ASPDDW Chapter 43

Twenty streamers were participating in the promotional shoot for the collaboration, with most of them coming from the gaming section. The gaming streamers were further divided into various subcategories: single-player, online games, mobile games, and so on. Although Wen Xia often played games with Guiqulai, these joint streams only made up a small portion of his overall streaming time. Their streams were always filled with memorable moments, giving the impression that they were always streaming together. In reality, Wen Xia mostly streamed single-player games, while Guiqulai, even after retiring, continued to focus on PUBG, playing more casually without the pressure to win or lose.

As the leading company in the streaming industry, Whale Group spared no expense, booking high-end hotels for the participants.

But no matter how luxurious the hotel, it couldn’t stop Wen Xia’s habit of having trouble sleeping in unfamiliar beds.

Every time he traveled, whether for work or leisure, his biggest headache was the accommodation. To counter this, he usually tired himself out during the day so that by night, he’d be too exhausted to be bothered by his difficulty in adjusting to a new bed. It wasn’t a perfect solution, but it was the best he could manage.

Wen Xia unpacked his suitcase and sent a message to Guiqulai, letting him know he had arrived.

Guiqulai replied: [Want me to come over?]

Wen Xia: [Sure.]

Seeing Wen Xia in person, Guiqulai, whose real name was Tong Xi, was momentarily taken aback. After confirming the room number, he asked, “Are you Deng Xia?”

Wen Xia let go of the doorknob and stepped aside. “That’s me. Come in.”

Tong Xi, being naturally sociable, showed no awkwardness at meeting an online friend in person. “Wow, Lao Xia, with your looks, if you ever start using a camera during your streams, your viewership would explode.”

“Maybe one day, if I’m broke, I’ll do it,” Wen Xia joked.

They hadn’t made any specific plans for their time together, as this wasn’t exactly a vacation. But since they were already here, they figured they might as well explore a bit.

Ancheng was a tourist city, and there was a famous old-style street near their hotel. After resting for a bit, they headed out to find something to eat on that street.

Just after landing, Wen Xia received a message from Lin Fengqi, asking if he had arrived. The timing was precise, as if Lin Fengqi had calculated it in advance.

Later, as dinner time approached, Lin Fengqi messaged again: [Have you eaten?]

Wen Xia sent a photo of his meal: [Eating now.]

A half-minute later, Lin Fengqi replied: [Are you alone?]

Given the amount of food on the table, it was clear Wen Xia wasn’t dining alone.

Wen Xia glanced at Guiqulai, who was already digging into the food, and replied: [Of course not.]

Lin Fengqi probably guessed who it was but still asked: [With whom?]

Wen Xia responded: [A friend.]

Lin Fengqi stared at the message for a couple of seconds before looking back at his own meal, suddenly feeling like he couldn’t stay there for another moment.

Sitting across from him, Zeng Yuan, who was having dinner with him, noticed the sigh and asked, “Lin Zong, what’s wrong?”

“What time is tomorrow morning’s meeting?” Lin Fengqi asked, trying to distract himself.

Zeng Yuan wondered why Lin Fengqi didn’t remember and answered, “Nine o’clock.”

Nine o’clock… Lin Fengqi checked his flight time again and sighed.

His flight from Z City was at 1:30 p.m., arriving in Ancheng at 2:30 p.m. By the time he got to the filming location…

No, it was still too late.

Meanwhile, after replying to Lin Fengqi with “friend,” Wen Xia received no further messages. He figured Lin Fengqi couldn’t possibly think that “friend” referred to Fang Huai, but just to be sure, he sent another message after a while: [I’ll introduce you to him sometime. He’s actually quite interesting.]

That should ease any concerns, right?

After all, too many imagined rivals might be more than he could handle.

Lin Fengqi: [Mm.]

Wen Xia felt relieved.

“Is that your girlfriend?” Guiqulai teased. “You’ve been checking your phone constantly, and you’re smiling like that.”

“No,” Wen Xia replied calmly, “it’s my kid’s dad.”

Guiqulai blinked in confusion. “Huh?”

Wen Xia didn’t explain further. “Are you done eating?”

“Not yet, not yet. What’s the rush? Young people shouldn’t be so impatient.”

Guiqulai’s interruption threw off the conversation, and it wasn’t until they had wandered around outside, each carrying a bag of grilled skewers back to the hotel, that Guiqulai finally realized something.

“Kid’s dad? Kid? Dad?”

The amount of information was a bit overwhelming.

Back in his room, Wen Xia had just started eating his grilled skewers when Guiqulai messaged him, asking if he wanted to duo queue.

Wen Xia: [You’re streaming at this hour?]

Guiqulai: [I’m bored, so I figured I’d stream for a bit.]

Wen Xia: [Workaholic.]

But with nothing better to do, Wen Xia decided to join in. He hadn’t exerted himself much today, so it seemed like a good opportunity to get his brain working. After some thought, he decided to start his own stream as well.

[Did I see that right? Xia Boss is playing a mobile game?]

[A new streaming format.]

[Is he going to play with Gui Shen? I saw Gui Shen’s stream just started, and he said he’s waiting for someone.]

[I saw Gui Shen’s Weibo earlier. It looks like Gui Shen and Xia Boss are together right now.]

Streaming on a mobile device had its drawbacks—the screen was small, and all the chat messages and notifications squeezed into a narrow space, scrolling by quickly. It was hard to keep up.

Wen Xia wasn’t used to streaming from his phone.

But he was familiar with the game. As soon as he logged in, Guiqulai sent a team invite.

“What map are we playing?” Guiqulai asked.

“Whatever you’re comfortable with,” Wen Xia replied.

“Let’s go with random, then.”

The first map was Sanhok. They dropped near the coconut grove to loot, but the area was disappointingly sparse. After scrounging for supplies, they found that the circle was shrinking toward the Ruins. They spent most of their time running, and the few players they killed along the way were just as poor. Finally, as they entered the safe zone, they were taken out by an airstrike.

The second map was the classic Erangel. They decided to drop at the Military Base, aiming for better loot.

Unfortunately, the circle ended up closing around the Stalber area.

Guiqulai grumbled, “Is the circle doing this on purpose?”

[LOL, Running Simulator.]

[Can we not drop at the edges next time?]

[Gui Shen has fallen from grace.]

Guiqulai defended himself, “Don’t be ridiculous. There’s no disgrace here—it’s just for fun. Watch, we’ll get a chicken dinner this time.”

Wen Xia drove up in a buggy and honked. “Get in the car.”

This time, they made it to the final circle, but ran into some cheaters.

The opposing team had two fully geared cheaters. Wen Xia was downed after just two shots, and while Guiqulai tried to revive him, the cheaters had the high ground, and Wen Xia was finished off with a headshot.

[I’m so sick of these blatant cheaters.]

[Two cheaters? I’m done.]

[Gui Shen, it’s up to you to take them down!]

Guiqulai stopped talking, a sign that he was getting serious.

Finally, with a moment to spare, Wen Xia opened the chat box and scrolled through the comments, but something felt off.

They had been playing for about half an hour, two matches taking up an hour in total. Normally, the Number Boss would have shown up within ten minutes of the stream starting, but today, there was no sign of him.

Realizing this, Wen Xia felt a jolt of unease.

It wasn’t that he expected the boss to watch every stream or that he was greedy for the gifts—though who wouldn’t want a generous patron? It was just that the timing was too coincidental.

He had just talked to the boss yesterday about regulating certain comments in the chat, and today, the boss was nowhere to be found.

Was it work? Or something else?

Could it really be because of what happened yesterday…

The third match was on Miramar. As they boarded the plane, Guiqulai asked, “Where are we dropping this time?”

Wen Xia, distracted, mumbled a reply, then opened the chat box to scroll through, trying to find the boss’s entrance notification. But there was nothing.

In the flurry of messages, he did spot a few comments:

[The Number Boss isn’t here today.]

[You’re right.]

[The boss should have been here by now.]

…

The messages refreshed too quickly for him to catch more.

He checked the gift list—no sign of that familiar ID.

“Old Xia? Did you lag out?” Guiqulai called out. “Jump, we’re about to drop!”

Wen Xia snapped back to attention, realizing that Guiqulai had already jumped, while he was still on the plane. He quickly directed his character to jump, but it was too late—he couldn’t reach Guiqulai’s location.

They ended up splitting up to loot and planned to meet up later.

“What were you thinking about just now?” Guiqulai asked.

“Just something on my mind. Didn’t notice the time,” Wen Xia replied.

The chat immediately lit up with comments:

[Were you thinking about the Number Boss, Xia Xia?]

[Oh right, the Number Boss didn’t show up today.]

[You can’t even hold your gun steady now, Xia Xia.]

Wen Xia paused for a moment, then said, “I need to say something. Everyone, it’s fine to have fun, but let’s keep the jokes in moderation—okay? I really appreciate it.”

[????]

[What’s going on? Is this about the Number Boss?]

[Is my arithmetic series BE-ing?]

[It’s about time… All those CP comments were getting on my nerves. Jokes are fine, but there’s a limit.]

[Uh, why didn’t you say this when the boss was giving gifts…]

[??? That’s a weird take. It’s normal for a happy viewer to tip a good streamer, isn’t it?]

[Got it, Xia Boss qwq.]

Wen Xia wasn’t interested in debating, so he cut it short. “Let’s not argue. Mods, please mute anyone who starts a fight.”

Guiqulai, apparently reacting to something his viewers said, suddenly chimed in, “Lao Xia, what’s going on? Someone told me the arithmetic series BE-ed, and now my chance has come?”

Wen Xia replied, “Tell them we’ll BE too.”

Guiqulai chuckled, “So heartless.”

Wen Xia thought so too. The more he reflected on the earlier near-argument in the chat, the more he felt like a heartless jerk.

But he had nothing going on with the Number Boss.

He sighed, his gaze catching a chat message thanking a user for a gift: “Thanks to ‘Xia Xia is Too Cute, What Do I Do’ for the five blue whale models… I’m not cute. You can go to sleep now, friend.”

Strange usernames were common in his stream, so Wen Xia didn’t pay much attention, making a few casual jokes before moving on.

But then, the same user kept gifting:

[Xia Xia is Too Cute, What Do I Do gifted a blue whale model x3.]

[Xia Xia is Too Cute, What Do I Do gifted a blue whale model x5.]

It wasn’t uncommon for other viewers to gift large amounts, though they weren’t as aggressive as the Number Boss, who might as well have “Here to Spend Money” written across the screen. Wen Xia was familiar with the regular big spenders, but he had never seen “Xia Xia is Too Cute, What Do I Do” before.

In no time, this adorably named user had gifted ten blue whale models.

Naturally, this caught the attention of the other viewers.

[Wow, a new boss!]

[Generous! Who is this?]

[A new boss has arrived! Onward to new heights!]

[Is this the Number Boss’s alt account?]

Wen Xia saw this and paused.

But the gifter responded quickly: [Nope.]

Well, that settled it.

The Number Boss, with his cool demeanor, wouldn’t use such a cutesy phrase like “nope.”

But after that, the new boss stopped chatting, only occasionally tossing out a gift, nothing as extravagant as the Number Boss’s usual spree.

Apparently, it wasn’t him.

By the time Wen Xia ended the stream, that familiar ID still hadn’t appeared.

He logged off with a sense of melancholy, not related to romance but rather the feeling of losing an old friend.

And he couldn’t help but feel like it was his own doing.

Wen Xia sighed deeply and lay on the bed for a while before picking up his phone and opening his chat with Lin Fengqi.

Wen Xia: [Boss Daddy, are you asleep?]

There was no reply.

It was late, almost midnight. Maybe Lin Fengqi really was asleep.

Wen Xia stretched, got up, and started getting ready for bed.

As he opened his suitcase to grab some clothes, he noticed a small bottle. He paused, picked it up, and realized it was a bottle of lavender essential oil.

Wen Xia was certain he hadn’t packed this. Knowing his issue with sleeping in unfamiliar beds, he had brought a sachet for relaxation, but nothing else.

He brought the bottle closer and sniffed it, recognizing the scent from the pillow he slept on at home.

Just then, his phone buzzed with two messages.

Lin Fengqi: [No, I’m awake.]

Lin Fengqi: [What’s up?]

Wen Xia held the small bottle of essential oil, suddenly smiling.

Wen Xia: [Oh, nothing much, just found out I’ve got a little thief on my hands.]

Lin Fengqi: [A thief?]

Lin Fengqi: [Did you catch them? Did you call the police?]

Wen Xia: [Didn’t catch them, so I’m reporting it to you.]

Lin Fengqi: [?]

Wen Xia sent a photo.

Wen Xia: [Officer Lin, look at this. The thief broke into my suitcase and tossed something inside when I wasn’t looking. Isn’t that just outrageous?]

Officer Lin went silent.

Officer Lin was typing… and then stopped… and then started again.

After a long pause, Lin Fengqi replied: [Sorry.]

Lin Fengqi: [I didn’t mean to go through your suitcase…]

Wen Xia closed his fingers around the warm bottle of lavender essential oil.

“Idiot,” he muttered, smiling softly at the messages. “I’m not mad at you.”

In another city, Lin Fengqi anxiously awaited a response.

Then it came:

[Thank you.]

[I think I might actually have a good dream tonight.]

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