Interlude

The lounge outside the streaming room was packed at this moment, with two livestream feeds playing simultaneously on the large screen.

One was Black Dragon Lord Mephisto's stream.

The other was Midnight Arcane God's stream.

The Black Dragon's feed was almost completely motionless. On-screen, the Black Dragon stared fixedly at an enormous crystal ball, unmoving, no one knowing what he was thinking. Thus, everyone's attention was focused on Midnight Arcane God's stream.

From Midnight Arcane God's first-person perspective, they could see Dawn Divine Sword cleave the Ogre Shaman in half with a single slash.

A chorus of sighs immediately rose from the lounge.

"Holy shit, that was brutal."

"This is over."

"Looks like Brother Dragon is really in danger."

Almost everyone thought the same thing, whispering among themselves.

Wang Ziheng watched with growing anxiety. He had been trying to figure out how to bring Mo Fei's Black Dragon account under the company's ownership. It would be an excellent achievement for him when he took over the streaming platform. Especially when his older brothers had all accomplished something, he needed to produce results if he wanted to earn his father's approval.

He had not expected things to end before his plan could even be put into action. If the Black Dragon was slain in front of the entire world, his platform would become a laughingstock as well.

"Is there still a chance?" he could not help asking.

The supervisor beside him reassured him, "Don't worry, young master. That Mo Fei kid has some tricks up his sleeve. He always manages to stir something up. Until the very last moment, you'll never know what he's capable of doing."

"But the other side is just too strong. Those two bosses went down so quickly..."

Although Wang Ziheng did not play games much, he had crammed a fair amount of gaming knowledge recently. While dungeon bosses varied in strength, as long as they were in the same dungeon, their overall power could not be too far apart.

The first and second bosses had both gone down in two or three moves. How much stronger could the third and fourth bosses be?

The supervisor explained, "That's not how it works. Mephisto's subordinates are all trash bosses given out by the system, which is why they're so weak. If he were willing to spend money, he could absolutely get some powerful bosses as subordinates. Mo Fei just doesn't want to spend the money. His own strength is definitely sufficient."

Hearing the explanation, Wang Ziheng could not help finding it strange. "Then why doesn't he get some powerful boss subordinates? Didn't the company give him resources for that?"

After all, the other side had two Gold-tier heroes, along with thirty adventurers equipped to the teeth.

It was a luxurious lineup of thirty-two players, while Mo Fei's side had only one player—himself. The rest were garbage mobs and lousy bosses given out by the system. The other side had clearly prepared for a long time; in comparison, Starlight Company's side seemed far too hasty.

No matter how he looked at it, something was off.

The supervisor looked rather embarrassed. He lowered his voice and explained, and only then did Wang Ziheng understand the full story.

When Skyworld first entered open beta, it caused a sensation. Its unprecedented gameplay model, combined with its status as the legendary fully immersive virtual reality game, shook the entire industry with technology that had previously existed only in science fiction novels.

At the time, nearly every major streaming platform began pouring resources into the game at almost the same time. Starlight Company was no exception. It immediately gathered ten well-known gaming streamers, gave them money to buy heroes, bosses, and headsets, then sent them into the game to compete for viewers.

Had it been any other game, continuous investment like that would have inevitably made the streamers' characters stronger and stronger.

But Skyworld had a mechanic called scripted deaths. It did not affect ordinary players much, since most ordinary players chose to play adventurers, and adventurers were not afraid of dying.

But things were different for those streamers. They played heroes, bosses, or lords—every one of them was a story character. Once they encountered a scripted death, they were gone.

And for the sake of their streams, they could not avoid getting involved in everything. Whenever there was a major battle or a crisis, they had to jump in and throw a few moves around. Those streamers did not have protagonist plot armor, and one careless mistake could get them killed by the story. As a result, within less than a month, half of the first batch of streamers' characters had died.

When Starlight Company discovered the problem, it immediately increased its investment. By then, Skyworld had already become wildly popular, so Starlight Company arranged for another twenty streamers to join. Once again, they gave them money when they wanted money and resources when they wanted resources.

At the same time, with the idea of casting a wide net, they brought in another thirty ordinary streamers as a third wave. These ordinary streamers did not receive such generous treatment. They had little popularity to begin with, so their benefits were average. VIP game accounts were expensive too, and no matter how wealthy Starlight Company was, it could not let everyone squander resources however they pleased.

Therefore, each of those thirty ordinary streamers received only a single game headset. As for their game accounts, they were responsible for their own profits and losses. They could choose whichever template they wanted to play, but they had to pay for it themselves.

That was also why their contracts did not require ownership of the accounts to belong to the company.

Mo Fei was one of those ordinary streamers from the third batch. Unexpectedly, the first two batches had either died or merely hung on, with most of them failing to make much of a name for themselves. The few who survived were still struggling in various places, slowly building up their experience.

Instead, several tough characters emerged from the third batch of streamers. Some played bizarre monster-themed characters, some played small animals in survival mode, and some used commoner templates to cook in-game as food streamers.

A few of them actually became quite popular. Naturally, the most popular of them all was Mo Fei, the Black Dragon Lord.

"Later, we did want him to sign a new contract, give him resources and manpower, and take ownership of the account while we were at it. But the kid had gotten smarter. He simply refused, and after dragging it out for so long, nothing ever came of it."

So that was what happened. Wang Ziheng nodded. He actually admired Mo Fei somewhat. Going from nothing to his current position must have given him an incredible sense of accomplishment. Looking at the enormous Black Dragon on the screen, motionless and deep in thought, Wang Ziheng could vaguely feel an invisible pressure. Even knowing it was only a game character, he could not help feeling awed.

As a second-generation rich kid, Wang Ziheng lived a comfortable life. If he wanted, he could simply lie flat and coast through life as a useless rich heir. But he truly lacked any sense of accomplishment. That was precisely why he attached such importance to taking over the streaming platform.

I hope you survive, Mo Fei. For your own sake... and for mine... Wang Ziheng thought silently.

The supervisor watched Wang Ziheng's thoughtful expression, but inwardly he was rather pessimistic. No matter how he looked at it, Mo Fei was finished this time. With such a fierce lineup on the other side, what could a lone commander like him possibly use to hold them off?

He understood the power of a streaming platform very well. A single streamer had no chance against an entire platform.

But perhaps that was for the best. If Mo Fei died, it would settle everything once and for all. At least they would not have to tear off the mask. If he did not die, there would probably be even more trouble waiting for him afterward.