Shaving, facial masks with toner and lotion repair, hair care sets, muscle shaping and massage, mandibular stretching and facial relaxation...

Tang Erda was tossed around until the light gradually faded from his eyes.

Originally, there was also supposed to be a bone-setting session, but the bone-setting specialist said Tang Erda’s skeletal alignment was already very straight and there was no need to adjust it. Doing so would be overcorrection. Mu Ke gave up regretfully—he had heard that bone-setting was also very painful.

To save time, Mu Ke requested that as many procedures as possible be carried out simultaneously. For example, while Tang Erda was receiving his hair treatment, he was also having his eyebrows trimmed and his facial muscles relaxed.

The one trimming his eyebrows was a delicate-featured male makeup artist with a petite build. To accommodate Tang Erda’s reclining position during the hair treatment, he was practically half-straddling Tang Erda to trim them. The more he trimmed, the redder his face became, until finally, he could no longer even hold the brow trimmer steady. His eyes kept drifting toward Tang Erda’s pectoral and abdominal muscles, and the speed of his trimming grew slower and slower.

Regarding this, Captain Tang, who was lying down, remained completely unaware. His eyes were closed while his hair was being washed.

Tang Erda, who had devoted his entire life to games and the Dangerous Heretic Management Bureau, had no realization that places like this might be high-density areas for gay people. His perception was still stuck at the level of thinking people who liked men were an extremely small minority. He had no idea that a male homosexual was actually right beside him.

Bai Liu, sitting on the nearby sofa and flipping through a magazine, caught this scene out of the corner of his eye and faintly hooked his lips in a smile.

Liu Jiayi, wearing goggles, noticed Bai Liu’s subtle expression. She followed his gaze and couldn’t help twitching the corners of her mouth twice.

Bai Liu put down the magazine, stood up elegantly, sat down beside Tang Erda, and lifted his eyes to sweep a faint, cold glance over that male makeup artist.

Seeming to sense some kind of warning in Bai Liu’s eyes, the male makeup artist flusteredly sped up the eyebrow trimming. After finishing, he fled in a panic.

Liu Jiayi came over and couldn’t help leaning close to Bai Liu to whisper a complaint. “Why did you come over to declare sovereignty and protect him? Wouldn’t it be better to let this big idiot get taken advantage of a little?”

Bai Liu looked at Tang Erda, who had finished washing his hair and was sitting up. He turned slightly and lowered his voice. “I don’t like seeing my private property being taken advantage of by others.”

“Especially when that behavior cannot procure more profit for me.”

Bai Liu reached out and patted Liu Jiayi’s head soothingly. “If you were bullied by someone, I would also be very angry.”

Liu Jiayi swallowed back all the words in her stomach and turned her face away to avoid looking at Bai Liu—she was actually feeling a little stifled because of Bai Liu’s attitude toward Tang Erda.

This person had shot her once. She still remembered it.

“Then what if I want to bully him?” Liu Jiayi asked fiercely.

Bai Liu smiled. “As you wish. I don’t mind mutual consumption between my properties, as long as you two don’t excessively harm each other and lower the total value of my assets.”

Liu Jiayi’s mood instantly smoothed out. She looked up at Tang Erda, rubbing her palms together as she prepared to find a place to start, but the moment she saw Tang Erda’s face from the front, she froze.

Bai Liu raised an eyebrow and leaned close to Liu Jiayi’s ear to whisper a request. “While bullying him, try not to damage his face. It looks very valuable.”

Tang Erda had now been completely groomed. He stood up uncomfortably, touching the back of his neck here and his chin there, then looked at the silent Liu Jiayi and Bai Liu, growing more and more uneasy.

He pursed his lips and forced himself to maintain the dignified air of a captain. “I already said that all of this is wasted effort on me. It won’t increase my appeal to the audience...”

“No.” Bai Liu swept his eyes over Tang Erda with a lingering gaze, the faint smile on his face deepening. “At least in an aesthetic sense, your appeal to me has increased.”

The makeup artist just now had trimmed Tang Erda’s eyebrows very low and simply cleaned up the sideburns on both sides. It made Tang Erda’s sharply contoured face and those deep blue eyes, which could not hide their aggressiveness, stand out.

His bone structure was clear and defined, his expression cold and upright. He was tall, broad-shouldered, and narrow-waisted, and the physical state of being ready to strike at any moment gave him an indescribable sense of danger and restraint.

Liu Jiayi walked a circle around Tang Erda and had no choice but to admit defeat—in terms of appearance, this guy was the type the audience would like.

Back then, Tang Erda had been able to break through the ranks of celebrity players and obtain the [Death-Exemption Gold Medal]. Besides his own solid strength, his superior external conditions had also given him a lot of help.

Of course, he himself had never noticed this point.

Or rather, because Tang Erda had spent so much time mixed up with heretical monsters, he did not have a clear understanding of human appearance.

He thought he looked average; a face like Su Yang’s, gentle and easy to approach, was what counted as good-looking.

Captain Tang, who did not understand the diversity of contemporary human social aesthetics, saw Bai Liu smilingly praising him, and his first reaction was that this person was playing tricks and teasing him again.

Consequently, Captain Tang became increasingly uncomfortable. His brow pressed extremely low, and his expression even carried a bit of cold severity. He raised his hand, intending to mess up the hairstyle he had just had done. “I already said it’s useless! Don’t waste this kind of energy on me!”

The makeup artist nearby, seeing that Tang Erda was about to destroy the styling, let out an anxious shriek and hung onto Tang Erda’s arm, shouting in a cracked voice, “I won’t allow you to insult yourself like this! It’s very handsome, okay! If you picked a few good outfits and wore them out, the talent scouts trying to dig you up could line up all the way to my shop door!”

“If you debuted...” He restrainedly stroked Tang Erda’s sturdy arm, his small face turning red. “I would definitely be your ‘wife fan.’”

What the hell???

Tang Erda, who had only ever heard of wife cakes and never wife fans, had a head full of question marks as he pulled his arm out of the makeup artist’s hands.

Bai Liu withdrew his gaze. “Go choose two sets of clothes suitable for him.”

“Is a custom shop okay?” Mu Ke asked. “I know two ready-to-wear custom shops. Otherwise, with his height, it won’t be easy to buy clothes from ordinary stores.”

“That’s fine.” Bai Liu held up his phone. “I’ll notify Mu Shicheng that we’ve changed locations.”

Inside the ready-to-wear custom shop.

The shop’s sign was a string of French that Bai Liu couldn’t understand. Most of the people working inside were foreigners, but Mu Ke could communicate with them in fluent French, so Bai Liu simply washed his hands of it and sat nearby to watch the show.

It had to be said that Mu Ke truly had foresight. Tang Erda’s height, as measured by the tailor, was 1.92 meters. Aside from sports shops, it really was difficult to find suitable men’s clothing for this guy.

Even in a ready-to-wear shop, Tang Erda’s clothes weren’t easy to choose. The large-bearded tailor waved his hands at Mu Ke in difficulty, but Mu Ke seemed determined to reach a conclusion only after measuring his overall girth data.

So Tang Erda was summoned into the inner area behind a white cloth curtain to take off his shirt and have his measurements taken. Bai Liu and Mu Ke both followed him in to help select clothes and provide references.

Liu Jiayi was forced to stay outside.

At this time, Mu Shicheng also arrived. After learning the cause and effect from Liu Jiayi, he rolled up his sleeves without a second thought and walked in with a malicious smile.

Was there any moment more suitable for taking revenge on this idiot Captain Tang?!

Once he saw Tang Erda stripped naked, he would definitely humiliate the other man’s figure! He would say that nothing looked good on him!

Just that kind of scruffy guy who had slept on the street for half a year—how could a mere Tang Erda turn into some handsome man?

Mu Shicheng did not believe it in ten million ways. At the very least, he did not believe Tang Erda could be more handsome than his youthful and beautiful self. So he simply tidied his hair and walked in with his head held high.

Tang Erda, naked from the waist up, lifted his eyelids and looked over with an unkind gaze.

His old uniform had been stripped off and was piled around his waist. From his chest to his back were old scars of all sizes, including many gunshot wounds. Because he had lost his protective layer, his muscles were completely tensed, stretching all the way from his spine to the center of his lower back. The smooth, undulating curves carried an astonishing sense of power.

Neat, sharp short hair, a clear and clean face, and deep blue eyes with unavoidable aggressiveness stared straight at the person who had opened the curtain. After determining that this person was a harmless teammate, he coldly turned his face away again and reached out for the tailor to measure his arm length.

Those scars, which clearly were not simple, made the tailor measuring Tang Erda’s girth feel frightened. He measured him carefully, not even daring to breathe too loudly.

Mu Shicheng expressionlessly dropped the curtain, then looked up and silently beat his chest and howled for one or two seconds.

He lost at the very first glance!! Damn it!! He looked so cool!! His figure was so good!!

Mu Shicheng hesitated for two seconds, gritted his teeth, and refused to admit defeat. He took off his sports jacket again, planning to go in wearing only a T-shirt.

Damn it, he was also considered an athlete. His figure wasn’t bad either!

Liu Jiayi, who saw through everything, looked on with pity. “You can’t win against Tang Erda. His chest muscles are bigger than yours. I estimate his chest circumference should be over 110.”

At the same time, Mu Ke’s restrained voice of confirmation came from behind the curtain. “Chest circumference 115? That much? Are you sure this is a normal chest circumference and that he doesn’t have some issue like overdevelopment?”

The tailor answered in broken Chinese, “Very, standard, perfect!”

Mu Ke, whose chest circumference was only in the low nineties: “...”

Mu Shicheng, whose chest circumference wasn’t even 110: “...”

Lost. He had lost! 𝒇𝙧𝙚𝓮𝙬𝙚𝓫𝒏𝓸𝓿𝓮𝒍.𝓬𝙤𝓶

Mu Shicheng silently put his sports jacket back on and even pulled up the zipper that had been open, not giving his upper body any chance of being exposed and compared. After adjusting his expression, he finally pulled back the curtain and walked in again.

Tang Erda was putting on his clothes. He was extremely unaccustomed to letting others get close while he was so defenseless. Therefore, after being forced by Bai Liu to endure a round of measurements, his expression was now very poor, and his tone became heavy. “Is there anything else to measure?”

“No!” The tailor waved his hands excitedly. He used gestures to trace Tang Erda’s chest, waist, and buttocks from a distance, then gave him a thumbs-up and praised him in English with a peculiar accent. “—Beautiful!”

Tang Erda’s expression tensed as he pulled away from the tailor.

On the contrary, Mu Shicheng and Mu Ke beside him both had expressions of unconcealable envy. They stared at Tang Erda’s chest for a long while, then looked down dejectedly at their own chests.

Mu Shicheng even raised his hand to measure his own chest, then mentally expanded it by about five centimeters for comparison, feeling increasingly indignant in his heart—if he was this cool, this handsome, and had such a big chest, why didn’t he show it off earlier! Had hiding it all this time been meant to humiliate him now?!

After measuring Tang Erda’s girth, the tailor exchanged a few words with Mu Ke, then propped up his chin and examined Tang Erda until goosebumps rose on Tang Erda’s skin.

Mu Ke translated for Bai Liu. “He just asked me about Tang Erda’s profession. Generally speaking, aside from models, very few people at this height have such standard measurements. I explained that Tang Erda underwent professional military training but has now retired.”

“So he recommended a uniform-style set for us,” Mu Ke explained. “Actual military and police uniforms have strict regulations and can’t be worn casually, but there are related clothing patterns we can try.”

As he spoke, the tailor took a deep gray uniform jacket from the rack and handed it to Tang Erda, telling him to go in and try it on.

A minute or two later, Tang Erda came out wearing the outfit.

His shoulders were very broad, perfectly supporting the style of the tucked-in straight-cut shirt underneath.

Compared to Bai Liu’s corporate-drone-style shirt, this shirt looked much more form-fitting. Over the chest was a black double-breasted vest, and on the shoulders were black shoulder-expansion straps that stretched from the back of the shoulder blades down to the abdomen and disappeared into the lower back.

The trousers were relatively wide at the waist and abdomen, but narrowed very tightly. They were hip-hugging and form-fitting. A dark leather handgun holster was clipped to the back of the waist.

The tailor nodded in satisfaction and turned to say a few words to Mu Ke.

Mu Ke translated, “He said this was modeled after FBI-style uniforms. It’s very suitable for someone like Tang Erda, who has undergone training and has a standard figure.”

Tang Erda was still adjusting the collar. He did not seem very comfortable in this outfit that wrapped him too tightly; his brows were knitted tight.

“How is it?” Bai Liu asked. “Will wearing this interfere with your movements?”

Tang Erda hesitated for two seconds. He raised his arms and moved them, then gave an honest answer. “No.”

“Then this one,” Bai Liu decided. “Wrap it up. Let’s continue buying other things.”

Forty-seven minutes later.

After they finished buying tie clips, leather shoes, socks, and other accessories, Tang Erda, carrying large and small bags, stood with a cold face in Bai Liu’s small rental apartment. He furrowed his brows and raised his hand to undo two buttons of his shirt—it was too tight; he was not very used to this clothing.

Inside the room, Bai Liu was making a phone call to the supervisor. “Yes, Mu Ke is here with me. Come pick him up.”

After hanging up, Bai Liu called Xiang Chunhua and her husband. “Jiayi is here with me. Come pick her up.”

Closing the phone, Bai Liu turned to look at Mu Shicheng. “Can you get back by yourself?”

Mu Shicheng nodded.

Having handled the whereabouts of all the team members, Bai Liu turned to face them. “Since we were fortunate enough to receive Captain Tang’s strong support, registration will not be a problem, and we have more time to make reasonable plans.”

Bai Liu’s eyes met Tang Erda’s, who was standing at the very back. “Captain Tang told me that besides training, the members’ recuperation is equally important. It’s almost eleven in the morning now. Go back and rest for the afternoon, tidy up your appearance, and at five-thirty in the evening, meet at the hotpot restaurant downstairs from my place. I’ll treat everyone to hotpot. At six-thirty, we’ll log into the game and officially begin League training. Any objections?”

Everyone shook their heads.

“OK.” Bai Liu nodded. Just as he was about to continue, his doorbell rang.

Tang Erda, standing at the back, turned to open the door. Upon opening it, he gave the supervisor—who had rushed over frantically after receiving the call—a fright.

Tang Erda was too tall; that was secondary. The uniform on him had been messed around by him until it looked very disheveled. The styling that had just been completed had also been ruffled by his discomfort, and he had even washed it.

The open collar allowed a glimpse of a couple of knife scars. His body carried the scent of shampoo from having just showered—actually, just washed his hair—and the ends of his hair were dripping water downward.

—He looked extremely wild, as if he had just rolled around in bed.

Because Bai Liu was still explaining matters inside, Tang Erda blocked the supervisor outside the door and looked down at him from his height. “Is there something?”

The supervisor shivered into a ball and looked up at him. Tang Erda’s powerful aura made him stutter. “I—I’m here for Mu Ke.”

“Wait a little longer,” Tang Erda said. “Bai Liu is still inside with him...” explaining things.

The supervisor incredulously interrupted Tang Erda’s words, blurting out, “Bai Liu isn’t finished yet?! Haven’t you already finished with Bai Liu?”

—You’re such a damn big guy, and you haven’t finished Bai Liu off?!

Although this way of speaking sounded a little strange, Tang Erda couldn’t quite say exactly what was wrong with it, so he only furrowed his brows and explained, “Bai Liu just finished handling me, but he hasn’t finished handling the other two yet.”

As for Liu Jiayi’s matters, she could basically handle them herself. Bai Liu didn’t need to worry.

The supervisor felt dizzy and had to lean against the wall to stand steady. He asked in a trembling voice, “Inside, Bai Liu is still continuing to handle the other two right in front of you?!”

Is this damn thing something a human does?!

Letting one of his lovers come out to help him receive guests while he continued to handle others inside?!

Tang Erda frowned and asked back, “Is there something wrong with that?”

The supervisor was shaken by Tang Erda’s question and swayed, barely standing firm. His eyes caught the scars exposed at Tang Erda’s collar. In a sudden impulse, he asked, “Those scars on you... they weren’t made by Bai Liu, were they?”

Tang Erda’s expression changed. He quickly tightened his collar, grabbed the supervisor’s hands, pinned them behind his back, and pressed him against the wall, questioning him coldly. “How do you know?! You play the game too?!”

“I’m not playing that kind of filthy, evil game with Bai Liu!!” the supervisor roared resentfully. “Let me go!”

Was the jealousy of this group of men around Bai Liu this terrifying?! Just the suspicion of having played the game with Bai Liu made him feel like he was about to be seized and killed!

Just as the supervisor was being pressed by Tang Erda until he was more dead than alive, Bai Liu pushed open the door and slightly lifted his chin, signaling for Tang Erda to let go. “He’s not a player. Release him.”

Only then did Tang Erda let go, stepping back suspiciously.

The supervisor fearfully put some distance between them. He looked at Bai Liu, who had pushed the door open, and his pupils trembled again.

In just one day, Bai Liu had become much more haggard. His face was pale, and there were dark circles under his eyes, as if he had spent a day and a night awake and high on drugs.

The supervisor stepped forward to take Mu Ke away. Before leaving, he glanced back at Bai Liu’s open collar. In a position similar to Tang Erda’s, there was also a small round wound on the side of Bai Liu’s neck—similar to a mark left by a cigarette burn.

But when the supervisor came to pick up Mu Ke yesterday, he had not seen this wound on Bai Liu yet.

Only one night had passed. How damn intense was their play!

The supervisor’s heart was shaken to its core. He grabbed Mu Ke’s hand and fled quickly.

Once he and Mu Ke reached the outside, the supervisor couldn’t help gossiping. “Was Bai Liu’s neck burned with a cigarette by that guy at the door while they were ‘playing games’?”

Mu Ke asked back in horror, “How did you know?!”

The supervisor took out a cigarette with a weary expression and lit it. He gazed wistfully into the distance and exhaled a puff of smoke. “These eyes of mine have already seen through too much of this world’s filth...”

—

Author’s Note:

Some readers have asked whether appearances can be changed at will within the game. Here is the unified answer: yes, it is possible, but it costs money. The more advanced the appearance change, the more it costs. Furthermore, there are items within the game that can see through these appearance changes, so if someone wants to become a star player, they cannot engage in “false business” with fake appearances. Otherwise, the audience will not buy it.