world in the form of a game. By chance, Zhu Yan awakens the talent [Roleplay], becoming one of the first beta players. He thought he could develop safely, but after clearing the first instance, he is branded by humanity as the chief culprit behind the game's spread—a traitorous villain. A villain? Who would ever... become one! He'll be the villain! From then on, Zhu Yan is not only a player but also a lackey for the Carnival Paradise. Between the straight path and the crooked path, he chooses the con. With his left hand, he dons the villain's mantle, staging scenes within instances, infuriating players who decry him as a despicable traitor, all while the game happily promotes him. With his right hand, he joins the non-human organization "Fangcun Mountain," which opposes the Carnival Paradise, transforming into a mysterious player who slaughters game bosses, earning cheers of "Long live the expert!" from fellow players. Gradually, Zhu Yan rises to become an S-rank human player in Fangcun Mountain's archives, while also being the Carnival Paradise's certified top game Boss. But when the final war erupts and both major factions place their hopes in him— Players tag his various aliases: "Experts, this offensive depends on you." The Carnival Paradise's supreme Boss throws an arm around his neck: "Bro, you're the iron, I'm the steel; you can't let me down again!"
lity and could only live as an ordinary mortal. He only wished to live a peaceful life. Yet he didn't know— The dog he adopted, because it ate his food, became a legendary demon king. The kitchen knife he casually forged became a peerless divine weapon, causing numerous experts to fight desperately for it. The young disciple he took in became an immortal lord that led an era, due to cultivating the techniques Ye Feng taught him. Even the skeletons he looked down on the most were ominous demon kings that suppressed countless worlds. Many years later, looking at the void shattered with a punch, Ye Feng murmured to himself: It turns out the peerless kings were myself all along...
