Where's the cute girl we were promised? She's completely wiped out S-rank dungeons!

[Player "Song Yuan" has killed 3 monsters out of 10!]

[Player "Song Yuan" has killed 5 monsters out of 10!]

[Player "Song Yuan" has killed 8 monsters out of 10!]

[Player "Song Yuan" has killed 10 monsters out of 10!]

After she blew the last monster's head off, the system's mechanical voice finally sounded in her mind:

Accompanied by a burst of cannon fire and cheers, a flash of white light appeared before her eyes, and she was logged out of the instance.

As the system announcement sounded, the live stream's popularity reached its peak. Cheers, laughter, and curses filled the screening room. But without a doubt, they all remembered the name of a newcomer:

"Song Yuan! Song Yuan! Song Yuan!"

Song Yuan's down jacket, soaked with blood, no longer felt heavy against her body. When she opened her eyes again, she was standing at the game's login screen, her clothes and hair clean and tidy once more.

The game's exit is a huge semi-circular archway, decorated in a very cyberpunk style; the floor is made up of many small square grids with edges emitting a fluorescent blue light.

Right in front of this door, there were approximately several thousand other players similar to Song Yuan.

Some of them had just emerged from a dungeon and were in poor spirits, vomiting incessantly on the ground. Others were ecstatic about surviving the game, crying and kissing the ground, while still others nervously huddled in a corner, hugging their knees and biting their nails...

Of course, there were also some players who were mentally sound. Song Yuan saw many people walking around with folders or blank sheets of paper, somewhat like job applicants, but she didn't know exactly what they were doing.

[Ding~ Player "Song Yuan" has defeated all monsters in the [Extreme Cold Train] dungeon, successfully fulfilling the hidden completion condition.]

The system began announcing all her achievements in the first game:

[Congratulations to player "Song Yuan" for clearing the "Extreme Cold Train" dungeon]

[Congratulations to player "Song Yuan" for setting a new record for the fastest completion of this dungeon, earning the "Speed ​​Breakthrough" medal]

Congratulations on ranking seventh on the "Emerging Talents List"!

[Reward Points: 3000]

[During this live stream, a total of 10.1 people watched player "Song Yuan's" stream, earning a total of 5034 points in rewards. Congratulations on receiving the "Rising Star" badge.]

Your new user manual has been downloaded. Please read it carefully.

[We hope players will continue their efforts and achieve even greater success!]

Song Yuan opened the game panel, found the new player manual, and started flipping through the catalog page:

"I couldn't find the option to 'quit this damn game.'"

Yes, because there is no such option, once you enter the game, you cannot exit. You cannot leave unless you become the person at the highest point in the game.

Song Yuan, her face cold, repeated once more, "I already said I don't have any wishes at all!"

That might be because you haven't yet realized your deepest desires.

If all else fails, you can always make leaving this game your wish, okay?

Oh, so this damn system means that she was pulled into the game to fulfill her wish, but now she has to grind dungeons to accumulate points so that she can leave the game?

Isn't this ridiculous?!

Song Yuan crossed her arms and sneered, "What if I wished for you to disappear forever? Would that work?"

The system's response was slightly delayed this time, but it still provided a reply a few seconds later:

Of course, if you can do that.

Song Yuan angrily shut down the game panel.

After sulking alone for a while, I reopened it:

"What is my current hate level?"

She has a strong ability to learn. The new player handbook states that players selected by the system must enter the horror game once a month.

Instead of throwing a tantrum here, I'd rather rack up more points and get rid of this damn system as soon as possible—I don't know how this lousy game's selection mechanism works, she's so indifferent to everything, yet this lousy game still managed to select her!

Your current hate level is 52. It has been added to your profile panel; you can check it later.

Song Yuan frowned when she heard the number: "52?"

She just killed an NPC in the dungeon, so why didn't her aggro value change?

"The consequence of you killing an NPC is a worse outcome than simply increasing your aggro: annihilation. Generally, the system doesn't combine these two negative outcomes, so your aggro level remains unchanged."

Song Yuan looked up warily and saw a little girl with light blonde curly hair, light blue eyes, wearing a white Hello Kitty print T-shirt and a light pink mini skirt suddenly appear out of nowhere.

The girl was very cute, with a sexy and hot figure. Seeing that Song Yuan hadn't spoken for a while, only staring at her warily, she giggled:

"I've been watching you play games in your live stream the whole time. Don't you remember me? I'm the only intermediate-level player who ever commented in your live stream."

The striking fluorescent blue flashed through Song Yuan's mind, and then she looked at the sweet-looking blonde beauty in front of her:

"Is being handsome my crime?"

She coughed lightly: "...Although I don't know why, it feels a little embarrassing to have my ID name read out like that. Yes, it's me."

However, this will not change Song Yuan's attitude towards her:

"Is there something you need?"

"Hehe, it's nothing. I just wanted to make friends with you," Handsome is My Sin said with a smile as she approached, but she politely maintained a one-meter social distance from Song Yuan. "Let me introduce myself first. My name is Qiao Ran. Without further ado, I think you have a lot of potential."

She tossed her long, golden waves, put one hand behind her back, gently tapped her soft, white cheek with her fingers, and winked at Song Yuan:

"Want to join my guild? How about we team up for the next game?"

Song Yuan was somewhat puzzled by her behavior: "Are your eyes bothered?"

Qiao Ran: "...No, I'm fine."

She silently lowered her hand.

Song Yuan then asked, "What is a guild?"

Qiao Ran tilted her head in confusion: "You don't know about guilds?"

However, she quickly realized what was happening and began to explain enthusiastically:

"Oh, it's normal not to know. It's not mentioned in the newbie handbook. Guilds, to put it simply, are teams. In the game, the player death rate is very high, so this kind of semi-military organization has evolved, where players band together to survive and compete for resources."

However, guilds have a much larger membership than teams. Some large guilds already have over a million members.

After answering her question, she couldn't help but give herself a pat on the back: "There are so many benefits to joining a guild! Like items, resources, training grounds, and weapon maintenance services—you can't enjoy these if you're playing alone."

After listening to her explanation, Song Yuan immediately understood the behavior of the players around her who were holding folders and blank sheets of paper—these people must be applying for jobs at the guild.

It's not just job applicants, it's also recruitment.

This piqued her interest in Qiao Ran's guild: "So, what about your guild? How's its size, resources, and benefits?"

"Our guild..." She touched Han's hand with one hand, tapping her chin with her pink-nailed fingers, "...I'm the only member right now, and we haven't even started procuring weapons and resources yet. I'm preparing... Hey, don't go! Let me finish!"

Song Yuan turned and left, and she hurriedly chased after her, jogging to keep up.

"Don't be like that! It's so hard, so difficult, and so lonely to run a dungeon alone! Please reconsider, sister, pretty lady, beautiful lady!"

"You're playing me," Song Yuan said confidently as she walked away. "They're hiring everywhere here, why would I want to join your guild that has nothing?"

"It's not like we have nothing at all. At least my guild has a base now, you..."

She suddenly stopped talking. Song Yuan sensed something was wrong, turned to look at her, and found that Qiao Ran, who had been chattering away just moments before, had vanished into thin air.

Song Yuan frowned in confusion, then suddenly realized that not only Qiao Ran, who had disappeared without a trace, but even the players who were talking around her had become unusually quiet.

"Hey, you shorty over there!"