Chapter 1 Formally Joining

After officially joining Hell's Frontline, Xu Huai Shang immediately updated her social media with the information.

The next day, under the "guidance" of the great writer Feng Bujue, she wrote a long article reminiscing about her career as a professional gamer, reviewing her achievements during her time with Red Cherry, and discussing her plans for the next six months. The main point... was to mention that the team atmosphere was excellent and that she hoped her fans would continue to support her, believing she could still achieve great results in a non-commercial environment.

Needless to say, after the article was published, Goddess Xu gained even more fans. On the other hand... all five other members of Hell's Frontline, except for Jue-Ge, began receiving all sorts of strange emails.

However, these emails were generally not hostile. Most of the senders were just trying to inquire about their club... asking things like "How many people are in your club in total?", "Does Feng Bujue call all the shots in the group?", "Is Xu Huai Shang having a good time there?", "Is Hell's Frontline still recruiting?", and many were simply sending messages to express their support for their idol.

In short, Jue-Ge successfully guided a wave of public opinion with that article. According to Miss An's吐槽 [tǔ cáo; literally, 'to spit groove'; meaning: to roast or mock], "As someone who wields a pen, you've finally used your professional skills to do something good."

...

On January 27th, before the news of Xu Huai Shang leaving the studio had completely died down, Meng Corporation seemed unwilling to be lonely and started making waves as well.

That morning, two bombshell announcements appeared on Meng Corporation's official website.

The first one was astonishing: "As the New Year approaches, to ensure that all players and employees of our company have a good holiday, Meng Corporation will be closed for one week from midnight on New Year's Eve to 11:59 PM on the sixth day of the New Year. During this period, all company operations, including but not limited to Thriller Paradise, Crazy Thinking, and the online store, will be completely suspended."

This... was the nth time Meng Corporation had made such an unconventional move. While other game companies and e-commerce businesses were launching crazy promotions during the holidays, they were actually taking a vacation, and a full week at that... seemingly not taking national holidays seriously.

It could be said that many joke writers had already started adding sentences to their documents while reading this news... sentences like "I'm going to die without Thriller Paradise to play," "How can players have a good holiday if you shut down?", "God only took six days to create the world, why are you taking seven days off?" came easily.

But they also knew... that saying these things wouldn't do any good.

Thriller Paradise had been online for almost a year, and players already knew Meng Corporation's quirks.

Have you ever been to a gas station? Or dealt with government agencies? You've experienced big storms, so this little thing is nothing. At least when dealing with Meng Corporation, most of the time you get value for your money, which is better than being treated like dirt after spending money, right?

In any case, since the announcement had been made, the seven-day shutdown was a sure thing. Everyone could just complain a bit, and if you really wanted to cause trouble... not only would it not change the outcome, but you might also get burned. The now-defunct Corpse Blade Studio was a cautionary tale.

Next, let's look at the second message: "The preliminary round rules for Thriller Paradise's 'Peak Showdown S3' tournament will be announced after the New Year. This competition will adopt a long-term mixed format of individual and team matches. Please pay attention to the official website for details."

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

Just the twelve words "long-term mixed format of individual and team matches" were enough to ruin the New Year for countless game studios.

...

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

Because Jue-Ge and Xiao Tan had both logged on a little later than usual, they could only watch a movie here while waiting for the other four teammates to come out of their scripts.

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

"Ah... don't even mention it..." Xiao Tan said, looking exhausted. "This year's New Year's Eve is also Valentine's Day (2056), and Xiao Ling and I are planning to get married this year, so it just happened... After discussing it, both sets of elders decided to just combine the wedding and the family's New Year's Eve dinner." He paused. "I don't need to tell you the significance of marriage and New Year's for Chinese people... 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, handling all sorts of trivial matters... but I still feel like I can't keep up."

"Hmm..." Feng Bujue nodded upon hearing this. "Look on the bright side... after the wedding, you two unemployed people with too much money can spend your days eating, drinking, and being merry."

"Ah... about that..." Xiao Tan looked sad again when he heard this. "Recently, I've been making good progress in terms of spiritual ability, and my soon-to-be father-in-law... Chief Gu, seems to be planning to let me hang a name in the Ninth Division and cultivate immortality in the future."

"Ha!" Feng Bujue chuckled. "Then your five years of medical school were a waste."

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

"Heh... putting aside the fact that Old Gu calls you grandson... I believe he stabbed people, but whether his motivation for stabbing people was to protect world peace is debatable," Feng Bujue replied with a subtle expression.

"Oh... right," Xiao Tan didn't continue to talk about this topic with Jue-Ge, but continued, "The wedding location is in Italy, you already knew that, right?"

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

"It's going to the suburbs... but you guys aren't going there to attend the wedding, but to take a plane there..." Xiao Tan replied, "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吐槽 [tǔ cáo]ing, but he didn't expect...

"Yes, the plane is... ours," Xiao Tan replied.

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

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

"You bunch of corrupt bastards who abuse your power for personal gain..." Feng Bujue continued to吐槽 [tǔ cáo] with a righteous look. "You can really do it... Also, you two Chinese people, it's fine to have a wedding abroad, but what's the mentality of having two families go to Europe for New Year's Eve dinner?"

"On New Year's Eve..." Xiao Tan replied in a sincere but painful tone, "It's impossible to book a place domestically." He paused for two seconds and added, "And... it's not something that money can solve..."

"Hmm..." Feng Bujue couldn't refute. "Okay..." He thought about it again. "Then... which city's airport do we land in after flying to Italy (yes, I didn't misspell it)? I'll declare 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), so you have to be prepared in case I'm immediately sent back to China after landing."

"Don't worry, Chief Gu already knows about your situation and has prepared a 'flawless set of documents' for you just in case. Besides, we won't be landing at a civilian airport..." Xiao Tan replied.

"So... you two families also have influence in the Axis countries?" Jue-Ge replied, squinting.

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

"Sigh..." Feng Bujue sighed sadly. "Another good youth who lost his principles because of women and work."

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

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

"You washed my clothes with yours again, didn't you?"

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

The two sat down calmly and said in an emotionless tone.

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

"Sigh... 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 squinted at Feng Bujue with a look of shock mixed with the subtext of "Dare you be even more shameless?", and after holding it in for a long time, he opened his mouth and said, "Jue-Ge..."

"Shut up." Feng Bujue didn't plan to listen to any of his comments.

...

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

The current six members of Hell's Frontline had all arrived.

After Xu Huai Shang joined, they had queued for quite a few scripts as a six-person team; however, tonight, according to plan, they would be challenging for the first time... a six-person nightmare difficulty team survival mode.