"Make dinner."
"I thought it was something serious."
Jiang Sui patted her little chest and declared confidently, "Leave it to me. What do you want to eat, bro?"
Su Hang said mildly, "Eight great guardians and four great beauties."
"Twelve dishes?" Jiang Sui's almond eyes went wide. They were all her specialties, but if she made every one of them, she'd lose a layer of skin even if it didn't kill her.
But-
"No problem, bro. I'll even make you a small bowl of pulled noodles." Jiang Sui agreed to it all with an endearing, ingratiating smile. "Bro, could you transfer me the money for the pogs first?"
"Mm, I sent it to you on Alipay."
Jiang Sui was overjoyed and hurriedly pulled out her phone. When she saw the transfer record for 1,000 yuan, she stifled a laugh and muttered, "You finally fell for it."
Su Hang looked puzzled. "What are you muttering about?"
"Seriously, little bro, you think you're getting eight great guardians and four great beauties?" Jiang Sui's expression changed at lightning speed. She crossed her legs and raised her smooth chin. "Do you know the first thing Dolia did after she was unsealed?"
"What?"
"She forgot where she came from." Jiang Sui's eyes narrowed into crescents as she said smugly, like a little devil, "Su Hang, I only had to use a little trick to run you around in circles. You're not so impressive yourself."
Su Hang said nonchalantly, "But I set the Alipay transfer to delayed arrival. I can cancel it anytime within twenty-four hours."
"Huh?"
Jiang Sui's smile froze, and she was stunned on the spot.
"Damn that Identity V. Bro, I was so happy just now that my devil personality came out. Now I'm your cute, obedient, kind angel sister again. I'll go make dinner right away."
Jiang Sui put on an awkward yet polite smile and quickly got up. She backed away, nodding and bowing, then turned and darted out of the room. Soon, the clatter of cooking came from the kitchen.
"Trying to take me on?"
Su Hang took a sip of cola. "You're thirty thousand years too early."
Late at night, on the short-video platform Douyin.
A gaming news post titled #Three Top Streamers Crash and Burn in Bronze# surged in popularity, reaching first place on the gaming trending list and drawing millions of Honor of Kings players to watch and discuss it.
[Wuthering Waves Declined Because Lay Plays Valorant]: I was there for that bronze match. It was fucking mind-blowing. Sang Jie, Ting An, and Gu Shi joined forces, and a bronze player still beat the living daylights out of them!
[Shen Mengxi Is an Android Cat]: That guy was called Exalted Emperor, and he played Yuan Ge. Everyone thought he was showing off his axe skills before the master carpenter and asking to be humiliated. Who would've thought his Yuan Ge would pull off a top-tier pentakill, sending Gu Shi and the others scurrying away with their hands over their heads, crying out in misery?
[I'm Here to Keep an Eye on Sha Ruijin]: Isn't Gu Shi on par with Yinuo? He's also a contender for this year's farm lane Overlord. Someone beat him that badly? Forgive me, but I can't believe it.
[True Flavor Clan · David Dai]: It couldn't be any more true. Gu Shi and the others suspect Exalted Emperor is an alt account belonging to a big shot who's earned a King Title.
[Old Kuai Sells Sister Yu]: That's a reasonable suspicion. Gu Shi is on par with KPL's top marksmen, so anyone who can thrash him has to be a King Title big shot. But there only seems to be one King Title big shot still active in the scene these past few years.
The Honor of Kings players eagerly discussed Exalted Emperor's true identity.
Young geniuses had appeared out of nowhere before, but there had never been a case of one thrashing Overlord-level players. Naturally, everyone suspected that Exalted Emperor was a super big shot who had earned a King Title.
[Don't Underestimate Xiao Qiao]: I'm a newbie who just got into Honor of Kings. I don't know, so I'm asking: what's an Overlord, and what's a King Title? Could a veteran player explain?
Many other newbies in the comments had the same question. Before long, a reply from a user named [King Over All Under Heaven] was pushed to the top of the comments.
"When Honor of Kings first launched, the glory titles used to measure player strength were too limited and not authoritative enough. So the expert players at the top of the Honor of Kings food chain devised a special set of titles independently of the officials."
"These are glory titles with more authority than national rankings or peak rankings!"
"[Overlord] is a first-tier glory title, awarded once a year. You can compare Overlord players to the top seven players on the national server or the top seven in peak rankings among nonprofessionals, and to the top KPL players in the professional scene. Menglei, Yinuo, and Xiaopang are all Overlord-level players."
"[King Title], or [King], is a second-tier glory title, awarded once every three years. It's more impressive than Overlord and basically signifies the strongest players in Honor of Kings. Active King-Titled Players can be counted on one hand. The most famous is Fly, the King of the Clash Lane!"
"There are seven Overlord spots, collectively known as the Seven Great Overlords: one for each of the five lanes, plus two special titles that have remained unchanged for ten years, [Whale Overlord] and [Grinding Overlord]."
"There are five King Title spots, collectively known as the Five Kings. They're essentially upgraded versions of the lane Overlords."
The newbie players finally understood.
"Could the King-Titled Player who beat Gu Shi this time be Fly, the top KPL pro?"
One stone stirred up a thousand waves. As soon as Fly's name came up, the comments erupted, and many players thought Exalted Emperor was Fly.
Who was Fly? A nine-time KPL champion, the only player in professional league history with seven finals MVPs, known as the highest mountain in the professional league!
Of course, most importantly, he had been the strongest of the Five Kings in the first King-Titled Player selection, while his contemporaries Menglei, Maoshen, and Jiucheng had all been renowned Overlord-level players.
"That's probably it. I feel like Exalted Emperor's playstyle is a little similar to Fly's."
More and more people tagged Fly of the Jinan RW Heroes Team.
But the reply they received was a huge disappointment.
Jinan RW Xia Fly: Too many people have tagged me, so here's one reply for everyone. The player called Exalted Emperor isn't me.
However, Fly's next reply made the netizens shudder.
Jinan RW Xia Fly: But I can state with confidence that in this bronze match, the Arthur player on Exalted Emperor's team, [Skill Interprets Glory], was me. [Game screenshot]
Jinan, the RW Xia training base.
In the training room, a handsome young man with small eyes and a wolf-tail haircut sat in an Aofeng gaming chair, replying to comments that tagged him.
"Brother Niu, I don't get it. Why do you think this guy called Exalted Emperor has the strength of a King-Titled Player?" Beside him, a chubby young man holding a large bowl of rice asked in bewilderment, "He just hard-carried one match and got lucky beating a hot favorite for an Overlord title. That doesn't prove anything."
"Xiaopang, my intuition has never been wrong." Fly put his phone away and said with a rather grave expression, "Besides, I was matched on his team and fought alongside him briefly, so I know his skill is enough to rival a King Title player's."
"Is he really that good, Brother Niu?" Xiaopang shoveled a mouthful of rice into his mouth.
Fly put down his phone, his expression gradually softening. "If you ever get matched with him, you'll understand how I feel."
Xiaopang wiped his mouth with a tissue. "Let's put this Exalted Emperor guy aside for now. Brother Niu, besides coming to Jinan for your devilish special training, I also brought an [instruction] from our Wolves management."
"What instruction?"
Xiaopang looked Fly in the eye and said word by word, "Would you be willing to return to the Wolves?"