Angel

Xiao Yu gently pushed open the iron gate of the apartment building and stepped out, where he was greeted by the dazzling morning sunlight of S City.

Xiao Yu shielded his face with his hands and stood there for a while before his eyes adjusted to the bright light outside. He took a breath of the fresh morning air and suddenly felt a sense of déjà vu.

How long has it been since he left the house? About half a year, I guess. Although he used to be a homebody, he would still go out for meals quite often every day.

This is the first time I've stayed home for six months straight.

A sense of emotion flashed through Xiao Yu's mind. Although the deluxe gaming pod had a muscle stimulation function that could prevent muscle atrophy, he still felt a sense of weakness as he walked on the stone pavement in the community. His body was unusually stiff, as if it were a machine that hadn't been oiled in a long time. As he walked, he could almost hear the creaking and grinding sounds.

Xiao Yu stretched vigorously, his bones cracking and popping. After stretching and bending his legs for a while, he finally recovered.

So next, it was time to meet with them. Xiao Yu thought to himself as he walked out of the residential area, hailed a taxi, and after more than ten minutes, the taxi stopped in front of a coffee shop.

Xiao Yu walked into the coffee shop, asked for a booth for six people, ordered a coffee, and then sat down to wait.

Due to the development of the virtual world of the internet in this era, many service-oriented businesses in the real world are not doing well and even need government subsidies to stay afloat. The coffee shop in front of us is one of them. There are only Two or Three Kittens people drinking coffee in the entire coffee shop, making it very quiet and allowing Xiao Yu to have a large booth all to himself.

Xiao Yu naturally didn't plan to go to the meeting alone. He could sense that this meeting must be very important, and there must be something special to discuss. All four teams would be present. Dragon Covenant was a studio-type team, while Dynamic Angels had a large entourage of bodyguards and agents. As the saying goes, even if you lose, you can't lose face. He couldn't go on stage alone, so Xiao Yu directly called on several of his most capable subordinates from the studio.

Big Water Cunt and Leah Bloodmoon are two people I absolutely have to bring. In addition, there are Lin Xiaomei and Wang Gang. These two are his people from his studio. One is responsible for the daily operation of the studio, and the other is responsible for managing other subordinates' affairs in the game.

Before long, the four of them arrived one after another.

Li Xiaomei and Wang Gang arrived first. Li Xiaomei looked to be in her early twenties, dressed in a professional and capable manner, while Wang Gang was in his early thirties, wearing black-rimmed glasses and exuding a scholarly air.

Xiao Yu spoke a few words to the two men and then asked them to sit down and rest. He considered them subordinates, so there was no need for him to be overly enthusiastic.

Next, Big Water Cunt and Leah Bloodmoon arrived. Big Water Cunt's real name is Liu Yishui, a seventeen-year-old high school student. Leah Bloodmoon is a beautiful girl in her twenties named Han Liya. In real life, she looks about seven or eight parts like the Blood Elf in the game, but she is less seductive and charming, and more casual and cheerful.

After exchanging pleasantries and getting to know each other, the group felt a little awkward. This was their first time meeting in real life, and for some reason, Xiao Yu felt uneasy. In the virtual office building, which was practically indistinguishable from reality, everyone had been more relaxed. Now, however, it felt somewhat fake.

Psychologically, everyone probably understands that there is a big difference between reality and virtuality.

"Alright, everyone's here, let's get going," Xiao Yu said, leading the group outside after exchanging pleasantries.

While waiting for the car, Han Liya asked curiously, "By the way, Captain, what kind of meeting is it this time?"

"I don't know, but it should be related to the competition. All four of our winning teams from the group stage have been invited. In that case, I personally guess that today might be to set the tone for the upcoming matches, or to discuss which teams will play against which teams."

"Wait a minute, boss, isn't the competition supposed to be a random draw?" Liu Yishui asked, somewhat puzzled.

Xiao Yu glanced at Liu Yishui speechlessly. "Kid, don't be so naive. How could this kind of competition be completely random? If it were, how could our four strongest teams be so coincidentally placed in four different groups? As the organizers of the event, they would definitely try their best to control the progress of the competition. Maybe they already have a plan for which team will win."

Liu Yishui was clearly unable to accept this cruel reality, yet he couldn't refute it, and his mood immediately plummeted.

Han Liya patted his shoulder reassuringly. The two were very harmonious and friendly in real life, quite different from their online relationship, which Xiao Yu found rather amusing.

After getting in the car, we arrived at the Marriott Hotel in no time.

This hotel is quite famous in S City.

After getting off the car, a service robot led the group to the meeting place, which turned out to be a huge conference hall.

The hall was quite empty, with only two tables occupied in the lounge area.

At one table, four men and one woman were playing cards; at another table, five pretty girls were accompanied by two bodyguards in black suits.

Wow, it's the Dynamic Angels!

Liu Yishui and Han Liya exclaimed almost simultaneously upon seeing the group of pretty girls.

Xiao Yu thought to himself, "Don't embarrass me."

He whispered, "Hey, you two better behave yourselves for a bit. You're both part of the Immortals Team now, don't embarrass me. We're rivals, after all. If you act like this, are we even going to play?"

Han Liya nodded seriously after listening. "Yes, yes, we're celebrities now too! They just debuted a few years earlier than us, what's so great about that!" She then patted Liu Yishui's shoulder sharply. "Be more alert later, okay!"

Liu Yishui nodded hastily, but the excitement in his eyes betrayed his true feelings.

Han Liya cheered herself up, and the group walked towards the lounge area. Suddenly, a pink-haired girl from the Dynamic Angels group glanced over, saw the group, and immediately spoke to the other girls before skipping over.

Xiao Yu recognized the newcomer as Dynamic Angels Angel. Angel's outfit was cute, with pink pigtails, delicate skin, and a pair of bright, sparkling eyes. She looked like a chibi character from a cute anime, giving off an irresistible urge to pat her head.

"Hello, you must be Sister Leah Bloodmoon! I didn't expect you to be so beautiful in real life. My name is Angel, it's nice to meet you."

As soon as she said that, Han Liya immediately forgot what she had said before and excitedly grabbed Angel's hand, "Hahaha, you're too kind. Why are you saying such blunt truths? I'm not as pretty as you."

"Hmm! "Xiao Yu was speechless for a moment, then coughed suddenly. This finally made Han Liya realize what was going on.

She immediately adopted a calm expression. "I mean, thank you for the compliment. Miss Angel is very cute too."

"My in-game ID is Azathoth, Elemental King, but you can just call me Xiao Yu," Xiao Yu said.

"I know you! You're that monster who crushed so many people to death with one plop!" Angel's face showed an exaggerated expression of horror, then turned to doubt. "But you don't look that scary."

"That's just our boss's in-game persona. In reality, our boss is very gentle—just like me," Liu Yishui finally had a chance to chime in.

"Who are you?"

"Water Elemental Lord —uh, Big Water Cunt is coming down again." Liu Yishui paused noticeably when he said his name. For the first time in his life, he began to regret the quirky name he had chosen.

"Ugh, you can't be a good person just by your name. You're that big green jelly, aren't you? I'm not talking to you anymore."

After saying that, she looked at Xiao Yu and said, "You can call me Angel too. I watched your match a few days ago. Wow, you were amazing! It was just... bang!" Angel made a gesture of her head exploding.

Xiao Yu nodded noncommittally. Although the girl in front of him was really, really cute, and seemed to admire him a lot, Xiao Yu felt it was a bit too cute. Reality wasn't an anime, and someone who could act so dramatically always seemed a little fake.

"Nice to meet you too."

"Um, could I get an autograph?" Li Xiaomei suddenly asked in a low voice from the side, handing over a notebook as she spoke, clearly having planned this all along.

"Of course," Angel said without hesitation, taking the notebook and carefully writing in it, stroke by stroke, "For my dear—what's your name?"

Li Xiaomei.

"This is for my dear classmate Li Xiaomei! Is this alright?"

"Yes, yes, thank you so much! Um, can I have one with them too?" Li Xiaomei asked, pointing to the angels over there.

Angel turned around and glanced behind her, then shook her head sheepishly. "They don't really like chatting with people, I'm so sorry."

After chatting for a few minutes, Angel said goodbye. Watching Angel skip and hop back to the table with the Dynamic Angels, Han Liya and Li Xiaomei both had expressions as if they had seen a cute little animal.

Han Liya exclaimed, "Wow, she's so cute! I really want to hug her!"

Li Xiaomei added, "Yes, yes, and this Angel is so polite, unlike some celebrities who always act so arrogant, don't you think, boss?"

Xiao Yu nodded noncommittally. "Let's go over there."