December 12th, Monday.

Pei Qian slept until 11 AM in his hotel, checked out, ate something light, and then headed straight to the high-speed rail station to return to Jingzhou.

Wu Yue and Manager Lu had wanted to host a lunch, but Pei Qian declined.

The weekend’s two days of matches had been a nightmare for Pei Qian. Now he just wanted to leave Shanghai, return to Jingzhou, curl up at home wrapped in a small blanket while playing games.

On the high-speed train back to Jingzhou, Pei Qian adjusted his mindset before taking out his phone to check what the silly netizens on various forums were saying about yesterday’s matches.

After watching the matches last night until almost midnight, Pei Qian had gone straight to bed upon returning to the hotel and hadn’t checked the online comments until now.

Opening the forum, Pei Qian immediately spotted the thread with the highest popularity—already upvoted over a thousand times with extremely high traffic.

The thread title was simple: “World-Famous Painting.”

Seeing this title, Pei Qian felt somewhat puzzled.

Was this an old thread being dug up again?

The so-called “World-Famous Paintings” so far consisted of three images, all back-view photos taken by silly netizens, named respectively: “Mr. Pei at Slackin’ Internet Café,” “Mr. Pei at Slackin’ Takeout,” and “Mr. Pei at Work.”

The first was taken when Slackin’ Internet Café 3.0 had just opened, the second when he was eating at a Slackin’ Takeout store while reporters happened to be interviewing, and the third when he was organizing a mind map at the Slackin’ Internet Café near Handong University.

But hadn’t this topic long since passed?

The incident of drawing a mind map at Slackin’ Internet Café had indeed triggered heated discussions online, but netizens had the memory of goldfish—they should have forgotten by now. Why were they discussing it again?

Pei Qian glanced at the posting time.

Wait, this thread seemed to have been posted last night?

In just one night, it had been upvoted over a thousand times?

Pei Qian vaguely sensed something wasn’t right and quickly clicked to check.

At the top of the thread was a photo taken during last night’s IOI qualification departure ceremony. The upper half of the image was normal, with players standing neatly in rows—FV Team’s five members at the center, ready to represent IOI at the World Championship. But the lower half was ridiculous—the empty front row of audience seats had only one spectator!

Looking carefully, Pei Qian realized: isn’t this me?!

“When was this taken?!”

Pei Qian felt very confused. After thinking carefully, he realized this must have been taken during the final audience exit. The front row happened to be mostly empty, and Pei Qian, not wanting to squeeze through the crowd, had casually found a seat. That’s how this composition came about.

In reality, the photographer was very cunning—what they captured wasn’t the complete truth.

The truth was that many people had just left before the photo was taken. Among the front-row audience, Pei Qian was indeed the last to leave, since he lived closest and was in no hurry.

But it wasn’t that all audience members had left early, leaving only Mr. Pei to watch until the end.

Moreover, many spectators in the back rows, like Pei Qian, were waiting in their seats, not rushing to leave.

But the photographer deliberately only captured the front three or four rows, completely excluding the audience still in the back of the venue. By coincidence, this created a feeling that “the empty venue had only Mr. Pei left.”

Looking at the text below the image:

The original poster had simply uploaded this photo without much description—no extensive description was needed.

Anyone could see that there were fifteen players on stage and Mr. Pei’s back view in the audience.

On the surface, there didn’t seem to be much to discuss, but netizens’ wisdom is boundless. The highest-upvoted comment below, collaboratively written by several netizens, had hard-created an “artwork appreciation”!

…

“World-Famous Painting: ‘The Last Spectator.'”

“This is the latest in Mr. Pei’s world-famous paintings and is about to become the most renowned. Among many similar works, this painting is considered unprecedented, especially notable for its ingenious conception, excellent layout, realistic details, and rich content that captivates the viewer.”

“In the image, FV Club players’ wild joy, the supporting presence of the other two clubs, and the empty audience seats all serve as perfect foils to the central back figure, conveying rich psychological content—a rare masterpiece for the ages.”

…

“Story Introduction:”

“‘The Last Spectator’ tells the story of Mr. Pei’s journey to Shanghai in the winter month of the Year of the Rabbit, where he went alone to face his opponents.”

“In the tenth month of the Year of the Rabbit, the international financial group Daark and Dragon Yu Group jointly organized a qualification tournament in Shanghai, hoping to boost their prestige through the World Championship and suppress Tenda. Eight esports clubs responded, gathering in Shanghai. For a time, flags waved and armies gathered, seemingly overshadowing Tenda.”

“Various demons and villains bewitched people’s hearts, and rumors spread.”

“At this critical moment, with the situation urgent, Tenda’s generals were anxious and asked Mr. Pei for advice: The enemy’s forces are strong—what should we do?”

“Mr. Pei smiled calmly: ‘A motley crew, nothing but clay chickens and pottery dogs, selling their heads in Seoul—what of it? Within three days, the enemy will collapse without a fight.”

“The generals heard this and were half-believing, half-doubting.”

“The ninth day of the tenth month was auspicious for travel.”

“Mr. Pei journeyed to Shanghai alone, facing his opponents single-handedly. All of Tenda’s generals were shocked—how could the commander of three armies risk himself? However, Mr. Pei had already secretly sent undercover agents to infiltrate the qualification tournament. These five men were all elite troops, and their combined strength was invincible. The enemy forces were strong, little knowing that the situation in Shanghai was already in Mr. Pei’s grasp.”

“The next day, the five heroes fought in rotation against various clubs from dawn to dusk. The battle was fierce, with a hundred thousand corpses and blood flowing like oars. Mr. Pei supervised the front lines, calm and composed amidst ten thousand troops. The five heroes fought with increasing valor. Amidst laughter and talk, the masts and oars were reduced to ashes.”

“After this battle, the five heroes’ reputation spread far and wide from the qualification tournament. Demons and villains fled, and the motley crew collapsed without a fight. Mr. Pei went alone deep into the enemy’s lair, and from then on, Shanghai clubs were terrified. At the mention of Mr. Pei’s name, even children dared not cry at night.”

“Later generations composed a poem in praise:”

“Mr. Pei’s wisdom is rare in the world; going alone to the meeting, he dared to deceive openly; a single leaf boat travels a thousand miles; a million strong troops unpack their battle gear.”

…

“Artwork Analysis:”

“This artwork employs symmetrical design and can be roughly divided into three parts in terms of composition: the upper center, the upper sides, and the lower part.”

“The upper center consists of FV Club’s five members who have just battled through ten games to win the qualification tournament, securing the first seed for the IOI World Championship. Full of vigor, they occupy the main position in the image.”

The upper sides are the other two teams that obtained World Championship spots. Having secured the second and third seeds, their expressions are more subdued, serving as a foil to the central FV Club players.”

“The lower part is the empty audience seats and Mr. Pei’s back silhouette in the center of the front row.”

“The empty audience seats highlight a desolate, quiet atmosphere, with two implications: on one hand, Dragon Yu Group’s unreasonable match arrangements left the audience dissatisfied with the match process—the matches hadn’t officially ended, yet people had already left; on the other hand, despite the grand pre-match momentum, afterward it was a complete mess—the motley crew was routed by Mr. Pei alone, their weapons sunk in the sand.”

“Although Mr. Pei in the center is only shown from behind, his relaxed, confident sitting posture broadly conveys his current mindset.”

“On one hand, his gaze meeting the five FV Club members on stage shows that Mr. Pei leads from the front and loves his soldiers like sons; on the other hand, with the venue already empty, Mr. Pei remains until the end, showing his respect for the competition, the stage, and the opponents. Additionally, Mr. Pei’s calm composure indicates that everything is under control.”

“The fifteen people in the image, due to differences in character and identity, have subtle variations in expression, giving a slightly scattered feeling. But Mr. Pei’s back view connects these fifteen people’s expressions, echoing and linking them, preventing the emotions of the figures in this masterpiece from being isolated.”

“Stage and audience, face and back, light and dark, motion and stillness form stark contrasts with profound implications and exquisite arrangement—truly worthy of being a timeless masterpiece!”

…

After reading these top comments in the thread, Pei Qian fell into a dazed state.

What the hell is this?!

Who took this photo? What were you doing taking pictures of me when you had nothing better to do?

And these top comments below were even more ridiculous—what is all this nonsense?

How did this become a world-famous painting?

They even wrote a passage in classical Chinese? And even composed a poem!

Most ridiculous of all, someone purely used their imagination to conjure up the artistic value of this photo and the inner world of everyone in it!

These silly netizens were all chronic over-interpreters.

Netizens’ interpretation of Pei Qian’s trip to Shanghai had completely gone off track.

Originally, Pei Qian hadn’t thought too much about it—he simply didn’t want to watch GPL and wanted to go to Shanghai to watch FV lose and clear his mind. He came alone and wore a mask, intending to keep a low profile.

But unexpectedly, the event organizers somehow recognized him. In the middle of the match, they gave him a close-up shot and kept stirring things up online.

Now the whole world knew that Mr. Pei had personally attended the IOI qualification matches!

If FV Club had lost, it would have been fine—all the buzz would have been captured by IOI. But who would have thought that FV Club’s bladders would be so strong? They battled through ten games, growing stronger with each fight, each victory a knife in Mr. Pei’s heart.

Pei Qian himself knew what was going on, but the onlookers didn’t!

From the onlookers’ perspective, Mr. Pei had always been a strategic mastermind—that was correct, right?

FV Club was invested in and reorganized by Mr. Pei—that was correct, right?

Mr. Pei personally attended to supervise the battle, watching until the end of the matches—that was also correct, right?

Anyway, in the end, all the buzz was captured by FV Club and the GPL league.

On one hand, everyone thought IOI’s tournament was unprofessional, and for a professional competition, you still had to go with GPL. On the other hand, when asked about the currently strongest IOI team in China, most people’s first reaction was the FV Team.

Although this club had little brand value, it had star players, strength, achievements, and topic value—top-tier IOI traffic.

Analyzing the cause, then analyzing the result.

What role did Mr. Pei play in all this? Wasn’t it self-evident?

Was there anything wrong with saying that the IOI qualification tournament and the FV Club’s championship were entirely carried out by Mr. Pei alone?

Who could refute it? Who would dare to refute it?

Given that, adding a little embellishment to this story, enhancing its artistic quality and dramatic color, deeply analyzing the underlying causes, wasn’t that reasonable?

After all, legendary stories mostly contain exaggerated elements. The more outrageous the exaggeration, the wider the spread, the more the audience loves it.

Thus, after a night of collective effort, the online literary masters had embellished the story of “Mr. Pei traveling to Shanghai alone to face his opponents” into its current version.

Especially the verse “a single leaf boat travels a thousand miles; a million strong troops unpack their battle gear,” which infinitely elevated the prestige.

The meaning of this verse was that Tenda had a million-strong army ready to march to Shanghai for a military confrontation with the Dragon Yu Group. But Mr. Pei came to Shanghai alone on a small boat, and the enemy immediately collapsed. Tenda’s million troops didn’t even need to march—they took off their battle gear.

Mr. Pei alone was worth a million strong troops!

Mr. Pei wasn’t just a mastermind with unparalleled wisdom—such courage was also rare in the world!

The entire story had become increasingly outrageous with each retelling.