Despite Anya's reluctance, her hair was dyed a beautiful silver-white at Lily's insistence.
Under the sun, she squatted, looking wronged.
"One, two, three…"
She was counting money, credit coins, one by one, and after counting, she started counting on her fingers.
"Looks like I'll have to drink thin porridge every day from now on."
Lily's lips twitched.
She didn't come here to drink thin porridge; she drank thin porridge to save money before transmigrating, and if she still drank it after transmigrating, wouldn't her transmigration have been in vain?
She patted Anya's shoulder.
"Don't worry, as long as we start acting, everything will get better!"
Actually, if she hadn't been short on money, she would have wanted to dress herself and Anya as a "Yin-Yang Duo."
[Lily: White hair, black suit.]
[Anya: Black hair, white suit.]
If the two of them stood in front of the players like that and couldn't toy with them like Tom, she would eat the players on the spot!
After comforting Anya, it was time to get down to business.
But where should she go to raise player favorability?
The Abandoned Cooling Plant settlement was unexpectedly large, and randomly searching for players worth saving on the street was very difficult.
Therefore, while getting her hair dyed, Lily opened the game community, Xingyou Community, and found the Abandoned Cooling Plant sub-forum, hoping to find some leads.
The community was very lively, with players actively sharing their experiences.
[Brothers, I created an ancient god face, and as soon as I entered the game, I was arrested. How do I delete my save and restart? Waiting online, it's urgent.]
[I'm fed up, why is gender bound? I want to play a female character!]
[Bad review, the game clearly modeled OO, but the boxer briefs they gave can't be taken off at all.]
[Looking for an 18+ patch, good people live long and prosper.]
Lily rolled her eyes.
Ignoring these idiotic players, she continued to search for rescue targets.
In principle, there were Four Directions types she wouldn't save.
She wouldn't save professional players because they were too specialized; the thorny predicaments they faced were beyond her ability to solve.
She wouldn't save intelligent players because they were too smart; interacting with them put too much pressure on her and could easily expose her, leading to all her efforts being in vain.
She wouldn't save battle-maniac players because they were too ruthless; their minds were full of "Fight! Awesome!", and if she accidentally revealed her health bar, she might get chopped down by them.
She wouldn't save fun-loving players because they were too crazy; their brains were like Schrödinger's cat, and before they acted, she could never guess what they really wanted to do.
Lily switched back and forth between the community's forum and live stream sections until she emerged from the barbershop, finally finding an interesting target.
In a live stream titled "(Walking Simulator) From Zero to Tour Above the Stars · Abandoned Cooling Plant Chapter," a player named Excavation Princess was streaming.
She walked through the streets and alleys of the Abandoned Cooling Plant, occasionally exclaiming things like "Ah, this light, ah, this water."
To be honest, she wasn't doing much, but her live stream's online viewership had already exceeded Four Directions digits.
A few of the players who squeezed in were there to see the scenery, but most were there to draw maps. If someone was helping measure maps for free, why wouldn't they rush in to learn?
Besides those watching the scenery and drawing maps, the rest were fun-loving people. Although Excavation Princess wasn't doing much, her live stream screen was full of action.
[Holy crap, someone's fighting over there, smashing each other's crotches with bricks.]
[Watched it, the impact isn't good.]
[Identifying the one in front as a pure old jar.]
[You're a little hater, aren't you? This impact isn't good? You find me one that is.]
[What impact?]
Lily only glanced at these lively bullet comments. She was more concerned with the comments from the live stream's old fans.
Through these comments, she learned that Excavation Princess was an UP host who specialized in game videos.
Due to her extremely poor gaming skills, Excavation Princess could only attract fans by making videos like "Walking Simulator," "Game Archeology," and "New Game Digging."
But she had been making videos for two and a half years, and she hadn't attracted many fans in total.
Many high-quality UP hosts were already making game archeology videos, and newcomers couldn't create anything new, so they couldn't even get a sip of the soup.
As for new game digging and exploration, she couldn't say she did it poorly; she could only say she overdid it.
Excavation Princess's specialty was her exceptional talent for over-interpretation.
She could always deduce a story more magnificent than the Three Kingdoms from game data even more fragmented than Elden Ring.
"If you don't believe me, just wait and see!"
This was Excavation Princess's catchphrase.
At first, the audience believed her. Wow, is this character really that important? Is this plot really that awesome?
But after a while, the game designers would tell her with their actions: "Sis, we really didn't think that much!"
After repeating this too many times, Excavation Princess's new game digging column cooled down.
However, she was a persistent person.
She felt that it wasn't her fault, it was the world!
In her words—
I just haven't met the game that can resonate with my soul yet. When such a game appears, I will surely pierce through all ridicule from the old days with my Ardent battle spear.
To this, most players' evaluation was—
Looks like her chunibyo has relapsed!
Looking at Excavation Princess wandering around Four Directions places, Lily suddenly smiled with relief.
Game novice + not smart + good at over-interpretation + UP host currently live streaming.
Isn't this the chosen one she was looking for?
Heh, woman, you have successfully piqued my interest!
Lily originally wanted to pay someone to cause trouble for Excavation Princess, and then step forward, but she quickly realized it wasn't necessary.
Because Excavation Princess was taking a difficult shortcut.
In the simple folk-customed Abandoned Cooling Plant, there was a 90% or higher chance that at least one road bully would spawn on such a shortcut.
Sure enough, after walking into an alley piled with miscellaneous items, Excavation Princess was stopped by a burly man in a vest.
"Hmm?"
Lily was slightly startled.
Two days ago, when she went to collect debt, wasn't this burly man standing behind that old geezer who punched her?
His strength was mediocre, nothing to fear.
What a coincidence, buddy!
Lily felt this was a perfect opportunity for revenge and to clear her name.
"Anya, let's go, we've got a job!"
…
In the alley.
Looking at the burly man opposite her, who looked straight out of a Hong Kong comic, Excavation Princess's heart sank.
Just as DIO couldn't remember how many slices of bread he had eaten, as a game UP host, she couldn't remember how many dangers she had encountered in games.
Last week, she had just been beaten five hundred rounds by monsters in a Gloomy mental hospital.
Last night before going to sleep, she also played a horror game similar to P.T.
With her courage, normally, a mere human strongman in a game wouldn't be able to scare her.
But she was still scared, so scared that she couldn't move, as if she had been hit by a monkey's immobilization spell.
She couldn't be blamed for this; if anyone was to blame, it was only that Above the Stars was simply too realistic.
Realistic in every sense of the word!
This game was officially announced only half a year ago. Although the promotional campaign wasn't grand, the slogans attracted quite a lot of attention.
Things like a breathing universe and 99% ultra-high fidelity certainly whetted appetites.
Many people thought it was electronic fraud, and Excavation Princess initially thought so too, until she entered the game with a critical mindset, and then she realized that those so-called beta players weren't paid shills.
99%?
100%!
This was clearly a groundbreaking game.
People who didn't know would probably think this was a real world with some UI added to disguise it as a game!
It was this invincible sense of reality that made Excavation Princess instinctively afraid when facing the big guy blocking her path.
If she got killed, could she really revive?
"I can't tell, I really can't tell!"
At this moment, the burly man blocking the way spoke.
"Outsiders?"
"I…"
"Looks like it. Haha, my luck is really good today. I just went out and met an Outsiders." The burly man laughed, revealing his teeth stained with yellow.
Excavation Princess was extremely nervous: "What do you want to do?"
"What do I want to do? Of course, I want to catch you and exchange you for a bounty. You Outsiders offended the Wildfire Gang to death right from the start, that's truly awesome!"
At this point, the burly man couldn't help but sigh.
When facing local gangs like the Wildfire Gang, these Outsiders showed no fear at all. Not only did they secretly open the Wildfire Gang's supply boxes, but after being blocked, they even threatened the Wildfire Gang back, saying things like "You're finished, you dare to provoke us, you're finished, no one on heaven or earth can save you."
This was truly like a banknote counter breaking down—no sense at all!
The burly man pulled out a sack and, without a word, put it over Excavation Princess's head.
"Hey, hey, you… help, help!"
Darkness enveloped her, and Excavation Princess struggled desperately, but with only 3 strength, how could she break free?
"Scream, it's no use even if you scream until your throat breaks!" Thinking of the high bounty offered by the Wildfire Gang, the burly man couldn't help but chuckle.
As soon as the classic line came out, the players in the live stream couldn't hold back.
[The sound of flavor!]
[Did I enter the wrong live stream? What happened to the walking simulator?]
[The local customs here are truly simple and honest.]
[Abandoned Cooling Plant, also known as Alien Gotham.]
Amidst the laughter, a clear, melodious, and authoritative rebuke suddenly came from the live stream.
"What are you doing?"
"Hmm?"
The burly man put down Excavation Princess and turned around.
Taking this opportunity, Excavation Princess finally took off the sack. She leaned on a rotten wooden box nearby and stumbled to her feet.
Because her view was blocked by the burly man, she had to move sideways a step.
With this movement, the Ardent sunlight poured fully into her eyes, and she quickly raised her hand to shield her forehead.
Hiss, so dazzling!
After a while, she finally gradually adapted to this sudden brightness.
She saw it, saw a girl standing against the light.
Soft sunlight gilded the girl's silhouette, and the diagonally blowing wind gently lifted the girl's silky silver-white long hair.
The wind came so skillfully.
It passed through the narrow alley, bypassed the messy piles of objects, and finally hit Excavation Princess's brow straight on.
The already dizzy Excavation Princess unconsciously opened her mouth wide. At this moment, she thought she could answer a question she had been asked many years ago.
"Do you believe in light?"
"I do!"