He looked at the unfamiliar professions and people on the statue, and at the pile of honors below, and sincerely added another comment, “Tough life.”

Chris Foster had just asked casually, and was about to leave after asking, but upon hearing this, he stepped back and humbly asked for guidance: “Explain that for me.”

Chapter 03

Chris Foster was born with a silver spoon in his mouth, surrounded by adoration since childhood.

Later, he fell in love with esports, took over his family’s club, chose not to be the boss, but instead hid his identity and started as a rookie, personally competing in matches. He made a name for himself through his own strength, and now, just his domestic fanbase has surpassed ten million.

Too many people like him, and he’s heard all kinds of praise countless times.

He thought nothing could move him anymore, but unexpectedly, that wasn’t the case. In his twenty-five years of life, it was the first time he’d heard someone liked him because he was healthy and had a tough fate.

He found it a bit novel.

Yet the person in question didn’t even give him a reason.

Whenever Ethan Grant was in a bad mood, he couldn’t be bothered to deal with people: “Why do you have so many questions?”

Chris Foster said, “I’m curious.”

Ethan Grant replied, “I’m not obligated to answer you, you’re not…”

He got stuck for a moment, looked down at the statue’s introduction, then turned back calmly, as if nothing had happened, and continued matter-of-factly, “You’re not someone to look up to in awe.”

Chris Foster: “…”

The action was too obvious, and Captain Foster instantly felt his intelligence was being insulted.

He thought, this must be a fake fan, and asked, “You can’t even remember his ID, and you call yourself a fan?”

Captain Grant refused to admit to lying, only wanting him to figure it out himself, and said coolly, “New fan, just started following.”

After saying that, he glanced at the base again, ignored all the awards, and focused on the name. This time, it only took a second for him to remember it completely.

— 高山仰止 (JX) (Chris Foster)

High as mountains, admirable as a journey.

The name is Chris Foster, and his national server ID is “高山仰止,” which matches perfectly and is easy to remember. As for the letters at the end… if he guessed right, they were probably used for international competitions.

After glancing back and forth, Ethan Grant finally noticed that the person in front of him seemed to have the same profession as the one on the statue.

At this point, he would never ask, “You’re not the real person, are you?” Instead, he asked, “Are you his fan too?”

Chris Foster was both amused and exasperated by this fake fan: “Sort of.”

As he spoke, he looked at the other’s chest.

In the keyboard version, character IDs are usually displayed above the head, making them eye-catching and easy to identify.

But in the holographic version, having a line or several lines of text above the head looks a bit unsightly, so there are two modes: one is above the head, the other is on the chest.

Both of them had their IDs displayed on their chests. At this moment, a line of text floated on the left chest of this Sealer—it was some random gibberish Ethan Grant had written when he was in a bad mood—even someone as experienced as Chris Foster was momentarily at a loss for how to address him.

He thought to himself that picking “Ah” as a name was already casual enough, but this was even more unique.

Ethan Grant had no idea what he was thinking, and said, “We’re all fans here, stop with the questions.”

This time, Chris Foster was easygoing and smiled, “Since we’re both fans, let’s team up and farm monsters. I’ll help you level up.”

Ethan Grant glanced at him.

Just now, this guy was clearly about to leave, but after just a few words, he changed his mind. He couldn’t figure it out, but didn’t care about teaming up, so he accepted the invitation.

Chris Foster walked forward shoulder to shoulder with him, thinking to probe this fake fan a bit more.

It wasn’t narcissism—his fame was just that great.

Most of those invited to the official closed beta were top players.

Now that the new season had started, teams were preparing for matches, so few main players came; it was mostly rookies from training camps or retired players, plus top players and famous streamers from various servers—among these, except for the rare few who only focused on dungeons and didn’t like watching matches, there was no way anyone wouldn’t remember his ID.

There were two other possibilities.

One, someone who got a beta account through connections; two, someone from the game company.

He wasn’t interested in the former, but was quite interested in the latter.

Because it was said that for a better gaming experience, the holographic version would have many changes, and would add hidden storylines and rewards. If he played with this person, he might discover something.

Captain Foster was making clever calculations, while Ethan Grant, now labeled as “suspected staff,” was completely unaware, and soon they left the plaza.

The two followed the main road to the wild area, where a giant vine tree came into view.

It was planted right in the center of the wild area, its branches propped up high, with layers of drooping purple flowers spreading outward, extremely spectacular, perfectly dividing the meadow into four zones, each with different types of monsters.

Chris Foster looked at this newly added plant and smiled, “After the server opens, this place will definitely become a must-visit spot.”

Ethan Grant was thirty versions behind Youmeng, and couldn’t tell what was new at all, so he just gave a stingy “Mm,” and said, “Let’s farm monsters.”

The two picked a nearby spot and started farming mobs.

Chris Foster had leveled up to 5 by talking to NPCs and learning a single-target skill before coming to the plaza.