In a rented room in Blue Star, a handsome young man (though not quite as handsome as the esteemed reader), standing one meter seventy-eight tall, sat on the bed and looked around.
"Didn't I get hit by a truck and die?" Lin Yu said, somewhat puzzled.
Lin Yu did not belong to this world. In his original world, he had finally managed to get into a good university through the intense national college entrance examinations, but on his way home, he was struck dead by a large truck whose brakes had failed. He had transmigrated right into the body of this young man, also named Lin Yu, who had just died.
Soon, through this fellow's memories, he learned that this guy was an orphan, just like him in his past life. But unlike him, this guy had run a fever during the days of the college entrance examination, causing him to bomb the test, so he had no choice but to graduate early and go out to work. After bouncing through a few companies, he had spent the last two years working as a security guard at the final one. He hadn't made much money before the company boss skipped town with the cash, leaving two months of unpaid wages owed to him.
With no money left to his name, he had planned to use a computer stolen from that company to try live-streaming video games to scrape by and sustain himself while he searched for his next job. As ill luck would have it, just last night, right after finishing a viewer's commission, ending his stream, and lying down in bed, he suffered a sudden cardiac arrest and died.
"Oh man, I've transmigrated, but it'd be better if I hadn't! I haven't even been to university yet, and if you were going to transmigrate me, at least make me some kind of rich heir!" Lin Yu said, unwilling to accept his fate.
He looked around again, took his phone from beside the pillow, and unlocked it with his fingerprint. He intended to see if there were any changes between this world and his previous one, because the memories left by this person contained very little information about the world at large—most of his time had been spent working and earning a living.
After checking the news on the internet in this world, he found that it was largely identical to his original world, with a few differences. For instance, this world had no island nation, only a Sakura Province.
"Hmm, the devils here seem to have been repelled by China's anti-invasion efforts, and the place was even incorporated into China's territory," Lin Yu murmured as he looked at the online information.
Eventually, his stomach let out a loud rumble, snapping him back to reality. He went and steeped a bowl of instant noodles, finally recovering from the hunger.
Then, fixing his gaze on the computer by the bed, he remembered that this guy hadn't left him much money; live-streaming to make cash was his only option.
He turned on the stream, playing Genshin Impact—which was just as popular here as in his past life—and helped viewers clear the Abyss. A few hours later, he ended the broadcast.
"Sigh, the viewer count for this stream is pitifully low," Lin Yu said slowly, staring at the darkened computer screen. Apart from two people who had dropped by for the story quests and to watch him clear the Abyss, there was only one constant viewer, and that person was just his own alt account.
"At this rate, I won't even have money to pay the rent."
"Ding!"
"Huh? What's that sound?" Lin Yu looked around.
"Ding! Host, you don't need to look, I'm inside your head. I am an advanced system, oh."
"Huh? What the hell, System, you're finally here! I thought I was the most pathetic transmigrated person ever, not even getting a system," Lin Yu said excitedly.
"Eh? That's not right, though. I've been transmigrated for a few hours already—how come you're only showing up now? I remember reading in novels that the protagonist gets a system the second they transmigrate. What's wrong with you?" Lin Yu suddenly recalled the novels he used to read and asked the system, baffled.
"Uh, Host, please don't sweat the small stuff. Let's get back to the point—would the Host like to bind?" the system answered with a guilty conscience.
"Fine, I'll trust you once. System, bind!"
"Ding! MiHoYo Short Video System successfully bound!"
"System, hurry up and introduce your features!" Lin Yu asked the system excitedly.
"Host, just as the system's name implies, as long as the Host broadcasts MiHoYo short videos, you can earn emotional value. Emotional value can be used to draw items. As for what you get, that depends on whether the Host is blessed by the European gods or cursed by the African ones."
"Oh, right, Host, let me tell you first: the short videos you live-stream or play will be randomly intercepted by me and broadcast to the MiHoYo universe. Right now, they can be broadcast to the Genshin Impact world and the Honkai: Star Rail world. As for Honkai Impact 3rd, Zenless Zone Zero, and the others, those will have to wait for subsequent unlocks."
"Meaning you can link to the MiHoYo game worlds?" Lin Yu asked, his eyes shining.
"Of course! No matter what, I am an advanced system, and I have my own thoughts and feelings," the system said with a hint of pride.
"So are you going to broadcast it directly for the whole universe to see like in the novels from my past life, or how is this going to work?"
"Hehe, I'm an advanced system, and the emotional value of ordinary people is useless to me, so I'm not going to drag everyone in."
"I will create a live-streaming chat group, and only those with Visions and Paths will be able to enter. That way, I can save a lot of energy."
"What? I can enter the chat group? I want to go in too! Hehe, my Hu Tao!" Lin Yu shouted excitedly.
"But this doesn't seem to follow the rules?" the system said, sounding somewhat troubled.
"I don't care, I'm going in! Consider it compensation for being late. And aren't you an advanced system? You can't even handle this little thing?" Lin Yu began to act shamelessly, his mind spinning as he came up with an idea.