Chapter 93 Reality Studio Opens, the Shameless Trio Becomes Bosses

That golden custom game cabin key sat in the first-floor lobby of the Unscrupulous Business Center for an entire day, with casual players forming three-block-long queues just for a look. Someone who touched the key went to the forums to post, saying their hands were shaking because it was their first time touching a million-dollar piece of equipment. Others spent ten minutes in the trial cabin and came out saying the graphics were so smooth it felt like gaming in a dream; looking back at their own crappy cabins, they couldn't stand it and ordered the same model on the spot.

Lin Ye sat by the third-floor window drinking tea, listening to the noisy queue of casual players downstairs. Su Qinghan sat opposite him, flipping through the real-world studio preparation schedule on her tablet, while Fatty Wang squatted in the corner with a calculator, still totaling the revenue from the global protection fee packages. Po Jun leaned against the door, silent as ever.

“The studio's registration procedures are all complete. The business license came through yesterday. Our scope of business includes game resource trading, cross-server logistics, Reality Synchronization of virtual items, and cross-dimensional energy conversion technology development.” Su Qinghan turned the tablet around for Lin Ye to see. The company name on the business license read 'Gods Domain Immoral Trouble Studio' in bold letters, with fifty million real-world currency listed under registered capital.

Lin Ye glanced at the company name on the license, the corners of his mouth curling up slightly: “The Industrial and Commercial Bureau didn't give you a hard time about this name?” Su Qinghan said flatly: “The people at the bureau don't know what Gods Domain is, nor do they know what 'making trouble' implies. They thought it was a creative game studio, so they approved it.”

Fatty Wang poked his head out from the corner: “Brother, the studio's office space is ready. It's the entire building you rented before. The first floor is the reception hall, the second floor is the materials warehouse, and the third floor is the core office area. When the landlord heard you were officially opening, he took the initiative to repaint the walls from the first to the third floor and even replaced the carpets. He said it was free, just a token of his appreciation.”

Lin Ye set down his teacup: “Where’s Zhao Kai? Why haven't I seen him lately?” Fatty Wang paused for a moment and flipped through the logistics shift schedule: “Zhao Kai has been helping move goods at the studio every day lately, from morning till night, without a single complaint. Yesterday, after moving the last batch of Abyss Crystals, he told me he wanted to see you but didn't dare come up himself.”

Lin Ye stood up and walked to the window to look down. In the alley behind the Unscrupulous Business Center, Zhao Kai was squatting on the steps eating a boxed lunch. He was still wearing his delivery uniform, and the lunch was the cheapest kind from a convenience store, with a bottle of mineral water at his feet. He ate very slowly, as if he were thinking about something with every bite.

“Have him come up.”

A few minutes later, Zhao Kai stood at the door of the third-floor VIP room. His delivery uniform was still stained with dust from Abyss Crystals, and his hair was a mess. He stood before Lin Ye, not daring to sit, his fingers pinching the hem of his uniform. After his lips moved for a long time, he managed to squeeze out a sentence: “Night Brother, now that the studio is open, could you give me some work? I can earn four thousand a month delivering food now, which is enough to eat but not enough to pay back my debts. I screwed over so many people and did so many rotten things before; I want to pay it back bit by bit.”

Lin Ye looked at him: “What can you do?”

Zhao Kai's eyes brightened for a moment then dimmed: “I don't know how to do anything. Back in the Heavenly Temple, I only needed to spend money and save face; I never learned a single real skill. But I have strength, I can move goods. I can do accounting and organize the warehouse. I can run errands and deliver things. I'm willing to do any odd job or manual labor—running errands, chores, guarding the door, sweeping floors—anything is fine.”

Lin Ye was silent for a while, then turned to Su Qinghan. Su Qinghan flipped through the job requirements on her tablet and nodded slightly: “The studio's logistics department needs someone to be responsible for material dispatching. This includes interfacing between the in-game and real-world warehouses, coordinating cross-server logistics transport, and material delivery for each branch. The job requirements are being able to endure hardship, memorizing the names and ID numbers of all materials, and being able to get up and work when receiving a replenishment notice at three or four in the morning.”

Zhao Kai nodded frantically, his head bobbing like a chicken pecking at rice: “I can do it! I can remember them! I can recite two hundred Abyss Crystal IDs in one breath! I can get up to work at any hour, as long as you let me stay at the studio!”

Lin Ye picked up his teacup and took a sip: “The studio officially opens tomorrow. Report to the logistics department; you'll have a three-month probation period. Your salary will be at market rate, with all the standard benefits. But there's one rule: screw up once, and you're gone.”

Zhao Kai's eyes reddened. He gave Lin Ye a deep bow, turned to go downstairs, and wiped his eyes with his sleeve when he reached the stairwell.

At eight o'clock the next morning, a new banner was hung at the entrance of the Unscrupulous Business Center in Dawn City, alongside the in-game sign, reading 'Gods Domain Immoral Trouble Studio Officially Open'. An identical one was hung at the entrance of the rented building offline. The original landlord, wearing a suit, stood at the door as a greeter with a sign-in book, his hair neatly combed. Seeing Lin Ye step out of the car, he immediately went up to him: “Night Brother, I’ve arranged the studio's cleaning and catering, please rest assured.”

The first-floor reception hall was already packed with people who had come to offer congratulations. All the guild masters from major guilds they knew in the game had arrived. Guild Master Li Tianci from the War Soul Hall sent a set of custom-made solid gold guild badges; Zhao Wuji from the Divine Punishment Pavilion sent a crate of legendary-grade enchanting materials; and Liu Ruyan from the Hundred Flowers Valley sent a ceremonial banner signed by players from across the server, with the four large characters 'Guardian God of Casuals' written on it. Representatives from overseas guilds also came; Kim Hyun-tae sent a handwritten congratulatory letter in Korean from the Korean Server, and Yamada Ichiro sent someone with a Japanese Server limited-edition forging hammer. Even William sheepishly sent a gift box of US Server specialty materials, with a scribbled note inside saying 'Night Brother, wishing you great success with the opening' in very messy handwriting.

Lin Ye stood in the center of the reception hall, with Su Qinghan and Fatty Wang by his side. The original landlord stood at the door with the sign-in book, sweating from the busyness. Zhao Kai, in a brand-new uniform, squatted at the entrance of the second-floor warehouse, checking the names and IDs of the Abyss Crystals to be stored today against a list. Su Qinghan flipped through the personnel arrangements on her tablet and whispered to Lin Ye: “The studio's core positions are all filled. Currently, it's divided into three major sectors: you personally handle strategy and core client relations; I'll manage compliance, finance, and HR; and Fatty will continue to handle logistics material dispatching and the renewal management of the global protection fee packages. The heads of the overseas branches will temporarily be Kim Hyun-tae and Yamada Ichiro until suitable candidates are found later. Po Jun will serve as the head of the security department, leading an elite squad drawn from the War Soul Hall and Divine Punishment Pavilion to ensure the safety of material transport both in and out of the game. Among Qin Wentian's old subordinates who stayed after he quit, several are willing to return for jobs; I've already arranged for them to start on probation in the logistics department.”

Lin Ye nodded: “The technical department is still missing someone.”

Su Qinghan was silent for a moment: “Regarding that retired Korean Server hacker you asked me to look into, Kim Hyun-tae has some leads. This person's surname is Mo, and his alias is Ghost. He became famous as a teenager after breaking through the firewalls of top overseas hacker organizations at age fifteen. Later, because he couldn't stand school bullying, he hacked into the perpetrators' accounts and exposed their bullying and cheating, resulting in his forced expulsion. Since then, he has lived in seclusion, making a living by taking on legitimate network security freelance work. A while ago, when a batch of cheats appeared in the game, he was the one who secretly tracked and exposed the source. Kim Hyun-tae said he never cooperates with anyone, but this time he took the initiative to contact Kim Hyun-tae through an intermediary, saying he wants to meet you.”

“What are his conditions?”

“He didn't mention any. He only said he's very interested in how you've handled the cheats and maintained game fairness. He wants to chat with you in person.” Su Qinghan paused. “This person is extremely socially anxious; he doesn't take calls or like to show his face. Even Kim Hyun-tae hasn't seen him in person. But his reputation in the hacker circle is legendary, ranked top three globally.”

Lin Ye took a sip of tea: “Let him come. No need for a face-to-face; just have him private message me in-game.”

As soon as he finished speaking, a new message popped up in Lin Ye's inbox. The sender's ID was just one word—Ghost. The content was also very short: “I know your Talent is related to the game's underlying code. I've been watching what you do from the shadows for a long time. If you're willing, I can help you watch the places that can't be seen.” Lin Ye looked at the message, his mouth curling up, and replied: “Report to the Unscrupulous Business Center tomorrow.”

On the afternoon of the opening day, the Unscrupulous Business Center launched a new service. Cross-server power-leveling services officially went live, featuring 'helping ordinary people stand up, screwing over black-hearted whales, dealing with kill-stealers, and counter-attacking scammers'. As soon as the service announcement went out, players from across the server swarmed in. One casual player had a BOSS stolen by an overseas whale; Lin Ye personally took the order and slapped the 'Mandatory Transaction Penalty' debuff on that whale, causing them to lose a massive amount of gold when selling equipment and even losing levels from the debuff's drain. That whale was so angry he uninstalled the game on the spot and posted on the forums saying 'I'll never touch a Chinese server again'. The schedule for power-leveling orders was immediately booked out for six months, and Fatty Wang's hands were nearly cramping from filtering the orders.

After Su Qinghan organized the opening day data, she pushed the tablet in front of Lin Ye: On the studio's first day, cross-server power-leveling orders exceeded a thousand, the protection fee package renewal rate was ninety-eight percent, and the total revenue from materials and gold converted to over thirty million real-world currency. The original landlord stood at the door for the entire day until his feet were sore. Zhao Kai checked the list item by item in the warehouse, not even stopping for lunch.

After night fell, most of the well-wishers had dispersed. Lin Ye sat by the third-floor window of the Unscrupulous Business Center, teacup in hand. Su Qinghan sat opposite him, continuing to process tomorrow's work schedule. Fatty Wang was slumped in a chair, still clutching his calculator. The lights of the material supermarket downstairs were still on, and casual players were still queuing to check out.

The night in Dawn City was deep, with a faint purple glow coming from the direction of the Abyss Rift. That was the light from the Lord of the Abyss mining at the bottom of the abyss, and also the light from the global Abyssal Lords patrolling along the cross-dimensional infection chain. These Abyss BOSSes, who once made the entire server tremble with fear, were now Lin Ye's exclusive laborers, punctually delivering materials to the Unscrupulous Business Center's warehouse every Monday at midnight.

Ghost hadn't reported for duty yet, but those few private messages were still sitting in Lin Ye's friend list. Those things Ghost had seen from the shadows, Lin Ye would eventually have to ask about in person. The power to set the rules for the global Cross-Server Tournament was now firmly grasped in Lin Ye's hands. Although William had signed the agreement, the undercurrent of his resentment was still surging. And at this moment, behind that gray door deep within the Test Server, the data remnants of the Creator God prototype were still slumbering, waiting for an awakening that would come sooner or later.