On the third day of the public beta, the main storyline progressed to Chapter 3.

Qin Zhou successfully repelled the martial world factions and escorted the player back to the Famous Sword Villa. Unbeknownst to them, a traitor lurked within the villa, plotting to assassinate the player in secret. Right at the critical moment, Situ Yu—who had been tailing them all along—abruptly intervened. Utilizing his elusive Gu techniques, he incapacitated the villa guards and silently spirited the player away.

The main narrative was tightly paced, packing major plot twists into every single chapter. By the end of Chapter 3, the camera panned to Tianji Tower.

Tianji Tower had just accepted a top-secret bounty assassination contract. The target was none other than the sole witness to the Qingshan Sect massacre—the player, who had accidentally stumbled upon the gruesome scene.

The Master of Tianji Tower handed this exact mission over to Ling Yue.

As the clues regarding the lost sword manual gradually unraveled, an increasing number of Jianghu sects found themselves dragged into the vortex.

Seeing the story halt there, the players were driven wild with anticipation.

“Holy crap, things just got incredibly intense! Ling Yue accepted a contract to assassinate us?! What are we supposed to do?”

“I refuse to believe Ling Yue would actually kill me. There’s no way he can bring himself to do it~”

“I bet the Master of Tianji Tower is sketchy. What if the Master is the ultimate mastermind behind everything?”

“Someone is desperate to silence us, and this hidden faction is terrifyingly powerful!”

Online, countless players were frantically theorizing about the future trajectory of the plot. Unfortunately, since this fictional martial arts universe lacked any existing source material like web novels or anime to reference, no one could truly guess the copywriting team’s exact thought process.

Currently, three male leads had already been pulled into the conflict. While Ye Qinghe appeared to be a completely detached bystander, his sudden appearance near the Qingshan Sect and his “timely” rescue of the player were far too convenient to be a mere coincidence.

What secrets are hidden behind Ye Qinghe?

As the main story unfolded and the exclusive backstories of the 5-star cards unlocked, players came to understand the four male leads on a much deeper level, falling harder for them by the day.

Right on cue, the weekend “Bounty Missions” officially opened.

The weekly Jianghu Bounty was a core gameplay loop that Xie Yunfan had poured immense effort into during the initial R&D phase.

As a weekly routine, the bounty gameplay was exceptionally rich. The development team had designed over a dozen entirely different game modes that rotated at random. Because players encountered a fresh experience every single week, the loop felt incredibly sustainable and immune to burnout.

This week’s random bounty was titled “The Treasure Map of the Haisha Sect.” It required players to infiltrate the abandoned grounds of the Haisha Sect, locate a hidden map, and follow its coordinates to unearth a hidden treasure. Crucially, players were free to select any single male lead to accompany them through the entire mission.

The moment the bounty went live, it sparked a massive wave of excitement across the community.

“I’m definitely bringing Qin Zhou along. His martial arts are top-tier, which gives me an incredible sense of security~”

“I choose Ling Yue! He hasn’t had much screen time in the main story yet, so this bounty is the perfect chance to hang out with him.”

“I love Ye Qinghe and want to bring him. But I’m low-key worried… since he’s a doctor, does he actually know how to fight? What if we get jumped and lose?”

“As a loyal Situ Yu fan, there’s zero hesitation. Bringing him along will let me grind so much intimacy!”

“As someone who loves them all, this is agonizing! I have four husbands and can’t split my attention equally. It’s a massive headache… You know what, I’ll bring Little Zhou this week, Qinghe next week, and just rotate them. Even if the subsequent runs don’t give rewards, I’ll just clear it multiple times for the content.”

“Sister, you’re a legend. Are you really trying to max out the intimacy scores for all four men?”

“I just want to show a little love to every handsome guy~”

The player base was heavily divided between fiercely loyal single-character fans and open-minded collectors who adored all four characters equally. After all, the male leads possessed such distinct, striking personas that it was incredibly difficult to cast any of them aside.

It’s just a game, exploring multiple romance routes isn’t a crime.

Once the weekly mission went live, single-character loyalists selected their favorites without a moment’s hesitation. The multi-character fans deliberated for a brief moment before opting for the male lead with their highest-leveled card to efficiently clear the stage and accumulate resources.

The weekly quest was met with overwhelming critical acclaim.

The Haisha Sect map was draped in heavy, oppressive shadows. The sect had dissolved years ago due to internal factional warfare, leaving its main headquarters a sprawling, dilapidated estate of crumbling courtyards.

Mobile players controlled their avatars to scour the area for clues alongside their chosen male lead, while holographic players were treated to an incredibly vivid, immersive experience. Being trapped entirely alone with a male lead in such a dimly lit, enclosed environment sent many players’ heart rates through the roof.

Furthermore, the four men reacted to the environment in completely different ways according to their personalities:

Qin Zhou would actively strike up conversations to ease the tense atmosphere, casually sharing the history of the Haisha Sect and entertaining Jianghu rumors. Walking alongside him was an absolute blast.

Situ Yu would mock the player for lacking martial arts skills while effortlessly shielding them from any hidden threats. He even brought along a pet—a massive, fierce-looking wolfhound from the Western Regions that turned out to be an incredibly fluffy, pettable good boy.

Ling Yue remained a man of few words, treating syllables like precious currency. Yet, whenever they approached a potentially hazardous area, he would always scout ahead first, returning to collect the player only after verifying it was entirely safe. He was remarkably dependable.

Ye Qinghe was the epitome of gentle consideration, walking serenely by the player’s side while softly murmuring warnings like “Be careful.” Being around him felt like a soothing breath of spring air.

Selecting a different male lead completely transformed the flavor of the weekly quest. While it was structurally a “weekly routine,” it functioned entirely as a “room escape date” for the player and the male lead, completely undisturbed by outsiders.

Having previously developed Holographic Script Murder, Yangfan Studio was exceptionally skilled at crafting engaging room-escape mechanics. Several puzzles in the dungeon explicitly required coordinated, simultaneous interactions between the player and the male lead to solve.

For instance, the starting “Compass Mechanism” required the two individuals to stand on opposite sides of a room and rotate their respective wheels simultaneously—one clockwise and the other counter-clockwise—to open a concealed stone wall.

Later on, they encountered a “Chess Puzzle” where they each held black and white chess pieces, taking turns to perfectly replicate a legendary historical manual displayed on the wall to unlock the next chamber.

These minigames weren’t punishingly difficult, but the sheer intimacy of solving them side-by-side with a male lead… was profoundly romantic.

Countless players admitted that their faces were flushed and their hearts were racing the entire time. This was especially true for holographic players; solving mechanisms and hunting for treasure alongside a handsome man felt completely identical to a real-world romantic date.

Furthermore, this virtual boyfriend was tall, gorgeous, and possessed a voice that melted the ears. It was utterly intoxicating.

During the brief thirty-minute mission, it was inevitable for first-time players to make mistakes due to nerves or a slip of the hand. Yet, the male leads never showed a hint of irritation. Even if you messed up repeatedly, they would patiently guide you through it.

Ye Qinghe, in particular, was gentle to his absolute core. He would simply look at the player with a soft, encouraging smile and murmur, “It’s alright, shall we try it one more time?”

The sheer charm of it left many players completely flustered.

The final mechanism required the duo to split up temporarily. The player had to first activate a switch to open a right-hand corridor for the male lead. The male lead would then sprint to the end of that corridor to press a pressure plate, unlocking a left-hand door for the player so they could reunite in the final chamber.

Right at that moment, disaster struck. Just as the player stepped up to the terminal, a hail of sharp arrows suddenly erupted from the walls—a lethal trap left behind by the sect to execute intruders.

Ling Yue’s reflexes were terrifying. Virtually the exact millisecond the gears clicked, he moved like a tempest, snatching the player out of harm’s way. A stray arrow sliced clean across his shoulder, blood instantly soaking through his dark fabric. Yet, his brow didn’t even twitch. Instead, he simply looked down and asked in a low, raspy murmur, “Are you hurt?”

The collective faction of Ling Yue’s fans completely lost their minds.

“Holy crap! My husband took a bullet for me and bled ahhh!”

A quiet, taciturn man who protects you without a single shred of hesitation during a life-or-death crisis—how could anyone possibly resist falling for that?

Qin Zhou’s reaction was entirely different. The moment the arrow trap triggered, he casually hurled his sword forward, effortlessly deflecting the flying projectiles out of the air with a series of clean, resonant strikes. He chuckled confidently, “A mere parlor trick, nothing to fear.” The young swordsman certainly knew how to show off in style.

As for Ye Qinghe, though he swiftly glided over and used hidden projectiles to knock down the arrows, the player’s arm ended up slightly grazed. The gentle doctor’s brow furrowed with deep worry, and he immediately sat the player down to tend to the wound, carefully applying medicine and wrapping it in clean bandages.

Inhaling the faint, clean scent of herbs radiating from his body while watching him meticulously bind their arm with absolute tenderness, holographic players were screaming internally with pure adoration.

Who on earth could survive a doctor that gentle?!

Situ Yu chose a completely unconventional route. He unmemorably lounged right beside the player the entire time, calling upon his pet wolfhound to run ahead and trigger the mechanism for them.

This man was notoriously lazy, refusing to lift a finger for anything he could delegate to others. Yet, his intimidating hound was flawlessly obedient to his commands and treated the player with immense friendliness.

Animal-loving players collectively declared:

“I don’t care about the man, let me pet his dog first!”

The moment the weekend bounty concluded, the player base went into a state of collective hysteria.

Those aching for Ling Yue, those utterly charmed by Ye Qinghe’s tenderness, those captivated by Qin Zhou’s stories, and those desperate to pet dogs with Situ Yu… everyone came to the exact same conclusion: “This is dangerously addictive!”

They had initially walked into the weekly quest expecting a mundane routine of slaying monsters, clearing a dungeon, and collecting upgrade resources. Who could have anticipated that it would turn out to be an unforgettable, intimate weekend date?

To top it all off, the rewards waiting at the end of the treasure hunt were incredibly lavish. Not only did it hand out copper coins for gacha pulls, but it also provided a massive haul of card-leveling resources.

“The weekly bounty is a masterpiece! Please give us more events like this every week, a single run is nowhere near enough!”

“This is a million times more entertaining than going on a date in real life.”

“Is it going to be a treasure map again next week? I really hope there are even more gameplay modes.”

“Hurry up and update the main story and drop new banners, I need to pull cards!”

On Weibo’s gaming section, the official community page for Millennium Love comfortably snatched the number one spot on the trending charts.

At that exact moment, Cool Play’s flagship titles, Wilderness Crisis and Mecha Apprentice, were hosting their massive Autumn tournaments, and Wings of Dream’s evergreen title, Pet Paradise, had just rolled out a major version update.

Yet, the discussion metrics for those legendary games couldn’t even hold a candle to Millennium Love. The traffic for the otome title was effectively double that of the second-place game.

The rest of the industry looked on in absolute shock.

How on earth is there this much to talk about?! What are these players even discussing?

A few curious developers clicked into the community page to investigate.

Pinned at the very top of the page was an exhaustive, fan-made optimization guide compiled by the newly formed “Millennium Love Strategy Station.”

Since Qin Zhou was the only character who had engaged in a real combat sequence in the main story so far, the player base was still largely in the dark about how to efficiently build their rosters. In response, a handful of high-spending players had formed a research committee, dissecting every single scrap of card data to formulate a definitive guide.

The analysis was staggering in its precision. Every single card for all four male leads was listed alongside a comprehensive breakdown of their base attributes, meticulously ranked from highest to lowest. They went as far as sorting the dozens of available cards into clear tiers: T0 (Absolute Upgrade Priority), T1 (Highly Viable), and T2 (Avoid Investing Resources).

Furthermore, they provided tailored attribute-allocation paths for each character. They explained how to farm materials with maximum efficiency and outlined which stats to prioritize: Qin Zhou scaled heavily with attack speed and raw damage; Ling Yue required agility and critical strike rate; Ye Qinghe focused on maximum health and poison damage; while Situ Yu specialized in spellcraft and defense.

This strategy post quickly racked up tens of thousands of replies, with shares blasting past the 200,000 mark. It generated significantly more engagement than the world-boss guides for established national-level titles.

Industry peers were left scratching their heads:

“It’s literally just leveling up digital cards, what could possibly be so complicated? Why are they discussing this with the intensity of a competitive e-sports tournament?”

Beyond the data-driven guides, the community was flooded with a terrifying volume of high-quality fan art.

Artist KIKI: “Sketched a quick battle-damaged Ling Yue after getting off work. Ugh, the weekly quest where he took an arrow for us completely broke me. This is a gift for all my fellow Mrs. Lings~”

The quality of the illustration was staggering, easily matching the standards of a premium commercial commission. Yet, it was drawn entirely for free out of pure love and shared with the community.

Artist Mickey: “Drew some chibi avatars for all four male leads! Feel free to download and use them~”

Artist Closed-to-Commissions: “Just a casual sketch of Qin Zhou performing his sword dance. Hope you guys like it.”

User post: “I am completely obsessed with Ah Yu’s dog. I have zero resistance against a man who can manipulate puppets but gently walks a massive dog. Sketched a quick piece!”

User post: “Ye Qinghe in a modern white lab coat! A modern au doctor version of him. If my husband came to the real world, he would definitely be a brilliant doctor, hahaha!”

The volume of fan-made art expanded exponentially. Every single creative piece received a massive surge of positive feedback from the community. Even a basic chibi sketch could easily clear a thousand replies, with popular pieces comfortably cracking tens of thousands of engagements.

Furthermore, fan fiction began sprouting up everywhere:

“What happens if you get severely injured one day? A short, comforting one-shot featuring You × Ye Qinghe.”

“【The Assassin’s Target】 A long-form modern AU romance featuring Ling Yue × You. (Angst warning! Continuous updates!)”

“Angst-free, fluffy slice-of-life: Raising a wolfhound together with Situ Yu.”

“The chaotic and joyful daily routine of a young master: A casual Qin Zhou one-shot~”

It was only the third day of the public beta. The overarching narrative had barely even begun, with only the first three chapters available. The four male leads had essentially made a single introductory rotation, unlocking the preliminary hunt for the sword manual alongside a handful of daily dungeons and a weekly bounty.

Yet, the sheer velocity of creative “secondary content” generated by the community was vastly superior to what most legendary titles experienced during their absolute peaks. Fan works were spreading like wildfire.

Every single time a user refreshed the community page, a fresh wave of fan art, short stories, and comic strips would manifest, instantly accumulating likes and retweets. The passion of the female player base was unprecedented.

Countless girls flooded the comments sections with expressions of pure delight:

“I am absolutely feasting today!”

“The creative content is incredible, thank you sisters, keep them coming!”

“My fellow fans are remarkably talented.”

Just as traditional developers and casual onlookers were lurking in the forum, utterly paralyzed by the terrifying volume and refresh rate of the posts, the community administration team suddenly pushed an official announcement to the top of the feed:

“Dear players of Millennium Love, given the staggering popularity of all four male leads, we have received feedback that the main community hub has become a bit too chaotic to navigate efficiently. In response, we have officially opened dedicated standalone community pages for each individual male lead!

Please click the links below to join: 【Qin Zhou Hub】, 【Ling Yue Hub】, 【Ye Qinghe Hub】, and 【Situ Yu Hub】.

Moving forward, the main Millennium Love hub will continue to serve as a general, open discussion zone for all players. Single-character loyalists can head over to the individual hubs to create and consume tailored content. We hope everyone can coexist harmoniously and protect our community environment together. Thank you all for your incredible support, babes~”

The rest of the industry was completely flabbergasted.

The popularity of the four characters was so immense that a single massive community hub couldn’t even contain the traffic, forcing them to branch out into individual character forums?!

The sheer, unadulterated passion of female gamers toward fictional characters… is terrifyingly powerful.

As Millennium Love crossed its third day of public beta, its financial charts continued to climb in an aggressive upward trajectory.

A game centered entirely around romance had managed to compel women to spend money hand over fist, purely to pull digital cards and unlock personal story sequences. A game with such a streamlined, straightforward core loop had managed to amass hundreds of millions of yuan within a mere seventy-two hours.

Traditional developers had never expected this game to succeed, and they were utterly incapable of comprehending how a romance title could explode to such an absurd scale. For three consecutive days, it fiercely anchored itself within the top three of the top-grossing charts across both mobile and holographic platforms. Xie Yunfan was once again raking in an absolute fortune.

On Monday, the staff at Yangfan Studio arrived for work.

Xie Yunfan called the entire Millennium Love project team into the grand conference room. He maintained a serene smile as he announced, “Incredible work, everyone. The market reception for Millennium Love post-launch has been phenomenal. Our three-day revenue has officially cleared the 500 million yuan mark.”

The room erupted into an intense storm of applause.

Shen Xingye, the project lead and head copywriter, felt her eyes well up with tears. She vividly recalled her previous studio, where the story-driven mobile game they poured their hearts into failed to clear even 20 million yuan across its entire lifecycle.

Now, with this otome title, they had raked in 500 million within three days? And this was merely the beginning! The sheer purchasing power of the female consumer base was nothing short of miraculous.

Xie Yunfan raised a hand to gently quiet the room. “The launch is spectacular, but we cannot afford to get complacent. This game requires a meticulous, long-term operational strategy. Our community reputation is our most valuable asset. The current public beta content is structurally sufficient to sustain the players for about two weeks, after which they will enter a dry spell. Our roadmap dictates a major storyline update in early October to lock down player retention.”

“The main story content is already fully developed, so I won’t rehash those details. The critical milestone ahead is Ling Yue’s Birthday in November. This will be the very first character birthday event since our launch, and the execution must be absolutely flawless. We need to begin preparations immediately.”

He turned to look at the art department. “We will design a 4-star limited birthday card that will be gifted directly to every single player on the day of the event. Simultaneously, we will release a premium 5-star limited card featuring an exclusive birthday date storyline for the gacha pool.”

“The limited banner will strictly adhere to our established pity and exchange mechanics, ensuring that every single dedicated Ling Yue fan can guarantee the card.”

Xie Yunfan locked eyes with Ning Sha, the Lead Artist, emphasizing, “You must personally oversee the illustrations for these two limited cards. They need to be breathtakingly beautiful.”

Ning Sha nodded sharply without a shred of hesitation. “Understood, Boss.”

“Furthermore,” Xie Yunfan continued, “the marketing department needs to immediately initiate production on physical merchandise. We will launch standard items first—things like metallic bookmarks, character badges, acrylic standees, and throw pillows. Keep the pricing accessible. Give me a structured proposal as quickly as possible.”

“Got it,” Song Qian replied, adjusting his glasses before inquiring, “Boss, what about the interactive AI companion dolls? Qihang has already delivered the finalized AI behavioral models to me. We can authorize factory prototyping at any moment.”

“Let’s hold off on that until the New Year,” Xie Yunfan mused after a moment of deliberation. “The game has just launched. Rolling out such high-ticket merchandise this early might cause a backlash from the community. Introducing the companion dolls during the New Year as a holiday blessing carries a far better narrative sentiment. In the meantime, use the buffer to negotiate further with the manufacturers. Force the production costs down.”

“Understood. I’ll make a trip out to the Imperial Capital tomorrow.”

“Thank you for the hard work, everyone. Let’s focus up and execute the birthday event.”

Following the conclusion of the meeting, the project team returned to the 9th floor. The Millennium Love division now occupied an entire dedicated floor of the corporate building.

The interior design of the floor was meticulously tailored to match the preferences of the female staff, incorporating their feedback throughout the renovation process. The moment one stepped through the main glass doors, they were greeted by four magnificent, life-sized standees of the male leads.

Looking at the standees, Shen Xingye’s heart swelled with a complex mixture of emotions. These four men were the proud creation of dozens of women working in unison, hammering out their backstories, refining their illustrations, and polishing their 3D models through countless iterations.

As expected, only women truly understand what women want.

The characters they adored had successfully captured the hearts of an entire nation of gamers. Shen Xingye felt an overwhelming sense of pride and gratitude toward their boss, who had granted them total creative autonomy and shown absolute respect for their choices regarding the male leads’ designs.

These four characters were born out of the genuine love of the development team. She was deeply convinced that they would move on to become profound emotional anchor points for countless players within the digital universe. The team would cherish these characters fiercely, hoping they could walk alongside the players for a very, very long time.

By late September, the first phase of the main storyline for Millennium Love concluded its rollout.

The public beta launch had delivered a total of eight comprehensive chapters, providing massive highlight moments for every single male lead. Cutting the story off right at a massive cliffhanger left the players practically clawing at their screens, joking online about hunting down Xie Yunfan to force out updates.

During the temporary content lull, players settled into a comfortable routine of raising their card rosters. Fortunately, the daily resource dungeons and rotating weekend bounties provided a steady stream of fresh interactions, ensuring they could spend quality time with their chosen characters.

To max out their intimacy levels, several players poured immense amounts of time and money into ascending their cards to the maximum level threshold. Once a character’s intimacy score cleared 50, players could officially trigger the sequence to learn martial arts directly from them.

One exceptionally wealthy player dropped tens of thousands of yuan to push her intimacy scores with all four men past 50 simultaneously. Her daily routine involved taking turns learning swordplay, practicing medicine, and going on intimate dates with her four husbands, enjoying herself immensely.

On October 10th, marking exactly one full month since the public beta launch, the main story rolled out its scheduled update.

Accompanying the new chapters was a special rate-up banner featuring four brand-new 5-star cards, each packed with standalone personal narratives that served as character-focused epilogues to supplement the main plot.

While these cards were scheduled to join the permanent pool once the rate-up window concluded, the players possessed zero patience. Driven by pure excitement, an overwhelming number of users ignored all warnings and dropped massive amounts of cash to pull for every single card, instantly propelling Millennium Love back into the top three of the grossing charts.

When the initial content had halted weeks ago, many industry peers had smugly predicted that the game would experience a swift death. Dating a fictional character is just a passing trend, they reasoned. Once the initial novelty wears off and the players calm down, who is going to care about a few digital drawings?

Reality promptly slapped them in the face yet again.

A month after launch, the seasonal event revenue shattered their previous records. The players hadn’t experienced a shred of burnout; if anything, their fanaticism was steadily intensifying.

The October narrative cut off at another exquisitely tense cliffhanger, but the subsequent updates to the weekend bounties and daily dungeons introduced an array of charming casual interactions. Players could now forage for rare herbs alongside Ye Qinghe, walk the massive wolfhound with Situ Yu, play hide-and-seek throughout the villa with Qin Zhou, or engage in quiet games of chess with Ling Yue. These relaxing minigames could be effortlessly completed on a mobile phone, and the player base thoroughly adored spending quiet moments with the characters.

Consequently, even during main story lulls, the game’s daily active user metrics showed absolutely zero decline.

By November 13th, the highly anticipated birthday event for Ling Yue finally arrived. As the very first character birthday celebration since the game’s launch, the community had been counting down the days with bated breath.

The official social media accounts had initiated a massive promotional buildup weeks in advance. The official preview announced:

【Limited Birthday Banner: 5-Star Card — Ling Yue · First Awakening of the Heart】. Please note that once the event concludes, this card will be temporarily unobtainable, with a potential rerun scheduled for Ling Yue’s birthday next year.

The announcement ignited a massive wave of discussion across the internet.

“A true limited banner? Meaning if I miss it today, I literally have to wait an entire year for a rerun?!”

“Oh my god, the card illustration is devastatingly handsome. I am throwing all my money at this!”

“Sisters, have you hoarded enough copper coins?”

“The previous story update banner completely wiped out my savings. I managed to scrape together about 50 pulls this month. If my luck is terrible and I don’t hit the card, I’m topping up immediately~”

“The base stats on this card are remarkably high. I might consider dropping cash to get five duplicates and completely max out its refinement level.”

Long before the actual date arrived, the community’s passion had reached a boiling point. Countless players were aggressively preparing their resources to secure the limited card.

On November 13th, at exactly 8:00 AM, the servers finished maintenance, and the birthday event officially went live.

Since it was a Friday, the accessibility of the mobile version allowed millions of players to instantly log in and start summoning from wherever they were. The discussion metrics across social media platforms exploded instantly. The hashtag #HappyBirthdayLingYue bypassed all algorithms, violently capturing the number one spot on the national trending charts.

What truly paralyzed traditional developers with absolute shock, however, was what manifested across major metropolitan cities like the Imperial Capital, the Magic City, and Rongcheng. Massive digital displays across prominent commercial districts were broadcasting elaborate, custom-made birthday tribute videos for a fictional character.

Later that evening, Tang Tonghai, the President of Wings of Dream, was being driven home from the office. As his car stopped at a major intersection in the heart of the Imperial Capital’s most luxurious commercial center, his eyes caught the towering LED megascreen dominating the skyline.

The screen was currently looping a breathtaking dynamic video featuring Ling Yue from Millennium Love.

Tang Tonghai’s expression turned utterly frigid. “Xie Yunfan is truly reckless with his capital. He actually bought out a promotional display in the heart of the Imperial Capital’s Central Business District.”

This was one of the most affluent commercial zones in the entire country, commanding an astronomical volume of foot traffic. Advertising slots on these landmark screens were billed strictly by the second.

Tang Tonghai narrowed his eyes. On the massive display, Ling Yue’s features were magnified several times over. His facial structure was strikingly sharp, and his dark eyes carried an intense, deep gaze. Even as an embittered competitor, Tang Tonghai had to silently concede that the character model was spectacularly designed.

As the brief fifteen-second promotional sequence drew to a close, two rows of elegant typography materialized across the screen:

“Players of Millennium Love wish Ling Yue a magnificent birthday!”

“You are not alone in your world; we will walk beside you across all time.”

Tang Tonghai stared blankly at the screen, utterly stunned. The sheer psychological shock he experienced at that moment far surpassed the news of the game clearing 100 million yuan on day one.

A tribute from the players?

This advertisement wasn’t funded by Yangfan Studio… the players pooled their own money to buy this out?!

Have these women completely lost their minds?!

Throughout his decades-long career as a gaming executive, he had launched numerous successful titles that commanded fiercely loyal fan bases. Yet, this was the absolute first time in his life he had ever witnessed a player base pooling their personal finances to buy landmark advertising space in the nation’s most expensive commercial district, purely to celebrate a fictional character’s birthday.

Furthermore, this landmark CBD display sat directly across the street from the corporate headquarters of Wings of Dream. This was a literal, unmitigated display of dominance right on his doorstep.

He simply could not fathom it. It’s a collection of digital pixels. How on earth can a player base feel such intense, authentic emotional attachment that they would drop a fortune just to project a birthday wish onto a skyscraper?

The fifteen-second tribute video looped continuously, costing an astronomical amount of money per day. What could possibly possess someone to spend that kind of capital on a virtual entity? Is this the reality of an obsessed female consumer base’s spending capacity?

A romance title managed to capture an army of wealthy consumers?

Tang Tonghai’s countenance grew increasingly grim. He vividly recalled his dismissive remarks weeks ago regarding how a romance game could never command a sustainable market. Yet, reality was systematically shattering his worldview piece by piece.

The traffic light transitioned to green, and the chauffeur smoothly accelerated the vehicle, turning the corner and finally breaking the line of sight with the obnoxious display.

Tang Tonghai reached into his coat with a dark expression to retrieve his phone. Right at that moment, it began to ring. It was the Marketing Manager from Wings of Dream, his voice trembling slightly over the line: “P-President Tang… I just checked the metrics…”

Tang Tonghai barked coldly, “What metrics?”

The manager swallowed hard before replying, “The real-time grossing charts for Millennium Love… Across both mobile and holographic platforms… it has officially captured the Number One spot on both leaderboards simultaneously.”

Tang Tonghai: “…………”

_

Author’s Note:

The traditional developers of the virtual world: Utterly paralyzed with shock.