The Young man in Online Romance (20): 

This “Cultivation” event was mainly for the launch of the new map, Immortal Realm.

“Cultivation” occasionally added new maps—the secret realm that Gu Juntian and Zhou Qinghao had visited before was one of the newly added maps.

But those new maps were small; Immortal Realm was different.

Immortal Realm was huge, and along with its release, the entire game of “Cultivation” would undergo a major upgrade.

This morning was both the event day for “Cultivation” and the day of the game’s upgrade.

While the game was being updated, those usually addicted to it couldn’t play, so they simply wore their game helmets, waiting for the livestream to start while browsing the forums.

“Lots of top players are going to this event. I want to see what they all look like.”

“Wonder if any of them are really handsome or beautiful.”

“Probably not, good-looking ones are rare.”

…

As they chatted, someone brought up the Heavenly Emperor. “I heard he’ll be attending too.”

“Those photos online before—were they really him?”

“Who knows? Many people have asked him, but he never answers. Every time he’s online, he’s just with Bright as Day, leveling, fighting monsters, and showing off their romance.”

“I think those photos were real. If they weren’t, he would’ve denied them already.”

…

At 9:30, the livestream officially began.

People arrived one after another to sign in, take photos, and enter the venue—many of them well-known top players.

They had tidied themselves up for the event, but since attractive men and women were rare, most of them looked quite average, and some were downright unattractive.

Capricorn Unmatched was counted among the unattractive ones.

When he first got the invitation, he hadn’t planned to attend, but then he learned Qida Technology would reimburse travel expenses, and provide free food and lodging—he came happily.

Only a fool would turn down free perks.

He was a gear seller, not relying on looks, so he wasn’t afraid to show his face or be called ugly.

Besides, he could serve as a backdrop to make Heavenly Emperor look better—perfect!

Over the past two months, Heavenly Emperor had gifted him quite a few items, which he sold for forty to fifty thousand.

He liked Heavenly Emperor a lot and hated seeing people online call him ugly.

With him as comparison, everyone would surely think Heavenly Emperor wasn’t bad-looking!

But… where was Heavenly Emperor?

Capricorn Unmatched found his own nameplate but, after searching, couldn’t find Heavenly Emperor’s.

He had wanted to switch nameplates to sit next to him, but that wasn’t possible now.

While he was looking, Little Lamb, not far away, was also searching for Heavenly Emperor’s nameplate.

Little Lamb had switched to another account and was attending under a different name.

He was here just to see Heavenly Emperor embarrassed.

But he was puzzled—last lifetime, after his ugly photos were exposed, Heavenly Emperor had vanished from the internet, so why would he agree to attend this time?

Wasn’t he someone who cared a lot about face?

This “Cultivation” event was fully livestreamed, with close-up shots of each entrant and cameras inside the venue.

With holographic helmets, viewers could zoom in and out at will, making it easy to see everything clearly.

“Why haven’t we seen Heavenly Emperor yet?”

“Didn’t they say he was attending?”

“Not even his nameplate’s there.”

“Maybe he backed out last minute.”

“He’s been bragging in-game, but wouldn’t dare show up for real. When he said he’d come, he was probably bluffing.”

…

Just then, a young, handsome man appeared on screen.

“That guy’s so handsome!”

“He’s the best-looking person in this event so far!”

“Ahhh! Who is he?”

…

As the livestream audience discussed, the event staff began greeting him: “President Zhou!”

It was Zhou Qinghao.

He knew Gu Juntian had arrived last night, but he’d been too busy to meet him.

Besides, Gu Juntian had asked to meet this afternoon—if he wasn’t in a rush, neither was Zhou.

This morning, Zhou came straight to the venue, sending President Wang to pick up Gu instead.

Zhou took his seat; his nameplate read “Qida Technology General Manager Zhou Qinghao.”

Online viewers were surprised.

“The GM of Qida is so young!”

“A real-life tall, rich, and handsome!”

“He looks kind of familiar…”

…

Then, people noticed the nameplate to his right.

Zhou sat in the front row; behind him were partner representatives and Qida executives, all in suits, seated early, clearly separated from the players further back.

Capricorn Unmatched and other early-arriving players didn’t dare venture forward, and the livestream cameras had only been showing the players, not the front row.

But now, with the camera on Zhou, both nameplates to his sides were visible.

On his left: Qida Technology CEO Wang Youchen.
On his right: the name “Heavenly Emperor.”

Heavenly Emperor’s seat was right next to the GM of Qida?

What was going on?

As people wondered, a sudden flurry hit the livestream chat:

“Check the forum!”

“Huge news!”

“I’m shocked!”

…

With split-screen helmets, viewers opened both the livestream and the “Cultivation” forum.

There, someone claiming to be an insider from Qida Technology posted explosive information.

First: Zhou Qinghao’s identity.

They said Zhou was the Zhou family heir, born with a silver spoon, and was also Bright as Day.

They claimed this young master had been deceived by Heavenly Emperor, believing his made-up stories, falling in love with him, and giving him lots of money.

The post even accused Zhou by name of embezzling company funds to keep Heavenly Emperor.

Netizens were stunned.

“Zhou Qinghao really does look like Bright as Day…”

“There’s proof—Bright as Day’s account was registered at Qida under Zhou Qinghao’s name.”

“A tall, rich, handsome guy being this naïve? Hard to believe.”

“It’s not unheard of—there was that chaebol heiress who dated a security guard. A family heir dating someone from an online game isn’t strange.”

“Zhou looks so young, maybe he’s inexperienced and got duped.”

“If the accusation is by name, it can’t be fake.”

…

Gu Juntian’s information was also posted.

Before his parents died, the original owner had gone out occasionally, leaving behind some photos.

So netizens learned that Heavenly Emperor’s real name was Gu Juntian, and after losing his parents, he stayed home playing games, knowing nothing else—a shut-in.

The info was accurate—attending the “Cultivation” event required real names, and Heavenly Emperor had registered as Gu Juntian.

“So the photos Little Lamb posted really were of Heavenly Emperor.”

“This is all from Qida’s internal records—it has to be true.”

“Apparently everyone at Qida knows the GM is in an online romance.”

“Do they know his online lover is this ugly?”

“What kind of taste does President Zhou have?”

…

Online discussion exploded, curiosity about Heavenly Emperor soared.

Zhou Lin, seeing it all, was very pleased.

He’d arranged for the embezzlement accusation and wanted to see how Zhou Qinghao would handle it.

Soon, the players at the venue also learned about the forum drama.

Heavenly Emperor’s photos spread quickly.

At that moment, Gu Juntian arrived at the sign-in area with President Wang.

The livestream camera instantly gave him a close-up.

Viewers and attendees could see it clearly—viewers through their screens, attendees via the giant screen at the front of the hall.

A devastatingly handsome face!

Another handsome man had appeared!

In an instant, people forgot the forum gossip and focused on him.

This was a VIP entrance—who was this man?

Wait, his face looked familiar.

Not just a little familiar—very familiar!

Wasn’t this exactly what Heavenly Emperor’s in-game character looked like?

Then they noticed—two men in black bodyguard suits followed him, along with a middle-aged man with an imposing presence.

The middle-aged man was Qida’s President Wang.

He hadn’t spoken much to Gu Juntian before, but knew who he was—Zhou Qinghao had personally given him an introduction for today.

Smiling, Wang introduced him: “This is Gu Juntian, CEO of Jintian Technology. Jintian is an important partner of Qida, providing technical support for our games. The game ‘Counter-Terrorism,’ co-developed by Qida and Jintian, will be released in two months.”

Those listening were stunned again.

Heavenly Emperor’s real name was Gu Juntian—so this really was him?

He was this handsome? And sounded impressive too!

Everyone was frozen, and Zhou Qinghao, looking at the giant screen in front of him, froze as well.

He’d been prepared to meet a chubby Heavenly Emperor—so why was he like this now?

He knew every chubby person had potential, but wasn’t this transformation a bit too much?

All his mental preparation had been for nothing!

By then, Wang had led Gu Juntian into the venue, heading toward Zhou.

Gu Juntian immediately spotted Zhou, and also saw the nameplate in front of him.

This was his boyfriend, Bright as Day, the one he’d planned to meet after the event.

Bright as Day… was the general manager of Qida Technology?

Did he know about the fake background Gu had asked Qida to create for him?