Pokémon, but cultural invasion.

Quanshu stared blankly at the starry sky, lost in thought.

Under the same starry sky, some people are enjoying a delicious meal, while others are munching on pickled vegetables and steamed buns, and perhaps Rayquaza is even snacking on small meteorites.

The city of Niangguang, in the Padiya region, thousands of miles away.

The owner of Niangguang Restaurant, who just started his main and side business of live streaming, finished his daily meal to maintain his vital signs—cold bean sprout salad.

Feeling no sign of fullness, she rubbed her shrunken stomach, staring blankly at the striped ceiling, and couldn't help but wonder:

"Am I going to starve to death like this?"

Chapter 9: Qishu's live stream results were not ideal.

As we all know, Gym Leaders, Elite Four Members, and Champions in the Pokémon world often have their own side hustles that they love.

Karen, the Carlos champion who is obsessed with acting, Steven, the Hoenn champion who digs for rocks all over the world, and Giovanni, the evergreen gym owner who runs his company in a law-abiding manner.

A more extreme example is Aoki, the model office worker and owner of the Kinko Hotel in the Padiya region.

For most dojo owners, the dojo is their job, while their side business is their livelihood.

Many dojo owners have the idea of ​​"giving up their dojos and focusing on side hustles".

Kiju, the newly appointed Gym Leader of Buzzwole City, also thinks that Electric-type Pokémon are the best specialization.

She has never felt happy being a dojo owner; her dream has always been to become a popular live streamer who is all the rage in the region.

Unfortunately, Qishu's live stream performance was not ideal.

The number of followers of the channel named "DianDian Live Room" is only third-rate in the entire video website and live streaming platform.

As a new streamer, she has a small fan base, consisting mainly of trainers who come to learn tactics because of her status as a gym leader, or people who are just browsing online and are drawn to her looks.

The fan loyalty of these two types of viewers is practically nonexistent.

Qi Shu estimated that if he didn't have the status of a museum owner, his number of fans and video views would be even lower.

The reason for this is that the path of becoming an online idol is too complicated.

At the pinnacle of idol popularity are Carlos champion and famous actress Karune; the top model of the Unova region, known as the "Shining Light," Raven Housekeeper Kiku; and the dark-skinned beauty Lurina, also a top model from Galarian Waterfowl Town.

Each of them wields terrifying dominance and a strong fan base in their respective regions.

In the T2 tier, there's Kanali, a down-to-earth online streamer from Miare, who is very popular among civil engineers.

Qishu despairingly discovered that the other party shared the same attribute as him; both were proficient in Electric-type attacks, and their main selling point was live streaming...

Qi Shu, who had just reached the T3 level, was naturally kicked to death.

But she did not give up and persevered despite the difficulties.

Good morning and good afternoon!

"Who is narrating this wondrous tale? It is I, the wondrous tree!"

In front of the camera, a beautiful girl with a Magnemite doll on her forehead and pink and blue pigtails recites her opening remarks with great energy.

The live stream chat was sparse, with only a few comments.

"Qishu started broadcasting later than usual today."

"Here it comes! Here it comes!"

"Is the streamer still broadcasting matches today? Looking forward to new tactics."

Qi Shu glanced at the comments, skillfully opened the battle platform, and revealed a sweet smile.

"Battles are definitely the main theme of the live stream, and I hope to get matched with an opponent soon."

As the head of the Brewing Light Hall, she is quite strong, and her skills are at the master level in both singles and doubles.

Once you reach the Master level, your opponents will basically be gym leaders, top players, or even champions.

Therefore, each match takes a considerable amount of time.

There's no way around it; a battle between evenly matched opponents is what the audience wants to see. Stomping on weaker opponents will only be looked down upon.

During the boring matchmaking time, Qishu would sometimes play mini-games, and sometimes chat with the viewers in the live chat.

"Hey streamer, have you seen that game trailer that's been all the rage on Pikachu lately?"

"Have you seen the trailer for Plants vs. Ghosts?"

Do you think crowdfunding is a reliable method?

Suddenly, the scattered comments increased, with everyone talking at once.

Kiki's eyes flickered. Although she didn't know about the promotional video the audience was discussing, she could watch it live.

I was just about to open the pickup truck.

[Ding! You have been matched with an equally matched opponent.]

"Unfortunately, we can only focus on the battle at hand for now."

Qi Shu shook his head, clearing his mind of all distractions. His opponent was equally powerful, and he could be defeated if he wasn't careful.

Her opponent in this round is Brock, the Gym Leader of Pine Gym in the Kanto region.

"This is a very bad situation..."

Against Ground and Rock-type Pokémon, which are almost entirely Electric-type Pokémon, Miracle is at a great disadvantage.

Fifteen minutes later.

Mega Steelix swam among the Electric-types, and her Electric Belly Frog was knocked away on the spot.

"I appreciate your concession."

The squinty-eyed, bronze-skinned man opposite them gave them a look that said, "You won already? I thought it was a speed bump?"

End the match.

"Takeshi is a very strong gym leader. I look forward to his next match."

Qi Shu had a stiff smile on his face, but his shark teeth were grinding together so hard they were almost impossible to hide.

The more she thought about it, the angrier she became. She quickly matched into the next game, completely forgetting about the promotional video.

However, luck seemed to be against Qishu.

Her next opponent is Galer champion Dante, who regularly streams to solicit sponsorships.

As expected, the electric frog was beaten to a pulp again.

The strange tree above gritted its teeth: "I really don't believe it. I'll win one game and then go to sleep!"

The streamer, who finished the night with a score of 0-6, ended his broadcast in disgrace amidst words of comfort from the chat.

After three hours of live streaming, the viewership actually decreased.

Qi Shu looked at the steadily declining number of viewers and felt like crying.

After finishing her daily vital signs support meal, she lay back in her computer chair, staring blankly at the ceiling covered with lightning bolt stripes.

"Am I going to starve to death like this?"

To support his live streaming career, Qishu used his dojo owner's salary to buy various equipment and purchased websites to promote his meticulously produced videos.

With no savings and a salary that barely covers the cost, the only option left is to shamelessly mooch a meal at the Pokémon Center in Mouri City, right?

"No, a strange tree."

"You are a one-in-a-million live-streaming genius, and you will become famous throughout the nine regions sooner or later."

After a while of self-hypnosis, she suddenly remembered the popular promotional video that was being discussed at the beginning of the live stream.

Get up and open the Pikachu.

This is the second video from the top in the "Hot Topics of the Week" series.

Kiki saw the "extremely popular promotional video" that the audience was talking about.

"A revolutionary tower defense game; those who don't play it are destined for a relatively unsuccessful life."

"That's great, I want to be on the trending list too."

Qi Shu felt envious when she thought about how her carefully prepared video, which she had bought traffic for, only got 200,000 views, while this new blogger's viral video easily became popular.

She immediately took out her notebook, ready to study seriously.

At that time, we will take the best and discard the worst. If someone asks, "Why do your videos look so much like so-and-so's?"

It happened, that's all.

As the video played—and ended—Qishu fell silent.

She's good at filming lifestyle vlogs and creating some live entertainment, but she's definitely not cut out for games or promotional videos.

How do I learn this?

Even more surprisingly, the crowdfunding campaign proposed by the creators is being accepted by a growing number of viewers.

It's trending on social media again, and it's crowdfunding for games...

Qi Shu really wanted to know: How could you eat and take things at the same time!

However, given the current hype surrounding the promotional video, once the developers actually release the game, it will attract the attention of countless players.

Many players are also willing to pay for it.

Qi Shu keenly sensed an opportunity, a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.

She may not know how to make games, but she knows how to play them!

The screen's glow illuminated her delicate face, her inner turmoil and struggle lingering between light and shadow.

Do we really have to gamble with this month's meager food allowance?

In the end, Qi Shu made up her mind. In order not to regret it, she quickly transferred the remaining balance in her card to the crowdfunding channel below the video.

128 is enough to qualify for the fourth tier of donations for art and design.

Qi Shu was obviously not interested in environmental art design; what she wanted was distribution channels.

As a bonus, there's a channel to communicate with the game developers.

Chapter 10 What era are we living in that we're still using traditional training?

"The plan to exploit loopholes is not progressing smoothly."

Quanshu kept an eye on the crowdfunding account backend, and the vast majority of donations were stuck at the price point of 24 yuan for the game itself.

Large remittances are rare, and even fewer donors express an intention to participate in game development.

His initial fantasy of attracting a steady stream of funds and even getting a group of free helpers by simply making empty promises was destined to be shattered.

But it's not really a problem. When there are enough funds, Quanshu can hire professionals to do the work, which will just increase the cost.

In two days, he will consider posting job openings for art, music, programming, and other related positions on job search websites.

Choose to log off in the alley next to the Dark Grey City Game City.

After a brief period of blurred vision and dizziness, Izumi opened her eyes on the wooden bed in her room.

"The familiar ceiling."

After a quick wash, Quanshu grabbed her schoolbag and squeezed onto the bus back to school.

Even though he now has a huge sum of money in his bank account in the Pokémon world, his father still has to do heavy work in the hotel kitchen, and his mother still has to work in the factory in three shifts.

Currently, the easiest way to improve the lives of yourself and your family is to enter a Trainer Academy and obtain a professional certificate.

Becoming a Trainer grants access to a multitude of privileges offered by the Galactic Federation, a transformation akin to passing the imperial examinations in ancient feudal dynasties.

The path to entering a Trainer High School through the district-wide unified examination is certainly unfair, but there is no other choice.

In the morning, we had a cultural studies class, which focused on history.

"Palcia and Dialga awoke from the Void, and a fierce battle ensued between them. The aftershocks of the battle tore the universe apart, and from then on, the world had the concepts of space and time."

Quanshu rested her chin on her hand, listening to the middle-aged teacher's monotone, emotionless lecture.

He was quite interested in the mythology and history of this world.