The ceiling was low, and water leaked from the corners. Even the light was dim, swaying unsteadily as it provided illumination. The bed he was lying on was a narrow single bed, raised high to prevent dampness, yet it remained cold and moist. The conditions were even worse than those in the first script he had entered.
Soon, the system’s voice echoed.
【Contestant No. 43786 has entered the variety show script: Live Operation Battle, and is being matched with an identity…】
【Clearance Reward: 5,000 Points】
【Congratulations! You have drawn an identity card: A small employee who goes unnoticed by day but becomes a popular cross-dressing live streamer on a hot live-streaming platform by night】
【In a society obsessed with traffic and prevalence of live streaming, you are an unnoticed small employee during the day. Your colleagues and superiors ignore you, but they secretly watch your live streams and shower you with gifts】
【Main Task: Become the most famous streamer】
【Side Task: Not yet unlocked—please explore the script diligently】
Yan Chuan: …
He was a bit slow on the uptake; so this was what live streaming meant? This script had him portraying a cross-dressing streamer? Or was it the kind who had a proper job and only streamed at night? It sounded a bit inappropriate.
Yan Chuan collected his thoughts and silently got up from the bed, surveying the small room. It was a tiny space, resembling a shared rental, with walls that offered no sound insulation. He could even hear the sounds of someone in the adjacent room tossing and turning as they slept. The room contained only a bed and a desk, while clothes lay in disarray on the bed. Cooking and bathing likely had to be done in a common area. The conditions were significantly poor.
Yan Chuan could barely sit on the edge of the bed; the chair was low. The only hint of modernity was the computer on the desk, presumably his office tool, which he had purchased begrudgingly.
Looking at these abysmal conditions, Yan Chuan fell into silence. In the last script, at least he had a fake husband to cook for him, bring snacks, and sleep with him at night. Now, he was utterly alone. Everything depended on himself.
Suddenly, his phone, which was on the bed, vibrated. A message had arrived from the group leader.
Yan Chuan opened the message. It was filled with harsh insults and had a very rude tone.
“Have you finished processing the project I sent you? Tomorrow, the young heir of the group will come for an inspection! Be careful, or you might get fired!”
“You don’t have any other job; if you can’t work in the group, you won’t even be able to pay your loan!”
On his end, he humbly replied with “Yes, yes” and “Alright, alright,” and also sent over a document.
Yan Chuan’s eyelids twitched as he scrolled down, seeing more messages from the group leader.
“The project is going fine, and I’ve changed the author name.” The group leader pretentiously sent him a message: “The money has been transferred to you; don’t tell anyone else.”
He added, “If you tell others, you won’t be able to survive in the company, and then you won’t be able to pay off your loan. Think about it carefully.”
Lastly, there was a transfer record showing that this person sent him 1,000 universal coins.
Yan Chuan pondered.
The person labeled as the group leader was asking him to work on a project for him, acting as a ghostwriter, and then giving him a bit of money to keep quiet? Plus, he had a loan to repay, probably leaving him with a meager living allowance. Otherwise, he wouldn’t be living in such a rundown rental and streaming at night to supplement his income. It sounded so pitiful.
【Yan Bao is back! Wuwuwu, this script is so pitiful! How could he live in such a place? It’s so shabby!】
【Such a tragic start, being exploited by the boss, working during the day and streaming at night.】
【Poor Yan Bao, donation points *100, donation points *100.】
【A cross-dressing streamer… I’m so wicked, I can only see Yan Bao becoming a cross-dressing streamer, hehe.】
Yan Chuan closed the chat window with the group leader.
He walked to the desk, opened the computer, and intended to check how his streaming career was going.
Given the conditions he was living in, it shouldn’t be too good, right?
The computer screen flickered to life, and Yan Chuan found a live-streaming software on the desktop.
He opened his streaming channel and fell silent upon seeing that his homepage had only a little over two hundred fans.
Was that really so few? Could he genuinely earn money from this?
With mixed feelings, Yan Chuan clicked to look at his content.
There weren’t many videos, and most were streams of him playing games, with very low view counts, not to mention monetization.
The only video with a slightly higher view count, when clicked on, was mostly filled with insults, with the latest comments just yesterday.
“You’re so awful at gaming, why are you even streaming? Go home, wash up, and sleep!”
“How can you even match with Ke Shen? Stop riding on others’ coattails; you don’t even understand how to ride the traffic wave.”
“Press 1 to stop this type of fringe streamer from coming to the gaming zone.”
“1111, I wonder how many generations of bad luck it took to run into such a hindrance.”
“Can’t even show your face; what are you hiding, looking ugly?”
Yan Chuan: …
Had he matched with a prominent streamer during his live session, only to be roasted due to his poor performance?
Yan Chuan opened that live video and found the streamer being called “Ke Shen” in the comments.
The other person’s ID was Ke Li, and their profile picture was blacked out, giving off a mysterious vibe. They had many works, each breaking tens of thousands of views, with over two million fans.
Yan Chuan exited the other person’s live room.
No wonder his view count was so low despite having fans; it turned out those two hundred or so fans were actually following him to insult him.
【What the heck, how can there be such blind fans insulting our Yan Bao? I’m outraged!】
【Speechless, what blind fans; dear, just ignore them from now on!】
【Block them! What dead fans bully my wife!】