Even though Jiang Ye was a straight-A student who grew up with nine years of compulsory education and never scored below average on her essays, there was no way she could make a simple, ordinary soup sound like the best thing in the world.
Nine hundred ninety gold coins.
Jiang Ye stared at the explosion of fireworksβfire-arrow shellsβfilling her screen, feeling as though she were being bombarded by money and her heart was blooming with happiness.
If you pay, you're the boss.
User "I'm Super Fierce" waited a long time without hearing the streamer speak, growing annoyed and sending an angry message in chat.
I'm Super Fierce: [Say something, will you?]
Jiang Ye cleared her throat and studied the live stream interface. She spoke politely to this gold master, "Honestly, my words are inadequate. How about this, boss, Iβll send you a serving of this soup directly. You can taste it yourself, how about that?"
I'm Super Fierce: [What do you mean by that?]
Puzzled, I'm Super Fierce suddenly saw a popup appear on her live stream screen.
[System: Streamer So Poor Won't Chat has sent you a product listing, go check it out~]
I'm Super Fierce followed the link and found a bowl of soup.
Mixed Fish and Dragon Soup.
Price: 0.99 gold coins.
Jiang Ye explained, "Boss, the stream room has to label everything for sale with a price, so I put it as low as possible."
I'm Super Fierce didnβt even care about spending such a small amount. With a tap, the item stock dropped from 1 to 0, and a portion of Mixed Fish and Dragon Soup appeared in I'm Super Fierce's backpack.
She took out the soup. The moment she picked it up, she could already smell a fresh fragrance. I'm Super Fierce wrinkled her dainty nose and sniffed. Amidst the aroma, she could actually pick up the scent of the ocean.
The soup was still steaming hot, little wisps drifting upwards.
I'm Super Fierce was afraid of the heat, so she set the bowl on the table in her luxury inn suite in the novice village, then squatted by the table, blowing on it in small puffs.
She started complaining to the streamer.
I'm Super Fierce: [Annoying streamer! Why do you have to make the soup so hot for no reason?]
Now she couldn't just grab it and take a big gulp right away.
Getting inexplicably targeted, Jiang Ye rolled her stick-figure avatar's eyes.
She really wanted to say, drink if you want, if not, send it back.
But she held it in and silently chanted her six-word sutra.
If you pay, you're the boss.
Boss "I'm Super Fierce" blew on the soup for ages. Finally, when that tell-tale white mist had faded a bit, she reached out a fingertip and dipped it in the bowl, then licked her hand near her mouth.
The temperature was just right.
Maintaining her squatting posture, she huddled over and brought her face to the bowl to start drinking.
The first sip felt magical.
She had never tasted a soup with this mouthfeel or flavor before.
With the second mouthful, I'm Super Fierce felt seabreeze blowing gently past her ears. Under the breeze were churning waves and mischievous little fish leaping about.
She felt like a little kitten swimming freely in the sea, reaching out her paws, joyfully catching fish.
I'm Super Fierce squinted her eyes in bliss, and the white cat tail behind her swished against the ground.
As the soup entered her stomach, it warmed her up, and her kitty tail straightened as she stretched lazily.
So comfy.
She wanted to happily take a third sip.
Huh?
Why was the bowl already empty?
Somehow, without even realizing it, she had gulped the whole bowl down in two big swigs.
Seeing the system messages about increased stamina and HP, I'm Super Fierce was even more delighted.
How could a soup this tasty have such special effects?
In that case, why not have more?
[User "I'm Super Fierce" sends Streamer So Poor Won't Chat a fire-arrow shell x1.]
I'm Super Fierce: [Streamer, answer me, how much of that soup do you have left?]
Jiang Ye glanced at the cooking pot and roughly estimated the amount. She replied conservatively, "About ten servings left."
[User "I'm Super Fierce" sends Streamer So Poor Won't Chat a fire-arrow shell x999.]
I'm Super Fierce: [Give them all to me, Iβll buy them all.]
Staring at the endless gift notifications, Jiang Ye really wanted to ask this viewer if she knew she could choose more expensive gifts to throw, instead of sending the same one 999 times.
Looking at the 9,990 gold coins credited in one go, Jiang Ye hesitated.
Was a bowl of Mixed Fish and Dragon Soup really worth this much money?
She felt no guilt selling tuna belly at a premium to the balding guy. But selling this soup at such a price, and to such a seemingly clueless viewer, even Jiang Yeβs profiteer heart felt a rare twinge of conscience.
She kindly said, "You really donβt need to spend so much on me, the ingredients and process arenβt anything too complicated."
I'm Super Fierce: [Granny, Iβm rich.]
Having activated the granny voice changer, Jiang Ye thought, Huh, is it that easy to become an elder in this game?
I'm Super Fierce: [What, you donβt want to sell to me??]
I'm Super Fierce: [Hurry! Press the button! Deliver it!]
Jiang Ye muttered, "Is it really that tasty?"
To Jiang Ye, this soup was just marginally above average. After all, she wasnβt some Michelin chef and at best her cooking was home-style. Sheβd just always liked to cook for her little sister.
What she didnβt realize was that, to people in this star system, the taste of a home-cooked meal was something extremely rare.
Hearing the streamer mutter, I'm Super Fierceβs face flushed.
She didnβt want people to think she was a greedy little kitten, so she started furiously typing in a fierce tone.
I'm Super Fierce: [A-anyway, itβs not because your soup is tasty that Iβm buying!]
I'm Super Fierce: [A boring streamer like you only has me as a viewer! Iβm being charitable here!]
I'm Super Fierce: [Look at you, still gaming at your age! So hard-working!]
I'm Super Fierce: [Hurry! Press! Deliver!]
The little cat's heart itched, longing for another mouthful of soup. Why was it so hard?
Seeing the impatience and childishness leaking from this userβs texts, Jiang Ye sighed, portioned out exactly ten bowls of soup, and listed them in the stream roomβs products.
To keep this little kid from getting too ripped off, Jiang Ye even threw in a coconut water and some tuna belly with I'm Super Fierceβs order.
Couldnβt give any more.
After all, Jiang Ye had a conscience, but not much of one.
Once she received the big package of delicious food from the streamer, the first thing I'm Super Fierce did was finish off the soup.
A blissful sensation flooded her entire body.
She rolled on the floor in happiness, then checked her backpack again, only to discover there were things inside she'd never seen.
"Coconut water?"
"Tuna belly?"
I'm Super Fierce stared at them curiously, then tried eating them.
Mrow!
Heavenly!
Annoying streamer!
How dare she sneak in new treats to tempt her!
I'm Super Fierce was indignant and planned to charge into the streamerβs stream room to throw money and force her to send even more snacks.
But to her surprise, she couldn't get in.
[System: The stream room you selected has ended. Go check out another stream~]
(βΌγΈβΌγ‘)
Annoying streamer!
Absolutely zero professionalism!
Donβt streamers know they should notify their viewers before logging off?
Just leave without a word! Has she got no respect for her loyal rich little cat at all?
I'm Super Fierce was furious, slamming her way into Streamer So Poorβs profile page and smashing the follow button.
Next time she streams, meow meow will definitely give her a piece of her mind!!
After doing this, I'm Super Fierce took a big bite out of her tuna belly.
Ahβ
Little angels fluttered their wings and flew up behind her.
The streamerβs a menace.
Tuna belly is delicious.
After logging off, Jiang Ye saw a system message that someone had followed her. She didnβt even need to guessβit had to be that tsundere kid.
Thanks to all the gifts from I'm Super Fierce, Jiang Ye transformed overnight from an ordinary streamer into a bronze-tier streamer.
Her streamer level-up would help her stream room develop faster and gain better recommendations and exposure.
Jiang Ye didnβt care much about that. Her main goal was to withdraw her gift money. After fees, she still ended up with enough star coins to make up for the 9,980 gold coins she had spent.
Whewβ
Jiang Ye hurried to share this good news with A-Xing.
And to stop herself from spending more money in the game, she exchanged all forty thousand gold coins into star coins and transferred them to her Neural Network.
This Neural Network device was also something A-Xing had found for her. It was second-hand, and the identity info was fake, but it workedβit was nowhere near as buggy as the game login device and had never crashed.
Hearing the transfer notification from the Neural Network and looking at the few remaining scattered gold coins in her game account, Jiang Ye felt her ambition rekindling.
She started to plan. A-Xingβs market stall business could continue for now, but probably wasnβt a long-term solution. The stream room could become a mukbang plus shopping channel, but that would depend on traffic.
The dried fish she made during the day could be sold too.
The Island Collector Manual was basically a mass-production warehouse.
Jiang Ye had an idea.
In the middle of the night, she hopped on the game forum, filled in a random anonymous username, and posted a message.
γDamn! There are streamers like this???γ
[Poster: Just Want to See How Long Names Can Be
Couldn't sleep and stumbled into a weird streamer. So dark, looked like two sticks, scared me to death.
Game company, can you ban this kind of streamer in the future?]
[1st comment: Crap, damn curiosity. Exactly how scary is it? Now I kinda want to go and see.]
[2nd comment: OP, post the stream room!]
Just as Jiang Ye was about to reply and drop her stream room, someone beat her to it.
[13th comment by I'm Super Fierce: Seriously scary! Stream room id 318984! Everyone, never go to this stream room! The streamer is so mean!!]
Seeing this, Jiang Ye couldn't help laughing out loud.
Her laughter was light and merry, drifting across the islandβs wooden hut.
She wondered, does this kid use the same username everywhere? Doesnβt even know how to change it on the forum? So dumb.
Jiang Ye quietly liked the comment, then replied anonymously: [Yup, and the streamerβs cooking is horrible, only an idiot would eat it!]
I'm Super Fierce fired back: [No, youβre the idiot! Your whole family are idiots!!]
Jiang Ye replied with a βhand-over-mouth giggle,β then stopped teasing the kid, closed the forum, and waited for her post to heat up.
She climbed into bed, trying to sleep, but she was too wired from making money to fall asleep. So she got up and walked out of the wooden hut.
Dawn was breaking, the sun rising off the ocean looking like an oily salted egg yolk, golden and beautiful.
The temperature was climbing.
A-Xing happened to be online too, and was baffled by Jiang Ye's two messages.
First message: Sorry, I had to spend 9,980 gold coins.
Second message: I think Iβve earned it back.
Seeing the time between these two messages was less than twelve hours, A-Xing was dumbfounded.
"What happened while I was offline?"
"Xiao Jiang, did you hit the gold jackpot or the silver one? Howβd you make money so fast?!"
Jiang Ye thought for a moment and calmly replied, "I think it was more like a snake pit."
"???"
What the heck??