Celebration

Firefly was still a little nervous after joining the voice call, stumbling over her introduction just as she had before. Seeing that Lin Yu was also using a virtual avatar on the other end eased her nerves considerably, and she found herself studying his avatar.

Lin Yu's avatar was a white-haired catgirl with cat ears on her head and round, black-framed glasses? No, a catboy!

Overall, though, it had a youthful, chibi look, with sparkling, sapphire-blue eyes and a little round face. It looked so cute~

Lin Yu had never told her which account was his, so she took this chance to follow him. Firefly stealthily searched for his account on her phone, tapped the plus sign, and added him to her special follows.

After the introductions, the two started playing the multiplayer game Human: Fall Flat, but as for their gameplay... Firefly sailed through while Lin Yu's play was a feast of fails from start to finish. Later, Firefly even had to drag him through the levels. He practically couldn't show his face on stream anymore!

When he had played with Zhang Zeyang and the others before, everyone had been about the same, so he hadn't thought he was that bad. Now, though, comparison really did hurt. Seeing gameplay that went so well with a meal, the chat started mocking him.

[Thanks, streamer. I'm full now.]

[Thanks for saving me the cost of a late-night snack. You've earned a gift.]

With that, they sent a wave of gifts.

While everyone was still absorbed in his feast of fails, someone noticed how familiar the other streamer's voice sounded. After thinking it over, they finally realized: wasn't that Firefly's voice from Honkai: Star Rail?

[Does anyone else think the other streamer's voice sounds really familiar?]

That message caught everyone's attention, and only after listening closely did they belatedly realize it.

[Holy shit! Firefly!]

Most of Lin Yu's fans also played Honkai: Star Rail, and Firefly was still very popular in the game. With that reminder, they quickly caught on.

Everyone was surprised. They hadn't expected to encounter someone whose voice sounded so much like Firefly's!

Some people, however, thought she only sounded similar because she was using a voice changer. Plenty of people used voice changers to stream these days, after all.

But the moment that message appeared, someone refuted it. A user with the ID I Want to Eat Beef posted a correction.

I Want to Eat Beef: [It's not a voice changer. The streamer already cleared that up. That's her real voice.]

He said he had come over from the other stream. Someone had asked that question before the two streamers joined the call, and the streamer had clearly stated that it was her own voice.

At first, everyone had doubts about what he said, but he said he had recorded a clip of her clarifying it, and anyone who didn't believe him could ask him for it.

That dispelled quite a bit of their doubt. But then again, if it was true, didn't that mean the streamer had a friend in real life whose voice sounded almost exactly like Firefly's?

They were seriously envious. If she was also really pretty, the streamer had absolutely hit the jackpot!

To think they'd felt sorry for him when he'd said he didn't have one before. Now, they only found him hateful.

Lin Yu: "Finally cleared it! Woohoo!"

With the invincible, god-tier carry Firefly leading the way, they had finally cleared the game. He glanced at the chat and found that the messages, lively just a moment ago, had gone unusually quiet.

"What's wrong, everyone? Why'd you all go silent?"

Since Lin Yu had been focused entirely on the game, he hadn't seen the messages and had no idea that the chat was now drowning in envy.

Still, Lin Yu thought silence was good. Silence was golden. It was about time, too, so he could clock out~

Lin: "All right, everyone, good times always fly by, and our collab is coming to an end. It was a pleasure streaming with Miss Flying Firefly. If you're interested in Miss Flying Firefly, feel free to give her a follow~"

Flying Firefly: "Ah... yes, time really flew. I hope I can stream with Lin again next time. And thank you to everyone in Lin's stream."

Lin: "Bye, then~"

Flying Firefly: "Bye-bye~"

After a set of standard closing remarks, they disconnected. Lin Yu announced the winners of the earlier giveaway and got ready to end his stream as well.

Meanwhile, in her room, Firefly said goodbye to everyone in her stream after disconnecting, then quickly ended it.

After finishing the first livestream of her life, Firefly slumped in her chair, facing the ceiling with a hint of exhaustion on her face.

Streaming really is tiring~

After a short wait, the stream's statistics came out. Her total earnings were 553.5. Looking at the first money she had earned in her personal earnings tab, all her exhaustion vanished. She grabbed her phone and happily rushed out to share her joy with Lin Yu.

"Lin Yu, Lin Yu, look! I made money! More than five hundred!"

Lin Yu, who had just ended his stream, jumped when Firefly suddenly rushed out. Good thing he was already offline, or it would have been bad if her voice had been heard!

Lin Yu had only just stood up when Firefly rushed straight into his arms.

Firefly wrapped both arms around his waist, her soft cheek pressed against his chest. Her face brimmed with happiness, her smile like that of an innocent little girl, softening his heart.

The sudden hug startled him so much that he raised both hands high and froze. But when he saw Firefly's smile, his surprise disappeared, giving way to an indulgent expression. His hand unconsciously settled on her head, stroking it gently.

"All right, I know. You did great, Firefly~"

Lin Yu's praise made Firefly very happy, filling her with a sweetness like eating cake. She looked up and met his gaze. The tenderness and affection she saw in his eyes brought her back from her excitement. She had gotten so carried away that only now did she realize she had actually run into his arms and was clinging tightly to him!

Realizing she had lost her composure, Firefly hurriedly released Lin Yu and put some distance between them.

"Um, sorry. I got too excited and accidentally..." Firefly scratched her cheek awkwardly, her face flushed.

"It's fine. I'm fine anyway. And congratulations. Looks like your first stream was a success."

Seeing that Lin Yu wasn't angry, Firefly smiled again. "Yeah!"

When they reviewed things afterward, Firefly told him about something very strange: not long after she went live, someone with the ID [I Am Flying Firefly's Servant] had entered her stream.

She hadn't paid attention at first, but later, that person had started showering her with gifts. Two-thirds of her earnings that day had come from them. The problem she had mentioned at the time was that they kept sending gifts and she kept thanking them, making it impossible to properly join the call.

Lin Yu had no idea what to make of it either. His only suggestion was for Firefly to pay closer attention during future streams.

But now wasn't the time to think about that. Since this stream had been a resounding success, Lin Yu planned to celebrate for Firefly. It was too late today, though, so the celebration dinner would have to wait until tomorrow. He also hadn't told Firefly, intending to surprise her.

The next day, while working at the café, Lin Yu approached the manager to ask if he could borrow the kitchen.

The manager seemed to misunderstand, though. Thinking Lin Yu wanted to make a cake for himself, he said, "If you want cake, just take some. It's not like I don't let you take cakes from the shop."

Seeing the misunderstanding, Lin Yu hurriedly explained that the cake wasn't for himself, but a gift for someone else.

Hearing that it was a gift, the manager understood immediately: it was for his girlfriend. If it were just for a friend or someone like that, there would be no need to make it himself, so the answer was obvious.

In the end, he agreed to let Lin Yu use the kitchen, but didn't say it outright. Young people being a little reserved was perfectly normal~

After finishing work that afternoon, Lin Yu left the shop with the cake he had made. As he was leaving, though, the manager suddenly gave him an indulgent, auntie-like smile that left him completely baffled.

Back home, Lin Yu crept inside like a thief. After hiding the cake, he pretended to have just arrived as usual. "I'm home!"

Tonight's dinner was prepared by the Lin household's master chef, Lin Yu. Looking at a table full of her favorite dishes, Firefly couldn't help shedding tears of happiness from the corners of her mouth.

"Let's eat!"

One delicious dish after another slid down Firefly's throat into her stomach. "It's so good-!"

"Slow down. Don't choke." Lin Yu could only smile helplessly.

After finishing dinner, Firefly sat on the sofa looking utterly content. Lin Yu took the cake he had prepared out of the fridge. "Here, have some dessert."

As he spoke, Lin Yu opened the packaging, revealing a round cake about the size of a palm, resembling a cross section of a tree. Firefly froze at the sight and said its name. "Oak Cake Roll?"

Lin Yu: "Yep. I wanted to throw you a celebration dinner, so I made this especially at the shop today."

Firefly: "No wonder everything you made today was something I like. Why didn't you tell me?"

"I wanted to surprise you. It wouldn't be a surprise if I told you."

"Anyway, try it and see how it tastes." Lin Yu picked up a plastic fork and handed it to Firefly.

"Okay." Firefly took the fork, scooped a small piece from the cake, and put it in her mouth, savoring it carefully. The moment she tasted it, her eyes suddenly widened!

"How does it taste?" Lin Yu watched Firefly with a hint of anticipation.

Firefly set down her fork and gave her verdict. "Very sweet."

Hearing her assessment, Lin Yu frowned. "Did I put in too much sugar and make it too sweet?"

Seeing that Lin Yu seemed to have misunderstood her, Firefly interrupted his thoughts to explain. "No, I meant that I thought it would be bitter. I was just surprised that it tasted sweet."

"Oh, I see. Firefly, you didn't think this was made from tree bark like the one in the game, did you?"

Firefly nodded awkwardly, confirming what Lin Yu had said.

Lin Yu didn't know whether to laugh or cry. He reached out and lightly tapped Firefly on the head, saying with exasperation, "Silly, how could I possibly make a cake out of tree bark for you to eat?"

He had indeed modeled it after the game, but he couldn't possibly copy it one hundred percent.

Rubbing the spot Lin Yu had tapped, Firefly smiled and said, "Mm, I know now."

"But why Oak Cake Roll?"

At Firefly's question, Lin Yu scratched his head, looking slightly embarrassed. "Well, I didn't know what kind you liked. While I was thinking about it, this came to mind. I just didn't know whether the you of today would like it."

Firefly shook her head, scooped up another piece, and put it in her mouth. "The me of today likes it too."