Chapter Seventeen: Quintuple Kill

Before long, several more vans pulled up outside the Shu Kingdom Banquet. A dozen or so men in black suits climbed out, led by one with a foul mouth, his arm in a cast and several layers of gauze wound around his head.

“Who bullied my brother?” The leader barged in with his men, and the first thing he saw was Jin Shao’s displeased face.

But when Jin Shao caught sight of Chen Da, his expression lit up. “You’re finally here!”

“Chen Da, it’s him! He beat my little brother so badly he can’t even stand!” Jin Shao shouted.

Following Jin Shao’s pointed finger, Chen Da saw a slim young man. The moment he laid eyes on him, his hair stood on end, and he swallowed hard. Without hesitation, Chen Da strode quickly toward Ye Feng.

“You’d better just accept your fate. And if you’re thinking of calling the police, I’d advise you to forget it. We have people in the police station…” Jin Shao began, but seeing Chen Da’s reaction, he couldn’t finish his sentence.

“Brother Feng! Having a meal here, are you?” Chen Da bent over, as polite as could be.

“Is there something you need?” Ye Feng glanced at Chen Da, barely suppressing a smile.

“We heard you were dining here, Brother Feng, so we came to pay our respects.” Chen Da straightened up and turned to his men. “Quick, greet Brother Feng and the two ladies!”

Chen Da recognized Ye Feng and Man Yunyun; he remembered how, when he’d called Yunyun ‘cousin-in-law’ and got beaten up for it, he’d realized Chen Da must really like her. So now, he had to be as sweet as honey with his words.

His subordinates looked utterly baffled. They were supposed to be here to cause trouble—why were they greeting this Brother Feng? But seeing Chen Da’s expression, they knew he wasn’t joking.

In unison, more than a dozen voices rang out, “Hello, Brother Feng! Hello, ladies!”

Jin Shao was even more bewildered. The people he’d brought were actually calling this kid ‘Brother Feng’? His face turned ashen.

“Brother Feng, if there’s nothing else, I’ll take my leave now…” Chen Da wished he could find a hole to crawl into. If he got beaten up again, he’d probably spend the rest of his life in the hospital.

Ye Feng glanced at the gauze on Chen Da’s body and asked gently, “How’s your injury?”

“Thanks to you, Brother Feng, it’s almost healed,” Chen Da replied quickly.

“That’s good. But you should be careful—one careless move and it could get much worse,” Ye Feng said with a cold smile.

Chen Da instantly understood the warning in Ye Feng’s words. “Absolutely!”

“This guy is annoying. I don’t want to see him here, interrupting our meal,” Ye Feng said, glancing at Jin Shao.

“We’ll take care of it! Brother Feng, ladies, please enjoy your meal,” Chen Da replied, bowing again.

He waved at his men. “Brothers, take Jin Shao downstairs so he can have a rest.”

“Who is Jin Shao? He’s the eldest son of the Jin Group!” The men exchanged glances, finally staring at Chen Da. Was their boss out of his mind?

“Chen Da, what are you doing?” Jin Shao shouted, stunned that the people he’d brought were now about to drag him out.

“This man is not to be messed with,” Chen Da whispered in Jin Shao’s ear.

“Didn’t you hear me? Move it!” Chen Da barked again. Jin Shao might be dangerous, but Chen Da was from the police station—he was even more untouchable.

A group of men promptly carried Jin Shao out.

“Chen Da, what’s the meaning of this? Isn’t your uncle the chief of police? How can you be afraid of some punk?” Jin Shao cursed.

“Jin Shao, this man doesn’t even care about my cousin, let alone me—the chief’s nephew. In short, don’t mess with him,” Chen Da said, waved his hand to his men, and left.

The boss, watching all this, finally understood—even a fool could see that the young man before him was someone formidable. He’d managed to have Jin Shao, with his own men, carried out of the restaurant.

“My apologies for disturbing your meal. Please, let me treat you to another meal upstairs in a private room,” the boss said respectfully.

“Have you two had enough to eat?” Ye Feng asked.

“I’ve lost my appetite,” Xia Ling replied.

“Me too,” Man Yunyun agreed.

“Forget it, we’re not in the mood. Yunyun, go settle the bill,” Ye Feng said, glancing at Man Yunyun.

“Oh, no, please—don’t joke with me. How could I possibly accept your money?” the boss protested.

“Weren’t you just telling us to apologize to that guy and leave?” Man Yunyun, always disdainful of fair-weather types, couldn’t stand this kind of behavior.

“It was my short-sightedness. Madam, please don’t hold it against a petty man like me,” the boss pleaded, breaking out in a cold sweat when he saw Man Yunyun was angry.

“Madam? Are you blind? You think I’d go for someone like him?” Yunyun, already annoyed by the boss’s obsequiousness, finally found somewhere to vent her frustration.

Ye Feng felt a little unhappy at her words. What was wrong with him? He was charming, dashing, loved by all—flowers bloomed at his smile!

“I don’t care whether you’re my wife or not. Anyway, I’m going back now and plan to be busy until tomorrow morning,” Ye Feng said, flashing Man Yunyun a mischievous grin.

Back then, Man Yunyun had only said that to spite that man.

…

“Haha…”

“Ling’er, do you think something’s wrong with Yunyun? She hasn’t stopped laughing since we left,” Ye Feng asked.

“I just keep thinking about Chen Da’s face, and Jin Shao’s. It’s killing me! How can there be such coincidence in the world?” Yunyun had been laughing nonstop since they’d walked out the door.

“Of course there is! For example, just now you said you and your sister would be busy with me until morning, and maybe one day we really will be busy together all night,” Ye Feng mused.

“In your dreams! With your physique, you could never satisfy your elders. Oh, I just remembered a joke,” Man Yunyun shot Ye Feng a look of disdain.

Once, there was a man who went to the hospital for a men’s health issue. He was terribly embarrassed. The doctor told him to take off his blanket. The man begged the doctor not to laugh. The doctor patted his chest and said, “Don’t worry, I’ve been a doctor for decades—I’ve seen everything.” But the moment the man pulled off the blanket, the doctor burst out laughing, because what he saw was no bigger than a cotton swab. The man was upset and said, “Doctor, stop laughing. It’s been swollen for days already!”

“Well, was that funny?” Man Yunyun asked, after laughing at her own joke for a while.

“Ling’er, what do you think?” Ye Feng asked.

“Yunyun, don’t corrupt my Ling’er!” Ye Feng scolded.

“What, did the cotton swab hit a sore spot?” Yunyun teased.

“Want to test it out?” Ye Feng shot back.

“No way, I faint at the sight of needles!” Yunyun retorted.

…

Xia Ling lounged on the sofa, playing “Happy Crush.” Every time the game made that popping sound, a faint smile would appear on her usually cold face.

Ye Feng leaned over. “Isn’t this game a bit too childish?”

“It’s fun.”

“You call this fun? Let me recommend a real game to you—it’s way better.”

“Really?” Xia Ling was a little intrigued.

“‘Honor of Kings’.”

“Is it fun?” Xia Ling asked as she kept playing.

“Absolutely!”

“Does it use up stamina?”

“That’s such a newbie question! You don’t need stamina for this game.” Ye Feng realized girls really didn’t have a knack for gaming.

Xia Ling immediately quit her game. “Download it for me, I ran out of stamina.”

“You don’t know how to download it yourself?”

“No.”

“Then how did you download ‘Happy Crush’?” Ye Feng asked, suspicious she might just be making conversation.

“I was looking at my phone, accidentally clicked an ad, and it just installed itself,” Xia Ling explained blandly.

“…”

Soon, Ye Feng had downloaded the game for her.

“Don’t stand under their tower!”

“Use your skill!”

“Flash now!”

“You’re really hopeless!” Ye Feng shouted anxiously from the side.

“Shut up!”

“Ling’er, I’m starting school tomorrow—at HB University. That’s a top-tier university, you know. I studied just a bit and got in. Aren’t you impressed?” Ye Feng said, staring at Xia Ling.

“At last, some peace,” Xia Ling said, focusing on her game.

“Who are you, really? You never seem to have to do anything. I really envy you,” Ye Feng mused, watching her closely. Only when Xia Ling was gaming could he quietly stare at her like this.

“Ugh!” Xia Ling sighed heavily. “Dead again!”

“Who are you playing?”

“Luban Number Seven,” Xia Ling replied, quietly holding her phone as she waited to respawn.

“That little guy is fierce! What’s your score?” After she’d told him to shut up, Ye Feng had kept quiet, just watching her.

“6-23!”

“….” Ye Feng was speechless. Even in Bronze rank, you’d have to play blindfolded to get a score like that.

“You’re hopeless. Let me help you.”

“You sure you can do it?”

“The way you’re playing, absolutely,” Ye Feng said, reaching for the phone.

Xia Ling glanced at him, a bit reluctant, as though she doubted his skills, but handed it over.

“Let me see what items you built,” Ye Feng muttered, tapping open the item build menu on the left—something only noobs did, as pros always used the right-side menu.

“Why did you build Cursed Cloak?” he asked.

“It dies too easily, so I built it for more health,” Xia Ling said proudly.

“In this game, marksmen should just go for pure attack items. Tanks are the ones who need defense,” Ye Feng explained, not agreeing with her build but impressed she’d realized she needed to adapt for survivability after such a short time. Most beginners just used the default build.

“We usually build from the right side—so you don’t have to reach over with your right hand while moving. And for attack mode, we use last-hitting and tower-pushing…” Ye Feng adjusted her settings and made it more comfortable, then started playing.

The biggest problem was the gold gap—they needed to stall and farm. Luban might be short-legged but he’s still a marksman; once his missiles are ready, he’s deadly. Ye Feng quickly cleared the jungle several times. At this rank, no one specialized in jungling, which was a big advantage for Ye Feng.

“Is running away the only thing you’re good at? What a coward!” Xia Ling scoffed, watching Ye Feng avoid every fight.

Ye Feng only shook his head. He knew that with their current situation, charging in blindly meant certain defeat.

He farmed quickly, soon getting all the main attack items: Demon Hunter Sword, Infinity Blade, Bloodthirster, Lightning Dagger.

Bronze rank was still bronze rank—the enemy, despite their advantage, never went for the Dragon. Ye Feng snuck in and took it himself, slowly narrowing the gold gap.

Eventually, the enemy realized the Dragon had been stolen and grouped mid to push high ground. By now, Ye Feng’s farm had caught up.

His teammates charged in recklessly; Ye Feng stayed on the edge, dealing damage with masterful positioning. He easily took out two enemies while his team was wiped. Now it was a 1v3.

“If you’d joined in, you could’ve killed more!” Xia Ling complained.

Ye Feng ignored her, hugging the tower and clearing minions or retreating as needed.

Finally, the enemy couldn’t resist and dove the tower. But under the tower, with its damage combined with Ye Feng’s, even Luban’s frail frame could survive using Bloodthirster and Demon Hunter Sword for life-steal. Two of the attackers instantly fell.

Now, with low health, the last enemy thought he could finish Ye Feng off, ignoring tower damage.

Ye Feng flashed perfectly to create distance.

Seeing this, the enemy retreated with low health.

“Unstoppable Shark Cannon!” Luban’s second skill, rockets flying across the screen.

“First Blood! Double Kill! Triple Kill! Quadra Kill! Penta Kill!”

Xia Ling stared, dumbfounded.

Ye Feng pushed straight through for the win.

“You might be trash in real life, but you’re amazing at this,” Xia Ling said excitedly, snatching her phone back and delighted to see her ranking rise by a star.

“If I couldn’t even beat Bronze players, all these years of gaming would’ve been for nothing,” Ye Feng huffed. “I never thought this ‘ice queen’ would love gaming so much.” Watching Xia Ling smile so happily, Ye Feng was stunned—this was the first time he’d ever seen her smile. And when she did, she was breathtaking.