Sophie Wexler browsed StarNet for a while and discovered that The Galaxy's entertainment scene was truly desolate. The live streams for performance arts—singing, dancing—all had uniformly low viewership. They couldn't even compete with a simple stream of someone just reading a book.
But that was fine. Sophie Wexler wasn't discouraged in the least. There were two sides to every coin. 'Doesn't this just prove that The Galaxy's entertainment scene is an untapped blue ocean?' she thought. 'If I do this right, there's no way it won't be a hit!'
Sophie Wexler, still a little unfamiliar with it, operated her Light Brain to create an account. She kept adjusting the camera's position, and only after making sure her face was out of frame did she start the stream.
A live stream channel called 'Sue Shiver' appeared on StarNet.
Her setup was simple—she had no equipment whatsoever. With no other choice, Sophie Wexler could only sing a cappella.
'The original owner's vocal tone was similar to my own. With a voice like this, her singing should have sounded beautiful. I have no idea what she did to make netizens say she sounded like a cawing crow.'
Sophie Wexler chose one of the songs that had made her famous, titled "Recovery." It was a very soothing piece, so singing it a cappella wouldn't feel out of place.
She sat on the sofa, facing the Light Brain's screen, and slowly closed her eyes. The familiar melody surfaced in her mind. Every one of her songs was etched into her very soul; even without any equipment, she could still deliver a perfect performance.
Sophie Wexler opened her mouth, and a beautiful voice flowed from her throat—ethereal and melodious. The soothing rhythm was enough to quiet any listener's heart.
At first, the brand-new stream had zero viewers, but Sophie Wexler wasn't worried. She simply sang, line by line, pouring her heart into the song that was truly hers.
It was just past eight in the evening, peak time on StarNet. Everyone had finished their work for the day and logged on to unwind. The sheer number of dazzling live streams was overwhelming, making a new streamer like Sophie Wexler seem even more insignificant.
But someone was bound to discover this channel eventually. As it happened, a user scrolled past and saw the stream's title: [The Streamer Sings Terribly].
People are naturally contrary. If you claim to be a great singer, they might be skeptical. But if you claim to be a terrible singer? 'Well, I've got to hear this for myself.'
A crowd of these contrary viewers clicked on the stream. 'What a gimmick,' they thought. 'Let's see just how terrible this really is.'
The moment they entered the stream, they froze.
A soothing voice drifted from the stream, accompanied by no instruments, no backing track. Yet despite the bare-bones setup, the song was incredibly moving.
Only when she finished the song did Sophie Wexler notice that the viewer count was no longer a stark '0'. Unbeknownst to her, it had quietly climbed to several hundred people.
Sophie Wexler was astonished. 'Are there really that many people on StarNet watching streams right now?' she wondered. 'How else could a brand-new channel like mine get so many viewers?'
'The entertainment scene in The Galaxy is supposed to be dead. The other entertainment streams I checked out only had a few hundred viewers at most.'
'And in just a few minutes, my stream has already caught up to them?!'
While Sophie Wexler was still staring in a daze, the viewers in her chat wouldn't stand for the silence.
[Hey, streamer, keep singing! What are you stopping for!!!]
[You guys get it? I just stumbled onto this stream by accident, and now I can't leave.]
[The title lured me in. I came to see just how terrible it was, but streamer, be honest. You call this terrible?]
[Hold on, guys. Am I crazy, or has my Spiritual Sea actually calmed down a bit since I entered this stream?!!]
[No way. It's just a stream, it can't do that. You probably just happened to hit a period of calm.]
[Forget all that, what's the name of this song? Streamer, don't stop, start singing!]
[Sing that song again!!! It was amazing!]
Sophie Wexler looked at the flood of comments on her stream and said, "The song is called 'Recovery.' How about I sing something else?"
With that, Sophie Wexler chose another, more upbeat song and began to sing.
As soon as she began to sing, the viewer count started climbing again, quickly breaking one thousand. Her follower count shot up as well.
In what felt like the blink of an eye, Sophie Wexler had already sung several songs in a row.
Suddenly, a massive gift animation flashed across the screen. Amidst a flurry of smaller gifts, a gleaming Starship appeared. Before its animation could even fade, another one followed, and then another, and another—exploding on screen like a string of fireworks!
[Holy crap! A whale?]
[What kind of fool is this rich, dropping ten Starships at once? You don't just throw money away like that, even if you're loaded! That's a hundred thousand Star Coins right there!]
[Oh my god, I've never seen so many Starships in one stream, let alone for a brand-new streamer on an entertainment channel who has nothing!]
The chat exploded. As the Starships rained down, Sophie Wexler's stream popularity skyrocketed. A flood of new people poured in, and the channel became so lively it was hard to believe it belonged to a new streamer.
Sophie Wexler was also stunned by the screen-filling animations. She'd never imagined her first day of streaming would be this successful.
[Why'd the streamer stop? The whale is making it rain, keep singing!]
[Yeah, yeah, keep singing!]
[I'm living in this stream tonight.]
Watching the screen fill with animations and comments, Sophie Wexler's fine brows furrowed. She looked troubled.
Logically, with all these gifts and this much hype, she should have kept going. But she had set a time limit for herself before starting, and she was already well past it. Besides, her throat was starting to feel sore.
After weighing the pros and cons, Sophie Wexler addressed her stream. "I'm sorry, everyone, but that's all the time I have for today. Thank you so much for all the gifts. I'll see you all next time."
"And remember," she added, "this is the Sue Shiver stream."
[Ah, no!!!]
[Do you hear yourself right now? You're going to end the stream with this much traffic and money on the line?!]
[Streamer, come back! Get back here, you hear me!]
Despite her audience's pleas, Sophie Wexler ended the stream anyway. She knew that Rome wasn't built in a day.
Besides, if she continued today, it was inevitable that even bigger gifts would appear. She couldn't just extend the stream every time that happened, so it was best not to set that precedent in the first place.
Sophie Wexler left her stream, completely unaware that after her screen went dark, the entertainment section of StarNet practically exploded.
Meanwhile, Sophie Wexler was looking at her account dashboard. That last wave of gifts had been enormous. From a single stream, the total value of the gifts was over one hundred thousand Star Coins. After the platform took its cut, she would still be left with sixty or seventy thousand.
Sophie Wexler looked at the total and smiled, her eyes curving into crescents. She hadn't been wrong. The Galaxy's entertainment scene truly had enormous potential.
'This time,' she thought with relief, 'I can finally stop eating that disgusting nutrient liquid.'
Sophie Wexler put her Light Brain away and stretched languidly. Only then did she remember the person in the other room.
'I wonder how he's doing now?'
With that thought, Sophie Wexler headed for the room. As she drew near, she immediately sensed that something was wrong.
Her heart clenched in panic. She shoved the door open and stepped inside, and an uncomfortable feeling instantly washed over her!
It felt as if something was surrounding her.
Sophie Wexler was still unfamiliar with the ways of The Galaxy. She didn't know that what she was feeling was spiritual power leaking out during a Disorder Period, a sign that Cillian Forrest's Spiritual Sea was in turmoil once again.
Seeing Cillian Forrest lying on the bed, Sophie Wexler's heart sank. 'This is bad!'