Chapter 1046: Moyu’s First Creative Leave-Application Contest
July 24th was a very special day.
The entire Moyu livestreaming platform was suddenly empty.
Yes, starting from noon on July 24th, the big streamers all vanished without a trace. Whether it was the *League of Legends* section, the *PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds* section, the *Honor of Kings* section, or the single-player game section, fans who usually bickered endlessly—regardless of where they stood in the gaming hierarchy—were all stunned to find that their favorite streamers… had ghosted them!
Among these streamers, some were hardcore grinders, very dedicated, while others slacked off constantly, but this time, no matter how diligent or lazy they were, no matter what section they belonged to, it was as if they’d all agreed to disappear.
The excuses for taking leave were also wildly creative.
“Sorry, dear viewers, my potato chips at home are about to expire, so I need to take leave to go eat them.”
“My family’s sow is suffering from postpartum depression, so I need a day off.”
“My ex-boyfriend is getting married the day after tomorrow, so I’m taking two days off—tomorrow to buy clothes and makeup, the day after to crash the wedding.”
“Sorry, dear viewers, I have to undergo a head connective tissue resection surgery tomorrow. I hear the success rate is pretty high, but I’m still worried. I hope I can still see you all when I come back. Please send me your blessings.”
“I have to go with my mom to a relative’s kid’s full-month banquet. I can’t skip it, because if I don’t go, I won’t be able to recoup the gift money I gave.”
“I need to go home to celebrate my dog’s birthday…”
“My Thunder Game pass was logged in from a different location, so I need to investigate.”
“Dear viewers, as a member of the Zhuang ethnic group, I have to take leave on March 3rd to go home and sing mountain songs. Without me, our village might lose. What? You say it’s July now? Well, you know our Zhuang region is all mountain roads, very hard to travel—I have to set out now…”
Many viewers were shocked. What the hell was all this?
The excuses were all over the place, but looking closely, these were all clowns sent by Monkey!
If you’re getting a haircut, just say you’re getting a haircut. What’s this “head connective tissue resection surgery” nonsense?
If I were clipping my nails, would I call it a “non-nerve keratin resection of the extremities”?
As the first Creative Leave-Application Contest on the Moyu platform was in full swing, many players were puzzled. What’s the deal? What’s so special about today?
Then they thought about it and got it.
*Bloodborne* was releasing tomorrow…
Many players were instantly amused and annoyed. Were they really that afraid of being pressured by viewers to stream *Bloodborne*? Was it that serious?
As streamers, where was your professionalism? Didn’t you feel any guilt for betraying your viewers’ trust? Didn’t your conscience ache?
And besides, did you think taking two days off would let you dodge the bullet? Not a chance! We’ve all got our little notebooks ready. As soon as you streamers come back, we’ll spam *Bloodborne* everywhere. You can run, but you can’t hide. Unless you never come back to stream again!
Although most of the Moyu platform had been cleared out by the impending release of *Bloodborne*, players didn’t mind too much.
Because… even if all those streamers had fled, the *Dark Souls* streamers would never run.
After all, true tough guys face the fear of suffering head-on and bear the pain of humiliation.
When *Bloodborne* launched, the Moyu platform could only rely on these tough guys to save the day!
…
…
As soon as Old Qin’s streaming notification popped up, hundreds of thousands of viewers flooded into his channel, and the number kept climbing.
There was no helping it—more than half of the streamers on Moyu had vanished, so the massive flow of viewers naturally gathered in the rooms of these veteran *Dark Souls* streamers.
For a moment, it felt like the entire Moyu platform had been taken over by *Bloodborne*…
“Rua!”
“Shocked, the Dog-Head Man is actually streaming!”
“A tough guy sheds tears—the Dog-Head Man is about to link the fire.”
“?”
“Not here, get lost!”
“Can someone tell me if today’s stream is Qin or Que? If no one answers, I’ll ask again later.”
“Only dogs slack off!”
“The Dog-Head Man hinted for a long time that he couldn’t afford the Matrix game pod, but now it’s on sale, *Dark Souls* is remastered, *Bloodborne* is out, and the Dog-Head Man couldn’t resist anymore.”
Old Qin was also quite emotional: “I just bought the Matrix game pod yesterday and tried it out. Shocked—this thing really is as real as everyone says.”
“No flaws except for the price, though it just went on sale recently.”
“I haven’t played the *Dark Souls* remaster yet, since Dark Sword 21 still needs to be done on the old game pod. After I finish *Bloodborne*, I’ll tackle the *Dark Souls* remaster.”
“Next-gen VR is truly realistic, and the frame rate feels like it’s surpassed the human eye’s limit. Even I, the frame rate police, can’t find any issues. It’s incredibly smooth.”
“I didn’t even have time to pet the dog in my mansion before starting the stream—that’s how dedicated I am.”
“Okay, let’s first check out what *Bloodborne* is really like.”
“And then there’s the game’s entrance… Holy crap, a bed.”
Old Qin was now standing at the entrance to *Bloodborne*. It was a hospital bed, looking dirty and old, with some years on it.
This bed was tucked away in a dim corner of the Seaside Mansion Island, standing out starkly and alone. Actually, only the first time a player entered the game would it be a bed; afterward, it would be a lantern.
“Okay, let’s lie down and see what happens. Hmm, this bed is pretty hard—very realistic…”
Old Qin lay down on the bed, and his vision gradually went dark.
As his vision slowly returned, the first thing he saw was a dim lantern.
The lantern seemed to be hanging from the back of a wheelchair, in which sat an old man wearing a top hat. Because of the backlighting and the dim light in the room, his face was unclear.
The interior style matched the promotional videos—Victorian-era architecture—but this place looked like a clinic, with many IV bottles and hospital beds.
Everything felt old and eerie.
The old man in the wheelchair pushed himself closer to Old Qin, who was lying on the bed, and spoke in a hoarse voice.
“Hmm, you’ve come to the right place.”
“Yharnam is the home of blood ministration. You must uncover its mysteries.”
“Just let a little Yharnam blood flow through your veins.”
“But first, you need to sign a contract…”
The old man in the wheelchair handed over a thick book. Old Qin tried to sit up, but his whole body was weak and felt bound by something, so he could only lean forward slightly to see the contract’s contents.
It required registering details like age and background. These were essentially the same as the character selection screen at the start of *Dark Souls*. For example, under background, you could choose options like Coward, Survivor, Tragic Childhood, Brutal Past, Battlefield Veteran, Useless Waste, etc., which would affect the player’s initial stats upon entering the game.
Finally, there was a hidden face-customization button. Since *Bloodborne* directly read the player’s character appearance data from *Oasis*, it defaulted to no customization needed. However, if players had special face-customization needs, they could still do it themselves.