Minghai University's club activity building was huge. Just from standing outside and eyeballing it, Shu Yuxin figured it had to be at least twice the size of Nanhu College's. The exterior looked newly renovated too. Overall, it was way more impressive than Nanhu's.

The building had seven floors in total, with two elevators. The E-sports Entertainment Club was on the fifth floor. Honestly, the place didn't just look new from the outside. It looked high-end inside too. Even the hallway decor felt like the office buildings Shu Yuxin had only seen on TV.

Club rooms lined both sides of the corridor. Some clubs even used full glass doors. Looking in from outside, their lobbies looked like company reception areas, with the club names written on the wall behind them, like the Handicrafts Club and the like.

Anyway, the whole place looked ridiculously upscale.

Ever since entering the building, Peng Xiaoxiao hadn't stopped gasping in amazement. She kept looking around, her expression hard to read, somewhere between envy and disbelief. "Wow! This is really a club activity building? You guys are way too rich, aren't you?! It's decorated like a business tower!"

"It's not our money," Yan Zhikai explained honestly. "Minghai University's activity building was designed after commercial office buildings from the start. That was the style they went with. Later, when students applied for club rooms, as long as they had that foundation, interior renovation didn't cost much. And every semester, Minghai University gives each club a bit of money as a subsidy. So all things considered, we didn't actually spend that much on the renovation."

"That's still amazing!" Peng Xiaoxiao exclaimed. Then she suddenly remembered something and asked, "Wait, doesn't our school also have club subsidies? Shouldn't we be able to renovate our club room like this too?"

Hearing that, Yan Zhikai let out a light scoff. "Come on. We can talk about that when our student union stops pocketing club funds."

"Huh?" Peng Xiaoxiao froze.

Yan Zhikai waved a hand, clearly not too bothered by it. "Doesn't really have anything to do with us. Besides, we're not short on that little bit of subsidy anyway."

"The school doesn't know?" Shu Yuxin asked curiously.

Yan Zhikai smiled, a trace of mockery in it. "How could the school not know? They just don't want to deal with it. Let the student union take some money that doesn't belong to them, then have them handle all kinds of messy errands. Pretty nice, right? Everybody wins."

Seeing the thoughtful looks on their faces, he waved his hand again. "This kind of thing has been around forever. There's nothing we can change. Might as well just pretend that funding never existed. It's not like the club would collapse without that bit of money."

"Tch, what a shady setup..." Peng Xiaoxiao muttered.

"Not really some huge conspiracy. Once you enter society, you'll run into plenty of stuff like this." Sounding oddly mature, Yan Zhikai stopped in front of a door. "We're here. This is our club."

Shu Yuxin and Peng Xiaoxiao stopped behind him. Shu Yuxin glanced down both ends of the hallway, then turned forward again. Compared to the flashy, distinctive entrances of the other clubs, this one was practically invisible. There was only a sign on the door that read "E-sports Entertainment Club." Other than that, there was nothing.

Peng Xiaoxiao smacked her lips. "That's pretty shabby..."

"What can you tell from just the door?" Yan Zhikai shot her a sidelong glance, then opened it and walked in. "Come in and take a look. I guarantee you'll be satisfied."

After entering, the two girls found themselves in another area that looked like a company reception desk. The walls were covered in all kinds of game posters and logos. Several posable figures of game characters sat on the front counter too.

Just from the posters on the walls, plus the random weird lines mixed in between them, any slightly seasoned gaming nerd could catch a lot of the memes. For example—

"White underpants, winter strike!"

"Buy a BUG, get a game free!"

"Medic, get your ass over here!"

"Bro, unzip my pants!"

"Theresa is the cutest in the world!"

"VV is a destroyer!"

Shu Yuxin suddenly had the urge to add one more line under that last sentence:

"Drug-cannon warning."

"Whoa, nice atmosphere!" Peng Xiaoxiao looked around and praised it. Then she frowned slightly. "Though... do you guys only play FPS games? These posters are all shooters."

"Of course not. There's a reason for the poster thing... Anyway, all I remember is that on the day they were doing the design, one guy wanted to hang up a Dark Souls 3 poster and realized there wasn't any space left." Yan Zhikai spread his hands, his face wearing that eternally serious expression.

For some reason, when he said such sloppy nonsense with that weirdly serious tone and expression, it created a kind of absurd comedy that made people want to laugh.

Shu Yuxin held back that inexplicable urge to laugh and asked, "So... where's all the equipment you mentioned before?"

"Inside. Follow me." Yan Zhikai beckoned to them and turned into a passageway to the right of the reception area.

The passage wasn't long, but it had no windows and no lights, making it feel very dark. Maybe the building's soundproofing was just too good, but as she walked through it, Shu Yuxin couldn't hear a single sound. The feeling was a little eerie, enough that she couldn't help grabbing the corner of Peng Xiaoxiao's clothes.

Peng Xiaoxiao tilted her head and glanced at her, but said nothing.

Walking in front, Yan Zhikai had already reached the inner door with practiced ease. The moment he reached out and opened it, light from inside spilled into the hallway. At the same time, an extremely sleazy burst of laughter came from within.

The three of them didn't stay in the hallway long and quickly entered the room. It was a large room. The overall decor used dark tones, but under the lighting, it didn't feel too oppressive. Five rows of computers were arranged neatly inside. The layout looked much like a normal internet café, and the chairs were the common gaming chairs you'd see in one too. But the environment here was kept in great condition. It didn't feel dirty or messy like an internet café.

There weren't many people in the room right now. Aside from one or two people playing games, there were also two guys huddled together looking at a phone. The earlier laughter had come from them. They were standing sideways with their backs to the three newcomers, so they still hadn't noticed anyone had entered and were eagerly continuing their previous topic.

"Come on, come on, look at this one too. Ranked third! I've liked this girl for a while now. She's the one most my type." The fat guy pointed at the phone screen, grinning nonstop as he spoke.

"Let's see... Shu Yuxin? Hey, isn't this that cold goddess or whatever?" The skinny guy laughed twice, then patted the fat guy on the shoulder. "Damn, Old Mei, didn't expect that. So you're into the icy type, huh?"

The fat guy's laugh grew more and more lecherous. "Heh, it's not her personality I like. Just look at this girl's figure. That's what you call curves in all the right places. Tsk tsk, one look and you know she's got some real kick to her! And I heard she's always bare-faced too. You know what that means? If she's already at this level without makeup, then once she dresses up she'd be absolutely insane. I seriously think she's way better than those other flashy sluts!"

As he spoke, he added with deep feeling, "Man, if I could hook up with a girl on this level, then my four years of college would be totally worth it..."

Shu Yuxin, standing right behind the two of them: "..."