The evening was spent resting in Hokkaido; under the boundless snowy plains, they familiarized themselves with their newly acquired skills and continued their cultivation of visualization.
On the third morning, they continued to play in Hokkaido, and by afternoon they went to Finland to see the Northern Lights.
Day by day like this, time flew by toward the end of the year. The strength of the four had greatly improved compared to when they attended the ball, and they had also become adept with their new skills.
They even went to Italy, where Yafeiluna chose a few people to bestow the Skill of the Saint Master and then gathered a bunch of herbs, Identity Cards, and Game Coins from her place.
The Identity Cards were somewhat superfluous.
The skills on the Identity Cards of the Heaven Group were also very good — taking only Instinct, but each of them had only six Skill Slots, so there was no need to switch for the time being.
Several skills were given to Yafeiluna; the rest were kept by Li Changzhou for emergencies to cope with unexpected situations in instances.
Meanwhile, "Honey Pot World" also gained a mature fruit orchard.
A few came from discoveries in the wild, but the majority were directly from fruit orchards around the world, purchased for a considerable amount of Money — Yang Qinglan's money.
With the Life Force of "Honey Pot World," any fruit tree would grow without the need for pruning or other care, and the fruits would be both large and plentiful.
"From now on, we can eat whatever we want!" Li Qianxia often wandered in the orchard, very content.
"This is nothing; the day we replace all the fruit trees with those bearing Identity Cards, that will be true Perfection." Turquoise Pool hadn't been in yet.
"You've been with us all this month; don't you need to manage your subordinates?" Li Changzhou was puzzled.
With Li Qianxia around, he and Yang Qinglan had already had little private time, and now there was one more person.
He could only occasionally sneakily hold Yang Qinglan's hand!
At this rate, when would he be able to avenge that arrow!
"Didn't I tell you guys?" Turquoise Pool asked, puzzled.
"Tell us what?" Yang Qinglan countered.
"There's a New Year event at the end of the year; I was planning to retreat for a while to see if I could achieve becoming an Immortal. Having three people of the same realm as me certainly makes the retreat more effective."
"...You call this a retreat?"
Burj Khalifa displayed a massive countdown, 3, 2, 1!
Bang!
Fireworks exploded around Burj Khalifa like a fiery tree, celebratory New Year music started to play, and the fountains danced and transformed with the music.
December 31st, Dubai, New Year's fireworks show.
The Arabian Gulf was dyed with multicolored fireworks, appearing dreamlike and fantastical.
"Dang dang, dang dang dang~, everyone, Happy New Year!" Xiaoyue's goose egg face appeared in the minds of all players.
Seemingly to match the festive spirit, she had changed into a red stewardess uniform, looking voluptuous and refined yet delicate and beautiful when silent.
"Perhaps some players don't understand what 'Happy New Year' means, but that's okay... forget it, it's not important."
Xiaoyue waved her hand as if discarding something.
"Thanks to the outstanding performance during the full moon event, I am honored to have been chosen as the host for this year-end event."
"Here's a special thanks to the players who set fire in Prague; everyone is shocked and amazed at such a grand scene being created within just one month of the game's start. I totally love you~ mua!"
The voice sounded as if it came directly from the mind and truly resonated there.
Li Changzhou felt a shiver all over his body.
"So, where are we going to fight this time?" he asked Turquoise Pool.
"After Prague, what city would dare cancel their buses and subways?" Turquoise Pool asked rhetorically, still shrouded in mystery, unwilling to disclose inside information.
"And no news from Turquoise Pool either? Have these four disappeared?"
"On Christmas Day, someone saw them in Finland, then they disappeared again."
"We can't have him join the national team for now; instruct everyone immediately that all players from the four groups of Heaven and Earth Xuanhuang get ready as per their training teams."
"Yes!"
"Hand those few items over to the Heaven Group."
"Yes!"
◇
In their minds, Xiaoyue continued the broadcast.
She was in a train compartment, and if Li Changzhou wasn't mistaken, it was the one always reserved for them.
"Ha, hiss ha~" Xiaoyue hugged a pillow and sucked on it like a smitten woman.
"Xiaoyue... what are you doing?" That was the pillow Li Qianxia often held in her embrace.
After sucking on the pillow, she lay down on the bench by the window, rubbing her face against it.
Yang Qinglan looked distressed; that was her spot.
"Xiaoyue." It seemed to be the voice of the photographer, probably an instinct for live broadcasting.
"It's great to have only good-looking men and women; I can get excited anywhere in this room!" Xiaoyue finally sat up and dropped her hands from rubbing her chest.
She looked at the camera with flushed cheeks, "To reassure everyone, let me clarify that everything in the compartments is new, yeah~!"
"Alright, now that I'm refreshed, let's bring the topic back to the event."
"This event is straightforward — Value Games will select some players to travel to other planets!"
Other planets?
In Li Changzhou's mind, the first things that came to were ships and the Mecha world they first traveled to.