The news that Donnie Yin was playing an incredibly awesome new domestic VR game gradually spread throughout the StreamVerse platform as Donnie's stream viewership continued to climb.
Right now, the hottest stream on all of StreamVerse was Donnie's 'StreamVerse No.1 Voice' channel, and the gap between his viewership and the second-place streamer was widening rapidly.
Consequently, a large number of streamers, curious, flocked to Donnie's channel to see just what kind of domestic VR game could generate such massive hype.
At the same time.
"Queen V," another popular streamer on StreamVerse, was also live, playing a game. As one of the platform's top female streamers, her viewership was usually very high.
However, after starting her stream today, she felt something was off.
The number of chat messages wasn't right.
Although the on-screen chat still looked packed, the scrolling speed in her chat list sidebar was noticeably slower than usual by several beats.
"Alright, chat!" Queen V exclaimed.
"Something's fishy today!"
"Are you all secretly watching some other cute streamer behind my back?!"
The chat responded:
[Everyone's gone to watch Donnie. Who's here watching you go wild? Lol~]
[Watching a VR game. That VR game is freaking insane!]
[Seriously, even though the theme is basketball, it's super sci-fi and incredibly fun. And the graphics and AI are definitely in a league of their own on the current market.]
[The game's called Kuroko's Basketball VR: Middle School Arc. It just launched not too long ago. It's almost 350 Gigs! I'm still downloading it…]
[After watching Donnie's stream, I went to download it too. But so many people are downloading it that DMM, which is usually a niche game platform, actually crashed. The download speed is getting slower and slower.]
[The developer contacted Donnie directly. He was probably the first person to download the game. I'm so freaking jealous I can't play it right now.]
Queen V had just started the topic, and then she realized her entire chat had derailed onto that VR game.
She frowned. "Kuroko's Basketball?"
Queen V clearly didn't know about the game. But it wasn't her fault; KuroBas VR had only premiered on Donnie's stream tonight, and it had been, at most, two hours.
However, within those two hours, KuroBas VR was climbing the trending charts on various social media platforms, short video apps, and sites like Bilibili (or a Western equivalent like YouTube/Twitch clips) at rocket speed.
Right now, if you opened any popular app, you'd basically see topics about KuroBas VR. Everyone was talking about its unparalleled production quality and the novel sci-fi basketball theme that showcased such high technical prowess.
It wasn't just Queen V.
Professor Play.
Captain Casual.
The Gaffer.
Ditsy Dani.
And other popular streamers all noticed a drop in their viewership.
Everyone quickly figured out the problem from their chat messages and headed straight to Donnie's stream to "raid" or check out his channel.
Professor Play: "This game… it's something else, isn't it…"
Captain Casual: "A basketball game? Not gonna lie, before I became a streamer, I was quite the athlete myself. This game is perfect for me!"
Ditsy Dani: "Is that handsome guy in the game actually Donnie?"
Queen V: "Please, don't be thirsty in this chat. That character in the game is just a middle school first-year. Have some decency!"
Ditsy Dani: "He's so hot! I don't care, I want to play it too!"
......
When the big streamers came to check out his channel, Donnie's stream was right at the part where the 'protagonist,' Ethan Woods, met Kuroko Tetsuya.
The two of them went to sign up for the basketball club together, and then the game entered a CG phase that Donnie couldn't control.
This CG was clearly auto-generated based on the story progression choices Donnie had made while playing.
The content mainly involved Ethan and Kuroko Tetsuya signing up for the basketball club and being placed in the same class, interspersed with many slice-of-life segments.
For instance, Ethan Woods getting caught sleeping in class by the teacher, being approached by a beautiful girl sitting next to him, and comical scenes of him routinely being unable to find his classmate Kuroko Tetsuya.
The CG continued until it fast-forwarded to the basketball club.
[Impressive! It can actually auto-generate CGs. If Donnie hadn't chosen to chase after Kuroko Tetsuya earlier and had decided to meet other people instead, it might have been a completely different CG.]
[Ah! Youth is so wonderful!]
[Him sleeping in class was hilarious! It would have been even more entertaining if the teacher had called his parents.]
['I don't deal with Donnie's parents,' right? Hahaha!]
[LMAO~ 'I don't deal with Donnie's parents; whoever wants to deal with them can deal with them~']
[Are there really this many first-year rookies at Teiko?]
[Finally at the Teiko basketball club! I bet there's going to be a tryout or assessment storyline.]
Following Donnie's perspective, a large group of first-year team rookies entered the Teiko gym—or rather, one of Teiko's basketball gyms.
This made everyone in the live stream marvel at Teiko Middle School's wealth and resources.
As soon as they pushed open the gym doors, they heard a barrage of shouts from inside.
"Are you slacking off?! Faster, faster! Give it your all!"
"Idiot! Why didn't you take the shot yourself just now?!"
"Passing just for the sake of passing! You think you can make it to the first-string like that?!"
Donnie walked into the gym with the crowd. A quick scan of the group, and sure enough, he couldn't find any trace of Kuroko again. That light blue hair should have been quite conspicuous. This made him once again realize that Kuroko's 'low presence' was definitely a remarkable trait.
This indoor gym was massive, with four official-sized basketball courts lined up side by side. Even with numerous Teiko players already training, one of the courts had still been left vacant for these new recruits.
"New students, gather here!"
With a loud whistle blast, all the wandering youths quickly assembled in front of a middle-aged man in a black suit and black-framed glasses, with a lean face.
Gathered like this, they looked even more numerous.
Although he couldn't find Kuroko in the crowd, he could easily spot the familiar faces he was particularly interested in.
And the game camera, at this moment, also kept switching focus, following Donnie's gaze.
Akashi.
Aomine Daiki.
And the 'Tall Guy' and 'Mr. Horoscope,' whose names Donnie didn't know yet.
"Huh?"
"Why does it seem like one is missing?"
"Where's Blondie?"
The chat was active:
[Man, there must be close to a hundred people here.]
[LOL, these Generation of Miracles guys really stand out. When the camera panned just now, you could recognize them instantly.]
[This gym, hss~ So jealous!]
[Go for it, Donnie! Dare to take down the Generation of Miracles! You'll be the new Generation of Miracles!]
[Donnie's right, where's the blond-haired Generation of Miracles guy?]
[Why is one person missing?]