That night.
Lu Qing, who had just finished making dinner for his sister, lay restlessly on the couch, tossing and turning.
Too many things had happened today - first getting a mysterious tip from a wealthy lady, then being entangled with a strange neighbor, and upon returning home, his sister's way of welcoming him was hard to handle.
His previously peaceful daily life seemed to have suddenly erupted into turbulent waves from some turning point.
"Sigh..."
He let out a soft sigh and took out his phone, planning to check the writer's assistant backend again to clear his mind.
Since he had completely given up his room to Su Ling, he would sometimes subconsciously feel that doing things like gaming, researching, or watching anime in the room like before... had become somewhat inconvenient. After all, his sister would secretly observe him, and it would be terrible if she discovered more of his questionable habits.
At this moment, Su Ling was taking a shower in the bathroom. She seemed to have a habit of bathing and skincare every day, and the timing was quite fixed - always after dinner and before bed.
Compared to last night, she appeared less helpless and constrained today, showing more ease and composure.
This was what Lu Qing wanted to see.
"Why are you sitting there in a daze? What's brother thinking about?"
In his reverie, the young girl opened the bathroom door and stood in front of the bedroom door, looking at him without hesitation.
Lu Qing looked up and saw that she had changed out of her maid outfit and dried her long hair.
But what was killing him was that tonight she wasn't even wearing a nightgown - she was just wrapped in his gray bath towel, which barely covered her young and alluring body, casually tied in a knot at her full chest...
Her almost zero-guard expression combined with the towel that could fall to the ground at any moment left Lu Qing at a loss.
"...Su Ling, why aren't you properly wearing your pajamas?"
He sat up and asked in an elder's tone.
"Hmm?"
The girl blinked at his words, seemingly confused: "Pajamas need to be washed after wearing them for a day, but I don't have any other dresses, so I can only make do with this for now."
She pointed at her chest.
"Then, why are you using my towel..."
A vein pulsed on Lu Qing's forehead.
"Because I couldn't find any other towels in the bathroom. What's wrong, does brother not want to let me use it?"
"..."
Looking at Su Ling's innocent expression, Lu Qing completely understood that his sister had serious issues.
This morning before leaving, when he was washing up, he noticed that whether it was toothpaste or toothbrush...
Even though he had told her where the new toiletries were, his sister hadn't opened any of the new ones!
In other words, what she had used last night and this morning...
Were all his!!
Sharing hand and face towels was one thing, but now she had even taken his bath towel, and was brazenly wearing it wrapped around her chest, swaying back and forth in front of him!
What was she trying to achieve?!
Thinking of this, he pointed to the other side of the sofa and said sternly:
"Come, sit down, let's have a proper talk."
"Mmm... brother, your expression is scary, are you going to lecture me again?"
The girl had already read his intentions and rebelliously retreated to her room, throwing back the words, "Ahh, it's cold outside, I'm getting under the covers. If brother still wants to educate me... then come in~ After all, I'm not wearing anything right now."
"..."
"Also, if brother tries to forbid me from using things I like, I won't take my medicine today."
"You...!"
Blackmail, pure blackmail.
Fine, whatever makes you happy.
Faced with the girl's health offensive, Lu Qing immediately chose to compromise, "Anyway, I'll buy everything you need tomorrow. Don't be too willful, okay?"
"Okay."
The girl buried her face in the pillow, her small face flushed red for a long time.
...
At the same time, in the apartment next door.
In a room filled with feminine charm, pink decor occupied most of the space. The sound card and microphone were all set up.
Entering the room name [Hoshizuki Rina · Second Debut · Talk Show], opening the motion capture software, turning on the camera, adjusting the angle towards herself, then taking a deep breath.
Locking the voice frequency range into business mode with the most perfect state;
Opening mic, starting stream—
"Minna-san konbanwa~ I'm your voice actress idol, Hoshizuki Rina! Welcome to Rina's livestream! Did everyone miss Rina after not seeing me for a day? Rina has been looking forward to meeting everyone tonight—"
The girl sitting duck-style in front of the chair struck various cute poses.
Through the motion capture software, these poses would synchronize with the pink-haired twin-tailed loli character on the screen, presenting to those waiting in the livestream room.
Sweet voice, energetic words, cute expressions, alluring poses... everything was rehearsed countless times and even had scripted dialogue as derivatives.
However, none of the audience knew this.
[Rina-chan! Rina-chan! I've been waiting here for three hours! So glad to catch the start of the stream!]
[Ahhh come in quick, all you voice control and loli lovers, the door's open!]
[Hurry hurry hurry hurry hurry]
[Finally, waited so long the flowers have wilted]
[Star baby's voice is still so healing! Can you stream every night? Streaming every other day is not enough at all!]...
In an instant, massive amounts of bullet comments flooded the livestream room, filling the entire screen. Meanwhile, fierce competition began appearing on the gift ranking list in the upper right corner—
[Your Old Six sent Rose Bouquet*99]
[Future Wen Le sent Star Moon Mystery Box*1]
[Thousand Year White Silk Control sent Love Letters*52]
[Urgent King sent Fan Club Light Board*1]...
"Yah~ Thank you all Star Crystal Balls for the gifts, welcome captains to the livestream~ Ah, Admiral Kazu, you're here too? Good evening~!"
The virtual loli in the center of the screen was rendered lifelike through the 3D modeler's superb craftsmanship, almost able to capture all of Bai Xing's micro-expressions, with a level of detail completely worth the previous tens of thousands in order prices.
The room moderators and operations team were also in position, and in the small window in the lower right corner, the project director kept sending screenshot scripts. Bai Xing only needed to read from them to successfully complete tonight's stream.
In this livestream room, all fans who sent gifts would receive a fan badge called "Star Crystal Ball" with fan levels.
This was the nickname Hoshizuki Rina gave to her fans. As the recharge amount increased, the color of the Star Crystal Ball fan badge would gradually change from the captain's light green to the admiral's dark blue, and finally to the governor's bright red.
"Hey, everyone knows that Rina-chan works part-time as a voice actress~ So for today's talk show, Rina-chan plans to demonstrate over fifty different frequency voice tones for everyone. As long as someone becomes an admiral, they can request characters from their favorite anime or games, and Rina-chan will recreate the content according to the corresponding script, ehehe!"
With these words, the livestream room instantly boiled over.
[Holy crap, over fifty voice types? (Expression: shocked meme cat)]
[Is this the power of a professional voice actress?? Is Rina-chan going to get a thousand ships through pure skill???]
[Wait, you can imitate any character?! Can you do sexy ones? Is that allowed to be streamed?]
[Looks like we're in for a big show tonight... Quick, notify the rich bros, call the wealthy guys to become admirals, then we can secretly listen to Rina-chan's hundred changing voices! Haha...]
[...You're such a dog.]
"Heh..."
In front of the computer, Bai Xing looked at these people's bullet comments on the screen with contempt in her heart:
"Thirsty otaku trash. But it doesn't matter, I'm just here to make money off you losers. If it wasn't absolutely necessary, who would want to sign a contract with this predatory agency and have to sell emotional value every day just to make you people happy? Hmph, just helping you dream a little, and you're taking it seriously."
While the girl was disgusted in private, her face maintained its energetic appearance, her expression flawless.
For her, a professional voice actress, displaying a perfectly cute side in front of men was child's play.
Compared to those exaggerated girls in the neighboring acting department, she wasn't walking the same path at all.
While other girls were still struggling to get acting roles, not even able to land leading roles in micro-films, she was already earning 30,000 to 50,000 yuan monthly with her own efforts.
Although streaming was exhausting and unstable, at least as a virtual streamer, she didn't face the casting couch threats from directors like real actresses did.
However, the price for this was the agency's ruthless cut - they took 30% of total gift revenue. Adding the platform's 50% cut, she was left with only 20% of the earnings.
A "Captain" subscription worth 128 yuan would only net her about 25 yuan - hardly anything at all.
Yet even so, she was quite satisfied.
After all, how many female art college students could cover their living expenses and tuition without selling their bodies?
As she pondered this, the viewer count in her streaming room rose another level thanks to her core fans' efforts. The competition on the gift ranking board grew more intense, with some viewers already eager to upgrade to "Admiral" status.
Among her many fans, the most devoted was a "Gachi" (a super-fan who fantasizes about virtual streamers as romantic partners) named "Future Wen Le"...
He had even sent a text message to his friend, urging him to come watch his idol's stream...
"Bro, hurry up! Rina is streaming! Tonight she's showing off her voice acting skills by imitating characters from anime and games! It's a rare opportunity, man!
By the way, weren't you really into that fantasy MMO before? What was it called again? Oh right... 'Maid Rhapsody', wasn't it?
There were some characters you really liked in there, right? I remember you mentioning them to me before. Remember?
Here's the deal - get online and join the stream now. Just let me know when you're ready, and I'll upgrade to Admiral status right away. Then you can pick your favorite character and have Rina recreate their lines live. How about it?
Free live voice acting performance! This is a once-in-a-lifetime chance!"
"..."
In Room 1901, Lu Qing, who had been planning to go to bed early, was jolted awake by Wen Le's message bombardment.
"Wow, if I remember correctly, an Admiral status on the Dimensional Wall streaming platform costs 2000 yuan...
So this guy Wen Le wants to upgrade to Admiral today, but doesn't want to waste it. Instead, he's trying to give me a super recommendation and even offering me the chance to choose the character, huh..."
Oh no, he was actually feeling tempted.
But since things had gone this far...
Lu Qing glanced at the bedroom, and after hearing steady breathing from inside, he replied:
"Fine, but let's be clear - considering you're bleeding money for this, I'll listen for a little while. I'll leave after the voice acting segment you mentioned, since I have things to do tomorrow."
"Perfect, perfect! Come quick, I'm about to do it!"
"K."
With that, he picked up the tablet from the coffee table and opened the pre-downloaded Dimensional Wall app.
Since he hadn't followed her last time, he had to type Hoshizuki Rina's name in the search bar again, scrolling through numerous users before finally finding her stream room.
To avoid the same hassle next time, he clicked the follow button.
"Ah! Thank you Captain Sky for the follow~! But Captain Sky, you subscribed as a Captain before but didn't follow me? How could this be..."
Lu Qing never expected to be called out by the streamer right after joining, especially with such a dramatically sulky tone.
"...Forgot."
He quickly typed a response in the comment section.
"F-forgot? Uwu... looks like Rina-chan isn't very important to Captain Sky after all... Is Captain Sky following other girls out there... Indeed, Rina-chan isn't Captain Sky's only one..."
Bai Xing couldn't let this golden opportunity slip away.
When Lu Qing had subscribed as a Captain earlier in the day, she had quietly memorized his ID, so when he entered the stream, the follow notification immediately caught her attention.
Although the director kept warning her in the bottom right corner of the screen - "Rina! Don't keep interacting with just one Captain! The Admirals are watching too, this will affect the show's flow!"
She chose to ignore it completely and continued speaking as she pleased, "Captain Sky, it makes me sad when you're unfaithful~ Even though Rina-chan doesn't like asking Captains for gifts, if Captain Sky keeps ignoring me, I'll be really upset. I wish Captain Sky would only support me..."
"..."
So this was the power of a virtual streamer?
Lu Qing was getting flustered and felt helpless. He had a nagging feeling he'd heard this way of talking somewhere before...
But the stronger the sense of déjà vu became, the harder it was to remember where from.
Just as he was struggling with how to respond, his good friend Wen Le seized the moment and suddenly upgraded to Admiral status for Hoshizuki Rina, saving him from the situation.
"Waaah—! Thank you Future Wen Le for becoming an Admiral!! Does Admiral Wen Le have any favorite characters?"
Hoshizuki Rina immediately switched back to her professional mode, showing her solid experience.
Lu Qing secretly breathed a sigh of relief, thinking he had dodged a bullet, but then Wen Le unexpectedly posted in the Super Chat (paid pinned comments):
"Rina-chan, actually, Captain Sky is my real-life brother. He really likes you but was too shy to become an Admiral, so he gave me the money instead. Hehe, so I'll let him have the character selection rights."
"What????"
Lu Qing's eyes widened as he read the message several times, finally confirming that his good friend had indeed backstabbed him!
"Wen Le!!! You..."
Now the misunderstanding had completely blown up.
"Eh~!? Is that so? So Captain Sky is a tsundere? Rina understands now! Hehe, if Captain Sky likes Rina, you should just say so! Why hide it! Hehehehehe..."
She showed an "I totally get it now" smirk and brought the topic back to Lu Qing, "So, Captain Sky, oh no, Admiral Sky, have you decided on a character? I have lots of scripts here, there might be one you like~"
"Hmm..."
At this point, Lu Qing didn't bother explaining anything and just faced reality:
"Then I'll choose the lines of the popular character Maid Leader 'Vera' from the game 'Maid Rhapsody'."
"!"
Hearing this, Hoshizuki Rina on screen paused slightly, seeming somewhat surprised.
Then, she curved her lips into a smile and confidently said:
"What a coincidence, I actually practiced her lines before. Are you ready, dear Admiral?"
"Yes."
Seeing her self-assured expression, Lu Qing sat up straight, turned the tablet's volume to maximum, and put on his high-quality bluetooth headphones.
As everyone in the stream held their breath in preparation, Hoshizuki Rina suddenly concentrated her presence—
Speaking as if whispering right next to his ear, in a perfectly recreated voice, she softly said:
"Master, I knew you wouldn't abandon me.
I've been waiting for you, always waiting.
I endured the loneliness, endured the pain, endured the desire, endured the grievances.
I want to get close to the new you, but I dare not selfishly monopolize all your care and love like I once did."
"As you can see, I've become exactly what you wanted me to be in your mind.
Even knowing that my actions will incur Orifiel's genuine killing intent, I still want to... fulfill our promise with you, Master."
"Master, may I 'corrupt' you?"
Lu Qing: "!!"