“Motherfucker!”
Su Ke kicked the coffee table over.
“Did the coffee table offend you?”
Swallowing his anger, Su Ke obediently set it upright again. After a long moment, he gritted his teeth.
“Shang Jianli had better stay out of my sight. Otherwise, I don’t care who he is—I’ll punch him right in the face.”
Ji Shileng calmly asked:
“Is he worth it?”
Was he worth it? Of course not.
Su Ke’s expression darkened.
“But we can’t just let those bastards get away with it. They’d better hope I never find out who stole the data.”
“If I do, I’ll ruin them. How dare they steal from us and hand it over to those Imperial dogs?”
Game data was a company’s lifeblood, but the revenue figures for individual features were trade secrets too.
“Half of that article is admittedly indefensible.”
Ji Shileng’s words nearly failed to register.
“Huh?”
“I gave him the data.”
As he spoke, he began to laugh. Not at himself—he genuinely found it funny.
He must have been under Shang Jianli’s spell back then, recklessly offering up everything he had, whether Shang Jianli needed it or not.
“What?”
Su Ke ground his teeth, wishing he could tear a chunk of flesh off Shang Jianli.
“Did that Shang bastard force you?”
“My brain just short-circuited.”
Ji Shileng did not think it was such a major issue. Opening the article again, he remarked:
“Besides, what do they mean, ‘the general’s spouse exposed as a thief’?”
“I gave away the data as the owner of Joker Studio.”
“Shi, I’m telling you now—I’m not letting this slide.”
The proposed price increases in Path to Stardom had caused an uproar recently. Joker Studio had led the opposition to the draft, then vanished from view, leaving outsiders to speculate wildly.
“I never told you to. It’s just a game of public opinion. Our studio hasn’t stirred the pot much lately. Today, we should.”
“Let everyone get to know the owner of Joker Studio—and Ji Shileng.”
Su Ke understood. His lips curled into a thoroughly wicked smile.
“True.”
For the past few years, Ji Shileng had rarely returned to his family in the Federation, hoping to avoid any appearance of impropriety.
During those same years, some people in their circles had gone bankrupt and disappeared, while others had ridden a few favorable trends to sudden wealth.
People came and went. Fewer and fewer knew the Ji family’s youngest son and had actually met him.
Outsiders who knew only his name would never connect the notorious Ji Shileng in the Empire with the youngest son of the Ji family.
Even without his family behind him, how could he possibly have ended up like that?
It was time everyone got reacquainted with Ji Shileng.
【A Twist Within a Twist!! This “Ji Shileng” Isn’t the Ji Shileng You Think!!!】
His second brother, Ji Shifeng, had just pulled an all-nighter at his lab. While he was treating everyone to breakfast, his assistant suddenly began shrieking.
“Professor Ji, does Path to Stardom actually belong to your family?”
A few years earlier, Path to Stardom had looked ready to shut down at any moment. After Joker Studio took over, it had transformed into a phenomenon among large-scale interstellar combat games.
“What happened?”
He remembered Ji Shileng being ridiculously secretive, refusing to reveal that he owned the studio.
“Look at today’s trending news! Joker Studio directly called out Imperial Capital News. They said the general’s spouse isn’t the only person in the world named Ji Shileng—the owner of Joker Studio has that name too.”
Ji Shifeng fell silent.
Good. Getting into trouble out in the world was better than lying around at home looking half dead.
He took a screenshot of the trending page and forwarded it to Ji Shileng, adding a question mark.
When the chat showed Ji Shileng typing, he decided he could not be bothered to wait and called instead.
“You gave that Shang fellow the data yourself?”
Ji Shileng had been home for barely half a month, and Shang Jianli no longer deserved to be called by his full name among his friends and family.
“Mm…”
“Did your brain malfunction?”
Compared with their eldest sister, Ji Shiyun, their second brother was considerably more direct.
“Probably. My dear brother, you know it’s only a little money. Besides, those were last year’s figures, not this year’s.”
Ji Shifeng hummed in acknowledgment.
“It’s good to clear things up. They said you were dead, but the moment something goes wrong, they still drag you out to take the blame. Where in the world do they think they can get away with that?”
Without dwelling on it, he asked:
“I’m going to Sitejiala on business next week. Want to come? That collaboration set of glass dolls you loved—some stores there have a set in stock.”
Getting out for a change of scenery would do him good. He could meet some new people too.
“I’ll ask Su Ke and the others. You certainly won’t have time to hang out with me.”
Going on a business trip with his brother was boring.
Ji Shifeng was so busy every day that he practically competed with the moon to see who stayed up later. A complete workaholic.
People in the Federation were not the only ones who saw the news. It reached the Empire too.
Tang came to see Shang Jianli again.
This time, he was carrying several boxes of gifts.
Before Shang Jianli could work out what was happening, Tang squeezed through the doorway and hooked an arm around his.
“General, why didn’t you say sooner that you knew the owner of Path to Stardom?”
Shang Jianli folded his arms, finding his behavior inexplicable.
“I don’t.”
“Huh? Didn’t you say Ji Shileng gave you the data?”
“He did. And?”
He had been busy dealing with Ji Shileng’s funeral arrangements lately and had no time for anything else.
Tang handed the gifts to the housekeeper.
“The owner of Path to Stardom is named Ji Shileng.”
Shang Jianli abruptly looked up, his gaze locking onto Tang.
“What did you say? The owner of Path to Stardom is named Ji Shileng?”
“Yes.”
Tang had not expected such a strong reaction and could not make sense of it.
“Joker Studio officially announced it today. It’s already in the news.”
“The youngest son of the Federation’s Ji family is named Ji Shileng. He’s also the owner of Joker Studio.”
“They stated that the owner supplied the data. It wasn’t stolen by anyone.”
Joker Studio owned one game, and one game only: Path to Stardom.
Shang Jianli seemed to seize on something.
“Are there any photos of him?”
In truth, even before asking, Shang Jianli already had an answer in his heart.
Otherwise, why would Ji Shiyun, the eldest of the Ji siblings, have shown him such hostility at their very first meeting?
“You mean photos of Ji Shileng?”
Tang finally caught on.
“Don’t tell me you suspect your Ji Shileng is the Ji family’s Ji Shileng?”
Frowning, Shang Jianli bent down and picked up the communicator he had tossed onto the sofa.
Ignoring Tang, he made a call.
“Chu Wan, look into the Ji family’s third child.”
On the other end, Adjutant Chu Wan hesitated.
She had not expected Shang Jianli to hear the news so quickly.
“General, I just looked into it.”
“I’m sorry. I couldn’t find any information.”
Entering Ji Shileng’s name online produced nothing but results about the general’s spouse.
As for the Ji family’s third child, there was not a scrap of information.
While the outside world buzzed with speculation about “Ji Shileng,” the man himself was sitting aboard a starship bound for Sitejiala, looking utterly untroubled by the world.
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