The starry ice and snow brooch seemed to possess some strange magic. Pinned to her collar, it emitted a faint, almost imperceptible coolness, yet strangely soothed the anxiety that had arisen from Manager Li's words. She subconsciously ran her fingers along the brooch's cold surface, trying to draw more calming power from it.

Xie Chen...did he unintentionally create a plus version of a tranquilizer? She muttered to herself, but dared not show it on her face. She secretly glanced at Xie Chen, who was practicing last-hitting in custom mode. He was focused, as if giving her the brooch was just a casual hand out of a tissue.

[Zzz... Special energy imprint... Stabilizes the host's soul fluctuations... Effect... Significant...]

[It is recommended that...long-term wear...can appropriately...save...the system's...energy consumption for...stabilization...and be used for...exchange...]

088's voice, carrying a hint of "finally I can be lazy," rang out weakly.

"You won't use the energy you save for anything productive, you'll just be thinking about eating!" Su Nian ruthlessly exposed him in her mind. "Also, besides stabilizing emotions, does this brooch have any other functions? Like defense, early warning, or... can it conjure up potato chips?"

[Function...Analyzing...Insufficient permissions...Buzzing...Energy imprint...Deeply bound to the mission objective...Suspected to possess...range awareness...and...weak...protection...]

[Conjure potato chips... Function... Not yet enabled... Host is advised... Be down-to-earth... Earn points...]

Su Nian: "..." What use are you!

After the brief interruption, training proceeded as usual. This afternoon, there was a crucial training match against the strong Korean team SSR.

The match began, and both sides played with extreme caution. Su Nian focused intently, controlling the support hero. With her extraordinary awareness and the calmer mental state brought on by the brooch, her vision control and roaming timing were almost perfect. Several times, she anticipated the SSR team's movements in advance, helping her team establish an early advantage.

With her support, Xie Chen played even more fluidly and aggressively, as if he had regained his peak form. His assassin was like a ghost in the jungle, precisely tearing through the opponent's defenses every time he appeared.

Everything seemed to be going smoothly.

However, when the game progressed to the middle stage, during a crucial dragon fight, a sudden change occurred!

The mid-laner of the SSR team was playing a hero with powerful area-of-effect control skills. At the moment the team fight broke out, he unleashed his core control skill from an extremely tricky angle—a twisted energy wave emitting an ominous purple light, heading straight for the center of the Gods team's formation!

This skill is extremely fast and has a huge coverage area. It looks like it's about to engulf Gods' core damage dealer and Su Nian next to him!

In a split second, Su Nian almost instinctively reached for the keyboard, intending to use Flash to dodge backward. With her reaction time and skill, she was absolutely certain she could avoid it!

But just as her fingertips were about to touch the Flash button—

Buzz!

The starry ice and snow brooch on her collar suddenly trembled very slightly, yet very clearly! A chill ran through her body from the point of contact with the brooch, making her shiver and causing her movements to slow down slightly!

At the same time, out of the corner of her eye, she caught a very rapid flash of a mark on Xie Chen's screen, marking the spot just behind her where she was about to teleport! That was the location where the SSR jungler was lying in ambush! If she had teleported back just now, she would have run right into the enemy jungler's arms, and the outcome would have been the same—death!

All of this happened in less than 0.1 seconds!

Su Nian abruptly stopped the aftercast animation of Flash, instead controlling her hero to take a small step forward, while simultaneously placing a Control Ward behind her—

The true sight revealed the sneaky figure of the SSR jungler!

"There's an ambush behind us!" Su Nian shouted urgently into the voice chat.

The Gods players reacted instantly, adjusted their formation, and focused their fire to quickly eliminate the jungler who was trying to ambush them! As for the SSR mid-laner's fatal control skill, it barely grazed the edge of her hero model due to Su Nian's strange forward movement, causing only a minor scratch!

The team fight turned in an instant! Gods scored a 3-for-1 trade and secured Baron Nashor!

[Nice! Nianbao's positioning was amazing!]

[This means it's practically like having full map vision!]

[Lin's timely tag was amazing! Their teamwork is unmatched!]

The voice chat and live stream comments during the training match (if this were a public training match) instantly went wild.

The scrim ended with Gods emerging victorious. The team members were still excitedly discussing the incredible team fight they had just witnessed.

Only Su Nian felt a cold sweat break out on her back.

She sat in the chair, her fingers icy cold, her heart still pounding.

That was a close call!

If it weren't for the sudden warning and chill from the brooch that slowed her movements by a fraction of a second, and if it weren't for Xie Chen's almost simultaneous and precise marking... she would already be a complete liability, feeding the enemy kills!

That brooch… could it really be a warning?! She touched the now-calm brooch on her chest in disbelief. And Xie Chen, how could he know there was an ambush behind them? From his perspective…

She suddenly turned her head to look at Xie Chen.

Xie Chen was also looking at her, his eyes deep and filled with an indescribable complex emotion, a mixture of curiosity, relief, and a hint of... lingering fear.

“You…” Su Nian opened her mouth, wanting to ask him how he knew there were people behind him, and whether he had any sense of the abnormality of the brooch.

But Xie Chen spoke first, his voice low and tinged with barely perceptible tension: "Next time, don't take such risks."

He was referring to the small step she had just taken forward.

Su Nian was stunned for a moment, then understood. In his view, she had made an incredible but risky move in an extremely dangerous situation, managing to avoid being attacked from both sides. He was unaware of the warning on the brooch.

So… I was the only one who sensed the warning just now? Su Nian was shocked. This brooch is even more amazing than I imagined! Xie Chen's source power, even when suppressed, can still create something like this?

"Okay, I understand." She suppressed the turmoil in her heart and nodded obediently.

Seeing that she seemed frightened, Xie Chen frowned slightly and reached out as if to pat her head to comfort her, but his hand stopped halfway and instead picked up the empty water glass on her table.

"Want some water?" he abruptly changed the subject.

Su Nian: "..." Big brother, could your way of showing concern be any more awkward?

The victory in the training match eased some of Su Nian's doubts about Manager Li and the "Leap" brand, but the unusual warning from the brooch made her realize that the world was far from as peaceful as it seemed.

That night, lying in bed, she tried calling 088 again.

"088, wake up! I have something to ask you! It's about the brooch Xie Chen gave you..."

[Energy...low...dormant...]

[The brooch... an energy imprint... originating from the same source as the target... possessing... rudimentary spirituality... capable of passively... sensing... threats... and... slightly interfering... with... the host's... behavior...]

[Specific functions...explore on your own...zzZZ...]

088 gave a vague explanation with the last bit of information, and then fell completely silent.

Primary spirituality? Sensing a threat? Mild intervention? Su Nian pondered these words. So it's like a built-in danger radar and muscle reaction fine-tuner? Just now, it 'mildly intervened' in me, preventing me from instinctively flashing away?

This ability sounds like a bug, but in a technologically advanced world where rules are extremely restrictive, how effective can it be? Moreover, this feeling of being "interfered with" makes her a little uneasy.

Could this be considered another form of...manipulation? She stared at the ceiling, her feelings a jumble of emotions. Xie Chen, Xie Chen, did you give me a protective charm or put a tight headband on me?

Just then, her phone screen suddenly lit up with an encrypted message from an unknown number:

[Beware of 'jumping' activity. They are collecting 'abnormal' data. Your operating pattern has been flagged. Manager Li is not the ultimate responsible party.]

The message remained on the screen for three seconds before automatically disappearing, as if it had never appeared.

Su Nian suddenly sat up in bed, her heart stopping!

Someone warned her! Who was it?

"Abnormal" data? Her operating pattern has been flagged?!

Does Manager Li have someone above him?

A chill shot from the soles of my feet straight to the top of my head, even more intense than the chill I felt from the brooch earlier!

She instinctively gripped the brooch on her collar; the cool touch calmed her down a little.

So, the "Yuedong" brand really does have problems! They not only suspect her, but may even have some kind of evidence! And is this sudden warning message friend or foe?

She rolled out of bed, walked to the window, and looked down at the still bustling city night scene with its neon lights. She felt that behind the dazzling lights, there were countless shadows that she couldn't see clearly.

If Xie Chen's brooch can warn of ambushes in games, can it warn of dangers in real life?

Who exactly sent the warning message?

What is the ultimate purpose of the "Leap" brand in collecting "abnormal" data?

She felt as if she were standing on the edge of a giant vortex, and the center of the vortex seemed to involve not only her and Xie Chen's concealment, but also possibly uncovering a shocking secret beneath this seemingly ordinary world.