Mr. Dior : Chapter 18

The internal restaurant of the Banana Tower, a window-side booth.

Jiao Qi had no idea how things had taken this turn, but now the three of them were sitting together, staring at each other.

The Demon King was probably used to being a streamer, quite the talker, able to carry on a monologue for ages even when no one responded.

“President Zhang, I’ve always admired you. Ever since I entered the pro scene, your legend was everywhere.” Wang Mo wasn’t just being polite when he said this; he genuinely meant it.

The smart VR and PC integration technology developed by Zhang Chenfei had transformed the entire gaming industry. When Wang Mo had joined a pro team back then, he happened to catch this wave of technological change. And because of his exceptional dynamic vision, he was better suited to VR keyboard competition than traditional PC keyboard competition. He quickly rose to prominence and became world champion at the age of twenty.

Zhang Chenfei remained unmoved by this “admiration.” As the Empire’s Marshal, there were plenty of people who admired him. Still, this young Alpha was quite perceptive—after sitting down, he kept his eyes fixed on him and stopped sneaking glances at his little wife. So he offered a word of encouragement: “Young man, you have a bright future ahead of you.”

The Demon King waved his hand with a smile in his eyes: “I’ve only achieved a little, I can’t compare to you.”

Jiao Qi watched the two of them chatting away so happily and felt something was off. Sure enough, Zhang Da Diao’s next line was: “Would you like to join? Become a mecha warrior of the Empire.”

“Can I?” Wang Mo was thrilled. The closed beta slots for “Galactic Glory” were extremely scarce. “I heard these are only for internal Shi Fei staff and can’t be lent out. I’m not a Shi Fei employee.”

Zhang Chenfei looked at Jiao Qi, seeking his opinion.

“He’ll be Banana’s person from now on. Give him an account—it’ll be perfect for streaming and promoting the game.” Jiao Qi, who had recently been forced to get involved in Shi Fei’s business, was quite familiar with the game’s development progress. The game was going into open beta next month, and riding the wave of the Demon King’s platform transfer buzz for promotion would likely yield excellent results.

Hearing his little wife’s words, the CEO became a bit unhappy again. Why was his little wife so protective of this young Alpha, going out of his way to squeeze benefits out of his husband for him?

The Demon King couldn’t pick up on President Zhang’s subtle mood shifts. Hearing Jiao Qi say this, he agreed immediately: “Thank you, Boss! From now on, I’m your person!”

“…” What kind of talk was this? The Empire’s Marshal was very displeased.

“Brash youngster, you know nothing of power.”

The Demon King was stunned by this pleasant surprise. What had he just heard? Zhang Chenfei, founder of Shi Fei, a legend in the gaming world, wanted to spar with him in a game. This was like the President of the United States challenging an NBA star to a one-on-one basketball game, or Edison competing against a champion electrician to install a lightbulb. Whether he could win or not was another matter—the hype value alone would be off the charts.

He had been worrying about what to stream for his first platform transfer broadcast. Now it was settled—nothing could be more suitable than this.

Jiao Qi listened with his jaw on the floor. He was one hundred percent certain these two were not talking about the same thing. Yet the two of them, communicating without any apparent obstacles, had so easily reached an agreement.

After lunch, the Demon King signed a contract with Banana and received a closed beta account that very afternoon. When Shi Fei’s publicity department heard about it, they quickly contacted the Demon King, agreed to let him livestream the evening match, and set ground rules about what could and couldn’t be shown.

That evening, back home, Jiao Qi stood in the study doorway holding a cup of hot tea, looking at his husband who had assumed a battle-ready stance, with a splitting headache: “It’s fine if you want him to promote it through streaming, but why do you have to get involved yourself? He’s an esports world champion. You’re a programmer—how could you possibly beat him?”

Zhang Chenfei was quite troubled. His little wife still didn’t seem to know how powerful he was. The invincible Empire’s Marshal, afraid of a rookie who had just joined the Empire’s mecha squad? He patted the seat beside him, signaling Jiao Qi to come sit: “Watch. Watch me defeat him.”

“Keep dreaming.” Jiao Qi rolled his eyes. No matter how good an ordinary person was at gaming, they’d only get destroyed by a pro player. Not to mention this guy was a world champion.

That eye roll was adorable, Zhang Chenfei thought. He would definitely showcase his unmatched power and hopefully get his Omega so excited he’d go straight into heat. Cupping his little wife’s face, he planted a kiss: “I’ll let everyone know I’m the strongest Alpha, and scare off all those guys trying to get close to you.”

“…”

Meanwhile, the Demon King had already been streaming for an hour. The afternoon announcement on social media, with its surreal headline of “Art vs. Zhang Chenfei,” had immediately drawn explosive attention.

[Ahhhh, my Demon King, you’re finally back to streaming!]

[It’s been half a month since I saw you, hubby, I miss you!]

[What is this, did I read that right? The opponent is the president of Shi Fei Technology?]

[My god, the stream content is “Galactic Glory.” This is the first time the game is being shown publicly. Ahhh, rubbing my hands together in anticipation.]

At first, fans didn’t understand how the Demon King had gotten connected to Zhang Chenfei. When they clicked the link the Demon King posted, it all made sense. Art had jumped ship to Banana, after all. The whole country knew the boss of Banana and Zhang Chenfei were a married couple family business, obviously.

Switching platforms suddenly, even a big streamer would feel some impact. On one hand, some fans wouldn’t want to move with you. On the other, you’d face pushback from other streamers on the new platform. But the Demon King’s opening move was remarkably strong. The platform boss had brought out his own husband to boost his popularity clearly, he was highly valued.

As soon as the news broke, Wang Mo received calls from several colleagues.

“Wang Mo, you sly dog, how did you get Young Master Jiao to value you so much?”

“Ugh, handsome guys really do have it easy.”

“Old Wang, you’ve got Daddy Chenfei’s leg to hug now, take me with you!”

Envious, jealous, passive-aggressive, genuinely congratulatory—the streamer took it all in stride, laughing and deflecting, impenetrable as a fortress.

With an hour to go before the scheduled match with Zhang Chenfei, the Demon King opened his stream. Fans who had been waiting by their smart devices flooded in.

“Ah, this ‘Galactic Glory’ closed beta account, I just got it too. I’m completely in the dark about what’s inside. Let’s go take a look first.” The Demon King opened a small split-screen so fans could see his handsome face and cute little fangs.

[Ahhhh, my hubby got even hotter!]

[Closed beta account! These are super rare. I heard President Li of Handsome Games couldn’t even buy one at a high price.]

[Shi Fei’s management is super strict. If an employee dares to sell an account, it’s not just getting fired—Daddy Chenfei will send them to prison.]

[Long live the Demon King! The Demon King is the first to stream Galactic Glory!]

[Demon King is awesome!]

The publicity department wasn’t allowing dungeon streaming for now. Tonight would only showcase the tutorial and the match. But that was enough, since Wang Mo didn’t know how to play this game either.

“Alright, now we’re entering the game interface. This is a starter account, level zero, nothing on it. Let’s check out the tutorial first.” As a pro gamer who had played countless games, the Demon King feared nothing. He followed the tutorial to equip his character with a mecha and familiarize himself with the controls.

Jiao Qi watched the stream interface on his smart device and couldn’t help but marvel: “As expected of a champion, his talent really is something else.”

Gaming requires talent too. The Demon King had incredible game sense. For a game he had never played before, being able to pick it up in such a short time and figure out many tricks on his own that was talent.

In just one hour, the Demon King could smoothly operate a combat mecha. He fought two matches against AI and beat the system mecha to a pulp.

[So hot ahhhh!]

[The Demon King is a genius!]

His little wife was watching with rapt attention. Zhang Chenfei took the opportunity to lean over, nuzzling into his neck. Jiao Qi had changed into loungewear, and the soft silk fabric was full of a fresh grass scent. His little wife, releasing pheromones so defenselessly toward him, must trust him deeply. The Marshal was very pleased, but didn’t make a sound for fear of startling him.

Turning to log into the game interface, Zhang Chenfei spoke: “Ready?”

The excited viewers suddenly heard a deep, magnetic male voice. They all froze for a moment. The bullet comments went blank for an instant, then exploded into a frenzy.

[My god, is that President Zhang’s voice? How is it so smooth! That’s not scientifically possible!]

[Ahhhh, so good to hear. Kneeling and begging Daddy Chenfei to turn on his camera!]

[First time being so close to Daddy Chenfei. Daddy, did you hear the call of your long-lost son?]

“Ready. Shall we go straight to the arena?” The Demon King opened the arena and piloted his mecha to one end of the field.

A silver starter mecha stood in the crude arena, like a pioneer hero searching for light in the darkness. The Demon King’s game ID was Art. The system notification read: [Art is in position, waiting for opponent to join.]

[Well, as much as I worship Daddy Chenfei, going up against the Demon King… I’m afraid…]

[Hubby, go easy on him. He’s the boss after all. We’re still counting on getting a Shi Fei endorsement deal!]

[Demon King, don’t chicken out. Don’t throw the match to suck up to the boss. You’ll disgrace pro players!]

The stream’s viewer count quickly skyrocketed from over three million to five million, and was still growing by the second. Everyone had come to watch the Demon King destroy Zhang Chenfei. An esports champion versus a top tycoon gave everyone the thrill of sticking it to the rich.

“Mm.” Zhang Chenfei said no more and entered the arena directly.

The system notification read: [Empire’s Marshal is in position].

The originally gray and dilapidated “Doomsday Factory” background instantly transformed into an endless galaxy with the arrival of the new mecha.

Spotlights hit the “Empire’s Marshal” mecha, and the bullet comments were reduced to nothing but:

[HOLY CRAP!]

A massive golden mecha, with streamlined construction so exquisite it was unbelievable, covered head to toe in all kinds of cool weapons. Unlike the Demon King’s pitiful starter account, Zhang Chenfei was using an engineer test account max level, max equipment.

The CEO sneered: “Young man, you know nothing of power