Rebirth is fine, but I get eight hundred dollars right from the start?

Lin Shu, who is ranked number one in the Chinese server and has a significant lead in Rank points, has finished his debut live stream on YY.

But the impact and shock that the ID Emperor brought to the League of Legends gaming community has only just begun.

First, within the industry.

The gift revenue exceeded 40,000 in one night, the peak number of real-time online users approached 70,000, and the number of interactive bullet comments was just a little short of breaking the 200,000 mark.

These three sets of data, when slammed onto the table, would make anyone gasp in shock.

What does this tell us?

This shows that Emperor is no longer just "a simple top player in the Chinese server".

This is clearly telling everyone that this person is a potential star with real packaging value and traffic potential.

No, it's not a potential stock, it's a stock with real strength.

It's worth noting that in 2012, even top streamers like Dong Xiaosa on YY's entire gaming sector only had a peak of 20,000 to 30,000 viewers online during weekend live streams.

Twenty or thirty thousand is already a very respectable figure.

When the Emperor arrived, it tripled.

More than 60,000.

While YY's early marketing and promotion certainly played a role, the natural appeal of its leading position in the ranked ladder also contributed to this success.

But you should know that until the moment Emperor ended his broadcast, there were still 50,000 to 60,000 people sitting steadily in the live stream room.

Fifty or sixty thousand people didn't come here just to watch the spectacle.

People are here to listen to the pros talk about their understanding of the game, to learn their skills, to wait for their next ranked match, or to flood the chat with questions like "What time does Emperor start streaming tomorrow?"

It is no exaggeration to say that 80% of this group has become his core audience.

What is the effect of a live stream? This is what we call the effect of a live stream.

You may have good skills and be able to attract fans. But the real skill is in retaining them.

The emperor has both advantages; what can others use to fight him?

Overnight, all the voices within YY that had previously harbored resentment towards Gu Feng for "offering Emperor a top-tier contract right from the start" disappeared.

Instead, they were replaced by a whole host of people who were farsighted, wise, and discerning.

It was as if they had never objected, as if this top-tier contract was the culmination of their collective wisdom from the very beginning.

Gu Feng said nothing about it, but silently printed out Lin Shu's backend data report and locked it in a drawer.

That's just how the world is. If you win, even your farts smell good.

"Emperor's homepage banner promotion has been temporarily extended to 3 days."

Gu Feng had his assistant take the data to the operations department, and this time no one stopped him in the slightest.

the reason is simple.

Just last night, the popularity of the 90001 main channel surged from 8 to 12!

In other words, the separate sub-channel created for Emperor did not divert much traffic; on the contrary, it further expanded the influence of the gaming section's live streaming.

For a streamer who can demonstrate sufficient commercial value in their debut broadcast, no one would refuse to invest further resources in them.

Outside the circle.

After Lin Shu's live stream ended, countless fan-made compilations of highlights were immediately created for him.

The topic is being discussed everywhere, from video platforms like Youku, Tudou, and Tencent Video to esports forums such as Baidu Tieba and Duowan Community.

[LOL Tieba - Pinned Hot Post]

Just watched Emperor's livestream, and the only way to describe it is as overwhelming!

（发帖时间：深夜1:47 浏览：3.2W｜回覆：1286｜点亮：2100+）

Main post: [No exaggeration, I've been playing since the Chinese server's open beta, and this is the first time I've seen a random player pull off something even pro players can't.]

[I watched the entire five-hour livestream, and to sum it up in one sentence: Emperor's game understanding far surpasses that of 99% of the top players in the Chinese server. The remaining 1% can barely understand Emperor's gameplay.]

[In the first game with Riven, he completely dominated the lane, trading kills with top and mid laners. His lane control, trades, cooldown management, and positioning were all impeccable. Compared to him, even high-elo players on the opposing team looked like complete novices.]

[The second game with Twisted Fate... never mind, you guys watch the replay yourselves. I can't describe it, I don't know how to put it into words. After playing League of Legends for two years, this is the first time I've realized that the minion wave's position can actually be manually controlled.]

[Also, stop saying you can only provide support when your Twisted Fate is level 6. Emperor's Twisted Fate, even before he had his ultimate at level 5, had already ganked the entire top and bottom lanes.]

The most terrifying champion was LeBlanc in the last game.

[I still don't understand the move where he used Flash + W to create distance, pulled the fake body back in front of him, and then blocked Caitlyn's ultimate.]

[I used to think that the number one player in the Chinese server with 2600 points was duo-queuing and that it was inflated, but now I admit: this person is simply number one, and the second-place player is not even in the same league as him.]

[PS: The second-ranked player in the Chinese server is that Graves player who flashed and killed himself.]

Hot comments:

[I think discussing whether this person's skill level is inflated is no different from insulting the entire Chinese server. From professional players to solo queue masters, anyone who gets matched with him gets schooled.]

[Let's talk about game understanding. I'm a player with a score of 2300, and I consider myself a pro, but the passive blocking of ultimate attacks instantly cleared my head. (Screenshot JPG)]

[Someone's understanding of the game has reached the point of studying passive abilities; their two apprentices have both reached 2400 points. You can't argue with that.]

Therefore, if Emperor had been the mid laner for either WE or IG in the S2 World Championship finals, I think the championship would have been ours.

[Hilarious! Before, all the streamers were bragging about being the best at a certain hero in the national server during their streams, but tonight they're all shut up. Seriously, when the real experts show up, the noobs have nowhere to hide.]

The most outrageous thing is that he didn't recklessly kill or play recklessly throughout all three games, and the opposing team never had a chance. It was as if your crystal was already waiting for the explosion countdown from the very start of the game.

[Latest meme in the Chinese server: You still lose even when you're matched with Emperor, did you buy your account?]

[Correction: Emperor can win even in 4v6 situations; his record is verifiable.]

On Tieba, most people's focus is on Lin Shu's extraordinary skills and performance.

The reactions of high-scoring creators on the Duowan Box forum, who usually focus on game guides, are what truly surprise ordinary players.

[Duowan LOL Forum - Homepage Hot Post]

The first appearance video of Emperor's dominant performance in the Ranked Championship has leaked! His gameplay completely overturns our understanding of the game.

[I've been making S2 mid-lane tutorials, but after watching the livestream yesterday, I completely overturned all my previous tutorials.]

[Emperor's card-based playstyle is undoubtedly superior to the current meta. Everyone is focused on laning, ganking, and only concerned with kills and gold; this player, however, controls global resources, the opponent's mentality, and the game's tempo.]

This understanding is unique to the Chinese server.

I used to think that the difference in skill level at higher ranks wasn't that big, and that it all came down to performance.

Tonight I finally understood that some people are truly born a level above others.

Riven's lane dominance, Twisted Fate's global vision, LeBlanc's psychological predictions... True to his name, Emperor is indeed the undisputed king of the Chinese server this season.

Weibo, LOL-related supertopics.

"No, what's wrong with the League of Legends community today? I woke up to everyone praising Emperor."

"As for it, being the number one player in the national server, does that mean he has two more hands than others?"

"A streamer who makes game guides isn't creating game guides, but instead analyzing another streamer. I've never seen anything like it."

"The guy upstairs clearly hasn't been watching Emperor's live streams or seen those highlight reels."

"Hey, whatever, is there any expert who can analyze Emperor's card strategy? I don't understand it at all, but it's incredibly powerful. This feeling of controlling the whole field is just so satisfying."

"First, you need to have the God-like perspective of Emperor."

From ordinary players and high-ranking casual players to professional players, the discussion surrounding Emperor's exaggerated performance in the Chinese server's ranked ladder has intensified.

When he mentioned the WE base, where they would be representing the CN region at ILP5, Abu's words completely ignited his anger.

"Thanks to Emperor, in last night's ranked game on the Chinese server, and in the brief exchange with Mingkai afterwards, the game understanding he showed provided WE with many invaluable tactical ideas. We are full of confidence in the IPL5 World Championship."

……

"So this is what it feels like to become famous overnight."

Lin Shu was holed up in his rented room, editing videos while scrolling through the overwhelming online discussions about himself, feeling a bit strange.

Who would have thought that just two weeks ago, he was a "net addict" teenager with only 800 yuan in his pocket, who had to make a living by doing online order processing for others.

To be honest, I wouldn't say I was particularly excited.

The year 2012 happened to be during the transitional period of the rapid and unregulated growth of League of Legends esports.

The professional system hasn't been established yet, there are only a few formal competitions, and most players come from internet cafe teams, where a monthly salary of two or three thousand yuan is considered high.

The land grab has just begun, and Lu Renwang has managed to carve out his own niche through live streaming and videos; he's not the first example.

Ultimately, this current excitement is just something the League of Legends community is having fun on its own.

Compared to the phenomenal success of IG and EDG's championship wins in later years, which swept the entire internet, caused a frenzy on social media, and even prompted your mother to ask you "Are you the one who plays games?", this current commotion is nothing compared to that.

Having lived two lives and cultivated his skills in League of Legends for over a decade, not to mention his game understanding that was a generation ahead of its time, just with the enhanced physical talent he gained after his rebirth, achieving similar results was only a matter of time.

The reason why it has generated such a terrifying level of discussion across the internet is likely due in no small part to YY's strong promotion behind the scenes.

At least those trending topics on Weibo, and the frame-by-frame analysis of his highlight reels by strategy streamers on Duowan Box, he really didn't believe they were "players spontaneously" created.

Can it spontaneously become the top trending search?

Can spontaneous push notifications be pushed across all platforms simultaneously?

Don't make your brother Lin laugh.

Considering the timing, Lin Shu could roughly guess the purpose behind the other party's massive investment of resources.

YY is spinning off its gaming division into Huya.

If you want to launch a new project and convince those shareholders who only care about data and not people, you need to have some solid evidence, right?

Who is the real deal?

Clearly, his sudden rise to the top of the national server was just a matter of luck; he simply happened to run into the line of fire.

A five-sided warrior with traffic, buzz, technology, looks, and program effects, lacking only a professional honor, he is the perfect model to serve as a showcase.

"Thanks!"

Lin Shu cupped his hands in a gesture towards a certain direction outside the window, his movements carrying a touch of江湖 (jianghu, a term referring to the world of martial arts and chivalry) and reminiscent of offering an unseen toast.

Although he had never met the future head of Huya and didn't even know what the other person looked like, he still received real benefits from the resources that the other party had poured into him.

Regardless of the other party's motives, he remembered this favor.

The live stream has over 1,300 blue-diamond users, and the number of regular fans who, according to the industry standard, post an average of more than three messages has exceeded 35,000.

As for the fan base...

He had prepared six fan groups in advance, each with a limit of one thousand people, which he felt was more than enough before the broadcast.

Before the live stream even ended, all six groups were already full, with red notification dots popping up everywhere, like firecrackers going off during Chinese New Year. The groups that were temporarily added were also instantly overwhelmed, forcing him to ask the platform staff to help create even more.

The fans who joined the group all possessed the unique qualities of esports players in this era; they were incredibly active, as if they were on steroids.

The speed at which messages flooded the group chat was dizzying; eight out of ten were similar.

"Emperor, when will the video of your lightning-fast QA be released?"

"Master, Master, hurry up with the Riven tutorial!"

"I watched the live stream last night and practiced all night, but I'm still stuck on the QA! Help!"

"Same as upstairs, I also get stuck, I feel like I'm disabled."

They're either asking about instructional videos, or on their way to ask about instructional videos.

The urge to climb the ranks is almost palpable.

Lin Shu smiled, opened the file transfer folder, and dragged out the already edited video.

Emperor@Everyone: The tutorial video for "[Lightning-Fast QA - Top Lane Overlord Riven from Beginner to Godlike!]" has been released.

The moment the message was sent, it was like a depth charge had been dropped into the group chat, with replies coming in rapid succession:

"Here it comes!"

"I've been waiting all night!"

"Liking before watching has become a habit."

"Brothers, I'm going to take a shower first, then we can chat after I've finished watching."

"I love it! Is this the benefit of being a fan? First to go online, get to enjoy it ahead of time."

Lin Shu didn't rush to reply to the lively chatter in the group. Instead, he turned around, opened the backend, and set the video to be uploaded to other platforms with a one-hour delay.

He became famous overnight.

The initial fan base has been established.

The second free instructional video was also released.

Next—it's time to "collect rice" (a metaphor for buying rice).

Yes, it's called "Quanmi".

Although, to put it more nicely, it's called commercial monetization.

But in reality, it's still just about losing money and making a pittance.

There's nothing we can do. Despite having hundreds of thousands of fans and incredibly high viewership in his live streams, YY still has a full two weeks until payday.

The balance in my bank account doesn't lie; I'm still a complete pauper.

He really didn't want to renew his rent of 500 yuan a month for a second month. The paint on the walls was peeling off, and the water heater was malfunctioning. Taking a shower in the dead of winter would be freezing cold.

If you want to improve your life and take it a step further, you have to put your Taobao store on the agenda in your live streams and videos.

Lin Shu wiggled his fingers and opened the private message backend.

"Let's see... how many discerning investors... oh no, future partners, will send me private messages by now?"

He rolled up his sleeves and began sifting through the envelopes one by one.

"Youchen... As expected, Master Lin can't escape the fate of starting out selling meat floss pancakes."

He sighed, but a smile played on his lips, as he typed the first name into the memo.

There's no way around it; the first step for esports streamers to monetize their content—selling pork floss pancakes—was practically an ironclad rule in 2012, and no one could avoid it.

If you don't believe me, go look at the shops of those top livestreamers. Eight out of ten of them have a link to pork floss cakes on their homepage, and their sales figures are all incredibly high.

"Hongxiangji... was established in 1993, it's a long-established brand, mainly making meat jerky, meat strips, braised dishes, and hand-shredded meat jerky, these are all meat snacks." Lin Shu flipped through the product list and qualification documents sent by the other party, squinted and recalled his memories from his previous life, "If I remember correctly, this brand hasn't had any major scandals in my later life, it's worth a try."

As he muttered to himself, he added Hongxiangji to the list.

When he scrolled to the next private message, Lin Shu's expression suddenly became subtle.

"Holy crap, have the Razer guys lost their minds?"

His eyes widened as he read through the cooperation proposal sent by the other party from beginning to end again. "Sponsorship so quickly? They're not even considering reselling for the major distributor role... or sourcing... Brother, if I had money, I could not only sell your products, I could even build my own e-sports platform, believe it or not?"

He rubbed his temples, looking speechless.

Razer's actions are like inviting you to a meal out of nowhere, only to refuse to order food when you later want to treat them.

Is that generous?

Generous.

is that useful?

Useless.

A keyboard and mouse set costs at most a few hundred yuan. The real profit comes from distributors and agents. The other party only accepts wholesale purchases?

"Alright, if we don't have Razer, we still have A4Tech." Lin Shu didn't care too much and continued to scroll down, "SteelSeries, E-Blue... they're not bad either, they're all established brands, and the quality is reliable."

Lin Shu wrote more and more on the notebook with the carbon pen. A few minutes later, his gaze fell on a private message with the title "Prepaid Card Agent Cooperation" and his brows furrowed slightly.

"Prepaid cards... I think I'll pass on those."

He marked the message as read without hesitation, without even replying. "It's easy to cause trouble, there's no need to create problems for myself."

How many streamers have had their money stolen by prepaid cards back in the day?

Top-up ratios, black cards, money laundering... the waters are too deep, and a newbie streamer like him shouldn't get involved in this mess.

After a round of screening, Lin Shu put down his pen and stretched.

The memo contained several names neatly arranged: Youchen, Hongxiangji, Shuangfeiyan, Sairui, Yibo, and a garment factory from the coastal areas of Jiangsu and Zhejiang.

He carefully selected these products from countless private messages from potential partners, based on the product categories he initially planned for his Taobao store.

"Alright, that's all for the first episode."

Lin Shu looked at the list on the screen and grinned. "Next, we'll negotiate terms with each of them."