Chapter 1 Formal Joining

After formally joining Hell Front, Xu Huai Shang immediately updated this information on social media.

The next day, under the "guidance" of Feng Bujue, this "great writer," she wrote a long article, reminiscing about her journey as a professional gamer over the years, reviewing her achievements during her Red Cherry period, and talking about some plans for the next six months. The key point… she also mentioned that the team atmosphere was very good and hoped that her fans could continue to support her, believing that she could still achieve good results in a non-commercial environment.

After this article was published, it goes without saying that Goddess Xu gained a lot of new fans. On the other hand… the other five members of Hell Front, except for Jue-ge, all started receiving various strange emails.

However, most of these emails were not hostile. This time, most of the senders wanted to inquire about their guild… such as "How many people are there in your guild in total?", "Does Feng Bujue have the final say in the guild?", "Is Xu Huai Shang having a good time here?", "Is Hell Front still recruiting?" and many others were simply sending messages to express their support for their idol.

In short, through that article, Jue-ge successfully guided a wave of public opinion. According to Miss An's complaint, "As someone who wields a pen, you've finally used your professional skills to do something good."

…………

On January 27th, the news about Xu Huai Shang leaving the studio had not yet faded, and Dream Inc. seemed unwilling to be lonely and also started making trouble.

That morning, two major announcements appeared on Dream Inc.'s official website.

The first one was quite shocking—the New Year is approaching, and in order to allow the majority of players and all employees of the company to have a good New Year, Dream Inc. will be closed for a week from midnight on New Year's Eve to 11:59 p.m. on the sixth day of the Lunar New Year. During this period, all businesses under the company, including but not limited to Thriller Paradise, Mad Thinker, online stores, etc., will be completely shut down.

This… was the nth time Dream Inc. had made such an unusual move. When other game companies and e-commerce companies were frantically promoting sales during the holidays, they were going to take a vacation, and for a whole week… seemingly not taking national holidays seriously.

It can be said that while reading this news, many comedians had already started adding sentences to their documents… sentences like "I'm going to die if I can't play Thriller Paradise anymore," "How can players have a good New Year if you shut down the servers?", "God only took six days to create the world, and you're taking seven days off?" came to mind readily.

But they also knew… saying these things was useless.

Thriller Paradise had been open for almost a year, and wouldn't players know the nature of Dream Inc. by now?

Have you ever been to a gas station? Have you ever handled matters at government agencies? You've experienced great storms and waves, so this little thing is nothing; at least when dealing with Dream Inc., most of the time you can get a worthwhile consumer experience, which is better than spending money and still being treated like a grandson, right?

In any case, since the announcement had been made, the seven-day shutdown was a certainty. Everyone could complain, but if you really wanted to make trouble… not only would it not change the result, but it might also backfire. The already-closed Corpse Blade Studio was a lesson from the past.

Next, let's look at the second message—the preliminary rules for Thriller Paradise's "Peak Showdown S3" will be announced after the New Year. This competition will adopt a long-term competition system that mixes individual and team events. Please pay attention to the official website for specific details.

Although this was an announcement without much "substantial information," similar to a movie's "teaser trailer," its impact was obviously far greater than the previous one.

Just the twelve words "long-term competition system that mixes individual and team events" were enough to ruin the New Year for countless game studios.

…………

January 28th, 2:00 AM, in Wang Tanzhi's conference room.

Because Jue-ge and Xiao Tan both went online a little later, they could only watch movies here while waiting for the other four teammates to come out of the script.

"You seem to be very busy recently. Apart from the hotpot day, I haven't seen you in the real world for many days," Feng Bujue still lay on the comfortable sofa in his favorite slouching posture, chatting with Xiao Tan next to him.

"Ah… don't even mention it…" Xiao Tan looked exhausted, drawing out his voice and reciting, "This year's New Year's Eve happens to be February 14th (2056), which is both Valentine's Day and New Year's Eve. It just so happens that Xiao Ling and I plan to get married this year, so we caught up… After our elders discussed it, they decided to simply solve the wedding and the New Year's Eve dinner for both families together." He paused, "I don't need to tell you the significance of marriage and New Year to the Chinese… Putting these two things together is really killing me… I quit my job a month ago and have been running around with Xiao Ling every day, taking care of all kinds of trivial matters… but I still feel like I can't keep up."

"Hmm…" Feng Bujue nodded upon hearing this, "Think of it on the bright side… After the wedding, you two unemployed people with a lot of money can eat, drink, and have fun all day long, living a life of pleasure and debauchery."

"Ah… about that…" Xiao Tan looked sad again upon hearing this, "I've been making progress in spiritual abilities recently, and my father-in-law… that is, Section Chief Gu, seems to be planning to let me hang a name at the Ninth Division and cultivate immortality in the future."

"Ha!" Feng Bujue chuckled, "Then your five years of medical school were for nothing."

"That's what I told him at the time," Xiao Tan said with squinted eyes, "He replied to me… 'Studying medicine is useless. Your grandfather was also a rock star in the surgical world, but in order to protect world peace, didn't he still use the knife that saves people to stab people everywhere?'"

"Hehe… Leaving aside the fact that Old Gu calls you grandson… I believe that he stabs people, but whether his motive for stabbing people is for world peace is debatable," Feng Bujue replied with a subtle expression.

"Oh… right." Xiao Tan didn't continue this topic with Jue-ge, but instead continued, "The wedding location is in Italy, you already know that, right?"

"Ha?" Feng Bujue sat up at that moment, "Of course I don't know!" He paused for half a second, "Why did you say it in such a normal tone? The address printed on the wedding invitation is clearly in the suburbs of S City, right?"

"We're going to the suburbs… but you're not going there to attend the wedding, but to take a plane there…" Xiao Tan continued, "A direct flight to Italy."

"Hey, hey… is there an airport near that address?" Feng Bujue said, "Is the plane yours?"

Jue-ge was just complaining, but unexpectedly…

"Well, the plane is… ours," Xiao Tan replied.

"Damn! Then it goes without saying, the airport is Xiao Ling's family's, right?" Feng Bujue said in a broken pot tone.

"No," Xiao Tan replied, "But it should be managed by their family… um… I can't say too much, anyway, there are runways and facilities for private or military aircraft to take off and land."

"You bunch of corrupt bastards who abuse your power…" Feng Bujue continued to complain with a righteous gaze, "You can really do it… Also, you two Chinese people, it's fine to hold a wedding abroad, but what's with the two families going to Europe for New Year's Eve dinner?"

"On New Year's Eve…" Xiao Tan said in a sincere but painful tone, "We can't book a place in the country…" He paused for two seconds and added, "And… this isn't something that money can solve…"

"Hmm…" Feng Bujue couldn't refute, "Okay…" He thought about it again, "Then what… which city's airport will we land in after we fly to Italy (yes, I didn't misspell it)? I'm declaring in advance that no matter which country I go to, I can't get a passport or visa (there's a story behind this, but it's too long to tell here). You have to be mentally prepared if I'm immediately deported back to China after landing."

"Don't worry, Section Chief Gu already knows about your situation, and he's prepared a 'flawless set of documents' for you just in case; besides, we won't be landing at a civilian airport…" Xiao Tan continued.

"So… your two families also have influence in the Axis countries?" Jue-ge squinted and replied.

"Don't ask me about this…" Xiao Tan said, "Strictly speaking, I'm already an employee of the Ninth Division, still in the 'probationary period'. I shouldn't be telling you so much."

"Alas…" Feng Bujue sighed with compassion, "Another good young man who lost his position because of women and work."

Before he finished speaking, the door of the conference room opened, and Ruo Yu and An Yueqin walked in one after another.

Less than two seconds after the two entered the door, Feng Bujue jumped up from the sofa: "The two heroines have worked hard! Please sit down! I've warmed up the sofa for you!"

"Did you wash my clothes with yours again?"

"Are you planning to delay your manuscript again this month?"

The two sat down calmly and said in emotionless tones.

"I'll definitely pay attention next time! I'll definitely submit the manuscript in a few days!" Feng Bujue put his hands together and shouted with his head lowered.

"Alas… okay."

"I'll just wait a few days for you."

Soon, he got the response he wanted.

Relieved, Feng Bujue changed his position and sat on the other side of Xiao Tan.

Wang Tanzhi looked askance at Feng Bujue with a look of shock mixed with the subtext "Dare you be any more shameless?", hesitated for a long time, and then said, "Jue-ge…"

"Shut up." But Feng Bujue didn't intend to listen to him make any comments.

…………

A few minutes later, Xu Huai Shang and Xiao Ling also finished preparing their script gains and came to the conference room.

The current six members of Hell Front had arrived.

After Xu Huai Shang joined, they had queued up for many scripts as a six-person team; however, tonight, according to plan, they would challenge for the first time… a six-person Nightmare difficulty team survival mode.