Lanyu · Conversa

Friday night at 7 PM, you lazily open this stream again. There's no camera, only the game interface—the Identity V Rank Match queue, a Peak Tier 7 account waiting. In the corner of the screen hangs that familiar ID: *Squid is a Talent*. The number of viewers is skyrocketing, and the bullet chat is already flooded. As usual, the streamer offers no opening remarks, only the faint sounds of a keyboard and mouse, followed by a rustle—a lighter being picked up, flicked, and set back down. A puff of smoke is slowly exhaled, his voice coming through the mic low and raspy, with a smoky laziness. Then, he speaks. "Yeah, the Yangtze is the mother river, and the Yellow River is also the mother river, so we are the children of 'Lala' (Lesbians). The Yellow Emperor is male, and the Yan Emperor is male, so we are also the children of 'Gege' (Gays). Since we are children of both Lala and Gege, we are 'Laji' (Trash). We were also created by Nüwa, so we are children of Narcissus. We are the descendants of Yan and Huang, raised by mother rivers, so we are children of Gays raised by Lesbians. All things considered, we are children of a Gala Game." The bullet chat explodes. [Don't Want School]: Huh??? [Asleep Yet]: I'm dropping out to study this sentence. [AAA Construction Boss Wang]: Not cool, bro. [Happy Kitty]: Are you just saying whatever you dreamed about? [User Deleted]: I don't get it, but it makes so much sense. [AAA Pineapple Wholesale Sister Liu]: 666 [Pure Virgin Female Cockroach]: Is my life over? [AAA Crematorium Front Desk]: Someone feed him rat poison. [AAA Custom Coffins Free Shipping]: Spread the word: Squid is trash. [User 75249631]: Hahahahaha what the hell is this? [Mental Hospital Deputy Director]: Discharged! [Already Blackened]: Saved to favorites. [Invincible Tyrannosaurus Warrior]: You done? I want to sleep when you're done. [Don't Ask I Don't Know]: Just got here. Is he chanting sutras? [AAA Professional Sewer Unblocker]: Didn't catch that. Say it again. [User 87463215]: Screenshotting this. [Xiao Ming's Grandma]: So we are trash. Got it. Match found. He glances at the screen, his hands already picking a character while his mouth doesn't stop. Joseph locked in. Persona traits switched in a second—Trump Card, No One Escapes, Claustrophobia, Destructive Urge, Blink. Everything is done within seconds, fingers tapping lightly and quickly on the keyboard. Of course, the bullet chat never lacks another kind of voice. [Just for Clout]: Isn't this just for clout? Out here begging, huh? [Buying You a Coffin Lid]: Why hide behind no camera? [Show Hands to Prove Skill]: Must be a booster. He happens to catch these few messages. Without a pause, and without even changing his tone—still that 'dead inside' vibe, just a half-beat faster—he responds: "What do you mean 'bowing to life'? I've already knelt to life. Every day I'm playing the pig to eat pig sh*t. Everyone else is drunk, but I'm so drunk I've crapped my pants. No one treats me like a villain, and no one treats me like a human. My peers are all wasting their days on stale memes, and I'm just like them—emerging from the mud and being completely stained, washing in the clear ripples and becoming totally demonic. If I'm poor, I move; if I'm rich, I'm lewd. The student surpasses the master in failure; one mountain is always lower than the next. No one supports my lofty ambitions, and I can't get up there myself anyway. What doesn't kill me keeps hitting me. Those who look down on me are too lazy to look at me now. I come from the masses, go to the masses, and get smashed to pieces by the masses. I don't dare look up and smile bitterly, fearing God will think I'm being defiant. Anyone can come date me, because I spend most of my time on my phone, leaving plenty of time for you to cheat. Enemy-chan, my life is even more bitter than before; do you want to come mock me? I won't be the object of your envy, nor will I be your partner." The chat goes silent for half a second... [Read and Replied Randomly]: AAAAAHHHHH [AAA Syrian War-Damaged Style Decor]: Stop roasting, stop roasting! [AAA Professional Ex-Boyfriend Recycler]: I came online to browse, not to look in a mirror. [Meituan Rider Ah Qiang]: Streamer, stop reciting. [AAA Automatic Argument Machine]: Someone's triggered, and I won't say who. [Cilantro Get Out of Earth]: Screenshot taken. This is my new status update. [AAA Slacking Research Center]: Keep learning. Knowledge is infinite. [AAA All-Nighter Champion]: Can I record this? I want it as my alarm. As his voice trails off, the game finishes loading. Arms Factory map. The opposing Survivor team is revealed—Seer, Mercenary, Priestess, Prospector. A standard meta team. The chat keeps escalating. [Don't Want to Work]: Here we go, here we go. [AAA 30 Years of Professional Slacking]: You're going to jail, streamer. [AAA Front Row Seeds & Peanuts]: Place your bets. How many minutes until he tilts? [User Blackened]: Against this comp? GGs. [AAA Custom Coffins Free Shipping]: I'd surrender already. [Xiao Ming's Grandpa]: Say something, streamer. Say something. [Woke Up Again]: Streamer, you still there? [User 999999]: He's there. Smoking. [AAA Wholesaling Happiness]: The chain-smoker is online. [Don't Want to Live]: Streamer, stop smoking and look at me. He controls Joseph to walk out from the spawn point, humming a tuneless melody under his breath, his tone returning to that lazy drawl. "Shut your mouths and watch carefully. Learn. Oh wait, you guys can't learn this anyway."