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

"No matter what kind of world you're in, I wish you a good morning, good afternoon, and good evening!"

The pink-haired, short-haired host, Little Witch, stood in the center of the virtual studio, behind her an exaggeratedly large curved screen that was playing a panoramic view of Dengrong Street.

She wore a modified cheongsam-style uniform with glowing gold runes on the cuffs and collar. When she smiled, there was a shallow dimple on each side of her mouth. Her voice came through the microphone and was enveloped in a warm echo by the reverb effect.

"Only one minute remains until the official start of the first closed beta test for 'Stars Falling into the Sea'! Ladies and gentlemen, you are now watching the exclusive countdown live stream broadcast on MikuFans. I'm your host, Honey!"

"Currently, there are 12.3 million viewers watching the live stream! We've just broken the all-time record for the highest number of concurrent viewers in a single MikuFans live stream! I have a feeling that the 'Starry Night Falling into the Sea' project will leave a lasting mark on the history of MikuFans!!"

The barrage of comments surged across the screen like a floodgate had been opened, so fast that it was impossible to see any individual message; all that could be seen was a stream of multicolored light scrolling wildly at the top of the screen.

With twelve million people simultaneously crowding into this live stream, MikuFans' technical team probably added several servers in advance to prevent the screen from becoming a slideshow.

In the first cafeteria of Tsuki no Mori, the large TV on the wall was tuned to the official live broadcast channel of MikuFans.

The witch students, carrying their trays, looked up at the screen, their chopsticks frozen in mid-air, not even bothering to mix their dry noodles.

Some people were quietly counting down the days, while others excitedly tugged at the sleeves of their classmates, saying, "I got it! I got it!" drawing envious and jealous glances from those around them.

Asase sat at a table in the corner, a bowl of soggy noodles in front of her, but she didn't seem to care at all. Her eyes were fixed on the scrolling images of Dengrong Street on the screen, and she unconsciously muttered, "Nyanmu should be streaming in the game today."

In the dormitory, Mi Ye was already lying on the bed.

Following the instructions, she put on the Sea of ​​Consciousness Interconnection device. A lightweight headband-style sensor ring was attached to her forehead, two small magic resonators were clipped to her earlobes, and the main controller was a palm-sized silver disc placed on the bedside table, facing her.

She took a deep breath and pressed the start button.

It was as if someone had touched her forehead with their finger, and then the whole world went silent.

A deep blue ocean stretched out beneath her feet, its surface as calm as a mirror, reflecting the starry sky, the lines connecting the constellations leaving pale golden trails on the water.

Mi Ye opened her eyes, pinched her face, and felt the sensation so real that she couldn't help but clench her fist and then relax it to test it.

Then she saw her reflection; a model that looked exactly like her was standing on the water.

A semi-transparent panel floats next to it, listing several options.

Hair color

Hairstyle

【apparel】

【sound】

The system displayed a helpful reminder at the top of the panel.

All players must wear masks throughout the game. Mask styles are randomly assigned and cannot be removed. Customizing the appearance will not affect the mask's display. We wish you a pleasant gaming experience.

Miya rested her chin on her hand and thought for a moment. Keeping her original hairstyle and hair color would be the easiest thing to do, but she had become so famous in the martial arts live broadcast that everyone in Bellavita knew her light blonde short hair and her height of less than 1.5 meters.

Although a mask can cover the face, if the body shape and hair color are exactly the same, the probability of being recognized is still too high, especially by acquaintances like Xiaoye and Asase, who could probably recognize her at a glance just by her walking posture.

She changed her hair color to black, keeping her original short hair length with slightly curled ends.

Then I opened the clothing options and flipped through several pages, finally fixing my gaze on a pink ancient costume.

A cross-collar top paired with a long skirt in the same color family. The cuffs are tapered for easy movement, and the belt is embroidered with a few small flowers in a light pink color, like crushed peach petals.

She clicked "try on" and switched to a third-person perspective to examine herself.

The reflection on the water spun around, revealing short black hair and a pink ancient costume, with a small flower at the waist swaying gently as the figure turned (please refer to the book cover for more details).

The mask randomly assigned by the system appeared out of the void at this moment and landed steadily on her face. It was a white fox mask with red stripes, which only covered the upper half of her face, leaving her mouth and chin exposed.

The fox's eyes on the mask curved into two cunning arcs, and a small flame pattern was painted on its forehead with red paint. Surprisingly, it looked good with her pink ancient costume.

Miya turned left and right in front of the water, and couldn't help but give herself a mental thumbs up.

"It looks so good! Just like me!"

She also noticed a voice changer function in the voice options, so she made the tone a little more neutral, cleared her throat and said "feed" to the water to test it out. Sure enough, it was still very soft, but it was less sweet than the original voice and had a cleaner, more youthful feel.

The current Mi Ye looks like a wild little fox that jumped out of some alley on Dengrong Street, completely unlike the cute and lovable Mi Ye in reality.

After creating her character, she switched to her friends list.

Little Ghost's ID is now lit up, indicating he's online.

So Miya turned on the microphone and shouted.

"Little ghost? Did you come in?"

There was no response from the other end.

Miya called out again, but still nothing.

She frowned, wondering if it was a bug. If a technical glitch occurred during the first test with only a thousand people, the programmers at Qianjing Group probably wouldn't be getting any sleep tonight.

So he simply pressed the button to enter the world.

The familiar dizziness lasted only a moment before Miya found herself standing in the middle of a bluestone path.

The area around Dengrong Street is even larger than it appears in promotional videos.

Underfoot were polished bluestone slabs, each with luminous moss embedded in the crevices, soft to the touch, like stepping on a thin carpet.

The street is lined with two- or three-story wooden pavilions, with strings of lanterns hanging from the eaves. The lanterns are warm yellow, orange-red, and light pink, and they are arranged in a staggered pattern from the eaves all the way to the road, illuminating the whole street as if it were the light of the sun just as it sets at dusk.

The layered pavilions and towers on the hillside outlined golden silhouettes in the night. On each floor, little witches who had just joined the game moved about in the corridors, looking like rows of small, moving silhouettes from a distance.

The long river meanders past the foot of the mountain, and the lanterns floating on the river are even more densely packed than in the promotional video, one after another, turning the entire river into a flowing ribbon of light.

On the stage opposite the wooden bridge, red curtains fluttered gently in the night breeze, and it seemed that someone was rehearsing on stage, with intermittent piano music drifting across the water.

Miya spun around in place, then turned her head to look to the side.

The little ghost stood a few steps away from her, looking up and gazing intently at the Milky Way in the sky.

At that moment, Miya almost didn't recognize him.

The other person was wearing a light green ancient costume dress, the hem of which hung from the waist to the ankle, covered by a thin gauze jacket. The sleeves were wide, and when she raised her hand, the gauze sleeves would gently slide down to reveal a section of her fair wrist.

She didn't wear any complicated hair ornaments, just a white veil covering her head, like a real little ghost, hanging down from the top of her head to her back. The edges of the veil were embroidered with tiny silver stars, which shimmered slightly in the lantern light.

Beneath the veil was a long, white head of hair that flowed smoothly down her back, the ends almost touching her waist.

Her neck was gracefully curved, and standing in the lantern light, set off by her light green ancient costume and white veil, she looked like an unknown deity who had stepped out of an ancient painting.

Miya's first reaction was, "Wow, she's so tall! So the little ghost is the older sister type? I only reach her shoulder."

And she was so beautiful, so beautiful that Mi Ye stood there and inexplicably became nervous, her palms starting to sweat.

Miya softly called out, "Little Ghost."

But the little ghost didn't move.

She simply looked up at the Milky Way in the sky, her veil fluttering gently in the night breeze, making her appear exceptionally ethereal under the combined glow of lanterns and starlight.

Miya followed her gaze and looked up at the sky; it was indeed beautiful.

The Milky Way stretched across the sky, clearer and more magnificent than the one seen outside the abandoned hospital, because the game's sky was not constrained by real-world light pollution, and every star was rendered like a shattered diamond.

But the little ghost's expression when looking at the starry sky didn't seem like she was appreciating the scenery. Mi Ye was very familiar with that expression. At noon today in the ward, when San Yue Xia stood under that suddenly blooming jacaranda tree and looked up, her expression was exactly the same as it was now.

A small answer was forming in Miya's mind, but before it could fully surface, the little ghost lowered its head and noticed Miya standing next to it.

Miya tilted her head back, the red patterns on her fox mask under her short black hair reflecting slightly in the lantern light. She stood on tiptoe and raised her hand to wave.

"What are you standing there for? I've called you several times and you didn't hear me—"

She didn't finish her sentence.

The little ghost in front of him swayed for a moment, then slowly squatted down, opened its arms, and pulled Mi Ye into its embrace.

Miya buried her face directly in the other's chest, and could faintly smell the fragrance of flowers.

The little ghost buried its face in Miya's head, its shoulders twitched, and then Miya heard a very soft sob.

"Thank you... thank you so much..."

The little ghost's voice muffled above Mi Ye's head, each word tinged with a sob.

Miya was stunned, completely unaware of what was happening, so she could only hug the other person back and gently pat them.

"Don't cry, don't cry, be a good girl..."

The little ghost didn't let go; instead, it hugged Miya even tighter, resting its chin on the top of Miya's head. Tears fell drop by drop onto the fox mask, sliding down the edge of the mask and dripping onto the collar of the pink ancient costume.

Miya was nestled in the other's arms, her nose filled with the faint floral scent emanating from him.

I could clearly feel the warmth and softness of the little ghost's chest on my cheek, and the heartbeat hidden beneath it.

She could only softly comfort the girl in front of her, who was much taller than her, over and over again.

I still feel a little embarrassed.

Even the lanterns around them seemed a little shy, casting a faint pink glow on the faces of the two people under the moon.