At that moment, a few more girls walked over. One girl in a blue miniskirt blinked at me and smiled, “My name is Last Summer, but you can just call me Summer. What should I call you, handsome?”

I glanced at this delicate-looking girl. Her legs beneath the short skirt were smooth and fair, looking quite alluring. So I said, “Uh... just call me Brian...”

Summer giggled, “Hello, Brian gege!”

Next to Summer, a very quiet girl looked at me and smiled, “My in-game name is tentatively Silent Logan, but you can just call me Logan Brooks.”

I nodded, but then looked at the girl in the pink dress beside Logan Brooks. She was also looking at me, and smiled gently, “My name is Emily Carter. Nice to meet you!”

I wasn’t quite used to this way of talking, so I waved my hand, “No need to be so polite!”

Eric Reed pointed to a chair nearby and said, “Have a seat!”

Obviously, Eric Reed seemed to be the person in charge of this studio. The other girls also seemed to respect her, so I sat down. However, there was still no sign of Ashley Carter.

Seeing my confused look, Eric Reed smiled and said, “Don’t be surprised. We were all players from Yueheng before. Now that Ling Tong is about to launch, we’ve been hired by Blue Star Group to be professional players, and also to act as the company’s trailblazers. In the future, if the company invests in the game, we’ll each have our own roles!”

I nodded and said, “So from now on, I’m a member of Xueyue Studio?”

Eric Reed couldn’t help but smile, “Of course! Right now, Xueyue Studio has six members. With you, that makes seven!”

I counted—there were five people present, all sexy and beautiful girls except for me. I couldn’t help but feel secretly delighted: “From now on, I’ll be surrounded by flowers every day!”

But still, there was no sign of Ashley Carter. After having dinner in the company cafeteria, I even brought some pastries for a late-night snack. After all, Ling Tong was officially launching worldwide tonight, so staying up late was a given!

Before leaving, Eric Reed plopped a stack of documents on the table and loudly announced, “Orders from above: everyone in our studio must enter Ling Tong tonight. By tomorrow morning, each person must reach level 10 and earn two gold coins to hand over to the operations department!”

I said, “Two gold coins? I heard it’s pretty hard to make money in the early stages of the game...”

Eric Reed laughed, “Even if it’s hard, we still have to do it. Brian, you don’t know yet—our company’s top boss, Mr. Thompson, has decided to take advantage of Ling Tong’s big launch to develop our virtual business in the game and make something big happen!”

I was a bit stunned, “Really? This Mr. Thompson is damn insightful...”

Eric Reed smiled knowingly, “Isn’t he?”

As for how the company would handle operations, I couldn’t be bothered to care. Leveling up to 10 in one night wasn’t hard, but earning two gold coins might be a bit tricky. Everyone knows that in the early stages of Ling Tong, low-level monsters only drop copper coins. 100 copper coins make one silver coin, and 100 silver coins make one gold coin. Two gold coins is 20,000 copper coins—who knows how long that’ll take to farm!

Whatever, I trust my years of experience as a veteran—I won’t be any worse than the other girls in the studio!

Carrying my late-night snack, I headed home. It was already late. Checking the time, there was only half an hour left until Ling Tong launched. I was incredibly excited!

Back in my room, I locked the door and carefully put on my gaming helmet. Heh, this helmet was a gift from Ashley Carter, though the way I got it wasn’t exactly glamorous.

I put on the helmet, and the system quickly scanned my iris. After confirming my identity, I entered the game login screen!

In the void, a petite fairy girl flew a circle in midair and landed on a branch in front of me, smiling as she said, “Hello, I am the guide fairy of Ling Tong. Welcome to your first time on the login screen! You don’t have a character yet. Would you like to create one now?”

My heart skipped a beat—I almost forgot, you could create your character an hour before the game started!

So, I quickly confirmed, then chose the standard human race. After scanning my facial features and making no adjustments, I confirmed my character’s appearance. Then, in the character name field, I typed: Made in China!

Just kidding, I’m very patriotic!

Confirm!

“Ding—”

“Sorry, this character name is already taken!”

“Night Visit to the Brothel!”

“Sorry, this character name is already taken!” Taken.

“Innocent Little Duckling!”

“Sorry, this character name is already taken!”

Damn! Taken again!

I calmed myself. Fine, let’s think of something more unique!

So, I quickly typed a new character name: “The Most Handsome Brian in History!”

“Ding~!”

“Sorry, this character name is already taken!”

Damn! One more try: “Brian Won’t Eat Today!”

The system’s voice was steady: “Sorry, this character name is already taken!”

Helpless, I gritted my teeth, took a deep breath, and steadily typed: “Reckless Brian!”

Finally, after a “ding,” the system prompted—