Chapter One: Hello, Single Souls Across the Way

February 14th.
Valentine’s Day.
In a shabby little rented room in Jiangcheng.

Ding~

The sound of a phone ringing pierced the silence. Bai Qingming, jolted awake from his slumber, groped for his phone by the pillow, pressed the answer key with eyes still shut, and was immediately met with an angry voice.

"Bai Qingming, get your ass up!"

"The big streamer’s been waiting for you for over half an hour. You have five minutes to open your streaming room and show yourself to your fans, or you’re out!"

The call ended abruptly.

Still groggy from sleep, Bai Qingming was left dumbfounded.

What’s going on?

The next moment.

[Ding, popularity system is starting to bind...]
[Original host’s memories are being imported...]

Suddenly, waves of images flooded Bai Qingming’s mind.

"Damn, I’ve transmigrated!"

In that instant, Bai Qingming understood.

He had crossed into a parallel world, his consciousness replacing the Bai Qingming of this world.

Here, Bai Qingming was also an orphan, but lacked the ambition he once had. He hadn’t even managed to get into college—after the college entrance exams, he became obsessed with League of Legends, mastering the art of playing the Wind Champion with dazzling skill, managing to reach Silver rank by sheer effort. He then joined TigerBud as a game streamer.

He thought he’d become famous, attract millions of fans.

But...

He was so broke he could barely pay this month’s rent, and owed several hundred on his credit cards.

The call Bai Qingming had just received was from the head of his guild.

The guild leader took pity on him and managed to invite a moderately popular female streamer to connect with him live, hoping to boost Bai Qingming’s popularity.

Whether the original Bai Qingming overslept or it was the result of transmigration, the girl had been waiting for over half an hour.

Collecting himself, Bai Qingming sat at his computer, opened the streaming software, and entered his own channel.

The stream’s title read:
"18-year-old wants to go pro—click to watch a technical streamer teach live."

Bai Qingming’s lips twitched.

He glanced at his fan count—less than ten thousand.

Want the exact number?

Heh, two hundred.

Bai Qingming couldn’t fathom where the original had found his courage.

Streaming isn’t a meal everyone can eat.

He had a handsome face, healthy limbs—surely he could do something better than this.

Bai Qingming made up his mind; tomorrow, he’d look for a proper job.

As for today...

He’d treat it as a farewell to streaming, a farewell to the past of this body, a farewell to the industry.

As he pondered, a couple of loyal fans among his two hundred received the notification and entered the room.

Soon, a few lines of comments floated by.

"Streamer’s so hardworking—even streaming on Valentine’s Day."

"Hardworking my ass, I bet the streamer is single."

"Haha, I’m glad you’re streaming; I thought you had a girlfriend. But knowing such a handsome streamer is single, I feel instantly balanced."

Reading these comments, Bai Qingming felt his anger rise, just as he was about to speak, a request popped up on the screen.

[Streamer ‘Beauty Like a Scorpion’ requests to connect with you.]

Bai Qingming clicked accept, and instantly, a girl about his age appeared on screen, heavily made up, with the beauty filter turned up to ten, cosplaying Mai Shiranui.

Seeing Bai Qingming’s shabby room used as a background, the other streamer’s eyes barely concealed her disdain.

Meanwhile, comments in Beauty Like a Scorpion’s stream began to flood in.

"Why aren’t you dancing? Who’s this guy?"

"Scorpion, we don’t want to see a connection—we want to see dancing."

"We want to see black stockings!"

"Live for the stockings, die for the stockings, fight for the stockings our whole life."

"Streamer, streamer, is this guy arranged by the guild to hype up a fake couple?"

With over two hundred thousand followers, and a hundred thousand online, the comments never stopped. Seeing the last message, Beauty Like a Scorpion was displeased.

"What nonsense are you all spouting? With his fan count not even hitting four digits, he’s not worthy of hyping up a couple with me!"

Her words were loud and clear, showing no regard for Bai Qingming’s feelings.

She then turned to Bai Qingming and, as if nothing had happened, said, "You’re late, let’s get started quickly. Greet my fans first."

...

Bai Qingming’s stream.

"Damn, she’s mocking you—can you take that?"

"Who is she anyway? Her makeup looks like a ghost."

"Streamer, I just went to her stream—the fans there are mocking you too."

"Streamer, curse her out! I’ll send you gifts."

[Ancestor of Three Years in Zu’an sent glowsticks ×99]

The comments, though sparse, were all standing up for Bai Qingming.

To be fair, being late was his fault, but her blatant contempt was a bit much.

Bai Qingming wasn’t having it.

When she asked him to greet her fans, he decided to go along with it.

"Good evening, single dogs in the other stream!"

Instantly, Beauty Like a Scorpion’s stream exploded with comments.

"???"

"Who’s he calling single dogs?"

"Streamer, curse him out."

"Yeah, Scorpion, are you just going to let him ridicule us? If you don’t, we’ll unfollow."

Bai Qingming wasn’t wrong—most people watching streams on Valentine’s night probably didn’t have a girlfriend—but because he was brutally honest, the fans were furious.

A flood of Beauty Like a Scorpion’s fans rushed into Bai Qingming’s stream, cursing his ancestors.

Seeing this, Bai Qingming’s few loyal fans fought back, trading insults with the haters.

As for Beauty Like a Scorpion, as a TigerBud streamer, swearing would get her banned, so she couldn’t curse Bai Qingming herself.

But her fans weren’t just joking; in the blink of an eye, she lost over twenty thousand followers, and the number kept dropping.

"Wait, everyone, don’t unfollow!"

No matter what she said, it didn’t help.

Panicked, she grabbed her phone and called for help.

...

Ding~

At that moment, Bai Qingming received another call from his guild leader.

Beauty Like a Scorpion was a beauty streamer, not a gamer. The leader thought connecting them would let Bai Qingming carry her through some Bronze League games of League of Legends.

With Bai Qingming’s Silver rank skills, carrying a girl in Bronze shouldn’t be a problem. If Beauty Like a Scorpion praised him afterward, his follower count might finally rise.

Just now, Bai Qingming’s stream had suddenly seen a spike in viewers. The leader thought the connection was working, but before he could celebrate, he got a call from Beauty Like a Scorpion.

He immediately called Bai Qingming, scolded him thoroughly, and ordered him to apologize to Beauty Like a Scorpion and her fans, or he wouldn’t see a cent of gift money this month.

After hanging up, Bai Qingming was fuming.

Apologize?

Screw that!

Hardly anyone had sent him gifts this month anyway—less than a hundred in total. Was he supposed to be afraid of a warning?

Besides, he had already decided to quit streaming. Bai Qingming decided to let it all go.

If this was a farewell to streaming, why not let himself go completely?

With that thought, Bai Qingming had an idea.

He stood up and bowed to the camera.

"Sorry, dear viewers, I shouldn’t have said what I did and ruined your mood on this romantic night."

"As an apology, I’ve decided to sing a song for every fan in Beauty Like a Scorpion’s stream, hoping you’ll forgive me."

While speaking, Bai Qingming picked up his microphone.

The atmosphere in the stream suddenly shifted, and the comments quieted down.

No one knew what Bai Qingming was planning.

...

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