Conquering the Stars and My Haters’ Hearts - Chapter 15

When Anders saw Xie Anning, he froze for a nearly imperceptible second before quickly reassuming his usual mask of haughty indifference. He swept his gaze over the group, a cold sneer settling on his lips.

Those familiar with him knew this was the look he wore when he was about to make life miserable for someone he looked down upon. However, they were internally puzzled; Anders had seemed listless and drained just moments ago—why was he suddenly so energized?

“Xie Anning, what are you doing here?” Anders asked, his voice dripping with condescension as if he were looking at something beneath his notice.

As he spoke, he naturally pulled out a chair and sat down.

Anders’ companions felt a flicker of unease. His attitude seemed softer than usual. Wait—”softer”? Was that a word that could actually be applied to him?

Yu Hongfeng and the others grew tense the moment Anders appeared, and their faces flared with anger as soon as he opened his mouth. They couldn’t believe their luck; a simple celebratory dinner had been ruined by a run-in with this guy. But they weren’t about to stand by and let Anders humiliate Xie Anning.

“A coincidence, I suppose,” Xie Anning replied calmly. He glanced at the student who had earlier bragged about “becoming a son,” a trace of a smile playing at the corners of his mouth. “This place is quite interesting. Speaking of which, I seem to have gained a son today.”

The student’s face flushed a deep crimson. Seeing Anders there, however, his courage returned. “Who do you think is your—”

Before he could finish, Anders cut him in. “Order a few dishes for that table. Looking at their pathetic state, this is probably their first time eating here. Hmph, it’s an eyesore.”

What? Everyone froze. Even though his tone remained arrogant, the act itself was an undeniable olive branch!

At this rate, could the rumors actually be true?

They looked at Xie Anning again. In all honesty, the current Xie Anning gave them nothing to mock, in fact, he was far more impressive than any of them.

The student who had been about to snap back at Xie Anning quickly swallowed his words. Even Yu Hongfeng and his friends looked shell-shocked.

“No need,” Xie Anning said simply. “I just remembered I have things to do. We’ll be going now.”

He stood up and turned to leave, utterly ignoring Anders’ attempt at a peace offering.

Yu Hongfeng and the others didn’t see any issue with Xie Anning’s exit; they thought he handled it perfectly. They were sick of Anders’ “king of the world” attitude anyway—did he really think everyone was desperate to suck up to him?

Still, running into him was a stroke of pure bad luck.

Most absurdly of all, Bill actually ditched Anders’ group to follow them out, looking every bit the devoted disciple of Xie Anning.

Anders’ face turned a bruised shade of iron-blue. The rest of the group didn’t dare speak until someone finally ventured, “That Xie Anning really doesn’t know what’s good for him.”

Anders shot him a look so frigid the student instantly clamped his mouth shut.

“Shut up and eat,” Anders snapped. “Aren’t we here for dinner?”

He knew deep down that Xie Anning wasn’t ready to forgive him—not after everything he had done. But so what? Did he even need his forgiveness?

Anders clenched his fist tight, but an intrusive thought wouldn’t leave him alone: If the person sitting here today had been Ning Xiujin, would Xie Anning have acted the same way?

Xie Anning and the others enjoyed a pleasant meal afterward, acting as if the encounter had never happened. While Yu Hongfeng and the rest didn’t say it aloud, their respect for Xie Anning deepened. He wasn’t just talented and good-looking; his mental fortitude and courage were on another level! He was a true man’s man.

Xie Anning himself didn’t have strong feelings toward Anders, but given that Anders was largely responsible for the original owner’s death, there was no chance of a friendship. Besides, Anders wasn’t a “good” person; it was better to treat him as a stranger.

As for offending him, what a joke. Anders had already spent months publicly humiliating him. Their relationship was already at rock bottom; there was nothing left to worry about. Xie Anning didn’t believe for a second that Anders truly “liked” him; it was simply that he was now someone worth knowing.

Bill later excitedly asked for Xie Anning’s contact information, having completely forgotten about Anders. “Brother Xie, you’re going to participate in the upcoming competition, right?” he asked, naturally slipping into calling him “Brother.”

Xie Anning searched the original owner’s memories and realized what he meant. In six months, there would be a major competition involving students from all the prestigious academies. It was to be held at the Imperial First Military

Academy and would be watched by the upper-class nobility. Outstanding performers could even secure early admission to elite universities.

The old Xie Anning would never have qualified, but things were different now. Even if he didn’t want to go, the school administration wouldn’t let this opportunity slip by.

“Of course I’ll be there,” Xie Anning nodded.

Bill chatted excitedly for a while longer before hesitating. “Brother Xie, I don’t know if you still like that Ning Xiujin, but you should probably stay away from them. You’ve offended Anders today, and who knows what he’ll do next.”

“Don’t worry, I have no intention of approaching them,” Xie Anning assured him.

There was no benefit to interacting with those people. Since they were in different departments, the chance of running into them was slim anyway. Besides, he was far too busy with his system missions.

Currently, his mech-piloting skills were sufficient for casual play, but if he wanted to hit the top rank in the district, he needed actual technical knowledge. Relying on mental power alone was risky; if an opponent was prepared, they could block it, and if they weren’t, he might accidentally cause them permanent neural damage. That would be real trouble.

But these things couldn’t be rushed. Xie Anning figured he wouldn’t be unlucky enough to run into another opponent on Ferdinand’s level so soon.

Except, by the next day, he realized he was wrong.

The moment he started his livestream, a formal challenge appeared.

The challenger was aggressive. He flooded the room with “tips”—several donations of 10,000 Imperial Credits each, which instantly boosted the stream to the front page. The message attached was an invitation to a 1v1 duel the following day, written with the haughty tone of someone granting a favor to a subordinate.

This flashy declaration caused the room’s popularity to explode. The viewer count quadrupled instantly. A deluge of bullet comments swept across the screen, yet they couldn’t bury the challenger’s gold-trimmed announcement.

Clearly, this was a man of means.

“Holy crap! I clicked in as soon as I saw the notification. This is insane!”

“You guys are so naive. This is obviously a publicity stunt. Who actually declares war like this?”

“Wait, look at the ID. ‘Jin Xinheng’, isn’t he ranked in the top few thousand? He used to be quite famous!”

The skeptics immediately went silent. They recognized the name—Jin Xinheng was no ordinary player. His reputation in this game far exceeded Ferdinand’s, and like Ferdinand, he was immensely confident enough to use his real name as his handle.

While no one had officially doxed him, Jin Xinheng never bothered to hide his identity. With his wealth and skill, everyone knew he was a member of the Jin family.

“I’m a fan of the streamer, but I know how strong Jin Xinheng is. He once wiped a five-man team by himself after all four of his teammates went AFK!”

“Yeah, if Big Boss Jin hadn’t disappeared for a while, he’d be a legend by now. Why is he suddenly challenging ‘Daddy’?”

“Looks like the streamer is in trouble. He’s going to lose face big time.”

Xie Anning’s victory over Ferdinand was old news, and many had chalked it up to luck. Plus, while he had been winning lately, his opponents had all been “noobs.”

For a moment, no one had any faith that Xie Anning could win. Furthermore, the new viewers flooding in from the site-wide announcement didn’t even know who Xie Anning was; they were only there to watch Jin Xinheng show off.

To ensure Xie Anning wouldn’t slip away, Jin Xinheng arrogantly declared his terms: if he won, he would demand nothing and still gift Xie Anning 100,000 Imperial Credits as a “consolation prize.” If Xie Anning somehow won, Jin Xinheng would not only pay the 100,000 Credits but would also grant the winner any single request—no questions asked.

Jin Xinheng held nothing but contempt for Xie Anning. His elaborate display was designed solely to humiliate Ferdinand by proxy. Since he didn’t believe for a single second that he could lose, he felt perfectly safe offering such extravagant terms; after all, the impossible doesn’t happen.

The livestream audience was floored. They were reeling with envy—how could they not run into such a stroke of luck? This guy was essentially a walking ATM delivering cash to the door!

Aside from the provocative username, “Call Me Daddy” hadn’t shown anything truly legendary yet. Most assumed the only reason he’d caught a big fish like Jin Xinheng was because of his insufferably cocky channel title.

Xie Anning was equally caught off guard by this method of challenging someone. He couldn’t help but think that if a few more “donors” like this showed up, he’d be a billionaire in no time.

He quickly gathered from the frantic bullet comments that this Jin Xinheng was no pushover. This wouldn’t be another effortless victory like his recent matches against casual players—but so what? It was just a game.

There was no way he was going to turn down free money. Besides, a high-profile match like this would skyrocket his channel’s popularity, bringing him one giant leap closer to completing the System’s mission.

Xie Anning accepted without a moment’s hesitation.

Meanwhile, back at his residence having just been discharged from the hospital, Ferdinand was watching the stream. In that instant, the look on his face turned so terrifyingly dark that his surrounding servants recoiled in fear.