Jiangcheng, Huating Residential Complex.
At Su Hang's home, after 23 hours, he had finally raised Gan & Mo's Glory Power to 15,000.
"My Peak score has reached 1,985." Having just finished a Peak Tournament match, Su Hang checked the weekly Peak mid-lane leaderboard. His Exalted Emperor account had earned the title [Jiangsu Province Top 100 Peak Mid-Laner].
"Now let's check Gan's national leaderboard." Su Hang opened Gan's national rankings. He was currently ranked 53rd.
"But I still have to subtract the extra 1,200 Glory Power from the challenge matches." Su Hang scrolled down the national leaderboard and murmured, "Based on 13,800 Glory Power, my Gan is actually ranked 72nd nationally."
The extra Glory Power earned from the Peak Challenge didn't count toward the Major National Badge, so the live national rankings were somewhat inflated compared to the actual rankings when the leaderboard was finalized.
Su Hang bent down and took the last can of sugar-free cola from the case. He cracked it open, took a small sip, and looked up at the livestream.
Total likes had passed ten million, and the viewer count held steady at fifty thousand. Comments flew across the screen.
"Holy crap! I've slept and woken up twice, and Exalted Emperor is still streaming? Damn! Are you made of iron? You've been streaming for 23 hours straight. Please get some rest!"
"Great Exalted Emperor, you're already awesome. You got Gan's provincial badge in one day. I've never seen any mid-lane master do that. Get some rest and stream again tomorrow night!"
"As much as we want to keep watching your stream, Great Exalted Emperor, your health is the foundation of the revolution. We little fans strongly demand that you end the stream!"
Su Hang smiled. "I appreciate everyone's concern. There are only a few minutes left before the Peak Tournament ends at midnight. I'll play one more match, break 2,000 points, and then get some rest."
The viewers were overjoyed. Plenty of wealthy patrons sent expensive gifts, and special effects swept across the screen in wave after wave without stopping.
Su Hang took a sip of sugar-free cola, the corners of his mouth lifting slightly.
Sleep was out of the question.
After 23 hours of grinding through the crucible of ranked matches, his brain and body had adapted to the intensity and switched into [battle mode]. They were extremely excited and active. If he slept now, they would switch completely into [sleep mode].
It would take another twenty-odd hours to get back into battle mode.
So before he had even decided to grind for the badge, he had crossed sleep off the list. Even if he really needed a break, he would substitute pumping iron at the gym.
"Enough talk. Let's go!"
Su Hang put down his sugar-free cola and started his last Peak Tournament match of the day.
Plenty of players were in the Peak Tournament late at night, and since it was the weekend, matchmaking was lightning-fast. He found a match and got in instantly!
The game's loading screen appeared.
Su Hang was in the first slot, Peak Summoner 1.
Before he could preselect Gan & Mo, there was a crisp snap as his fifth-slot teammate sent Gan & Mo straight to the ban slot.
"Hm?"
Su Hang was slightly taken aback.
Although Gan was a popular mage, his weaknesses were obvious and he was easy to counter. Nobody banned him in high-level matches.
From the starting Peak score of 1,200 all the way to his current 1,985, Su Hang hadn't encountered a single match where Gan was banned!
The viewers cried out that something was wrong!
"Holy shit! Something's not right, guys. Could Exalted Emperor have run into a match-thrower?"
"Very possible. There are so many overpowered heroes the fifth slot could ban, but he chose Gan. He's obviously targeting him."
"Exalted Emperor had better be careful. The fifth slot could be a mole sent by one of those jealous match-throwing studios!"
Su Hang instantly became wary.
Just then, the fifth-slot clash-lane player turned on his mic.
A whiff of pepper soup came rushing through.
"Damn it, brothers, you know Exalted Emperor?"
The fourth-slot farm-lane player turned on his mic and asked curiously, "You mean the Exalted Emperor who reached Legendary 100 Stars with an all-win MVP record?"
"That's the one!" The fifth-slot teammate poured out his grievances. "Good lord, last Peak Tournament, I was playing Zhu Bajie and ran into him on the other team. His Gan & Mo turned me into a complete dumbass."
The third-slot jungler turned on his mic, as if he had found his people. "Brother in the fifth slot, a friend of mine ran into Exalted Emperor on the other side in the Peak Tournament tonight too."
"Exalted Emperor's Gan was suffocating. He stabbed my friend into a miserable zero-and-eight. Of course, I'm talking about my friend, not me."
The second-slot support chimed in right after him. "Bro, I ran into Exalted Emperor too. I was playing a Peak Tournament on my alt this afternoon and ran into him on the other team at 1,500 points. Fuck, he was a beast. He stabbed me until I questioned my whole life."
The second, third, and fifth slots were like fellow countrymen meeting far from home, friends meeting fellow countrymen, their eyes brimming with tears.
"Exalted Emperor's over 1,900 points now. It's way too easy for us to run into him. He might even be on the other team."
The third-slot jungler praised him. "Brother in the fifth slot, banning Gan was absolutely the right move."
The second-slot support said through gritted teeth, "Good ban, brother. That bastard Exalted Emperor left a shadow over my young, innocent heart. From now on, I'm banning Gan in every Peak match!"
At that moment, the fourth-slot farm-lane player hesitated. "I don't think that was necessary. What if Exalted Emperor ends up on our team? He could use Gan to carry us to victory."
"Are you dreaming, brother in the fourth slot?" the second-slot support sneered. "Three brothers on our team have all run into Exalted Emperor on the other side."
The third-slot jungler coughed twice and hurriedly corrected him. "My friend ran into him, not me."
"Same difference," the second-slot support continued. "How likely do you think it is that Exalted Emperor ends up on our team? Or are you saying you think the brother in the first slot is Exalted Emperor?"
"Nine times out of ten, the brother in the first slot's another victim!" the fifth-slot clash-lane player said indignantly. "Don't be scared, brother. Turn on your mic and tell us your story. We've got your back."
"Tell me, is it possible," Su Hang said quietly into his mic, "that I'm Exalted Emperor?"
The team voice channel suddenly fell silent.
"Exalted Emperor!" the fourth-slot farm-lane player shouted excitedly. "Holy crap! We really did get matched with you!"
The second, third, and fifth slots all turned to stone on the spot.
"Oh, I'm done for!"
The fifth-slot player wanted to die. He steeled himself and said, "Exalted Emperor, I was just joking with you. I'm the dumbass. Please don't mind me banning your Gan."
"Great Exalted Emperor, that friend of mine is despicable," the third-slot player said indignantly. "He's clearly not as skilled as you, yet he still slandered you. He's utterly shameless! I'll cut ties with him later!"
"It's all right. That's only human."
Su Hang didn't take their earlier gossip to heart. He merely asked the second-slot support, "Don't you have anything you want to say to me?"
"Oh, dear! Would you look at that? The floodwaters have washed away the Dragon King's temple. If I'd known it was you, I was merely jesting," the second-slot support said obsequiously, slapping his own mouth. "Playing Grand Gala has rotted my brain. Please don't hold it against me!"
"Exalted Emperor, what kind of support do you want? I can play either enchanters or tanks."
The viewers in Su Hang's livestream were rolling with laughter.
"I'm fucking dying! That second-slot support went from swaggering to groveling. He changes his face faster than you can flip a damn book!"
"The harder he cursed Exalted Emperor just now, the more humble he is now. Bet he was scared to death!"
"As long as I'm not embarrassed, someone else will be. That second-slot support sure knows when to bend and when to stand tall for points!"
Su Hang didn't make things difficult for the support.
After helping secure a hero, he considered which mage to pick.
"What mage do you all want to see me play?"
Su Hang left the choice to his viewers.
Within seconds, the comments were flooding in with the same two-character hero name.
The comments were so uniform that Su Hang briefly thought the stream had frozen, until he saw a high-level fan post a longer message.
"Exalted Emperor, you've run into another top streamer again, again, again."
Su Hang didn't think much of it. After all, 1,900 Peak points at the start of a season was already the threshold for high-level matches, where it was easy to run into streamers. With his all-win record on top of that, it would have been strange not to run into one.
Su Hang casually asked, "Which streamer did I run into?"
When he saw the fan's reply in the comments,
Su Hang was slightly taken aback.
"Citong?"
PS: I recommend the author's completed King novel of over a million Chinese characters, "King: I Told You to Play It Safe, but You Only Came Out of Seclusion with Maxed-Out Stats." Interested readers can visit the author's homepage to check it out!