Professional players rarely use their real names; a signature ID will accompany them for life. At first, many enthusiastic netizens affectionately called him Brian. After he defeated some well-known masters, people started calling him Brian the Great. In fact, having the character “神” (god) in a nickname isn’t always a compliment—for example, years ago, someone once called himself Blake the Great.

The reason the young man was called Brian the Great came with all sorts of controversy.

First, he often spoke without thinking, occasionally coming up with some shockingly outrageous remarks. Second, it had to do with his notoriously difficult personality—he had left countless shameless reporters at a loss for words. Third, it was his private life, which was full of sensational highlights.

But the most important reason was his gaming style.

Brian the Great had another nickname—Brian Brooks, because the game characters he played always went out in nothing but basic gear. This was probably the main reason he shot to fame so quickly. No one believed that someone in basic gear could defeat a professional player decked out in top-tier equipment, but he did it, and that’s why he became famous.

When Brian the Great achieved ten consecutive wins, a reporter asked him about it. His answer was: “Within five years, I won’t consider wearing god-tier gear. That wouldn’t be fair—it’s just bullying.”

This sentence ranked number one among the top ten internet show-off catchphrases of 2118.

Some thought his ten-win streak was just luck, some believed there was a behind-the-scenes promoter hyping him up, and others said the pros he challenged were all second- or third-tier, so overall, it lacked enough credibility. But after he achieved 128 consecutive wins, no one dared to question him anymore. Besides exclaiming in amazement, people could only attach titles like “freak” or “legend” to him.

“Recruit Brian the Great to the national team!”

That was the rallying cry of netizens that year. The call was so strong that the then head coach of the national youth team, Henry Carter, listened to the people’s wishes and brought Brian the Great into the youth team to participate in that year’s World Youth Championship in Spain.

Some media reported that on his very first day with the youth team, Brian the Great had an irreconcilable conflict with his teammates. Apparently, the players from various elite youth academies looked down on Brian the Great, the scrappy college freshman from the wild side, while Brian the Great likewise looked down on many of the national youth team members from prestigious backgrounds. Things escalated to the point of physical fights.

A month later, Brian the Great became the boss of the youth team. The reason was simple: in just one month, he went from substitute to starter, and from starter to core player. Some said he was born for the big stage—this wild card wasn’t the least bit nervous at the world championship, and instead delivered stunning performances, leading the underdog Chinese youth team all the way to the finals.

During that time, the world’s media lavished every superlative they could think of on Brian the Great. He was hailed as the most talented player in ninety years of professional gaming, and some even said his emergence changed the global gaming landscape. Others claimed he pioneered a new style—the Chad Brooks—and was truly a master of his generation.

On the day of the finals, the game character originally assigned to Brian the Great underwent a dramatic change: the character was now wearing a full set of god-tier gear. Everyone who saw this was excited, exclaiming that even Brian the Great couldn’t resist the lure of the championship. In the face of the World Youth Championship trophy, he finally gave in and broke his own promise of “not considering god-tier gear within five years.”

Strangely, while the game character changed, Brian the Great himself did not—he was absent from the match that day.

In the end, the Chinese team finished as runners-up.

After the match, surrounded by reporters, head coach Henry Carter angrily declared, “In my twenty years of coaching, I’ve never seen a young man with such poor character and such a lack of discipline! He has not a shred of team spirit, and it never even crossed his mind that sacrificing a bit of personal interest could make such a huge contribution to the country!”

To this, Brian the Great responded with just eight words: “Among horses, the Red Hare; among pigs, Henry.”

From then on, Brian the Great never joined the national team again.

……

In 2119, Brian the Great signed his first professional contract, joining the domestic traditional powerhouse Tianfu team.

Within a year, he was rumored to be involved with over a hundred female celebrities. Cowboys are busy, but Brian the Great was even busier—on average, he changed girlfriends every three days. Scandalous news about him and various beauties in cars, on boats, and on planes emerged one after another. Some reporters even caught him having a tryst with a young model at a famous tourist spot, others photographed him having a water fight with a female star at the beach, and some media obtained solid evidence of him frequenting nightclubs, even reporting that Tianfu team management was extremely dissatisfied and considering terminating his contract.

Countless so-called experts asserted that with such a decadent private life, Brian the Great was bound to decline and would struggle to achieve good results. But the facts turned out to be the exact opposite: in the 2119–2120 season, Brian the Great led his team to an undefeated championship in the top league. Since 2103, when Ultimate Slayer Shazhu Dao led his team to an undefeated championship, Brian the Great became only the second team core in history to win the title with a perfect record.

That same year, he also won the prestigious Harmony Cup championship. Compared to all the scandals, the aura of a double champion was even more dazzling.