The contestant is too old, sister Zhou is crazy

She stubbornly repeated it, her voice not loud, but firm and resolute.

"Do not."

Uncle Hante was stunned. He looked at IU in front of him as if he were seeing this girl he had watched grow up for the first time. The gentleness and dependence in her eyes were gone, replaced by a kind of unwavering determination he had never seen before. That determination was like a new sprout breaking through the soil on a cliff, fragile, yet full of vitality.

“Ji-eun, you…” Uncle Han felt a pang of pain in his heart, and his tone softened. “Uncle knows you are grateful to him, but gratitude and affection are two different things. His world is full of dangers we cannot imagine. You are a ray of light and should not be dragged into endless darkness.”

“Light can also shine into darkness.” IU looked up, her tears dried, leaving only clear eyes. “If he lives in the shadows, then I will be his sun. Uncle, you don’t need to persuade me anymore. I know what I’m doing.”

After saying that, she ignored the bewildered Uncle Hante, turned around and went into the bedroom, gently closing the door behind her.

Uncle Han stood in the living room for a long time, finally letting out a helpless sigh. He knew that IU had truly grown up. All he could do was no longer forcefully stop her, but rather do everything in his power to pave the way for her on the path she had chosen. He took out his phone and dialed a number: "Help me find someone, RNG's esports player, King, whose real name is Xu Mo. I need all his information, the more detailed the better. Including... everything that happened to him in Korea three years ago."

Xu Mo left the hotel, the night breeze blowing on his face, carrying a slight chill.

Uncle Han's words were like needles, pricking the softest spot in his heart.

"Someone like you who lives in the shadows shouldn't have any contact with her."

Yes, how could he not know that himself?
He was a man who had crawled out of hell, his hands stained with indelible darkness. She, on the other hand, was a celebrated diva, pure as a flawless piece of jade. Their worlds were separated by an abyss.

But when she covered his hand with her warm little hands and said, "I won't leave you alone anymore," his long-frozen heart felt a throbbing sensation called "melting" for the first time.

He returned to the RNG base, where his teammates were already resting. He went into his training room, didn't turn on the lights, and simply sat in front of his computer, the screen's light reflecting off his inscrutable face.

Instead of logging into the game, he opened a black interface filled with complex code. His fingers flew across the keyboard, and lines of data flashed across the screen.

Park Jung-tae, the son of a rising South Korean chaebol, is narrow-minded and vindictive. The "Nightingale" organization behind him, once Xu Mo's prison, has now become his tool for revenge.

"You touched someone you shouldn't have," Xu Mo muttered to himself, a flash of murderous intent crossing his eyes.

He would no longer wait passively. Rather than waiting for trouble to come knocking, he would... take the initiative to deal with the people who were causing the trouble.

He pulled up the internal layout diagram of the Mercedes-Benz Arena in Shanghai, as well as the security plan for IU's concert. Park Jung-tae's failure tonight wouldn't be tolerated. Tomorrow, that highly anticipated concert, would be the best, and last, chance.

He had to set a trap there to eliminate all the threats in one fell swoop.

The concert was held as scheduled the next day.

IU was in exceptionally good form. She shone brightly on stage, her voice clear and melodious, her dance moves captivating, as if she had poured all her emotions into the performance.

Uncle Han watched from below the stage, his heart filled with mixed emotions. He knew that IU's strength came from that man.

Only IU herself knows that while singing each song, her gaze unconsciously sweeps across every dark corner of the audience, searching for that familiar figure.

But even after the last song was sung and the encore ended, and all the lights came on, she still didn't see him.

The burning anticipation in my heart gradually cooled down, turning into an indescribable sense of loss.

Did he ultimately listen to his uncle and choose to leave?

With a heavy heart, IU returned backstage. Uncle Han immediately surrounded her with a security team several times stronger than usual, preparing to escort her away through a secret passage.

"Ji-eun, let's go quickly." Uncle Han Te's expression was unusually solemn.

However, just as they were about to enter the passage, all the lights backstage suddenly went out with a "snap"!
The scene fell into a deathly silence of darkness, followed by screams and commotion from the staff!

"Protect Ji-eun!" Uncle Hante shouted, and he and several bodyguards immediately surrounded IU, protecting her tightly.

In the darkness, several ghostly figures silently emerged from various corners, their only target being IU, who was surrounded in the middle!

These are Nightingales' most elite assassins, far superior to the thugs from last night! They are ruthless and work in perfect harmony, breaking through the outer security in the blink of an eye!

Despite their desperate resistance, Uncle Han and his bodyguards were still forced to retreat steadily against these professional assassins!

IU's heart sank to the bottom; the darkness amplified all her fears. Was she truly doomed today?
Just as a dark figure was about to grab her wrist, a whooshing sound came from the sky!

"boom!"

A metal nozzle from a fire hose flew precisely out of the ceiling ventilation duct and slammed heavily onto the assassin's skull!

The man collapsed without uttering a sound!

Everyone was shocked!
Immediately afterwards, a figure leaped down from the ventilation duct like a cheetah, silently landing in front of IU and shielding her behind him.

It’s Xu Mo!
He was still wearing that black hooded sweatshirt, and in the flickering light of the emergency lights, he looked like a guardian deity descended from hell.

"King!" A low growl in Korean came from the darkness, filled with shock and fear.

"Get out, or die." Xu Mo's voice was icy cold and devoid of any emotion.

"The organization has ordered that she must be taken away!"

"Then die."

As soon as Xu Mo finished speaking, he transformed into a black lightning bolt and charged into the group of assassins!
If last night's encounter in the parking lot was just a warm-up against the thugs, then this moment is the true power of "Nightingale's" strongest blade!

His movements were no longer mere combat, but an art of killing. Every dodge was exquisitely precise, every strike aimed straight for vital points. His body had become the most lethal weapon; elbows, knees, fingers, palms—wherever they passed, only the muffled thud of shattering bones and the painful thud of someone falling to the ground remained.

Hante and IU were completely stunned. They watched as the man who had achieved legendary status in the e-sports arena with his mouse and keyboard began to dominate the lives and deaths of everyone in the real world in a more primal, bloody, and shocking way.

In less than a minute, all the assassins were lying on the ground, their fates unknown.

The entire backstage area fell silent once again.

Xu Mo slowly straightened up, his chest rising and falling slightly. He turned around, looked at the still-shaken IU, and walked towards her step by step.

IU looked at him, at the dust on his clothes, at the lingering murderous intent in his eyes, and felt no fear. Instead, she felt only endless heartache.

For her sake, he once again stepped into the darkness he had long wanted to escape.

"Are you...are you alright?" She reached out her trembling hand, wanting to touch his face.

Xu Mo didn't answer, but grabbed her wrist and pulled her outside.

"follow me."

He grabbed IU, pushed her through the chaotic backstage area, and rushed onto the stage where the performance had just ended.

On the empty stage, only the two of them remained. Below the stage, tens of thousands of seats were empty.

"Why did you come?" IU asked, watching his retreating figure.

Xu Mo stopped and turned around. As if sensing his presence, a spotlight on the stage shone on him.

He looked at IU with a complex expression, a mixture of helplessness, struggle, and a hint of tenderness that he himself was unaware of.

“I’ve asked myself a hundred times that I shouldn’t have come. Your agent is right, I’ll only cause you trouble.”

His voice echoed in the empty stadium.

“But…” he chuckled self-deprecatingly, “my body made the decision for me on the one hundred and first time.”

IU could no longer hold back her tears, which streamed down her face.

Xu Mo walked up to her, raised his hand, and gently wiped away the tears on her cheek with his fingertips. He did this somewhat clumsily, but with utmost sincerity.

“Lee Ji-eun,” he called her by her full name so solemnly for the first time, “I’m a very troublesome person. Getting close to me is dangerous. Like today, or even…it could be worse.”

He gazed into her eyes and asked, word by word, "Now, do you still want to be my sun?"

IU did not respond.

She simply tiptoed and, to Xu Mo's astonishment, gently pressed her cool, soft lips against his.

The tens of thousands of seats below the stage were a witness to this kiss.

She gave him the most steadfast answer through her actions.

That kiss, so light, carried a hint of coolness and the girl's unique fragrance, yet it was like a bomb exploding, unleashing a tidal wave in Xu Mo's world. He froze, his mind blank. He had experienced gunfire and faced life-or-death situations, but never before had he felt his heart race and his body tremble with unease.

IU's face turned as red as if it were about to bleed. She mustered the greatest courage of her life and kissed him, then quickly retreated like a startled deer, lowering her head, not daring to look into his eyes, her hands nervously clutching the hem of her clothes.

Looking at her flushed ears and slightly trembling eyelashes, Xu Mo felt the volcano in his heart, frozen by hatred and ice for three years, erupt completely at this moment. The lava was not scorching anger, but an overwhelming and uncontrollable tenderness.

For the first time, a helpless yet doting smile appeared on his usually expressionless face. That smile melted away all the frost in his eyes, making him no longer look like the fearsome King, but just an ordinary man named Xu Mo who had been ambushed by his beloved girl.

He reached out and gently embraced her lower back, pulling her back into his arms. Then he lowered his head and kissed her deeply with an irresistible tenderness.

This time, it was no longer a test, no longer an answer.

It is a declaration, an possession, and a downfall.

Under the stage spotlight, two figures embraced tightly, as if trying to meld each other into their very being. The tens of thousands of empty seats below became the grandest yet loneliest witnesses to their love.

It wasn't until Uncle Hante's tearful cries and chaotic footsteps came from backstage that the two slowly separated. IU leaned against Xu Mo's chest, her cheeks burning, breathing heavily, but her eyes shone with an unprecedented light.

When Uncle Hante rushed onto the stage with a group of security guards, this was the scene he saw. He froze, opened his mouth, but the words "Are you alright?" stuck in his throat, finally turning into a long, complicated sigh. He looked at the man who was protecting IU behind him, the man whose eyes were still sharp, but whose aura had softened considerably, and finally chose to compromise.

“The emergency exits have been cleared,” Uncle Hunter’s voice was a little hoarse. “Get out of here first.”

"Have you heard? It seems King is dating someone in Shanghai!"

"No way? With whom? Rita?"

"What Rita? You're so out of touch! My friend at the Mercedes-Benz Arena told me it's that Korean superstar, IU!"

"Holy crap! Really? The dimensional barrier has been broken!"

The events involving Xu Mo and IU in Shanghai were not entirely kept secret. Some unsubstantiated rumors quickly spread within the esports community.

For the female hosts and commentators of the LPL, this news was like a magnitude 8 earthquake. King, the god-like figure on the field, the e-sports first love of countless girls, is actually taken? And his partner is an unattainable international superstar?

Rita sat in front of her vanity, staring at the extremely blurry profile picture on her phone—a backstage kiss on the concert stage—that had somehow leaked out. Her heart sank. Although the photo was so blurry that she couldn't even make out the facial features, she recognized Xu Mo at a glance—that figure, that ever-present black hooded sweatshirt.

She is not reconciled.

Why? Why a foreigner who has no connection with them whatsoever?

She dialed another female commentator's number: "Hey, Sister Zhou... um, did you see it?... Let's go ask Brother Lie, he'll definitely know!"

At the RNG club base, there was a knock on the door of manager Chen Lie's office.

Chen Lie, a man with black-rimmed glasses who appeared refined but was actually ruthless, looked at the two female hosts in front of him, dressed in flamboyant attire but with faces that screamed "I'm here to interrogate you," and rubbed his temples with a headache.

“Brother Lie,” Rita said bluntly, handing over her phone, “Is this true?”

Chen Lie glanced at the blurry photo, his expression unchanged, and simply pushed the phone back.

"The club does not interfere in the players' private lives," he said in an official tone.

"Brother Lie! We're just concerned about him as friends!" Rita said anxiously. "That circle is too complicated, and it's an international relationship. Xu Mo... can he handle it? Don't let him be fooled!"

The sarcastic undertone in those words made Chen Lie frown.

He put down the documents in his hand, leaned back in his chair, looked at Rita, and his tone became serious: "Rita, and Xiao Zhou. I know you care about Xu Mo, but there are some things I must make clear."

"First of all, Xu Mo is not a three-year-old child. He is much more mature and stronger than you imagine. You may never be able to imagine what he has been through. He can tell who is sincere and who is fake."

"Secondly," Chen Lie paused, his voice turning somber, "that girl, Ms. IU, flew to Seoul alone to see him. For him, she faced threats from the mafia alone. For him, she almost got into trouble in Shanghai. Do you think such feelings are 'deception'?" (End of Chapter)