Delta: With wages in place, even the Demon King's top-tier protection is crushed.

The stage lights were so bright that the edges of Lü Ang's mask appeared slightly white under their light.

He stood there, holding the trophy, his hat pulled low so she couldn't see his face, but she knew what his eyes looked like—a little smug, a little nonchalant, as if he had just done something amazing and was now stubbornly saying, "It's nothing special."

Su Wan found herself actually finding Lü Ang on stage quite adorable.

This word must never be uttered in front of Lü Ang, never in this lifetime.

But she doesn't intend to deny the genuine thought that had just popped into her head.

competition is over.

The crowd gradually dispersed.

After the competition, Su Wan hurriedly said goodbye, saying that she had something to do at the company and would be returning to Hangzhou first.

Haotian called out "Goodbye, Sister Wan" in the corridor. Su Wan turned around and waved. Her high heels made a crisp sound on the marble floor, and her figure quickly disappeared at the end of the corridor.

Meanwhile, Lü Ang, Haotian, and Nanbowan were surrounded by a group of players, who were clamoring to go to a victory celebration. After fighting opponents all season long, they finally gathered around a round table, the steam from the hot pot illuminating everyone's faces.

Lin Shu sat opposite Lü Ang, arms crossed, his eyes constantly glancing at Lü Ang's still-present mask, with a mischievous grin that seemed to say, "Who's going to make the first move?"

Yolo, standing next to him, was even more outspoken. He put down his chopsticks and, with a tone that seemed to enjoy watching the drama unfold, said, "Alright, Lü Ang, you're still wearing it at the dinner table? I saw it last time; it made you look like a celebrity. Take it off and let everyone see."

Having already seen Lü Ang's true face, Lin Shu, Yolo, and Yi Lin all wore enigmatic smiles.

The others present—Yang Qijia, Mad98, Master Long, and ICEKING—were utterly bewildered.

"Last time?" Yang Qi's chopsticks paused in mid-air, a small question mark appearing on his face. "When did you two meet, Brother Shu?"

"After the semi-finals, our Group A team had a meal together." Yi Lin slowly wiped his hands with a tissue. "At that time, we urged him to take off his mask, just like you guys did."

"And then?" Mad98 pressed.

"And then—" Lin Shu deliberately dragged out the word, "you'll see for yourselves."

"It's just a face, is it really worth being so hung up on?"

"Enough with the nonsense! Hurry up!"

Lü Ang sighed helplessly and reached out to hook the edge of his mask.

The face that had been speculated about countless times across the internet finally appeared under the orange lights of the hot pot restaurant.

Yang Qijia's strainer fell directly into the pot, but he didn't even notice; Master Long had just picked up a beer glass and stopped at his lips, his mouth slightly open, but he forgot to bring it up; ICEKING leaned back, and the back of the chair creaked as if it was about to fall apart.

"Holy crap—?!"

Yang Qijia was the first to break the silence, his voice squeezing out from his throat.

"Wait, bro... this isn't right, is it? You look like that and you're wearing a mask?! You look like that and you're not playing CS!!"

"Master Long and I were just guessing that you must be... uh, the kind of 'unique' otaku..." ICEKING's voice trailed off.

"Alright, alright." Lü Ang waved his hand helplessly. "I'm just an ordinary person, not some celebrity. Stop staring at me, let's eat."

"This is what you call an ordinary person?" Master Long finally finished his beer, slammed the glass down, and looked at him with indignation at being fooled by fate. "Then what are we? Sewer creatures?"

……

The elevator doors opened.

Haotian's room is at the other end of the corridor, while Lü Ang's room is at the very end of the corridor.

When Lü Ang returned to the hotel with Hao Tian's help, he was already somewhat dazed. The beer mixed with the steam from the hot pot made his consciousness feel like a sponge soaking in warm water.

He lay down on the bed, closed his eyes, and the whole world seemed to spin.

Then he suddenly opened his eyes.

No. There's still one thing I haven't done. He propped himself up on his arms and muttered, "System, calculate the reward." The pale blue screen in his mind slowly unfolded.

[Congratulations, host, on successfully completing mission five!]

[Rating: Perfect!]

[Reward: 20 points permanent boost to targeted category attribute has been issued!]

[Note: The current host has completed the achievement of Maxing all attributes. The 20 points of targeted attribute can be temporarily stored and used when new attributes are released later.]

Lu Ang paused for a moment, then did some calculations—the system's panel only showed five dimensions: marksmanship, reaction time, movement, awareness, and game understanding. All were maxed out, so there was really nowhere to use these 20 points. He'd just save them temporarily; he'd need them later.

Then look down.

[Host detected to have won consecutive championships in Operation Red and the Streamer Peak Competition, unlocking hidden reward: "Spokesperson Qualification"]

The official Delta Force team will invite the host to serve as a game promotion ambassador. Once offline events begin, the host can choose to participate or delegate the participation to someone else.

[Congratulations, host! Your system currency balance has unlocked a new privilege: You can use system currency to purchase temporary discount buffs during live streams in non-escort mode, including but not limited to item discounts and limited-time skill enhancement coupons. The specific shop will be available in the next update.]

Before Lü Ang could think further, the panel for the new mission popped up.

[Task Six Now Released: Hire the Strongest Mercenary!]

[Description: You've won the championship, you've gained glory, you've even become an insurmountable peak in the eyes of the public. But that's not enough. The strongest mercenary is more than this. The true pinnacle is standing at the end of all power, looking back on the path traveled, and seeing only a farther horizon in sight.]

【任务要求：请宿主将所有分类属性提升至Max！当前宿主面板：枪法（59\/100）、反应（Max）、身法（51\/100）、意识（50\/100）、游戏理解（91\/100）】

[Task Progress: Pending]

[Task Reward: ??? (This will be revealed upon completion of the task)]

Lu Ang lay on the bed, staring at the warm yellow ceiling light, his breathing gradually calming down. A smile that he hadn't had time to wipe away lingered on the corner of his mouth.

The championship has been won, and new tasks are already on the way.

He'd just finished one game, and the next one was already waiting for him not far away.

He closed his eyes and quickly fell into a deep sleep.

Meanwhile, on the other end of the internet, the night was just beginning to get lively.

Although Su Wan had left, she had already arranged for the company's publicity team immediately after the competition ended.

The news of Lü Ang's victory was like a precisely detonated bomb, sweeping across almost all social media platforms during prime time that evening. This wasn't just an ordinary esports trending topic; it was a premeditated, comprehensive campaign that broke through to a wider audience.

On Weibo, #LüAngWinsTheChampionship# surged to the top of the trending topics within half an hour, followed by a dark red "hot" character.

On Douyin, a clip of the Bruce Squad raising their glasses was accompanied by an epic and rousing background music, and the number of likes surpassed three million late at night.

The memes at the top of the comments section have evolved several times, from "Welcome the first person in Delta" to "The coronation ceremony of the melon beast". The top comment is simple and straightforward: "Tonight we are all melon army".

Even more outrageous is that passersby who don't play games at all have been caught up in this traffic storm.

In just one night, Lü Ang's Douyin followers jumped from nine million to over twelve million.

Bai Ze's two-year record for Delta fans was shattered tonight.

"What kind of speed is that...?"

"The title of Delta's number one has been decided."

"From today onwards, Delta will be surnamed Lü."

"It took him less than a year to go from being universally criticized for CS to being hailed as a champion by the entire internet."

"This man... has truly turned the underworld into a top star."

Some netizens dug up a post from a few months ago—when Lü Anggang was bombarded with criticism online for blocking a bridge for space exploration and causing a dam to seize control of the flow, with comments lining up to call him "the shame of Delta"—and then posted a comparison image in the trending topics about winning the championship.

The caption read only one line: Fate dealt him only black cards, but he gilded them himself.