Chapter 151: You Made Me Look at This?

God of War III certainly contains its fair share of bloody and violent scenes—such as Kratos gouging out Poseidon's eyes, ripping off Helios's head, or tearing mooks directly in half. While such moments make the viewing experience more exhilarating and thrilling for the audience, they also inevitably cause discomfort for certain viewers.

Fortunately, the censorship standards in China are considerably more lenient than in his past life, and violent scenes are not entirely unbroadcastable. However, the nudity in God of War III proved much harder to handle.

Streaming nudity to an audience of over twenty million people, given his current popularity, would guarantee tomorrow's headlines.

Yet Luo Chen was not entirely without a solution; otherwise, he could not have continued the broadcast.

The first instance of nudity occurs when Kratos encounters the daughter of Poseidon, imprisoned by the Sea God. Upon reaching this part, some fans who had previously played God of War suddenly remembered this sequence, and just as they were about to warn Luo Chen, the live stream screen suddenly went completely black.

While the stunned viewers were left wondering what had happened, in merely a single instant, the game footage returned to normal.

The black screen lasted for such a split second that many viewers failed to process what had happened at all. Could it be a network interruption? Or perhaps some malfunction with the Stardust broadcasting software?

"Apologies, the video just cut out for a moment. Um... perhaps the streaming software had a slight glitch..."

Hearing Luo Chen say this, the viewers, who had initially felt somewhat puzzled, brushed the trivial matter aside and concentrated on the video.

Soon, however, the audience noticed that whenever the stream entered a cinematic cutscene or a front-facing shot of Poseidon's daughter revealing nudity, an inexplicable black screen would invariably occur. Knowing the real situation, informed viewers naturally refused to believe such a coincidence. This was no software glitch; it was blatant forced censorship!

In particular, the final nude sequence in God of War III—the one lasting over a minute where Aphrodite seduces Kratos—turned into a persistent black screen from start to finish, accompanied by a line of bold text across the display:

[Due to unknown reasons, please imagine the following scenes using your own imagination...]

Seeing Luo Chen talk nonsense with a completely straight face, the assembled viewers immediately voiced their protests.

[We want fan service, not censorship!]
[If you dare to stream, you must defy censorship!]
[The day I watch adult films on this platform is not far away!]
...

As executives of the Stardust platform, Zhao Hong and Wu Qing could only laugh bitterly. The Stardust streaming interface did indeed feature an option allowing hosts to temporarily black out the screen. Should an unexpected issue arise during a broadcast, streamers could use this function to cover the feed and leave a note explaining the reason, preventing newly arriving viewers from being completely confused.

Who could have anticipated that Luo Chen would actually utilize it in such a manner?

Neither the audience nor the executives of the Stardust platform anticipated this move, nor did Ruan Hongyi, who had everything prepared for video recording.

Use your imagination, my foot! I already took off my pants—er, I mean, the recording software was all set up. You're making me look at this?

Ruan Hongyi's face turned livid. Although he had roughly anticipated that things wouldn't go smoothly, he never expected Luo Chen to break the deadlock through this method.

Consequently, all prior preparations had been rendered entirely useless. No one's mood could possibly improve after such a miscalculation, and Ruan Hongyi was certainly no exception.

Ring... ring...

On the desk, a cell phone suddenly began to ring. Without even looking, Ruan Hongyi could roughly guess who was calling. At a time like this, who else could it be besides the internet trolls he had hired?

Ruan Hongyi reached out, picked up the phone, and answered. The voice of a middle-aged man slowly came through the speaker.

"Master, events are not quite unfolding the way you described. There is nothing more we can do on our end. Shall we switch to some other content?"

"No need, end it here. Continuing any further would just be a waste of effort."

Ruan Hongyi could not muster a pleasant expression for these professional trolls, whose efficiency at getting paid far exceeded their efficiency at getting things done. If not for their occasional usefulness, he would have severed ties with them long ago.

"Since it's all over, what about our payment?" Hearing that Ruan Hongyi had no intention of proceeding, the middle-aged man shifted the subject directly to money.

"Payment? I recall providing a deposit, did I not? What's this? The objective was not achieved, yet you still expect the remainder?" Ruan Hongyi was in a foul mood, but he suppressed his anger as he questioned them.

"Thousands of people waited for this long, putting all other business on hold. Shouldn't you at least cover some of our losses?" The middle-aged man ignored Ruan Hongyi's mood and demanded in a sarcastic tone.

If the money isn't paid, who cares if you're some big-shot streamer?

Over the years, quite a few top-tier streamers had been forced into retirement by public opinion they couldn't withstand, just as many had been elevated to fame. Despite how infinitely glamorous Ruan Hongyi might appear today, he could easily become a target of universal condemnation tomorrow, and manipulating public opinion happened to be the exact specialty of these trolls.

"Get lost! Keep dreaming!"

Consumed by rage, Ruan Hongyi forcefully hung up the call, barely restraining himself from hurling the phone across the room. These trolls were simply insatiable. The amount of money he had spent here over the years was by no means small, yet very few tasks had ever been successfully completed. Now, having failed to accomplish the job, they actually had the audacity to demand more money from him?

They must have lost their minds!

Besides, were there really thousands of people among these professional trolls? Did they really take him for an ATM?

...

"How is it, Brother Kun? What's our next move? Is that streaming prodigy up to some new trick again?"

Inside an ordinary studio, just as the middle-aged man Zhou Kun put down his phone, several young men immediately crowded around him.

"Tell them it's over. The employer didn't pay, so we'll cover it out of pocket, but everyone's pay is cut in half!"

Although the deposit Ruan Hongyi paid was quite substantial, Zhou Kun had no intention of letting his own share diminish. The wages of those temporary workers would simply have to be halved. Besides, shifting the blame onto Ruan Hongyi was the easiest course of action; with that excuse, those people would have nowhere to take their grievances.

"You've got to be kidding me? Cut in half? Hundreds of people stayed up all night waiting, and Ruan Hongyi actually dares to stiff us?" With their personal incomes at stake, a dozen people in the room gathered around, demanding some sort of explanation.

"Yeah, he told us to keep dreaming and get lost!" Zhou Kun toyed with a small trinket on his table, nonchalantly relaying Ruan Hongyi's exact words.

"Isn't he afraid we'll cause him trouble? We've still got plenty of dirt on this guy. Why don't we just sell it to his rivals instead? Ruining a top-tier ACG-section streamer should fetch at least a million or so, right?" Zhou Kun's retelling undoubtedly ignited the anger of the others. He was just a small-time streamer; did he really think he was some untouchable big shot?

"A million? But who would spend that much just to ruin a streamer?" Zhou Kun shook his head, cutting off their unrealistic fantasies.

"Who? Isn't he the best employer right now?" In the face of the doubt, a slightly tall and thin man among the group pointed at the live stream running on the computer screen. The content of the broadcast was unmistakably... God of War III!