My Wife is a Hidden Big Shot-Chapter 121 - 115: Threat, Increasing the Level Difficulty

Chapter 121: Chapter 115: Threat, Increasing the Level Difficulty

Everyone stared at the two of them in shock, speechless for a long moment.

Barron was suddenly ecstatic. "Holy shit! For real? Are they the top and second-place scorers for the Kingsford college entrance exams?"

Glenn Lockwood nodded, saying smugly, "Of course. If they hadn’t refused all the interviews, do you think that idiot Gideon Alden would have gotten any of the spotlight?"

His words made the few slackers in the group focus their gazes on the pair, their eyes ultimately landing on Aurora Sinclair’s face.

"Did my hands just shake hands with the number one scorer?" Barron looked at his own hands excitedly, his expression wildly exaggerated.

"The media said the top scorer from Kingsford got a perfect score..."

"Holy shit! A 750?" Barron stared dumbly at Aurora Sinclair, then burst with joy. "I’ve decided not to wash my hands for the rest of the year! I need to soak up the good luck from a perfect-scoring genius for my own exams!"

It was obviously a joke, and everyone knew it. But Aurora Sinclair shook her head and said earnestly, "You’ll get sick if you don’t wash your hands."

Everyone froze for a moment, then suddenly realized that Aurora Sinclair seemed a little... dorky.

The boys’ eyes instantly lit up.

Before, with her perpetually blank expression and reluctance to joke around, they had all pegged her as the cold, unapproachable type. But now, they were discovering she might just not be a smiley person, and that her personality was actually quite cute.

Hearts starting to race, the boys’ gazes grew even more fervent than before. They all started talking over each other to strike up a conversation with Aurora Sinclair, seemingly having forgotten all about the wonderfully perfect Lorraine Morrison who had occupied their thoughts just a moment before. 𝑓𝘳𝑒𝑒𝓌𝘦𝘣𝘯ℴ𝑣𝘦𝑙.𝘤𝑜𝑚

A perfect score of 750 on the college entrance exams, and she had utterly crushed Mr. Thorne, the top player in the entire district. Now *this* was a true beauty, an academic ace, and a gaming god!

***

「Meanwhile, in a conference room at EM Group Headquarters.」 Gideon Lockwood had been invited for a "chat" by EM Group’s Syland City director, who wanted to sound him out.

DAF was a veteran team, after all. Targeting their members in the open qualifiers required a legitimate reason, especially since DAF had the backing of the Lockwood Family’s "Crown Prince." They couldn’t afford to make an enemy of them lightly.

The director struck first. "Lockwood, sending official team members to compete in the open qualifiers is a bit against the rules, wouldn’t you say?"

Gideon Lockwood thought for a moment before recalling the roster they had submitted for the October league.

Aurora Sinclair and Flynn Morgan were both on it. This meant Aurora’s current status was no longer merely a team trainee or a prospective member; she could now be considered an official DAF player.

Although the rules for the open qualifiers didn’t explicitly forbid official team members from participating, the major teams refrained from doing so to save face. DAF, therefore, was setting a new precedent.

Gideon Lockwood knew this was a prelude to some unacceptable condition, so he replied with a placid expression, "She has never competed in an official match, nor has she undergone systematic team training. She can only be considered a prospective member. Besides, as I recall, her paperwork hasn’t been fully processed. For now, we’ve only submitted her name. It’s far too early to call her an official player."

The Syland City director’s smile stiffened.

Since many of the competitors were students, and a large number of them were minors, any underage player had to get signed authorization from a parent or guardian before they could become an official team member.

Therefore, for the league each year, all the major teams would register the names first and submit the rest of the documentation later. Some teams, wanting to avoid hassle, would wait until the day before the registration deadline to turn in all the completed member files.

This was exactly the case with Aurora Sinclair!

The Syland City director cursed inwardly, ’Cunning bastard!’ He kept the smile on his face. "But, Lockwood, you can’t deny that this prospective member’s skill already surpasses that of many official players."

"That’s not necessarily true. It’s not like she’s ever competed against an official player, has she?" Gideon Lockwood’s expression remained neutral, completely unmoved.

The director’s gaze darkened. "But her skill level is already far beyond the average player. She’s bound to attract a lot of attention. If word gets out that she’s also one of DAF’s official players for the October pro league, that wouldn’t be great for your reputation, now would it?"

The moment he finished speaking, Gideon Lockwood’s expression turned cold. "What are you implying?" he asked in a low voice. "Is that a threat?"

The director, of course, wouldn’t dare admit it. He immediately backpedaled, "Lockwood, you’ve misunderstood. We’re just trying to avoid future complications. You know how vicious online trolls can be these days. They can blow the smallest thing out of proportion. If people start claiming our tournament is unfair, it will put us in a difficult position..."

"So what are you proposing?"

"During the first match, we could... increase the difficulty of the game level for DAF’s prospective player..."

Gideon Lockwood’s gaze turned even colder. "You just finished changing the seating arrangements, and now you want to raise the difficulty? Don’t tell me you’re not targeting us."

"No, no, absolutely not! As for the seating, your boss already gave me a heads-up. He said not to get any shots of the prospective player’s face!" the director said, gripping his cup tightly in a hasty denial.

’Good thing Arthur Lockwood mentioned it to me beforehand,’ he thought. ’Otherwise, this would look really suspicious!’

Gideon Lockwood stared at him for a long moment, then stood up abruptly. "As for increasing the game level’s difficulty, I don’t agree," he said coldly. "If you insist on doing this, we reserve the right to hold the event organizers accountable."

With that, Gideon Lockwood turned, his face grim, and strode out of the room.

After he left, the manager of the technical department glanced cautiously at his boss. "Boss," he asked quietly, "are we still going through with it?"

"Do it. Go with the plan you proposed. Just change the guide’s script a little..."

A cold smirk spread across the Syland City director’s face. ’If the player makes the choice herself, then we can’t be blamed!’

***

After leaving EM Group, Gideon Lockwood immediately called Arthur Lockwood to report.

Soon after, Glenn Lockwood, who was out eating with the others, got a call from his older brother.

"Where are you? Get back to the hotel! Now! The rules for the open qualifiers might be changing..."

Hearing this, Glenn Lockwood quickly handed the phone to Zeke Quincy.

Zeke Quincy’s expression grew grim as he listened to the call. He glanced over at Aurora Sinclair before finally saying, "We’re heading back right now!"

When Zeke Quincy arrived back at the hotel with a whole crowd of people in tow, Gideon Lockwood was taken aback by the scene.

’Six of them left, but this many came back?’

Zeke Quincy briefly introduced his guild members. An idea seemed to strike Gideon Lockwood, and his eyes lit up. He immediately led them all straight to Arthur Lockwood’s presidential suite.

The enormous room and its lavish decor made Zeke Quincy’s guild members gasp, and they turned to look at him with wide, shining eyes.

’Who knew their guild leader knew people this rich!’

"This is Mr. Lockwood, the head of the DAF Team," Zeke Quincy explained simply. "Master Rory is currently a trainee for DAF!" His words drew another round of gasps from the guild members.

Most of them dreamed of joining a professional team, so meeting a team owner in person was an unbelievable stroke of luck.

One by one, their gazes grew fervent. They looked at Arthur Lockwood as if he were their golden ticket, hoping to make a good impression.

The presidential suite had a massive wall-mounted television. Gideon Lockwood connected his laptop to it for everyone to see.

Soon, the latest promotional video for the "Battle for Glory" open qualifiers appeared on the screen.

Gideon Lockwood paused the video on a specific combat scene.

"The ’Battle for Glory’ promos are never misleading. This combat scene shows that the players aren’t in a one-on-one duel. Aside from the one-on-one, points-based rounds, a scene like this could only appear in the first match. This means the competition isn’t just a solo event—it can also be a team event..."

Drawing on his years of experience as a team manager, Gideon Lockwood laid out a detailed competition strategy for all the players in the room.

The only one who gave him a major headache was Aurora Sinclair. The director had made it clear that they would be increasing the difficulty of her stage.

Furthermore, she had registered late, so only one other person, Noelle Chaucer, was in the same bracket.

But the girl’s in-game class was a hidden variant of Healer—a Poison Master. While she could both poison and heal, her mechanical skill was absolutely terrible. It would be a miracle if she didn’t just end up being a liability.

In the end, Gideon Lockwood could only give her a single piece of advice: "If you encounter any random hazards, run!"