13-Year-Old Secretly Drops ¥16,000 on Honor of Kings Skins — Stuck at Gold III After 543 Games, Gets Roasted Into Orbit

Spending ¥16,000 on skins and peaking at Gold III — this might be one of the most hilariously absurd gaming stories of 2024. A 13-year-old kid secretly drained his grandmother's bank account to whale on Honor of Kings skins, and the internet has been roasting him nonstop ever since.

According to a report from the TV show 1818 Golden Eye (1818黄金眼), a woman surnamed Hu discovered that over ¥10,000 was mysteriously missing from her mother's bank card. After some digging, the culprit turned out to be her 13-year-old son, who had been using it to buy skins in Honor of Kings (王者荣耀), China's biggest mobile MOBA. After a stern talking-to, grandma's punishment was swift: no more hóngbāo (压岁钱, New Year's gift money).

The absolute highlight was the kid's interview. When a reporter asked 'How do you feel about this?' he casually dropped: 'Life is unpredictable, a big intestine wraps a small one (大场包小肠 — a butcher shop idiom meaning 'that's just how life goes'). Whatever's gone is gone. I don't want that account anymore. If Honor of Kings can refund the money, that'd be great.' The level of nonchalance had grown adults in shambles.

When asked what he bought, his answer was even more facepalm-worthy: 'Skins, duh. They boost your feel for the game. If you have skins, your attack power goes up and you can't beat people without them.' That's right — he genuinely believed Honor of Kings was a pay-to-win game where skins grant combat advantages. The copium is unreal.

But what truly sent the internet into orbit was his career stats: Level 28 account, VIP 9 (meaning he'd spent enough to unlock the 9th tier of VIP rewards), 543 matches played, and a peak rank of... Gold III. The community instantly coined him the poster child of 'bad student, fancy stationery' (差生文具多 — a Chinese saying meaning someone with top-tier gear but zero skill).

The NGA comments section erupted. One player pointed out that under Honor of Kings' matchmaking system, staying at Gold III after 500+ games is actually really hard to do — 'unless you're deliberately throwing or only playing casual mode instead of ranked.' Another added: 'Even throwing won't work reliably, because you'll get matched with carry teammates. You'd have to actively drag your carries down with you to maintain Gold.'

Some commenters pulled out the age card for extra damage: 'Most pro players peak between 15-18 years old. This kid is 13 and can't even figure out a mobile MOBA — maybe hit the books instead, at least what you memorize stays in your head.' Another savage commenter wrote: 'Gold III after 500 games — just restart the account. Even if he only played Yáo (瑶, a noob-friendly support hero you can just attach to teammates), he couldn't possibly be this bad.'

But not everyone was laughing. Some raised deeper concerns about the kid's complete lack of remorse in the interview: 'He's not reflecting at all — you wonder what the next victim game will be.' Commenters worry that the current refund policy for minors is essentially consequence-free, creating a 'spend-refund-spend again' cycle with zero accountability. One user wrote: 'There's almost no punishment in this refund process. For minors, it's not painful at all — it's basically a free pass to keep doing it.'

Ms. Hu has already submitted the required documentation and is going through the refund process. But as one commenter quipped: 'The family is so chill about ¥10,000+ — clearly they're loaded. The kid will just whale on the next game, the family will refund again, rinse and repeat. Zero lessons learned.'

The boy's Honor of Kings account status remains unknown, but given his own declaration of 'I don't want that account anymore,' it'll likely go the deactivation-and-refund route. The one thing that's certain: grandma's hóngbāo is officially canceled this year.