“They, what the hell are they doing? Will anyone actually like this kind of thing?” Niga accused angrily.
As soon as he finished speaking, he saw Mad Beast Yagan at the table staring at the light screen with an utterly entranced expression.
Satan’er could not help licking his lips and saying in a blatantly lustful tone, “I really want to hold her in my arms and love her properly…”
Niga: “…”
“Hmph!” Niga snapped back to himself, gave a cold snort, and said, “What a laughable trick. Trying to gather admirers this way may be effective, but it wastes time on resource collection. They won’t last long. Besides, those two allied teams are about to reach them…”
Just as Niga spoke, Glin’s voice came through the light screen. “President, people are coming. Thirteen in total. They heard the noise here and are charging over.”
Lesha’s dancing paused briefly, but Ye Chui quickly waved to her, signalling she should not mind it and to carry on.
In Lane’s Home, a triumphant cold smile appeared on Niga’s face. That thirteen-person alliance team consisted of seasoned hunters. They had already searched who knew how many resources along the way. Their packs were full to bursting. One hunter even wore advanced armour and an advanced helmet, wielding an advanced longsword. A full set of god-tier gear.
In contrast, Ye Chui’s group had probably only casually searched a few nearby buildings since entering the trial. The scrolls they collected were extremely limited. How could they fight a thirteen-person team like that?
They were finished.
Then…
Just as Niga thought this, Ye Chui pulled a Gatling gun out of thin air and tossed it to the bald Glin beside him. Glin grinned, hugged the heavy Gatling, ducked out of the room, and the rat-tat-tat sound rang out along with screams. Half a minute later, before Lesha had even finished her dance, Glin walked back in and said, “President, all thirteen are dealt with.”
“Hm. Go collect their resources,” Ye Chui said casually, looking completely unconcerned. He muttered, “Only idiots search for resources one by one. Waiting for delivery is so much more convenient…”
The principle of Ye Chui’s team was simple. Upon entering a trial or battlefield, first gather enough magic scrolls, then wait for others to deliver themselves.
As for Lesha, she was not there to be a technical streamer. She was an entertainment streamer.
At this moment, everyone watching the light screen: “…”
Lesha soon finished her Love Circulation dance. She looked a little tired, so she paused for a break and began chatting with the audience watching through the light screens.
The chat topics were all harmless things, but interesting enough to spark curiosity. Things like customs and culture on the Castro Continent. Most people on the Divine Sin Continent had never been to the outside world, so they naturally felt anticipation and curiosity about it. Lesha played right into that, casually telling some commonplace legends of duels or heroic adventures from outside, and people were utterly captivated.
It was clear Lesha truly had talent for streaming. She quickly mastered all sorts of techniques.
Believers could sense how many admirers they had and how many light screens were watching their broadcast. After chatting to the void for a while, she had Ye Chui play music on the iPad. Under her control, the light-screen view shifted to the magic scrolls and equipment in the centre of the room, the loot just taken from the thirteen-person team. It was exactly like a streamer taking a break, playing music while switching the screen to something else.
Lesha’s face was flushed with excitement. She accepted a cup of fruit juice Debbie passed her. Fruit juice was a luxury on the Divine Sin Continent, but Ye Chui could exchange one point for several large cups. It was cheap. She took a sip to moisten her throat, then said to Ye Chui and the others, “Little brother, your strategy is working very well. There are thirteen thousand light-screen devices in the central city in total. At least three hundred are currently showing our broadcast.”
“This effect is indeed excellent,” Ye Chui said with a satisfied nod.
He had already gathered information in advance. For a rookie streamer’s first broadcast, ten light screens watching was already considered very good. Reaching one hundred marked a mature streamer. Three hundred made you a major streamer. Over one thousand made you a popular streamer, and three thousand or more made you a top-tier head streamer.
For Lesha to attract three hundred light screens on her very first broadcast, part of it was because Ye Chui’s declaration of war against the Blood Dragon Flower Alliance had made many people curious about how his team would die, so they tuned in. But Lesha’s outstanding performance was undeniably a huge contributor.
Lesha finished her fruit juice. Something occurred to her, and she eagerly picked up a magic scroll, tore it open, absorbed some magic power, then pulled out her holy bible from her bosom. She turned to a page, silently recited a few lines of divine text, and extended her right hand. A pure holy light began to glow in her palm, like a ball of white flame.
Lesha’s face lit up with joy. “I can already use some faith power simply. That altar really can collect faith power. Though the faith power I sense right now is still very weak and can’t do much.”
“Don’t be discouraged. As long as you work hard, you’ll definitely master enough powerful faith power,” Ye Chui comforted her, still fiddling with the iPad.
The iPad had already unlocked more than a dozen songs as BGM before, but most carried special buffs and had intense, rousing melodies. Those did not seem suitable for this “stream room” atmosphere. So before this trial, Ye Chui had specially unlocked several cheerful songs. They had no special buff effects, so they cost few points to unlock, but they were very pleasant to listen to.
Like the one playing now.
“I congratulate you on getting rich, I congratulate you on being wonderful.
The best, please come forward. The bad, please step aside.
Oh, being polite never hurts.
I wish all the girls in the world marry a good boy, and the couple stay together forever.
I wish all the children in the world be smarter than scholars, with brains full of intelligence.
…”
chapter_content();
After resting a little, Lesha dutifully resumed her entertainment performance. Meanwhile, in Lane’s Home in the central city, Niga had furiously smashed a table.
He was furious, but what infuriated him most was that he did not even know why he was furious.
In a trial, the believer paid no attention to combat, did not explain to the audience how strong their team members were, and instead sang and danced. He did not even know where to begin criticising.
Moreover, when the light screen occasionally shifted to Ye Chui and the others, look at what this team was doing.
The one called Glin was lovingly wiping his bald head with a towel. What was in his hand? A comb? Damn it, why does a bald man need a comb?
Guni was curled up in a corner sleeping. The blonde beauty Celis was holding a mirror and fixing her makeup.
The girl called Debbie was hugging the Gatling from earlier, pretending to sweep it around, making “rat-tat-tat” sound effects with her mouth.
The remaining Shalomei was sitting on a broken window, seemingly keeping watch, but she was holding a pile of pastries and munching away. Rather than watching outside, her attention seemed more focused on the pastries.
Are you here for a trial or just playing happily in the ruins?
At that moment, Shalomei finished a pastry, casually glanced outside, straightened up, and immediately called out, “They’re coming. A team is approaching. Ah, they’ve seen me. They’ve drawn weapons and are charging…”
She quickly jumped down from the window and crouched below it.
“Another team has discovered Ye Chui’s group!” Niga’s face lit up with joy. “It must be their singing that drew others here. They have no alertness at all right now. If the enemy catches them off guard, they might actually take some damage…”
As he spoke, the light screen shifted to Ye Chui. He was holding a coffee pot in one hand and a coffee cup in the other, both exchanged from the resource bank. He calmly poured hot coffee into the cup despite the approaching enemy, then handed it to Debbie. “You drink first. Give me the gun.”
Right now Ye Chui had only taken out one Gatling modified firearm from his storage space. Debbie was hugging it. The little girl seemed to love this powerful weapon. Hearing Ye Chui, she did not want to hand over the big gun. She hugged the Gatling and walked outside, saying, “Let me do it. Save the coffee for me. I’ll be back before it cools.”
With that she stepped out of the dilapidated building. The rat-tat-tat-tat of firepower erupted. Before the joy on Niga’s face in Lane’s Home could fade, Debbie walked back in hugging the Gatling. Smoke still rose from the barrel. The girl said calmly, “I’ve dealt with them. Go loot the bodies.”
She took the coffee cup from Ye Chui, tilted her head back, gulped it down, then immediately squatted on the ground wailing, sticking out her tongue and hissing, “So hot!”
Ye Chui: “…”
Niga: “…”
Warming wine before slaying Hua Xiong was nothing. Debbie killed enemies over hot coffee and still managed to scald herself on the way back.
Glin, Shalomei, and Celis went out to collect resources. This time it was a five-person team. Besides bringing rich supplies, they had even brought two barbaric oxen.
The two barbaric oxen had not been killed by Debbie’s Gatling sweep. Glin led them in, beaming. “President, these two barbaric oxen are really sturdy.”
“Hm, yes,” Ye Chui said, looking them over with a satisfied nod. He glanced at Lesha. She understood and immediately said to the light-screen camera, “My performance will pause here for now. Next, please enjoy a brand-new show our team has prepared with all our effort. Our president calls this programme, A Trial on the Tip of the Tongue.”
…
If trials and battlefields were a battle-royale-style game, then barbaric oxen were the vehicles in that game. Each trial venue was enormous. Barbaric oxen had enough endurance and speed to carry a participating team quickly to any location. If you achieved final victory and brought a barbaric ox out of the trial world, you could exchange it for incredibly rich resources.
Every barbaric ox was an important resource.
Among the countless fragment worlds in the lower layers, the fourth-ranked Ox Plain world specialised in raising barbaric oxen. That world itself had no combat strength, but it was famous for breeding barbaric oxen and thus became one of the god-tier worlds.
Yet at this moment, in front of countless tavern crowds in the central city and people with light-screen devices in other fragment worlds, members of Ye Chui’s team from Stan World brutally slaughtered the two barbaric oxen with weapons and swords, even demonstrating their skilled processing techniques. The two oxen were soon cleaned completely. Bones, horns, hides, and other parts were also collected.
“They, they actually killed barbaric oxen! I heard they did this in the initial trial too. Back then they might not have known how valuable barbaric oxen are. Now they’re still doing it?” someone cried out in disbelief.
“Selling barbaric ox meat after slaughter is worth far less than selling them whole!”
“They’ve gone mad!”
“When the darkness invasion starts, let’s see how they escape!”
Others exclaimed in shock.
On the light screen, Ye Chui and his companions had already skilfully started a fire. Glin took out a frying pan and some seasoning in small bags. His storage space held many seasonings, but if taken out they would be sealed and unusable in future trials, so Glin had specially portioned them into small bags, only enough for one trial each time.
Ye Chui played the BGM from “A Bite of China”.
While cooking roast meat and frying steaks, Glin explained in a rich, mellow voice, “Next I’ll demonstrate how to prepare barbaric ox. The meat is tender yet chewy, so it needs to be cooked a bit more done. The way of cuisine lies in care. No need for complex techniques, dazzling ingredients, or exquisite utensils. Only the texture and flavour of the food itself matter most…”
Watching the steak dancing with sizzling fat in the pan, many in front of light screens began swallowing hard.
Lesha whispered to Ye Chui, “Little brother, the number of light screens watching us has reached five hundred…”
