Chapter 7 Oh... It's Atobe

"Oh... it's Atobe." Feng Bujue turned his head and saw Atobe-shaoye and TrueNameToTake, along with two other people beside them.

Feng Bujue hadn't seen these two before, but in the Shopping Mall, all players' nicknames were displayed. Looking at the names of those two: [TakingANameIsSoHard] and [SoHardToTakeAName], it was clear that these guys were all in the same boat.

These guys, whose relationships were obvious from their game names, clearly hadn't just met each other while playing the game. Only people who started the game together would come up with similar names, so it was easy to deduce that they were friends in real life.

In this light, Atobe-shaoye's game ID seemed out of place...

"Tsk, tsk... don't try to get familiar, it's not like I know you that well." Atobe replied, "Didn't we get screwed over by you in that last script?"

"How was I screwing you over?" Feng Bujue asked.

"You're playing dumb? You told us to grind monsters and practice our specialization in front of the gun shop, but before we could grind for long, a super strong monster showed up and killed us in one hit." Atobe said.

Feng Bujue asked again, "But did you guys get your Firearms Specialization to E?"

"Yeah... we did." Atobe replied.

"Then that's that, the basic goal was achieved. You leveled your Firearms Specialization from nA to E, and got some equipment, so dying is dying. I never said I could guarantee that you'd clear the level alive." Feng Bujue retorted, "Besides... who has the ability to guarantee someone else's clear? I'm not the kind of pro gamer who takes newbies to level up."

"That seems to make sense..." Xiao Ming said.

"What makes sense about it!" Atobe said, but he couldn't think of any counterarguments. At the time, he and Xiao Ming had been completely stunned by Feng Bujue's words and actions and had actively chosen to listen to his commands, so they couldn't blame anyone else. "But fine, I'm a generous person, and besides, I got a little bit of the clear reward experience later, so I won't haggle with you."

"Tch~" The three people behind Atobe simultaneously let out a contemptuous hiss.

"Which side are you guys on?" Atobe said unhappily. He was truly miserable as the boss of this studio. He only had three employees, and they were all his buddies.

What makes friendship between men deep? It's mainly expressed by tearing each other down and cursing each other out, but never holding grudges. If two people are polite and keep a certain distance, and are very careful with their words, then it can only be considered a superficial friendship.

"Eh? I see that the four of you are wearing matching outfits, and there's even a logo on them, how did you do that?" Feng Bujue asked.

When he saw the four of them, he noticed that they were all wearing the same clothes. Now that the Mall was open, the system naturally launched a large number of different clothes, allowing players to have more freedom and personalized appearance choices. People like Feng Bujue, who were still wearing the system's default black T-shirt and pants, were either public beta players who hadn't cleared many scripts, or internal beta players who had just spent all their game coins.

The clothes of these four were all sportswear. The long-sleeved shirts had a white base, the right sleeve was blue, and one-third of the clothes from the left shoulder and the left sleeve were also blue. The pants were black, loose-fitting sweatpants. In short... it was Hyotei (ice emperor).

On the front of their right shoulder, there was also a special logo, with the two characters [冰帝] (Bīngdì) written vertically, and a light blue ice rose pattern floating above the words. This was a new setting in the game, a derivative of the "Guild" system. The guild leader could design their own logo, and after submitting it, it would be displayed on the clothes of all guild members. Depending on the style of clothing, the system would display it in the appropriate location, and since these guys from Hyotei were wearing uniform clothing, all the logos were on their right shoulders.

"This is our studio's logo." Atobe-shaoye said with great pride, "I designed it myself!"

"Let me make it clear first, I personally think this logo sucks." TakingANameIsSoHard (referred to as Lao Qu below) interjected. His appearance settings also looked quite handsome, but his hairstyle was an afro.

"Let me also make it clear, Atobe forced us to wear this outfit." SoHardToTakeAName (referred to as Zhen Ge below) also said. This one had also beautified his face, but he had actually chosen a mohawk for his hairstyle.

Among these four oddballs, apart from Atobe-shaoye, who had styled his hair in a pretty, beautiful way, the other three were: Xiao Ming, bald; Lao Qu, afro; Zhen Ge, mohawk. In fact, the latter three all had conventional short hair in real life, and they would never get these hairstyles, so they were enjoying themselves in the game.

"Indeed... this logo is a bit girly, it seems that everyone is very helpless." Feng Bujue continued in a sympathetic tone, "Fortunately, I see that you all have extraordinary skeletons and strange hairstyles..."

"Hey! Who said it's a little girly! This is elegant, cold, and handsome!" Atobe interrupted.

"Brother..." Feng Bujue put his hand on his shoulder, "This is as girly as a piping bag filled with lemon cream..."

Atobe pushed his hand away: "I don't understand your analogy..."

Xiao Ming said weakly from behind, "Hey... Mr. Feng, you see, we told him, but he wouldn't listen."

Lao Qu continued, "He's stubbornly clinging to his delusion..."

Zhen Ge also said, "Might as well change it to Hyotei Host Club..."

"What are you guys babbling about! I'm the leader!" Atobe roared.

Because he spoke a little loudly this time, a virtual guard instantly moved next to the group. These guards were humanoid, one meter and ninety centimeters tall, with no skin and a completely metallic skeleton, looking very much like a Terminator robot. It wore a black uniform with a huge and eye-catching [管] (guǎn, manage) printed on the back. As long as there was anything unusual in a public space, such as a group of people surrounding one or more people, the virtual guard would instantly move to the side to maintain order and handle the situation.

"Is there a problem here?" The guard's voice was set to a mechanical tone devoid of any emotional color, but in fact, their intelligence was very high, so they usually wouldn't take action unless necessary, but ask questions first.

"It's nothing, we're just chatting." Feng Bujue replied.

Hearing this, the guard looked at the group again, and then turned and left.

"Looks like I'll have to go back to the login space and read the full public beta game instructions later." Feng Bujue smiled as he watched the guard's back.

"Okay, I won't bullshit with you, lest these grandchildren sell out their teammates in front of outsiders again." Atobe said to him, "In the near future... when our Hyotei makes a name for ourselves, this logo will naturally become a symbol of the strong, oh ha ha ha..." He put his hands on his hips and laughed a few times, flicking his hand at his three damaging friends, "Let's go, let's go..." Before leaving, he didn't forget to add, "Mr. Feng, see you later, if you want to ask me for an autograph in the future, I might consider it, ha ha ha..."

"Ha... haha..." Feng Bujue's mouth twitched, and he let out a dry laugh, "Good... goodbye..."