A dramatic reversal

"Holy shit, is this ad for real? It's so damn good!"

"Flowers on Brocade, aaaaaah!! I'll buy it, I'll buy it, I'll buy it, okay?!"

"Their sense of destiny is off the charts, does anyone get it? I'm begging you two to get married right now. I'll shoulder the gossip and rumors."

"The gardenia the goddess saved went on to save the goddess herself. Screenwriter, get out here and let me shower you with praise!"

"Both our babies have such a heartbreaking, shattered air. Spirit Snake, you really get us!"

Spirit Snake's social media team replied to several comments and liked a Flowers on Brocade CP fan topic. With the official account leading the shipping, the CP fans went wild with delight again and rushed to place orders.

Sales of Spirit Snake's new product shot up, breaking its records from previous years. Spirit Snake's boss shed tears of joy. As expected of the CP he shipped.

The Flowers on Brocade topic stayed hot on the trending searches for two whole days. Who wouldn't love a CP of two beautiful women?

Flowers on Brocade's position as the empress grew even more secure. Twin Flowers and Ebony Meets Spring could both step aside.

Flowers on Brocade's supertopic: As long as this empress lives, the rest of you will always be concubines.

Wu Jin was livestreaming while duo-queuing with Shi Mu, who had also opened a stream for once. Seeing "Flowers on Brocade is the best" scrolling endlessly through the comments, he smiled and teased them.

"Even if I'm a concubine, I'm a beautiful one."

After saying that, he turned to ask Wu Jin if he was beautiful.

Wu Jin controlled her hero, unsure what the captain was trying to do by suddenly asking that, but she answered anyway. "Beautiful."

Shi Mu raised an eyebrow. "See? Whoever wins the emperor's favor is the empress~"

The barrage exploded again, especially among Shi Mu's girlfriend and boyfriend fans. Was it really appropriate for their idol to throw himself at her like that??

In the end, they could only console themselves that such open behavior meant friendship, then joined the Flowers on Brocade ranks without a backward glance.

As the buzz grew, a topic about Wu Jin getting into a fight appeared out of nowhere.

In the video, which lasted a little over ten seconds, Wu Jin repeatedly struck a man with a stick. The man curled up, unable to bear the pain.

Wu Jin didn't let him off. She pulled him up and punched him several times before finally stopping. At the end, she turned around, and her face was caught on camera with perfect clarity.

Fame brought trouble, and Wu Jin was also very skilled, so plenty of people had their eyes on her. Many netizens took rumors for truth and kicked her while she was down as soon as they saw the video. The voices condemning Wu Jin online grew louder and louder.

"I disliked her the first time I saw her. She's so fake. Now it turns out she's just a little thug."

"A few more blows and she'd have killed him. Can someone like that be a public figure? Get out of esports, you disgrace."

"You think one video is enough to turn everyone against our Jin? Our Jin really has made it big."

"Jin was involved when bin livestreamed before too, but you all brushed it aside. Looking at it now, things weren't that simple, were they?"

"Are you maids still going to whitewash your idol? We demand Jin be banned from competing!"

"Yes! Ban her! She has to be banned!"

The old incident of bin crying on stream was brought up again. Many of his fans began demanding justice for him, vehemently opposing someone like Wu Jin continuing to compete in FKL.

Faced with so many hateful comments, Wu Jin's fans kept trying to control the comments, but it had little effect. At a time like this, the fans' trust in their player was being put to the test.

They believed in Jin. After seeing so much content featuring her, they knew Wu Jin was a good kid, definitely not as awful as people online claimed.

Brother Qian called Wu Jin into his office. Wu Jin watched the video and fell silent for a while.

Then she raised her detached, impassive face and admitted she was the one who had beaten the man.

"It was before I joined the team."

It had happened the day before she joined the team, which was why Wu Jin's hand had been bandaged for those few days.

When Wu Jin admitted it, Brother Qian's last hope vanished. When he first saw the video, he simply couldn't believe Wu Jin would get into a fight.

Maybe it was someone who looked too much like her, or the video had been altered with AI. How could someone as small and slender as Wu Jin possibly beat a man?

But now Wu Jin had admitted it.

Shi Mu stood behind Wu Jin. After watching the video, an unreadable emotion flickered in his eyes. He silently took another half step forward, until the fabric of his clothes just brushed against Wu Jin's hair.

Now it was Brother Qian and Coach Ming's turn to fall silent. Although the fight hadn't happened during a competition, everyone was talking about it now. The impact was too great, and they had to answer to the tournament organizers, their superiors, and the public.

"You might be banned from competing."

Coach Ming sighed. They had finally managed to get some results. If Wu Jin were banned, it would be bad for her career and even worse for the team.

Brother Qian pressed his lips together. "Can you tell me why you got into a fight?"

Wu Jin looked up and met Brother Qian's eyes. The girl's gaze was always without a ripple, frighteningly still.

Ten minutes later, after listening to Wu Jin's account, Brother Qian sprang from his seat and cursed the man as a beast, his neck flushed red with anger.

"What a piece of trash! She should've beaten him to death! Just giving him a beating was letting him off easy!"

Coach Ming's face darkened, and he was too angry to speak. Looking at the perfectly calm girl, his heart ached terribly for her.

Wu Jin was so impassive that she might have been telling someone else's story. Shi Mu looked at her for a long time without speaking, his expression growing sharp.

"I'll make sure to report this properly to the higher-ups. It wasn't our fault. Even if someone has to be held accountable, it won't be my girl!"

Brother Qian told Shi Mu to take Wu Jin back, saying he would handle the matter.

The team took away Wu Jin's phone and accounts, worried that seeing the vile abuse online would affect her state of mind. The girl remained composed, as though the matter had nothing to do with her, and sat at her station training as usual.

Clear and Wantonly's accounts were taken away too. Brother Qian was afraid they wouldn't be able to stop themselves from trading insults with the haters and would stir up more trouble.

"Little sis, don't worry. Those assholes are just jealous and deliberately trying to mess with you."

"Yeah, Little A Jin, it's okay. The things people do to compete these days are this disgusting. It's so underhanded. How could our Little A Jin, with her tiny frame, beat anyone up?"

"I did beat him."

Wu Jin's eyelashes fluttered gently.

"Huh?"

Wantonlyr was thrown for a moment. She really had beaten someone up?

Qiuqiu lay at Wu Jin's feet, gently rubbing against her leg.

Clear sprang to his feet and slapped the table, filled with righteous indignation. "Next time you beat someone up, call your big brother along! It's too dangerous for you to do it alone!"

Bin tried his best to make himself inconspicuous. Where no one could see, his lips curled slightly, his eyes brimming with excitement.

He would be able to ruin Wu Jin very soon. There was only one step left.

Shi Mu was outside on the phone with a friend.

"Okay, sorry for the trouble. Let me know when you find out."

"No need to be polite. We go way back."

After ending the call, he looked up to see Xiao Qi standing in front of him with a pretty box in his hand. The two looked at each other in silence.

When He Zhixiao saw the abuse directed at Wu Jin online, she immediately posted on Weibo to show her support for Wu Jin:

Wind--Flower: I believe in Jin.

That brought her plenty of abuse in turn. People said she and Wu Jin were snakes and rats in the same nest, neither of them any good. Some even said girls only played esports to seduce men.

He Zhixiao got so angry that she began trading insults with the haters. When her coach and manager found out, they confiscated her account, and she was called into the office for tea.

Xiao Qi smiled at Shi Mu. "No matter what, we believe in Jin."

He had actually posted on Weibo too, but he had left quickly to deliver a cake on He Zhixiao's behalf and hadn't been caught yet. Once he went back, he would have to go in for tea too.

"Thanks, Brother Xiao~"

Shi Mu broke into a smile, showing his white teeth. Xiao Qi smiled helplessly.

Xiao Qi had been playing for six years and was older than all of them, so everyone in the scene called him Brother Xiao.

Wu Jin stared at the cakes on the table for a long time without eating. Shi Mu smiled gently and took out a little rabbit-shaped cake to coax her.

"Will Huahua get dragged down because of me?"

The fact that He Zhixiao hadn't come to deliver the cakes herself meant she must have spoken up for Wu Jin and been held back. She was Wu Jin's first friend, and Wu Jin didn't want to drag her down.

Shi Mu put down the cake and rubbed the top of her head. "It's okay, A-Jin. Do you want some matcha mochi ice cream?"

Wu Jin picked up the little rabbit cake and gave a muffled "Mm."

As expected, she still couldn't resist matcha mochi ice cream.

The team's mood had been somewhat subdued these past two days. Everyone was worried about Wu Jin, and Auntie Lin learned to make little desserts from the internet for Wu Jin to have after meals.

Wantonly thought up jokes every day to cheer Wu Jin up, and Clear stopped playing parkour at night and took Wu Jin out for night runs instead.

Then all four GOD members and Qiuqiu went out for night runs.