A table, a computer, a webcam, and a microphone.
Lu Chen's debut livestream on the Starlight Show streaming platform began just as simply as that.
Facing the microphone, he played and sang "Crystal Blue".
"Crystal Blue" was a classic that many people had known by heart a few years ago. With its catchy lyrics and beautiful, moving melody, it had always ranked near the top of the request charts in KTV private rooms.
Lu Chen had performed it many times on the guitar before, and the chords and lyrics were long since committed to memory.
As for his current guitar and vocal skills, having experienced that long dream of the previous night, he felt like a legendary youth who had fallen off a cliff and stumbled upon a miraculous encounter, emerging thoroughly reborn and with supreme martial arts mastered. Handling a scene like this was an absolute piece of cake.
"Tomorrow I shall journey afar,"
"Embarking on a voyage of no return."
"Do you still remember the crystal blue I gave you?"
"With your true name carved upon it."
As Lu Chen's clear, pristine, and slightly melancholic voice rang out, the bullet comments on the screen dwindled considerably.
Yet this state lasted only a fleeting moment.
"So good!"
"Crystal Blue? My absolute favorite song, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah~"
"Little Lu plays the guitar so well, seriously begging to be your apprentice, begging for the cheat codes!"
"Too touching! You clearly have the looks to make a living, yet you insist on relying on your talent—I've completely surrendered!"
"We're doomed, we're doomed! After listening to this handsome bro's singing and playing, how am I ever going to face Brother Fei's ugly mug and cracked voice?"
"......"
System prompt: New Yorker (Silver IV) has gifted the streamer 100 starlight!
System prompt: New Yorker (Silver IV) has gifted the streamer 100 starlight!
System prompt: ......
New Yorker began his crazy barrage of consecutive gifts once again, sending out another 10,000 starlight points in the blink of an eye! Once more, he effortlessly overshadowed the few scattered tips.
Looking completely poised, Lu Chen finished the song and spoke into the microphone, "Thank you for the support, New Yorker!"
He already had a basic grasp of the rules of livestreaming. To put it bluntly, it was essentially no different from performing on a bar stage, except that the world of the internet was boundless, and the number of fans and listeners in Starlight Show clearly could not be compared to the customers at the Forget-Me-Not Bar.
With the song ended, Lu Chen noticed that the follower count for the streamer "Brother Xiaofei ABC" had risen to 1,623, while his popularity had surged to 548—a massive increase, proving that his performance could attract people and make them stay!
This inevitably filled him with a bit of pride. He cleared his throat twice and said, "Next up, Flying Pigeon."
For his second song, Lu Chen still chose "Flying Pigeon".
Compared to the previous "Crystal Blue", Lu Chen had an even better grasp of "Flying Pigeon". Although the latter was far more difficult to play and sing than "Crystal Blue", it gave him a chance to show off his skills.
His pinky slid across the strings followed by a rapid hand-position change, continuous hammer-ons and pull-offs, paired with mid-song wide-span fingerstyle. As for the chords, needless to say, he even added improvisational flourishes to the original sheet music.
Sitting beside him, Li Feiyu watched in a dizzy whirl and listened in utter astonishment!
He had heard Lu Chen sing before, and he had watched Lu Chen play, but never had any instance given him such a shocking feeling. It felt as if Lu Chen had turned into a completely different person; what used to be an amateur dabbling was now a professional performance.
The difference was like heaven and earth!
On the computer screen, bullet comments surged like a tide. Although the popularity count was only a little over 500, the momentum of the scrolling comments combined with the flashing starlight was no less intense than that of popular streamers.
"Ooh oh oh~"
"Awesome! Awesome! Awesome! Awesome! Awesome!"
"66666666666666666~"
"Brother Xiaofei, I love you!"
"Hahaha, are you new here? This isn't Brother Xiaofei, this is Little Lu, Little Lu, Little Lu—saying it three times!"
"Huh? Did I miss something?"
"......"
Li Feiyu was left speechless.
Back when he streamed, his peak online popularity had exceeded 1,500—nearly three times what it was now—yet his bullet comment count was conversely at least ten times lower. As for tips... why was the gap between people so huge?
Comrade "Brother Xiaofei ABC" wept silently in his heart—this truly was an era that judged people by their looks!
As for Lu Chen, he didn't have so many distracting thoughts; he earnestly finished playing and singing "Flying Pigeon".
He felt quite satisfied with it himself.
System prompt: New Yorker (Silver IV) has gifted the streamer 100 starlight!
System prompt: New Yorker (Silver IV) has gifted the streamer 100 starlight!
System prompt: ......
System prompt: Prophet Li Bai (Gold II) has gifted the streamer 1 Starry Sky Warship!
Originally, it was still "New Yorker" dominating the screen with consecutive starlight gifts, but the Starry Sky Warship sent by the abruptly appearing "Prophet Li Bai" barged onto the screen with an unyielding and overbearing momentum, obliterating thousands of starlight points like a knife cutting through bamboo, and instantly becoming the focal point of everyone's attention.
"Ah—"
Startled, Li Feiyu jumped up and stammered, "War—warship! War—war—warship!"
Lu Chen hadn't understood at first, but upon seeing the newly scrolled bullet comments, he got it.
"Starry Sky Warship!"
"A true, matchless tycoon!"
"Which older brother can tell me what prop a Starry Sky Warship is?"
"A Starry Sky Warship is equivalent to 100,000 starlight, which is 1,000 yuan. Tycoon, please let me cling to your coattails!"
"Hubby! Hubby! Hubby! Hubby! Hubby!"
"......"
Lu Chen was rendered speechless. In Starlight Show, 100 starlight was equivalent to 1 yuan, and the hundred-consecutive starlight barrage previously gifted by "New Yorker" amounted to 100 yuan. He had just thought the other party was wealthy and willful, but his worldview was instantly shattered and refreshed by "Prophet Li Bai".
A 1,000-yuan tip!
After gifting the Starry Sky Warship, "Prophet Li Bai" left three succinct words: Sang well.
How impossibly cool was that!
Recovering his wits, Lu Chen hurriedly said, "Thank you for the tip, friend Prophet Li Bai, and friend New Yorker. Thank you everyone! I'll perform an original song of my own next, titled 'The You of the Same Desk'. I hope you all like it!"
Originally, he had intended to wrap things up after two songs; his stomach was already staging a protest.
Yet now that "Prophet Li Bai" had dropped a Starry Sky Warship, how could he possibly have the nerve to turn tail and run?
"Original? Little Lu can write his own songs too?"
"66666666666666666~"
"The Mud of the Same Desk?"
"Mud your sister! It should be The You of the Same Desk. Did you get paste in your ears?"
"My desk mate is a total gay dude!"
"......"
Watching the bullet comments, Lu Chen found it immensely entertaining.
It was simply too interesting! The atmosphere was completely different from a bar, and the level of interaction was extremely high.
At this moment, he noticed that the viewer count displayed at the top of the screen was experiencing a geometric surge, suddenly skyrocketing from just over 500 to 1,400+, and it was still climbing steadily.
Conversely, the fan count hadn't changed drastically—at least, not with such an astonishing growth rate.
Later on, Lu Chen learned that this was the so-called "tycoon effect." When a wealthy tycoon gifted heavy-duty props, the website would flash red congratulatory bullet comment banners across most of the other livestream rooms, and viewers could enter this room directly through those banners, leading to an increase in popularity.
However, whether those incoming visitors could be converted into genuine fans still depended on the streamer's ability.
"Tomorrow, will you recall,"
"The diary you wrote yesterday?"
"Tomorrow, will you still cherish,"
"The you who loved to cry the most?"
Performing "The You of the Same Desk" once again, Lu Chen did not need to brew an excessive amount of emotion.
Yet under his guitar strumming and vocals, this classic folk ballad from the Dream World traveled through the microphone into the computer, was transmitted via the internet into the online viewers' expensive or cheap computers, tablets, and mobile phones, and was finally reproduced with the help of varying qualities of speakers and headphones.
It still possessed an irresistible charm!
The once clamorous and lively screen quieted down. Lu Chen's singing felt like a babbling brook, flowing through the tiny room and trickling into the hearts of many.
"Who encountered the sentimental you?"
"Who comforted the weeping you?"
"Who read the letter I wrote you,"
"And who cast it into the wind?"
Halfway through the song, the bullet comments gradually began to multiply.
"Suddenly got the urge to cry, so annoying!"
"Got something in my eye."
"Chen Qian, I love you, I love you, I love you, I love you, I love you, I love you!!!"
"Reminds me of my desk mate in high school. I wonder how she's doing now."
"Nobody stop me—tomorrow I'm confessing to my desk mate! Oh wait, he's a guy too."
"I miss the old days so much. Missing school times, I'm feeling a bit teary too."
"What's this song called? It sounds so good, never heard it before?"
"The song is called My Boyfriend. Ask again and commit suicide!"
"The You of the Same Desk, original by the streamer!"
"......"
If the people typing bullet comments earlier were mostly comedians and jokers, the artistic style had now abruptly shifted to literary youths.
Be it touched, nostalgic, melancholic, or sorrowful—even upon first listening, one's soul would still be stirred. This was the charm of music, the magic of classics!
There were no affected, baseless whispers, nor were there passionate, high-pitched notes. "The You of the Same Desk" gently drifted from Lu Chen's fingertips, slowly sung forth from his lips, leaving everyone who heard it deeply moved.
Until the song finally ended, and countless starlight points flashed!
System prompt: Sweet Baby (Bronze I) has gifted the streamer 100 starlight!
System prompt: Pineapple 1990 (Iron VII) has gifted the streamer 100 starlight!
System prompt: Crystal Jelly (Bronze II) has gifted the streamer 100 starlight!
System prompt: Carefree Wanderer (Silver I) has gifted the streamer 1 shooting star!
System prompt: Invincible Iron Fist (Iron III) has gifted the streamer 100 starlight!
System prompt: ......
Unlike the previous domination by tycoons, the number of viewers sending starlight in this wave increased vastly. Furthermore, the online viewer count had already exceeded 1,900, while the fan count surged from behind to 2,700+, reaching 2,722—getting extremely close to the 3,000 milestone!
"Thank you everyone!"
Lu Chen put down the guitar in his arms and said, "That's it for today, goodbye."
Bullet comments flew across the screen, filled with reluctance to part, pleas to stay, and demands for him to sing two more songs.
Some viewers even sent massive amounts of starlight and shooting stars.
"Thank you!"
Lu Chen was genuinely touched, but he stood up all the same—he couldn't possibly go without eating, right?
Hurrying over, Li Feiyu pressed his palms together and bowed apologetically to the audience before shutting down the livestream.
With one hand, he forcefully gripped Lu Chen's shoulder, while using the other to wipe away non-existent tears from his face, and said earnestly, "Brother, Old Chen's Kitchen is my treat this noon—you and I are going to eat our fill!"