The President Comes Knocking -

magined several animated scenes of her angrily calling him a creep…

What Mu Yunchen hadn’t considered, however, was that Gu Yihan was also a gaming enthusiast. Not only that, but they were coincidentally playing the same game.

“Oh, you play this game too? Hmm, let me see. Wow, what a coincidence-we’re even on the same server! Let’s add each other as friends. From now on, I’ll look out for you.”

Mu Yunchen, whose brain was still in complete disarray, nodded in a daze and agreed without a second thought.

Gu Yihan’s promise to “look out for you” wasn’t empty talk. She made that statement with full confidence. In the game, her character was a “cat lady,” an assassin class with incredibly high DPS¹. She had been one of the most notorious assassins in her original server, known for taking bounty missions to eliminate players for hire.

It’s worth mentioning that she wasn’t in her original server anymore. The server she used to play on was an older one, which had seen a decline in activity over the years. As a result, the game developers decided to merge it with another older, but still thriving, server.

That thriving server was, coincidentally, the one where both Mu Yunchen and Chu Qianqian were playing.

After hearing Mu Yunchen’s recounting of events, Chu Qianqian thought for a moment before summarizing, “Well, this must be what they call fate bringing two people together across thousands of miles.”

On the other end of the computer, Mu Yunchen was visibly touched by Chu Qianqian’s mention of “fate.” The corner of his lips curled up into a noticeable smile, and even his voice carried a hint of laughter. “Yeah.”

The two of them exchanged a few more words on the topic before Gu Yihan’s voice came through their headsets. There was a trace of apology in her tone as she said, “Sorry about that-I stepped away for a moment. Did I keep you waiting?”

Chu Qianqian instinctively shook her head, only to realize that Gu Yihan couldn’t see her. She quickly replied, “It’s no problem. Was it because of Honey?”

“Yep, Honey just threw a tantrum, kicking over its bowl because no one was playing with it. That little furball is such a handful.”

Though her words sounded like complaints, Gu Yihan’s tone was full of affection, clearly the kind of grumbling that doubled as a humblebrag about Honey the cat’s tiny tantrums.

The other two people on the call, both either current or aspiring cat owners, could only feel waves of envy washing over them after hearing her. For a moment, any other thoughts they had were completely forgotten. The three of them ended up chatting for half an hour about which toys cats might like best before they finally remembered their original objective-heading to the arena.

Chu Qianqian glanced at the time. An hour had already passed, but fortunately, they still had enough time left to play for a while longer. She was the first to cut into the conversation, asking hesitantly, “Are we still going to the arena?”

Of course, they had to go. After standing near the arena gates for almost an hour, skipping it now would make them seem like fools.

As Gu Yihan had said earlier, her gameplay skills were indeed remarkable. Not only could she protect Mu Yunchen, but she could also cover for Chu Qianqian.

Even though one of their teammates was a healer with no offensive skills whatsoever, and the other was a swordsman whose operational skills could only be described as average, Gu Yihan still successfully carried their team to win multiple rounds. It wasn’t until 10:30 p.m. that they finally lost a match. And the reason for their loss wasn’t even her fault-it was a problem on Chu Qianqian’s end. The opposing team had a highly proficient Taoist Priest who managed to severely injure her right at the start of the match.

Without Chu Qianqian to shield Mu Yunchen, it became nearly impossible for Gu Yihan to achieve the daunting task of taking on three opponents alone. As expected, their team ended up losing that round.

After several consecutive wins, losing one match wasn’t hard to accept. Besides, it was already late, and everyone had work the next day. After bidding goodbye to the other two, Chu Qianqian logged off first and went to bed.

Lying down, she thought back to the two flashing names on her friends list when she logged off. Chu Qianqian smiled. This meant the rest of the evening was probably a private little “date” for Mu Yunchen and Gu Yihan, right?

Still, Gu Yihan always seemed so tired lately. Could it be because she was staying up late every night gaming?

The next few days were hectic for both Qingyi and Chu Ziyu, as the film crew had decided to finish shooting all the outdoor scenes for the secret realm trial storyline before moving the filming equipment indoors. Even their Sunday break had been postponed to accommodate the schedule.

“Phew~”

Qingyi took the coat Chu Qianqian handed to him, leaned back against his chair, and draped the coat over himself. He closed his eyes for a brief rest. While not exactly proper relaxation, it was a quick way to recharge his energy.

Chu Ziyu wasn’t in as bad shape as Qingyi, but he wasn’t much better off either. After wrapping himself in a coat, he took a sip of ginger syrup and quietly began scrolling through his phone.

This was their first break of the morning.

Zhang Dong, now in full-on rush mode, once again surprised everyone with his transformation. He was nothing like the usually easygoing guy who often granted generous mid-session breaks. His instructions to the actors had become more concise, and his expectations much stricter. He repeatedly urged the cast to minimize the number of NGs and squeeze in as much filming as possible in a single day.

In truth, the schedule hadn’t originally been this packed. But the weather in City B seemed to have caught whatever chill had swept through City A. The temperature had been dropping far faster than it had the previous year, and if it continued at this rate, snow might arrive within a week.

Snowy weather was far from ideal for transporting equipment. To ensure the film crew could move indoors before the snow came, Zhang Dong had no choice but to speed up the pace of filming and prioritize completing all the remaining outdoor scenes for the secret realm storyline as quickly as possible.

“Hang in there just a little longer,” someone encouraged. “I just asked Director Zhang, and there aren’t many outdoor scenes left. If we make good progress today, we should be able to wrap up filming by tomorrow afternoon. Then you’ll get two days to rest.”

This was undoubtedly good news. Qingyi’s ears perked up, and he poked his face out from under his coat with a tired but optimistic smile. “That’s great. Honestly, I’d rather have longer shoots each day than feel so rushed like this. By the end of each day, my head feels dizzy, and I’m absolutely drained. It’s just too much.”

Chu Ziyu quietly sipped his ginger syrup without saying a word, but the look in his eyes made it clear that he agreed with Qingyi’s sentiment.

“It’s a special situation, so we’ll just have to tough it out for now. Don’t worry, we’re almost there.”

“Fine, we’ll bear with it. But Qianqian, you’d better make more food for us to build back our strength,” Qingyi said with a sly grin. He paused thoughtfully before adding, “Hmm… speaking of food, tomorrow’s the first day of December. How about we make some dumplings to celebrate?”

Footnote:

DPS(DPS): DPS stands for “Damage Per Second.” It is a term used in gaming to measure the rate at which a character or player can inflict damage on enemies.