139: Set the pace

"Forget about recreational fishing, now he's even started fishing for kids' fish???"

"I want to see Brother Wo Zi sign up for Kings Battle!"

"I heard Kings Battle invited Brother Wo Zi, but he turned them down~"

"Brother Wo Zi refused? Why? Is he scared?"

"Makes sense, after all, he's not a professional angler~"

A familiar scent wafted over; Gao Xiaofan recognized it at a glance.

Someone was stirring the pot.

Back when Gao Xiaofan was on the variety show, this kind of thing happened every day. As long as his performance on the show was even slightly subpar, brainless fans of other stars would immediately come to attack him.

However, Gao Xiaofan never cared about those comments. He wasn't into idols, but he knew that community wasn't exactly normal.

If you got worked up over it, you were just making yourself miserable.

Since the Xiushui Mingshan Program Group ended, he basically belonged to a different world than those brainless fans. Barring any special circumstances, they likely wouldn't cross paths again in this lifetime.

But the way the narrative was suddenly being manipulated today made Gao Xiaofan frown.

It was obvious at a glance that this was the work of the Kings Battle Tournament Organizing Committee, but what was the point?

Clout-chasing?

It was actually possible. Although his follower count had started to dip again, he still had over forty million followers.

Gao Xiaofan chuckled and ignored it. Let them chase clout if they wanted. Participating in Kings Battle with his left arm incapacitated would be idiocy.

Besides, Kings Battle required teams. Where would he find people? Just putting a team together would probably take a lot of time.

The top priority was still to max out his yun jian value and restore his left arm.

Gao Xiaofan stopped worrying about it and continued fishing happily with Zhao Yuling. Before long, there were four small goldfish in the little bucket.

The thirty-minute fishing time was up. Zhao Yuling happily carried the small bucket given by the owner and followed cheerfully behind Gao Xiaofan.

"I've learned how to fish!"

Her eyes curved into crescents, and a small dimple appeared on her cheek as she smiled. That sweet and lovely look made Gao Xiaofan's heart flutter.

Listening to her, he couldn't help but smile.

"Little Yu is amazing!"

"Let's go, let's go~ Time to go home~"

Zhao Yuling took the Gimbal from Gao Xiaofan's hand. Carrying the small bucket in one hand, she looked at the phone screen as she walked.

But after a moment, her expression turned strange.

Gao Xiaofan had been watching her all along. Seeing this, he frowned and leaned in to look at the phone.

"Unfollowing, unfollowing~ This is getting more and more boring. Is the livestream turning into a romance show?"

"It's one thing not to join Kings Battle, but he's not even fishing properly anymore~"

"Kings Battle!!! Say no to the PDA, sign up for the tournament!!!"

...Gao Xiaofan glanced at the bullet chat. More and more people were starting to talk about this. Perhaps there were many water army accounts, or maybe the original viewers were being swayed by the narrative.

He thought for a moment and made a gesture. Once Zhao Yuling understood, she detached the phone and handed it to him.

"Brothers, that's it for today's livestream. Thanks for all your support and company~"

After saying that, under Zhao Yuling's surprised gaze, he tapped several times and ended the stream at lightning speed.

"Brother Fan, is it okay to do that?"

"It's fine. Someone's stirring the pot in the livestream room~"

Zhao Yuling nodded. She had noticed it too. Being in the industry herself, she knew the tricks of the trade very well. Plus, she watched his previous streams whenever she had time, so she naturally understood that there had never been such comments before.

Seeing the foul atmosphere in the livestream room, both of them felt a bit down.

Gao Xiaofan didn't mind being annoyed himself, but seeing Zhao Yuling, who had come from so far away, suffering this grievance alongside him made him feel a bit guilty.

"Little Yu, is there anything else you want to do? Tell me, I'll take you there~"

Zhao Yuling shook her head.

"Brother Fan, I'm not really in the mood."

How could Gao Xiaofan not know? But he couldn't stand seeing her like this, mostly because he felt it wasn't necessary~

"Because of what happened in the livestream room?"

"Yeah, how can they talk about you like that? It hurts to watch."

Gao Xiaofan found it a bit funny, but he was also touched.

Looking at Zhao Yuling's puffed-up cheeks, he couldn't help but want to reach out and pinch them. They must feel great to the touch~

But with his hand halfway there, he suddenly realized the gesture was a bit too intimate and awkwardly pulled it back.

"Don't mind them~ These people are deliberately stirring the pot because of vested interests. Doesn't this just prove that I'm actually quite popular?"

"Think about it, if I were some obscure little Streamer, no one would even bother to manipulate the narrative against me~"

Gao Xiaofan said grinning, which helped Zhao Yuling relax quite a bit.

"Besides, they're scolding me~ Why are you so angry?~"

The words slipped out before he could think, and even Gao Xiaofan himself was stunned after saying them.

To his surprise, Zhao Yuling responded very seriously.

"But it really hurts to see!"

"Seeing people talk about you like that makes me feel really, really bad."

Her expression was earnest, and her beautiful eyes looked directly at Gao Xiaofan, making his heart skip a few beats.

Gao Xiaofan quickly looked away.

"Sigh~ So, where should we go for a stroll?"

After expressing what was on her mind, Zhao Yuling seemed to relax a lot, and her mood improved again.

"Let's go to a VR experience center!"

"It's not far from the hotel. I heard the VR technology there is amazing, almost like reality~"

She said excitedly, her hands behind her back, skipping ahead.

Gao Xiaofan said, "How do you know so much? Didn't you just get here too?"

Zhao Yuling stopped in her tracks and spun around gracefully to face Gao Xiaofan.

The afternoon sun was just right, casting a soft and gentle glow on her hair.

She gave a playful smile:

"Guess."

After saying that, she turned back around and led the way.

Guess? What was there to guess?

Gao Xiaofan followed in high spirits, unsure whether to watch her waist or her bottom.

With such a beautiful woman leading the way, time passed quickly. Gao Xiaofan felt like they had arrived in no time.

"Ta-da~ This is it! I heard it's quite fun inside~"

"You 'heard' again?."

"Since we're already here~ let's go in and check it out! Going back to the hotel this early would be so boring~"

"Alright, alright, I'll do as you say~"

Gao Xiaofan felt that not many people could resist Zhao Yuling's acting cute, so he agreed to her request and went in with her.

The tickets weren't expensive, just a few dozen yuan. The total for both of them didn't even hit a hundred.

Zhao Yuling was in high spirits, while Gao Xiaofan felt indifferent, just a bit curious.

If they used VR equipment, could humans fish in the metaverse too?

"Hey~ Little Yu, do you think when VR becomes common, many people will be able to fish using computers?"

"There are already many fishing games on computers. VR just makes it more immersive; it's impossible to achieve actual fishing~"

"A game, huh? Then what's the point."