Chapter 38: The Viewers, Sherlock Holmes of Shipping
Perhaps because he'd been too excited the night before, Chi Zhen woke up at seven o'clock sharp, wide awake and full of energy. There was no getting back to sleep. He got out of bed, washed up, and went downstairs to buy breakfast: fried dough sticks and soybean milk.
He rented an apartment in an old residential building near campus. Even though it was summer vacation, the area downstairs was still lively. The breakfast shops and snack stalls were all open as usual; none of them had closed just because school was out.
Quite a few students hadn't gone home for the holidays. Some were working part-time, some were taking training courses or preparing for certification exams, some were studying for the college top-up entrance exam, and others, like Chi Zhen, simply didn't want to go home.
Summer vacation lasted two months. By custom, he was supposed to spend one month at each parent's house.
His father's place and his mother's place weren't very far apart, but dragging a suitcase back and forth between them was exhausting.
So Chi Zhen chose not to go home. He told both of his parents that he wanted to find a summer job and look into training courses—maybe even prepare for the college top-up exam.
The college top-up exam...
He'd started considering it during the second semester of his sophomore year.
More than ten of his classmates had decided long ago that they were going to continue their studies and had begun preparing early.
At first, he wasn't sure. If he got into a bachelor's program, he'd have to study another two years. That meant delaying work by two years, while still having to pay tuition and living expenses during that time.
He didn't want to ask his parents for money anymore. He'd rather start working early than keep holding out his hand for support.
But he hadn't expected everything to change so dramatically in just one month. In a single month, he'd earned what used to take him an entire year to make. If this surge in popularity lasted just a few more months, he'd earn enough to cover two years' worth of tuition, living expenses, and even the cost of exam prep courses.
A problem that had troubled him for so long had suddenly become surprisingly easy to solve.
Carrying his breakfast, Chi Zhen unlocked the apartment door.
Luo Song had already gone home, but the tiny shared living room was still piled high with product samples from his livestreams, along with unopened delivery boxes.
Looking at the mess, Chi Zhen sighed and carried his breakfast into his own room.
Luo Song's streaming career seemed to be gradually taking off as well. Every corner of the living room—even the dining table—was covered with packages. Although Luo Song had gone home, he couldn't take all this stuff with him, so it had to stay here for now.
Luo Song had mentioned that he planned to start a small studio and focus on streaming full-time. After finishing his graduation project and thesis defense in the second semester of senior year, he intended to move to another city to pursue streaming professionally.
Luo Song was ambitious. He had lots of ideas and very clear goals.
As for Chi Zhen… He'd never really had any goals. He'd always just drifted through life.
He'd started editing videos and streaming simply because he didn't want to rely on his family financially anymore.
As for how far he wanted to take streaming, or what kind of career he hoped to build… He'd never really thought about it.
Now that sudden popularity had found him, he was a little overwhelmed. He hadn't even considered using this wave of attention to expand his channel.
The platform moderators had contacted him twice, advising him to capitalize on the momentum by streaming longer hours, joining platform events, increasing his exposure, and turning casual viewers into regular fans.
Chi Zhen had nodded along and agreed every time. But in truth, he didn't have any plans at all.
From middle school to vocational school, he'd always been someone without goals. He didn't like studying. He wasn't good at it. And he couldn't be bothered. When he failed the high school entrance exam, he simply went to vocational school. Vocational school students could continue on to higher education, but he hadn't intended to. He'd been perfectly content with a vocational diploma.
Instead, he spent every day immersed in games, sleeping during the day and staying up all night.
By the second semester of his sophomore year, he'd skipped so many classes that he was on the verge of expulsion. Even his teachers had practically given up on him. Then, seemingly overnight, he turned himself around. He buckled down, studied hard, and was admitted to a public junior college, shocking both his family and his teachers.
His teacher had told him that he was exactly the type who refused to turn back until standing at the edge of a cliff—always taking things one step at a time without planning ahead. "If you'd worked this hard from your first year," his teacher had said, "you might've gotten into a bachelor's program."
Chi Zhen's Chinese, math, and English grades were mediocre. But he excelled in computer science.
Professional courses didn't require strong foundations in the core academic subjects. Everyone started from scratch after entering vocational school, so the gap between him and his classmates wasn't nearly as large there.
The vocational college entrance exam tested Chinese, math, English, moral education, and professional courses. Since professional subjects accounted for over half the total score, Chi Zhen had managed to get into a public junior college.
As for getting into a bachelor's program… To him, it felt about as difficult as an ordinary high school student getting into one of China's elite 985 universities.
For someone who'd been addicted to gaming since middle school, simply getting into a public junior college was already a very good outcome.
This sudden burst of popularity had brought him an income that might disappear at any moment. Other streamers might constantly worry about what they'd do once the traffic dried up. But for Chi Zhen—whose original goal had simply been to earn enough to support himself— This was already more than enough.
While eating breakfast, he scrolled through the WeChat class group, catching up on yesterday's messages.
Some classmates planning to work after graduation had already found internships and were preparing to start during the summer. Those aiming for the college top-up exam were comparing training course fees and discussing what each course covered.
Chi Zhen opened every promotional flyer they shared in the group chat, looked through them carefully, and saved each one.
By the time he finished breakfast, it was only eight o'clock.
He opened yesterday's recording and began editing Endless Time's Ranyi Fish tutorial video.
As he edited, he listened again to Endless Time's concise, perfectly focused raid calls. Eventually, he started browsing his music library for suitable background music.
Once he added a BGM, the whole video suddenly became incredibly hype.
It got his blood pumping. When he finally came back to his senses, it was already ten-thirty.
He hurriedly launched his streaming software and clicked Start Streaming. Within seconds, several hundred viewers flooded into the room, and the chat began scrolling nonstop.
[Why are you late?! Explain yourself!]
[Did you secretly go on a date with Endless Time after ending the stream yesterday?!]
[Report! Xiao Chi really did log off right after ending the stream yesterday. Don't ask how I know—I bought materials from him before. Xiao Chi, please don't figure out who I am! Don't delete me!]
[What's this? Not playing games today?]
[Editing a video? Present it to us immediately!]
Turning on his microphone, Chi Zhen said, "Just a little bit left. It'll be done soon. Once I finish editing, I'll get in-game."
As he spoke, he remembered that Endless Time had said they'd play battlefields today. He picked up his phone to check whether there were any new messages in the Little Veggie Guild chat.
Endless Time had probably worked overtime pretty late last night. He probably wouldn't log in this morning. Most likely it'd have to wait until the afternoon.
Thinking that, Chi Zhen noticed he had a new WeChat message.
At 9:30 that morning, Endless Time had sent him one.
[Shi: Not online yet?]
Chi Zhen's eyes widened. Bang! He immediately put his phone down, quickly saved his editing project, closed the editing software at lightning speed, launched Quest for the Azure Heavens, and logged in—all in one smooth motion.
He moved so fast that the viewers couldn't even process what had happened.
[What's going on? Didn't you say you'd finish editing before getting in-game?]
[Why are you acting like your butt's on fire? You didn't even double-check that the file saved!]
[What, did Quest for the Azure Heavens mail you a legendary weapon or something?]
Then everyone in the stream watched as Chi Zhen logged in, instantly opened his friends list, and sent two consecutive messages to the online Endless Time.
[Friend] Light Boat Has Passed: I'm online.
[Friend] Light Boat Has Passed: Sorry, I got so absorbed editing the video that I forgot.
The viewers—Sherlock Holmeses when it came to shipping—immediately zeroed in on the most important detail.
[You two added each other on WeChat behind our backs???]
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