The Only Human in the World – CH19

Chapter 19

[Let me tell you some explosive gossip. You all know about the Yuanqi Star Tunnel-Burrowing Competition, right? Yesterday, right after the preliminaries ended, they announced the rest of the competition was suspended. You’d never guess why!]

[Stop being so mysterious. Didn’t an accident happen, so now they’re inspecting the venue? What’s so shocking about that…]

[No! It’s not like accidents have never happened in this competition before. It’s dangerous to begin with. The higher-ups only care about money and never care about the contestants. This time, though, they kicked an iron plate!]

[Keep making things up, go on. I know who got hurt in the preliminaries. Just some ordinary person!]

[Don’t rush, listen to me first! The injured person really was an ordinary person. The accident happened because a hooked iron tool buried in the tunnel caught their thigh. (Totally the organizers’ negligence in checking the site.) After being hospitalized, it turned out not to be too serious. Normally, that wouldn’t even count as a major accident. The organizers would just pay compensation and apologize, and that’d be the end of it… But this time, Yuanqi Star not only stopped the competition, they even calculated the preliminaries as if it were the main event and handed out the prize money right there on site. After that, they shut down all the tunnel bases and actually spent huge sums reinforcing every single tunnel with the most advanced protective layers, while also specifically training professional rescue teams…]

[Fake, right???]

[Yuanqi Star is famous for being slow and stingy…]

[Whether it’s fake or not, just wait until Yuanqi Star resumes the competition and you’ll know. The venue will definitely be incredible.]

[…So who exactly is this “iron plate” you’re talking about?]

[Let me put it this way. A lot of spectators uploaded videos from the preliminaries, and they even went viral. You’ve probably all seen them already. I’m talking about the contestant who came in first and took part in the rescue—contestant number five! That person is no joke! The iron plate Yuanqi Star kicked was him!]

[Where’s your evidence?]

[Do I even need evidence? After he rescued the person and got the prize, he disappeared immediately. Then the organizers got an official order from the royal family… If it wasn’t him, then who else could it be?]

[So in the end, you’re just guessing too?]

[Fake. I don’t remember anyone in the royal family being that tiny…]

[Not necessarily royalty. Maybe some noble came out to experience ordinary life.]

[Bullshit! After the competition and rescue videos went viral, people already dug up that contestant number five looks almost exactly like that masked music-box worker from the old Exchange Lives program. Back then Prince Joseph was on that show—if that little guy were a noble, would Prince Joseph not have recognized him? He’s definitely just a civilian! He wasn’t a guest at the time, so there was no need for him to act. He couldn’t even bear to finish a piece of cake, he was really poor! Stop fantasizing…]

[Maybe they dug up the wrong person? Believe it or not, whatever. Anyway, the Yuanqi Star gossip is real!]

[No idea whether it’s real or not, but I can already smell the hype. This guy is probably some influencer Yuanqi Star just signed. That prelim accident was 100% scripted. I’ll bet one star coin that in a few days he’ll be livestreaming to sell clothes. I already saw people looking for that same oversized sports outfit he wore. Marketing is one thing, but piggybacking off the popularity of that music-box civilian too? Heh…]

Announcement: [Crocodile Is Not a Fish] recharged 100 star coins and kicked the person upstairs!

[Crocodile Is Not a Fish: Hype? I-I think your whole family is hype! An influencer signed by Yuanqi Star? Your wishful thinking is even wilder than Yuanqi Star’s! That crappy company isn’t worthy! D-Do you even know how talented he is at tunnel-burrowing? Someone nearly died, and you call that scripted? When it happened, you should’ve used your keyboard to save the person then! Are you secretly a pencil case in your true form, since you can hold that many pens! Stop betting one star coin—just pretending is enough for you to have one! He looks good in those clothes, so what if people search for the same outfit? Say one more word about “piggybacking”? I’ve watched the comparison a thousand times, it’s definitely the same person! I-I-I seriously don’t understand how someone this blind even manages to get online! I was just scrolling my optical brain at the hospital while taking care of my friend, and now I’m so angry I passed out! It’s okay though, the nurse just helped me back up… Friends, I’ve just created the “Contestant No. 5 Yomi Global Fan Station.” We’ll post related updates every day, so please follow! If you don’t love him, then please don’t hurt him!]

Announcement: [Crocodile Is Not a Fish] recharged 200 star coins to build the forum, earned an honorary title, and their newest post would be broadcast across the entire site for one hour.

[For the next hour, I will be uninstalling the forum.]

[This…]

[Damn, but isn’t it impossible to even find the little guy right now? What kind of updates can your fan station even post?]

[Crocodile Is Not a Fish: All-round analytical updates. I’ll get professionals who also competed in tunnel-burrowing to thoroughly analyze every second of his competition footage. Updates are currently posted daily!]

At Yuanqi Star headquarters—

Two staff members were working overtime in an emergency, sweating all over as they contacted administrators to file complaints and take down the gossip portions of the posts above…

The gossip was actually true. On the very day the preliminaries ended, their headquarters had received notice from the royal family ordering them not to hold any more competitions of this kind until the safety issues had been resolved.

Although they had no idea why the royal family had suddenly issued such an order, they could only obey it in fear and do their best to reduce speculation and prevent the matter from spreading further.

However, with the leak of the preliminary videos, posts like these were springing up like bamboo shoots after the rain, and there was simply no way to delete them all.

The speed at which they dealt with them could not possibly keep up with the even greater number of new videos and discussions appearing…

Contestant number five of the Yuanqi Star Tunnel-Burrowing Preliminaries, Yomi, was starting to attract increasing attention.

Many people began searching for this mysterious contestant named Yomi, and at the same time, one platform’s special effect for shrinking Snarans—made to ride the trend—quietly started becoming popular as well…

On the other side, someone even more anxious than they were was Kurt, who was preparing a new show.

After the preliminaries ended that day, Yomi had disappeared as if he had vanished from the face of the world. No matter what they did, they could not find him.

They had no address. His number could not be reached. After great difficulty, they found out he had an acquaintance named Lynn, but Lynn had also gone with his superiors on a business trip outside the main city and was currently in an area without network access…

Kurt was practically going insane.

If he had not still had the wonderful footage left behind, he would almost have suspected it had all been just a dream.

—Yomi, where on earth are you?!

At that very moment, the Yomi countless people were searching for was sitting aboard an interstellar flight heading to another planet.

After the preliminary round of the tunnel-burrowing competition ended, because of the sudden accident, the organizers received a temporary notice suspending the rest of this year’s competition. They first distributed the preliminary prizes and bonuses on the spot.

After the calculations, Yomi, who had taken first place in the preliminaries, received fifty thousand star coins in prize money.

At the time, after Harvey, contestant number seventeen, had been rescued, many reporters rushed into the scene. Anxius immediately took Yomi away.

According to the schedule, Anxius was supposed to leave the next day for Birdman Star to attend the Interstellar Federation Conference.

Sunday was not working time for Yomi, but when Anxius asked whether he wanted to go along, Yomi—who had rarely traveled even before transmigrating—of course agreed happily.

This was a public-expense trip, and the destination was another planet!

So the night before, he went to bed early, full of anticipation.

But when he woke up the next day, Yomi saw Anxius surrounded by a group of people injecting him with a specially made sedative.

Afraid he would be frightened, Karl quietly explained, “This is a necessary step for His Highness the Crown Prince to attend public meetings after his injury. Only this way will His Majesty the Emperor feel at ease.”

Yomi nodded, not fully understanding. Then, copying Karl and the other staff, he put on a little black suit, neatly arranged his hair, and boarded the starship with the grand procession.

The Federation Conference lasted a full three days. During those three days, Yomi took many photos of Birdman Star and ate many local specialties, though he could not immediately share them with Lynn.

There was no interstellar network there. The residents were all bird-shaped monsters, and the environment was somewhat barren as well, clearly less livable and beautiful than Snar Star… But at least he had broadened his horizons.

Yomi even wrote several reflections about his “first business trip.”

On the long return flight back to Snar Star, he fell asleep aboard the starship.

When he woke up, he felt someone wiping his face. Yomi rubbed his eyes and sat up, only to see Anxius crouching beside his little bed.

After wiping his face, Anxius picked up a comb and smoothed down the hair sticking up on his head. “There are still two hours before we arrive. You can sleep a little longer.”

Yomi was no longer sleepy. He quietly thanked him, then leaned against the little table by the bed and began writing a work report.

Anxius stayed nearby watching him in silence.

Perhaps it was only his imagination, but Yomi felt as though Anxius was faintly smiling. Gradually, he felt too embarrassed to keep writing, so he put away his notebook and began planning out a business blueprint for the future—

That’s right! While chatting with Harvey in the tunnel, Yomi had suddenly gotten the idea of starting his own business someday.

Compared with trying to find work in a world like this, his body size seemed more suited for entrepreneurship.

Yomi had never noticed before that Snar Star did not have tea eggs. After all, that was not a food one absolutely had to eat, and if Harvey had not asked that one question, he would never have known this information gap existed.

Then aside from tea eggs, what else was there that he knew about, but this world did not have?

Once the interstellar network was restored inside the starship, Yomi searched a few things he had not seen on Snar Star. Most of them existed here too. Aside from tea eggs, after typing in countless keywords, the only other thing he could not find was stinky tofu.

Sorting through things like this was far too much work, and Yomi soon felt dizzy and mentally exhausted, so he decided to change his line of thought.

Snar Star’s internet industry was equally developed, and its livestreaming section had every kind of content imaginable. But perhaps because Snarans valued privacy so much—or perhaps because they only pursued excellence—even entertainment livestreams here almost never featured ordinary civilian daily life.

Yomi glanced at Anxius opposite him, who had picked up a book and started reading. Then he flipped through the backup contract in his optical brain and, after confirming that it contained no clause forbidding side jobs, gradually came up with an idea.

After returning to the estate, Yuanqi Star suppressed all the trending topics related to the tunnel-burrowing preliminaries. Yomi missed his hottest moment, and although he occasionally came across related videos while scrolling, he did not pay much attention.

Lynn was still studying management at a branch outside the main city and had not yet returned. With no one to share his travel experiences with, Yomi poured all his energy into the side job that was about to begin and had no interest in the teasing or praise of strangers.

He had already made up his mind—he was going to become a faceless lifestyle streamer!

He had even planned the content for his first day already: teaching everyone how to make tea eggs.

That day, after finishing dinner with Anxius, Yomi got off work.

Time after work belonged to him.

Carrying a box full of tools he had prepared, Yomi went to the garage and soon drove the little sports car toward the riverside far from the estate.

After parking, he found a suitable spot for streaming and started setting things up. Behind him happened to be a little wooden hut that could shelter from rain.

In the distance, a pair of golden pupils quietly watched all of this.

Yomi switched on his optical brain, put on a little lamb hood, connected the camera, and got ready to begin.

Before going live, he changed the account’s default numeric ID to [Mi].

At first, there were only a few people in the livestream.

Yomi was a little nervous, but fortunately, with the hood on, the audience could not tell.

[What is this supposed to be?]

[Boiling eggs or boiling tea leaves? First time I’ve ever seen someone steep tea in a pot…]

[There’s braising spice too? What kind of dark cuisine is this? So disgusting…]

[Wait, haven’t you all noticed that his body size compared with the hut behind him is kind of weird?]

This was Yomi’s first livestream. He fumbled awkwardly while boiling tea eggs and squeezed in answers to the comments whenever he had a moment:

“Hello, everyone. Welcome to my livestream. I’m Mi.”

“I’m making tea eggs.”

“Not brewing tea leaves… not disgusting… very tasty…”

He was just about to keep answering comments when suddenly the chat began scrolling like crazy!

To be precise, from the moment that comment appeared saying his body size compared to the hut behind him was too mismatched, the livestream had suddenly been flooded with viewers.

Yomi froze in surprise.

This increase in traffic was far faster than he had imagined!

Delighted, he held up the spatula and was about to move on to the next step when he saw a strange comment:

[Your background is way too fake! The moment I open the livestream app now, every recommendation is full of scammers using special effects to imitate Yomi…]

Seeing his own name appear, Yomi thought maybe he had failed to set up his account information properly. Forgetting all about the tea eggs, he hurriedly ended the stream.

But after checking carefully from start to finish, his account homepage had not leaked any of his private information at all.

So what exactly was going on?

Filled with confusion, Yomi clicked into the account that had mentioned his name.

On that account’s homepage, the owner was angrily criticizing the recent chaos in livestreaming. At the end, there was even a link, apparently leading to a post compiling false livestreams.

Inside the post were summaries of streamers who had recently used miniaturizing special effects to deceive viewers and engage in illegal activity.

And the forum where the post was located was a gossip platform Yomi had never used before.

The moment he clicked in, he saw that the homepage was full of either abbreviated discussions about the background of contestant number five from the tunnel-burrowing preliminaries, or complaints about fake livestreams using miniaturizing effects to scam people—

[I’m done with all this trend-chasing crap! Can you believe it? Yesterday I saw a supposed 1.2-meter person in a livestream! I almost thought it was real and even tipped them! The next second the streamer’s special effect disappeared, and that adorable 1.2-meter little person instantly turned into a five-meter-tall idiot scratching his feet. I’m furious!]

[A lot of people have bought that miniaturizing effect lately. One streamer even swindled a widower out of all his savings, though luckily it was recovered in time… The platform is starting to roll out new rules for this now. Apparently, from now on, anyone using mini effects without disclosing it will be banned immediately. Let’s see if they still dare mess around after that. The moderators know the streamer’s real identity information in the backend, after all.]

[This is especially funny. Just now I came across a streamer using miniaturizing effects to imitate contestant number five, and the background looked fake as hell! I was just about to report him when he guiltily ended the stream. The ID was Mi. He’s obviously leeching off number five’s popularity… I’ve got my eye on this account now. If he dares go live again using mini effects for this kind of scam, he can just wait for the official ban.]

Yomi: “…”

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