LUO YAN took off the VR helmet. After reading that notice, both he and Luo Jin logged out of the game. His brother was probably also inside of his own room right now. He wasn’t sure if the same thing could be said about their older brother.

  Before logging out, he sent a message first to his brother and Shen Ji Yun. Telling them basically that he and Luo Jin were about to log out. He hadn’t waited for their reply because they were asked to log out of the game.

  Truthfully, he and Luo Jin wanted to explore the island first. But they were stopped by the maid NPC and was told that if they insisted to go any further, they would be penalized. Of course, they could only log out. They didn’t even have the time to check the reward given to them by Captain Roger.

  Luo Yan didn’t really mind that much. It just helped to increase his anticipation. Now, he couldn’t wait for tomorrow to arrive so he could know what the last round of the preliminary would be about. He bet it would be pretty interesting. Because if there’s one thing the game devs of Moonlight Media was good at, except for constantly pitting its players, it’s to make things in the game interesting.

  He put his VR helmet on the bedside table and stood up. Then he walked out of his room. Reaching the living room, he saw Luo Jin already sitting on the couch. He dashed forward and sat beside his younger brother.

  "Yan, don’t run," Luo Jin scolded, his brows scrunching a bit.

  Luo Yan leaned on his younger brother’s shoulder. "Ah Jin, don’t be mad. Big brother didn’t mean it," he said while blinking his big peach blossom eyes at him.

  Luo Jin felt a bit of a goosebumps. But despite that, he still found him adorable. And he suddenly felt that he was on the same level as his eldest brother and father in terms of having a Yan-complex. He shook his head and his goosebumps just intensified.

  He poked Luo Yan’s forehead and pushed him gently away from him. "Don’t stick to me too much."

  Luo Yan acted all pitiful. "Ah Jin doesn’t like me anymore."

  Although he knew the other was just acting, Luo Jin still felt uncomfortable seeing him like that. "You know that’s not the case. So, stop teasing me already."

  Luo Yan pouted. "Ah Jin is getting smarter."

  "I’ve always been smart."

  "Then, did my smart little brother able to ask Sister Yuqi if she received the souvenir gift you bought for her?"

  Luo Jin’s whole face turned instantly red. He couldn’t believe that Luo Yan would suddenly segue in that direction. "I- what—why are you suddenly asking that?"

  Luo Yan chuckled. His younger brother was really cute whenever he blushed. He shrugged before answering, "I’m just curious. So, did you ask Sister Yuqi?"

  How could he ask? He couldn’t even speak to her about it. Every time he tried, it’s like his throat was suddenly blocked by something. Until he totally lost his chance to ask about it because before he could, the time for them to go to Safehaven Harbor arrived.

  And now that he that he couldn’t talk to her in-game until the end of the preliminary tomorrow, he could probably only ask her later through WeChat. Which would probably give him more courage than talking to her face to face. Which was kind of lame of him, truthfully. But what could he do? Sometimes, he just couldn’t help being shy around Su Yuqi.

  And no, it definitely didn’t mean anything. Not anything at all.

  "Could we just talk about something else?" he could only say, hoping that Luo Yan would stop teasing him now.

  Luo Yan felt pity and decided to stop teasing his younger brother. "Okay. So, what does Ah Jin want to talk about?"

  Luo Jin secretly let out a sigh of relief when Luo Yan finally gave up the topic about Su Yuqi. "How about the preliminary round tomorrow? What do you think the theme would be?"

  "Well, it’s really hard to guess what those game devs were planning," Luo Yan said. After all, their brain holes are quite deep. "But it would definitely be something that could decrease the number of participants at the fastest speed."

  "Do you know how many players usually reached the tournament round of this Carnival?" Luo Jin thought of asking.

  Because after the end of the preliminary round tomorrow, they had to wait until the last week of the month for the tournament round. So, there’s a period of time between the two rounds.

  "I read on the forum that last year, there were 20 players who fought at the tournament round. It would probably also be around that number this time."

  From what Luo Yan read, those 20 players fought in a tournament-like manner and the last one standing was crowned as champion. It would probably be the same this time around. Because from what he heard, the only thing that changed each year since the Rookie Carnival started was the theme of the preliminary round.

  "So, they had to cut down more than 1000 players to about 20." Luo Jin couldn’t imagine just how they were planning to do that. But they better not let them play until evening. "Why do you think the duration between the preliminary and the final tournament is three weeks? Why couldn’t they just do it the day after the preliminary ended?"

  "So they could hype up the final tournament round, what else?" Luo Yan said. "Remember, the whole preliminary round was being broadcasted live. And even who wasn’t able to watch it live would still be able to watch it because everything will be posted on their official website. The players who watched it couldn’t stop themselves from being invested. As days passed by, they would just become more and more excited. And once the tournament day arrived, they would most likely buy a ticket to watch everything on the spot."

  "In short, it’s just another strategy to collect more money from the players?"

  "Well, at least that’s how I see it."

  Luo Jin leaned back on the couch. "I must say, that’s a pretty good strategy."

  "Right?"

  "Anyway, why is Brother still not coming down? Don’t tell me he’s still in the game?" Luo Jin said, looking at the stairs.

  Luo Yan also turned his head towards that direction. But unlike Luo Jin, he had a guess on why their brother was still in the game.

  He smiled. "Maybe he’s having fun."

  [With Jiao Jiao.] – he added to himself.