Chapter 5

Zhou Jingcheng opened his eyes and smiled at the mirror.

Perfect.

He opened the door and met the gaze of a certain low-quality individual.

That gaze lingered curiously on his face for a moment, then traveled downward, sweeping over his lower abdomen.

Zhou Jingcheng: "..."

He clenched the doorknob, and the mindset he had just adjusted nearly collapsed.

A duck for hire who had put on clothes. (Referring to himself.)

Lip-Piercing Bro was rather surprised to see the two of them come out one after the other. "Brother Zhou? You two ran into each other? Perfect, come over together."

Lip-Piercing Bro walked ahead while Zhou Jingcheng lagged a few steps behind, drawing level with Shi Jihan. "I didn't get to ask earlier—if you wanted to talk, then talk. Why did you climb onto a stool half a meter tall?"

Was the little shrimp trying to look down on him?

Shi Jihan's face instantly turned red.

Commonly known as getting wrecked.

"None of your business!"

The smile returned to Zhou Jingcheng's face. He walked around him and headed forward.

Revenge had to be taken on the spot. If he delayed even a little, he would be the one losing out.

Most of the people who had come to play were idle second-generation rich kids. People like Zhou Jingcheng and Shi Jihan, who had skipped work to slack off, were comparatively rare.

Lip-Piercing Bro took care of the newcomer and asked Shi Jihan, "How does Young Master Shi want to play?"

Shi Jihan asked 000: [What counts as overwhelming everyone with my ball skills?]

000: [Whatever. Just wing it.]

Shi Jihan told Lip-Piercing Bro, "Whatever. Just wing it."

Anyway, he didn't know how to do anything ovo

That made Zhou Jingcheng glance at him again.

Shi Jihan's tennis outfit had no idea who had given it to him. Its cut and design looked especially like a sailor uniform. Beneath his loose shorts were two slender, long legs, dazzlingly pale in the sunlight. His white socks cinched his calves, leaving a ring-shaped indentation that gave them a slight softness.

He stood there with his hands on his hips, full of energy and vitality.

He looked like a fully automated troublemaking machine.

The moment he said "whatever," Lip-Piercing Bro was stumped. He instinctively looked at Zhou Jingcheng. "Brother Zhou, what do you think?"

Zhou Jingcheng had originally planned to go home after showering. He had only changed into the wrong clothes and come back out because he had been angered senseless. He wanted to leave, but the words changed course before they left his mouth. "Let's just play something casual."

One of them teased, "That tone... you really don't think much of us, huh?"

"You figured that out?" Zhou Jingcheng glanced at his friend, his words making people itch to grind their teeth. "At your level, I could beat you even if I came in a wheelchair."

Shi Jihan clicked his tongue. That mouth really attacked without discrimination.

His head was full of ideas. [000, can you evolve a clone and put it on him to harvest his Malice Points?]

[Develop underlings, grow bigger and stronger, struggle for a hundred days, become the number one Brother Zero.]

000: [...No such service.]

[Tch. Still not working hard enough. Reflect on yourself.]

000:?

In just a few days, the host had already evolved the face of a capitalist.

After some discussion, everyone prepared to split into two matches, four people per match, divided into pairs.

Shi Jihan was eager to get started, impatient to use his ball skills to crush Zhou Jingcheng.

In the end, he drew lots and ended up on the same team as Zhou Jingcheng.

The other team consisted of Su Yao—the one Zhou Jingcheng claimed he could beat even in a wheelchair—and Lip-Piercing Bro.

Shi Jihan: "No, how am I supposed to complete m—"

[Host!]

"Leave behind a dazzling figure as I freely and gracefully sweat on the green field?" Shi Jihan said. "I request a redraw. I want a different teammate."

Lip-Piercing Bro said, "All right."

Having first been thoroughly humiliated and then miserably rejected, Zhou Jingcheng stopped him. He weighed the tennis racket in his hand and smiled. "No need. This is fine."

000: [Guess what he's thinking.]

[What?]

[He wants to use your round little head as a ball.]

Shi Jihan shrank his neck. "Are you sure you don't want to switch?"

Zhou Jingcheng enunciated each word. "I'm sure."

But then he wouldn't get the reward!

Shi Jihan met Zhou Jingcheng's smile, which held no warmth at all. His instincts screamed danger. Under that gaze, he obediently nodded, surrendering very quickly. "Then... then we won't switch."

Dian Male Models still charged a high price. He gritted his teeth; Zhou Jingcheng was on an entirely different level.

He would treat the 300 Malice Points as an appearance fee.

...QAQ

The most expensive man in the world.

The match officially began.

Before long, Shi Jihan was already panting heavily. He could practically see himself as a human being frantically walked by an overexcited dog, while the tennis ball was an unleashed Beagle.

In contrast, Zhou Jingcheng had not even broken a sweat, though his hair was slightly messy.

His expression, however, was not very good.

The score quickly reached 5:1.

Shi Jihan panted. "Aren't you tired?"

Zhou Jingcheng jumped and returned the ball, his movements agile, steady, accurate, and ruthless. He also casually hauled up the noodle-like person who had nearly dropped to his knees. "Hit it already. If you stop bouncing back and forth so much, you won't get this tired."

He had never seen anyone on a court dart left and right at high speed, changing paths like a deflating inflatable greeter.

The worst part was that when the ball went left, Shi Jihan had not yet run back from the right. Then when the ball flew in from the right, he panicked and smacked Zhou Jingcheng in the back with his racket.

"Why are you even playing tennis?" Zhou Jingcheng dodged his teammate's vicious blow. "Come play with mine instead."

Yes, they were the one.

They were far behind, and the opposing side only needed one more point to end the match.

Shi Jihan wiped the beads of sweat seeping from the tip of his nose, embarrassed. "Maybe tennis isn't one of the sports I usually do."

Zhou Jingcheng's surprise did not seem faked. "You usually exercise?"

Shi Jihan smiled shyly. "Getting up and going outside to pick up deliveries and takeout."

Judging by Zhou Jingcheng's expression, he was cursing very viciously.

He gave it everything he had, fighting one against three, and forcibly pulled the score back. The first set ended at 6:4.

Su Yao whistled. "Yo, didn't you say you could beat me even while sitting in a wheelchair?"

Lip-Piercing Bro was secretly delighted, but he did not dare say anything. Only the corners of his mouth were hard to suppress.

Zhou Jingcheng remained expressionless.

The dictionary's definition of exercise was still too broad.

He should get Shi Bochuan to revise it.

[ Ding. The "Overwhelming Ball Skills" mission has been completed. Mission reward received: +15 ]

[This counts??]

Shi Jihan and 000 spoke in unison.

Shi Jihan held his Malice Points, now at -154.67, and squeezed out a happy tear.

Wonderful. Those fifteen points were like the beef in a cup of instant noodles—their presence was basically sustained by imagination.

Someone patted his shoulder. He looked up, nearly blinded by an excessively dazzling smile. "Do you need something?"

Su Yao's lips curled high. "Thanks, bro. You should know this is the first time in more than ten years that I've beaten him."

A towel came flying at him head-on, landing over Su Yao's face with a smack and shutting him up.

Zhou Jingcheng sat in the stands with one leg propped up, drinking water. When he saw the two of them turn to look at him at once, he sneered, "That really wasn't easy. If you hadn't won this time, I would've thought I'd been playing against bots all along."

"...Can you install 360 and run a virus scan on that mouth of yours?" Su Yao went mad.

[What a malicious mouth. What a perfect host,] even 000 praised him this time. [I'll go submit a report to the Main System. Maybe we really can develop him into an underling.]

Shi Jihan's eyes instantly lit up. He looked at Zhou Jingcheng as if he were walking money. [Brother Zero, hurry up!]

Noticing his stare, Zhou Jingcheng shifted his gaze slightly and met those round eyes. He opened his mouth, about to mock the little shrimp.

But Shi Jihan cut him off. "So you're actually this good."

Zhou Jingcheng froze.

Shi Jihan smiled ingratiatingly, sweetness flowing from the corners of his eyes to his cheeks and filling his dimples. "Your ball skills are really amazing. You definitely could've turned things around without me. Sorry, I affected your performance."

Dianjia Bro, now that I've praised you, you can't send me off to eat white people food anymore.

Zhou Jingcheng slowly pressed his lips together and shut his mouth.

Chapter 5

As friends for many years, Su Yao knew Zhou Jingcheng's temperament all too well. Especially after being dragged down into losing a match—if he didn't mock someone a few times and spit some venom, then his surname was not Zhou.

He had already prepared to defend Shi Jihan, who had helped him win.

But Zhou Jingcheng merely fell silent, tightened the cap on his bottle, stood up, and left.

Su Yao:?

He shouted after his retreating back, "Where are you going?"

He had not even unleashed his ultimate move yet.

Without turning around, Zhou Jingcheng said, "Shower. Going home."

"I'm coming too!" Shi Jihan hurried after him.

The mission target was leaving. He had no intention of staying to play tennis.

"Hey? Hey! You're just leaving like that?" Su Yao turned to Lip-Piercing Bro. "Did I just go deaf? Or did Zhou Jingcheng curse at us and I somehow didn't hear it?"

Lip-Piercing Bro looked deeply moved. "It's the male ghost version of The Silent Bride. Great, I don't have to get cursed along with you."

Su Yao:?

What the hell.

-

Near the changing rooms, Zhou Jingcheng stopped walking.

Shi Jihan was intensely discussing with 000 how to create countless clones, grow the Malice industry bigger and stronger, enslave parasitic hosts to sell themselves and repay their debts. He did not notice the person ahead stopping at all and crashed straight into him.

"What?" He covered his aching nose, his voice muffled. "Why did you suddenly stop?"

Zhou Jingcheng placed both hands on his shoulders.

The distance between them closed infinitely. Shi Jihan stared at the handsome face magnifying before his eyes and drifted off for a moment.

He had thought Dianjia Bro had such a great body that he had not sweated at all. Only when he got close did he realize the ends of his hair were soaked... huh?

Zhou Jingcheng gripped his shoulders and directly spun him around 180 degrees. His field of vision whirled rapidly.

Dizzy, Shi Jihan slowly produced a question mark:?

"Find your own room number. Don't go into the wrong one again," Zhou Jingcheng said. "Otherwise, I'll have reason to suspect you just want to sneak a look at me changing."

"...Who wants to sneak a look? Don't make things up!" Shi Jihan froze, then flushed red. "What do you have that I don't? We're exactly the same!"

"Exactly the same? Not necessarily." Zhou Jingcheng's expression turned meaningful as his gaze slid downward, sweeping over the area below Shi Jihan's waist. Judging by his eyes, he seemed to be assessing the size.

Aaaah, that bastard was looking down on him!