It started with a fan's startling comment, "[They're tearing each other apart—]", which sparked a frenzy among countless viewers and onlookers.
z-bkc's live stream room:
Does Z even realize he's livestreaming?!
How could the grass not know? It was intentional!
- Persona collapsed? Really? Oh my god, I'm so excited and thrilled, I can't help but stand up and jump!
-This passerby was shocked by the brainlessness of Z fans—your idol does such a despicable thing that hinders the solution to the mystery, and no one is criticizing him?! What kind of values do they have?!
-What a double standard this Z is! Xuanyuan Tianlu played tricks on him, and he forced him to delete his account and quit the game, but then he started playing tricks on himself? No, what good does that do him?
- I don't care, all I know is that Z is a million times smarter than me. Isn't it perfectly normal that I don't understand what he does?
- There's something I absolutely have to say: Z, who spoke up for Mingzhu, is so incredibly handsome and cool!
-So they made up in private? How did they make up?
-Oh my god, didn't you all notice? Look at Z's belt!!! There's a keychain on it!!! When did he buy a keychain?!
-How could I be blind?
-Really?
- Z, dressed in black, with black hair and black eyes, was wearing a black cat keychain.
- Hahaha, or maybe that's a big black doll?
-Oh my god, z is practically a champion of the "it's actually good" cult! He can advertise for catteries now!
-I'm so angry about this dungeon! Why did they have to separate my Z and Mingzhu?! Why did they have to put my Z and that deadbeat Shanyu together?! I can't even see Mingzhu's stunning beauty anymore, I'm so mad! If I can't get any more Mingzhu, this face-obsessed person is going to die!
-By the way, did nobody notice? Shan Yu brought a fan, and Wen Zheng brought the king. There were four people in total, but Xiao Yu wasn't there.
...My wife's stock price plummeted (crying uncontrollably)
-Oh my god, Xiaoyu has really fallen out of favor! I'm going to cry like a broken wall!
- Xiaoyu isn't broadcasting, is something wrong?
- Please stop flooding the chat, everyone! Focus on the scoreboard!
…………
At this moment, it wasn't just the CatLove platform, which had encountered a major bug, that was in a state of panic; the abnormal data monitoring system at the Allied Survival Space Headquarters also issued an alarm.
Someone actually used sophisticated methods to tamper with the matchmaking mechanism, forcibly putting two groups of players into a specific instance.
This behavior seriously violated the game's internal logic, and a group of technicians rushed over to work overtime after receiving the call.
The game has been running for decades and nothing like this has ever happened before. Everyone was puzzled and projected the progress of the instance onto the white wall of the conference room.
Rick, the head of the tech team, with his messy, bird's-nest-like hair, let out a wailing: "They have the means to modify data, yet they don't even bother to hide the modification path! What kind of arrogant criminal is this?! Haven't they been able to contact the Xia Country branch yet?"
A bespectacled male colleague: "It's evening in Xia Guo now, I've already made the call..."
"Wait, Rick, look!" someone suddenly shouted, raising their voice. "That hacker sent us an email!"
"What email!?"
Rick slid his wheelchair around, opened the email, tapped a few times, and then zoomed in on the projection.
Everyone looked up, and after two minutes, they all exclaimed in surprise—
"A leak! Someone actually leaked information!"
"Has the Xia Kingdom branch gone mad?"
"The traces of the file transfer are clear, but the evidence collection process was illegal. What should we do, Rick?"
"Look down, the hacker said... they'll personally expose the schemers and gather evidence in the Colosseum Mystery. Rick, what do we do? Should we cut the connection now?"
Rick chuckled softly.
"Hehe...whoosh whoosh whoosh...hahahaha!"
The bespectacled man couldn't stand it anymore and shoved him: "Don't do that, it makes you look like a villain."
"This is hilarious!" Rick jumped up. "Go add livestream channels for this instance, buy featured spots on social media, and is that livestreaming platform we're working with in China malfunctioning? Tell them not to rush to fix it. Oh, right." He clapped his hands. "Have them call the police, and buy me a plane ticket to China right now!"
The colleagues were silent for a second, then suddenly stood up, some flipping tables, some throwing pens, some kicking chairs, protesting in a chaotic uproar: "We want to go too—"
Rick, soaked by a rain of "paper balls" and "pen caps," laughed loudly: "Hahaha, no way, you guys have to be on duty!"
***
The statement from the Survival Space Headquarters quickly spread from the Allied countries' social networks into Xia State, its vague wording yet revealing some highly indicative clues.
The Weibo users were in an uproar. After some expert analysis, everyone suddenly realized that someone had reported the streamer [山雨欲来] for cheating.
Is this even possible?!
As more and more speculations emerged, Shan Yu's Weibo account was quickly flooded with questioning netizens. Although some fans insisted that there was no evidence and that the headquarters' statement was unclear, they still could not stop the voices of the general public.
A handsome young man sat at his desk, engrossed in scrolling through Weibo, his face growing paler and paler.
My roommate suddenly opened the door and came back, exclaiming in surprise, "Why did you come downstairs? Is your cold any better? It's been dragging on for so many days... Here, I brought you some congee and side dishes."
Tears suddenly welled up in the boy's eyes and, in the blink of an eye, dripped down his cheeks onto the phone screen.
My roommate panicked immediately: "What's wrong? Are you feeling unwell again? If you're really feeling bad, you should go to the hospital. You can't just tough it out..."
The boy shook his head, sobbing uncontrollably, clutching his chest.
"I...I was wrong..."
With trembling hands, he slowly opened the chat history, took a screenshot, and then typed little by little in the box to post a new Weibo post.
Regret won't solve anything; he needs to speak out.
Author's Note: Xiaoyu (hesitatingly): Actually, I was supposed to be on the team, but that scheming girl brought in a bunch of fans at the last minute, and I was left out. I've fallen out of favor.
(Working hard to add more chapters after 2000 comments, one chapter tomorrow afternoon and one chapter tomorrow evening, raise your pigeon head)
Chapter 39
Due to a malfunction in the live stream assistant, the controversy in the comments section went unnoticed by the parties involved, and Shan Yu and Wen Zheng continued their seemingly harmonious exploration of the massive sports center.
The sports stadiums were quickly explored, each scene featuring the same simple scoreboard.
The numbers were different each time, and it took some brainpower to remember them. Shan Yu praised Wen Zheng's memory and said that they would each remember half of the score.
"I reckon there are other projects coming up, and there's too much to remember. The dungeon won't refuse to provide paper and pen. Thanks for your hard work, little Z. I know you're good at this."
Wen Zheng nodded: "You're not bad either."
The chat was filled with screams of excitement because whenever Wen Zheng had the chance, he would take advantage of Shan Yu's inattention to turn the scoreboard containing the number 6 upside down, and he had done it four times so far.
What exactly does he want to do?
At first glance at the map, the five petals were not connected to each other. The two entered the second floor from the fifth floor and found that, unlike the previous floors, there was an aerial corridor connecting the other four sections.
A disagreement arose regarding whether to go downstairs first or visit the other petals.
Shan Yu laughed and said, "If the comments were still there, we could ask the audience."
Wen Zheng headed straight for the transparent glass corridor: "Let's go find your fans first."
"Yeah, I promised to take her out, but I left her with the King. Do you usually take your viewers out to queue up?" Shan Yu tried to start a conversation.
"Bring Xiaoyu along."
Upon hearing this, Shan Yu joked, "So you have both water and friends?"
Wen Zheng did not answer. The two walked one after the other into the corridor.
The scenery outside bursts into view unrestrained: a green lawn marked with various white lines, surrounding a huge red running track. The surrounding stands extend upwards in tiers, climbing up to the second floor like five flower petals to match the architecture, with connecting corridors.
Despite being in a fully enclosed glass tunnel, the stunning visuals still give one a refreshing feeling, as if one can hear the bustling voices of people, or smell the sweat and hormones.
"So the open space in the middle used to be an athletic field, which looks a lot like the final stage." Shan Yu sighed, "Looking at it this way, you were right to come this way. The first floor is either sealed off or has a trap; it can't be that we can easily get to the ending."
After a while, Shan Yu didn't get Wen Zheng's agreement and said helplessly, "Little Z, it's rare to see a streamer as taciturn as you."
Wen Zheng tilted his head slightly: "Is that so?"
Although they couldn't see the live chat, Shan Yu knew that countless people were watching their every move, and laughed, "Yeah. I've been a streamer for so many years, and most people talk to the audience constantly to make the stream more entertaining. Game streamers are even more so. You have to be able to commentate and chat, otherwise why would viewers watch a live stream? They might as well watch a recording."
"That makes sense."
"Haha, listening to your brother will help your future development. You used to be doing it part-time, so you might not understand. We professional streamers care more about the quality of our streams, so we can't slack off for a moment. Especially for non-entertainment streamers, like me and some people I know, we have to read a lot of books and materials every day to supplement our knowledge. Otherwise, when we enter a dungeon and the audience asks about this or that allusion, if I can't answer, wouldn't that be boring?"
"That's right."
At this moment, the chat in Wen Zheng's live stream was filled with:
-Who are you to give me pointers?
-We love even the mute, or should we learn from you?
-So dedicated...
-Even though the evidence hasn't come out yet, these words just sound really awkward to me...
-You're awesome, you're a fangirl?
-What do you mean by "fucking fans"? Who's "fucking fans"?
-Go check Weibo, lots of people are digging into Shanyu's past. Although there's no concrete evidence of cheating yet, he and the Xuanyuan family, along with several other streamer groups, bought popularity. Their chat logs have been exposed, and several fans claim they've had sex with him. Shanyu even said it was her first time, and that seeing him made her feel special, etc. It's disgusting!
-Holy crap?
- There are so many fewer people now, did they all go to browse Weibo? ??
-You can browse Weibo anytime, but I'm staying here to watch the biggest show of the year!
…………
Shan Yu was smug and, ignoring Wen Zheng's coldness, wanted to continue lecturing him, but Wen Zheng suddenly said, "I see them."
Shan Yu was taken aback and looked into the distance. On the opposite side of the circular corridor, there seemed to be two tiny black dots moving.
This glass corridor was built around the perimeter of the track and field stadium. The distance between where they were and the opposite side was as far as the diameter of the track and field stadium, so far that it was a blur, and the two black dots were almost the size of pinheads.