Chapter 14: A Brother’s Burden, A Sister’s Vigil

After enduring the “long and winding road” of two kilometers, Chajingyuan finally returned to her room, collapsing once more into a soft, languid silkworm.

“Ugh… I’m so tired, utterly exhausted. That lavish meal I finally got to eat has all burned away, and it’s all your fault…”

“That meal was at least a thousand calories; there’s no way two kilometers would burn it all off. Honestly, do you have any biological common sense? And stop lying on the bed covered in sweat.”

“No, I want to take a nap. I’m so sleepy…”

“Shower first, then sleep! You haven’t showered yesterday or the day before!”

Chahuayuan huffily pulled Chajingyuan out of the covers and tossed her into the bathroom.

Returning to her own room, Chahuayuan yawned a few times, also feeling a touch of drowsiness. Nevertheless, she intended to take care of the necessary chores before indulging in a nap later.

Muffled whimpers of distress drifted from the bathroom, making it clear that Chajingyuan had reluctantly swayed for a considerable time before lazily turning on the shower.

The sound of water, cascading down her long hair and rippling across the floor, was strikingly different from the forceful rush of the showerhead when she had been a boy.

“Oh, right.”

It was only then that Chahuayuan remembered her older brother was still wearing an ill-fitting men’s jacket when they went out for dinner, having not changed yet.

Opening the wardrobe, Chahuayuan hastily rummaged through it.

Fortunately, she found some old clothes. She set aside a nightgown and underwear, and for outerwear, she decided to place two sets in her room as well.

While unsure if they would fit perfectly, her brother’s B-cup certainly required a bit of snug support. For now, they would have to do; she would buy her new clothes in a few days.

“Bro! Your change of clothes are by the door. You can put them on yourself later!”

“Alright… fine, I get it!!”

Listening to Chajingyuan’s still-resentful reply, Chahuayuan nodded with satisfaction. She closed her door, started her computer, and opened the message interfaces of various social platforms.

She decided to check Pilibili first.

The single-day follower increase for “Stepan Chizaki Official” had already reached an astonishing 12,000.

It was still broad daylight, and most regular netizens were just beginning their active hours, meaning the surge of data growth was far from over.

She could only marvel at the contemporary netizens who sought amusement; their combat effectiveness was truly astounding.

Chahuayuan also noticed that several video editors she admired had cut some short Chizaki clips.

Compared to the previous rash of trend-following fan creations, these newer clips, having been refined over several hours, were noticeably more engaging.

‘Hmm~ Hmm-hmm~~’

Chahuayuan couldn’t help but chuckle, happily tapping out a rhythm along with the video. Her own hands began to itch with eagerness, as several intriguing ideas sparked in her mind.

She too planned to join the fun by editing a video, perhaps to playfully tease her older brother.

Before her nap, she resolved to at least write a rough timeline to capture these inspirations.

Acting on impulse, Chahuayuan immediately closed her browser and opened Notepad.

She was about halfway through writing when Chahuayuan’s QQ chimed.

“Eh?”

It was a private message from Maizi, whom Chahuayuan had saved as “Makino Shibahime” in her contacts.

–Makino Shibahime: [Ayuan, Ayuan, what are you planning tonight? Are you free to help out?]

–Ganges Beaver: [Not many orders these past two days. I was planning to make a Xiaosaki fan creation, but it won’t take much time. What’s up?]

–Makino Shibahime: [Help me monitor the livestream again tonight?]

–Ganges Beaver: [Xiaosaki’s? You don’t need to tell me, I’ll keep monitoring. Her condition is indeed still uncertain.]

–Makino Shibahime: [No, no.]

–Ganges Beaver: [?]

–Makino Shibahime: [Aren’t our four first-generation members debuting over two weekends, one by one? Today it’s Xuanyue’s turn, can you monitor with me?]

–Ganges Beaver: [Why?]

–Ganges Beaver: [I was there when you talked to Xuanyue. Her personality is much more stable than Xiaosaki’s, do we need so many people watching?]

–Makino Shibahime: [Oh, no, no, it’s not a personality issue.]

–Ganges Beaver: [Then what is it?]

–Makino Shibahime: [Didn’t you just tell me yesterday that you were the first to notice something was off? I’ve just found some clues.]

–Makino Shibahime:

–Ganges Beaver: […]

“Ah…”

Chahuayuan’s lips parted in surprise, and she remained stunned for a moment.

During Chajingyuan’s livestream yesterday, a series of bullet comments had appeared that were not only aggressive but also quite deliberate.

Chahuayuan had been quite bothered by them at the time, but had completely forgotten until now.

As a 2D virtual streamer meant to fulfill everyone’s fantasies, one would inevitably exude a certain unrealistic cuteness and a figure that invited speculation.

Even if not deliberately provocative, they would still be subject to “Rule 34” (Internet Rule #34: If it exists, there is porn of it). Under such circumstances, it was inherently peculiar for someone to inexplicably jump in with a comment about “softcore pornography.”

Moreover, “Stepan Chizaki” was merely a novice streamer from an ordinary, small agency.

Makino Shibahime continued,

The investigation revealed that the troublemaking bullet comments and prominent messages all originated from well-maintained alt accounts.

Tracing their past activity showed they seemed to follow the same account-farming strategy.

Searching through yesterday’s bullet comment pool revealed that these comments continued their malicious intent even in the latter half of the livestream.

Makino Shibahime asked a friend to investigate, and based on her friend’s speculation about the perpetrators’ rhetoric, these alt accounts likely belonged to the same clique of sewer-dwelling netizens.

Some time ago, Makino Shibahime had engaged in a flame war with a small fandom clique to protect a friend, and she suspected that was when the enmity was formed.

However, her friend disagreed, asserting that this was a group of professional trolls who roamed various virtual streamer circles nationwide, creating incidents, setting traps to provoke arguments, and trolling about everything.

Few knew their true motives.

Some said this group was purely malicious fun-seekers, while others noted that despite seemingly trolling everyone, they never genuinely attacked individual foreign-language streamers, thereby inferring some unspeakable political motive behind their actions.

But regardless of the truth, one thing was clear.

Their attempt to undermine “Stepan Chizaki” yesterday had failed and even backfired. They would certainly not let the matter rest today or in the future, and would undoubtedly continue to target Cyber-Official.

“Hmm, oh…”

Upon hearing Makino Shibahime’s explanation, Chahuayuan carefully reviewed the profile of the agency’s idol debuting today, which she had saved earlier.

The virtual avatar’s name was “Xuanyue Shiori.”

She was a petite girl with red hair, dressed in a tactical earth-green uniform, a little imp with prominent canine teeth.

Her backstory stated that she had retired from an electronic warfare unit, possessing the strongest combat power in the entire agency.

She could easily master any electronic game, and her personality was flamboyant and uninhibited.

Due to Chajingyuan’s livestream getting out of control yesterday, it seemed the two now had overlapping character settings.

However, Xuanyue’s real-life persona was actually a well-behaved, petite individual with a pleasant disposition.

Furthermore, unlike Chajingyuan, who constantly played competitive games, Xuanyue came from the Metroidvania speedrunning community.

So, rather than a mere overlap in settings, it was more like a strategic repositioning, which could be quite entertaining if her livestream went smoothly.

Of course, that was contingent on a smooth performance.

Chahuayuan pondered briefly, then swiftly typed out a reply on her keyboard.

–Ganges Beaver: [Shiori’s crisis management ability definitely needs more monitoring… I’ll help you watch. Is it still broadcasting at 7 PM?]

–Makino Shibahime: [Yes, yes. We’ll continue to link up and watch together then. This time Yuanyang will also help watch. Thanks for your hard work.]

–Ganges Beaver: [Mm-hm.]

After accepting this request from Makino Shibahime, Chahuayuan couldn’t help but sigh.

The sound of rushing water from the bathroom had yet to cease. Chajingyuan still seemed highly unaccustomed to dealing with her long hair, struggling valiantly against it.

Chahuayuan couldn’t help but feel a pang of worry for her older brother. She pulled open the bottom-right drawer of her desk, took out the previous diagnosis report, and aimlessly scanned it back and forth.

Chahuayuan was grateful that she had a roommate who had switched to medicine midway through and specialized in neurology.

That roommate had provided many reliable treatment suggestions for her brother back then. Over the past six months or so, her perpetually annoying brother’s condition had indeed improved significantly.

Even so, the nature of the illness remained unchanged.

“Severe depression.”

There were far too many tragic cases of individuals with depression clashing with professional trolls.

Chahuayuan felt a touch of guilt, realizing she should have kept a closer eye on the prescribed medication. And after the incident, she should not have so carelessly dragged her brother into this situation.

However, there was no regretting it now.

Chahuayuan let out a long sigh, placed the diagnosis report back, picked up her phone to set an alarm, and prepared for her nap.

Just then, Makino Shibahime’s QQ chimed again.

“Hmm…?”

–Makino Shibahime: [Oh, right.]

–Makino Shibahime: [I just looked for Xiaosaki, she doesn’t seem to be online. Do you know when she’ll wake up?]

–Makino Shibahime: [I’m planning to adjust her program list based on her new character setting. Can you call her when she wakes up? I have a really, really interesting idea~~]

–Ganges Beaver: [ん?]