The morning sun was just right.
From beneath the two huge banyan trees on the east side of the residential complex came the sound of old women playing mahjong.
Lin Baici picked up a notebook and read through it carefully.
It was filled with writing.
Whenever he had some free time, he watched videos on various websites and jotted down notes on the kinds of content that were popular at the moment.
Pretty girls were always a hit. As long as they weren't ugly, they could record any old video and still get decent views.
Unfortunately, Lin Baici was a man. That was just how he was born.
Food videos were hugely popular, including cooking, competitive eating, and restaurant reviews.
Since his mother was busy with work and often had to work overtime, Lin Baici lived by himself. He could cook, but only well enough to make something edible.
He'd look a lot worse on camera, and he didn't have spare money to buy all kinds of ingredients. Besides, the tiny, run-down kitchen at home wasn't suitable for filming.
As for competitive eating videos, thanks to the God of Gluttony, Lin Baici really could eat a lot. He wouldn't need to make himself throw up afterward like some uploaders did. The problem was, he had no money to buy food.
Besides, he didn't want to wreck his stomach.
Restaurant reviews were out, too. Guangqing City was a culinary wasteland, full of chicken pot and Shaxian snacks. What was there to review?
Besides, restaurant reviews really cost money!
As a poor student, Lin Baici couldn't afford it.
Comedy videos were another major category, but besides funny ideas, you also needed filming skills, well-written scripts, and spot-on expressions and gestures.
Lin Baici was great at Chinese and could write polished copy, but that was about the only thing he had going for him.
"Give it up!"
Lin Baici crossed out the category with his pen. The main reason was that he wasn't good at comedy.
Street workouts were no good either.
Lin Baici was self-conscious. If he worked out in a park and got surrounded by old men and women watching, he'd die of embarrassment on the spot.
"What advantages do I have?"
Lin Baici pondered.
Maybe he could sing?
During all three years of high school, he'd performed songs at every New Year's class party, and they'd gone over well.
His voice was distinctive, smooth and cool, like a spring flowing over pebbles in a mountain stream. He also had great lung capacity and could hit high notes!
"That's the one!"
Lin Baici immediately opened NetEase Cloud Music and started picking a song.
The Brightest Star in the Night Sky!
It was a good song, with a nice melody and an uplifting message.
Lin Baici listened to it carefully once.
He'd never studied vocal music and couldn't read sheet music, but with Divine Grace of Eidetic Memory, he could hum the melody correctly after hearing it just once.
But that wasn't enough!
All day long, Lin Baici didn't even go to the bathroom. He kept replaying the song and singing along.
At sunset,
a sizzling sound came from next door as someone stir-fried vegetables.
Lin Baici felt he'd practiced enough. He found the instrumental track and began recording on his phone.
Brightest star in the night sky, can you hear me,
the loneliness and sighs deep in the heart of the one who looks up,
The song was four minutes and twelve seconds long, and he finished recording it in no time.
Lin Baici took a sip of water and listened to it once.
Compared to the original, thanks to Eidetic Memory, he hadn't gone off-key or gotten any lyrics wrong. It was a pretty good cover, but the problem was—
It had no character.
Dreaming of gaining a million followers with a video like this was pure fantasy!
"I need to add my own style!"
Lin Baici thought it over. He had no singing style or stage presence to speak of. His voice was somewhat distinctive, but he wasn't sure if viewers would like it.
Wait!
Why not sing with Divine Grace?
After consuming God's Remains, Lin Baici had gained two Divine Graces. One of them was called "Sanskrit Chants and Buddhist Sounds."
Once activated, this Divine Grace filled a God Hunter's voice with Zen. The words they spoke could calm the mind, dispel fear, sever the three thousand worldly worries, and leave listeners feeling clear and unburdened.
It couldn't bring them to complete enlightenment, but it gave them the feeling of having suddenly seen the light.
Lin Baici did what came to mind!
He replayed the instrumental track and activated Sanskrit Chants and Buddhist Sounds.
The moment he sang this time, his voice became lilting, vast, and ethereal, like the morning chanting at Hanshan Temple, mingled with the ring of bells over fishing lights. It carried an air of serenity and detachment.
A few minutes after the song ended, a woman next door suddenly shouted in anger.
"Old Zhang, what are you staring at? You've burned the vegetables!"
"Oh! Oh!"
The man stared at the food stuck to the pan, hurriedly cleaning it up as he cocked his head to listen, full of curiosity. "Honey, did you hear that song the neighbors were playing just now?"
The walls in this old residential complex were poorly insulated.
"No. What about it?"
"It was pretty good!" The man chuckled. "I think there's no grudge between parents and children that can't be settled overnight. If our daughter wants to get married, let her. We can even skip the bride price. Why fight over something like this?"
"Are you crazy?"
His wife laid into him. "One hundred and eighty thousand! Not a cent less!"
"Money doesn't come with us when we're born, and it doesn't go with us when we die. Why make the whole family unhappy over it?"
As soon as he finished speaking, his wife spat at him.
Normally, the couple would have started arguing, but today the man had no desire to fight at all.
After cleaning up the kitchen, he went out amid his wife's scolding.
He'd have a drink, watch the sunset, feel the evening breeze, and take in the ebb and flow of the city's crowds.
Life was hard enough as it was.
People ought to be more open-minded!
Lin Baici had no idea that the man next door had changed his mind after hearing his song. He thought the recording had turned out great and had a style of its own, so he eagerly opened his computer, imported the video, and began editing.
He worked until ten that night, finished the song, and was about to upload it to Bilibili when he thought better of it and registered a new account instead.
"New account, new beginnings!"
Lin Baici stroked his chin as he stared at the screen. What should he call himself?
God of Gluttony?
Forget it. He'd just go with Lin the Hungry One!
A quarter of an hour later, Lin Baici finished uploading the video.
He leaned back in his chair, satisfied, looking forward to the moment it became a hit.
Grrr!
His stomach was growling with hunger.
Lin Baici made himself a bowl of instant noodles, ate it, and went to bed.
At seven the next morning, Lin Baici got up right on time.
After washing up, he put the soybeans that had been soaking overnight into the soy milk maker and switched it on. Then he went downstairs to the breakfast stall outside the residential complex and bought three yuan's worth of fried dough sticks.
Back home, he boiled some water and cooked two eggs. Then he put some of his mother's pickled vegetables onto a small plate. Only then did he have time to open his phone and check the video he'd posted the night before.
It had ninety-eight views, not even a hundred, but there were one hundred and twenty bullet comments and more than ten regular comments.
"Guess that's not bad?"
After reading the bullet comments, Lin Baici felt a little discouraged.
"Is this a cover? Your voice is distinctive, but it doesn't sound good!"
"It doesn't have the same feel as the original!"
"Isn't this an inspirational song? Why does it sound like Buddhist chanting? It feels like I'm in a temple!"
There were eleven comments, five of them from a user called Flower Blooms in the Fields.
"It's clearly an inspirational song, but after listening to you sing it, I actually feel like I can let go of everything and just lie flat!"
"Honestly, lying flat isn't so bad. Life's so exhausting—what's the point? A few decades from now, they'll send us to the crematorium, and all that'll be left is a handful of ashes!"
"I shared your video. Hope you become one of Bilibili's top one hundred uploaders!"
Flower Blooms in the Fields had liked, tipped, and favorited the video, giving it the full triple support.
"Does this count as my first fan?"
Lin Baici replied with a thank-you, then lay on his bed and thought about what the bullet comments and reviews revealed.
Click, click!
The door lock was turning.
His mother was back!
Lin Baici jumped out of bed and headed for the kitchen.
Watching her son set breakfast on the table, Mom Lin smiled, her eyes crinkling with emotion. "When you go to college in Haijing, I won't get to eat your breakfast anymore!"
Mom Lin was in her forties. Her demanding job had left her worn out, and she already had a few gray hairs. But she was still pretty, and it was clear she must have been a beauty when she was young.
"I'll do my best to save up a big pile of money before I graduate and buy us a big house in Haijing. Then we can settle down there!"
Before, Lin Baici wouldn't have dared make such a boast. But things were different now. As a God Hunter, he had the means to do it.
Selling the four God's Taboo Objects he had now would be a waste. He'd be better off using them to tackle another God Ruins, gathering a few God's Taboo Objects and Meteorite Stones, then selling them to Jin Yingzhen for a nice profit.
Lin Baici wasn't afraid of the dangers inside God Ruins, but he didn't want to take risks either. If he died, who would look after his mother?
And his mother would be heartbroken. She might even kill herself.
After all, he was the only reason she was still alive.
But seeing how haggard his mother looked made Lin Baici ache for her.
"Good. Then I'll go with you and enjoy the good life!"
Mom Lin took a sip of soy milk and answered casually.
Haijing was a top-tier city. A house of just a few dozen square meters cost seven or eight million yuan—so expensive it was unthinkable.
Even if her son earned a million yuan a year and saved every cent, it would take him nearly ten years.
After breakfast, Lin Baici told his mother to hurry off to bed. Once he'd finished washing the dishes, he went back to his room.
This time, he chose a folk song that was currently a big hit and started covering it.
That evening, after he finished recording "The Thirties," Lin Baici logged into his Lin the Hungry One account and uploaded it.
His first video had passed five hundred views, a decent rate of growth, but the feedback wasn't great.
Most of the bullet comments and replies said it didn't have the right feel and sounded strange.
Ding!
A WeChat message from Hua Yueyu had arrived.
Little Fish Person: Sister Yu's doing a room check! Hands on your head, kneel by the wall!
"..."
Lin Baici smiled, the corners of his mouth lifting.
There was a note of familiarity in Hua Yueyu's words.
Lin Returns Under the Moon: We haven't seen each other for two days, and now you're calling yourself "Sister"?
Little Fish Person: It's just a title. Don't mind it. I can even call you Dad!
"..."
Lin Baici was dumbfounded. He had no idea how to respond to that.
Little Fish Person: Dad, have you posted your video? If you have, remember to send it to me!
Hua Yueyu was planning to mobilize her million followers to favorite, share, and like Lin Baici's video.
She was eager to repay him.
That's right!
I, Little Fish Person, never owe anyone a favor.
Thinking of his pitiful number of views, Lin Baici was too embarrassed to send the video to Hua Yueyu.
Lin Returns Under the Moon: Thanks in advance!
Little Fish Person: We're practically brothers. What's there to thank me for?
They chatted for nearly half an hour. Hua Yueyu had a livestream to start, so that was when they finally stopped.
Hua Yueyu had kept bringing up new topics the whole time. Lin Baici was a little flattered. If it had been some other girl, she wouldn't have had that kind of patience. She would've just said, "I'm going to take a shower," and ended the conversation.
Ding!
Lin Baici had just put down his phone when another WeChat message came in.
He opened it,
and a pair of fair collarbones immediately filled the screen.
Bear Big makes an appearance!
It was a selfie from Jin Yingzhen.
Ding!
Countess of Monte Cristo: Oppa, it's the second day since we parted, and I can't sleep!
Before you continue