Chapter 29: Enlightenment
Shen Yanjin quickly logged into his alt Weibo account, only to see his ID, UOOW, hanging blatantly on the trending search list, mixed in with a crowd of celebrities. It actually looked quite prestigious.
He clicked on it. Whoa, a massive essay accompanied by nine long screenshots. It certainly looked the part.
Shen Yanjin could figure out with his toes that the comment section would be full of people cursing him out. Too lazy to make himself miserable, he tapped directly into the essay and started reading.
The content of the essay was simple. In summary: UOOW was shameless and overconfident. First, she seduced Duan Mingyue to interact with her, then pretended to be familiar with him, secretly adding him as a friend to flirt, only to be ruthlessly rejected. So, she found Moon Steed and repeated her old tricks, using her feminine charms to tempt Moon Steed into carrying her in duo queue to rank up. Finally, she didn’t forget to trick Kai into giving her publicity. The entire set of actions was so logically tight and well-executed that even Shen Yanjin himself almost believed it.
Even more ridiculous was that this person seemed certain that neither Shen Yanjin nor Duan Mingyue could come out to refute the rumors. Out of the nine screenshots, seven were chat logs.
Shen Yanjin had only added Duan Mingyue on the chat app a few days ago, and since Duan Mingyue and Moon Steed were the same person, how could these chat logs exist?
Feeling that something was amiss, Shen Yanjin clicked to enlarge.
[UOOW: Moon Brother~ Iām UOOW, that QAQ Iām your little fangirl, can you add me please~]
[UOOW: Iāve liked Brother for a long time~ Really! I want to show you my photos~~]
[UOOW: Thereās sailor suits, Hanfu, Lolita, and even… the Emperorās New Clothes o(////ā½////)q Does Brother like them?~ Iāll show them all to Brother!]
[UOOW: Brother, add me please~]
Shen Yanjin stared, dumbfounded.
He…
To be honest.
He felt he had learned something.
So, this was how one flirted?
And “The Emperorās New Clothes”? That classy?
Shen Yanjin intuitively felt that the person who photoshopped these fake chat logs was an old hand at this. His stance suddenly shifted, and with a mindset of learning, he clicked on the next image.
Duan Mingyueās persona of being high, cold, and inviolable evidently limited this friendās creative freedom. In the following images, Moon Steed, having been cast in the role of the sweet, naive fool seduced by UOOW, responded to her, making the chat logs even more explicit.
Shen Yanjin flipped through them one by one, feeling as if he had just finished reading an erotic novel.
And the protagonists were himself and Duan Mingyue.
He had an active imagination, and right now, both his head and body felt a bit hot. He took a deep breath and murmured, “This is too…”
“Too what?”
Duan Mingyueās voice, sounding like a smile yet not a smile, suddenly rang out in his headphones. Shen Yanjinās ears burned; only then did he remember he was still in the same voice channel as Duan Mingyue.
The original words were swallowed back. When he spoke again, they had changed to: “Too absurd! I’m really so angry! How can there be such people?”
Unfortunately, Duan Mingyue didn’t buy it. No matter how he listened, the girl’s voice didn’t sound angry.
Finding that UOOW wasn’t affected by those filthy slanders, Duan Mingyue felt an inexplicable sense of relief for some reason.
He smiled. “If you’re angry, don’t look at it. Let’s finish the promotion series first, then rest. It’s getting late.”
Hearing this, Shen Yanjin checked the time and discovered he had been duo-queueing with Duan Mingyue for over three hours.
Time had passed too quickly; he hadn’t noticed at all. No wonder his wrist was starting to ache and swell again.
He stopped thinking about the Weibo drama and focused his mind on the match before him.
Shen Yanjin still harbored a trace of self-deception in his heart, thinking that UOOW was UOOWāwhat did she have to do with him, Shen Yanjin?
He hadn’t thought at all about what would happen after his cover was blown.
Fortunately, no such weirdos appeared in the following games. Shen Yanjin successfully won three promotion matches and advanced to the Master tier.
Shen Yanjin checked Duan Mingyueās points and hesitated. “Moon God, are you still one game short? Do you want to play one more?”
Duan Mingyue said, “It’s just one game, no need. You’re tired too, go rest. We’ll talk tomorrow.”
Shen Yanjin paused.
Not “next time,” not “another day,” but “tomorrow.”
He said happily, “Okay, Moon God, goodnight~”
Duan Mingyue replied with a smile, “Goodnight.”
Shen Yanjin thought that if he ignored such baseless, completely fabricated slander, it would soon fade away.
Who knew that the internet these days seemed more willing to accept lies and reject the truth? When Shen Yanjin crawled out of bed the next day, he was shocked to find that the trending topic hadn’t retreated but advanced, sitting at the number four spot.
Shen Yanjin could figure out with his toes that someone had obviously bought traffic for this topic.
He was both surprised and amused: Five years of bitter training, no one knows me; one day pretending to be a woman, the whole world hears of me.
Conservatively estimated, UOOWās fame was now catching up to Sliverās.
He didn’t understand.
He got up and washed. Shen Yanjin kept a spider plant on his balcony. With the arrival of severe winter, he had been worried it would freeze to death. Unexpectedly, when he went to check this morning, a tiny flower bud had tremblingly emerged from between the half-wilted leaves.
Feeling a bit pleasantly surprised, he habitually took a photo and sent it to Duan Mingyue.
Duan Mingyue didn’t reply until three in the afternoon.
This was usually the time KWās training matches ended.
[RedMoon: Spider plants bloom in winter too?]
Shen Yanjin replied immediately upon receiving the message: “Rare, right? It’s my first time seeing it too.”
[RedMoon: En, you must have taken care of it very carefully.]
[RedMoon: Can we duo queue now?]
As an unemployed vagrant, Shen Yanjin was very idle. Aside from his daily physical therapy, he had nothing to do, so naturally, he wouldn’t refuse Duan Mingyueās invitation. He agreed immediately and booted up the game.
But to his surprise, Duan Mingyue invited him using his main account this time.
[UOOW: ??? Moon God, did you log into the wrong account?]
[KW-RedMoon: No, join the voice channel.]
Shen Yanjinās eyes widened. Unsure of what Duan Mingyue intended, he tremblingly entered the voice channel.
As soon as he entered, he heard Duan Mingyue speak in a lazy tone, “En, duo queue today… with whom?”
He gave a short laugh and said, “With UOOW.”
?
??
???
Shen Yanjin was shocked to the core. His eyes bulged, and his mouth opened and closed several times before he could make a sound. “Moon-Moon-Moon-Moon God? You… are you streaming?”
“You’re here.” Duan Mingyue showed no self-awareness that he had just dropped a massive bomb. He pulled up the game interface and said very calmly, “Yes, I’m streaming. Do you mind?”
Shen Yanjin exclaimed in surprise, “I thought…”
Duan Mingyue asked, “Thought what?”
I thought you would hide your identity well and not let others discover that you are actually Moon Steed.
Again, Shen Yanjin had a clear conscience. He wasn’t afraid of dirty water being splashed on him; as long as the person he cared about didn’t misunderstand, he was fine with anything.
But the feeling of being cherished and cared for was different. Right now, his heart was so hot it felt like it was swelling, as if strands of spider silk were wrapping around it, burning it, making his heart beat faster and faster.
Shen Yanjin knew that Duan Mingyue started this stream to clear his name.
A man who had kept himself clean for so many years, the bright moon whose heart had never been dusted in the eyes of so many.
Yet he was willing to stoop down, risking scandal, to brush the dust off a nameless girl buried in the mud.
Yes, this was the man he had liked for five years, unrepentant, the man he would rather deceive just to be with.
Shen Yanjinās Adamās apple rolled. Countless emotions were about to burst forth, but he forcibly suppressed them.
He shook his head. “Nothing, nothing.”
Duan Mingyue, however, seemed to see through his thoughts. He scoffed lightly, “What are you thinking? I used a smurf only because your rank was too low… By the way, the ‘Ten Great Unsolved Mysteries of WL’ previously included why a player with UOOWās mechanics was stuck in Diamond. Now that the timing is right, shall we invite the original owner to answer for everyone?”
Shen Yanjin paused. He didn’t evade the question as usual but said sincerely, “Because before meeting you, I was content with the status quo. Because of you, I wanted to go to a higher place to take a look.”
He spoke these words with great emotion.
At this moment, he was not just UOOW, but also YanGold.
Before meeting Duan Mingyue, Shen Yanjin had never thought about playing professionally.
After meeting Duan Mingyue, he trained like a madmanātraining, training, trainingājust to stand at the same height as him and steal another glance at him.
Sensing the unconcealed emotion in Shen Yanjinās words, Duan Mingyue froze, unable to speak for a moment.
Upon first meeting UOOW, anyone would think this was a spoiled little princess who loved to act coquettish, laugh, and make witty remarks.
But after getting familiar, one would discover she was actually a very quiet girl.
No matter when, she always maintained a thick wall against the outside world. Duan Mingyue had been immersed in this circle for a long time; he had seen all kinds of peopleāthose who wanted to flirt, sent him nude photos, or dropped hints explicitly and implicitly…
He could sense that the little girl had a favorable impression of him.
But she never crossed the line. She kept herself strictly within a circle. At most, she would spam Duan Mingyueās screen with daily photos. Even when duo-queueing on mic, she only called him Moon God. The scope of their chat was very narrow, never touching on anything that might involve privacy.
That one slip of the tongue calling him “Moon Brother”āDuan Mingyue didn’t think much of it, yet she panicked first.
Such a pure child, full of defenses against the outside world, was at this moment carefully opening a gap toward him.
Thus, the prison had a breach; the fortress had a hole.
The heart full of sincerity inside could finally be glimpsed, just a little bit.
Such caution, such piety.
It was just like…
He closed his eyes, feeling as if he had returned to that summer five years ago.
The teenager’s clear, moist voice, the shy laughter, and the increasingly familiar calls of “Moon Brother.”
The seamless coordination, the tacit understanding that required no words.
Duan Mingyue glanced sideways at the bullet screen scrolling frantically. For some reason, he suddenly regretted starting the stream.
Clarification… he could clarify however he wanted. Posting on Weibo with his main account would have worked, right? Or recording a video?
Because he suddenly felt that he actually didn’t want anyone else to see UOOW.
Not even a little bit.
Duan Mingyue always felt he had a bottom line and principles. At least, he absolutely wouldn’t do something like falling for someone just because they resembled someone else.
Unfortunately, the possessiveness raging in his heart right now left his despicable emotions nowhere to hide.
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