National destiny: Global tower climbing skills have decreased by 10,000 times.

Meanwhile, in an ordinary live streaming room on C-site—China's largest video social platform.

"Slap it, slap it, slurp it open! Slurp it all open!"

On the screen, a man wearing headphones and with slightly messy hair is shouting into the microphone.

His live stream screen displays his character avatar in the upper left corner – "The Observer," with his current advancement level shown next to it: A5.

Number of viewers in the live stream: 1247.

The comments section was scrolling wildly:

"The chef is awesome!"

"Here we go again to learn new skills."

"I could never learn this way of thinking in my entire life!"

"Cai Chu" – real name Chen Chu, is the number one speedrunner in China and one of the top ten speedrunners globally, boasting millions of fans.

In the Dragon Kingdom Tower community, the "Observer" is a niche and unpopular character. There are very few experts who can play the "Observer" well, and almost none who can play it better than him.

So whenever the name "Guan Zhe" is mentioned, he is the first person that comes to mind. The nickname "God of Cookery" has even become a synonym for "Guan Zhe".

He's currently attempting to break the speedrun record for A5, explaining as he plays:

"See? We need to calm things down here. The monster's intention to attack has been revealed; we have to move now."

"If you stay in your rage state, the monster will deal double damage, and one hit will take away half your life."

He unleashed a combo of "Rage" + "Strike," then quickly switched back to "Calm" before the end of the round.

"This is called 'fire to ice' to preserve health, which is the core understanding of the Observer. Many people who play the Observer die easily because they don't know when to quit."

The comments section immediately responded:

"I've learned something!"

"So that's how it is! No wonder I died so quickly."

"That's incredible! Is this what top-level understanding is like?"

"Look at this one," the chef continued. In the next round, the monster showed no intention of attacking, so he first played a Calm card, then switched to Rage for damage.

"This is called 'Ice to Fire,' which increases your damage output. Use the two combos in rotation; this is the Observer's basic strategy. If you can master this, you can easily beat anything below Arena 3."

The comments streamed down like a waterfall:

"Holy crap! This operation is so complicated, I didn't even understand it. I recorded it and studied it frame by frame."

"I've noted it down, but I can't figure it out right now."

"The chef's understanding of the game is amazing!"

The chef smiled smugly and continued cooking. At that moment, a different message appeared in the live chat:

"Hey chef, check the leaderboard! Your A4 record for Dragon Kingdom viewers has been surpassed!"

But soon, the message was overwhelmed by a flood of "Master Chef is awesome" and "666", disappearing into the barrage of comments and fading into the background without attracting much attention.

The chef continued demonstrating and explaining, occasionally uttering his signature catchphrases: "Grab the good cards!" and "You're not human if you don't take these!"

The comments section erupted, with the entire screen filled with messages like "Take more good cards!"

The live stream was filled with a lively atmosphere. In the midst of the laughter and conversation, less than twenty minutes later, the first boss fell to the ground.

The live stream chat exploded with excitement once again.

The chef leaned back in his chair, calmly took a sip of water, and glanced at the comments section.

Amidst the dense torrent of bullet comments, a rather inconspicuous line of text flashed by quickly:

"Hey streamer, it seems your speedrun record for A4 has been surpassed."

Before he could even see it clearly, the comment was quickly drowned in a sea of ​​"666" and "awesome," without even a splash.

His hand holding the cup paused slightly as he remembered that his speedrun record on the 'Observer' A4 had been at the top of the Dragon Kingdom leaderboard for three whole years, and had never been touched.

The players ranked ahead of him on the global leaderboard are all professional players from several countries; no one in China can even reach that level.

He didn't pay much attention, put down his water glass, rubbed his hands together, and returned to the screen.

"Alright, we've finished the first level. Let's move on to the second level. The card-drawing strategy for the second level is completely different from the first level, so pay close attention—"

He opened the map and began planning his route. The live chat was still buzzing, but the content of the discussion had begun to subtly shift.

"Hey, has anyone seen that guy called 'Black Evening Ceal'? He's number one on the A4 chart."

"I saw it, 37 minutes and 14 seconds, five minutes faster than the chef."

"Wait, that person is also on the list from A0 to A3, and they're all in the top ten in China."

"Huh? That can't be right! Who else but the God of Cookery could hit that high?"

"Really? You must be mistaken. You're not looking at the Dragon Kingdom Ranking, are you...?"

"..."

At first, these comments only appeared sporadically. The chef's attention was entirely focused on map planning and card selection, and he didn't notice them at all.

He was still passionately explaining at this moment:

"There are two elites on this route, let's bypass them and take the one with more question marks. Spectators are fragile, we can't risk directly confronting elites early on..."

More and more people started discussing the ID "黑夕ceal" in the comments section, which gradually filled the entire comment area.

"Who is this person? I've never heard of him before."

"I just checked, it's a new number, it was dialed today."

"From A0 to A4, they're all on the list, and you're telling me this is a new account? Is this even human?"

"I don't know. Besides the God of Cookery and professionals, who else can score that high?"

"I don't know, probably some pro player using a smurf account to smurf."

"..."

The cook's voice gradually slowed down.

He began to notice that the content of the comments had little to do with his gameplay anymore. Instead of "grab more good cards" or "666," the screen was filled with discussions about "Black Sunset," "A4 record," and "new account climbing the leaderboard."

"No way, you must be seeing things!"

He said that, but his hand had already switched out of the game and opened the leaderboard.

Filter: Observer, Advanced Level 5, Dragon Kingdom Region.

The first place winner had a completely unfamiliar ID:

『Black Evening Ceal』—— 37 minutes and 14 seconds.

His name had been pushed down to second place, a full five minutes behind the first place.

The chef stared at the screen, his smile freezing on his face.

The chat exploded:

"Holy crap? They really got surpassed?" "Hei Xi Ceal? Who's that?" "The old record from three years ago has been broken?"

The chef cleared his throat, trying to make his voice sound calm:

"Oh, this? Let me see... 37 minutes and 14 seconds, that's pretty fast. Maybe some professional player is using a smurf account to practice a character. It's normal."

He said that, but his mind was in turmoil.

Professional players? He knows almost all the professional players in China, but very few of them play as spectators. Who would suddenly create a smurf account to climb his leaderboard?

He quietly turned on his phone and clicked into a chat group called "Dragon Kingdom Tower Cottage".

This group is an internal communication group for top domestic players. The members are all fellow streamers and professional players, totaling less than fifty people.

Chef: "Brothers, whose alt account is 'Black Evening Ceal'? It broke my A4 viewer record by climbing the rankings."

After the message was sent, the group was silent for a few seconds, and then people started replying one after another:

Wuhen: "Hei Xi? Never heard of him. Who is he?"

Kaka Master: "Observer, isn't that your racetrack? Who's so fierce that they could possibly overtake you?"

Old Shi: "I just asked around, and nobody knows this ID."

Sunset: "Not from our circle, right? I asked the pro players, and nobody's playing spectator."

As the chef read these replies, his brows furrowed deeper and deeper.

The number of domestic viewers who could potentially surpass him is countable on one hand, and they are all in this group.

Since none of them know this person, it means that this person must not be in the industry.

A passerby suddenly appeared and broke his three-year record in one go?

Who exactly is this person?