Watching Honkai: Star Rail get swallowed by the sea of new releases, Lin Yu frowned slightly. As expected of the galaxy's largest app store, new games were uploaded in massive waves. His game had been on the "New Releases" list one second and buried the next.
"A pity I don't have any money for advertising. I can only hope that 'good wine needs no bush,'" he sighed.
The house he occupied was abandoned property. The wind whistled through the cracks, and at night, the place felt eerie and haunted. But his recent experiences had taught him one thing: poverty was far scarier than ghosts.
Rustle, rustle...
Suddenly, a series of faint sounds drifted toward him. Lin Yu immediately blew out his candle, grabbed a piece of wood from the floor for self-defense, and leaned against the wall, watching the direction of the noise.
In his line of sight, a woman with fiery red hair appeared around the corner. She held a phone in one hand and gestured toward the camera with the other, slowly creeping toward him.
"Fam! Did you see that?" she whispered. "A ghostly fire just went out over there. The rumors about this place being haunted are definitely true!"
"Fam, give me some likes! Little Gui is going to summon her courage and charge in!"
Lin Yu was speechless. It was Guinaifen. Just yesterday, he had seen her stream on his second-hand Jade Abacus. He hadn't expected her to bring her ghost-hunting stream right to his doorstep today.
Wait! A stream?
Lin Yu realized this was a golden opportunity for promotion. Guinaifen wasn't a top-tier celebrity yet, but she was a solid mid-level streamer. If he used her as a breakthrough point, Honkai: Star Rail would go viral in no time!
Guinaifen walked tremulously toward the door. Because it was so dark, she had to rely on the weak light from her phone. As she reached the threshold, Lin Yu reached out and rested a hand on her shoulder.
She felt something soft and smooth...
Guinaifen froze. The next second—
"AAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!!!!!"
...
Inside the stream:
—"What happened? I just saw a hand on the streamer's shoulder!"
—"Little Gui, are you okay? Say something if you're alive!"
—"Wrap it up, the streamer is cooked."
—"I told her not to go there, but she wouldn't listen! Waaah, Little Gui, how am I supposed to live without you!?"
...
After the initial fright, Guinaifen looked up to see a pale but handsome face.
"You scared the life out of me!" she gasped, wiping cold sweat from her brow. "You're a living person!"
Lin Yu offered a polite, elegant smile. "My apologies for startling you."
"Who are you? Why are you here all by yourself?"
"By Xianzhou terms, I'm an Outworlder. As for how I got here... I'm not entirely sure myself."
"Eh? Were you smuggled here or kidnapped?" Guinaifen asked curiously.
Meanwhile, the stream realized it was a false alarm. Because of the camera angle, Lin Yu was now fully visible to the viewers.
—"Oh, it's not a ghost. I got excited for nothing."
—"This guy is pretty cute. His clothes are a bit plain, though. Streamer, can you get his contact info?"
—"Little Gui, promise me you won't fall for him, okay?"
Because of the dramatic turn of events, viewers began hitting the like button, and the stream's numbers began to climb. Everything was going according to Lin Yu's plan.
"I ended up on the Xianzhou after playing a certain game," Lin Yu said. It was the truth, more or less. He had transmigrated because of a game.
"A game? Does it have a teleportation feature that sent you from your home world to the Xianzhou?"
"Here, it's this game." As he spoke, Lin Yu tapped the screen of his phone to launch Honkai: Star Rail.
Guinaifen was instantly drawn in, leaning over to look at the screen. Accompanied by a melodic background track, a lonely, vast cosmic scene appeared. A train sped through an asteroid belt, possessing an indescribable air of mystery and fantasy.
Guinaifen stared at it. Before she could make sense of it, the more experienced viewers in the chat recognized it immediately.
—"If I'm not mistaken, that's the Astral Express that walks the Path of Trailblaze!"
—"Wait? That's the Astral Express? It's so retro."
—"I believe the cute guy now! He must have been affected by the power of the Trailblaze and sent here to our Xianzhou."
—"Please Trailblaze me!"
—"???"
[Popularity +1 +1 +1...]
Guinaifen gently tapped the screen. Instantly, the train sped toward an unknown nebula, signifying the official entry into the game.
"Ah! I accidentally clicked it! I'm not going to get teleported away too, am I?"
"I doubt it..." Lin Yu's lips twitched.
The game had begun.
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