Chapter 73: The Pinnacle

An Tong said she’d forgotten. Ling Qi didn’t hold out much hope—after all, in her eyes, Madam was just as her name suggested: a quiet, gentle girl. For various reasons, she probably wasn’t skilled at competitive MOBA games.

A few minutes later, An Tong finished downloading and updating the game. As soon as she entered the ranked match page, she received a notification that her rank had dropped.

With a proud air of “don’t worry, I’ll carry you,” Ling Qi was about to teach her how to use a hero. But a glance out of the corner of her eye made her freeze.

The rank had dropped... from Supreme King.

“Madam?” Ling Qi poked at her screen. “Were you... Supreme King before?”

Huh?

Ling Qi looked again—five seasons stuck at the Glorious Star rank as if sealed away.

An Tong nodded calmly. “Mm, what about it?”

What about it, indeed. She’d just brandished her sword in front of Guan Yu himself.

Ling Qi quietly hid her phone at her side, suddenly losing interest in playing, afraid of being exposed.

But An Tong, rarely in high spirits, opened a room and asked, “Want to play?”

Ling Qi forced herself to reply, “Sure, invite me.”

After all, Madam hadn’t played in ages; maybe her skills were rusty.

While waiting for teammates, Ling Qi clung to her last hope and asked quietly, “Madam, which role do you play? Mage, marksman, or support?”

An Tong stared at the screen with serious focus. “I’m not very good at those; I’ll play jungle.”

Ling Qi: “……”

The match began. An Tong picked Li Bai—a notoriously difficult hero—while Ling Qi, feeling the pressure, stuck to her best support.

Perhaps the shock was too much; throughout the game, she kept stealing glances at An Tong’s screen. Other than feeling dazzled by a flurry of action, she was left with no other impression.

So this was the power of a jungle queen?

She then looked at Madam’s serene, fair face—utterly incongruous with her performance.

Fifteen minutes later, the game ended. Unsurprisingly, An Tong took MVP with seventeen kills.

As for Ling Qi, who’d thought she could carry, her two kills were both stolen from An Tong.

Her confidence shattered, even the game lost its appeal.

Ling Qi’s eyes darted, trying to salvage her dignity. “Oh, I can’t play anymore. I have work to finish.”

An Tong looked up. “Aren’t you a student? What work?”

“Uh... not exactly work,” Ling Qi replied awkwardly. “It’s an internship assignment from school. My supervisor wants it done by the end of the year.”

An Tong nodded in understanding. “The study upstairs is free if you want to use it.”

Ling Qi switched to a coding app on her phone. “No need, I’ll just do it here. It’ll take a while anyway, and I can keep you company.”

“All right, you go ahead.”

An Tong didn’t treat Ling Qi as an outsider. She knew she was an outstanding graduate student and believed her without question.

Ling Qi opened her programming app. Seeing An Tong glance over, she immediately showed her phone. “This is the software we developed ourselves for coding. Makes everything easier, heh.”

She might not win at gaming, but coding was her specialty.

Surely, she could regain some pride here.

Sitting up straight, Ling Qi said, “My internship project this semester is to write a small program. I’m halfway done—should be finished in a week or two.”

But then, An Tong frowned at the screen and pointed out, “You used the wrong symbol here.”

“Huh?” Ling Qi didn’t catch on. “What?”

Patiently, An Tong tapped three places on the code page. “These symbols are wrong.”

Ling Qi gaped in disbelief, her voice rising, “Madam, you know how to code?”

“I write code occasionally,” An Tong replied offhandedly.

Ling Qi: “……”

Not a frequent gamer—yet at the highest rank.

Occasional coder—what level does that make her?

Chief, why didn’t you tell me Madam was this accomplished?

Had she known, she wouldn’t have tried to show off.

Ling Qi took a deep breath, voice trembling, “Wh-where’s the mistake? Which symbol should I use?”

An Tong reached out tentatively. “Want me to fix it for you?”

“Yes, yes, here you go,” Ling Qi handed over her phone, feeling dazed.

In fact, this wasn’t a school internship project—it was an AR development program for her company.

The module she was responsible for had been stalled for half a month with little progress.

Over the next few minutes, Ling Qi watched as An Tong corrected her code symbols and even added a new segment of code.

Just a few minutes—that’s all it took for An Tong to solve a problem that had plagued Ling Qi for half a month.

At last, An Tong returned her phone and said gently, “It’s done. You can continue from here. I set the language to auto-generate the correct symbols, so you won’t make this mistake again.”

“Amazing.” Ling Qi was stunned for a long time, mouth agape, then asked blankly, “Madam, is there anything you *can’t* do?”

If you’d just tell me what you don’t know, I’ll study hard and come back to show off.

An Tong smiled. “There’s plenty I don’t know. What are you referring to?”

Ling Qi was speechless. Yet reason told her that perhaps everyone had underestimated the unassuming Madam of the Ninth Master.

...

At ten that night, Rong Shen returned home late.

The night was as black and thick as overturned ink, with not a star in sight.

Ling Qi waited outside the villa. When she spotted the man’s figure returning in the darkness, she put on a rare serious expression and reported, “Boss, tonight with Madam…”

She recounted every detail she could remember, then handed over her phone with a look of utter defeat. “The code I struggled with for half a month—Madam finished it in three minutes.”

Rong Shen glanced down, a faint smile tugging at his lips. “What’s the game she plays called?”

“She usually plays Travel Frog,” Ling Qi replied dryly. “Her highest rank in Arena of Valor is Supreme King, and she’s an Invincible Warlord in PUBG, even though she only plays occasionally…”

Who on earth gave them the idea that Madam was incompetent?

She wasn’t just capable—she was outstanding in everything.

High gaming ranks were one thing, but she was also a top-tier spender, always buying the best.

At that moment, the man’s expression didn’t change. He spoke calmly, “All right, go on inside.”

Ling Qi pressed her lips together and asked cautiously, “Boss, did Madam really drop out of college?”

Are you sure she didn’t graduate as a postdoc?

“Yes,” Rong Shen replied, glancing into the villa’s living room. Through the window, he caught a glimpse of An Tong peeking out. His gaze softened. “It’s good this way. Come keep her company and play games with her when you can.”

Ling Qi: “……” Is *that* the point?

(End of chapter)