Miss Lin is a hunky VTuber today?

But things seem a little different on the young lady's side?

"By the way, Miss, do you have so many new captains over there?"

Xu Lin looked at the young lady in surprise as she pointed out dozens of colorful papers in one go, and sighed with a bitter face.

"It seems like two of my videos got promotions last month, so my account jumped so much!!!"

Xu Youyue slumped on the sofa, exuding a lazy, carefree attitude.

"That's a happy problem."

Xu Lin felt a mixture of envy and relief. Envy stemmed from the fact that the number of ship captains was a key indicator of a VIP's popularity, and not having as many captains as others was certainly enviable. Relief, however, came from...

Writing blessings to over sixty people you've never met, who you might not even have chatted with in the live stream and have no recollection of, and requiring them to be sincere and touching—who could resist that?

It's enough to drive anyone crazy.

"Alright, hurry up and get it done. We still need to go to headquarters after we're done. Today is the fourth generation's last test broadcast, so let's go and keep an eye on it."

Xu Lin patted the young lady's head, his tone somewhat indulgent.

"Ugh! Why don't you write it for me?"

The young lady took the opportunity to hug Xu Lin's arm and said coquettishly.

"Don't be silly, the handwriting is all different, how am I supposed to help you write it?"

Xu Lin sighed, looked at the young lady rolling around on the sofa, and picked up a piece of paper.

"Can I fold part of it for you?"

"Yay! Izanagi-chan is the best!"

"Don't call me Lin-chan!!!"

Section 149, Chapter 33: Just How Strange is ESC?

Today is the last day of the fourth generation's test broadcast, so the ESC headquarters is quite lively.

The operations staff gathered in small groups, some with tablets, some with phones, and some simply sitting at their workstations using computers.

Tomorrow morning, the fourth generation members will all go home and prepare for their debut one by one. Today's test live broadcast is not only to check for any shortcomings in the week of special training, but also to let the newcomers get used to the atmosphere of live broadcast in advance. It can be regarded as a graduation exam, so it is quite formal.

The three members of the first generation were also called in to listen in, but it was just a formality; unless something major happened, they wouldn't need to get involved.

That's how it was supposed to be...

However, as soon as Xu Lin and Xu Youyue arrived at the headquarters, they saw that Sister Yan had taken over the work that should have been done by the fourth generation of students. The young lady who was transferred from the logistics team stood aside with a notebook in her hand, looking helpless. Meanwhile, Sister Yan, dressed smartly, was like a mother hen, comforting the fourth generation of students and soothing their nervousness.

The boss and Sister Feng stood outside the live broadcast room, glancing at each other every now and then, both seeing the helplessness in each other's eyes.

What's going on?

Xu Lin leaned over and nudged the boss, telling him not to look up so high.

"Oh, is that the situation? Lin Ge, you haven't been here lately, so I don't know. For some reason, Sister Yan has suddenly become very attentive to the newcomers. She's been coming to the headquarters every day lately. Xiao Mei even secretly asked me last time if she had done something wrong."

Xiao Mei is the person in charge of operations for the fourth generation. She's a very gentle girl, like a little pushover. Xu Lin doesn't even know her real name, but he thinks she's quite suitable for the fourth generation.

After all, the fourth generation of kids are all quite young and have rather honest personalities. If they were managed by a more assertive manager, they might become puppets, which wouldn't be a good thing.

Well, that should be the case at least until Fengling's social anxiety completely disappears.

After all, Xu Lin felt that the child was probably another Lin Mu or Yuan Chu, or perhaps a combination of the two. In any case, it should be a new member of their XP Society.

As for Daidai and Shuangxue, one is so naive that it's worrying whether they can survive, and the other seems sunny but also has her own little ideas and isn't the type to proactively report operational problems to others.

Therefore, Xu Lin agrees with the boss's decision to choose Xiao Mei, a soft and gentle girl, as the operations manager for the fourth generation of trainees. Even if she is somewhat lacking in ability, isn't there Sister Feng to guide her? Good compatibility in terms of personality is the most important thing.

Of course, the current situation was unplanned.

"Okay, I see."

Xu Lin sighed.

The boss was hesitant to bother Sister Yan, who was overwhelmed with maternal love, and Sister Feng also wanted to temper Xiao Mei's overly soft nature, but she wasn't afraid and stepped forward decisively.

Then he pushed Xu Youyue out.

Just kidding, who wants to go head-to-head with Crazy Yan? Let the young lady handle it!

"Huh? Huh!?"

Xu Youyue was completely bewildered. She only had time to glance back at the white-haired, red-eyed girl with a smiling face that seemed to say, "I'm rooting for you," before she bumped right into Sister Yan.

"Goodness, as expected of you, Lin Ge!"

The boss sighed from the side.

This is only possible with Xu Lin. If someone else played like this, they would likely face a double whammy from the young lady and Sister Yan.

Well, as mentioned before, Xu Youyue practices women's self-defense techniques, so...

Her most familiar move is the groin kick.

"Um... Sister Yan?"

Xu Youyue weakly raised her head, looking at Li Huiyan's somewhat bewildered face, and then changed her attack.

"Give that bastard Xu Lin a good beating!"

She spoke out fiercely.

Sister Yan then shifted her gaze to the direction of the door, only to see Xu Lin's white hair scattered in the wind.

She had already slipped away before the young lady even spoke.

"Oh, this..."

Sister Yan paused, looked at the boss and Sister Feng at the door, and then looked at Youyue.

"She was the one who suddenly pushed me over here!"

Seeing that Sister Yan hadn't reacted yet, the young lady grabbed her hand and ran towards the door, all the while accusing Xu Lin of his 'evil deeds'.

"understood!"

The next second, the two who were pulling Li Huiyan forward suddenly became Li Huiyan pulling Xu Youyue. At that moment, the young lady felt as if three huskies that were being held down were suddenly released and were running wildly in the snow while pulling a sled.

And she was the unlucky little girl sitting on the sled. In that instant, she felt like her wrist was about to dislocate!

"It seems that even if Lin Ge acts like this, he can't escape a good beating."

The boss and the other operations staff stared in disbelief at how things were unfolding, and then made way for the three of them. But the boss was still the boss, and he was the first to come to his senses, shaking his head and sighing.

When Sister Feng heard what the boss said, she chuckled, but suddenly felt her phone vibrate in her pocket. She took it out, looked at it, and laughed again.

She held her phone up to her boss and waved it in front of him.

[Sister Yan, I'm heading out now! Bosses, hurry up and get the live stream ready!!!]

The last three exclamation marks were emojis, in super bold font.

The boss's mood grew heavy, and he solemnly bowed in the direction Xu Lin had left.

"Rest in peace, Ling Ge! We will never forget your contributions!"

"Everyone! Prepare for the test live stream!"

His voice trembled, as if he were filled with immense grief. After speaking, he turned his back to the group of operators, tilted his head back, and tried not to let the tears fall.

But they completely failed to see that the employees behind him all had the standard question mark on their faces, like those on Zhihu (a Chinese Q&A website) asking, "What should I do if my boss is an idiot?"

The most expressive look was Feng Jie's eyes, which held a mixture of disdain, helplessness, and a headache, resembling a pie chart.

【mdzz】

This is the most genuine thought in the minds of all operations staff. As for why it's operations staff...

Because the newbies of the fourth generation are still confused.

What's going on? What is this? Why are the veterans playing battle royale?!

Although I've been at the headquarters for almost a week and have a certain understanding of the atmosphere at ESC, I haven't experienced the major events that happened to the first generation trio, who caused chaos at the headquarters, the second generation members who were arrested on the spot when they tried to blow up the operations studio, the third generation members who tried to imitate their seniors by blowing up the toilet but failed, and finally stole all the toilet paper.

They clearly didn't know what kind of devilish company they had joined.

Finally, Shuangxue sighed thoughtfully.

"Is this the bond between the first generation?"

This prompted Chiena to nod repeatedly.

And wind chimes.

Wind Chime turned her head sharply, staring intently at Frost Snow with an expression that seemed to say, "Are you serious?"

This is a snake-skin bond.

"That was clearly Wakaba-senpai causing trouble and getting retaliated against, wasn't it?"

Chapter 34, Section 150: Live Broadcast of the Fourth Generation Student Test

After Xu Lin lured away the overly concerned Yan Jie, the fourth-generation trainees' test livestream finally began.

The order is from Wind Chime to Frost and Snow, and finally Chiena, each for one hour. The specific content of the live broadcast is the script for her debut broadcast.

Yes, this thing has a script.

However, ESC doesn't use scripts for their live streams much; they usually only have a script for large-scale projects to prevent the project from becoming too chaotic. The remaining stream is the debut broadcast, but its main purpose is to prevent fans from getting too nervous and forgetting what to say.

Of course, even with a script, it means that the broadcaster just needs to read from the script. Necessary emotional investment is required, and acting skills are needed in the designed segments that are funny, frustrating, or chaotic. Most importantly, the audience interaction segment, which is the most unpredictable and requires the broadcaster to be quick-witted, is completely unscripted.

The test live stream mainly tested this aspect.

Fengling didn't disappoint. Her self-introduction went smoothly, although she spoke a little awkwardly due to nervousness, but it was still pretty good for a newcomer.