Streamer.
On Blue Star, where Jiang Ye lived, being a streamer was a relatively lucrative profession. Of course, the ceiling was high but the floor was low too.
If you were famous and managed to reach the top tier, a streamer’s total income could even rival that of some A-list celebrities.
Jiang Ye had also worked as a streamer for a while, since she needed money to pay for her sister’s medical treatment and support the both of them. She was willing to try anything.
But later, she realized she wasn’t cut out for streaming.
Her gaming skills were decent, but her banter was terrible. As soon as she started playing, she’d go hardcore and grind endlessly, which no one wanted to watch.
So she simply stopped.
Luckily, she hadn’t paid any so-called guild membership fees — or she’d have regretted it for the rest of her life.
Now, becoming a streamer in this holographic game, Jiang Ye didn’t feel confident either. She wasn’t even sure if the bugged content she was currently in would be eligible for streaming.
Still, she had to give it a shot.
At this stage in her life, she was willing to try anything.
Jiang Ye followed the system’s instructions and went through the streamer application process. Approval came quickly, her application was approved right away.
After that, she could adjust some stream parameters.
For example, privacy information, setting streamer name, stream room name, even the appearance and voice of the streamer, and whether or not to enable screen recording and screenshot functions in the stream room, etc.
Jiang Ye wasn’t planning on showing her face, mostly out of worry that, if she ever got out of this bug and arrived at the novice village, she’d get recognized.
So she designed her own look.
A stick figure!
A pitch-black body, a round face, two beady dot eyes, and a toothy grin with a row of white teeth.
Even if she were turned to ashes, no one could recognize her.
Jiang Ye tinkered with it for a good while.
[System: The streamer you follow, “So Poor Won’t Chat,” has gone live! Hurry up and check out her stream room, “Are You Asleep? I’m Too Poor To Sleep.”]
As soon as the stream started, a camera floated in front of Jiang Ye, pointed directly at her.
Jiang Ye turned the camera around, instructing it to shoot her actions from above.
At the moment, she was standing in the kitchen, wrapped in a makeshift homemade apron — just a couple of pieces of white cloth she’d torn off and tied around herself.
On the stream, all viewers could see was a black stick figure with a white piece of cloth hanging on it.
Some players didn’t venture out to hunt monsters at night in the game and instead chose to stay at the public locations in the newbie area. The wealthier ones would even book a room at the inn in the village.
With nothing else to do, these players would scroll through the game forum and live streams.
A user with the character ID “I’m Super Fierce” entered Jiang Ye’s stream room.
As soon as they saw the strange scene onscreen, they immediately left without a word.
But not long after, the user came back.
I’m Super Fierce: [Damn, streamer, what are you, poisoned or something!]
I’m Super Fierce: [I glanced at that black thing just once and now I can’t get it out of my head.]
I’m Super Fierce: [Hey, streamer, say something.]
Jiang Ye didn’t make a sound, perfectly embodying the spirit of her streamer ID.
So poor, won’t chat.
She swiftly started prepping the ingredients, planning to make a sea snake and sardine soup to warm herself up.
Jiang Ye had no idea if this was actually something people ate, but right now, she could only follow her instincts when it came to cooking.
Sardines were small, and a bit of a hassle to deal with. Fortunately, Jiang Ye had worked as a prep cook at restaurants before, so her knife skills were fast.
She slit open the fish belly in one stroke, rinsed it under the tap for a while, then reached in and scooped out the innards.
She put the fish on the cutting board and chopped it into small sections with clean movements.
To viewers, it looked like a stick figure with no fingers was moving the knife in a strange way to cut up the fish.
I’m Super Fierce: [Streamer, what are you doing? What’s that?]
I’m Super Fierce: [By the way, where are you in-game? Why haven’t I seen any houses behind you like that? Are you streaming from an inn? And why is it decorated like a modern place?]
I’m Super Fierce: [Streamer, say something!!]
Seeing how persistent this viewer was, Jiang Ye reached up and poked at her streamer ID spot in the stream room.
I’m Super Fierce: [...]
I’m Super Fierce: [Fine, you win.]
After posting this message, I’m Super Fierce angrily left the stream room.
Jiang Ye’s viewer count dropped from 1 to 0.
Jiang Ye let out a quiet sigh. She figured she really wasn’t meant to be a streamer. Still, she decided to finish what she was doing.
She set the prepared sardines aside and pulled out some snake meat from her backpack. She’d thought she’d have to behead and skin it, but to her surprise, what she’d put in her backpack was a snake corpse, and what she took out was just a slab of meat.
Saved her some trouble.
She rinsed the snake meat, cut it into pieces again, and soaked it in a bowl for a while. There was no cooking wine in the kitchen, but there was yellow wine. Jiang Ye used that instead and soaked the snake meat in it.
Then she sliced ginger and chopped green onions.
Her knife moved quickly, the ginger slices came out thin and uniform, all about the same size. Even the chopped green onion looked as if it had been produced on an assembly line, the white and green flower bits blossoming on the cutting board.
She poured oil into the cooking pot, let it heat, then added the fish and ginger. Once the sardines were golden and crackling on both sides, she added water and salt, then tossed in the prepared snake meat.
Jiang Ye had thought it would have to simmer for a long time since snake meat took a while to cook, but the game auto-accelerated, and before long, a triangular high-temperature warning popped up.
It was a bit like that Cooking Breakup game, with the prompt that the dish was about to burn.
Jiang Ye scrambled to turn off the heat, lifted the lid, and leaned in, waving her hand toward her nose. A delicious fragrance wafted over her.
She ladled out a bowl and took a sip. The soup was at just the right temperature, not too hot. A waft of fresh flavor hit her. The taste of snake melded with the distinctiveness of the sardine. The slight crispiness and ginger were subtle, but after each mouthful, there was a lingering aftertaste.
But the thing she enjoyed most about drinking soup wasn’t the flavor. It was that warmth spreading through her stomach after each gulp.
In that moment, all the cold seemed to vanish. She felt as if someone had wrapped her in a thick, soft down jacket, or as if she was being gently bathed in the warm sunlight of a spring day.
It felt wonderful.
[System: The soup is delicious and comforting, instantly driving away your chill, so Stamina +2, HP +100.]
[System: Congratulations, player, you have invented a new dish, Level +1. Please name your new creation.]
Jiang Ye wrote a few words above the soup: Mixed Fish and Dragon Soup.
[System: Name successful!]
Right as she was about to take another sip, she noticed her stream room was now flooded with barrage comments. Her viewers had gone from 0 back to 1.
All the messages came from the same user.
I’m Super Fierce: [I couldn’t help it, I came back to see what that black stick of yours was going to cook up.]
I’m Super Fierce: [That’s it? It’s already done???]
I’m Super Fierce: [Ahh! Is it good? Is it?]
I’m Super Fierce: [Streamer, say something! I asked if it’s good!!!]
[User I’m Super Fierce fired Rocket x1 at streamer So Poor Won’t Chat.]
I’m Super Fierce: [Streamer, damn it, say something!!! Is it good or not!!! You’re killing me!!!]
Seeing the 10 gold coins suddenly added to her account, Jiang Ye pressed her lips together, then, using the grandmother voice filtered through a voice changer, said, “It’s good.”
I’m Super Fierce, seeing this, seemed to have found the streamer's weak spot.
[User I’m Super Fierce fired Rocket x1 at streamer So Poor Won’t Chat.]
I’m Super Fierce: [How good? What does it taste like?]
On screen, the black stick figure paused for a moment, then recited word for word what the system had described before, “It’s delicious and comforting, like a warm fire driving away my chill.”
[User I’m Super Fierce fired Rocket x99 at streamer So Poor Won’t Chat.]
I’m Super Fierce: [Say more, I’m hungry.]