"Thank you for the donation, KaizerDog. Wow! Thank you for 500 diamonds, SirAlpha! I do love the game! It is really fun! Let's get to the last round before ending the stream."
In the dimly lit room, the young man sat poised in front of his computer, a tangle of wires connecting him to curious contraptions of medical equipment.
A wide grin stretched across his face and, ignoring the whirring of the machine, he pressed start. His eyes twinkled with excitement as he continued the game.
The computer screen before him flickered to life as the black loading screen disappeared and the game booted– its bright display was the only source of light besides the yellow ambiance of the lamp.
With every keystroke and mouse click, he navigated through the game. Each kill invited the chat of his streaming application to explode in cheers.
— Woah!! Triple kill!
— Can he get a rampage? Go rampage!
"Hahaha, I think that's impossible..."
At that moment, a beeping sound rang in the headphones he wore. An alert popped up on the second monitor.
[CrazyRich has started a mission.]
[Stream Mission: 10,000 diamonds if you get a rampage.]
"... But I will try."
He accepted the mission.
— Hahahaha, he got fired up!
— Of course, it's 10,000 diamonds!
The chat became more active with the mission given by the viewers.
His concentration immediately peaked as he delved deeper into the game. The images on the screen morphed and swirled; each scene showed his character killing his enemy's soldiers one by one.
Time seemed to blur as he continued to play and stream, the machine silently ensuring his well-being as he lost himself in the game.
With each kill and each chat that appeared, his happiness radiated. In this extraordinary moment, he felt alive.
'This is fun.'
Even if his viewers only hit around 500, they were here to watch him play. There was nothing to stop him in the game, and streaming was the only way he could talk to other people out there.
What made him regret was...
"Thanks for today! I want to continue, but I need to go right now."
That he did not have enough time to enjoy it.
— Good job!
— That rampage was satisfying!
— You're the best, Breeze!
— See you tomorrow!
Seeing the chat, the young man's hand froze before he clicked the end stream.
'See you tomorrow.' He repeated the word in his mind, and his smile disappeared.
"Yeah." He said in a weak voice but still tried his best to make it clear. "See you tomorrow guys!"
With that, he clicked the end stream as the chat was filled with ???. The viewers didn't understand why he suddenly changed his tone like that.
Anyway, the stream had ended successfully. His tenth and last stream.
"Damn..." A frustrated, cracked voice escaped his lips as he leaned back in his chair.
This chair connected to various wires was the only thing that kept him alive.
"Why did this happen to me? Why did I not discover streaming faster? Why?!"
Bam!
He slammed his hand against the table. It shook wildly, dropping the monitor above it with a loud crash.
Blood dripped out from his palm, but he felt no pain. His perception of pain had gone since 3 years ago, when he was in a terrible car incident that forced him to retire from the parkour world.
The young man broke down in tears as he sobbed loudly. He didn't care about anything. Not after he lost something he just loved lately.
"Ten times... I can only do it that much..."
The young man's euphoria abruptly shattered, leaving behind a void of despair. His cheerful countenance earlier contorted into a mask of frustration and sadness as he faced the crushing reality that his life was seemingly about to end.
Earlier this day, a few hours before he started his last stream, his personal doctor delivered the sad news. The medical equipment wouldn't be able to support him anymore. It had reached its limit.
Nothing in the current era could save him.
His fingers trembled under the weight of his helplessness. He longed to reach for the keyboard, immersing himself in the virtual realm again, and speak to his viewers.
But alas... His body refused to cooperate.
"Fuck..."
His dream had shattered. And the new dream he found a month ago was also broken by reality. He thought he could achieve it from the embrace of medical equipment. But no.
In this moment of despair, the young man heard the sound of the door opening. A doctor wearing white clothes and a mask entered his room with a sad look.
The atmosphere of sadness clung heavily in the room.
"I am truly sorry." The doctor apologized and bowed deeply, a sense of helplessness could also be felt in his cracked voice. "We tried our–"
"Hey, doc. I had fun."
Before the doctor even finished the sentence, the young man cut him off. A smile reappeared on his face, which put a bitter expression on the doctor's face as he tried to hold it in.
"I was satisfied with the last month of my life. Aah, if I can describe it with words, then it would be that I felt free for the first time in the last 3 years." He said in a cheerful voice, but the doctor knew very well that he had just cried from his red eyes.
"So thank you for allowing me to play games and stream, doc. I hope I can enjoy it in my next life. Maybe the breeze will bring me some hope. Hahaha."
"You're welcome."
That was what the doctor could only say. He watched the young man lean back to his chair, which turned into a bed. His breath became shorter and shorter before he finally let out the last breath with a sad smile.
The doctor looked at his watch and noted the time of death in his notebook.
"April 2nd, 2021. The cause of death: destroyed lungs and heart. Patient name... Breeze." He muttered in a heavy tone as he put down his notebook, "I hope your wish comes true."
***
April 2nd, 2045.
A handsome young man suddenly jolted up and raised his body inside a one-bedroom apartment. He gasped for air desperately as if he had forgotten how to breathe.
He had cold sweat pouring out his body as he managed to catch his breath.
"Huff... Huff... This..."
He looked around and saw himself in an unfamiliar room. It was brightly lit, with greenery around the wall and a strange capsule bigger than his bed at the corner of the room.
'What is this?' He wondered, still confused about what happened. 'Is this what heaven looks like?'
Trying to ensure this wasn't just a dream after falling asleep, he pinched his cheek. Pain attacked him, and he grunted loudly.
At that moment, he froze, and his eyes widened.
"No way..."
He could feel pain again after not being able to for a few years. And the fact he didn't wake up and everything looked different from before could only mean one thing.
This wasn't a dream.
<Greatest Streamer System has been installed.>
"What?"
And it seemed like he wasn't quite sane as he began hallucinating.
***
Author Note:
Hello! This is your author! I started this novel because it sounds fun, and I enjoyed writing it.
If you like this novel, please add it to your library and support me with power stones! Let's have this journey together xD