In comparison, William Harris was considered the most normal of the three—always excelling academically, a master at flirting, picking up girls, and gaming. But aside from a pack of condoms, his backpack was filled with all sorts of precision military gadgets, so perhaps he wasn’t all that normal after all.

However, in the eyes of everyone else at Bailu Medical University, the way they looked at Charles Bennett, Brian Lee, and William Harris was exactly the same.

Cool, stylish, and handsome—these were the words the women around them used to describe the trio. As for the men, their opinions weren’t much different, except they’d add, “Why don’t these three bastards just drop dead?”

After slurping up the last bite of noodles, William Harris pulled out a napkin to wipe his mouth, suddenly remembering something. He asked urgently, “Xiao Qian, you still haven’t bought a virtual gaming helmet?”

“Hm? What’s up?” Charles Bennett looked up, puzzled by William Harris’s excitement.

“‘Night Lord’ is launching at midnight, and you haven’t even got the most important thing ready. You’ve got your priorities all wrong!” William Harris sighed and shook his head, then, with a look of heroic resolve, declared, “As a former hardcore gamer and your best buddy, Xiao Qian, I’ll go with you to the city center and use my professional eye to help you pick out a virtual gaming helmet.”

Brian Lee glanced at William Harris, curled his lip, and said nothing.

Charles Bennett, hearing this, simply lowered his head and continued demolishing his bowl of beef offal noodles, casually remarking, “I heard there are a lot of models doing live runway shows at the helmet sales event downtown…”

“Uh…”

Exposed, William Harris gave a dry laugh, his eyes darting as he shamelessly insisted, “Comrade! We have to solve this helmet issue before midnight. If you don’t get moving, you’ll miss the game launch. How about this: we split the cab fare fifty-fifty, sound fair? I’m just a poor student, you know!”

“Knock, knock…”

Just as William Harris was about to pester Charles Bennett into going downtown with him, there was a timely knock at the door. William Harris dutifully opened it.

“Are you Mr. Charles Bennett? Here’s your pre-ordered limited edition ‘Night Lord’ gaming helmet. Please sign for it.”

William Harris stared blankly at the delivery person outside, then watched as Charles Bennett walked over, signed the order, and took a beautifully packaged parcel.

“What a waste!” William Harris wailed. “Xiao Qian! If you don’t experience the chaos of buying a virtual gaming helmet in a packed crowd, how can you develop a true passion for ‘Night Lord’? By doing this, you’re already on the wrong path from the start, don’t you know?”

“Jinxi, your real goal was to squeeze in with pretty girls and watch the models on stage, satisfying both body and soul, and getting an eyeful in the process, right?” Brian Lee said disdainfully, mercilessly exposing William Harris’s true intentions.

“You musclehead with no sense of aesthetics, what right do you have—”

“Enough.” Charles Bennett cut off their argument, his expression stern. “I have work to do.”

William Harris and Brian Lee exchanged a glance, then wordlessly cleaned up the table and quietly left, closing the door behind them. They knew that when Charles Bennett was on a mission, he never let anything get in the way.

Turning off the lights, Charles Bennett sat quietly on the sofa, every muscle in his body gradually relaxing. His breathing slowed from deep to shallow, becoming almost imperceptible, until finally there was no sound at all. The darkness in the room helped him calm his mind. He needed to be in peak condition before midnight to handle the task ahead.

Originally, Charles Bennett had planned to unwind in ‘Night Lord’ after completing his E-rank bounty hunter assessment, enjoying the century’s hottest game that young people were raving about. But now, he could only approach this soon-to-launch blockbuster with a mission mindset.

“Dong, dong, dong…”

The midnight bell tolled from the clock tower at Bailu Medical University, its distant chimes echoing in his ears. Charles Bennett slowly opened his eyes, a sharp glint flashing in them. He picked up the exquisite virtual gaming helmet beside him, and with steady hands, scanned three pages of documents, uploading them into the helmet’s external data port.

Then, Charles Bennett put the virtual gaming helmet on his head. The indicator lights on the helmet began to flash in circles.

“Power connected, game port connected. Now entering the ‘Night Lord’ start interface. Five-second countdown begins…”

“5”

“4”

“3”

“2”

“1”…

“Entering the ‘Night Lord’ start interface…”

Charles Bennett felt his vision shrouded in darkness. Suddenly, a burst of brilliant color seemed to rain down from the sky, placing him in a strange and wondrous scene…

Chapter 3: These Days, Even Creating a Character Isn’t Easy

Under the starry night sky, Charles Bennett stood on a boundless plain. The wild grass was a bewitching blue, and a lonely wind swept by, making the knee-high grass sway back and forth. Starlight spread across the field like waves, rippling layer upon layer into the distance, while a soft, rustling hum sounded in his ears.