Chapter 136: A Bright Future Ahead

After returning from Yijiaxuan, Bai Rinzong was still pondering why his mukbang stream today was so deeply loved by everyone.

However, not being able to figure it out didn't matter; he could just keep going anyway. This was essentially his natural performance, without any deliberate pretension or forced act. It was naturally a good thing that people enjoyed it.

"Old Bai! I watched your stream replay!" The moment he stepped through the door, Wang Bei slammed her hand on the table and said excitedly, "You should start a mukbang series! Stream every day when we go over to Sister Jiayi's for dinner! It's so—good for the appetite! I'm serious!"

"Is that so?" Bai Rinzong asked, half-convinced.

"It really is!" Wang Bei nodded vigorously. "You eat with such incredible enthusiasm! Plus, Sister Jiayi's food is so delicious, just looking at it makes your appetite skyrocket. To be honest, while I was watching your stream replay here just now, I couldn't help but finish a few bags of snacks! This show is definitely viable!"

"Fine, I don't mind either way, since I have to go eat there every day anyway," Bai Rinzong said indifferently.

By now it was three o'clock in the afternoon, so Bai Rinzong began planning his evening broadcast content.

He needed to conserve his energy for the evening stream, so he had to get some proper rest right now.

After lying down on the bed, Bai Rinzong felt especially exhausted because he had practiced boxing at the gym earlier in the day. Combined with a full stomach and a comfortable room temperature, he drifted off into a hazy sleep. It wasn't until a soft, delicate sensation grazed his cheek that he jolted awake, realizing he had fallen asleep: "Oh no! What time is it?!"

"Don't be nervous." Han Jiayi stroked his head and pressed him back down onto the bed, laughing softly, "It's only just past seven."

"Oh..." Bai Rinzong instantly let out a sigh of relief. "That girl Xiaobei... she didn't even wake me up before leaving."

"She told me," Han Jiayi said with a beaming smile. "She said you were asleep and asked me to wake you up when I got back."

"Is that so..." Bai Rinzong scratched his head a little sheepishly. "I wronged her."

"Look at you, working yourself to this level of exhaustion..." Han Jiayi cradled his face with a look of heartache. "Why don't we skip the stream tonight?"

"No, I'm fully rested now," Bai Rinzong said, stretching his joints. "I'll go take a shower to wake myself up."

"Then I'll go make dinner," Han Jiayi gave him a quick kiss on the cheek. "Must be starving, right? It'll be ready in just a moment."

After the two of them ate and showered, Bai Rinzong set up everything for the stream, needing only to click the button to go live.

Before that, however, he leisurely helped Han Jiayi blow-dry her hair. This was his favorite moment of the day, a time when both his body and mind could completely relax.

"How pretty..." Bai Rinzong muttered involuntarily as he watched Han Jiayi's soft, glossy locks flutter through his hands.

Han Jiayi looked back at him with a gentle smile through the mirror, her face brimming with happiness.

"Mmph..." After her hair was dry, Han Jiayi tilted her chin up and pouted her lips at him, looking expectant.

Bai Rinzong chuckled, leaned over, and pecked her on her little lips.

"I don't want this kind of kid's kiss!" Han Jiayi complained playfully. "I want a French kiss!"

"Such a fan of foreign things," Bai Rinzong flicked her forehead lightly, but still captured her lips, their tongues tangling together.

"Hehe." Only then was Han Jiayi satisfied. She stood up, linked her arm through his, and walked toward the stairs. "Let's go, time to stream."

Once the broadcast started, Bai Rinzong greeted the viewers.

"Good evening, my dear audience members," Bai Rinzong said, pointing at the camera. "We have two cameras today, see? One focused on me, and the other focused on Jiayi. Because tonight is a duo stream."

The chat room erupted into cheers: "Yay! Dog food to eat!" "What about the mukbang?"

"The mukbang is for the daytime. Jiayi and I eat a bit later in the evening—you wouldn't want me to make you wait until past seven to eat just like us, would you?" Bai Rinzong continued. "So tonight, let's just casually play some games and chat with everyone about future streaming content."

With that, he opened *Project Zomboid*, and then he and Han Jiayi logged into their shared server together.

"So, hasn't everyone been saying this game is hard to pick up? Today, Jiayi and I will show everyone how to get started with this game, alright?" Bai Rinzong smiled. "Now, what should we do right when we spawn? There's no power or water outage for the first month, so food and water aren't an issue. We should take advantage of this time to scavenge for tools and find a good place to build a base..."

Bai Rinzong explained as he played, while Han Jiayi obediently followed along behind him.

"Jiayi, get ready, we need to head toward the warehouse district," Bai Rinzong reminded her, tapping the tip of her nose.

Han Jiayi nodded. "Mm, I'm cooking some food right now. As soon as it's done, we'll set off."

"Everyone must remember to bring every type of tool. Most tools can actually be found in the wealthy residential areas, but that's a bit slow. Coming here lets you gather a full set of tools all at once, mainly for three things: a sledgehammer, a generator, and an antique oven," Bai Rinzong explained. "Especially the oven—it burns wood, can keep you warm, and you can cook with it. It's exceptionally useful..."

In truth, streaming felt much the same to Bai Rinzong as simply playing games with Han Jiayi during their usual downtime, so he didn't feel tired at all; instead, he felt increasingly relaxed.

The same went for Han Jiayi, who gradually slipped into a state of total immersion, completely banishing the thought of the livestream from her mind.

"Old Bai, it's so boring always starting in Riverside, let's go play somewhere else," Han Jiayi leaned her head against Bai Rinzong's shoulder, acting spoiled. "How about building our base in Raven Creek? There are lots of zombies there, and lots of resources too."

"I'm doing a beginner's tutorial for the viewers here, stop messing around," Bai Rinzong frowned. "Starting in Riverside is the absolute best fit for beginners. There are fewer zombies here, plenty of resources, and practically everything you could need, it's just a bit remote."

"Let's go, you can do tutorials over there too..." Han Jiayi rubbed her little head against his cheek.

"Sigh, fine, fine." Bai Rinzong sighed, patting the top of her head. "Taking advantage of how cute you are to act lawless..."

"Hehe." Han Jiayi smiled triumphantly. "Then let's go! I'll make some food for us to eat on the way, and then grab some canned goods as backups for the road."

Instantly, the live chat turned sour with jealousy: "Lemons on the lemon tree, you and me under the lemon tree!" "Today's serving of dog food: 1/1." "Watching this streamer's broadcast even saves you from needing dinner..."

While Bai Rinzong was streaming, Wang Bei and He Guang helped manage the order of the chat room and casually held a lucky draw according to Bai Rinzong's instructions, giving away a hundred copies of the game *Blasphemous*.

Although it had only been a few days since he started streaming, both his follower count and fan base were soaring upward at a remarkable pace.

In the blink of an eye, the time reached midnight.

"Alright, that's it for the stream today," Bai Rinzong concluded. "Everyone, order your takeout tomorrow at noon and wait for me."

With that, Bai Rinzong closed the stream.

Han Jiayi stretched lazily beside him. "The stream's finally over! Actually, it wasn't bad at all. It feels pretty much the same as when we usually play games together. I think I can come keep you company and stream every evening."

"Of course that would be great," Bai Rinzong smiled, reaching out to gently cup her cheeks. "But you don't need to stream every single night. If we do a one-hour mukbang during the day, we can stream six days and take one day off."

"Mm..." Han Jiayi pressed her face against his hands, gazing at him with deep affection. "I'll listen to you."

"Alright, it's getting late, go get some sleep," Bai Rinzong said, checking the time. "We still have to go to the restaurant tomorrow."

"You too, you know?" Han Jiayi frowned. "You even went to the gym today, you must be exhausted."

"I slept all afternoon, I'm not tired at all right now," Bai Rinzong smiled. "I'll go to sleep right after I edit a video."

"No. Way." Han Jiayi said firmly. "Get your obedient self to bed!"

"Then give me a kiss." Bai Rinzong pointed at his lips and said.

Han Jiayi pressed her lips together into a smile, shot him a glare, and then leaned in for a quick "mwah": "Goodnight, love you."

"Good girl." Bai Rinzong stroked her head. Han Jiayi frowned with mock dissatisfaction: "And?"

"Goodnight, love you." Bai Rinzong pulled Han Jiayi tightly into a hug, unable to hold back his laughter.

Han Jiayi lightly punched him in the chest, muttering with puffed-out cheeks, "So unspontaneous..."

"I always express things through actions," Bai Rinzong chuckled, tapping the tip of her nose. "Off you go."

After coaxing Han Jiayi downstairs, Bai Rinzong sat back down in front of his computer, getting ready to edit his video. But right then, he suddenly felt a chill down his spine and turned his head to look.

Han Jiayi was peeking half her head out from outside the doorway, stealthily eyeing his room. If she weren't so adorable, this scene late at night would have been genuinely spine-chilling.

"I knew it..." Han Jiayi looked at him with an aggrieved expression. "Liar..."

"No, no, see? I was just shutting down the computer," Bai Rinzong quickly explained, pressing the shutdown button. "Look, I'm going to bed right now."

"You better be good," Han Jiayi said, her delicate brows slightly furrowed. "Otherwise, no more kisses for you."

Bai Rinzong nodded repeatedly, but Han Jiayi stubbornly stood there watching until he lay down on the bed before she finally agreed to return to her own room to rest.

"Honestly..." Bai Rinzong lay in bed, staring at the ceiling, a wave of sweetness washing over him: Having a girlfriend is just too blissful.

The next morning, when Wang Bei came over, she brought along their streaming statistics.

"It's incredible, simply incredible," Wang Bei said with a joyful smile. "Brother Yang said our streaming stats from yesterday are quite impressive! If we maintain these numbers, after another month of broadcasting, our popularity will probably dominate the top spot in this category."

"Let me see." Bai Rinzong took the computer from Wang Bei's hands and looked over yesterday's data chart.

Although Cat House had told him that the foundation of a stream's popularity was determined by the number of gifts received, followers, and noble tier users, Bai Rinzong's stream popularity yesterday had consistently hovered around 900,000.

This level of popularity wasn't particularly high across the entire Cat House platform, but it ranked in the top five within his specific category. Moreover, the channel's follower count had already reached over 60,000—and users had to keep in mind that this was only his second day of streaming.

"The future is promising..." Bai Rinzong nodded with a sense of fulfillment.

"However, they did say that the viewer engagement metrics displayed in the backend are still much higher during your meal times," Wang Bei added. "So... you know what that means."