I Will Never Submit to Miss Grim Reaper - Chapter 351

Chapter 351: Jialan and Nuo’er

In just five or six minutes, Gabriel performed a series of maneuvers in front of tens of thousands of live stream viewers and the crowd at Little Bird Leisure Bar that were comparable to an epic blockbuster movie.

Xiao Mo didn’t know, but at least for me, I couldn’t replicate her moves.

Previously, I read game reviews where people said that the grappling hook in this game has the lowest floor and highest ceiling of any tool, but the training time and reward ratio are disproportionate.

Most people might need several months of practice to freely control their direction in the air, but in that same amount of time, an average player could craft a small handgun or imbue some melee weapons with magical properties to collect loot from minor wormholes.

In “Age of Aquarius,” wormholes can’t be controlled for their destination, but you can set some parameters. Newbies, with no tools, should go to more moderate locations, stay near the wormhole, and just pick up items off the ground without venturing far. Veterans might bring a gun or a knife and venture hundreds of meters away, capable of fending off small monsters.

As for the grappling hook? Imagine ending up in a place full of lava, like where Gabriel was. One mistake in the air, and you could fall into a lava pool, depleting your health bar instantly and losing all your gear.

If you have time to practice this, following a strategy guide would be more efficient. There are materials everywhere outside the wormholes, picking up random items and selling them can make money. Why bother with something so difficult?

“This path leads directly to the first dark matter vein, and there seems to be a gold mine nearby.”

Gabriel said into her microphone while leading her completely astonished teammates across the lava-filled and iron-rich alien surface.

“After reaching the first vein, head 32 degrees northeast for 153 meters to find another dark matter vein next to a cave filled with diamond mines.”

“Diamonds?!”

The man who had been the most vocal before exclaimed, “Will they be worth a lot? I don’t recall hearing about finding diamonds in the beta test…”

“Diamonds have limited use here, they are generally used as decorative items,” Gabriel responded calmly.

“If you had to compare, they’re probably about as valuable as a particularly pretty rose by the roadside.”

“That can’t be true, they’re diamonds!” Another man interjected. “A friend of mine spent nearly a hundred thousand yuan on a diamond ring for his wedding.”

“Even though I also like shiny things, diamonds themselves are not inherently valuable,” Gabriel continued in her calm tone.

“Unless the people marketing diamonds in our world can enter this game and start a similar marketing campaign.”

As the strongest intellect in the café, Gabriel was rational most of the time, aside from her obsessions with games and light. Angels are naturally drawn to light like moths to a flame, and Gabriel’s personal hobby was indulging in games.

Since she didn’t need to sleep, Gabriel often spent her free time learning various common knowledge about this world with Fei Luo. She had heard a bit about the marketing of diamonds.

Xiao Mo had also mentioned that in the other world, due to the presence of magic, there were all sorts of bizarre terrains. They even used magic to visit the moon of their planet.

On one of these moons, the ground was almost entirely covered in diamonds, which could be scooped up by the handful. During violent weather, diamonds would sometimes even rain down from the sky.

Diamonds, or carbon-12, are essentially just a form of carbon, which is a common element. In the other world, without the concept of marketing diamonds for weddings, these stones were no more valuable than flowers on a windowsill or pebbles by the roadside.

“I’m impressed. Miss, who exactly are you? People in my stream are saying we got matched with the best female streamer in the world. Is that true?”

“Really? I just started streaming yesterday. They might be exaggerating.”

“Started yesterday? Then you must be a small streamer. I have around 30,000 viewers in my stream. If you just started yesterday, having three to four thousand viewers today would be pretty impressive.”

“My viewer count? Right now, it’s 980,000.”

“……”

After nearly half a month of discussions between Su Yunjin, Tongmeng Network, and other relevant parties, they finally decided on Gabriel’s public persona: a cool, aloof girl, a tech-savvy nerd, and an absolute master-level technical streamer.

In fact, calling it a persona is not entirely accurate, as this is precisely how Gabriel is when she’s gaming. Normally, Gabriel might act a bit more girlish when she’s with Xiao Mo, Fei Luo, and me, but as soon as something serious is involved, she becomes very solemn, almost approaching the demeanor of a “cool, aloof girl.” For example, when we first met, she spoke to us as the “Archangel,” giving off this exact vibe.

For Gabriel, games might be akin to the “order of paradise.” No matter what, games have rules set by the developers, and everyone must follow these rules to play fairly.

Gabriel’s previous job as an archangel was similar. It’s said that the people of Holy Heaven issued rules through things like the “Otherworldly Bible,” ensuring that everyone adhered to them. As long as they obeyed and made offerings, angels and church officials would protect their country.

“Gabriel sounds like an angel’s name. Miss, are you a foreigner by any chance?”

“Yes.”

“A foreigner? I don’t believe it. What’s your foreign name? Lucy? Alice?”

“Gabriel.”

“……”

Seeing that Gabriel had excellently completed her first game livestream, and with numerous fans in her chat claiming they had recorded clips, I patted Xiao Mo’s shoulder, signaling that she could let me down.

“Don’t you want to watch a bit more?” Xiao Mo asked, somewhat reluctantly. “There aren’t many customers upstairs anyway.”

“No, I want to get back to work,” I quickly shook my head. “I’ve seen enough.”

I already knew what was coming next: Gabriel’s streaming session today was basically a “grappling hook solo show.” Regardless of anything else, the live stream was extremely effective.

Once those recordings are uploaded one after another to various video sites, viewers will undoubtedly become interested in “Age of Aquarius” or Gabriel’s livestream.

They’ll download the game to try it themselves, painstakingly craft a grappling hook, find it incredibly hard to use, and instantly become Gabriel’s devoted fans. Gabriel’s livestream viewership will soar, the number of people recording her streams will increase, and those videos will attract even more fans… and so on.

Gabriel’s in-game name is just Gabriel, but the game doesn’t have “unique IDs.” Everyone has a unique UID, which is mostly hidden, and you can change your name freely with a cooldown of one week.

When I was choosing my in-game name, I spent a long time thinking about it. I initially wanted to choose a somewhat “tough guy” name, but Xiao Mo wouldn’t allow it. In the end, we chose parts of our real names and combined them into couple names.

My in-game name is Jialan Nuo’er, and Xiao Mo’s is Jialan Xiamo. This combination clearly shows that both names are linked to our real names and the company “Xiongxiong.”

Jialan is a climbing plant of the lily family, Liliaceae, which loves warm and humid climates. It grows well in moist, soft, and tender places and is even the national flower of some countries. Using it as a surname is actually quite nice.

“Mmm… I wanted Nuo’er to sit a bit longer,” Xiao Mo expressed some regret when she heard I insisted on leaving.

“Nuo’er’s place is so soft and comfortable, that’s probably why Fei Luo and the others like to ride girls.”

“When did you become such a pervert?” I teased, feeling a bit overwhelmed.

“Quick… uh, let me down.”

Xiao Mo crouched slightly to let me hop down.

“If anyone feels tired, you can sit on the benches outside for a while. The big screen is there too, or you can have some sour plum juice, it’s all free!”

I announced after landing, quickly bringing over various chairs and arranging them for the people crowded here.

“If you like, you can also follow Gabriel’s livestream, thank you!”

After sorting everything out, I took the elevator to the first floor, placed the map in its spot, and headed to the kitchen.

“Chef Wang, do we have any snacks here? We need a lot.”

“A lot of snacks? No, I’m still busy preparing lunch,” Master Wang replied, stirring while looking puzzled. “What’s going on?”

“Nothing much, it’s just that there are too many viewers downstairs, and I can see everyone is getting tired of standing, so I thought on Gabriel’s first day of streaming, we could give out some snacks.”

I glanced around the kitchen. “Do we have tapioca pearls?”

“Over there,” Master Wang pointed to a small bucket not far away.

“I’ll handle it,” I said.

I had watched videos and learned how to make some snacks myself, and rice bubbles made with tapioca pearls were one of them.

I took out the tapioca pearls from the bucket, washed and soaked them. Meanwhile, I heated up cooking oil in a pot. When the oil was hot enough, I poured the soaked tapioca pearls into the pot and stirred them continuously with a small spatula until they turned golden brown. Then, I carefully scooped them out and set them aside.

Next, I washed the pot and added water, some white sugar, maltose, and honey. I simmered the mixture until most of the water evaporated, creating a sticky maltose and honey syrup.

I poured the fried tapioca pearls into the syrup, stirred and heated them until the syrup coated the crispy rice evenly.

I added some raisins while the mixture was still sticky, then quickly found cat paw molds from the nearby cabinet. I poured the rice syrup mixture into the molds and waited for the syrup to cool and solidify. Soon, I had made some beautiful and delicious cat paw rice bubbles.

This snack is called different names in different places. Some call it rice cake, some call it rice bubbles, some call it rice flowers, or rice crumbs. Anyway, it’s a combination of rice and syrup. Some places prefer to use brown sugar, resulting in rice bubbles with a reddish hue. After drying, the mixture is cut into pieces using a knife.

“Anyway, the café has ready-made cat paw molds, so no need to cut. Pour the mixture in, let it solidify, and you’ll have a cat paw. Repeat a few times, and you’ll have a pot of cat paw rice bubbles.”

“Everyone, you really don’t need to stand. You can have some snacks.”

I packed the pot of cat paws into small paper bags and took them to the Bird’s Nest Leisure Bar while they were still warm, distributing them to the audience who were still watching Jia Bairi’s personal show.

I’m not a chef, theoretically, I shouldn’t be handling everything alone like this for the customers, but since this is free of charge, it can be seen as a kind of gift between friends.

“If you’re thirsty, you can have some water or fruit juice. There’s an automatic water dispenser at the bar.”

After sorting out things at the leisure bar, I wiped the sweat off my forehead and, together with Xiao Mo, went to the staff rest area. I opened Ouyang Xue’s map and stuck it on the wall.

“Alright, let’s choose the destination for the first honeymoon!”

“……”

……