In the lounge outside the livestreaming room, the place was already packed with people. Two livestream screens were playing simultaneously on the large screen.
One was the livestream of the Black Dragon Lord, Morphis.
The other was that of the Midnight Mage.
The black dragon's livestream was almost still. On the screen, the black dragon kept staring at a huge crystal ball, motionless and seemingly lost in thought, so everyone's attention was focused on the Midnight Mage's channel.
From the Midnight Mage's first-person perspective, one could clearly see the Dawn Divine Sword slicing the Ogre wizard in two.
A wave of sighs erupted in the lounge.
"Damn, that's brutal."
"That's it then."
"Looks like Dragon Bro is really in danger."
Almost everyone was thinking the same thing, whispering among themselves.
Wang Ziheng was also watching with much concern. He had been plotting ways to acquire Mo Fei's black dragon account for the company's ownership, which would be great for his performance when he took over the livestreaming platform, especially since his brothers had all made their own achievements. To earn his father's praise, he couldn't afford not to make a significant impact.
But his plans were about to come to an end before they could even be put into action. Once the black dragon was slain in front of the world, his own platform would become a joke.
"Is there still a chance?" he couldn't help asking.
The manager beside him consoled, "Don't worry, Young Chief, that kid Mo Fei is quite capable. He can always stir up some noise. You never know what he can pull off until the last moment."
"But the other side is too powerful, aren't they? Those two BOSSes were taken down so quickly..."
Although Wang Ziheng wasn't much of a gamer, he had recently crammed some gaming knowledge. While the strength of the BOSSes in a dungeon could vary, as long as they were in the same instance, their overall power shouldn't be too different.
If the first and second had fallen in just a few hits, how much stronger could the third and fourth be?
The manager explained, "It's not like that. The minions under Morphis are just garbage BOSSes given by the system, which is why they're so weak. In fact, if he were willing to spend money, he could totally get some powerful BOSSes as minions. Mo Fei's main issue is he's reluctant to spend money, but his own strength is definitely strong enough."
Hearing the manager's explanation, Wang Ziheng couldn't help but feel puzzled, "Then why doesn't he get some powerful BOSS minions? Didn't the company give him resources to do that?"
After all, they were facing two Gold Tier heroes, plus thirty top-tier Adventurers.
Thirty-two players in a luxurious formation, yet on Mo Fei's side, only he himself was a player, the rest were just system-gifted junk creatures and weak BOSSes. The opposing side was clearly well-prepared, making Starshine Company seem hasty by comparison.
This just didn't look right at all.
The manager couldn't help but feel a bit awkward, he lowered his voice and explained, and only then did Wang Ziheng understand the whole situation.
When "World of Sky" first started its public beta, it caused a sensation, offering an unprecedented gaming mode, and it was a legendary holographic virtual game which, until that point, only appeared in science fiction novels—the technology directly shocked the entire industry.
At the time, nearly all major live streaming platforms began to pour resources into this game almost simultaneously; Starshine Company was no exception, quickly assembling a team of ten well-known gaming streamers, spending money on heroes, bosses, and gaming helmets to enter the game and start capturing the audience.
If it had been any other game, the continual investment would have eventually made the streamers' characters stronger and stronger.
But the issue was that "World of Sky" had a plot-driven death mechanic, which didn't affect normal players much since most of them played as adventurers who weren't afraid of dying.
However, it was different for these streamers; they played either as heroes or bosses, or as lords—all plot characters who, once they met with a plot-driven death, were gone for good.
And for the sake of the live stream, you can't just not get involved in anything, right? With every major battle or crisis, they had to show up and make a gesture or two. These streamers didn't have a protagonist's halo, and one carelessness would get them killed off in the plot; as a result, half of the first batch of streamers' characters died within a month.
Starshine Company realized the problem and immediately increased their investment. By this time, "World of Sky" had already become wildly popular, and Starshine Company directly arranged for another twenty streamers to join, sparing no expense or resources.
At the same time, adhering to the idea of casting a wide net to catch more fish, they also arranged for thirty ordinary streamers as a third wave. These ordinary streamers didn't enjoy the same treatment; they were not very popular to begin with and hence received average benefits. VIP game accounts were expensive; even a company as wealthy as Starshine couldn't afford to let everyone wreak havoc as they pleased.
Therefore, each of these thirty ordinary streamers was given only one gaming helmet, and as for the game accounts, they were on a profit and loss basis. They could choose whatever role they wanted to play, but they had to pay for it themselves.
Because of this, the contract didn't require the accounts to be owned by the company.
And Mo Fei was one of these third-wave ordinary streamers. Unexpectedly, while the first two waves either perished or barely hung on without making much of a name, most didn't achieve much. A few survived and are now struggling to gain experience in various places.
On the contrary, a few formidable characters emerged from the third batch of streamers, including those playing quirky-monster style, survival mode with small animals, and even those playing as commoners cooking in-game and becoming gourmet streamers.
A few of these became quite popular, and naturally, the most popular was Mo Fei, the Black Dragon Lord.
"Later, we tried to get him to sign a new contract, offering him resources, manpower, and incidentally to take over the ownership of his account, but the kid got wise and stubbornly refused. Dragging things out, we never reached a conclusion," the manager said.
So that's how it was, Wang Ziheng nodded. He had to admit he somewhat admired Mo Fei—who had started from nothing and worked his way up to his current status; it must be quite a fulfilling experience. Looking at the screen at the huge black dragon sitting motionless in thought, it conveyed an intangible sense of oppression; even knowing it was just a game character, it still elicited a sense of awe.
Being a wealthy second-generation, his life was comfortable, and if he was willing, he could fully afford to be a lazy and privileged successor, yet he lacked a sense of achievement. Precisely because of this, he placed great importance on taking over the live streaming platform.
(I hope you survive, Mo Fei, for your sake, and for mine...) Wang Ziheng thought silently.
Watching Wang Ziheng's contemplative expression, the manager felt quite pessimistic. From his perspective, it seemed Mo Fei was doomed. Facing such a formidable opposition alone, what could he possibly do?
He was well aware of the power of a live streaming platform. A streamer fighting against a platform stood no chance at all.
But perhaps this was for the best, if he were to die, at least that would settle matters once and for all, without having to burn bridges. However, if he didn't die, there would probably be more trouble waiting for him down the road.