"I wasn’t planning to."
He stepped inside.
"Then someone cheated."
Zhao Ming froze.
"...What?"
Shen Tian held up his phone.
"My account. ShenTian."
The CEO’s face changed.
"...You’re ShenTian?"
Several employees nearby stopped.
Shen Tian looked around.
"Apparently people know that name."
Zhao Ming stared.
The first-clear Ranger.
The viral PK clips.
The siege ranking.
The streamer currently exploding online.
The CEO slowly processed it.
Then straightened immediately.
"Please come with me."
They entered the security operations floor.
Dozens of screens covered the walls.
Employee conversations stopped when Shen Tian entered.
He looked around.
"Nice."
Zhao Ming gestured toward the head of anti-cheat.
"Director Han."
A woman in her thirties stood.
She looked exhausted.
"Sir."
Zhao Ming pointed toward Shen Tian.
"Young Master Shen’s account was killed by a suspected exploit during the Silverbrook Siege."
Director Han immediately sat.
"Username?"
"ShenTian."
Her fingers stopped.
She looked back.
"...The ShenTian?"
Shen Tian sighed.
"Why does everyone say it like that?"
Several employees stared.
One whispered,
"That’s actually him?"
Another immediately opened a clip on his second monitor.
Shen Tian recognized himself shooting arrows at PKers.
"...You were watching me at work?"
The employee quickly closed it.
"No, sir."
Shen Tian smiled.
"Relax."
Director Han searched the logs.
Then...
Her expression became serious.
"Found it."
A combat record appeared.
Victim: ShenTian
Attacker: Xx0Void0xX
Attacker Level: 3
Damage: 12,884
Skill ID: NULL
Director Han frowned.
"Definitely impossible."
Shen Tian leaned closer.
"Can you trace it?"
She nodded.
"Already doing so."
Several windows opened.
Network logs.
Behavior records.
Inventory changes.
Movement history.
Then...
More impossible activity appeared.
Teleport anomalies.
Item duplication.
Unauthorized stat modification.
Cooldown bypass.
Director Han’s expression darkened.
"This account has been cheating for hours."
Shen Tian looked toward her.
"Why wasn’t he banned?"
She grimaced.
"He kept the exploit subtle until tonight."
"Apparently killing me wasn’t subtle."
"No."
Shen Tian folded his arms.
"Good."
Director Han clicked through the account.
"We can suspend immediately."
Shen Tian looked toward Zhao Ming.
The CEO understood.
"Permanent ban."
Director Han nodded.
"Yes."
Shen Tian reached toward the console.
Then stopped.
"Can I?"
Director Han stared.
"...Can you what?"
"Press it."
Silence.
Several employees looked toward the CEO.
Zhao Ming looked toward Shen Tian.
Then laughed nervously.
"Of course."
Director Han slowly moved aside.
A large red button appeared.
PERMANENTLY BAN ACCOUNT
Xx0Void0xX
Reason: Unauthorized software / exploit abuse / combat manipulation
Shen Tian clicked.
A confirmation window appeared.
Are you sure?
He clicked...
YES.
A second confirmation appeared.
Hardware and identity ban?
Shen Tian smiled.
"Absolutely."
Click.
BAN ISSUED
Associated accounts suspended pending review.
Shen Tian nodded.
"Much better."
Xu Ning floated beside him.
[Host.]
"What?"
[You personally came to corporate headquarters just to press the ban button.]
"Correct."
[You could have sent an email.]
"Not satisfying."
She covered her face.
Director Han continued investigating.
Then...
Her eyebrows rose.
"We found something else."
Shen Tian looked over.
"What?"
"The cheater targeted you specifically."
The room became quieter.
"Specifically?"
She pulled up a chat log.
The account had received private messages.
Payment instructions.
A request.
Kill ShenTian during siege.
Prevent first place.
Shen Tian’s expression changed.
Zhao Ming became furious.
"Who paid him?"
Director Han searched.
"Anonymous wallet."
Xu Ning immediately started analyzing in parallel.
Then...
[Host.]
Shen Tian glanced toward her.
[The payment traces back to an esports organization shell account.]
His eyes narrowed.
Which?
Xu Ning smiled.
[Titan Esports.]
Shen Tian became quiet.
Interesting.
Jiang Feng’s former team.
He looked toward the security screen.
"Keep investigating."
Director Han nodded.
"We will."
"And don’t announce my identity publicly yet."
Zhao Ming hesitated.
"Young Master..."
"Please."
"Of course."
Shen Tian turned.
Then stopped.
"Actually..."
Everyone looked.
"Restore the contribution I lost because of the exploit."
Director Han nodded.
"That’s standard corrective action."
Shen Tian smiled.
"Good."
He left.
Back inside Eternal Realm...
Jiang Feng stood beside Commander Aldric.
The NPC handed him the fragment.
Guild Foundation Stone Fragment
2/5 required?
No.
Jiang Feng currently had only one.
This became...
Fragment 2?
Actually...
He possessed the fragment from Spider Hollow.
Now...
This was the second.
He held it carefully.
MoonPetal stood nearby.
LittleMaple bounced excitedly.
"Another one!"
Jiang Feng smiled.
"Two."
MoonPetal looked around.
"But where’s Shen?"
Jiang Feng’s smile faded slightly.
"I messaged him."
"No reply."
LittleMaple frowned.
"He disappeared right before the boss died."
Jiang Feng nodded.
"And strangely."
MoonPetal looked concerned.
"Do you think his connection crashed?"
"Maybe."
Then...
A system notification appeared.
Combat Integrity Correction
Player ShenTian was illegally eliminated by an account using unauthorized software.
Contribution has been restored.
Final Silverbrook Siege Rankings recalculated.
Everyone froze.
The ranking changed.
ShenTian — 118,442
FallenWind — 116,891
CrimsonRose — 82,114
Silence.
Jiang Feng stared.
Then...
Started laughing.
MoonPetal blinked.
"You’re laughing?"
Jiang Feng shook his head.
"He beat me."
"By fifteen hundred."
"After getting cheated out of the boss finish."
He smiled.
"That’s ridiculous."
LittleMaple looked horrified.
"Someone cheated to kill him?"
MoonPetal’s expression darkened.
"That’s pathetic."
Then...
A server message appeared.
Player Xx0Void0xX has been permanently banned for exploit abuse.
The crowd erupted.
"BAN!"
"HAHA!"
"GOOD!"
"CHEATER GONE!"
MoonPetal smiled.
"At least they got him quickly."
Jiang Feng looked thoughtful.
"...Very quickly."
Less than twenty minutes.
For a game serving tens of millions...
That was unusually fast.
But he didn’t dwell on it.
Not yet.
The next afternoon...
MoonPetal logged in early.
Shen Tian wasn’t online.
She checked again.
Nothing.
She opened his stream.
Offline.
Her brows knitted together.
Then...
A notification appeared from Eternal Realm.
Special Developer Broadcast Scheduled
Topic: Anti-Cheat Enforcement and Player Safety
Time: 2:00 PM
MoonPetal thought nothing of it.
Until she received a message.
ShenTian: Busy for a bit.
Her expression brightened.
MoonPetal: You okay?
ShenTian: Yeah.
MoonPetal: You got killed by a cheater.
ShenTian: He got banned.
She laughed.
MoonPetal: I noticed.
Then...
MoonPetal: That was REALLY fast.
Pause.
ShenTian: I complained.
MoonPetal stared.
MoonPetal: To support?
Longer pause.
ShenTian: Something like that.
She narrowed her eyes.
Suspicious.
Very suspicious.
(Author’s Note: IMPORTANT!)
SEND POWESTONES!!!
ALL SUPER GIFTS (Magic Castle, Space Ship, Golden Gachapon) = MORE ChapterS!

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