Chapter 45: The Audience (3)

“Everyone! Let’s celebrate our victory!”

A young woman, striking in both looks and figure, stood proudly atop a mountain of half-mechanical beast corpses. She raised her heavily steampunk-inspired chainsaw rifle high into the air. Her confident smile shone as brightly as the sun.

“““““Ooooohhh!!!”””””

The people gathered around her were mostly girls. They cheered with arms raised, their excitement overflowing. A few were injured, but rather than dampen their spirits, the wounds only made the hard-won triumph taste even sweeter.

Even though during the final battle against the Mist King, it was pretty much her soloing the whole thing.

“At last! It’s time to move on to a new area! Anyone who still wants to fight, come with me! So we can return home sooner!”

“““““Got it, Boss Elyaaaaaaa!”””””

***

Crack!

The young man yanked his heavy greatsword from the grotesque head of the massive spider, gave it a few practiced swings to fling off the filthy blood and slime. At long last, the lord of the underground—who had ruled this canyon with tyranny for ten whole years—met its end here.

The entire rebel force erupted into cheers. They whooped and hollered, arms raised high, offering their highest respect to the young man who had delivered the final blow to the Mist King.

He leapt down from the spider’s head, and the girl who led the unit quickly came forward to meet him.

“Thank you for your hard work, divine envoy!”

“No need to be so formal. Just call me by name.”

“All right, then… Lazell, sir! Truly, thank you so, so much. You’ll always be the best friend of our rebel army. With your help, we’re unstoppable!”

“You flatter me. I’m merely providing support. You’re the one truly leading everyone.”

The young man answered with a gentle smile, showing not a trace of arrogance or pride.

“Well then, shall we move forward?”

***

The battle was finally over. The three who had departed the starting zone now set off toward the next.

A man with a head of green hair, looking a bit more mature than before.

An ethereal beauty who still seemed half-unreal.

And a dashing young man whose performance had been the most dazzling of all.

Though the farewell was bittersweet, and though many hearts were heavy, their departing figures—leaving the rotted-face people behind—were brimming with hope.

But for their families watching from the other side of the screen, there was only despair.

“Huh, Mrs. Winter, I understand how you feel, but your son—”

A woman in her late twenties spoke fluent English into her phone. This was Zhou Ruoxi, and for the first time in her life, she felt like her translation skills were actually useful.

“Yes, yes, I know, please calm down…”

On the other end was a middle-aged woman with a thick New York accent, babbling in a rapid-fire stream that made even Zhou Ruoxi, who prided herself on being a professional interpreter, feel overwhelmed. The woman started off fretting over her son Booker, then somehow veered into lamenting the chaos of her home life, then pivoted again to criticizing Booker’s shortcomings, only to circle back to how worried she was about his safety.

Argh, what does this woman even want!? My own nephew’s still stuck in that godforsaken place, and she expects me to worry about her son?

Though admittedly, her nephew and this New York auntie’s son were currently on the same team.

Utterly fed up, Zhou Ruoxi mumbled a few perfunctory replies, ended the call, and let out a deep sigh. Her gaze drifted back to the television in her rented apartment. On the screen, her nephew Zhou Yuhong and his two companions were shown walking on foot. They looked relatively energetic—remarkable, considering they’d barely survived a deadly encounter just days ago.

If there was anyone in the extended Zhou family closest to the brother-sister pair, it was undoubtedly Zhou Ruoxi. She was the youngest sister of their late father, and not yet thirty herself. After her brother and sister-in-law died in an accident, someone had to step up as guardian for the orphaned children. Young and impulsive at the time, she’d volunteered without hesitation.

Looking back, the two had never caused her any trouble. Yuhong was steady and dependable, and Yujing was obedient and thoughtful. Though their lives had been tough, they’d managed to get by on their parents’ inheritance, continuing their studies and day-to-day living without issue. They never needed much help, so Ruoxi didn’t live with them. She only stepped in when a guardian’s presence was legally required.

But this situation was far from normal.

There was no way she could leave Yujing alone now. After much deliberation, she brought her niece to stay in her small rental apartment. Ruoxi worked as a translator—not too busy, not too idle—and since she was single, having Yujing around was no burden at all.

As for said key character, Miss Yujing—

Swipe, swipe, swipe, swipe, swipe, swipe, swipe!

—she was sitting cross-legged on the sofa, face tight with tension, swiping furiously across the tablet Ruoxi had lent her, looking as though she was about to murder someone.

Five days ago had been an emergency, no doubt about that. Zhou Yuhong had fought a monster of that magnitude and won. Altogether, he had now taken down three absurdly powerful enemies. Of course, it was worrying. But for Ruoxi, the whole thing felt too surreal—watching him battle on-screen felt like watching a movie. That sense of distance strangely dulled her anxiety.

Yujing, on the other hand, was completely different.

She tracked her brother’s situation every waking moment through every channel she could find. If Ruoxi didn’t physically shove food in her face, the girl would forget to eat.

And so—

“Hey, Yujing.”

“Mm?”

“Don’t you have to go to the bathroom? Why can’t you walk while holding the tablet?”

The television was broadcasting a live feed of Yuhong’s current state, yet Yujing’s eyes were glued to her tablet instead, scrolling furiously through Weibo, Renren, Zhihu, Douban, Hupu, NGA… dozens of social media platforms flipped past her fingers in a blur.

“I’m doing something important! Very important!”

“Important?”

“Look!”

Yujing held up the tablet and typed into the search bar—“Zhou Yuhong” “battle”.

Results exploded onto the screen.

《Top Student from Shaanxi Province Takes On Biochemical Monsters! Even His Useless Teammates Were Moved to Tears!》

“What the hell is this!?”

“Right!? Super gross clickbait title!”

“Ugh, but the content…”

Ruoxi’s curiosity got the better of her, and she tapped in. The article was filled with images and text—shots from Yuhong’s brutal fight against that creature called “Ian.” The raw realism of it blew any CGI production out of the water. Scrolling further, the content was surprisingly decent despite the awful headline. Most of the comments were positive too.

“And! And! Look at these!”

“Ughhhh…”

More search results followed: 《MVP Zhou Yuhong》, 《High-EQ Genius Trailblazes Another World》, 《Shocking! This Tough Guy Did That In Front of Girls!》… What was this garbage? Did today’s media write headlines with their asses? Still, the content was fairly standard.

“There’s even more!”

“There’s this much?”

There were also a bunch of seemingly hardcore analysis threads: 《Zhou Yuhong’s Tactics in Practice》, 《MVP of Northeastern Inoria: Skill or Luck?》, 《Top Three Breakdown: Why Zhou Yuhong Is the Weakest Link?》, 《Optimal Strategy Guide for the Village of Decay》…

“Isn’t it super infuriating!? All these armchair generals judging my brother! Like they’d survive a single day in there if they were thrown into it! And yet here they are, acting all high and mighty!”

“Well, you can’t really stop people from running their mouths online…”

“But—But—But!!!”

Yujing pointed at her phone, eyes brimming with tears.

“So many! I don’t even know where they came from! People! Fawning over! My brother! Nonstop!!!”

“…Uh?”

“Look at this!”

She nearly shoved the tablet into Ruoxi’s face, jabbing at the sudden explosion of mysterious fan accounts?

《Yuhong Oppa Fan Club》

《Zhou Yuhong Aesthetic Bot》

《Official Support Group for Big Brother Hong》

What were these?

“See! Look at that! These trash accounts are gaining followers like crazy! Their numbers are exploding! And most of them are women! Uwaaaaahhh, ruaruaruaruarua!”

“Well, it can’t be helped. He’s ranked third among all survivors. I checked, and he’s a huge topic even outside of China. Only that Italian chick and the pretty boy outrank him. Oh, and his teammate, that Felice girl, is super popular too.”

Ruoxi opened Google Image Search. “Felice”—search.

—Instant flood of close-up shots of Felice’s body.

Especially those two plump, perky mounds on her chest.

“See—”

“Don’t! let! me! see! her!!! What the hell is this!? Why is she always next to my brother, looking like she’s staking a claim! Just because her boobs are big!? Those useless sacks of fat!? I worked so hard in high school to protect my brother, and now… now… Now it’s all being stolen by this tittie monster!?”

Yujing furiously groped her own tragically flat chest, then slammed away at the tablet like an angry, puffed-up cat.

“What are you even doing now…”

“These thirsty pig-bimbos drooling over my brother—every last one of them must be shut down! And anyone badmouthing him too! Not a single one will be spared!”

“Wait, wait, wait! I’m glad you found something to distract you, but this isn’t the way. This is absolutely not the way.”

“It’s fine! I don’t mind! Because—!”

Yujing slapped a fist to her chest, eyes blazing with Shao family resolve, and declared with noble fervor,

“As his sister, I will protect my brother in my own way!”

“You’re already way off the rails!”