The Young man in Online Romance (20 years later): 

Gu Juntian didn’t take Zhou Lin’s text message seriously at all. Right now, he was only marveling at one thing.

Zhou Qinghao was so handsome and so smart, yet somehow he turned out to be a total love-brain.

If he hadn’t come here, Zhou Qinghao would have been tricked by that scumbag the original owner was!

In the end, egged on by someone, Zhou Qinghao had even lost his life to the original owner.

Thinking of this, Gu Juntian turned to look at Zhou Qinghao and asked in a low voice, “A-Qing, do you have a nephew?”

“Yes, why?” Zhou Qinghao replied. That Zhou Qi was nothing but a spoiled playboy, dating both boyfriends and girlfriends at the same time, and a few years ago he even had an illegitimate child.

“Is he close to you?” Gu Juntian asked again.

“You’re asking if I’m close to a three-year-old?” Zhou Qinghao said, puzzled.

Gu Juntian: “…” His nephew was only three years old?

Clearly, the person who had incited the original owner to kill wasn’t Zhou Qinghao’s nephew at all.

Still, there must be people around Zhou Qinghao who wanted to harm him.

He should produce more results so the state would assign people to investigate and, in the process, protect Zhou Qinghao.

With that thought, Gu Juntian showed him the text message. “A-Qing, there’s someone around you who doesn’t like you. You need to be careful.”

After seeing the text, Zhou Qinghao immediately guessed who sent it. “The one who sent this is probably my cousin.”

“Then you should keep a close eye on your cousin,” Gu Juntian said.

Zhou Qinghao smiled. “I will. Tian-ge, after reading this message, you don’t suspect me?”

“You’ve got nothing worth suspecting. I’m just curious about one thing,” Gu Juntian said.

“What’s that?” Zhou Qinghao asked.

“How on earth did you have such bad taste in the past to actually like me?”

Zhou Qinghao: “…”

Their conversation couldn’t continue because it was already noon, and everyone was heading out for lunch.

The players invited to the event were eating buffet style at the hotel, but it was different for Gu Juntian and the others.

They were invited to dine upstairs in the restaurant.

Gu Juntian followed behind Zhou Qinghao, his bodyguards trailing behind him as they headed upstairs together.

During this time, Qida Technology’s partners kept looking curiously at Gu Juntian.

Before today, they had never even heard of him. Who exactly was this man?

As they were wondering, Old Chairman Zhou of the Zhou family arrived.

For Qida Technology, this event wasn’t particularly major. Having Zhou Qinghao and President Wang attend already counted as giving great face. But no one expected the legendary founder of the Zhou family’s business to also show up!

The partners of Qida Technology were shocked, and then they saw the old chairman walk toward Gu Juntian with a smile. “President Gu, I’ve heard so much about you!”

Old Chairman Zhou was famous in the business world and well known by many.

But the original owner of this body had never paid attention to business news, so Gu Juntian didn’t recognize him and felt a little lost.

Zhou Qinghao introduced them. “This is my grandfather, Zhou Anbang, chairman of the Zhou family.”

So he was Zhou Qinghao’s grandfather! Gu Juntian immediately stepped forward to shake his hand. “Hello, Grandpa!”

The old man beamed when he heard Gu Juntian call him grandpa.

After exchanging a few words with others and having his secretary entertain them, he started chatting with Gu Juntian.

Gu Juntian was glad he had studied diligently these past weeks, so he was able to speak meaningfully with the old chairman.

Wanting to win his favor, he promptly mentioned that he had a few projects coming up and would definitely collaborate with the Zhou family.

The old man was even happier, and then, following Gu Juntian’s interests, began talking about Zhou Qinghao’s childhood.

Zhou Qinghao had always been smart, consistently ranking first in exams, and was well-behaved and likable.

As he spoke, the old chairman even pulled out his phone to show some childhood photos of Zhou Qinghao he had prepared in advance.

Gu Juntian added him as a friend and asked for copies of all the photos.

Zhou Qinghao: “…” The two of them were getting along so well it almost felt like Gu Juntian was his grandfather’s real grandson.

As for the others present… they became even more certain of one thing—Gu Juntian was definitely no ordinary person.

Unfortunately, they had no chance to speak with him.

At this kind of lunch, people usually walked around with wine glasses, toasting others, but anyone who tried to approach Gu Juntian was stopped by his bodyguards, who said he didn’t drink.

Still, they managed to learn a few things from President Wang of Qida Technology.

In recent months, Qida Technology had been making big moves, even developing a new generation of holographic headsets, and according to President Wang, the related technology had been provided by Gu Juntian.

Gu Juntian had hidden himself deeply!

Unfortunately, he had already built ties with Zhou Qinghao and the old chairman, leaving them no chance to work with him.

Zhou Lin soon heard about all this as well.

It made him even more convinced that Zhou Qinghao had learned about Gu Juntian’s situation in advance and deliberately gotten involved with him.

Too bad he had been misled by Little Sheep into thinking Gu Juntian was incompetent!

It was all Little Sheep’s fault!

Without hesitation, Zhou Lin blocked Little Sheep and decided to cut ties.

He’d never liked him much anyway. If not for the fact that Little Sheep knew a lot of secrets Zhou Lin wanted to know, he wouldn’t have been involved with him at all.

Now that Little Sheep could no longer provide him with information, breaking up was exactly what he had wanted.

Just after doing this, he saw several police officers walking toward him. “You’re Zhou Lin, right? Someone reported that you defamed and exposed another person’s private information online. You’ll need to come with us.”

Given Gu Juntian’s current high security level, Zhou Lin’s smear campaign against him quickly drew attention from multiple parties.

If analysis hadn’t determined that Zhou Lin’s actions were aimed at Zhou Qinghao, the ones looking for him wouldn’t have been the police but certain secret departments.

Gu Juntian and Zhou Qinghao knew nothing about this.

That afternoon, Qida Technology arranged for invited players to livestream gameplay or have in-game PK matches.

Gu Juntian wasn’t interested and didn’t plan to participate, so Zhou Qinghao handed the work over to President Wang and skipped out to leave with him.

They went to Zhou Qinghao’s place.

While playing games, Gu Juntian had always been bothered by the lack of real physical sensation.

He had been with Zhou Qinghao for a long time, doing countless “kissing” actions in the game, but never feeling anything.

Now, alone together offline, they could finally do whatever they wanted!

The hugs in the game were acted out in reality, and the kisses in the game were also done in reality.

And before long, they were doing things that couldn’t be done in the game.

“A-Qing, I don’t have an eight-pack yet, but give me some time and I’ll definitely have one!”

“I’ll have the perfect body sooner or later!”

“A-Qing, do you want me to say a few sweet words to you?”

Gu Juntian kept talking nonstop.

Thinking of the cheesy lines Gu Juntian had copied from the internet before, Zhou Qinghao felt a little helpless and used his own mouth to block Gu Juntian’s.

At times like this, it was better not to just talk.

The next day, they learned Zhou Lin had been arrested.

Up until now, Zhou Lin hadn’t committed any major crimes, but minor offenses were numerous.

For example, Zhou Qinghao had never embezzled company funds, but the cash-strapped Zhou Lin had.

Thanks to the old chairman’s efforts, Zhou Lin wasn’t sentenced, but he still spent over a month in detention. After that, the old man simply packed him off overseas.

At the same time, Qida Technology released its new holographic headset, which was vastly different from the old one.

If the old model was a bicycle, the new one was a car!

Alongside it, Qida Technology launched its new game Counter-Terrorism.

This game was even more refined than Xiuxian, and it became a global hit as soon as it launched.

“Counter-Terrorism is so well-made—it’s all thanks to the technology Emperor Tian provided.”

“Emperor Tian is amazing!”

“I can’t believe there were people badmouthing him before. Ridiculous.”

…

In Xiuxian, whenever people mentioned Emperor Tian now, their faces were full of admiration.

They had actually played games with a legend!

Sadly, these days Emperor Tian wasn’t very responsive to others. Every time he logged in, he only played with Zhou Qinghao, and rumor had it that recently they’d been spending time in Counter-Terrorism instead…

People still occasionally mentioned Gu Juntian and Zhou Qinghao, but as for Little Sheep… he was only brought up in passing.

Online, nobody paid attention to him anymore.

Gu Juntian didn’t take Zhou Lin’s text message seriously at all. Right now, he was only sighing over one thing.

Zhou Qinghao was so handsome and smart, yet for some reason, he turned out to be a hopeless romantic.

If Gu Juntian hadn’t come here, Zhou Qinghao would have been tricked by the original scumbag owner of his current body!

In the end, egged on by someone, Zhou Qinghao had even died at the hands of that original owner.

Thinking of this, Gu Juntian turned to Zhou Qinghao and quietly asked, “A-Qing, do you have a nephew?”

Zhou Qinghao replied, “Yes, why?” Zhou Qi, that guy, was just a spoiled playboy—dating both boyfriends and girlfriends at the same time—and a few years ago he even had an illegitimate child.

“Are you close with him?” Gu Juntian asked again.

Zhou Qinghao was puzzled. “You’re asking me if I’m close with a three-year-old child?”

Gu Juntian: “…” Zhou Qinghao’s nephew was only three?

Clearly, the person who had encouraged the original owner to commit murder was definitely not Zhou Qinghao’s nephew.

Still, there must be someone around Zhou Qinghao who wanted to harm him.

Gu Juntian decided to make more achievements so the state could send people to investigate and, in the process, protect Zhou Qinghao.

With that thought, he showed Zhou Qinghao the text message in his hand. “A-Qing, someone around you doesn’t like you. You need to be careful.”

Zhou Qinghao saw the message and instantly guessed who had sent it. “The one who sent this text is probably my cousin.”

“Then your cousin is someone you should keep a close eye on,” Gu Juntian said.

Zhou Qinghao smiled. “I will. Brother Tian, you saw this text and don’t suspect me anymore?”

Gu Juntian said, “There was never much to suspect about you. I’m just curious about one thing.”

“What?” Zhou Qinghao asked.

Gu Juntian said, “What were you thinking back then to actually fall for me?”

Zhou Qinghao: “…”

Their conversation didn’t continue, as it was already noon and everyone was heading out for lunch.

The invited players were eating a buffet at the hotel, but Gu Juntian and his group were different.

They had been invited to dine at the upstairs restaurant.

Gu Juntian followed behind Zhou Qinghao, his bodyguard trailing behind him, as they walked upstairs together.

Along the way, Qida Technology’s business partners curiously watched Gu Juntian.

Before today, they had never heard of him. Who exactly was this man?

As they were wondering, the old Chairman Zhou of the Zhou family arrived.

Qida Technology’s event wasn’t particularly grand—having Zhou Qinghao and President Wang attend was already giving great face—yet now the legendary founder of the Zhou family had shown up!

The partners were stunned, and then they saw the old Chairman Zhou smiling warmly as he went straight to Gu Juntian. “President Gu, I’ve heard so much about you!”

Chairman Zhou was a well-known figure in the business world, recognized by many.

But the original owner of Gu Juntian’s body had never paid attention to business news, so he didn’t recognize the man and felt a bit lost.

Zhou Qinghao introduced, “This is my grandfather, Zhou Anbang, the chairman of the Zhou family.”

So this was Zhou Qinghao’s grandfather! Gu Juntian immediately stepped forward to shake his hand. “Hello, Grandpa!”

The old man beamed with joy at being called Grandpa.

After exchanging a few words with others and having his secretary entertain them, the old man began chatting with Gu Juntian.

Gu Juntian was glad he had studied hard these past days—he could hold a meaningful conversation with the old man.

Wanting to please him, he immediately mentioned he had several projects in mind and would definitely collaborate with the Zhou family.

The old man was even happier, and, following Gu Juntian’s interests, began talking about Zhou Qinghao’s childhood.

Since young, Zhou Qinghao had been smart, always placing first in exams, obedient, and well-liked.

As he spoke, the old man even pulled out pre-prepared childhood photos of Zhou Qinghao from his phone to show Gu Juntian.

Gu Juntian added the old man as a friend and asked for copies of all the photos.

Zhou Qinghao: “…” The two of them were chatting so well, it almost seemed like Gu Juntian was the old man’s real grandson.

As for the others present… they became even more convinced that this Gu Juntian was no ordinary person!

Unfortunately, they didn’t get a chance to talk to him.

At such events, people usually wandered around with drinks, toasting others. But whenever anyone approached Gu Juntian, his bodyguard would block them, saying he didn’t drink.

Still, they learned a few things from Qida’s President Wang.

In recent months, Qida Technology had been making waves, even developing a new generation of holographic helmets. According to Wang, the technology came from Gu Juntian.

Gu Juntian had been hiding his capabilities well!

Sadly, since he was already connected with Zhou Qinghao and the old man, they had no chance to work with him.

Zhou Lin soon heard this news as well.

He became even more convinced that Zhou Qinghao had known about Gu Juntian’s situation beforehand and had started dating him for that reason.

But he had been misled by “Little Lamb,” foolishly thinking Gu Juntian was incompetent!

It was all Little Lamb’s fault!

Without hesitation, Zhou Lin blocked Little Lamb and decided to cut ties.

He’d never liked this person much anyway—if Little Lamb hadn’t known many secrets that Zhou Lin wanted, he would never have interacted with him.

Now that Little Lamb had no useful information, Zhou Lin had long wanted to break up. Doing it now was perfect!

Just after he did so, several police officers approached him. “You’re Zhou Lin, right? Someone reported you for defaming others and leaking their personal information online. Please come with us.”

Given Gu Juntian’s high security status, Zhou Lin’s online smear campaign had quickly drawn attention from multiple parties.

If analysis hadn’t shown he was targeting Zhou Qinghao, it wouldn’t have been the police coming for him but certain secret departments.

None of this was known to Gu Juntian or Zhou Qinghao.

That afternoon, Qida Technology arranged for the invited players to livestream their gameplay or have in-game PK matches.

Gu Juntian wasn’t interested and didn’t plan to join. Zhou Qinghao handed the related work to President Wang and skipped out to leave with him.

They went to Zhou Qinghao’s place.

While playing games before, Gu Juntian had been bothered by the lack of real physical sensations.

He’d been dating Zhou Qinghao for a long time and had done countless “kissing” actions in-game, yet felt nothing.

Now, alone together offline, they could finally do whatever they wanted!

The hugs they’d done in-game were now done in reality, the kisses too…

And eventually, they moved on to things the game wouldn’t allow.

“A-Qing, I don’t have an eight-pack yet, but give me time, I’ll definitely get one!”

“I’ll have the perfect body sooner or later!”

“A-Qing, do you want me to say a few sweet things to you?”

Gu Juntian kept talking nonstop.

Thinking of the random cheesy lines Gu Juntian had copied from the internet, Zhou Qinghao felt helpless and used his own lips to shut him up.

At moments like this, it was better not to just talk.

The next day, they learned Zhou Lin had been arrested.

Though he hadn’t committed major crimes before, he’d often engaged in smaller illegal activities.

For instance, while Zhou Qinghao had never embezzled public funds, Zhou Lin had, especially when short on cash.

Thanks to the old man’s efforts, Zhou Lin wasn’t sentenced, but he did spend over a month in detention. After that, he was promptly packed off abroad by the old man.

Meanwhile, Qida Technology released its new holographic helmet, which was vastly different from the old model.

To use an analogy, the old version was a bicycle, while the new one was a car!

Alongside the helmet came Qida’s new game, Counter-Terrorism.

This new game was even more refined than Cultivation, and upon release, it exploded in popularity worldwide.

“Counter-Terrorism is so well made—apparently it’s all thanks to the Emperor’s technology.”

“The Emperor is amazing!”

“Can’t believe someone actually slandered him before—so ridiculous.”

…

In Cultivation, players now spoke of the Emperor with admiration.

They’d actually played with a legendary figure!

Unfortunately, the Emperor no longer interacted much with others—he logged in daily just to play with Zhou Qinghao, and rumor had it they’d recently gone to play Counter-Terrorism together…

People still occasionally mentioned Gu Juntian and Zhou Qinghao, but as for Little Lamb… he was barely brought up.

Online, he had faded from everyone’s attention.