Jian Rong had already planned out how he was going to smash the box on the other person’s head.

He wasn’t just going to smash it, he was also going to give them a beating.

Lu Boyuan released his arm, and Jian Rong made to charge out the door like a cheetah that had just sharpened its claws.

Lu Boyuan didn’t expect that Jian Rong was actually intending to give chase. He immediately reached out and hooked his arm around Jian Rong’s neck, stopping him, and Jian Rong instantly withdrew his foot that he had just planted forward.

Lu Boyuan had just finished washing his hands, so his palms were cool, but Jian Rong felt like the places where they were touching prickled faintly before starting to burn. He subconsciously swallowed.

Jian Rong had thin skin, causing Lu Boyuan to notice the bobbing movement of his throat. Two seconds later, Lu Boyuan let go and patted Jian Rong’s head.

“They could be hiding anywhere this late at night, you won’t be able to find them.” Lu Boyuan said, “Put down the box.”

Jian Rong swiveled to the left like he was in the military, and he put the box down on the table.

The other people, who were in the middle of eating crayfish, stared blankly for a long time before they finally recovered. Ding-ge had just sat down for less than two minutes before he hastily stood up again.

Xiao Bai also followed him over curiously. “What is it?? Let me see!”

Jian Rong stepped to the side and made room for Ding-ge. Right as Ding-ge was about to open the package, Jian Rong extended his hand and pressed down on top of it.

“It’s pretty gross, and it smells bad.” Jian Rong glanced at Lu Boyuan. “Do you want to stand a bit further away?”

Lu Boyuan shook his head. “Open it.”

The box was opened once more. Xiao Bai instantly exclaimed, “What the fuck is this blasted shit,” before he covered his nose and hunched over like he was going to throw up.

Pine patted his back with a cold expression on his face. “Go to the bathroom if you’re going to vomit.”

Ding-ge swiftly closed the box again. He found some tape in a drawer and sealed it back up before he put it in the base’s entryway.

Nobody could bear to eat the remaining crayfish anymore.

Even though Xiao Bai didn’t end up vomiting, his face was still extremely pale. He sprawled across the sofa and peered around; none of the others appeared affected, aside from their expressions darkening a little.

“No way…” Xiao Bai turned to ask the first victim: “You’re not afraid? Do you not think it’s disgusting??”

The moment Jian Rong opened the package, he had indeed felt momentarily stunned. After all, inside was a ball of black and red, and it was impossible to tell what it was unless you looked closely.

After he saw it clearly…

“What’s there to be afraid of?” Jian Rong sneered. “It’s just some rats, it’s not like it was human flesh. If I have the opportunity, I can come up with something even more disgusting and return it to them.”

Xiao Bai: “………”

Ding-ge came back holding his phone. A staff member was following behind him. “I reported it to the police, they said they’ll be over soon. I’m talking to property management about investigating the surveillance right now.”

The staff member was someone from property management, and he said promptly, “I’ve already relayed the incident to my superiors, and I’ll look into it for you as soon as they give their approval.”

“How did that person sneak in here?” Lu Boyuan raised his head from his phone, his eyes cold.

“We’re checking it out.” The property management employee said, “They most likely took advantage of the gap when the security guards were changing shifts…”

“This isn’t the first time this has happened.” Lu Boyuan interrupted him. “Do you all have to change shifts twenty times every day?”

Lu Boyuan was angry.

When Jian Rong realized that, he looked up from his WeChat messages.

Lu Boyuan looked no different from usual when he was angry, still coolly and indifferently expressionless.

The employee fell into an awkward silence for a while before he forced a smile. “It’s because your team is too famous, a lot of people want to find a way inside…”

“Oh.” Lu Boyuan said, “So you’re also implying it’s our fault.”

“Enough… this incident really is a problem to do with property management. After things are taken care of tonight, I’m going to have a discussion with your managers tomorrow.” Seeing Lu Boyuan’s expression grow colder and colder, Ding-ge hurriedly intervened.

“Okay, okay.” The employee broke out into a cold sweat. “As you should! We’ll pass an inspection report up to the top, and we’ll add more preventive measures in the future too. We definitely won’t let something like this happen again!”

The police arrived very quickly. Ding-ge exchanged a few words with them before he looked back and said, “I’m going with them to check the surveillance, you guys go and practice first. Jian Rong, you were given a scare tonight, right? Rest early.”

Back at the practice room, Jian Rong started a stream to pass the time. After finishing a game, he stealthily glanced back at Lu Boyuan.

Lu Boyuan was wearing his headphones and watching a movie; his game client wasn’t open.

Once he turned to face forward again, the barrage was questioning him.

[In the last forty minutes of the stream, you’ve looked behind yourself seven times. You do it when you’re queuing, when you’re picking a champion, when you die, even when you revive. Just what the fuck are you looking at?]

[Do you even need to ask? That’s where Road sits.]

[Is the view nice? Do you like it? Can you let me take a look too?]

[Little dumbass, I heard that you guys received a frightening package??]

[Is that true or not? How awful WTF, did you catch the culprit?]

Jian Rong’s mouse paused. “How do you all know about that?”

[Someone posted on Tieba.]

[So it’s real?? Isn’t the security around TTC’s base a little too loose?]

[Can you all stop talking about this already, what if someone imitates the crime?]

Jian Rong went to check out Tieba. Sure enough, he saw a post related to the incident.

There was only one line in the post: [TTC received a frightening package. The box was allegedly bloody, specifics unknown.]

Jian Rong shared the post in their WeChat group.

[Ding-ge: I saw it already, don’t know who leaked it. Forget it, it’s fine, you guys just keep practicing.]

“Don’t insult frightening packages. It was just a few dead rats, that’s all.” Jian Rong put down his phone and started queueing again, chewing on his gum. “Imitate the crime? Try it. I was inexperienced this time, but I’ll definitely perform well next time. Let’s see who plays who.

“Why rats… I couldn’t figure that out either. If they had shipped their own head over, that would’ve probably been more effective.

“Who have I offended before…” When Jian Rong read that comment aloud, he briefly went quiet. “I’ll have to look at my list.”

[Hahahahahaha fucking hell.]

[Damn, that range is indeed a bit extensive hah.]

[You’ll need to divide them up too. You should be able to eliminate pro players and commentators, I feel like it’s probably a pro player’s fan.]

[It’s a Doufu fan for sure.]

“Don’t make wild guesses.” Jian Rong selected his champion. “Room mod, take a look and block the ones who brought up other players. There’s no point in joking about something like this.”

[I still think that it’s so scary. If the person hasn’t been caught yet, what if they’re here in the livestream room right now staring at you………]

[Be quiet stop talking!! Dumbass darling maybe you should just stop streaming and go sleep wuwuwu]

[Try to be careful in the future, it’s already at the extent where weirdos are knocking on your door. If you don’t get rid of them, there’ll be a next time.]

“I’m going to play for another two hours, and then I’ll stop streaming. No all-nighters today.” Jian Rong scoffed. “Next time? If this dumbass dares to show up again, I’m definitely going to…”

His headphones were pulled off, and Lu Boyuan’s fingers skated across the edge of his ear. “Streaming?”

“—going to escort them over to the police, so that they’ll be punished by the law.” Jian Rong finished his sentence before he lifted his head and said, “…mn, just to pass the time.”

Lu Boyuan nodded very slightly and placed the headphones cord on his shoulder. “Concentrate on streaming the game, don’t talk about other things.”

After receiving Jian Rong’s response, Lu Boyuan pushed open the door and walked out of the practice room.

[Road isn’t practicing? It’s not even nine yet and he left??]

[Keep talking ah, weren’t you being super domineering? Weren’t you going to provoke that dumbass?]

[Excuse me, are you the world-renowned Sichuan opera face-changing¹ master, Soft?]

[Excuse me, are you the world-renowned Sichuan opera face-changing master, Soft?]

…

“Stop spamming.” Jian Rong’s right elbow was propped up on the armrest of his chair as his hand covered his ear. “ I only have one identity: I’m your dad.”

—

This wasn’t the first time a frightening package had appeared in the esports circle. PUD, Fighting Tiger, and TTC had all received them before.

However, that was something that had happened several years ago. At the time, the esports circle wasn’t as fully developed as it was now, and packages of any kind could easily be shipped to the base. In recent years, the esports clubs had become much more cognizant of security measures, so this sort of thing very rarely happened anymore.

As a result, Jian Rong’s package still drew quite a lot of attention.

Three days later, it was another competition day.

On the way to the arena, Ding-ge instructed, “For the next few days, don’t respond to this incident on Weibo or in your streams, especially Jian Rong… every word and action from you all will influence the fans’ emotions. Some fans have already started causing trouble for the neighborhood’s property management.”

They were in a minivan today, and Jian Rong was wearing one bud of his earphones. “Got it.”

Lu Boyuan lifted his chin, revealing his eyes underneath the brim of his hat. He looked at Ding-ge and asked, “Still no news?”

Ding-ge shook his head. “We saw the culprit on the surveillance tape. He snuck in by following after an elderly couple, but he was covered up too well and we couldn’t see anything clearly. Right now, the police are checking the nearby security cameras, so it’ll probably still take a few more days.”

Yuan Qian was puzzled. “Just who in the world did Xiao Rong anger? Don’t tell me it’s actually some pro player’s fan? Do such diehard fans actually exist?”

Xiao Bai scooted forward and asked, “Jian Rong, tell me the truth, does someone have a grudge against you? Did you borrow money and not return it? Or did you steal someone else’s girlfriend?”

Jian Rong: “I stole your mom.”

“…” Xiao Bai sat back in his seat and muttered, “If you didn’t, then just say it, why swear at me?”

Theirs was the first match of the day. The car drove over to the stadium’s back entrance and, as usual, a group of fans was waiting outside of the security tape that the arena had put up, holding their support banners.

Jian Rong didn’t remove his earphones. He slung his equipment bag over one shoulder and got out of the car with the other members.

The car was parked very close to the stadium, and they could enter through the back door with just a few steps. The surrounding fans were all shouting the members’ names, but Jian Rong didn’t want to spare a single glance at those signs with “dumbass” and “son” written on them, so he walked extremely quickly.

“Son, good—hey!!” A piercing female voice suddenly shouted, “Watch out!!!”

Jian Rong’s head whipped around, and he saw a short and small man bypass the flimsy security tape before he malevolently pointed a knife at Jian Rong.

Xiao Bai looked back to witness this scene, and he was so shocked that half his soul flew away. “Jian Rong, run for it!!!”

Jian Rong’s first instinct was to counterattack with his equipment bag. He had just slipped off his bag to grip the strap in his hand when someone abruptly collided firmly into his back. Before Jian Rong could recover, someone embraced him tightly.

Lu Boyuan’s body completely separated Jian Rong from that man.

The security guards reacted extremely fast. They immediately reached out and grabbed that person’s clothing, dragging him back, but that person continued to relentlessly charge forward. He was also raving and shouting about some nonsense, and for a moment, the entire situation was in chaos.

By the time the surrounding people snapped out of it and attempted to help, they heard a “thump” noise, and the attacker, along with his knife… was sent flying by a kick.

He really flew. Even though it was only for half a step, both of his feet truly did leave the ground, and the muffled sound his body made when it landed on the floor was very solid.

The scene went quiet for a few seconds. Everyone first looked at the man who was curled up on the ground, covering his stomach, before they looked at the person who had just kicked him, Lu Boyuan.

Jian Rong didn’t see that moment occur.

His mind was filled with: if the knife pierced Lu Boyuan, he was going to make this dumbass go to hell.

So, the instant Lu Boyuan released him, Jian Rong picked up his equipment bag and tried to go beat up the person on the floor. “Motherfucker who are you trying to scare with a knife I’m going to fucking pummel you to death…”

Jian Rong’s equipment bag was thrown, but the owner didn’t rush out after it.

He was picked up by Lu Boyuan.

It was the kind of picked up where both his feet left the ground—or maybe it could be called a “shoulder carry.”

At first, Jian Rong was stunned when he was picked up. From the corner of his eyes, he saw that the person on the ground was covering his stomach and still attempting to grab his knife, but he was immediately restrained again by the security guards.

When the fans recovered, they were greeted with the sight of Road carrying Soft into the stadium, while Soft continued to unceasingly swear—

“Put me down I can beat him I really can beat him…” Unable to struggle free, Jian Rong glared at the person on the ground. “Dumbass, you’re still reaching for the knife?? Even if you had ten knives you still wouldn’t be able to touch your dad once—you’re also the one who sent that package, right? Piece of shit, today you’re in luck, don’t let Dad see you again in the future! Every time I see you, I’ll beat you up!”

Wei: Ahhh that’s so scary T^T Jian Rong stop trying to fight them!! It’s dangerous!!