The Boss Behind The Game

Dragon Nation, Wei City.

Mo Xiaoxin had just resigned and walked out the company's door. He lit a cigarette pleasantly and strolled toward the subway station.

It was rush hour where traffic was at its highest. The subway was cramped. After swiping his transit card, Mo Xiaoxin managed to squeeze into the subway train with a little extra effort.

As the subway train started moving, Mo Xiaoxin scanned his surroundings for a less cramped space.

However, the moment he lifted up his foot, the middle-aged woman beside him let out a piercing scream.

He noticed that he had accidentally stepped on someone's toes. Mo Xiaoxin apologized at once, "I'm so sorry!"

"Don't you have eyes? Are you a pig? How do you even manage to step on other people…?"

Facing the unrelenting middle-aged woman who kept on rambling, Mo Xiaoxin took out his earphones. He unlocked his smartphone and launched the Talking Tom app.

Five minutes later, when the woman paused, the app on Mo Xiaoxin's phone started to speak...

"Don't you have eyes? Are you a pig..."

It pissed off the woman and she continued scolding at once. Mo Xiaoxin, who was holding the handrails, maintained a calm expression and raised his smartphone without having to open his mouth.

The passengers could not resist laughing as they listened to the middle-aged woman bickering back and forth with a phone app.

Mo Xiaoxin seemed like an outsider to the conversation, as though the woman was simply just arguing with a phone.

Reaching his station, Mo Xiaoxin got off the train and quickly shuffled back home.

His resignation meant that he had lost his main form of a steady income, but he was not concerned about this at all.

Since he was a player of Battle Online, he could do some labor in the game and live on that instead.

When he thought of Battle Online, Mo Xiaoxin couldn't help but smile.

He felt that everyone in this game was talented and they knew how to sweet talk. He liked it very much.

He did not enter his gaming pod when he reached home. Instead, he switched on his computer.

Logging onto the forum, a smile appeared on his face.

He scanned through the posts in the forum. His attention was caught by a post which was debating whether a Knight or Drought Zombie's defense was stronger.

After reading the original author's review and the players' replies, Mo Xiaoxin typed a sentence and attached a picture.

[A Knight is obviously stronger than a Drought Zombie, because (The Dog and The Knight.jpg). Didn't you know? (laughing emoji)]

As expected, Sun Qi the dog soon heard aboout the reply and threatened him to delete the picture.

Mo Xiaoxin calmly lit a cigarette and inhaled before typing another sentence.

[Good dog, pats head (laughing emoji)]

Then he closed the post, clicked on another one, and continued his inspection.

Yes, Mo Xiaoxin was the legendary player known as Crayon_Shinchan, the ultimate troll of the forum who had pissed off countless players.

Even though the forum was full of hatred toward him, he was good at keeping his identity anonymous. Nobody ever found out his identity in the game, which was why he got off completely scot-free.

He had to thank his mother for that. If not for the training given by his mother since he was very young, Mo Xiaoxin felt that he would be hunted down like they did with Hu He.

He remembered his youthful days when his mother told him not to drink water that has been left overnight.

Having the inclination to troll others since a young age, Mo Xiaoxin asked his mother, "Can I drink water that was boiled at 6 o'clock in the morning when it is 6 o'clock in the evening?"

His mother said yes.

He asked again, "What about water boiled at 9 o'clock in the evening to 9 o'clock in the morning?"

His mother said no.

Therefore Mo Xiaoxin started his trolling.

"If the water has been equally left for twelve hours under the same storing conditions, why can't I drink the latter? After all, the low temperature at night is better for storage."

This time, Mo Xiaoxin's mother did not answer. Instead, she raised her feather duster and beat him while praising him for using his brains. Why did she beat him then? It was probably because she was in a bad mood, that's all.

That very moment, Mo Xiaoxin knew he had to hide his talent. He should never reveal his aptitude or he would suffer.

However, the Internet was without boundaries. After getting in touch with this world, he realized that he really liked it there.

He could troll as much as he wanted. They couldn't do anything to him even though they were enraged. They wouldn't be able to climb out from his computer monitor, at least.

After offending people for half an hour, Mo Xiaoxin decided to retreat from the forum and return to his gaming pod, despite the players repeatedly demanding him to expose his actual address.

...

His figure appeared in the game. Looking at the purple staff he bought with his own hard-earned money, Mo Xiaoxin nodded with content.

Suddenly, his Friends Menu started beeping.

Opening it to check, he realized that most of the notifications were requests from friends in the game to team up with them or venture the seas together.

After some thought, Mo Xiaoxin rejected their invites one by one with goodwill before heading toward the beach.

He decided to try his luck on the seas by going fishing for some spiritual fish and then selling them at a good price.

Of course, the main reason was that he could check out the forum while fishing.

He arrived at the beach on the Liuli Coast via the transport array.

As Mo Xiaoxin was about to call for a private Specter Ship, he noticed two people staring at him.

He immediately smiled at them while returning his gaze. He was about to have small talk with them, only to find their faces familiar.

It was the lovebird killers, Murphy and Little Pomelo.

"How are you? Is there anything I can help you with?" Mo Xiaoxin smiled and asked.

He was rather worried, but he did not think that the duo would have found out that he was Crayon_Shinchan. He had never exposed any personal information.

After all, in the game, he was a backline mage that was pretty nice toward his fellow guild mates, had a soft personality, and was someone people could easily make friends with.

"Do you know the player named Crayon_Shinchan?" Little Pomelo flicked her dagger which was balanced on the tip of her finger while smiling cunningly.

Mo Xiaoxin was shocked as he heard her, but he smiled again before saying, "You mean that forum troll? How would I know him? He's trolled me before and I don't like him very much, either."

"Quit pretending. We know it's you. What else did you think we came here for?" Little Pomelo dissipated into a shadow and drifted forward, appearing behind Mo Xiaoxin.

Mo Xiaoxin was confused upon hearing her words.

He was sure that other than being a troll in the forum, he hadn't done anything which would expose his identity in the game. He wondered how they found out his identity.

When he thought about it properly, though, he realized that something was wrong.

He had spent years on forums and he had seen bounty killers streaming their killings live.

According to their style, if they had secured a target, they would act immediately instead of prolonging their fight. As for now, something must be wrong if they were attempting small talk.

When he thought of this, Mo Xiaoxin sighed.

"I think you've got the wrong person. Even though my name has the homonym Xiaoxin in it, I'm really not that shameless guy Crayon_Shinchan. If you don't believe me, try asking my guild mates. They can tell you what kind of person I am!"

Mo Xiaoxin did not show any sign of fear even when he felt the chill on his neck. He spoke as though he was complaining.

At that moment, the dagger on his neck was removed.

Mo Xiaoxin turned around to find Little Pomelo bowing to him politely.

"We're sorry to have bothered you. Looks like we've found the wrong person."

Fuck, of course they were trying to bait me. Luckily I've been smart since I was a kid!

Mo Xiaoxin sighed a breath of relief. While smiling at Murphy and Little Pomelo, he said, "It's no big deal. I hope you guys find him soon and kill him until he flees the server!"

"We will. Even though we don't personally hold a grudge against him, the crowdfunding for the operation has reached 30,000 soul coins. We shall kill him!"

Mo Xiaoxin's face twitched when he heard this, "Good luck!"