“Hello, is this the support team for Xingyao Platform?”

Luo Yu stood outside the history department’s research office, clutching his phone tightly. His tone was so pitiful, it was like a little puppy abandoned outside by its owner, anxiously pawing at the tightly closed door to his home.

“Sis, you’ve been working hard. I’m streamer Luo Yu. My streaming room suddenly got banned. Could you help me check what happened?”

“What? I violated the platform’s rules?”

Luo Yu’s voice cracked for a second, but then he quickly softened his tone, sounding as pitiful as possible: “How did I violate anything? I’ve always followed the rules diligently, being a good, law-abiding streamer…”

“I disrupted social order and set a bad example? No way. What did I do to disrupt social order…”

Luo Yu was on the verge of cursing but suddenly remembered—

This morning, when he left his house, he saw people lying down all over the lawn in his neighborhood, on the sidewalks along the driveway, and even on the school playground when he arrived.

All pretending to be asleep.

And from his door to the research office—a mere ten-minute walk—he encountered at least three groups of people. Each group spotted him, flashed nervous yet shy smiles, and rushed over to invite him to lie down and “sleep” by the roadside.

Luo Yu: …

This society is a bit out of whack.^[1]Crazy, or had a loose screw😹

He coughed nervously a few times and continued pleading desperately:

“Alright, alright, sis, I’m in the wrong. If you have to, you can shut down my streaming room. I won’t complain. I just want to ask…”

“Could you at least send my previous gift earnings to me separately? I can’t access my account now, and I won’t be able to withdraw it next month either.”

“What? After banning the streaming room, all the streamer’s earnings are confiscated by the platform? Where do you guys write down these ridiculous rules!”

Luo Yu’s feet left the ground in frustration, nearly bouncing up to the ceiling! No more pretending!^[2]He is jumping guys, out of frustration. Haha

“Are you kidding me? That’s more than 500,000! Just admit it, you guys banned me to pocket my money! This is how you make your profits, isn’t it?”

“What? I got banned, you confiscated my gift earnings, and now I have to pay a penalty? Ten times the attendance fee for four days, so I have to pay you guys 4,000 yuan?”

Luo Yu punched the white wall in front of him in the corridor. “You bandits! Just wait—I’ll get Alibaba^[3]Alibaba is a Chinese multinational conglomerate that operates across e-commerce, cloud computing, digital media, and financial technology (“fintech”). to take you all down!”

With a beep, the bandit organization’s support mercilessly hung up the phone.

Luo Yu angrily bounced up and down in place for a while—until his phone suddenly rang again.

So the bandit organization finally regretted losing him?

Luo Yu joyfully answered the call, but what came out was an annoying voice:

“Hey, junior! Haha, I heard your streamer account got banned, right?”

Luo Yu recalled for a few seconds and remembered this was Sapo, the athlete he had played a PK match with. He frowned instantly:

“Where did you get my number?”

“Junior, your voice has become so cold!” Sapo said with a mischievous laugh. “Guess where?”

Luo Yu was too angry to deal with this foolish athlete: “Hanging up.”

“Hey, hey, hey, don’t hang up! I can help you!” Sapo squealed like a rooster. “My dad knows the president of Xingyao Live!”

Luo Yu thought about that 500,000 and didn’t hang up: “Go on.”

Seeing Luo Yu suddenly so assertive, Sapo became timid:

“I got your number from Xingyao! I can also go ask the president of Xingyao for you, and see if he can lift the ban! As long as you’re willing…”

Luo Yu took a deep breath: “Willing to do what?”

Sapo laughed:

“Junior, as long as you’re willing to be my boyfriend! We can continue as couple streamers—I’ll play basketball, and you can sleep on the basketball court while we livestream together. It’ll be even more popular than before.”^[4]Lhaozi’s note: Dream on, Sapo😹

Luo Yu: …

Is this the kind of livestream concept a person can come up with?

Luo Yu wanted to smash a basketball on his head.

He hung up the phone, feeling extremely annoyed, and turned around only to see Wen Li standing behind him, watching him.

Wen Li leaned against the wall, his white hoodie pressed against the white wall, hands in his pockets, not sure how long he had been standing there.

“Senior…” Luo Yu’s tears instantly began to flow.

This time he wasn’t pretending; he truly wanted to cry!

After finally earning so much money, it vanished in the blink of an eye, and he was in debt—who could bear that!

“I’m sorry, my account got banned, and I can’t withdraw the money. I can’t continue renting your place. Can I… pay you the previous rent by the day? I can move out today.”

Luo Yu looked at Wen Li with a sorrowful expression.

Wen Li raised his eyes and looked at him calmly, lifting his hand to gently wipe away the tears at the corner of Luo Yu’s eye:

“If you’re not renting, where do you plan to sleep?”

Luo Yu felt a jolt, frozen in place!

As Wen Li’s fingers glided from the corner of his eye to his cheek, his mind went blank!

“Going back to the dorm to sleep? Or to the lounge? Oh, I forgot to tell you, the lounge has been lent out to another history department project team as a long-term office, and it’s closed to the public during the summer.”

Wen Li pressed his finger against Luo Yu’s chin, gently pinching the soft flesh of his jaw:

“Think about your future path before talking about returning the rental.”

With that, he withdrew his hand and walked slowly toward the end of the corridor.

No way…

Wen Li always knew he was really sleeping?

Luo Yu bit his lip.

How did Wen Li know?

Since he knew, why didn’t he report him?

Luo Yu’s heart raced faster than when he first found out his streaming room was banned, a hundred times faster.

The ban meant losing money, but being reported to the committee could cost him his life!

He trembled nervously, still in a daze as he walked into the research office, colliding with Professor Tao who was about to leave.

“Professor…” Luo Yu looked up, his voice still shaking, “Sorry, I wasn’t watching where I was going.”

“Good kid, it’s alright, it’s alright.”

Professor Tao gently patted his shoulder, clearly concerned:

“I just received the email about your account being banned. I already know.”

Luo Yu sniffed and lowered his eyes helplessly: “Professor, what should I do now?”

“It was me who recommended you to start streaming. I believe you haven’t done anything wrong as a streamer, and my decision wasn’t wrong either.”

Professor Tao looked at the student with compassion in his eyes:

“The platform likely banned you on the committee’s orders.”

“Perhaps our research exceeded the limits of what this era can bear…”

“Since you’ve been banned, let’s put it aside for now. The committee’s decisions are beyond our influence.”

The International Human Progress Committee.

That damned committee again. He just wanted to sleep; did he break some heavenly rule?

Luo Yu nodded, choking back tears.

It seemed that 500,000 was not coming back.

During the lunch break, Luo Yu walked back to the community in a daze.

He still owed Xingyao Platform 4,000 yuan in penalty fees, and if he wanted to continue renting, there was another 3,000 yuan for rent next month—overnight, he went from riches to debt, from heaven to hell…

“Rip—”

Outside the community gate on the right side, a row of tall, green roadside trees made a strange noise.

It sounded like wind rustling through the leaves. Luo Yu, lost in sorrow, didn’t pay much attention.

But just as he was about to step into the surveillance camera area at the community entrance, suddenly a hand reached out from the gap between two roadside trees.

It yanked him into the bushes.

“Help—” Luo Yu felt the leaves brush past his face, his cry for help caught in his throat as someone behind him covered his mouth.

He struggled for a long time, turning to see who it was.

It was actually his neighbor, Wen Shu, who lived across from him.

Wen Shu was wearing a light green dress, almost blending in with the tree, and when Luo Yu stopped struggling, she finally released her hand from his mouth.

Leaves left scratches on his body, digging into his shoulder as Luo Yu exhaled rapidly: “Sister Shu, what are you doing here?”

Wen Shu, who usually had a gentle big sister demeanor, now had a pale face, her features taut and serious.

“Wait here while I save your life.”

Wen Shu brushed her hand, knocking off the dust.

“The people from the Association are currently in the community monitoring room, just waiting for you to return.”

“What the hell? Why are the Association’s people monitoring me? They… oh.”

Perhaps the blows he suffered today were too much; Luo Yu couldn’t catch his breath after the excitement, letting out a deep sigh, feeling numb all over.

He turned to run:

“Then I’m going back to school!”

“If I’m not mistaken, there’s a line of their people standing at your dorm entrance right now.”

Wen Shu was clearly a bit shorter than Luo Yu, but at this moment, her imposing demeanor was enough to overpower him:

“Luo Yu, come with us. You have no other choice now.”

“You guys?”

Luo Yu turned his head in confusion.

Suddenly, he remembered what Wen Shu had told him earlier—

【We can provide you with an absolutely safe sleeping environment.】

He blinked his eyelashes and cautiously licked his lips: “Who exactly are you?”

The summer wind was slow and sticky as it fell beside Luo Yu’s ear, and he heard Wen Shu say:

“We are people just like you.”

Luo Yu tilted his head slightly: “Just like?”

Wen Shu’s voice suddenly became very soft, so soft that Luo Yu began to doubt whether she had actually spoken or if he was just imagining it:

“Just like, people who sleep every day.”