The next morning, at the Huating Residential Complex.
Su Hang logged into his game account and got ready to stream. Although the system's task of reaching the top fifty ranks across all servers didn't require him to go live, streaming brought in extra gift revenue, so he might as well do it.
He tapped the go-live button, and the number of people in the stream began to soar. In less than a minute, it reached ten thousand.
"Welcome to my stream, everyone." Su Hang showed his distinctly jointed hands on camera and greeted them with practiced ease.
Comments scrolled wildly across the screen.
"Holy crap! Thank heavens, Exalted Emperor, you're finally live. We've been waiting so long the flowers are almost withered."
"Exalted Emperor, do you know you've blown up? Damn, you had two spots to yourself in the top ten gaming trends last night! Even my sister, who doesn't play King, was asking me who Exalted Emperor was!"
"Getting in early was worth it. As one of your first longtime fans, I can't wait for the day you really take the whole internet by storm!"
"Exalted Emperor, are you going to keep your word or not?"
Su Hang looked at the comments, puzzled. "Keep my word about what?"
In an instant, the words "show your face" filled the screen like a tidal wave!
Su Hang realized what they meant. During his streaming debut yesterday, he had promised viewers that once his Douyin account reached a billion followers, he would show his face on stream.
"Hold on, everyone. Let me take a look."
Su Hang tapped his phone screen and went to his Douyin account page. His eyes moved to the follower count, and he froze.
He remembered clearly that before ending the stream yesterday, he had gained twenty thousand Douyin followers from his debut. Now that number had increased tenfold, reaching a full two hundred thousand!
"Gasp..." Even Su Hang couldn't help drawing a sharp breath. That growth rate was truly unexpected.
"I, Su, have always kept my word. Since I promised to show my face at a hundred thousand followers, I'll make good on that promise now. Here's my face!"
Su Hang didn't dawdle. He tilted the camera up, revealing his clean-cut face with its slightly angular features, a highly distinctive look.
In an instant, the comments fell deathly silent.
"I shouldn't be that ugly, should I?" Looking at the screen without a single comment scrolling by, Su Hang frowned slightly. "I might not be a school-heartthrob-level one in a thousand, but surely I'm a class-heartthrob-level one in a hundred."
A moment later, comments began scrolling wildly across the screen, all of them saying holy shit!
"Holy shit! Rookie gaming streamer turns out to have a top-tier character-model face."
"That face is fucking unreal. Holy shit, when you look this damn good, why didn't you show your face sooner? I thought you were ugly as fuck."
"School-heartthrob level? Exalted Emperor, how much are you underestimating yourself? With such distinctive looks, you're at least a seven. For reference, a seven is usually how good-looking celebrity heartthrobs are, like Brother Kun and Brother Yixing."
"Exalted Emperor is definitely a seven. I even think that if he put on some makeup, he could have a shot at an eight, a one-in-a-hundred-million look!"
"The definition in those facial muscles, why does it look like he's trained"
"He's so handsome! Time for gifts."
After he showed his face, expensive gift effects rose one after another in the stream. In just a few seconds, the total value of the gifts surpassed ten thousand.
"Our looks come from our parents. I hope everyone can focus on my gaming skills instead."
Su Hang breathed a sigh of relief. The sudden disappearance of the comments had nearly shaken his confidence. Back in middle and high school, he had been the school's acknowledged heartthrob, and the names of the girls who had pursued him could fill ten sheets of A4 paper.
His outstanding looks made him very popular with the opposite sex.
But at the same time, they had caused him to lose all interest in the opposite sex.
Because aside from his younger sister Jiang Sui, every member of the opposite sex who approached him, without exception, wanted to date him.
It was a terrifying thing.
A girl he was very close to would suddenly confess to him out of the blue one day, and their lines were always the same: love at first sight, falling for him with a single glance, and the reason she had approached him was that she wanted to be his girlfriend.
Anyone would be shocked. I saw you as a good friend, but all you could think about was dating me?
As time went on, he stopped interacting with the opposite sex, and when someone of the opposite sex approached him, he made his romantic boundaries clear.
After the commotion over his face reveal.
The viewers' attention returned to Su Hang's game account.
"Exalted Emperor's account is currently at Glory King, 58 stars, with a 100% win rate and a top MVP rating in every match. I'd like to ask, are you trying to maintain that win streak and MVP record all the way to Legendary 100 Stars?"
A level 10 fan called Daipai Buliangzi asked the question hidden in the hearts of most viewers.
"That's right." Su Hang made no attempt to hide his ambition, declaring with an imposing air, "I want to make the Exalted Emperor account the greatest account in King's history!"
The moment they got confirmation, the viewers erupted. "Holy shit! Exalted Emperor has made it official! Can't wait for the moment he reaches the top."
"Everyone, enough small talk. Let's get straight into today's climb!"
Su Hang started matchmaking and got into a match in an instant.
In low-star Glory matches, most players' skill levels ranged between city and provincial badge level. They could already be considered elite King players.
But against Su Hang, they still weren't enough. After all, he had spent years fighting in high-point matches where his opponents were national-level players on average. Playing against city- and provincial-level players was basically no different from beating up babies.
As a result, Su Hang climbed quickly through the low-star matches. Using the new hero Sun Quan, he earned a top MVP rating every game. In three hours, he won ten consecutive matches, climbing from Glory 58 stars to Glory 90 stars.
The viewers found it utterly exhilarating.
"So good! So damn good! That's the stuff! Crushing everything in his path, cutting them down like vegetables. Exalted Emperor is awesome!"
"Thirty-two stars in three hours! Tell me, what other expert streamer besides Exalted Emperor could pull that off?"
"Forget expert streamers. Even the King-Titled Players we all know can't do that."
"Exalted Emperor's Sun Quan is incredible! He's national-level for sure. I'm seriously starting to suspect that marksman is his best role!"
"Guys, Exalted Emperor has reached 90 stars with a perfect win and MVP record. He's only ten stars away from reaching 100 with that record, just four matches."
"My heart's pounding, my hands are shaking. We're about to witness the birth of a legendary account."
Su Hang cracked open a can of sugar-free cola to replenish his energy.
Glory 90 stars was a watershed. Beyond it were high-star Glory matches, the rank range with the highest concentration of lesser national badge-level players. Many one-tricks and top non-pro players also appeared at this rank.
Of course.
Most importantly, there could be a huge gap in skill between the teammates and opponents he was matched with. Last season, when he had built a perfect win and MVP record on his old account, he had ultimately reached 100 stars without a loss.
But his MVP rating streak had come to an end at Glory 99 stars.
"I'm about to reach the star count where my old account fell short. Whether I succeed or fail depends entirely on these next four matches."
Su Hang drained the sugar-free cola and steeled himself.
"Time to get serious."