Chapter 54 - A live broadcast for one.
If he had to speak of whether someone could derive enjoyment from live broadcasts, You Liangxing would a.s.sert that there was some to be had. However, there was a clear gap between being attracted to something to constantly wanting to throw money at it.
So, where did the charm of live broadcasting originate from?
You Liangxing was not certain of this.
The thought of KK flashed in his head and You Liangxing proceeded to take out his tablet, and he proceeded to enter MengMao TV’s website to search for KK. Shockingly, however, KK was not broadcasting live.
You Liangxing was surprised, he remembered that KK would stream every day from 7:30 to 10:30 at night, and it was a fixed time slot…. Did he take a leave because he came to Beijing?
You Liangxing turned off his tablet and turned on his phone instead. On WeChat, he noticed that there was a new message from Ah Sheng in their chat.
The timestamp stated was half past seven, which was two hours ago.
Realising that he had missed the broadcast, You Liangxing’s first reaction was a little regret, but it was too fleeting for him to pay attention to it. He tapped on the chat interface, and Ah Sheng’s messages were accompanied by an expression pack of a cat winking.
— Liang Liang?
— Your Cute KK has quietly appeared.
You Liangxing’s lips went on a gentle bend. Now that he knew of Ah Sheng’s ident.i.ty as an anchor, the other party had started using the name “KK” openly and out of convenience.
You Liangxing replied: — Why didn’t you broadcast live?
His single question contained a lot of information. He did not know what Ah Sheng was doing either, considering how he managed to reply in less than a second.
[Ah Sheng]: — How did you know I wasn’t broadcasting live, did you go and check?
Despite being exposed, You Liangxing replied, nonplussed: — If you were broadcasting live, would you be talking to me now?
[Ah Sheng] sent him a surprised expression: — Oh true~ Wow, you’re so smart!
You Liangxing: ……
If someone told him that the other party was not doing this on purpose, You Liangxing would not believe them at all. He was slightly agitated, but he had no intention to put his phone down just yet.
His surroundings were quiet. You Liangxing could not help but wonder how they would proceed as he swiped up, remembering the conversation that they had left hanging.
[Ah Sheng]: — I’m going to Beijing tomorrow….. Can we meet?
You Liangxing: — Okay.
And in a blink of an eye, the topic had been pushed aside by other developments, and now that they were chatting again tonight, You Liangxing was uncertain as to how he should reopen the conversation.
Fortunately, whenever he was chatting with Ah Sheng, the one responsible for starting the topic was never him. He did not have to think for too long before Ah Sheng spoke from his end: — How can I broadcast without an audience?
You Liangxing recalled the number of fans that KK had on the MengMao TV website. Doubtful, he replied: — No audience?
[Ah Sheng]: — I didn’t have an audience just now, but now I do.
You Liangxing paused, his reaction showing some delay. However, Ah Sheng did not let him contemplate too much about it and hurriedly added: k2014; Go online.
Naturally, there was no reason to reject a game invitation.
You Liangxing: k2014; k2026;.. En.
The duration required to log in was not long but to his senses, the seconds seemed to drag on. Whenever he looked at the familiar loading interface for King’s Glory, it always impressed upon him that there was a delay. A minute after his successful login, Ah Sheng had yet to come online.
Before he went onto WeChat to ask Ah Sheng, a notion flashed in You Liangxing’s mind as he remembered something. He tapped on his friends’ list and checked for any new friend requests. Sure enough, there was a new application in the list.
–【Victor KK】wants to add you as a friend.
This was Ah Sheng’s main account, and the same game account he used to broadcast to millions of fans every day.
As if his state of mind had been struck by lightning, You Liangxing accepted, and immediately after the friend request went through, [Victor KK] sent him a message.
[Victor KK]: — The rank for this account is a little too high, let’s play entertainment mode instead.
You Liangxing had a deep impression of entertainment mode; the last time he had played it, the specific details regarding the process were less vivid as opposed to the surging anger he had felt. Just as he was thinking that, Ah Sheng sent another message.
[Victor KK]: — As the saying goes, you start climbing back up at where you fell.
You Liangxing: ……
The usage of the phrase was applicable.
You Liangxing replied with an ‘okay’, and [Victor KK] followed up by inviting him to a game. You Liangxing pressed accept and they gathered in the team room, and the microphone icon simultaneously appeared below their avatars.
There was no need for further explanations, they consciously opened their microphones.
Prior to this, when they had opened their microphones, neither of them had made a sound for the most part. However, this time was different. As soon as he turned on his speech function and coughed a little, Kang Shengzhe opened his mouth to say: “Liang Liang?”
His voice was incredibly familiar and highly recognisable. The private conversation between two of them was well within reach and You Liangxing could not help but respond, “I hear you.”
The reply was extremely clear in a s.p.a.ce where there were only two of them. You Liangxing could even hear his own echo, and his voice was more special than Ah Sheng’s voice, considering how it sounded like a girl when it landed in someone’s ears.
Furthermore, this was the first real vocal conversation he had with Ah Sheng ever since they met each other.
You Liangxing was a little concerned about Ah Sheng’s reaction, and the concern he felt differed from the type he would experience in real life; in real life, they could see his face first before they were subsequently surprised by his voice, but online, first impressions were all controlled by voices.
What was Ah Sheng feeling now?
Just as he was wondering, a string of chuckles landed in his ear. It was not on purpose, rather, it sounded like the person could no longer resist it, but they had tried desperately to press it down. “It’s really something else to hear it up close. Loli voice, will you date me online?”
You Liangxing said reflexively: “….. Scram.”
With his one-word reprimand, the other party’s laugh became even more choked up and jerky, and You Liangxing could not understand why he was laughing but he did not ask either. Instead, he thought that it was not an exaggeration to describe the laughter he was hearing as someone who was rolling on the ground, and releasing a…. pig snort.
It turns out… The saying online about laughing until someone snorted like a pig was not a joke.
However, in the midst of the echoing laughter, You Liangxing’s mood unconsciously relaxed as well.
While the joke was made at his expense, it also confirmed the notion that the other party was aware of his gender which allowed him to make the joke. It was no longer necessary for You Liangxing to confirm anything and all his previous troubles were swept away.
You Liangxing: “Are we playing or not?”
While giggling, Kang Shengzhe said: “Playing, playing, I have something important to do tonight. Let’s see, the time is now 9:45, there is still forty-five minutes to 10:30.”
His voice had a different effect on their usual interactions; there was no time given to type. Once he heard it, he was obliged to reply which turned it into a real-time conversation. Feeling strange, You Liangxing asked: “Why are you calculating the time?”
Kang Shengzhe’s voice carried a tinge of laughter: “For the broadcast.” Before You Liangxing could speak, the other party had already supplied the rest of it, “I took a leave tonight to broadcast for you alone.”
You Liangxing: ……
In an instant, You Liangxing suddenly realised what Ah Sheng had meant by the lack of an audience. While he did not think too much into it, his heart was already in disorder.
You Liangxing paused for a second before he replied in a calm tone: “You sure have a lot of nonsense.”
Kang Shengzhe chortled: “When it comes to broadcasting, isn’t it just having too much to say? If you feel annoyed, you can scold me. Truthfully speaking, I enjoy the moments where you use that small voice of yours to scold me. ”
You Liangxing: “……” Are you a pervert?
During their conversation, Kang Shengzhe had already pressed start and they entered the matchmaking queue. Concurrently, he cleared his throat and said a few brief lines that You Liangxing would typically hear in a live broadcast.
“Okay, okay~ the live broadcast has officially began, if you like this anchor please clic.k follow and save this child.”
You Liangxing did not say a word but his lips had hooked up a while back. When the echo of his voice landed in his ears, the fact that the other party was KK became more p.r.o.nounced, and unconsciously, You Liangxing stumbled onto a version of Ah Sheng that he had never seen before.
The game entered the hero selection screen, and You Liangxing chose the top lane hero Hua Mulan. Knowing that Ah Sheng was broadcasting, he deliberately chose not to be with Ah Sheng.
Since the other party was an anchor, he should strive to improve himself.
Kang Shengzhe was not bothered by You Liangxing’s choice and selected the hero Peiqin Hu which he previously used. However, because he was on his main account and he had the full set of skins, he was switched it to the Lionel Messi skin instead.
Clad in a blue jersey, the Lionel Messi Peqin Hu walked into the jungle as KK narrated: “No rush, we’ll clear the monsters first, starting with a set meal full of auto attacks before delivering a swift kick, wah~ look at my ball, it went right into the monster camp’s goalpost, the shot was super accurate~”
You Liangxing was slightly distracted while he was listening to his voice, and even after trading with his opponent twice in the top lane, he had yet to harvest a single kill. He was uncertain of his opponent’s rank, but judging from their positioning, it could be considered a challenge and it was not a tasteless endeavour to go up against them.
A few minutes into the game, the game instance refreshed and the stealth ability appeared. In King’s Glory’s entertainment mode, other than the games being very fast-paced, different ‘mode’ changes would also appear like Void Lock, Wind’s Blessing, a War G.o.d’s Blessing, Stealth, and more.
When the stealth mode was activated, neither sides could see the other unless they were close to one another. Under those circ.u.mstances, a flashing prompt would appear above the hero’s head and the enemy would simultaneously come into view. However, the prompt only foretold that that there was an enemy in the vicinity, and not how many enemies there actually were. Having experienced the entertainment mode for the second time, You Liangxing unknowingly fell into a disadvantage.
Initially, You Liangxing intended to stomp on the marksman in the bushes, but when he rushed up and the stealth effect promptly dissipated, he was met with three enemies instead of one. The tank and a.s.sa.s.sin blocked for their marksman by positioning themselves front and at that moment, You Liangxing’s damage proved insufficient. Hence, he could only switch targets, choosing to take down the enemy a.s.sa.s.sin instead.
Trapped in a three against one, his health quickly bottomed out as Ah Sheng’s Peiqin Hu dashed out of the jungle in confident strides.
Unfortunately, his timing was off. As You Liangxing landed the last hit required to take down the a.s.sa.s.sin, he dropped dead in dejection. Peiqin Hu was slow in arriving, and the opportunity for the hero to save the beauty slipped out of his fingers just like that.
Ah Sheng’s tone was filled with disappointment. “Late by a second, sigh. But it doesn’t matter, I’ll avenge you, the remaining two kills are mine.”
“Don’t blink, look at my next move, I’m going up, hey—wait—!! Don’t—”
While he was speaking, Peiqin Hu’s entire set of ability was casted extremely quickly and he was about to off the enemy tank when the marksman Luban sent him flying with an explosive shot which allowed her teammate to dodge Peiqin Hu’s ability and escape with their life.
Not only that, in the span of a few seconds, the situation reversed instantaneously. Peiqin Hu turned and fled in panic as his health was beaten down to half.
“En, hmm, no need for panic, I can still fight. They’ll definitely think that I’ve backed, so I’ll sit here and not move, just for a little while.”
In the work of a few seconds, You Liangxing had already revived but his attention was unconsciously drawn away. He did not head up to the top lane immediately, choosing to spectate Ah Sheng’s situation from the mini map as he sat in the fountain.
It really felt like he was watching a live broadcast.
The enemy tank Cheng Yaojin and marksman Luban did not return to their tower and Peiqin Hu was currently at half health. Their opponents obviously had similar intentions to take down Peiqin Hu in one fell swoop, but as they drilled into the bushes, Peiqin Hu stepped out of it. And when they exited, Peiqin Hu dived back into the cover of the forage.
“Look, they’re both chasing me, I’m going back into the brushes again. Always leave enough rope for someone to hang themselves with, alright, and now that they’ve been lured, good, let’s walk two more steps, and now two more, and then… a wicked tiger turns around and excretes on you!”
In the moment of the kill, the game announcement rang out in his ears.
— Double Kill!!
Double Kill!
Stunned by the exclamation of his last line, You Liangxing paused before he burst into sudden laughter. He suppressed it in a hurry and manipulated his Hua Mulan to walk towards the top lane. As he pa.s.sed through the jungle, he heard Ah Sheng say, “Look at me, do you want to play hide-and-seek with KK?”
You Liangxing glanced at the mini map and noticed that Ah Sheng was in the same jungle. His line of sight shifted and he scanned his surroundings, only to find that there was no one.
However, he suddenly saw that the blue monster had an additional health bar above its head and there was a name accompanying it: Victor KK.
You Liangxing: “……”
Peiqin Hu was a hero who could switch between his human form and tiger form, and when he was draped in the new Lionel Messel skin, his tiger form had a deep blue colour profile which looked similar to that of the blue monster.
Right now, after Ah Sheng had kicked the monster to death, he had went down on his fours, not a fraction off from how the monster would usually squat in its own territory, trying to pa.s.s off as a proper counterfeit.
Naturally, it premised on the fact that the half-empty health bar was ignored.
You Liangxing: “……” Have you been poisoned?
After a short while, You Liangxing remarked: “You should stop being an anchor in the future; quit and become a monster in the King’s Canyon.”
Kang Shengzhe laughed: “Then it’s over, the players all around the world will be forced to their knees by the hands of monsters, and whenever they see me, they all have to call me wild daddy.”
The author has something to say: Later, You Liangxing felt the fear of being attracted to a live broadcast.