Jack left looking completely defeated, as if his soul had left his body. No one knew how long it would take him to recover.
The group hangout continued, but the atmosphere had subtly changed. Julia became increasingly close with Jason Carter.
She didn't act overly affectionate, but her gestures—grilling food for him, handing him napkins, and peeling shrimp—became more frequent and natural, making her seem like the perfect gentle girlfriend.
Jason couldn't help but feel his heart stir again, imagining a beautiful scene of happily marrying Julia someday.
The last time he'd felt this way was with Shenna, and he'd needed other women to wash away his "love-drunk brain." But this time, he didn't need to.
Julia and Shenna balanced each other perfectly in his heart, making it impossible for even his romantic side to settle down.
His mind wandered to how incredible it would be to have both women at once—and since he already had two, why not more?
Over with Mike, the atmosphere had also shifted. After losing the perfect image of jack, she no longer ignored Mike, which made him happy.
But his happiness didn't last long before he realized something was off. Everything was talked about somehow revolved around Jason.
Mike's face darkened. One rival just left, and now another appeared. Damn it—was it really never going to be his turn?
And this third rival hadn't even spoken to her directly; while he was flirting with Julia, he had somehow managed to captivate her.
Still, since they'd just met at this get-together, Mike didn't feel too strongly about her yet. He wasn't resentful—just a little depressed.
Chris and Quinn, on the other hand, were the same as before; Quinn wasn't interested and just stayed polite.
Ivan and Megan, meanwhile, seemed to have taken another small step forward in their relationship.
The hangout ended around three in the afternoon. After dropping the girls off at their dorms, the four guys each wore different expressions.
Jason looked relaxed and carefree, Ivan had a smug, triumphant grin, while Chris and Mike looked constipated.
Chris glared at Ivan unhappily and said, "Dude, stop smiling. Your face is gonna crack. Third brother, can we set up another hangout? You wouldn't want to see Fourth brother win while I, the oldest, am still single, right?"
Mike added, "Yeah, man, you showed off too much today. Even Emma got pulled into your orbit. You've got to make it up to me with another hangout."
Jason looked at the two of them with sympathy—they really were pitiful.
To be honest, they were good guys. They'd genuinely helped him back when he was struggling. Even after he became successful, they never tried to suck up to him. From a social standpoint, that might seem like they didn't know how to seize opportunities—but Jason actually appreciated it. He preferred the feeling of still being roommates.
So, if he could help, Jason was happy to do it. "Next time there's an opportunity, I'll set something up. But if you two strike out again, that's on you."
"Got it, Godfather." Chrisand Mike were moved to tears, suddenly feeling that Jason having countless women around him was only right—it was what a Godfather deserved.
"Tomorrow's Sunday, how about tomorrow?" Mike said eagerly.
Jason pulled out his phone, waved it in front of them, and said, "Sorry, I'm busy tomorrow."
On Jason's phone screen was a long list of unread messages—though he didn't open any, the names were enough.
They caught glimpses of names like Angela, Grace, and Alice—all women.
He didn't even need to explain. It was obvious he'd be busy tomorrow.
Chris and Mike were silent for a beat before saying in unison, "Damn."
Jason really did have plans for tomorrow—it was New Vision Media's annual company event.
He couldn't be bothered to attend most company parties, but when it came to a media company's annual gathering—packed with beautiful women—there was no way he'd miss it.
With all divisions of New Vision Media gathered, there would definitely be even more women in that range.
Jason figured this would be a great opportunity to boost his "favorability stats."
He opened his system interface and checked his mission progress. His total favorability was at 326, still far from the 800 needed for Mission Five—but he wasn't worried. That was just a side objective.
If he really needed more later, he could always ask Olivia to help him increase it again.
Other mission progress:
Increase the favorability of 8 women rated 8 or higher to 80 (4/8): Grace, Alice, Shenna, Julia.
Increase the favorability of 3 women rated 8 or higher to 90 (1/3): Holly Larson.
Increase the favorability of 1 woman rated 8 or higher to 100 (0/1).
Then, Jason opened his phone and scrolled through his messages. Most were related to the annual company event.
Lewis: "Mr. Carter, should I pick you up tomorrow?"
Angela: "Jason, are you attending the company's annual meeting tomorrow? It's been a while—I really want to see you."
Grace: "Jason, don't forget the annual event tomorrow. Do you want to stay over tonight? We can go together in the morning."
Grace: "Also, I saved you a front-row seat."
Alice: "Jason, I just joined New Vision Media, and I'm already attending the annual meeting… I'm so nervous!"
The next day, Jason had a sudden whim.
He didn't take one of his luxury cars; instead, he rode his bicycle. He hadn't used it much since buying it, and it felt wasteful to let it collect dust. Plus, with more and more women in his life, he figured it wouldn't hurt to actually stay in shape—he couldn't rely on system boosts alone.
At the university gate, Olivia arrived in a car with her driver—and they both froze when they saw Jason casually pedaling up on a bicycle.
"You two go ahead, I'm biking for exercise," Jason said, waving them off as he sped away.
Olivia couldn't help but laugh, but she didn't say anything. Rich people were eccentric—it was totally normal for them to bike instead of taking a Rolls-Royce.
She quickly got into the car and told the driver to follow.
The company was more than thirty kilometers away, but with Jason's current fitness level, he arrived easily, just lightly sweating.
He stopped his bike smoothly in front of the building and dismounted with practiced ease.
At the entrance of New Vision Media, dozens of well-dressed men and women had just arrived. When they saw someone roll up on a bike, their expressions shifted from surprise to curiosity.
Seeing Jason's face, physique, and calm demeanor, their reactions varied.
Everyone was thinking the same thing—Who is this guy? He looked like a celebrity, or at least a popular streamer.
Who would have guessed that he was actually the company's new boss?
"Jason Carter?" A familiar voice called out. A stylish young man with a retro side-part haircut walked up, looked Jason up and down, and said in surprise, "It really is you. Damn, you've gotten even better-looking."
Jason blinked, then smiled. "Ethan? No way."
It was indeed Ethan Parker, his old high school classmate.
They had gone to neighboring universities in the same city—Jason to Riverside University, and Ethan to State College.
Back then, they'd gotten along well, though not close enough to keep in constant touch. After one brief meetup during freshman year, they'd drifted apart.
Jason vaguely remembered hearing in their old high school group chat that Ethan had become a streamer—but he hadn't paid attention to it at the time.
He never expected to run into him here, of all places.
Ethan grinned. "What are you doing here? Did you join New Vision Media too?"
Jason smiled lightly. "Well… I guess you could say that."
After all, becoming the new owner of New Vision Media technically counted as joining it—right?
There are 120 chapters ahead in my Patreon. If you are interested can check it out.
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