Miss Witch, even if we're poor, we can't sell ourselves!

Miya leaned back in the back seat, her fingers unconsciously stroking the pinkish-white peel of the apple.

Corona Borealis was asleep, its breathing light and even. Occasionally, when the car bumped, its head would bump against the window and then bounce back groggily.

The fig tree beside me, wrapped in a blanket, gazed out the window, lost in thought.

Meanwhile, Lan Ye's last words kept replaying in Mi Ye's mind.

Please give it to the owner of this song.

It must be her.

The girl who sang to herself in the hospital room.

Mi Ye couldn't even see her face clearly, only remembering the humming voice in her half-awake state, and the small warm touch on the back of her hand.

She decided to go to the hospital tomorrow; she wanted to find out what the relationship was between the three-eyed little witch and the girl who sang to her.

When the car came to a stop at the entrance of Tsukinomori School, most of the streetlights on campus had already been turned off. Only the glowing vines hanging on the peach trees on both sides of the main road were still lit. The blue-purple fluorescent light swayed gently in the night breeze, as if the whole road had been sprinkled with a layer of fine stardust.

Fig paid the fare and woke up Corona Borealis, who was still dozing off.

She said that she and Corona Borealis still had some entrusted matters to handle, and so the three of them said goodbye at the gate.

When Mi Ye arrived at the dormitory building, it was exactly one o'clock in the morning.

Pushing open the glass door, the dormitory supervisor sat behind the duty desk. When she saw Mi Ye come in, she didn't frown, but instead smiled and waved to her.

"Try to come back earlier next time. The school has increased nighttime patrols recently, so don't get caught and have your name recorded and your credits deducted."

Miya paused for a moment, then nodded vigorously.

"Okay, thank you, sister."

She tiptoed upstairs, and when she reached her dormitory room, she turned the key slowly into the lock, trying not to make a sound.

The door opened a crack, letting in warm yellow light and the sound of hushed voices.

Miya peeked inside and found Asase and Yoru huddled on the bed with a tablet computer in front of them, the screen filled with a dense barrage of comments.

The two looked up at the same time when they heard the door open, and Asase's expression was clearly a little surprised.

"Huh? I thought you weren't coming back tonight."

"Why aren't you two asleep yet?"

Miya closed the door behind her and walked towards them while taking off her coat.

Several opened bags of snacks and two cans of cola were piled on the table, indicating that this all-nighter was not a spur-of-the-moment decision.

Xiaoye looked up; his short red hair was a little messy, probably from snuggling in bed, but he was in much better spirits than someone who was one in the morning.

"Miye, didn't you see the message? Tonight is the first live stream of the trailer for 'Stars Falling into the Sea,' and the whole internet is watching it. The forums are exploding."

Miya leaned closer to look at the screen.

The tablet screen shows a city center at night, with an enormous banyan tree in the very center. Its trunk is so thick that it would take at least a dozen people to encircle it. Countless green willow branches hang down from the upper branches, and each aerial root is covered with warm yellow lanterns, making the entire banyan tree look like a luminous palace.

Three little witches stood under the tree, singing a catchy song. The camera slowly rotated around them, and the barrage of comments was so fast that it was impossible to read what each one said.

Asase pointed a finger at the girl on the left side of the screen and began to explain with the earnest expression of an elementary school student recommending their favorite celebrity to their classmate.

"Did you see that? This is Mayaka, the most popular virtual idol group on MikuFans right now. The one on the left with short purple hair who looks very charming is Mutsumi. The one in the middle with long blue hair who is standing in the center is Kaede. The one on the right with long green hair who is quiet is Mutsumi."

Asase withdrew her fingers, her expression returning to its usual indifferent state, though the tips of her ears turned slightly red.

Xiaoye added from the side.

"Xiaoqian's Twitter is Miaomu. She kept telling me how cute and pretty she is, and she even dragged me to watch it with her."

Miya blinked.

Does Asase, who always seems so serious, actually follow celebrities? She even dragged her roommates to stay up all night to watch live streams?

The contrast was so great that Miya couldn't process it for a while and couldn't help but take another look at Asase.

"No, I didn't."

Asase shyly popped a potato chip into Yoru's mouth.

Seeing Asase's expression, Xiaoye couldn't help but laugh and started to give Miya more background information.

"Xiaoye, come and see this. In the past, virtual YouTubers could only stream on MikuFans using a suit or perform at large events using 3D projection technology, but they were not real people after all. Their movements and interactions were delayed, and they didn't look very vivid."

"But Qianjing Group's new game, 'Starfall,' is different. Virtual streamers can directly access the game and move freely like real people, dance, and interact with the audience without any delay. Even details like the strands of hair being blown by the wind can be rendered in real time."

"Then Qianjing Group invited the group Mayo Shita as one of the first performers to join the event. The gimmick of the new game and new technology, combined with Mayo Shita's own popularity, directly propelled the live stream to the top of the site's popularity chart. There are still tens of millions of people watching it simultaneously! This banyan tree map scene was specially built for this concert."

Miya glanced at the number of comments on the screen that completely covered the view, and couldn't help but glance at Asase's eyes, which were almost overflowing with excitement. She thought that this was probably the feeling of those fans who stayed up all night to watch the premiere of their idol groups in her previous life.

She first tidied up her clothes, said she would look at them after taking a shower, then took out her pajamas and towel from the closet and walked towards the bathroom.

As soon as the bathroom door was closed, steam quickly filled the room, and the condensation on the mirror blurred the outline of my body.

She turned on the shower and rinsed herself off, then stepped into the bathtub on the non-slip mat. As the hot water washed over her shoulders, her whole body relaxed from her neck to her toes, and she let out a comfortable meow.

Miya looked down at her body. Her chest was fuller than before. Then her gaze moved down to her stomach.

She stuck out her index finger and poked her lower abdomen; the fingertip sank into a small patch of soft flesh.

Miya's expression froze.

So I poked it again, and the soft flesh bounced back even faster than before, as if it was very dissatisfied.

"...I've gained weight."

Miya sighed as she looked at the bathroom ceiling.

Thinking back on the recent meals, before, Bie Chenye made different kinds of breakfast every morning to help her get better, and Korika would also stuff small cookies into her bag every few days. In addition, she had already allocated part of the 10,000 Loren that Chata-sensei had transferred in class to the first cafeteria before she even had a chance to enjoy it.

Eating like that, it's no wonder you gain weight.

She pinched the fat on her stomach and secretly made a resolution that she could no longer eat so much.

Just as I was deciding whether to go for a run on the track tomorrow morning, my phone, which was lying next to the bathtub, vibrated.

Miya wiped her fingers dry and tapped the screen. A message bubble popped up from WW, and it was from Miss Lu, whom she hadn't seen in a long time.

How are you feeling? Have you fully recovered?

Mi Ye smiled and typed a few words in reply.

[She's all better now, lively and energetic.]

There was a moment of silence on the other end, and then several messages popped up in quick succession.

Sorry, I've been just too busy lately.

The launch schedule for the new project is very tight, and I've been working overtime for over a week straight. I really haven't been able to find time to check on you, I'm so sorry.

Looking at these messages, Mi Ye could read between the lines the image of the aloof young lady frowning and carefully choosing her words behind the screen.

She quickly held the phone in both hands and replied carefully.

【What are you talking about? I accidentally passed out, it has nothing to do with you, and you even paid for my medical expenses. I should be thanking you】

After the message was sent, Lu Yue replied almost instantly.

That's a small amount of money, it's nothing.

Miya stared at those words, twitched her eyebrows, and decided to skip the topic.

Lu Yue then sent another message, the content of which made Mi Ye sit up straight in the bathtub, splashing water everywhere.

I have two extra spots for the first closed beta test of "Starfall into the Sea," consider it an apology.

Immediately afterwards, an electronic invitation link appeared, with the Qianjing Group's star-track logo in the center, and a line of text below the link.

The activation code is valid for 48 hours and will automatically expire after that.

【？？】

Miya opened her mouth several times before finally recording the voice message, her voice almost cracking from excitement.

【Holy crap, is this for real?!】

【Lü Yue!!! Thank you, thank you, thank you!!!】

No problem, it's nothing.

Miya quickly wrapped herself in a bath towel and climbed out of the bathtub. While drying her hair, she opened her browser to check the value of this test slot. She was so happy after checking that she jumped and spun around in the bathroom three times.

The official announcement clearly states that a total of 1,000 slots will be allocated for the first test, of which 500 will be targeted invitations to industry leaders, top streamers, and technical partners. Top-tier virtual idol teams with tens of millions of fans, such as Midnight, fall into this category.

The other 500 were randomly selected from players across the entire network, but with over ten million people already making reservations, the probability of winning was even lower than winning a big prize from the Mi Ye Wishing Pool.

On MikuFans, a lucky witch who won a chance to participate posted a video showing off, which garnered over 100,000 views in three hours. The comments section was filled with envy and jealousy. Some people shared their good luck, while others said they had tried to draw 3,000 accounts and failed every time. Someone even claimed they would offer 5 million Loren for a single activation code, but no one was willing to sell it.

Miya smiled foolishly at her phone screen.

In her past life, she would hesitate for a long time even when playing a mobile game and only getting the first recharge reward. Now, she actually got the first test qualification for the most sought-after game on the entire network, and she got two of them at once.

I owe Lu Yue a huge favor, so much so that I feel that simply saying thank you is not enough. So I decided that I must treat Lu Yue to a proper meal when I have time.

Then she draped the towel she had used to dry her hair over her shoulder, and skipped out of the bathroom.