Chapter 353: A Dazzling Entrance (1)

It was almost 10 am when the three ballrooms started letting people in.

The group of people from Jade Sea Pavilion chatted in the cardroom for a bit till it was almost time for them to head to the ballroom. They were all youths and had common interests to talk about. It didn’t take long for them to go back to their usual in-game selves after spending some time getting to know one another. Throughout this time, Shen Jingbin was often pulled over by various members of the group, who’d ask her all sorts of questions. They even started gossiping about her and Zhao Chengning.

Fortunately, all of them knew how to be discreet, and nobody tried to delve too far into their backgrounds or curry favour with them.

As for National Treasures, she clung on to Shen Jingbin the whole time, acting the part of a rabid fangirl. This drew the ire of Zhao Chengning, who glared daggers at her several times. He even announced that he would be kicking her out of the guild when they got back.

When it was almost 10 am, the group made their way towards the designated ballroom for registration.

Panlong Kaiyuan Intercontinental Hotel was one of the best hotels in B City, with one large ballroom being able to accommodate up to two thousand people. Among the three ballrooms reserved by Yiju, the first ballroom was used to entertain the invited players with prepared activities and performances. The other two ballrooms were set up like an anime convention and were used to host the players who weren’t invited but wished to participate in the event.

The event would be held over two days, from Saturday to Sunday. On Saturday morning, a special performance and prize-giving segment would be held for the invited players. During this time, the game’s officials would take shots of the relevant staff members and broadcast it live on their official channel. Once the performance was over, the first ballroom would then be converted into an anime convention styled format, just like the other two ballrooms. Not only would there be booths, but there would even be autograph sessions done by the celebrity, COSER, and renowned video game voice actors as well. In addition, there would also be stage performances and simulators for all of Yiju’s games. All of this could be viewed as a special carnival for Yiju’s gaming fans.

By the time they’d arrived at the ballroom’s entrance for registration, they could already hear the crowd warming up inside. They quickly searched for their names on the list and put a tick next to it, before they were led into the ballroom by female attendants who looked a little dazed.

There were a lot of players invited this time around. To make things easier, Yiju had assigned seats to them in advance based on their status. Every seat was also labelled with each player’s ID to show just how important they were to the company.

Since the ballroom was big enough, a large stage was set up within it. Seats were positioned below the stage. One could tell from a single glance that these were all top quality. Yiju truly spared no effort in preparing for this event.

The seats were divided into three areas – the left, middle, and right. The seven front rows in the middle area that were set before the stage were reserved for players from the Six Great Sects’ who were placed on the Overall Strength Leaderboards, as well as the legendary Lead Disciples from said sects. Behind them were the players who’d managed to obtain a placing on the Leaderboards for The Battle Between Good And Evil. Following that came the Level Leaderboards. The left and right areas were for the players on the other leaderboards such as the Rich Leaderboard, the Charmer Leaderboard, Leaderboard for Life Skills, and the Prestige Leaderboard.

It was worth mentioning that the players who were voted on the Beauty Ranking and the Handsome Men Ranking by the players themselves were seated at the very front of the left and right areas respectively. They were probably seated there to enhance the venue’s aesthetics.

Those who’d played games before would know that the players who appeared on one leaderboard, would more often than not, appear on other leaderboards as well. One such example would be the Leaderboards for Overall Strength and the Level Leaderboards. Also, not all players on the leaderboards were able to participate in the event. To allow more players to attend this event, Yiju decided that each player would receive one invitation based on their highest ranked leaderboard. Once a player was invited, he or she wouldn’t be included in subsequent leaderboard invitations. If their name did appear on another leaderboard, they would be passed over, and the invitation would be extended to the next player on the list. If that player rejected the invitation, then it’d be passed onto the subsequent player. All the players who confirmed that they’d be attending would have to submit basic information about their character. Based on this information, the game officials would then distribute real and virtual gifts to them. The benefits were abundant.

Most of the players from Jade Sea Pavilion, who were led by female attendants to their designated areas and seats, were seated in the middle area.

The hostess on the stage was a newbie that B City’s television station was currently grooming. She was quite pretty and somewhat knowledgeable. She was fairly popular as well, so she managed to capture a majority of the audience’s attention. That was, until Shen Jingbin’s group of people slowly made their way to the middle area, and everybody got into an uproar.

The lighting was dimmed to add to the ballroom’s ambiance. However, it was utterly incapable of concealing the group’s radiance! Shen Jingbin and Zhao Chengning, who walked at the front of the group, were practically glowing. Once they entered someone’s peripheral vision, their eyes would be glued to them.

“Look there! Isn’t that the Great Senior Sister of White Cloud Temple who appeared in the promotional video previously?! What the f*ck, I didn’t hear that she was coming.”

“Isn’t the guy next to her the rich heir that she got into a scandal with? Why are they together in broad daylight?”

“What scandal? You’re behind the times. That guy is her official boyfriend.”

“Something seems off. Look at how they came as a group. No matter how I look at it, they seem to be here for the event, just like Life At First Sight, who showed up just now.”

“Didn’t Yiju mention before that Great Senior Sister herself plays the game as well? It’s not unusual for her to come.”

“Heyyy! Look guys; they’re walking to the front. Isn’t the front reserved for the legendary players? Can a flower vase sit there too?”

“Oh, f*ck!!!! They sat down! Row 5!! Sheesh, those are the people on the Leaderboard for Overall Skills!”

“Great Senior Sister, her boyfriend, and that onee-san are still walking towards the front… f*ck me! First row! That’s where the Lead Disciples sit!”

“They sat down, they sat down, they sat down!! Let me recall who those seats are for… Ah, aren’t those three seats for the Lead Disciples of White Cloud Temple, Lich Palace, and Nymph Abode!? What the f*ck?! Could they be from Jade Sea Pavilion?!”

“F*ck me!!! What the hell! Don’t tell me that this Great Senior Sister is the same person as that ugly freak Great Senior Sister from White Cloud Temple? This is enough to make me think my entire life is a lie!! Also, could that be the God Quiet And Steadfast? Sheesh! If I’d known he was so handsome earlier, I would’ve done everything I could to hook up with him!!!”

“What should I do? The world doesn’t feel real anymore! I need to make a post on Weibo to calm myself down!”