Chris Brooks comes from a well-off family, is handsome, easy to get along with—a true golden boy. If there’s anything unusual about him, it’s his extreme sister complex.

Chris Brooks’s older sister is named David Harris. In middle school, Chris Brooks fought for her; in high school, he bought her milk tea and brought her meals; in college, he saved her a spot in the library—if Brian Carter didn’t know the inside story, he’d definitely be suspicious.

It’s said that when Chris Brooks was little, he was almost kidnapped, but David Harris clung to him for dear life, dislocating her own arm rather than letting go, and managed to save him.

Ever since then, Chris Brooks has had one rule—mess with him if you want, but never mess with his sister.

So when Brian Carter found out that David Harris had been deceived by a jerk in a game, and then was chased and called a homewrecker by the jerk’s girlfriend all over the server, he kept worrying that Chris Brooks would go buy a/knife/and/kill/someone.

But unexpectedly, Chris Brooks didn’t react at all. He even calmly took David Harris to the airport.

“Huānhuān, what happened to your sister is all just in the game, just a bunch of data, don’t take it too seriously,” Brian Carter said. “She’ll definitely come back to the country after a while.”

Chris Brooks put the luggage on the tricycle and turned back. “Let me ask you something.”

Brian Carter: “What?”

“How did you know my sister was in trouble?”

Brian Carter paused, his expression shifting: “I, uh, just heard it somewhere.”

Chris Brooks frowned. “Tell the truth.”

“……” Brian Carter was starting to regret coming along.

He’d wanted to brush it off, but seeing Chris Brooks’s serious face, he didn’t dare make things up. He could only answer honestly: “That woman sent a bunch of server-wide announcements, flaming your sister for several days. I just… happened to see it.”

Chris Brooks took a deep breath. “Server-wide announcements?”

Brian Carter quickly said, “Yeah, but she hasn’t been spamming them these past couple of days, so it’s probably over now.”

Chris Brooks stood there for a while before saying, “Got it. You go on up. Once I’ve settled in, I’ll invite you all over for dinner.”

Brian Carter nodded, but still felt uneasy. He repeated the warning he’d given Ethan Foster earlier: “Hey, Chris Brooks, you know doxxing is illegal, right?”

Chris Brooks got in the vehicle. “I know. It’s all just in-game stuff, I won’t bring it into real life.”

Brian Carter breathed a slight sigh of relief, but still felt something was off. Before he could think it through, the little tricycle had already set off, heading out the school gate.

——

The apartment Chris Brooks rented was over a hundred square meters, brand new, never lived in. By the time he arrived, it had already been cleaned.

He unpacked his suitcase, then turned on his computer and skillfully added “Nine Heroes” to the download list.

After a quick shower, the download was just finished.

He looked at the Nine Heroes client icon on the desktop, feeling a bit dazed.

Chris Brooks was no stranger to Nine Heroes—he was one of the earliest beta testers. The game has been live for ten years, and he played for six of them.

If his parents hadn’t warned him about his grades in his first year of high school, he never would have quit.

After nearly four years away, Chris Brooks’s return this time wasn’t for the game itself.

A while ago, David Harris met a man in Nine Heroes. The two met, got to know each other, and started an online romance, just like many other players. David Harris took this online boyfriend very seriously, even planning to meet him in person on Valentine’s Day.

But the day before Valentine’s, a woman claiming to be the real girlfriend suddenly appeared, chasing David Harris in the world chat for days, even posting David Harris’s chat logs with the jerk on the forums, inciting countless Nine Heroes players to join in the insults. It was practically a small-scale case of cyberbullying.

Not only was David Harris “the other woman,” she was also pushed into the spotlight and cursed by thousands. The jerk, meanwhile, never showed up, letting things spiral out of control.

David Harris had been pampered by her brother and elders since childhood, never suffering such humiliation. Within days, she broke down, deleted her game account in a fit of anger, and went abroad to clear her head.

When Chris Brooks found out, he almost went to Shanghai to burn down Nine Heroes’ headquarters.

The more Chris Brooks thought about it, the angrier he got—especially after learning that the woman had even used server-wide announcements. Those are different from regular server messages; everyone on every server can see them.

David Harris never mentioned this to him, probably not wanting him to get worked up.

Damn! No wonder his sister deleted her account!

Expressionless, Chris Brooks opened Nine Heroes, entered his alt account info, and logged into the server called “Mirror Flowers, Water Moon.”

It was his sister’s server. The moment Chris Brooks learned about this, he made up his mind—game problems should be solved in-game. He was going to kill that jerk a hundred times over in the game, force him to apologize and quit.

But things weren’t going to be that simple.