「Qing City.」

In an abandoned building a kilometer away from the Tourism Management Office, Qiao Shan woke up, rubbing his head. He had been kidnapped by four Japanese Ninjas, beaten, drugged, and had every last bit of information squeezed out of him.

The effects of the drug had now worn off, and a blood-soaked Qiao Shan was finally conscious. He sensed that he had somehow inherited another wave of Defense Towers while unconscious. Famished, Qiao Shan found his discarded phone nearby. After checking the time, he unlocked it, ready to browse the news online.

"AHHH!!!"

A cry of shock tore from his throat.

There’s a God in Qing City?

Staring at the online discussions that were all about Qing City, he watched the viral videos: a Fire Tornado engulfing skeletons, a world-ending pillar of light carving out craters, and an ancient Heavy Sword cutting down enemies. Qiao Shan was stunned. He watched the three most popular videos over and over again in utter shock. When he saw the netizens clamoring to immigrate to Qing City, he collapsed straight onto the ground.

Ranked 18th on the Combat Power leaderboard! Brother Kaipan! In-game name: Big and Small Eater! It’s him! It’s him!

Slumped on the floor, Qiao Shan desperately wanted to point at Sun Yu, whom he had met during the day, and scream, It’s you! It’s you!

Qiao Shan didn’t recognize the Tornado, nor did he recognize the Star-Slaying Tower. But as luck would have it, he happened to have a Sixth Tier "Ten Thousand Swords Return to the Sect Defense Tower." He recognized the greatsword that had annihilated the super Gluttonous Snake at the end! He even knew it was an attack in its Heavy Sword Form!

As a player who had inherited abilities from the game *Tower Defense of Ten Thousand Realms*, Qiao Shan immediately determined that the three attacks that had shaken the entire internet came from Defense Towers—and not just any Defense Towers, but ones from the *Tower Defense of Ten Thousand Realms* game.

According to the data he had collected, among the publicly known players who inherited from *Tower Defense of Ten Thousand Realms*, only a dozen or so were in the top 100 of the Combat Power rankings. And "Brother Kaipan," whom he had met, happened to be ranked a very high 18th.

Searching online again more carefully, he saw someone mention a safe zone in Qing City with a five-kilometer radius, completely devoid of monsters. The center of that safe zone was exactly where Shen Yue’s villa was located. He also remembered that the base range of most Tenth Tier Defense Towers was exactly five kilometers. And he remembered that Brother Kaipan called Shen Yue "Young Miss," meaning he was most likely her close-quarters protection.

Putting this string of information together, Qiao Shan was dumbfounded.

This... This... What kind of person did I provoke?! Is someone ranked 18th on the Combat Power leaderboard really this powerful?

Swallowing hard, Qiao Shan quickly wracked his brain, trying to think if he had done anything to offend Brother Kaipan. Confident in the information he had, he instantly came to a firm conclusion. The big shot from Qing City everyone online was looking for was Brother Kaipan, the man whose friend request he had added during the day! It was him who had held back the Undead Calamity, killed the boss, and protected Qing City!

No, wait! If Brother Kaipan’s Defense Towers are that strong, then mine aren’t weak either! Even if my strongest Seventh Tier Defense Tower only has one-five-hundredth the power of a Tenth Tier one, it’s still definitely not weak! Last night, when I destroyed the monsters at the school, my Defense Towers weren’t even at full power! Holy shit! I’m going to be rich! I’m about to take off!

As his thoughts raced, Qiao Shan suddenly had an epiphany: he, too, was a Tower Master who had inherited abilities from *Tower Defense of Ten Thousand Realms*. Because of these viral videos, he was going to be famous too! The clips online showed him there were far more strategic possibilities for the inherited abilities from the game than he had realized.

Back to the school! And this time, I won’t leave the administration building. I won’t recklessly leave the protection of my Defense Towers again!

Qiao Shan’s eyes lit up. He shot to his feet, scanned his surroundings warily, and then sprinted back toward the school. He had been careless before, leaving the protective circle of his Defense Towers, and as a direct result, he was captured by the Japanese. The good news was that he was still alive; they hadn’t offed him. Now, given a second chance and with a much clearer understanding of things, Qiao Shan resolved never again to leave the range of his Defense Towers.

***

Brother Fei is a badass! So amazing!

The entire country, even the whole world, was trying to guess Shen Fei’s identity. At this moment, the only one who knew the identity of the great figure responsible for all this was Sun Yu. Only Sun Yu, living just a few hundred meters from Shen Fei’s villa, knew that his big brother was the one behind it all.

Although Sun Yu had already inherited over forty Defense Towers, including several Ninth Tier ones, he followed his big brother Shen Fei’s instructions and hadn’t placed a single one. He did so out of his complete trust in his big brother. Now, watching the speculation and discussions online, Sun Yu’s heart swelled with excitement and shared glory.

Through a nearby window, he glanced at his big brother’s villa in the distance, shrouded in mist. Sun Yu understood perfectly that under the cover of the Mist Tower’s fog, no one had seen the light emitted by the Defense Towers when his big brother had attacked. He didn’t know how his big brother was feeling right now, but seeing all the praise online, Sun Yu felt thrilled and ecstatic.

"Hm?"

While browsing online, Sun Yu opened the "Brother Chongtian Support Group" QQ chat, which was also exploding with messages. As he read through them, his brow furrowed. He saw someone in the group speculating whether Brother Chongtian was the one behind the earth-shattering events in Qing City.

In a QQ group where every member was a player of *Tower Defense of Ten Thousand Realms*, Shen Fei’s three powerful attacks were quickly identified as originating from Defense Towers in the game. They had even pooled their collective knowledge to deduce the names of the Defense Towers that had launched the attacks. Although none of them had Tenth Tier Defense Towers, they could still make rough estimates based on the effects of low-tier ones. The power of a Ninth Tier Defense Tower is one-tenth that of a Tenth Tier one; by extrapolating like this, they could eventually figure it out. After all, there is strength in numbers.

Having deduced that these effects were caused by Defense Towers from *Tower Defense of Ten Thousand Realms*, everyone in the QQ group grew excited.

I might not have Defense Towers as strong as the ones in the video, but I still have one-hundredth or one-thousandth of that power, right? This... this... Does this mean I’m about to take off too?!

"Everyone, keep a low profile!"

Seeing the chat in the QQ group getting a little out of control and veering into dangerous territory, Sun Yu thought for a moment before he started typing.

"Whether it was Brother Chongtian who launched the attacks in the video is not important!

"What’s important is that we keep it a secret that it was a Tower Master from the *Tower Defense of Ten Thousand Realms* game who did all this! We all know that a Tower Master’s physical body is very fragile! The topic of Tower Masters was already hot enough; after this incident, players who inherited the Tower Master identity will attract even more attention!

"Think about it, everyone. If people find out that Tower Masters are so powerful, yet their bodies are so weak, wouldn’t it be easy for someone to just capture us, force us to deploy our Defense Towers to protect their cities, and turn us into Tower Slaves? That would be quite easy for the captors, wouldn’t it?

"Everyone needs to protect themselves! We have to protect our identities as Tower Masters! At least until our own bodies aren’t so vulnerable!"

Quickly, Sun Yu sent out a long string of messages. His big brother, Shen Fei, was busy with other things, so as the only subordinate who knew his big brother had taken action, he had to manage the group chat for him. Although he didn’t think someone as powerful as his big brother needed these people from the QQ group, having them was better than not.

"Who are you?! Don’t you dare post anonymously!"

As soon as Sun Yu finished typing, he was questioned. Most people in the QQ group used their in-game names, but because Sun Yu had been quietly invited by Shen Fei and rarely spoke, his account nickname was still a jumble of random characters. The moment he spoke, he was met with suspicion.

After thinking for a few seconds, Sun Yu typed out three lines.

"I am Brother Kaipan!

"I’m ranked 18th on the Combat Power leaderboard!

"And I’m in Qing City too!!"

A flood of messages poured into the QQ group. The name Brother Kaipan still carried a lot of weight. Especially in the two or three weeks before abilities from the game were inherited, this guy had not only spent millions on Krypton Gold but had also dominated everywhere, "robbing" many people of their money. Many people in the QQ group right now had been "robbed" by the old Sun Yu in the past.

"Holy shit!"

"Brother Kaipan, you’re Brother Kaipan?"

"For real?"

"FUCK YOU!! GIMME MY MONEY BACK! You scammer!"

"Holy shit! Brother Kaipan!! You’re that Brother Kaipan who spent millions on Krypton Gold!!!"

"I don’t believe it!"

"Holy shit, you’re in Qingzhou?"

Sun Yu’s words quickly derailed the discussion. Brother Kaipan was simply too infamous. Moreover, he happened to be in Qing City, which was currently the focus of the entire world.

"Everyone, take care! Once a Defense Tower is placed, it’s not easy to move. So, until we have a way to do that, it’s better to place them as late as possible!

"Be careful, everyone. It’s better to pretend to be an ordinary person with no inherited abilities than to expose your identity as a Tower Master. Otherwise, there’s a high chance you’ll be captured and kept like livestock...

"I’ve heard that quite a few players who inherited Defense Towers from the game have already gone missing...

"Everyone, be careful!"

Without answering anyone’s questions, Sun Yu added a few more words and then closed QQ.

Big brother is a badass! 𝒻𝘳ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝒷𝘯ℴ𝓋ℯ𝘭.𝑐ℴ𝑚

After closing QQ, Sun Yu browsed the Forum for a while. Seeing the heated posts, he couldn’t help but exclaim in admiration again.

Tonight, Sun Yu was the only person in Qing City who wasn’t worried about the monster tide or the super Gluttonous Snake boss. He had absolute confidence in his big brother. He had even remained unmoved when his father called earlier, telling him to go find Brother Fei to discuss retreating. He knew that in the face of his big brother Shen Fei, everything else was just paper. The outcome was just as he had expected, and only Sun Yu himself knew the extent of his joy—a joy he couldn’t share with anyone else.