The Villain Who Stole Hearts
Chapter 115: Flamed by viewers

Chapter 115: Flamed by viewers

"It’s good that you’re okay. I’ll go put my luggage in the room first."

Veil pushed two suitcases toward the house.

Noah quickly caught up and took one from Veil’s hand.

"Let me help."

Zoe trailed behind them, her fingers pale from gripping them so tightly. She kept a distance of over five meters from Veil, only daring to move forward once she was sure he wouldn’t notice.

Once their figures disappeared into the house, Jack finally withdrew his gaze and sighed.

"Zoe’s really grown up."

...

Honeydew Cottage was made entirely of wood—cool, quiet, and vastly different from city living. For someone used to urban noise and chaos, staying in a small town like this was bound to feel like stepping into another world.

After unpacking, Veil leaned back lazily on a wooden chair, inhaled the crisp mountain air, and closed his eyes, enjoying the gentle breeze brushing past his skin.

Noah pulled up a small wooden stool beside him, looking a bit anxious.

Veil glanced over and asked curiously,

"Something on your mind?"

Scratching his head awkwardly, Noah gave a goofy smile.

"Uh... Veil, could you praise me again using Dylan Harris’s voice?"

He genuinely felt that if he closed his eyes, he couldn’t tell the difference—it was that real. Hearing praise in his idol’s voice? He’d probably wake up grinning in his sleep.

Veil chuckled and shook his head.

"Maybe next time. Mimicking other people’s voices really strains the vocal cords. I only did it before because of the show’s rules. Anna’s voice is so recognizable, and I was just a regular contestant—if I didn’t mimic someone famous, the game wouldn’t have worked."

Noah nodded in agreement.

"True. Most of the previous guests, we could more or less figure out. Even if we weren’t a hundred percent sure, we could guess a few names. But you were different. Not even Jack or Luke Brown could tell it was you."

Was it impressive?

Absolutely.

The system-granted mimicry ability was flawless—indistinguishable from the real thing. Even the people being mimicked would have a hard time telling the difference right away. So what chance did the others have?

While Noah and Veil chatted, Zoe sat a few meters away, holding a bottle of milk in her hands.

Her small hands gripped the carton so tightly it was starting to bend. Sometimes she stared at the floor, sometimes she glanced toward the door, but no matter what, her eyes kept drifting back to Veil.

She was nervous. Really nervous. She didn’t know why, but just being near Veil made her heart race.

"I’m so tired from chopping wood earlier, Sis. Can you get me a bottle of milk?" Noah called over to her.

"Coming!" Zoe finally mustered the courage to stand. She grabbed the milk and walked toward them, but when she got there, she looked at Veil instead and asked quietly,

"Mr. Veil, would you like some milk?"

"Thanks."

Veil smiled and took the milk from her hand. Their fingers brushed for a split second, and Zoe’s face flushed red on the spot.

"Just call me Veil," he added gently. "No need for the ’mister.’ Sounds too formal."

With her head down, Zoe beamed with barely concealed joy.

"Okay... Veil."

At her age—barely into her teens—Zoe wasn’t curvy or glamorous, but she radiated youth. Her cheeks were still slightly babyish, and sometimes she reacted a little slowly, making her seem adorably naive.

Like now. She stood in front of Veil, fidgeting with her fingers, head lowered, looking like a student about to be scolded by her teacher.

Noah pulled a face.

"Hey, the milk was for me! Why’d you give it to Veil?"

Zoe’s cheeks flushed deeper as she darted back into the house.

"I’ll get another one!"

When she returned, Noah also had a fresh bottle in his hand. But as he looked at Veil sipping milk beside him, he suddenly felt like his own milk didn’t taste quite as good.

Right then, a crew member behind the camera flashed a cue card: Time for the game segment.

The show had sponsors to consider—milk, the game Legends Awakened, and others. Of them, Legends Awakened had invested the most, so the crew arranged this segment to promote it.

Noah jumped at the opportunity.

"Zoe, didn’t you say you just reached Diamond rank? I’m a Master now. Since we’ve got time, want to team up for a ranked match?"

Zoe nodded, then turned to Veil.

"Veil, do you play Legends Awakened? It’s that really popular game. Want to add each other and play a match together?"

Veil hesitated for a moment but eventually nodded.

"Sure."

The three of them exchanged usernames and logged into the game.

The live stream cut to their in-game screens. When it came to pleasing the sponsors, the production crew made sure to give them prime coverage. After all, who would sponsor them next time if they didn’t deliver?

The first match lasted 25 minutes.

Noah: 2-3-7

Zoe: 0-6-17

Veil: 21-0-5

Out of 36 total kills, Veil alone claimed more than half, even pulling off a pentakill.

Second match: the team totaled 40 kills—Veil had 28 and two more pentakills.

Third match: the team had 33 kills—Veil got 24 and three pentakills.

Noah and Zoe were frozen in disbelief. The director was dumbfounded.

Meanwhile, the livestream chat was exploding:

"What the fuck?! He’s totally cheating. This is impossible!"

"Even pro players don’t have stats like that. Especially not that many pentakills—those require skill AND luck!"

"You’re telling me every enemy team just grouped up and let him kill them all?! Yeah right!"

"Report him! Report this guy! Cheating during a live show—what a disgrace!"

"If the Legends Awakened devs don’t ban Veil’s account, I’m uninstalling the game."

"Garbage. He’s absolute garbage. No shame whatsoever. And he wants to be a celebrity? If this guy becomes famous, I’ll eat three kilos of dog shit straight out of my toilet!"

Insults flooded the live chat, endlessly scrolling across the screen.

Even the girls who had fallen for Veil’s looks fell silent. Many of them were gamers too—and nothing ticked them off more than a cheater.

They might not have hated Veil entirely, but speaking up for him right now would be social suicide.

Inside the cottage, Noah sensed something was off.

"Veil, that was insane. Did you, uh, train professionally or something?"

He was hoping to pin it on Veil being naturally talented.

But Veil didn’t take the out. Instead, he said something even more outrageous.

"Nope. I haven’t played much, honestly. I’m just average. I think the opponents were just too weak. Even when I used voice chat to flame them, they didn’t respond."

Cheating?

Absolutely.

"Shit!"

The director smacked his forehead and practically dropped dead on the spot.

They had just managed to bury the heat from the earlier imitation scandal, and now this—accusations of cheating in an online game.

One incident after another.

Running a livestream show was seriously hell!

The live chat was already drowning in angry comments. To make matters worse, Veil’s in-game account had been exposed and directly reported to the official page of Legend Descent.

If the game’s official team confirmed that Veil had cheated, it would be over for him. The entire internet would go after him, flames and all.

The chaos quickly caught the attention of Jack, Luke Brown, and even Anna. The three were pulled aside behind the cameras, where the director hurriedly explained the situation.

"This could be a real problem," Luke Brown said, brows furrowed.

Cheating in games wasn’t a huge deal—under normal circumstances, it was a personal issue. But not here. Not on a show. And definitely not when Legend Descent was one of the program’s major sponsors.

If the officials from Legend Descent decided to make a fuss over it, there would be no escaping a massive breach-of-contract fine.

And that kind of accusation—promoting cheating tools—was no small matter.

Jack looked anxiously at Anna, who was calmly sipping her milk.

"That’s your junior we’re talking about. He could be in serious trouble."

Anna smiled.

"It’s fine. I believe in my junior."

Even if he did cheat, so what? Was the whole internet really going to cancel her junior over a mobile game?

It wasn’t like he was part of the entertainment industry. He only agreed to appear on the show because she couldn’t get out of it and dragged him along for fun.

The compensation was the least of her worries. If public opinion really turned toxic, then she’d take the heat for him.

Veil had almost died trying to save her.

This? This was nothing. There was no way Anna was just going to sit on the sidelines.

Jack, knowing Anna’s cold and detached personality, didn’t push. She rarely took anything seriously.

So he walked over to Veil and asked,

"Veil, do you usually play cracked versions of games?"

"Legend Descent is different. They’ve never released a cracked version. What you’re using now is likely a cheat tool from the black market. That’s against the rules. You should probably make a formal statement, explain yourself to the officials, and apologize. I believe you won’t use that kind of thing again."

Jack was, after all, one of the most respected figures in the industry. He knew full well this scandal could hurt his own reputation, but he still stepped forward.

Why?

Because Veil was Anna’s guest.

And Anna had been invited by him.

If anything happened to Veil during the show, he would be partially responsible.

More than that, he simply couldn’t bear to see such a bright, good-looking young man with so much potential be cut down before he could even bloom.

Cheating?

Using hacks?

Veil shook his head.

"Nope. I’ve barely even played this game, let alone used any cheats."

Jack grew more anxious.

"The live chat’s already dug up your username and posted it under the official Legend Descent account. Even if you were using some hidden third-party software, their team will verify it soon."

Veil gave a simple nod.

"Then let them investigate."

Jack sighed. He didn’t even know what else to say.

Beside them, Zoe nervously clenched her pale fingers and whispered,

"Veil..."

"Official response just came out!"

Before Zoe could finish, someone from the production team shouted.

Everyone in Honeydew Cottage rushed to the back to check the official Legend Descent statement.

It read:

"Thank you to our loyal Legend Descent fans for your reports. We have completed an anti-cheat review of the account in question and found no anomalies. Due to match-making issues, the account may have encountered a disproportionately high number of bot or low-rank opponents, leading to gameplay that resembled suspicious activity. We hereby affirm the integrity of Mr. Veil’s account and invite him to continue enjoying our game. We wish him a pleasant gaming experience."

The director: "?"

Jack: "??"

Noah had three big black question marks floating over his head: "???"

Even the residents of Honeydew Cottage weren’t the only ones stunned—viewers across the livestream went nuts.

"What the fuck?! That wasn’t cheating? No way! How can someone get three matches in a row with five kills each? That’s insane! Freakish skill or just ridiculous luck?"

"And someone just said he was using voice chat to trash talk the enemy and no one even responded? All bots, really?"

"Noah and Zoe are Diamond and Master rank. There’s no way bots should be in those matches!"

"What’s up with Legend Descent? I thought they’d be pissed, maybe even ban Veil or sue the production team. Instead, they took his side? Every line in that statement sounds like they’re sucking up to him!"

The chat exploded. Viewers flooded in like a tidal wave.

Current viewers: Three million!

The show’s popularity just hit a whole new level.

And this was only the first morning of the new season.

The director felt both ecstatic and miserable.

He was beginning to realize that Veil had some kind of inexplicable magic.

He’d only been on the show for less than an hour and had already dropped two bombs that could’ve wiped out the entire production team.

But neither had gone off.

Disaster averted—again!

Noah scratched his head, still confused. He glanced at the barrage of comments in the chat and looked at Veil suspiciously.

"Veil, are you... secretly a developer at Legend Descent? Or maybe one of their test players for cheat detection? Otherwise, why would the official team go out of their way to protect your reputation like that?"

It just didn’t add up.

Normally, even if the devs didn’t ban the account, they’d issue a warning or a public statement condemning the behavior.

But this?

Nothing. Not even a slap on the wrist. Instead, they’d actually wished him an enjoyable gaming experience.

It was bizarre.

Veil shook his head, his expression pure and sincere. His strikingly handsome features only made his earnest gaze seem more believable.

"I’ve never had any contact with the developers. How could I be one of their internal testers?"

Noah still wasn’t convinced.

"Then why would they defend your account like that? Did anything special happen recently? Like, did you get a private invitation from the devs? Click any kind of confirmation link or something?"

Veil tilted his head slightly, puzzled.

"Still no. I mean, maybe it’s because I recharged my account when I tried to buy a skin? Maybe the extra payment increased my win rate?"

Zoe chimed in at that point,

"That can’t be it. I’ve spent a few thousand myself and I still win and lose like normal."

Veil frowned, genuinely confused.

"Then I have no idea. I only recharged once, but I accidentally added too many zeroes. After that, I just kept winning, so I stopped playing."

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