Overprotected By My Tsundere CEO-Chapter 773 - 490: Marcus Shaw Condemned by All

Miguel Smith was woken up by a phone call.

He had streamed until two o’clock last night, and Miguel was sleeping soundly in the early morning. The buzzing phone felt like a death knell, stirring even the best-tempered Miguel to some anger.

He reached for his phone and answered it, listening for a few moments before suddenly opening his eyes and sitting up with a start.

Ruffling his hair, Miguel furrowed his brows, his voice dropping, "What’s the situation?"

"It’s definitely plagiarism, isn’t it? Isn’t this kind of thing common in our industry?" said the person on the phone. "Overnight, it’s all news about ’XN000’s plagiarism,’ people riding on the heat and buying bots, playing it really slick. It’s said that the team behind ’Puzzle in Puzzle’ is backed by Queiroz Games, so they have no shortage of funds for marketing..."

Miguel’s expression turned bitter.

At the end of August, a piece of news that "an UP owner in the gaming zone of Station X plagiarized a game called ’Puzzle in Puzzle’ with their game ’Maze 2’" dominated the headlines in the gaming section.

’Maze’ 1, 2, and the author have a certain legendary flair.

The most widely known are the three incidents: "XN000 writes bugged code," "XN000 lost one hundred thousand followers overnight during a horror game stream," and "Top influencer Zero recommended ’Maze 2.’"

Many fans are curious about who XN000 really is.

Since Nora Scott recommended ’Maze 2’, it once topped the download lists in the gaming zone. This phenomenon, on the one hand, reflects Nora Scott’s popularity, and on the other, it successfully catapulted the game and its author into fame.

As of now, XN000 has gained over a million followers on Station X.

Amid such popularity, the sudden news of "XN000’s plagiarism" latched onto Nora Scott and went viral again, known by many overnight. Some uninformed netizens even left various malicious reviews and sent private messages full of insults.

The scene suddenly spiraled out of control.

As the author, Marcus Shaw had just finished his morning self-study when he saw multiple calls from Miguel Smith. Stunned for a moment, he called Miguel back on his way to the cafeteria.

"... They’re maliciously marketing and wildly promoting that ’Maze 2’ is plagiarized. I made some inquiries. They’re just a small team that had previously planned to copy your ’Maze.’ Upon learning that your ’Maze 2’ was about to be launched, they crafted a game called ’Puzzle in Puzzle’ to launch ahead, which didn’t gain traction, and no one knew what the first version was like. Once your ’Maze 2’ came out, they remodeled theirs according to your template, making it more polished and fun. Because their timing was earlier than yours, many netizens are convinced that you copied them."

Miguel briefly explained the situation to Marcus.

Marcus listened calmly throughout.

Oliver Scott, who was with him, thought he was listening to music.

Only when Marcus casually said "Oh," did Oliver’s eyelids twitch, realizing that Marcus was on a call.

"Sis!"

At the cafeteria entrance, Oliver spotted Nora Scott approaching and stopped to wave and greet her.

Marcus glanced over and halted as well.

Rosie wasn’t around; Nora and Paula Loughton walked over.

Not having enough rest, Nora looked at the two with sleepy eyes and then feigned surprise, saying, "You guys are actually having breakfast?"

The three of them looked at her, puzzled.

Marcus + Oliver: "..." When haven’t they had breakfast?!

Therefore, leisurely, Nora added, "With how quickly you’re losing weight, someone who doesn’t know might think you’re fasting."

Simultaneously, Miguel’s voice suddenly came through Marcus’s earphones: "...Is Nora being her sarcastic self again?"

Marcus didn’t speak.

Anyway, with Nora’s high work intensity and her mood swinging, she wasn’t comfortable without teasing them a bit here and there.

"How about, sis, you add us a night snack?" Oliver ignored Nora’s sarcasm and asked with a cheeky smile.

The fact that Nora could say such things showed that she cared and was concerned about them. Oliver appreciated the kind gesture, and he wasn’t about to argue with Nora.

Nora rested an elbow on Paula’s shoulder, tilted her head, and glanced at her.

Paula curved her lips slightly, "Let me know in advance what you want for your night snack, and I’ll buy it for you."

Oliver chuckled, "Thanks, little sister."

Marcus glanced at Paula but said nothing.

After a bit of a delay at the cafeteria entrance, the most popular breakfasts had been snatched up by the others, so the four of them made do with what was left.

Meanwhile, Miguel, who had been conversing with Marcus during Marcus’s time queuing for breakfast, asked if Marcus wanted to tell Nora. Marcus cut the call short with a simple "Don’t bother."

Miguel, worried all morning, looked at the disconnected call and clicked his tongue, feeling like he worried for nothing.

But—

A quarter-hour later, as Miguel scrolled through netizens’ comments, he rose in fury, pacing back and forth in the living room.

He had every reason to believe—

Queiroz Games invested in a small team, targeting him specifically.

Ultimately, Marcus was innocent.

```

Damn it.

*

After ordering breakfast delivery, Miguel Smith went to the door to pick it up, and his phone rang again.

It was Nathan Smith calling. One call went unanswered, and after hanging up, he called again immediately, always with seamless persistence, until Miguel answered.

Hesitating for a moment, Miguel picked up the phone and said, "Dad."

"When are you coming back?"

Nathan’s tone was harsh.

No one knows when it began, but Nathan found it increasingly difficult to speak pleasantly whenever communicating with Miguel, always speaking in a condescending manner.

As if the person he was speaking to wasn’t his son, but his adversary.

Miguel furrowed his brows, raised a hand to rub his brow, and said, "What’s up?"

He had bought a house in Fenton City, with full payment, and used to live with Nathan. After returning from the northwest, Miguel had a huge fight with Nathan and moved out, renting a place to live.

In between, Nathan had called a few times asking him to come home, but each call ended with a big argument, always breaking up on bad terms.

"Can’t you come home if there’s nothing wrong?!" Nathan’s anger surged as he directly rebuked, "I raised you for so long, who knows what kind of person you’ve become, not studying properly, always messing around, now that you’ve spread your wings you run around everywhere—"

Bringing up old grudges.

Same old rhetoric.

Miguel took a deep breath, slowly exhaled, and suppressed the irritation and displeasure in his heart.

"...You look down on me, don’t you? You all look down on me. If you’re so capable, go find your mom and never see me again—"

"Enough!"

Miguel couldn’t stand it anymore and interrupted Nathan angrily.

"No one looks down on you; it’s you who looks down on yourself," Miguel said. "Have you been investing recently? How much did you lose? I’ll give you the money."

Two months ago, Nora Scott had already reminded Miguel that Nathan wanted to sell the hot pot base recipe to Benjamin Durant, but because of Nora’s intervention, Nathan backed out, and the deal fell through.

At that time, Miguel realized Nathan needed money.

Through Nathan’s friends, Miguel found out that Nathan had been investing recently, borrowing a lot of money, and presumably losing it.

Every time Nathan called, he was probably mentally prepared to talk about it, but as soon as the call connected, Nathan couldn’t bring himself to say it. There are people who, the more they fail, the stronger their pride—Nathan was one of them.

If it weren’t for this, Madam Smith wouldn’t have left Nathan back then.

This time, Nathan’s call was likely for the same purpose.

But once again, Nathan regretted it.

Miguel didn’t want to drag it out with him and directly pointed out the matter.

However, this had the opposite effect.

"What do you mean?! The reason I asked you to come home was for your money, is that it? You mess around online with those shady, disreputable jobs, and you even have the face to do it—I’ve lost face among my friends..."

Nathan was furious, cursing and ranting on the phone, and he began to spout off unspeakable words, each one denying Miguel’s existence, as if Miguel’s birth was the biggest mistake Nathan had ever made.

Even the kindest temper couldn’t withstand this.

Miguel didn’t wait for Nathan to finish and just hung up the phone.

He lost his appetite first thing in the morning, holding his phone in one hand and breakfast in the other, and feeling overwhelmed, he threw the breakfast into the trash.

Switching off his phone, Miguel tossed it onto the sofa and then strode off to the bedroom to catch up on sleep.

*

Evening, nine o’clock.

Today’s work ended early. Nora Scott had been filming a whole day of action scenes, which left her exhausted and sore, unable to even raise her arms.

Paula Loughton had bought some evening snacks in advance and was waiting, but Nora was too tired to have any appetite, so she asked Paula to first deliver the snacks to Marcus Shaw and the others, while she went to hail a cab at the school gate.

Usually, Rosie Sullivan drove, but in recent days Rosie wasn’t around, Paula was still underage and couldn’t drive, and Nora didn’t want to drive after long filming days, so she either hitched a ride or took a cab.

Tonight, the crew still had scenes to shoot and didn’t wrap up, so Nora could only hail a cab at the school gate.

After waiting for about ten minutes, Nora got the message that Paula was arriving soon, rubbed her brow, and stood by the roadside, flagging down a taxi casually.

She opened the front passenger door, leaned over slightly, and said to the driver, "Sir, wait a—"

Before she finished her sentence.

The driver, Nathan, suddenly pulled a long face, "It’s you?"