Shattering a woman's romantic illusions was remarkably simple. All it took was one Jiang Mo.
By all accounts, buckling seatbelts and listening to music together should have been drowning in a rosy, romantic haze.1
Lin Shuang sighed inwardly. (Oh well. Looked at from another angle, this only proved that Jiang Mo had been single his entire life2. If she thought about it that way, everything made sense.)
After giving herself a quick mental pep talk, Lin Shuang stepped out of the car and voluntarily looped her arm through his.
"What style of ring do you like, Mr. Jiang?" she asked.
"Up to you," Jiang Mo replied.
He pushed open the heavy glass doors of the jewelry store. A few sales associates stood behind the counters, and a young couple was further inside, browsing the displays.
"Welcome!" a clerk greeted them warmly, quickly stepping forward and gesturing toward the glittering showcases. "How can I help you two today?"
Before Jiang Mo could answer, a loud, enthusiastic voice echoed from across the showroom. "Hey, Jiang Mo? You are Jiang Mo, right?"
The man who had been helping his female companion pick out jewelry pointed a finger at Jiang Mo, his face lighting up with genuine excitement. "Old classmate! Man, it's been forever!"
Lin Shuang glanced down at Jiang Mo's hand. He had instinctively moved it in front of her, subtly shielding her from the stranger. The survival game had clearly left its mark; even in the real world, he remained locked in a state of hyper-vigilance, perpetually on guard.
Jiang Mo knit his brows, searching his memory. "Liu Bin?"
"Yes, yes, that's me! We were in the same class throughout eleventh and twelfth grade!" Liu Bin strode over eagerly, extending a hand to shake Jiang Mo's before turning his gaze to Lin Shuang. He offered a polite nod. "Hello, hello. I'm Liu Bin."
"Hello, I'm Lin Shuang," she replied, smiling back.
In the original web novel, the male protagonist never came to a jewelry store to pick out a ring, so this Liu Bin character had never made an appearance in the text.
As luck would have it, this particular jewelry store happened to be one of the branches Liu Bin owned, and the man was hospitable to a fault. He quickly ushered his girlfriend off to another section and invited the two of them up to the private VIP lounge on the second floor.
"That was my fiancée. We're planning an October wedding, so you absolutely have to come show your face, Brother Jiang!3" Liu Bin took a sip of his tea, grinning. "You must be a police officer by now, right? Taking some time off to buy a ring for your lady?"
"I never became a cop," Jiang Mo said. His gaze drifted toward Lin Shuang, who was currently getting her ring finger measured by an attendant. "I didn't expect to run into you here."
"I didn't either! At first, I just thought he looked incredibly similar... but after a few more glances, there was no mistaking it."
Liu Bin rubbed his hands together, a nostalgic look entering his eyes. "Back in high school, when those punks tried to extort money from me, none of the students walking by would lift a finger to help. Only you stood up for me..."
"I've always been grateful to you. Seriously, Brother Jiang. But how come... I really thought you'd end up on the force." He rubbed his nose, then gave a cheerful laugh. "Well, it doesn't matter either way. A guy as remarkable as you is going to thrive wherever he goes!"
Jiang Mo offered a faint, self-deprecating smile. "Didn't you say back then that you wanted to be a chef? Look at you now, a business owner."
"Ah, that... man, my parents wouldn't hear of it," Liu Bin said with a sigh. "The rolling pin I bought to practice making noodles was confiscated and used as a weapon to beat some sense into me."
This guy was actually pretty sweet, Lin Shuang noted. (At first, she had assumed he would be the classic, arrogant old classmate who existed purely to look down on the protagonist and get publicly humiliated4. She hadn't expected such a heartwarming interaction.)
She recalled the novel mentioning that Jiang Mo's father had been a police officer. Because of that, Jiang Mo had dreamed of following in his footsteps since childhood. In high school, he had been the quintessential righteous, sun-drenched youth, later tempering that fiery idealism into a steadier, more grounded resolve during his time at the police academy.
Yet, just as he was closest to achieving the career his father held, his parents were killed in a car accident.
The offending vehicle had no license plates. The surveillance footage was too blurry to identify the driver. Eventually, investigators found the abandoned car, but the driver had vanished into thin air.
Everyone knew it wasn't a standard hit-and-run, but despite endless investigations, the trail went entirely cold. Eventually, the case was pushed further and further down the precinct's priority list by newer, more pressing crimes.
The Main God's Game was the only thing that gave Jiang Mo a sliver of hope to finally track down the killer.
Lin Shuang pressed her lips together. She tightened her grip on Jiang Mo's arm, leaning her head against his shoulder in a silent, comforting gesture. When she had read those details in the web novel, it had amounted to only a few brief lines of text. But standing here now, she realized those lines represented the real, crushing weight of Jiang Mo's past.
"What's wrong?" Jiang Mo asked, assuming she was getting bored. "Let's go back down and pick out the rings."
"Right, right, let's go," Liu Bin immediately stood up. "My bad, Miss Lin. I just got a little carried away. Back in the day, Brother Jiang was my absolute idol. I used to secretly write his name on my pencil case."
Lin Shuang blinked. (Actually, I didn't mean that I wanted to leave...)
But since she had already been pulled out of her seat, she decided to play along with their assumptions and indulge in a little playful curiosity.
"Mr. Jiang, was he really that incredible?" Lin Shuang asked, tugging lightly on his sleeve as they walked. "Was he undefeated all through high school?"
"It wasn't that extreme," Jiang Mo coughed slightly.
"Oh, it absolutely was!" Liu Bin chimed in enthusiastically. "Our Brother Jiang practically flew across walls. I heard from the guys in the dorms that whenever he went out to the internet cafe at night, scaling the school perimeter fence took him a grand total of two seconds!"
Their voices rang out simultaneously. Realizing he might have overshared, Liu Bin's voice trailed off. He winced playfully, holding up two fingers and mouthing silently to Lin Shuang: Two seconds. Seriously, two seconds.
Lin Shuang burst into a bright laugh. "And here I thought Mr. Jiang was a perfect, rule-abiding student back in school."
Jiang Mo shot Liu Bin a warning glare, dark brows furrowing as he scrambled to salvage what was left of his dignity. "I only did it a few times. Someone eventually snitched to the homeroom teacher, and my dad nearly beat me to death when I got home."
Lin Shuang's laughter grew even warmer. "You sounded adorable back then, Mr. Jiang. It's a shame I wasn't around to see it."
"......Stop calling me that," he muttered.
"Then what kind of ring does Mr. Jiang prefer?" Lin Shuang switched back to her formal, teasing honorific without missing a beat, pointing her finger toward a pair of matching bands. "How about this one?"
"Whatever you like," Jiang Mo said.
Once they finalized their choice, Liu Bin adamantly refused to accept their money. However, after Jiang Mo leveled a stern, unyielding stare at him, the fundamentally timid classmate relented and took the payment. In return, he eagerly slipped them two beautifully crafted wedding invitations for his upcoming nuptials in October, featuring a pair of adorable cartoon figures bowing to guests.
Lin Shuang tucked the invitations safely into her bag as Jiang Mo turned to ask her where she wanted to go for dinner.
In truth, her stomach wasn't particularly empty, but Jiang Mo-who maintained a strictly normal human routine despite everything-was bound to be hungry. "Let's buy something and eat at home. I still have that little cake waiting for me, after all."
Jiang Mo grunted in agreement. He drove to a local diner, picked up a few takeout boxes of stir-fry, and then steered the car down into their apartment complex's underground parking garage.
Lin Shuang watched as Jiang Mo walked around to the trunk and pulled out a large cardboard box. "What did you buy?" she asked.
"A smart video intercom system," Jiang Mo explained, hoisting the box. "There was a security store right next to the swimming center. I forgot to bring it up for you this morning."
Lin Shuang's eyes widened in surprise. For a moment, she was utterly speechless, her throat tightening until she managed to squeeze out a soft, stunned, "Thank you..."
Suddenly, her conscience took a ten-thousand-point critical hit.5
It wasn't until they stepped into the elevator that Lin Shuang finally managed to break the silence. "Mr. Jiang... I'll let you have three-quarters of my cake."
Jiang Mo reached out, his palm gently patting the top of her head. "I don't care for sweets. Just give me a quarter."
Summary:
Lin Shuang and Jiang Mo visit a jewelry boutique to pick out engagement rings, unexpectedly crossing paths with Jiang Mo's old high school classmate, Liu Bin. Over tea in the VIP lounge, Liu Bin's nostalgic recollections accidentally reveal the warm, idealistic boy Jiang Mo used to be prior to his parents' mysterious fatal car accident. Returning to their apartment building with takeout, Jiang Mo surprises Lin Shuang by installing a smart home security system for her peace of mind, leaving her deeply moved by his quiet vigilance as they head inside to split their evening dessert.
Trivia:
Jiang Mo's father was a police officer, which directly inspired his childhood ambition to join the force.
The hit-and-run car that killed Jiang Mo's parents was found completely empty, with no license plates or identifiable footage of the driver.
The narrative indicates that the Main God's Game holds the key or means for Jiang Mo to locate his parents' killer.
Liu Bin wanted to be a noodle chef in high school but was forced out of it by his parents.
Jiang Mo spent his high school nights occasionally sneaking over perimeter fences to visit internet cafes.
Translation Notes:
1 ↩ A popular modern Chinese internet idiom literally meaning "pink bubbles," used to describe an overtly romantic, love-struck atmosphere or an aura of pure romance between two characters.
2 ↩ A slang phrase popular across Asian web novels meaning "single from the mother's womb," used to describe someone who has been completely single since birth and possesses absolutely zero romantic experience.
3 ↩ An affectionate and familiar address combining a surname with the honorific "Brother" (Ge), denoting high respect, brotherhood, and dynamic high school seniority.
4 ↩ A staple web novel trope literally translated as "face-slapping," referring to a structural sequence where a side character tries to mock or look down on the protagonist, only to be instantly humiliated or proven wrong by the protagonist's actual wealth, status, or power.
5 ↩ A widespread Chinese gaming and internet culture expression meaning "suffering a 10,000-point critical hit," applied here humorously to show Lin Shuang's intense internal emotional shock and wave of sudden guilt.
Notes:
• Jiang Mo - A cold, calculated strategist in the Infinite Stream, he masks a predatory nature with a gentle persona. As a former boxer living a solitary, tidy life, he balances lethal survival skills with a guarded temperament. He acts as a devoted protector to Lin Shuang, navigating the game's dangers with detached pragmatism and a methodical, controlled approach to both combat and his personal life.
• Jiang - Jiang Mo, a towering 6'3" former police academy student and athlete, is a top-tier survivalist in the Main God Space. Known for his powerful stature, sharp martial arts, and archery skills, he balances a pragmatic, stoic exterior with deep, trauma-rooted protectiveness. A weary-looking yet fit solo-ranker, he masks his intense devotion to his partner and fiancée, Lin Shuang, with cynical humor.
• Mo - Jiang Mo, known as Silent Jiang in the Main God’s Game, is a towering 6’3” martial artist and archer. Once a righteous police academy student, he is now hyper-vigilant yet remains calm and protective. He serves as a devoted mentor to Lin Shuang, with whom he shares a disciplined, evolving relationship—from forced laps to a deliberate, mutual commitment toward marriage, balancing his aloofness with care.
• Lin Shuang - Lin Shuang is a college student transmigrated as a cannon fodder in an infinite game. To survive its horrors, she adopts a detached persona, clinging to the male lead for security while finding solace in small rewards like cake. Navigating the original owner's complex social ties with anxiety, she hides her true self, focusing solely on comfort and survival within the deadly, surreal game world.
• Shuang - A college student who transmigrated into a web novel as a doomed side character, Lin Shuang is a delicate-featured girl with bangs. Anxious to survive the infinite game, she masks her desperation by playing the opportunist, clinging to the male protagonist, Jiang Mo. Navigating the game’s dangers, she monitors forums and leverages their growing closeness—even renting an apartment to stay near him.
• Lin - A university junior and Jiang Mo’s fiancée, she is a resilient survivor who transmigrated into a doomed supporting role in a web novel. With a delicate build and bangs, she masks her vulnerability with a clever, observant nature. After trading her sedentary life for tactical combat with a Tang dao, she meticulously practices origami survival skills and exercises with Jiang Mo to forge vital alliances.
• He - A fierce, aggressive man who storms into a private training range to confront Jiang Mo over an alleged emotional deception involving his sister. A woman who speaks with strict, anxious bureaucratic formality over the phone. She is the sister of a man who caused an incident at an archery range.
• Man - The given name of He Man, a woman who speaks with strict, anxious bureaucratic formality over the phone. She is the sister of a man who caused an incident at an archery range.
• Bin - A man who was high school classmates with Jiang Mo in eleventh and twelfth grade and was once saved by him from extorting punks.
• Liu - The family name of Liu Bin, who runs a jewelry store chain.