"I'm dying! What does saving money on principle even mean?"
"But who's he taking that ramen to?"
The chat was full of speculation, with all sorts of guesses flying around.
Qiji left the academy carrying the packed ramen.
He walked through the deepening night toward a residential district on the outskirts of the City of Kindling, where the lights were relatively sparse and the buildings somewhat old.
Knowing the way by heart, he turned into a narrow alley.
At its entrance, a slender girl in a wheelchair sat beneath a dim yellow streetlamp, craning her neck and looking around.
The girl looked no older than twelve or thirteen. She wore a plain white dress and white slide sandals.
Her skin was almost translucent, and her hair and eyes were both extremely pale.
At a glance, she looked as though she had accidentally lost all her color.
Notably, a few silver-white crystals had grown on her cheeks, like shards of ice embedded in her skin.
This was "Echo Erosion Syndrome," a condition unique to this world.
"Brother!"
When the girl saw Qiji, the worry in her eyes was instantly replaced by relief.
She waved happily at him.
Qiji hurried over, gently placed the bag of still-warm ramen on her lap, and ruffled her hair. His voice was gentler than ever: "Xiao Xi, you must be starving, huh? I brought you some ramen. Try it and see if you like it."
Feeling the warmth from the paper bag, his little sister was delighted at first. Then she knitted her delicate brows and gave Qiji a mildly reproachful look.
"Brother, I told you that you don't have to bring me dinner! I can cook for myself and save us a lot of money!"
Qiji pushed his sister's wheelchair slowly toward the little home they rented, deliberately drawing out his words in a teasing tone.
"Come on, the food you make-"
"I didn't ask you to eat it too!"
As if she knew what Qiji was about to say, his sister immediately cut him off in a huff.
"You can eat something tasty outside! I like eating what I make myself! Don't bring me food anymore. It's too wasteful."
"The one who's really wasteful is the person who makes food taste bad."
Xiwang knew her brother was only saying that because he didn't want her to feel burdened.
She suffered from the rare Echo Erosion Syndrome. Not only was she unable to walk, but her hands were also limp and weak, making even the basic tasks of gripping a knife and chopping vegetables difficult.
So even the simplest dish was a huge challenge for her.
She didn't want to be a burden to her brother...
Even though she already was one.
"Brother, I'll definitely make delicious food someday! When that happens, even if you cry and beg me to cook for you, I'll have to think about it..."
"Then I suppose I'll look forward to that day."
Qiji pushed the wheelchair, and the two of them turned into a somewhat old apartment building.
They went inside.
The siblings' home wasn't big, and the furniture was plain, even shabby. It was obviously cheap.
But the little space was kept spotless, and several potted plants on the windowsill gave the simple surroundings a touch of understated elegance.
Several crayon drawings hung on the wall, showing two little figures holding hands and a lopsided sun.
The siblings were close, and their interactions and conversation were full of warmth.
With his sister, Qiji was nothing like the perpetually lazy, occasionally nasty person he presented at the academy. Instead, he was attentive and patient, even a little mother hen-like.
Messages continued to drift across the screen:
"Wow! His little sister is so cute!"
"Streamer, streamer, if I call you brother-in-law, would you answer?"
"Take the lolicons out and shoot them!"
"Wait! I think I smell a heartbreaking twist coming..."
"Where's the heartbreaking twist, I ask you? Isn't this wholesome?"
"That's exactly why! It's obviously setting us up for heartbreak later!"
"Shut up! Don't jinx it!"
Chapter 20: Thriving
Looking at the scene before them, everyone couldn't help marveling once again-
The character models in this anime were absolutely top-tier!
The female characters who had appeared were all beautiful in their own ways.
Pick any one of them, and people would be crying, "I'm dead!"
"Eye candy! Absolute eye candy!"
"This is killing me. The little sister, Liuli, Bai Lili, Setsuna... Which one should I choose?"
"Only children have to choose. I want them all!"
"By the way, the prediction poll from noon finally has a result. The answer really was Liuli!"
"Holy crap! There's a reward for guessing right, too-limited-edition anime merch! You can even choose Old Qiji's mask!"
"Fuck, I really want that mask! I couldn't find one like it anywhere online!"
"If I'd known, I would have taken the vote seriously. I just lost out big-time!"
As the livestream chat buzzed with envy, a highlighted message suddenly appeared and caught many people's attention-
"Guys, hurry over to Qiji's personal channel! New fight clips just dropped!"
"The clips are insanely high quality! There's even an immersive first-person remastered version!"
"Holy shit! That good?! Then I've got to go check it out!"
Hearing that, quite a few curious viewers immediately flocked over.
They found that the newly uploaded clips were mostly highlight fights from today's livestream.
For example, on Qiji's personal channel, "Crushed! Rock-Armored Venomous Scorpion King!" was tagged [Bone-crunching blows] and [Violent aesthetics].
"Instant kill! Tier-two Void Beast!" was tagged [One-hit kill].
"Elbow strike! Kamishiro Seigen!" was tagged [Crushing an ant].
Of course, there were clips of other characters too, but they clearly had fewer highlights than Qiji.
For example:
"Comeback: Weak-point sniping" was tagged [Huomu], [Defeating the strong as the weak], [Every shot lethal], and [Moment of reversal].
"Flash Shadow" was tagged [Setsuna], [Dancing on the blade's edge], and [Beyond the limit].
But even among highlights, there were differences!
The vast majority of viewers immediately clicked on Qiji's fight clips without hesitation.
Because, just as the earlier chat messages had said, these clips let viewers switch freely between first- and third-person perspectives!
And if they were going to put themselves in someone's shoes in first person, who wouldn't rush to become Qiji and experience the thrill of crushing everything in battle?
The viewers opened the videos, and it didn't take long for the quality of the clips to shock them!
The smoothness of the perspective tracking, the frame-by-frame tuning of every impact, the pacing of the slow-motion shots...
Every detail was practically perfect!
The dull thud of every bone-crunching blow seemed to come through the screen, while the camera shake during dodges made them instinctively hold their breath!
The production quality was nothing short of a visual and auditory feast!
"Holy shit! Amazing! The Echo production team really cares!"
"Are these fight scenes for real? They're even more exciting than blockbuster movies!"
"Unbeatable models, unbeatable fights, unbeatable production-I'm hyping the hell out of this!"
Before long, countless viewers had spontaneously become promoters.
They enthusiastically recommended this anime, worthy of being called "next-gen," across major social media platforms, forums, and groups.
Seeing that it was about time, Qiji ended his livestream in triumph.
The livestream settlement page promptly appeared:
[Today's livestream duration: 9.1 hours] [Average concurrent viewers: 2,333] [Peak concurrent viewers: 11,217]
Although Blue Star, the world where the anime was being broadcast, had a far larger population than Earth in Qiji's previous life, those first-day viewer numbers were still very good.
After all, the anime hadn't aired yet, and the biggest influx of traffic had yet to arrive.
Qiji was satisfied with the results of his first stream.
The enormous loan he had taken out and all the time he had spent laying the groundwork hadn't been for nothing.
Next, all he had to do was quietly wait for the anime's first episode to air, and then-
Become an overnight sensation!
[Ding!] [Today's livestream earnings have been calculated!] [Total Popularity Points earned: 9,191]
Livestream earnings were calculated from several factors, including average concurrent viewers, peak viewers, effective duration, chat interactions, and the value of gifts.
And Qiji had earned nearly ten thousand Popularity Points from his very first livestream alone.
At this rate, he only had to stream for five hundred days to pay off his debt!
Of course, it definitely wouldn't take that long in reality.
After all, once the anime aired and the game entered open beta, his popularity was bound to explode, and his personal channel would thrive.
The nine thousand points from the first day were merely his starting point!
Besides, livestream earnings were only a small but steady source of income for him.
What would truly bring Qiji a fortune in Popularity Points were highlight reels, classic character moments, and ship interaction clips that could spread across major platforms afterward and generate word of mouth.
Of course, his share of the revenue from character gacha banners in the tie-in game was another source of income that couldn't be overlooked.
Qiji opened his creator dashboard to check the fight clips he had uploaded to his personal channel.
Views, likes, favorites, comments-all the numbers were steadily climbing.
Qiji opened the comments section and liked every single comment praising him one by one before finally leaving the page in satisfaction.
After calming himself down a little, Qiji quickly adjusted his state.
His time playing the role was over.
Next to take the stage was-