"How did you know?" I was somewhat surprised that Xu Lin had such detailed information about me in her hands.
"Hmph, if I didn't know what kind of person you are, would I dare let you sleep in my room?"
Lu Xuehan blinked her eyes, looked at me, and said, "I know about WCG. You're the Shanghai champion? That must be pretty amazing, right?"
I didn't say anything, only feeling a dull ache in my heart.
Xu Lin then addressed Lu Xuehan's question: "The WCG Shanghai champion is at the very top nationwide in both reaction time and APM. Lin Fan's world ranking after that WCG preliminary was eighth. If he had kept playing, it might have been even higher."
"Goodness, eighth in the world! What kind of concept is that?" Lu Xuehan opened her little mouth in surprise.
Xinyu forcefully rubbed her chest against my arm and smiled, "Good lad, Sister saw long ago that you're more useful than other men!"
I remained silent. Xu Lin stared straight at me and finally said, somewhat impatiently, "Lin Fan, if you can join us, my dream of making a fortune will be much easier to achieve."
Xu Lin's face, flushed with excitement, was so beautiful.
"Why should I join?" After a long pause, I finally spoke.
Xu Lin gave a slight start, looking right at me, her pretty eyes seemingly able to speak: "Because for the past half-year, we've regarded you as one of us, keeping our guard down completely and sharing everything we have with you!"
"And what's in it for me?"
Xu Lin let out a soft sigh and said, word by word: "Prove yourself!"
Such a distant topic. Everything I had done all this time—wasn't it just to prove myself?
Yet, long-term truancy would get one expelled from school, and spending all day immersed in games would cause a girlfriend to run off with someone else...
...
"Alright, alright, just join! Look how anxious you're making Sister Lin!"
Xinyu bumped into me, and only then did I notice Xu Lin looking at me, her pair of beautiful eyes filled with anticipation.
"Alright, I'll join!" I looked at the joyful expression on Xu Lin's face, paused, and added, "I can't promise what I'll achieve, but I'll work hard in the game to grow stronger, at least so none of you get bullied by others!"
Lu Xuehan fluttered her eyes as she looked at me. Even Xinyu, usually so frivolous, grew uncharacteristically quiet, her beautiful eyes gazing at me in a trance.
Xu Lin snapped her fingers and smiled, "Settled! Next is ordering the gaming equipment and arranging everyone's accommodation. Do you think we should set up the gaming equipment here, or find another place for it?"
Lu Xuehan asked doubtfully, "Then... will the foot bath center still stay open?"
"We won't open it. If we stay in the game for half a year, my savings should be enough to sustain everyone for that long. If things really don't work out, we can look for another way out then," Xu Lin said with a confident look, continuing:
"I think we should still stay in a residential area. Eating and everything here is too much trouble, and the utility bills are a bit too high. I have a four-bedroom apartment in South City. Xiaolin gets one room, and the rest of us can squeeze together a bit—that should be enough."
Xinyu smiled and said, "Wouldn't that be a steal for Xiaolin, getting a room all to himself? How about this: Sister will rough it a bit and squeeze into a room with you, how does that sound?"
I was instantly left speechless. The way Xinyu touched her own chest was utterly seductive.
Xu Lin expressionlessly spoke up on my behalf: "Xiaolin sharing a room with you would be taking advantage of you. Even if we roomed together, Xuehan and Xiaolin should share one. Look at how well matched those two are!"
It didn't matter to me, but Lu Xuehan's face had already turned crimson.
Xu Lin was a woman of action. She immediately made the order over the phone and had everyone pack their things to move to the residential area.
****
In just half a day, these young ladies who were usually a pain to get anything done with actually packed all their belongings and moved to the new residence. Before dinner, the gaming company had already delivered the eight sets of gaming equipment along with the manuals, throwing in a limited-edition game guide as a bonus.
After just a brief leafing through, I realized that the three major internet giants held extremely high hopes for this game *Yueheng*. They had even skipped the open beta entirely. The accompanying game manual was extremely vague, narrating the game's background almost like a fairy tale, and after finishing it, I realized not a single shred of actual game data was mentioned!
"How is it? Any help for our future gaming?" Lu Xuehan blinked her large, pretty eyes and asked.
Lu Xuehan's background was very mysterious; I had only heard that she had left home in a fit of anger, and knew nothing else.
"Basically nothing practical. All we know is that the game is divided into eight main classes: Warrior, Archer, Mage, Priest, Summoner, Beastmaster, Thief, and Knight. As for sub-classes, there are said to be eight as well, but without detailed descriptions. Still, this is enough—at least everyone can pick their class before the game starts."
Xu Lin nodded and said, "A team needs high attack output, but also support classes. Everyone, state what class you'd like to choose. I want to pick Mage—high attack output, indispensable for any team."
Xinyu thought for a moment and said, "Archer. With a fine figure like mine, it would be a shame not to pick Archer."
"Watch out that your chest isn't too big for your balance—missing your shots would be embarrassing!" I teased half-jokingly.
Xinyu puffed out her chest proudly, glanced at me with a smug look.
Li Qing chose Summoner, Liu Yun chose Beastmaster, and the others divided up the remaining classes. In the end, everyone was dismayed to discover that nobody had picked Priest...
"Don't look at me like that. I'm picking Thief; I refuse to be a healer..." I felt a bit prickly under Xu Lin and Xinyu's gazes.
Lu Xuehan, who had been silent all this time, said softly, "I'll be the Priest."
Everyone immediately cheered. The major classes had finally been divided up.
Xu Lin looked at the gaming equipment installation manual and smiled, "Xiaolin, help everyone set up their equipment now. The game officially opens the day after tomorrow at midnight sharp. Everyone must be on time, striving to log in at the very first moment, create your characters, and raise your world rankings as much as possible. If our guild has a few more top players, plenty of people will pay us to make characters or pull off hits, and the money will naturally roll in then. Killing people and getting gear drops can also be sold for money. Anyway, higher level means higher stats, higher stats mean greater strength, and strength naturally brings money. Understood?!"
"Understood!"
"Very good... Tomorrow we'll go out together to buy daily necessities. Starting tomorrow, the seven of us girls will take turns cooking every seven days, while Xiaolin focuses entirely on leveling up. The reputation of our guild in the future will likely rest on you. However, a Thief might consume too many potions in the early stages of leveling, so everyone should give you their money if needed."
"No need, I can handle it myself!" I still had a man's little bit of pride—how could I spend women's money?