Walking out of the coffee shop, Lu Ban let out a breath.

Picking up the phone, he called Li Zijian.

"Hey, how was the talk?"

Li Zijian asked.

"Brother Li, is this really Sister Song's friend?"

Lu Ban asked back.

"What's wrong?"

Li Zijian was a little confused.

"The requests they made are really weird."

Lu Ban found a quiet street corner, looked at the people coming and going in the street preparing for the Spring Festival, and then spoke.

"The first one is from Sanwen Interactive Entertainment. He asked me to arrange a few of their roles in my next movie. I took a quick look and found that they are all idol rookies who have never experienced the big world. I can't lead them."

"Oh, maybe they want to use your movie to promote their own artists."

Li Zijian has some enlightenment.

"The second one is what kind of beverage he makes. He wants me to advertise his beverage in my next movie. I tried it and the taste is hard to describe. I can't lie to him."

Lu Ban said again.

"Oh, you don't actually have to drink it yourself, it should be okay to just show the brand?"

Li Zijian persuaded.

"The third one, who is also from Xigua Media, wanted to send people to my place right away. He also said he would provide equipment, personnel and other things, and wanted to take my shares. Are you sure he is not here to take advantage of me?"

Lu Ban continued.

"This is too unfair. I need to report this to President Song."

Li Zijian was filled with indignation.

"And the last one, I feel like she's not here to invest in my movie, but she either wants to support me for her daughter or herself. Brother Li, I'm a person with aspirations, I can't eat easy food."

Lu Ban was serious.

"This... is a bit outrageous. I haven't heard of this before."

Li Zijian didn’t know whether he really hadn’t heard of it, but he told Lu Ban this anyway.

"I have persuaded these few to go back. Please don't introduce any investors to me for the time being."

Lu Ban said a few more words and hung up the phone.

“That’s outrageous.”

He feels that in this era, it seems really difficult to avoid being manipulated by capital.

Especially for independent entrepreneurs, once they become famous, all kinds of investments will come in. Some people choose to accept the capital and start playing the pie-in-the-sky game, cashing out and leaving when the time comes; others get lost in various meetings, business talks, and endless plans, and eventually forget their direction.

Fortunately, Lu Ban is rich and does not have to be subject to such constraints.

Instead of going home directly, he went to the cinema to watch a movie.

In the evening, when Lu Ban was having dinner outside alone, he received a message on his cell phone.

[Wangchuan]: I’m going back to my hometown to celebrate the New Year. Let’s meet for dinner after the New Year!

【Stand still】: Have a good trip.

New Year's Eve is just a few days away, and it looks like Qin Tiantian will have to go home to celebrate the New Year.

Lu Ban has no home and can only stay in Jiangcheng.

Song Yunyan invited him to have New Year's Eve dinner at the Song family, but Lu Ban refused. He was not used to spending New Year's Eve with a large family of strangers.

"Should we get something to eat, too?"

Lu Ban was thinking.

His cell phone vibrated again.

[Feng Yu]: How are you planning to celebrate New Year’s Eve this year?

[Stay still]: Just make something to eat at home.

[Feng Yu]: Do you want to join us?

[Stand still]: I don’t dare…

[Feng Yu]: Not quite brave enough?

[Motionless]: Aren’t you going home?

[Feng Yu]: I won’t go back this year. How about this, I’ll go to your house. I remember you don’t know much about cooking, so I can show off my cooking skills.

Obviously, she didn't give Lu Ban a chance to refuse.

However, the dishes cooked by Feng Yu...

Lu Ban had no memory of whichever Feng Yu it was. He had never eaten the food cooked by the other.

"Change your thinking. At least there's someone to spend New Year's Eve with?"

He decided to comfort himself this way.

On New Year's Eve, the number of followers of the Silent Project officially exceeded 10 million. Lu Ban had just put the bags of vegetables into the kitchen when he saw the words on the chopping board distorted and turned into a cold and indifferent prompt from the system.

【Establishing the Movie Universe: 1/1】

【Attention: 10000000/10000000】

Congratulations on completing your career development task.

【Start settlement now】

[Mission Exploration Degree: 90%]

[Task completion: Perfect]

[People who stick to the old ways and never change don’t deserve success. You try new fields and respond to malicious doubts with your varied creations. After you open the door to a new world, you will own the entire universe! ]

[Achieved Silence Points: 8500]

【Settlement completed】

[Friends are good partners in exploration. Gather your friends and go on an adventure to a strange world. Your friendship will be tested by death.]

[Please complete the task and get rewards]

"Perfect. It seems like getting so much attention in such a short period of time is a pretty good result?"

Lu Ban turned on the faucet and washed the vegetables while muttering to himself.

"Gather friends. In other words, can we invite the Chosen Ones we know to the next mission?"

The images of Trist and Xia flashed through his mind, as well as Remington and Zitang, whom he had met some time ago as natives of this world.

【Cooperative Mission】

[Send an invitation to a Chosen One you know, or accept an invitation from a Chosen One. If there is more than one Chosen One as your companion, the mission will begin.]

[If no one accepts the invitation, the companion will be randomly matched]

[Number of companions: 0/1]

Before Lu Ban checked the subsequent tasks, he saw this prompt.

"There's also a matching mode, which means you have to choose a companion?"

He was more inclined to look for Trist, who not only had powerful firepower suppression, but was also connected to Du Danping, making it easier to obtain intelligence.

As for Xia, to be honest, Lu Ban was a little afraid of her.

Of course, the magic of the Country of Darkness is very powerful and extremely convenient. With Xia as his teammate, Lu Ban feels very stable.

As for Remington and Zitang, Lu Ban was not familiar with them, so he didn't plan to harm them.

"Invitations must be sent first."

Lu Ban chose to send an invitation and found that only Trist and Xia could send it, while Remington and Zitang could not.

"Maybe we have to go through the mission together?"

There might not be any results for a while, so Lu Ban went to prepare the ingredients. Just as he finished cutting the radish, he heard the doorbell.

Lu Ban opened the door and saw Feng Yu, wearing a thick coat and a turtleneck sweater, standing at the door.

"I'm here."

Her smile is very bright, like sunshine in winter.

"How's it going? Have you bought all the food?"

After entering the house, Feng Yu looked around Lu Ban's living room and seemed somewhat happy.

"I've bought it. I was even interviewed at the market about what I'm going to eat tonight."

Lu Ban answered casually.

"Then I will make you a New Year's Eve dinner that you will never forget."

Feng Yu raised the corner of his mouth and said confidently.

"Isn't it a joke that if you eat it you'll die immediately, so this is your last New Year's Eve dinner in this life?"

"...Go away."

Feng Yu rolled up his sleeves, walked into Lu Ban's bathroom, washed his hands, and looked up, feeling a little confused.

“Is there something wrong with your mirror?”

"What's the problem?"

Lu Ban felt nervous and thought of his friends at home.

He hurried to the bathroom, looked over Feng Yu's shoulder, and saw that the mirror was empty. There was no Feng Yu, no Lu Ban, nothing at all.

"…Maybe he is a little afraid of you."

Lu Ban guessed.

"he?"

Feng Yu was puzzled.