Chapter 3

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Wu Ran was a workaholic who, during her daily commute, would sneak glances at live streams to pass the time. She usually watched popular streamers because they knew how to keep the atmosphere lively, making their streams bustling and entertaining.

Today, as usual, after finishing her lunch, she opened the Cat Claw live streaming platform. Just as she entered a popular streamer’s room, she suddenly noticed a message at the top of the chat window showing a user named Xia Xia Xia repeatedly gifting mermaids.

[User Xia Xia Xia sent the streamer Cola a mermaid]
[User Xia Xia Xia sent the streamer Cola 5 mermaids]
[User Xia Xia Xia sent the streamer Cola 63 mermaids]

Wu Ran clicked on the chat to enter the streamer named Cola’s room, curious to see what was going on. The moment she entered, a dazzling mermaid effect blinded her, and the display showed a total of 96 mermaids gifted.

She couldn’t help but exclaim, “Oh my god!” Her colleague nearby was startled and quickly leaned over, asking, “What are you watching?”

“Mermaids?” Since not everyone watched streams, Wu Ran hurriedly explained, “Someone just gifted this streamer ninety-nine mermaids!”

Her colleague looked puzzled. “And then?”

Wu Ran took a deep breath. “Ninety-nine mermaids! Each one costs ten thousand yuan!”

Her colleague’s eyes widened. “Nine hundred ninety thousand?”

“Suddenly, working here makes me feel like just an NPC in this world,” Wu Ran muttered. “Like those background characters who exist only when the protagonist is happy and the whole internet is buzzing.”

Wu Ran was speechless. “I’m moved to tears—nine hundred ninety thousand!”

She decided to follow the streamer first; it would be nice to check in on her from time to time.

[Xia Xia Xia: Cola wife, cheer up! By the way, can you play games with me? I want to reach Diamond rank, sob sob.]

Wu Ran smiled at the wealthy woman’s message, not expecting her to be so addicted to gaming. But then again, for a rich lady, playing games casually seemed quite normal.

At this moment, Cola noticed the tens of thousands of online viewers and grew a little nervous. “Sure, sure, of course, Xia Xia wife! I’ve sent you a private message; please send me your game ID.”

Xia Zui exited the stream and, before opening her messages, saw over ninety-nine unread ones. Among the clutter, she finally found Cola’s message.

[Cola: Thank you, Xia Xia wife, for liking me. Could you give me a contact number?]

Xia Zui pondered this. She liked Cola very much but wasn’t keen on adding her as a friend. Adding friends meant chatting, and if things went wrong, it could mean daily chats. Daily chats felt like work.

So...

Xia Zui replied, “No need to add friends. I just want to be your fan. My game ID is Xia Xia the Best in the World.”

Cola held her phone, waiting for Xia Xia Xia’s reply. Seeing her refuse to add friends, Cola felt a bit disappointed. But since Xia Xia Xia only wanted to be a fan, she shouldn’t push for contact info.

Even if she wanted to get contact details, it would only be to thank Xia Xia Xia properly—to treat her to takeout or dine out.

After all, Xia Xia Xia was often active in her stream, constantly encouraging and supporting her.

However, Xia Xia Xia seemed not fond of socializing. Cola hadn’t seen her in the fan group chats before.

Cola added Xia Zui’s game name and invited her into the room.

A user with a zombie avatar joined, and the stream’s popularity remained undiminished.

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Some stayed to see how this streamer managed to attract someone to gift ninety-nine mermaids and what kind of streaming performance she had.

Others were waiting to grab the treasure chest that would open in ten minutes.

Still others were curious to find out whether this mysterious wealthy fan was male or female, how their voice sounded, and to satisfy their curiosity.

Xia Zui didn’t hide her voice and turned on her microphone directly.

Now, her voice had been changed by the System Eleven Voice Changer.

Originally, her voice was a bit hoarse, but now it was completely unrelated to her real self.

Her new voice sounded more like that of a young schoolboy.

“Cola wife!” Xia Zui said.

Cola was startled upon hearing the voice. “Xia Xia wife?”

[OMG, a schoolboy!]
[The streamer’s done for. All the money will have to be returned. Tomorrow it’ll be on the news.]
[This voice... sounds no older than sixth grade.]
[Is this the rich fan’s real voice?]

Xia Zui hummed affirmatively. “It’s me. Go ahead, start it.”

Cola felt nervous. “Xia Xia wife said you’re a working person, but your voice...”

Xia Zui laughed. “My voice sounds like a schoolboy, right? It’s a voice changer. I like pretending to be a schoolboy.”

“If you don’t believe me, let me switch it for you.”

The System Eleven changed her voice to a mature woman’s tone.

Cola finally relaxed. If Xia Xia Xia were really a schoolboy, that would be quite a serious issue.

After all, gifts on this platform are split fifty-fifty with the platform.

Cola could refund her own share, but the platform might not.

Cola clicked “Start Game.” She was using a secondary account because her rank was far below Xia Zui’s. This was the only way they could team up.

Once in-game, Xia Zui decisively picked Yao Mei.

Ha!

She could finally ride the jungle king and dominate!

As the loading screen appeared, the stream erupted again.

[The rich fan is low-key, using a companion skin.]
[No golden name either; she hasn’t spent much in the game.]
[From now on, I’ll never underestimate any player below Noble Ten.]
[Getting wrecked in-game, but wrecking us in real life. Crying.]
[This streamer plays jungle? Following now.]

Xia Zui didn’t notice the chat. She had never spent money on this game before.

Games were for fun; spending money spoiled the fun.

But next week, she could ask the wealthy system to arrange some coupons for this game, buy skins, and feel great.

After one round, about a hundred thousand viewers remained in Cola’s room.

Xia Zui played with Cola until eight in the evening.

“I’m going to eat now!”

Cola quickly said, “Go eat, Xia Xia wife! Make sure you eat well.”

Xia Zui replied with a couple of affirmative sounds and exited the game, returning to Cola’s stream.

Cola’s fan count had reached tens of thousands. Though the increase was slow, Xia Zui’s gift timing wasn’t ideal.

Typically, prime streaming hours were from afternoon to evening, when most viewers were online.

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So Cola was considered to be on the rise.

Xia Zui happily decided to go out for some snacks. She had spent a million yuan in two days and now had over ten thousand left, including her own money.

No more worries about not having enough to eat.

The wealthy system finally woke up late in the evening. “Wow! Congratulations, host! This week’s task is complete!”

“You’re amazing, host!”

Xia Zui smiled. “You just woke up now?”

The wealthy system nodded. “The animations in your world are so beautiful!”

Xia Zui asked, “Do your systems even need to sleep?”

System Eleven replied, “Not really. But Haohao downloaded countless cartoons into its brain, got too sad, and crashed.”

“No worries, host,” said the wealthy system. “Old systems like us sometimes glitch, but we’ll be fine.”

Xia Zui: …

The systems sounded pitiful.

“Can’t you take a break from watching cartoons and fix yourselves?”

System Eleven bounced inside her mind. “The main system and the main god have gone out. We systems are just picking up trash and patching ourselves.”

Xia Zui was curious. “Where did they go?”

The wealthy system said, “Not sure. Probably to some little world for fun.”

“They should be back in a few hundred years.”

Outside, Xia Zui ordered two snacks, eating while walking. “I’ll try to live longer so you can play more.”

From the systems, she learned that without a host, they could only stay in the system realm, which was probably very boring.

Otherwise, they wouldn’t have gotten addicted to cartoons in just one day.

System Eleven wept. “Host, you’re so good! I’ll do my best to help you live longer!”

The wealthy system was moved. “Great, but I can only stay for one month.”

Xia Zui recalled System Eleven’s earlier words: each system could only stay for a month. “Can’t you stay longer?”

The wealthy system shook its head vigorously. “No. Since I’m not directly bound to the host, the intervention system can only last a month.”

System Eleven added, “Exactly! I only followed Haohao’s host for a month before being sent back.”

“Plus, many other systems are waiting. I have to keep my promises.”

Xia Zui bit into a skewer. “How many promises do you owe?”

System Eleven stammered, “Uh… probably a lot.”

Xia Zui: …

She understood. After all, these systems had been in the system realm for billions of years without a host.

After packing two more snacks, she returned to her rented room. Sitting on the bed, she opened her phone, eating while watching a show.

After finishing the food, her gaming itch returned.

She launched Honor of Kings and noticed a red dot on her mailbox.

Opening it, she saw someone had gifted her many skins. The sender’s name was the same as the account Cola used to bring her into the game.

Scrolling down, she suspected Cola had sent her all the available skins.

She clicked accept, and her skins instantly increased from about eighty to over four hundred.

Excited, Xia Zui rushed into the arena, ready to get beaten up.

As expected, she lost several stars she had gained with Cola today.