Chapter 22: Chi Zhen Is Numb Again
Chi Zhen teleported straight into the guild secret realm and opened his inventory.
“Oh ho! 186 fish! We're rich, brothers!”
At last, Chi Zhen had time to look at the stream chat. As expected, another wave of gifts had rolled in.
[Damn, Streamer, those moves were insane! How come your ID isn't on Quest for the Azure Heavens' top players ranking?]
[Xiao Chi didn't participate in last season's Quest for the Azure Heavens Tournament.]
[Don't ask. The answer is always that socially anxious Xiao Chi doesn't have any friends.]
[Honestly, I've been lurking in Xiao Chi's stream for over half a year, and I never knew he was this cracked at the game. #smirk]
[Xiao Chi has always been a life-skiller player and a casual streamer. If not for the day fate's gears started turning—]
[I seriously don't get it! Your mechanics are this good, but you don't like PvP? You've just been casually streaming this whole time?]
Chi Zhen entered the kitchen in the guild secret realm. “Let's make a full fish banquet! The fish from Zhuyu Waters are all top-quality fish. We're rich, hehe.”
He clicked his mouse and started preparing the fire.
“My mechanics are good? Thanks, thanks for the compliments. Nothing special—just practice. I'm familiar with all these maps, including Zhuyu Waters. I absolutely love fishing there~ If you die enough times, you'll develop the feel for it too.”
“Good dynamic vision? Yeah. I'm not nearsighted. Both eyes are 5.0. Well, I was a lousy student, so I never spent much time reading books anyway.”
“Am I considering playing in the new season's Quest for the Azure Heavens Tournament? Nope. Why? Because the tournament requires a five-person team... Ugh, just thinking about it sounds like such a hassle. You have to coordinate with four strangers, practice together, discuss strategies... Besides, where am I supposed to find four teammates? Hehe. Casual streaming is better—no pressure.”
Chi Zhen lowered his head and focused on grilling and pan-frying fish, mainly making two types of snacks: one that boosted Warmth and another that restored Mana.
[You seriously don't have a single friend?]
[Long-time viewer here. These past few days have been the liveliest Xiao Chi's stream has been all year.]
[You can tell. He got hunted by two major guilds, and not a single friend came to check on him. Even the warning came from Wujin Shi. #smirk]
[Feeling sorry for him.]
[Xiao Chi's trash talk today genuinely shocked me. He must've been pretty angry. I've watched for so long and never seen him talk like that before.]
Chi Zhen was indeed a little annoyed. After all, he'd been hunted by two major guilds. He had already apologized, yet they were acting like brain-dead idiots, not a single one capable of understanding human language.
But in the world of PvP, being weak was the original sin.
And the fact that dozens of people still couldn't kill him? That alone was enough to make him laugh for an entire month.
[System] You successfully cooked [Pepper-Fragrant Grilled Fish] x10.
[System] You successfully cooked [Pan-Fried Spirit Fish] x10.
Chi Zhen loaded more fish onto the grill and frying pan and continued cooking.
“Once I finish cooking these fish, I'm logging off. There's no way I can leave the main city today. We need to know when to stop while we're ahead and judge the situation properly. Sometimes you can provoke your opponents, and sometimes you should stay obediently inside the city. In a place like Mount Zhuyu, you can easily use the terrain to evade dozens of pursuers. But somewhere like Yize, with its endless marshy plains, I'd definitely get surrounded, beaten to death, and corpse-camped. Let's lie low for a couple of days, folks.”
He really did need to lie low.
The two guilds had completely lost their minds. At this moment, they were flooding World Chat with insults aimed at Qingzhou Yiguo. The language was so filthy that six out of every ten characters were being censored, leaving only four visible ones: "Qingzhou Yiguo."
[World] Chan Xue: Qingzhou Yiguo ****
[World] Wen Gu: ** Qingzhou Yiguo, if you've got guts, come out of the main city instead of hiding in there, I ****
[World] Gao Shou: This is killing me. The two guilds together have, what, over a hundred people? Couldn't kill Qingzhou Yiguo in Mount Zhuyu, so now they're rage-posting in World Chat.
[World] Yusheng Hu Ni Wu You: Qingzhou Yiguo you despicable little rat
[World] Lengku Yan: **** Qingzhou Yiguo dog **
[World] Xiaoxiao: Can the people from Way of Heaven and Dominating the Firmament stop spamming already? Other people need to form parties too, you know. Is World Chat your private property?
[World] Fan Lu: Agreed with Xiaoxiao x3.
[World] Gao Shou: Everyone should go watch Qingzhou Yiguo's stream replay tonight. I hereby declare it the funniest video of the year.
[World] Lengku Yan: **** Qingzhou Yiguo dog **
[World] Fan Xing: Already saved it. It's so entertaining it makes meals taste better.
At first, seeing the two guilds endlessly cursing him in World Chat made Chi Zhen somewhat irritated. But after reading the comments from random bystanders, he burst out laughing.
“Are the people speaking in World Chat viewers from my stream? Thanks, righteous passersby. Thank you, thank you.”
Chi Zhen switched channels, too lazy to keep reading the insults. No matter how little he cared, seeing them still affected his mood. He clicked his mouse, collected the second batch of grilled fish, and started cooking the third.
“Guys, don't say I didn't warn you in advance. Today's daily quests have updated with the Mount Guguan mission. I checked the forums and found that some players got a quest to climb Mount Guguan, while others got one to gather spiritual herbs there. That means a lot of people are about to need Warmth-boosting medicines and food for their dailies. If I grill some fish now and sell them later, they'll definitely move fast.”
Whenever Chi Zhen started analyzing how to make money in-game, he could talk endlessly. Then a friend message suddenly popped up—
[Friend] Wujin Shi: Qingtian Wai says he can't add you as a friend. Approve his request.
Chi Zhen instantly seemed as if someone had pressed his mute button. He fell silent. Then he hurriedly fumbled around, turning off his "block friend requests" setting and switching it to "approve applications."
When he checked, the friend request list was indeed packed with notifications. Most were IDs he didn't recognize, but at the very top were Qingtian Wai, Qian Yu, and Gou Yao Zou Wo Bu Liu.
Chi Zhen accepted them one by one.
[I want to add Xiao Chi as a friend too! Xiao Chi, approve me!]
[Me too!]
Chi Zhen hurriedly explained, “Sorry, I only add people I've actually run dungeons or done quests with in-game. Ah, it's already past ten. Pretty late. Let's end the stream here for today! Sorry, everyone. I'm pretty tired. The Mad Monk guide video I mentioned yesterday has already been uploaded, so go check it out and leave a like. Bye-bye!”
[No way you're ending stream just to go whisper sweet nothings to Wujin Shi, right?]
[Maybe I can't add you as a friend, but I know how to check whether you're online! Just wait!]
[A man's mouth is a lying ghost.]
Before the viewers could finish teasing him, Chi Zhen hurriedly closed the stream.
[Friend] Qingtian Wai: Why did you stop the live broadcast? Going to sleep? Are you coming to YY for a chat? Qian Yu and Wujin Shi are both here.
Thinking it would be best to at least say hello, Chi Zhen joined the YY voice channel Qingtian Wai had set up.
The moment he entered, Qingtian Wai welcomed him enthusiastically. “Wow, our god-tier Xiao Chi is here! You were amazing today! I sent you a YY friend request too, remember to accept it. If you've got nothing to do, just hang out in YY with us~”
Wujin Shi and Qian Yu were both already in the channel.
Chi Zhen turned on his mic and explained timidly, “Um... I basically have my stream running whenever I'm online. If you send me messages, the viewers can see them...”
Qingtian Wai didn't seem concerned. “We know you're streaming.”
Chi Zhen grew a little anxious. “Recently, people from Way of Heaven and Dominating the Firmament have been camping in my stream to track which maps I go to. Earlier, when Wujin Shi warned me, people from your guild probably saw that too... and then you all sent me friend requests...”
“Hah! I thought it was something serious.” Qingtian Wai laughed. “Way of Heaven has over a thousand members. Do you think every single one of them has to put you on their kill list?”
Chi Zhen still felt uneasy. “But yesterday I saw your guild leader waiting around in YY for Wujin Shi...”
“Relax. Do you really think Brother Shi is the kind of person who gives a damn about the guild leader?”
Chi Zhen: “...”
Qian Yu spoke up. “But you're really impressive. I think the guild leader should recruit you into our guild instead of putting you on a kill list. By the way, why does our guild even have you marked for PvP?”
Chi Zhen: “...”
He wanted to know too.
The problem was that it was very difficult to explain.
Qingtian Wai answered for him. “In the world of PvP, don't ask why.”
Chi Zhen said, “I'm worried about causing trouble for you guys. There have been posts on the forums these past couple of days...”
Recently, new forum threads had been appearing nonstop. Some were gleefully claiming that Wujin Shi and Han Jian Yin had fallen out and that Way of Heaven was about to descend into civil war. Some analyzed why Wujin Shi was opposing Han Jian Yinh, speculating that he wanted to seize the guild leader position. Others were simply there for entertainment, mocking Han Jian Ying for being unable to control Wujin Shi—not only refusing to help Way of Heaven kill people, but even helping their target escape.
In short, it was a headache.
“I play games because they're fun. Everything else has nothing to do with me.” Wujin Shi's voice suddenly rang out.
Caught completely off guard, Chi Zhen's ears were blasted by the man's deep voice. He unconsciously rubbed his earlobe, feeling a strange tingling numbness.
“You finally finished your phone call?” Qingtian Wai said disdainfully. “So many things to deal with. Are you still doing dailies or not?”
Wujin Shi replied, “No. Logging off. The document still isn't finished. I'll take another look at it.”
Chi Zhen quickly added, “I'm logging off too. It's pretty late.”
Before leaving the YY channel, Wujin Shi spoke with a hint of laughter in his voice. “Brother Xiao Chi, you were really impressive in Mount Zhuyu today.”
Chi Zhen froze.
The moment Wujin Shi finished speaking, he left the channel.
Qingtian Wai burst out laughing. “Wujin Shi, Qian Yu, and Sister Gou all went to your stream tonight to watch! They were blown away by your godlike mechanics and your master-level taunting skills~ Xiao Chi, I sent you so many gifts—did you see them?”
From the moment he heard the words "all went to your stream to watch," Chi Zhen's brain exploded with a loud buzz. He didn't hear a single word after that.
What?
Was he dreaming?
Wujin Shi. The legendary Wujin Shi. The serious, unsmiling Wujin Shi. Went to his stream?
His chaotic, ridiculous stream?
The stream where viewers spammed nonsense in chat all day?
His mind immediately began replaying everything the viewers had said.
Had they talked about online dating? About star-crossed lovers? About how Wujin Shi was totally in love with him?
Chi Zhen went numb again.
This time, he was truly numb.
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