: It's Erchui!
: God Zheng, aaaaaah!
: Chuichui, my Chuichui.
: Enough, commenter above. We're all brothers here. Who are you trying to gross out?
There were a few casual viewers in Azure Mist's livestream who counted as half-fans of Zheng Xun. Excited to see him appear, they fired off a few comments.
But this was Azure Mist's turf, and soon the guild's fans came out to make trouble.
: You stole something from someone else, and you've still got the nerve to show up?!
: How shameless.
: Thief! Thief!
: Captain Xu, hurry up and throw him out!
Zheng Xun's fans were outnumbered in the livestream, but each could take on ten opponents, and their fighting power was astonishing.
: Wow, so this is how fans of a top guild behave. What an eye-opener.
: What, does your Azure Mist rule the universe? Why don't you claim your family built the White Tower while you're at it?
: Quit yapping. If you've got the skills, go snatch it back from him!
That did it. The guild's fans and Zheng Xun's fans started tearing into each other, exchanging affectionate greetings with each other's entire family trees within the limits of the livestream's comment rules.
It had to be said that the little group of Zheng Xun's fans, surrounded by guild fans on all sides, was remarkably bold. They actually managed to hold their own in the argument.
As the exchange grew increasingly heated, the moderators stepped in and muted several users.
Things quieted down a little.
Inside the White Tower, Zheng Xun stood alone, facing off against the five people opposite him.
When he revealed that he was an accompanying reporter, everyone looked surprised.
Yin Lexin quietly asked Wang Shutong, "What's an accompanying reporter?"
Wang Shutong had switched to a different brand of contact lenses, and they were uncomfortable, making her look as though she were rolling her eyes at everyone.
She patiently explained it to him.
"Accompanying reporters are a type of staff member from the General Association. They follow the major guilds into instances and report on them, and sometimes they provide commentary too."
"Then how come we've never seen one before?"
"Because it's too dangerous. A lot of people at the General Association are frail scholars. Who'd risk their life to enter an instance with rough people like us?" Wang Shutong called herself a "rough person," but she was well educated. "Besides, now that we have livestreams, the position exists in name only."
Wang Shutong was right. The accompanying reporter position had been created on a whim by the General Association's leadership back in the day.
They hadn't thought it through when they created the position. Once it was made public, they discovered that no one had applied at all, so it had remained vacant year after year and was about to be abolished in the upcoming restructuring.
Xiao Jun, who seemed to know everything, immediately thought of the position and called a friend at the General Association to confirm whether it still existed. Once he got an affirmative answer, he smiled and said-
"I know a newcomer I'd like to recommend as an accompanying reporter. He doesn't ask for much. He just wants the General Association to save him a spot when you send people to the major competitions."
His friend thought that sounded great. After all, no one ever came to work as an accompanying reporter for the General Association, and no one went to the major competitions either.
He asked which sucker was doing this good deed.
When he heard Zheng Xun's name, he nearly broke his own thigh slapping it.
"Is this for real? Great, great, great! Old Xiao, you have to make sure God Zheng comes!"
It seemed this man was also a closet Zheng Xun fan.
Xiao Jun's friend was just as reliable as he was. He delivered Zheng Xun's work ID and the General Association's dedicated filming equipment overnight.
"Have Little Zheng put on the badge first. We can take care of the paperwork later. The General Association has set up a separate livestream account for him. It'll connect as soon as he turns on the camera."
In the space of one night, this friend had gone from calling him "God Zheng" to "Little Zheng," and he sounded both smug and excited.
Zheng Xun hadn't expected everything to be settled so quickly either. When he woke up that morning, he saw an elegant sky-blue gift box sitting beside his bed.
"What's this?"
"A gift from the General Association."
Xiao Jun happened to appear in the doorway and explained where the gift box had come from.
"Huh? That was fast." Zheng Xun unwrapped the gift with his usual roughness, tearing the wrapping paper into bizarre shapes. "I thought it would take at least five or six days."
"I contacted a friend. He's a fan of yours, and he worked overtime through the night to get it done."
"I have fans?" Zheng Xun hooked a finger through the reporter's ID, his eyes narrowing with a smile. "Having fans is really nice. No wonder you all put so much time and effort into cultivating them."
"That's nothing. As you become more famous, you might even get wealthy fans who'll pour money into your guild and help you run it."
"It's that good?"
"That depends on how capable you are."
Just like that, Zheng Xun became an accompanying reporter with ease. The process was much easier than he had imagined.
There was one drawback, though: he hadn't had time to simulate today's instance.
As a rule, Zheng Xun used the time he spent sleeping to simulate an instance before entering it.
Things were different now from how they had been back then. For an S-rank instance, Zheng Xun only needed to simulate it three or four times to get a general idea of how it would unfold. Another eight or nine runs, and he could basically figure out the patterns in every stage.
Unless a particular boss was especially outrageous or the map was too large, he no longer needed to spend too much effort on simulations.
This time was a little different. When he messaged Xu Guan about going to District 547, it had actually been a feint. His real target was the next one.
But after seeing the reporter's ID, he changed his mind at the last minute.
He would go to District 547.
And so Zheng Xun appeared here.
The General Association had equipped Zheng Xun with the best microphone because he had said he would provide live commentary.
Zheng Xun put on the equipment and raised a hand to flick the camera sphere floating in midair.
"Hello, hello, can everyone hear me clearly? Can you see my face?"
The General Association's livestream broadcast the sound and picture in real time.
: Erchui!
: Erchui's moving up in the world. He actually got into the General Association?
: That's our Erchui, hahahaha! This is going to drive Azure Mist's people crazy!
: Erchui's going to commentate on the instance? Someone actually took the disposable position of accompanying reporter?
: That's Erchui we're talking about. Who's disposable is still up in the air!
Three hundred thousand people flooded into the General Association's livestream in an instant, making it livelier than any of its previous streams. Technical limitations nearly caused the livestream to crash.
Zheng Xun's fans felt as though they had found a home, while many casual viewers were curious to see how an expert player like him would perform in an instance and what kind of commentary he would give.
Accompanying reporters weren't required to fight. They only needed to keep themselves safe.
So if Zheng Xun saw danger, would he stand by and watch?
He and Azure Mist were already half-enemies. Would they trip each other up during the instance?
So many people were curious that more and more flooded into the livestream, and the people at the General Association were overjoyed.
Popularity meant sponsorships, and sponsorships meant money. The perpetually penniless General Association could finally see a glimmer of hope.
Zheng Xun had entered the profession halfway through, but he looked every bit the reporter.
"Hello, everyone watching the livestream. I'm Little Zheng, your new accompanying reporter. Welcome to the General Association's livestream of the Azure Mist Guild's Tower 6 instance in District 547. I'll be accompanying you throughout today's broadcast. First, let's meet the members of Azure Mist's first team who are entering the instance today. We'll start with team member Wang Shutong."
Zheng Xun curled his right hand into an imaginary microphone and held it out to Wang Shutong, who was closest to him.
Wang Shutong opened her mouth, unsure what to say.
"Mm-hmm, team member Wang makes an excellent point. What does team member Yin Lexin think?"
Yin Lexin glared at him, wishing he could bite a chunk of flesh off him.
"That's right, that's right. Very well said, team member Yin. What about team member Luo? Any thoughts?"
Luo Mingxuan smiled and was the only one to play along with Zheng Xun's nonsensical interview.
"I agree with team member Yin."
"Good, very good. Now let's interview the captain and vice captain. Vice Captain Meng, are you confident about this instance?"
Meng Yijia squeezed out an official smile.
"Of course. I believe in my team members, as long as outsiders don't interfere."
"Absolutely right, absolutely right. Finally, we have Azure Mist's ace, Captain Xu Guan. Captain Xu, do you think all five of you will make it out alive this time?"
Xu Guan wasn't provoked. He calmly asked one word: "Provoking?"
"Ahaha, how could that be?" Zheng Xun had been acting flippant, livening up the atmosphere, but his expression suddenly became serious. He smiled, though the smile didn't reach his eyes. "It's a sincere question."
He rarely wore a cold expression. With that carefully crafted smile and those indifferent eyes, he looked like a cold, high-risk NPC inside the White Tower, a bloodthirsty machine operating with precision.
The expression vanished in an instant.
Before anyone present could react, Zheng Xun turned to face the camera sphere.
"Good! Everyone's full of energy! We're entering the instance now. Good luck, everyone!"
Bang! He slammed his fist into the blue start button.