The Young man in Online Romance (10): 

Zhou Qinghao was talking to Elder Zhou when Gu Juntian, having finished a day’s work, was preparing his dinner.

If you want to lose weight, the most important thing is to control your diet.

At the moment, he took a piece of frozen salmon, sprinkled it with salt, poured half a plate of frozen green peas and half a plate of frozen corn kernels into a dish, and put it all in the steamer.

That would be his dinner’s main carbohydrate and protein source.

As for vegetables, he would later gnaw on a cucumber and a tomato.

He had quite a lot on his plate these days, so when it came to food, convenience was the priority.

The original owner of his body had a big appetite and a good digestive system. Right now, Gu Juntian was indeed hungry, but enduring hunger was no big deal for him.

He finished work at 4:30 p.m. and only spent a few minutes preparing dinner. After that, it was time to exercise.

The original owner’s health was weak, so his workout intensity had never been high—usually a one-hour morning walk, then after finishing work around 4 p.m., a one-hour uphill walk on the treadmill.

He planned to stick with this for a while, and when the body’s condition improved, he would start strength training.

Gu Juntian adjusted the treadmill incline, walking uphill while reading materials on the tablet in front of him.

He had an eidetic memory. While reading, he could remember everything and generate various thoughts in his mind, so before long, his mind wandered to other things.

He lost track of time, absorbed in the information, until the treadmill automatically stopped after the set hour.

After taking a quick shower and eating dinner, it was exactly 6 p.m.

From 6 to 10 p.m. was his gaming time—enough to run the “Imprisoned Dragon” dungeon twice with Zhou Qinghao and build their relationship.

As soon as he logged in, people from the “Heavenly Demon Pavilion” guild greeted him: “Emperor!”

“Emperor, are we running the Imprisoned Dragon again today?”

“Emperor, my friend wants to join the Heavenly Demon Pavilion.”

…

Gu Juntian replied, “If anyone wants to join, find the vice guild leader!”

The Heavenly Demon Pavilion had one vice leader before; recently, Gu Juntian had added another—a person who liked managing everything—so he left all miscellaneous tasks to him.

Checking his friends list and finding “Clear Skies in Broad Daylight” not online, Gu Juntian sighed inwardly.

For the past half month, “Clear Skies” had been busy and logged in very late every day.

He wondered if that was also the case in the original storyline.

In the original plot, during this time the previous owner had been focused on farming the Imprisoned Dragon dungeon and looked down on “Clear Skies” for being low-level, refusing to let him join.

Only later, when all eight pieces of the Imprisoned Dragon set had dropped, and the previous owner wanted to buy other gear, did he contact “Clear Skies” again—this time to ask for money.

The original owner was really awful, treating “Clear Skies” like an ATM.

Thinking of this, Gu Juntian greeted the guild in chat, saying he was going to run the dungeon.

The Heavenly Demon Pavilion members responded enthusiastically: “I’m in!”

“Me too!”

“Following for an easy win!”

…

The first time the “Heavenly Emperor” cleared the Imprisoned Dragon dungeon, he succeeded, and the video of that run had gone viral on the forums.

The next day, he cleared it again!

Compared to his first clear, the speed of the second was astonishing. That video also spread online, and everyone who saw it was full of admiration.

The skills were incredible! The commanding was amazing!

The dungeon had been trending lately, and many had posted guides, but none could match the Heavenly Emperor’s speed.

While others took three hours, he could finish in one and a half with his team.

It was rumored that he already had four pieces of the Dragon Scale set.

Now, Gu Juntian was leading another run, and people waiting outside the dungeon chatted:

“For the Heavenly Emperor, this dungeon must be boring by now, but he still runs it twice daily—he must be set on completing the Dragon Scale set.”

“Definitely.”

“Just waiting for that last piece to drop now.”

“I used to think he was just some rich second-generation kid—didn’t expect him to have such skills and leadership.”

…

Little Sheep overheard and was annoyed.

The past half month had been rough for him.

Not only had the Heavenly Emperor deleted him as a friend, but his Imprisoned Dragon dungeon guide had gone unnoticed—everyone was watching the Heavenly Emperor’s videos instead.

Without the Emperor’s tips and team-ups, his stream’s popularity had dropped. Many fans kept asking why the Emperor wasn’t playing with him anymore.

Needing traffic, he decided to trigger the dungeon’s hidden storyline today, to get the Dragon’s Gift and acquire the dragon bloodline.

But unlocking it wasn’t easy—you had to kill the cultivator who had imprisoned the evil dragon, which required high-level players.

After some effort, Little Sheep found willing high-level teammates and arranged to run it at 8 p.m.—just in time for his usual live stream.

Gu Juntian didn’t know about this. Right now, he was overjoyed—he had just gotten the last piece of the Dragon Scale set!

The set had eight pieces in total, and he had farmed five himself—pretty good luck.

Well, not all luck—two pieces came from his first clear, one from his third, and with his fast runs twice daily for half a month, getting two more wasn’t strange.

The last three would have to be bought.

In the original story, the previous owner ran even more times but only got two pieces, spending around 400,000 plus other items to get the rest.

Gu Juntian posted a server-wide announcement: he would buy the remaining three pieces for 50,000 each, or trade for gear of similar value.

He was sure those holding pieces would sell—since only a full set activated its full stats, single pieces weren’t that valuable.

And hoarding in hopes of a price hike? This was a game—better gear could come out any time, making the set obsolete.

Plus, refusing to sell could offend the Heavenly Demon Pavilion.

Just after posting, Zhou Qinghao logged in.

“Ah Qing, you’re here!” Gu Juntian greeted happily.

The Dragon Scale set was beautiful, and he thought it would look perfect on Zhou Qinghao.

He himself didn’t care much for gaming or spending on gear, but imagining Zhou wearing it suddenly made him understand—and motivated him to earn more.

The best gear should go to the person he liked.

“Sorry, I’ve been busy lately and logged in late,” Zhou replied, also in a good mood.

He really liked the Heavenly Emperor’s face, and their recent time together had been enjoyable.

“Do you have unfinished quests? I can help you with them,” Gu Juntian offered.

Zhou wasn’t keen on quests—he preferred talking with Gu Juntian—so he suggested, “I heard a new map opened; let’s check it out?”

“Sure,” Gu Juntian agreed immediately.

But then, nearby players said:

“Didn’t expect the Imprisoned Dragon dungeon to have a hidden storyline!”

“Little Sheep triggered it—lucky guy.”

“By the way, did the Emperor and Little Sheep fall out? Haven’t seen them together in ages.”

…

“What are you talking about?” Gu Juntian asked. Little Sheep triggered the hidden storyline? That hadn’t happened this early in the original plot!

He’d planned to take Zhou to unlock it in a few days, but someone beat him to it.

Still, unlocking it required fighting—two or three hours of work—and the game didn’t forbid multiple teams from triggering it.

In that case, why not take Zhou now?

He told Zhou, then logged out to check Little Sheep’s stream.

Since the whole run was being streamed, everyone now knew exactly how to unlock the hidden storyline.

Gu Juntian logged back in and announced in the guild chat: “Running Imprisoned Dragon—join fast!”

It was peak time, so many joined.

He pulled Zhou into the team, added others, and headed straight for the dungeon.

Passing through the teleport, he told Zhou, “Ah Qing, Little Sheep opened the hidden storyline—let’s do it too; we might get great rewards.”

Zhou disliked hearing the name “Little Sheep.”

Before the Emperor confessed, Zhou had assumed Little Sheep was his partner. Only later, when sure they weren’t together, did he agree to date him.

But after they started dating, the Emperor asked him for money while tipping Little Sheep.

It felt like his lover was taking his money to keep a side fling—frustrating.

He’d even checked their login IPs (within company rights) and found them in different cities, with the Emperor playing almost nonstop—so at most it was an online fling.

That eased his mind back then—he didn’t care if the Emperor liked someone else as long as he still wooed him.

Now, though, he disliked Little Sheep entirely.

But if the Emperor was out to steal Little Sheep’s reward—that was fine.

Zhou let it go and prepared for the run.

Gu Juntian’s team quickly reached the dungeon and entered.

Following the stream’s method, they triggered the hidden storyline.

Qida Technology.

The game Cultivation was Qida’s top earner, with a monthly revenue of at least two billion yuan—and during the New Year event, as much as five billion!

Naturally, Qida had staff monitoring the game 24/7.

When Little Sheep discovered the hidden storyline, they knew immediately.

“Didn’t think it’d be found so soon.”

“Yeah, and the team leader is Little Sheep—he’ll be the first dragon race in-game, which is a big deal.”

“That bloodline can be upgraded and used permanently—really good.”

…

But soon, they noticed other teams unlocking it—several, in fact.

Why? Because Little Sheep’s live stream showed everyone exactly how to do it, so now many, including the Heavenly Emperor’s team, were attempting it.

The hidden storyline could only be completed once per team, with a single reward—whoever cleared it first got it.

The Qida staff shook their heads.

Why on earth was this guy streaming it live?

And his pace was slow…

Tsk, with the Heavenly Emperor’s speed, he might just snatch the reward from Little Sheep.