Chapter Five: The Champion Washes Dishes

As he cleaned plate 99,999, the restaurant spun out of control. A hand reached from the congee’s reflection for his glasses. “Save the Seal,” the Nameless Guest said, “or save your eyes.” At the same moment, the final plate of Nebula Soup slid toward the waste chute. If it fell, every sharing point would reset. Zhaoye did not protect his glasses. He leaped for the soup. The silver frames vanished. In reality, Manager Chen was watching the match. Suddenly she forgot why she had opened the stream. She forgot which championship podium had once held the blank-ID player on-screen. Inside the game, Zhaoye’s view blurred—not his eyesight, but every specific memory others had of him. Qiao Mai asked, “Have we met?” Only half a second passed.