The next day, the moment Lin Cimian logged into the game, he opened his friends list. The last message was still the one from yesterday.
[Private Chat] Sleepless Tonight: Sorry. I was livestreaming, but don’t worry. It was my first day streaming, so there weren’t many viewers.
At the time, when he saw someone say they would buy a loudspeaker and broadcast the story, he had been so frightened that he immediately posted comments asking them not to. He even foolishly stared at the announcement feed for an entire hour. Only after confirming the person had merely been joking did he finally relax.
After ending the stream, he had also kept waiting for a reply. In the end, he became too sleepy to keep his eyes open and finally logged out.
Although he had not deliberately targeted the other player and the equipment drop had been unexpected, he really had hurt the man. Lin Cimian felt guilty and worried that he had left him with a terrible memory.
He had been online for more than half an hour without doing anything, repeatedly refreshing his friends list. Perhaps the universe finally sensed his obsession, because his one and only friend finally sent a message.
[Private Chat] Some Unruly Subject Is Always Trying to Harm This Emperor: Are you still streaming?
Lin Cimian’s eyes immediately lit up. He straightened and leaned toward the screen, typing quickly.
[Private Chat] Sleepless Tonight: No.
[Private Chat] Some Unruly Subject Is Always Trying to Harm This Emperor: Is it convenient to add each other on WeChat?
Lin Cimian thought about it and voluntarily sent his WeChat ID.
When he streamed, private-chat conversations were clearly visible too. Communicating privately would be more convenient.
After accepting the friend request, he saw the other person’s WeChat name: Don’t Call Me Unruly Subject!
Lin Cimian could not help laughing. For convenience, he changed the contact note to the man’s in-game ID.
Sleepless Tonight: I’m really sorry about yesterday.
Some Unruly Subject Is Always Trying to Harm This Emperor: It’s fine. You didn’t call backup. It was one-on-one. My level and equipment were so much higher than yours and I still couldn’t break free, so I was simply less skilled. As for the dropped equipment, that’s even less your fault. You returned it afterward, so we’re even.
Some Unruly Subject Is Always Trying to Harm This Emperor: Bro, I can tell from your extraordinary bones that you’re destined for great things! Stream properly. Maybe I’ll even bask in your glory and become famous with you.
Only after reading this did Lin Cimian finally relax. The heaviness pressing on his heart disappeared.
He liked the other person’s optimistic, broad-minded personality and immediately felt much closer to him. The stiffness he had around strangers faded considerably.
Sleepless Tonight: That’s good. You didn’t reply yesterday, so I thought you really minded. Loud crying.jpg
Some Unruly Subject Is Always Trying to Harm This Emperor: I didn’t see it. By the way, bro, when are you usually online?
Sleepless Tonight: Afternoons and evenings.
Some Unruly Subject Is Always Trying to Harm This Emperor: Great, I’ll come find you tonight. (I’m logging off first. I’m afraid my boss will catch me slacking.)
Lin Cimian: Waving.jpg
After putting down his phone, Lin Cimian found himself in an inexplicably good mood. Humming, he started his stream.
Blessed by the god of livestreaming, yesterday’s stream had been extremely effective. His follower growth far outpaced the other new streamers, and those followers were sticky. The moment he went live, people greeted him.
Lin Cimian cherished every viewer who supported him. Only after greeting them one by one did he begin clearing beginner quests.
The beginner quests were not difficult, but they were painfully slow and not particularly interesting.
One moment he helped Auntie Liu find her missing cat; the next he went to the fields to fight wild boars. After more than three hours of fussing around, he had gained only two levels and added two useless sickles to his equipment.
Most importantly, the stream was too boring. His viewer count kept falling, and even the people who had interacted with him at the beginning disappeared.
Lin Cimian did not let it affect his mentality. After another half hour, he finally completed the beginner quests.
He let out a long breath, posted an announcement in the stream, then went to serve himself a bowl of the cured-pork rice he had made at noon.
The cured pork had been bought online and carried a faint spiciness. The lean portions were chewy without being dry, while the fatty portions had turned half-translucent and released their oil into the rice.
Combined with carrots, green peas, and mushrooms, it was richly savory yet refreshing. Lin Cimian thought the flavor was a little light, so he added a spoonful of homemade soy sauce. Every grain of rice glistened, yet the dish did not feel greasy at all.
It would have tasted even better with a crispy layer of scorched rice at the bottom, but Lin Cimian did not have the conditions for that. The kitchen was a mess, and the only pot was difficult to use, so he could only make do for now.
He carried the bowl to the computer. Although he was technically taking a break, if he saw a comment asking what he was eating, he would still smile and reply.
Half an hour later, he finished dinner and stood to clear the bowl and chopsticks. Because the space was so small, his elbow accidentally bumped the mouse.
Lin Cimian did not notice until a voice came from the computer, affected to the point that it seemed capable of clamping his head between its syllables, impossible to tell whether it belonged to a man or woman.
“Well, well, who do we have here? Why is it some stinky gamer?!”
Lin Cimian paused, looking bewildered.
Dream Record of the Nine Heavens had rather unusual taste in voice actors…
The thought had barely formed when another voice came from the computer. “Oh my, your stream doesn’t even have a fraction of my viewers. What a waste of my time. Hurry up and PK me. Once we’re done, I can move on to the next person!”
There was no way that came from the game. Lin Cimian jerked his head up and saw that the screen had been divided in half. Another streamer occupied the left side.
The streaming software had just popped up a PK invitation. When his elbow hit the mouse, he had happened to click confirm.
Lin Cimian had chosen gaming streams precisely to avoid social interaction. He had never expected streaming platforms to become increasingly elaborate and introduce forced online socializing too.
Once a PK began, it could only end if both sides agreed.
Lin Cimian could only type in a panic:
[Sorry, I clicked by accident. You should find someone else to PK.]
The other streamer was talking to his fans in such an affected, pinched voice that his tongue seemed to make eighteen twists. He ignored Lin Cimian completely.
“Stop mentioning Lin Cimian’s name! People have said I’m good-looking and resemble celebrities ever since I was little, but I really didn’t deliberately imitate him. Besides, I hate Lin Cimian. I’m nothing like him!”
The syrupy affectation raised goosebumps all over Lin Cimian. Only then did he pay attention to the other streamer’s appearance.
The same silver-white hair, the same pinched cutesy voice, the same green-tea style of speech. Even the top looked extremely familiar—there was an identical one in his closet, probably something the original owner had worn during a performance.
This was… difficult to evaluate.
Lin Cimian went numb. His expression became extremely strange. The other streamer kept mentioning him again and again, riding his popularity so blatantly it could not have been clearer.
“I’m prettier than Lin Cimian? Thank you for the compliment, big brother, but don’t drag someone else down to praise me.”
“Thank you for the Meteor, big brother. If you send a Meteor, you can add me on WeChat. I’ll message you privately later.”
“You clicked in because you thought I was Lin Cimian… I’m really not Lin Cimian. If you keep saying that, I’ll get angry. Besides, he retired from the entertainment industry. There’s no way he’d become a streamer!”
Lin Cimian: “…”
The person himself guiltily licked his lips. Even though he knew no one could see him, he still awkwardly looked away.
After chatting with his fans for a while, the streamer finally remembered Lin Cimian and said impatiently, “Stop wasting my time. Hurry up and PK!”
Lin Cimian assumed he had not seen the previous message, so he gritted his teeth and sent it again.
“How can you do this? You wasted so much of my time and now suddenly say you don’t want to PK.” The other streamer complained coquettishly. “Turn on your microphone and camera. Once we finish the PK, I can move on.”
Sleepless Tonight: I don’t use a camera or microphone. How about this: I clicked by mistake first, so I’ll count this PK as my loss.
“How boring.” The streamer snorted and dramatically rolled his eyes. On a whim, he said, “Then your punishment is turning on your microphone and camera. Everyone in my stream is curious what you look like.”
Lin Cimian: “…”
That was basically tap-dancing directly across his minefield.
Sleepless Tonight: Sorry. Can we change the punishment?
The streamer did not understand why anyone would reject a camera so strongly and muttered, “What’s wrong with letting everyone see what you look like? You’re the one who said you’d accept a punishment, but now you’re deliberately being picky. I’ve never seen anyone who cheats this badly!”
The other streamer’s fans joined in sarcastically.
[He must be ugly. That’s why he won’t turn the camera on.]
[Baby, don’t be unhappy. My heart will hurt.]
[Gaming streamers are probably loser guys with acne all over their faces. He saw our baby and developed an inferiority complex.]
Expressionless, Lin Cimian rolled his eyes. It was the first time he had met someone this shameless and impervious to reason.
Sleepless Tonight: Fine. What are we competing in?
The other streamer stopped complaining and immediately said, “Okay! Then let’s see who receives more gifts within ten minutes. If you lose, you turn on your camera. I’m not petty like you, so I’ll make my punishment bigger. If I lose, I stop streaming for a month!”
The moment he finished speaking, his fans obediently began sending gifts.
The streamer ignored free and low-priced gifts, thanking only expensive ones in an exaggerated tone. He used this method to stimulate his fans into sending more and increasingly costly gifts.
Some viewers in Lin Cimian’s stream could no longer stand it and spoke up for him.
[How does anyone like this bizarre creature…?]
[This is too much. Isn’t he obviously bullying someone?]
[I know this streamer. This is his usual routine. When he PKs a small streamer, he forces them into embarrassing punishments to encourage his own viewers to send gifts. When he meets a big streamer, he completely changes his face and flatters them shamelessly, hoping they’ll take him along. His methods are so low-level. Does he really think everyone is stupid?]
Some people sent gifts to Lin Cimian too, but he had only just begun streaming and had too few fans. The gap remained enormous.
Lin Cimian ground his teeth. Looking at this idiot imitating him, he became so angry he almost wanted to turn on the camera and frighten him to death.
But reason told him that if he turned on the camera, a crowd would immediately swarm over, and his next public social death on the trending list would not be far away.
He had no intention of letting an idiot ruin his startup before it was even halfway established. Seeing that the gift prices were not too high, dark courage rose in his heart and he silently pulled out his phone.
If the other person refused to play by the rules, then he could not blame Lin Cimian for sending gifts to himself!
The thought had barely appeared when a special sound effect rang out.
A meteor shower descended across the stream. Graceful arcs reflected in Lin Cimian’s eyes, like lights igniting in the darkness of night.
Meteor was the most expensive gift on the streaming platform. Triggering the meteor-shower effect required a total value of at least five figures.
The special effects covered Lin Cimian’s side of the screen. On the other side was the streamer’s comically distorted face, jealousy and malice completely undisguised in his eyes.
“How could…” Shock made him forget to pinch his voice, revealing a somewhat rough natural tone.
Realizing his mistake, he coughed and returned to the cutesy voice. “Y-you’re just a gaming streamer. How could anyone send you a meteor shower? Then what am I supposed to do…”
Remembering the punishment he had personally proposed, the streamer’s face changed. Stammering, he begged his viewers, “Big brothers, hurry and send me gifts! If I don’t get more gifts than him, you won’t see me for an entire month!”
“Hurry! Gifts aren’t even expensive. Your salaries are so high. What’s wrong with sending me one?”
Only five minutes remained in the PK. The fans who usually flirted with the streamer saw how large the required amount had become and disappeared one by one. No matter how he acted cute or begged, he received no new gifts.
The difference was simply too large. Seeing there was no way to reverse the situation, the streamer panicked and could only plead with Lin Cimian. “Everything just now was my fault. Can we end the PK? I rely on streaming to eat. If I can’t stream for a month, I’ll have nothing but northwest wind to drink. And if I come back after a month, all my fans will be gone. Wouldn’t that basically ruin me?!”
Lin Cimian watched the exaggerated acting and did not buy it at all.
He made what he believed was his fiercest expression, though it merely squeezed a little ring of soft flesh around his cheeks. After snorting, he used his thirty-seven-degree hands to type cold and vicious words:
[Nope.]
The streamer: “…”
Lin Cimian had not expected being the bad guy to feel this satisfying. He could not resist adding another sentence:
[Also, Lin Cimian is better-looking than you.]
The viewers felt wonderfully refreshed too and slowly typed:
[True. Even with that ghostly makeup, Lin Cimian still looked better than him.]
[…That’s an angle I never considered. His makeup was that thick and bizarre, yet he only looked moderately ugly. How good-looking must he be barefaced?!]
[Hahaha, streamer, why are you speaking such dangerous truth?]
Lin Cimian read those comments back and forth several times. The praise made his face pink and his eyes bright.
Hehe. How embarrassing.
The other streamer had done so many bad things that plenty of people disliked him. After hearing what happened, they poured into Lin Cimian’s stream, happily followed him, and sent many free gifts.
Lin Cimian’s viewer count reached a new high, comment interaction increased, and his stream’s popularity remained elevated.
Time passed second by second. Under the other streamer’s unwilling glare, the PK ended.
The platform had strict rules for PKs. The winning streamer could report the agreement to the platform, which would supervise the loser in carrying out the punishment.
The game interface returned to full-screen. Once he could no longer see the person imitating him, Lin Cimian felt refreshed. Before continuing his gaming stream, he secretly opened his supporter rankings on his phone.
He had no idea why the other person had sent him such an enormous amount in gifts, but Lin Cimian felt undeserving and did not intend to keep the money. He wanted to contact the sender and return it.
The page refreshed. Lin Cimian’s gaze slowly moved upward and stopped on the ID at the very top:
Big Brother Loves Driving Ferraris.
