The CEO's office at the Wu Long Group headquarters had two occupants today. One was sitting in the CEO's chair, watching Li Jing's livestream. The other was hovering just behind, offering critique and commentary as necessary.

  "So, which one is Xiao-Jing?" asked Li Fen.

  Li Hua pointed at the screen. "You see that demonic looking one in the questionable outfit? That's her."

  "Ahh, I see. Should have guessed that. And Xiao-Na is the archer, right?"

  "Yeah. She is better than I thought. She's killed quite a few wolves," Li Hua said proudly.

  "So have Xiao-Wei and Mei Lin. They are both very good too. But why isn't Xiao-Mei doing anything? She is attacking Jingjing."

  "Jie, she is not attacking. She is a healer. She is keeping Jingjing alive."

  "I see. That makes more sense."

  "And why is Xiao-Na picking up all the arrows after each fight? She already has so many."

  "You know how she is, Jie. I guess she is trying to maximize her ROI even in there."

  Li Fen had never played a video game in her life, so Li Hua, who had played Tetris and Super Mario Bros, and had done some research during the lunch break, was in charge of explaining the mechanics to her elder sister.

  The sisters continued watching the stream while the in-game party made their way through the Endless Forest and managed to reach the boss in the forest clearing. It was a massive armored white bear clutching a great sword in its teeth.

  "So, do you think this team has a chance of getting the job done?" The CEO asked her sister.

  Before Li Hua could answer her elder sister, a couple of things happened. Li Jing, seeing the massive bear, panicked and tried to Charm it like she had done with the wolves earlier. The Charm spell only managed to make the boss angrier, and it lunged at Li Jing. An Mei forgot her task and healed the bear. After swatting Li Jing aside, the bear then swung its sword at the catgirl, who froze in fear. Li Wei, seeing his wife in panic, abandoned his position and jumped in front of his wife, taking the brunt of the attack. Three quarters of his health bar disappeared immediately. The remaining health points vanished just as quickly when the bear followed up with an ice breath attack on Li Wei, ending the mage's life.

  Li Hua and Li Fen looked at each other and then went back to watching the livestream without saying another word.

  The fight only came under control when Li Na managed to land a powerful long-range strike on the bear, which was immediately followed up by An Jing taunting the bear and pulling its attention away from Li Wei and An Mei, and Mei Lin launching a barrage of strikes. The fight continued without one of the main damage dealers, and with the healer attempting to heal her fallen husband, despite Li Wei telling her that it wouldn't work. Li Jing, on the other hand, had forgotten to summon her demons, but she did manage to run away successfully. After quite a bit of difficulty, the team of An Jing, Mei Lin, and Li Na managed to defeat the bear, with everyone losing massive portions of their health.

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  The journey continued after resurrecting Li Wei, everyone drinking health potions, and another scolding session from An Jing. As the players passed through The Valley of Auroras, they had to fight a few more enemy mobs and a couple of mini-bosses. But this time everyone stuck to their roles, and everything went far more smoothly.

  There were still a few minor hiccups, such as: An Mei deciding that being attacked by an enemy mob was the perfect time to pick flowers in the game and Li Wei protecting his flower picking wife rather than contributing to the team. Also, Li Jing discovered that her character could throw harmless glitter in the air and that it would stick to enemies and temporarily make them shinier versions of themselves. For about fifteen minutes she kept making shinier orcs and earth spirits before everyone in the team got annoyed and told her to stop.

  After a few more trials and tribulations and a lot of shepherding from An Jing, the group finally managed to reach the end of The Valley of Auroras. An Jing told everyone to stop there for a group discussion.

  "The next level is the Iridium Gates," An Jing said. "As I told you all before, there is a massive war going on in this level. One of the sides is fighting for the Queen of Veiled Tears, and the other side..."

  Before An Jing could finish her thought, Li Jing interrupted her. "Hey, that's the one. That's the character I played."

  "What character, Jie?" Li Wei asked.

  "I am in the game, Weiwei. I am the Queen of Veiled Tears," Li Jing said proudly.

  "That's so cool. Do you have any lines, Jie?" An Mei asked her sister-in-law.

  "I think so, Meimei. I don't remember it very well now. I filmed it a while ago."

  Li Wei was quite happy with this new discovery of an opportunity to beat up the virtual avatar of his fourth sister. "Jingjing, is there a boss fight with the Queen?" he asked.

  "Don't know, Jie-fu. I haven't played that far," said An Jing. And before anyone else could derail the meeting again, she turned the conversation back to strategy. "As I was saying, one faction is fighting for the Queen of Veiled Tears, and the other faction is fighting for the Duke of Endless Sorrow."

  Li Jing, unable to keep quiet and listen, shared her opinion on the situation with everyone. "Neither of them seem worth fighting for. Both seem miserable."

  "Well, Jing-jie is kind of right," An Jing continued, trying her best to ignore the interruption. "We are part of neither faction. This has both advantages and disadvantages. The advantage is that both factions might leave us alone. The disadvantage is that both factions might see us as a threat and attack us."

  "So, what should we do? Should we fight both or simply avoid them?" Li Na asked the team leader.

  "Our strategy is to avoid the fights entirely. Our only goal is to reach the Iridium Gate. Don't try to pick fights. And if someone comes after you, it's best to keep running forward; don't engage. Remember, these are not NPC's; they are all real players, so they will be even more dangerous."

  "But what if they keep attacking us, Jingjing?" An Mei asked.

  "That's where my guild comes in. They are already in there, and I have sent them details about our new additions as well. If someone attacks you, the members of the guild will protect you. You just keep running towards the massive blue gates. Only engage in a fight if there is no other option. Is everything clear? Yes? Good. Now let's get to the Iridium Gates."