Chapter 2: I Am a Content Creator

After making his decision, Bai Renzong still had a series of tests to conduct.

First, he needed to see what effect this "one hundred thousand heat" actually had on a video—did it equate to one hundred thousand views, or was it simply a separate "heat" metric?

Second, Bai Renzong had to study the app's "rating mechanism" and figure out how the comments were evaluated.

Conveniently, he already had a topic at hand: the game he played yesterday.

Though this title was rather niche and obscure, it was still quite an excellent indie game, albeit with a few flaws that kept it from perfection.

He decided to make a short video using this game as material.

Back in college, Bai Renzong had been a well-known World of Warcraft player, a member of one of the top guilds on his server, competing with others for server-first kills and even releasing some video guides. So, he had some experience with video recording and editing.

Though he wasn’t a professional, he was more than capable of being an uploader.

Before recording his video, however, Bai Renzong wanted to settle on the direction his future reviews would take.

It was rare to come across such a potent app; it would be a waste to focus on only one type of review. Besides, new games were released slowly, and excellent ones even more rarely—sticking to just game reviews would eventually leave him without material. It was best to branch out.

After careful consideration, Bai Renzong picked several categories he liked and knew something about: "games," "cuisine," and "film."

By covering all three, he'd never lack for material.

Conveniently, he could upload each type of review on separate days, making use of the app’s daily check-in rewards: two days to produce one type of review, three categories, uploading on six days and resting on the seventh.

With that in mind, Bai Renzong opened D Station and registered an account under the name "Old Bai," but it was already taken, so he changed it to "Old Bai丶." At least that went through smoothly.

"From now on, it's three categories: Old Bai on Cuisine, Old Bai on Games, and Old Bai on Movies," Bai Renzong nodded with satisfaction, feeling as though he'd become that ambitious youth once again.

Seated at his computer, Bai Renzong began recording his review video for "Blasphemy."

The process wasn’t difficult for him; it was a review, not a speedrun or strategy guide, so he just needed to play well enough to showcase the points he wanted to make.

Overall, the process consisted of three steps: recording, scriptwriting, and post-editing.

Recording and writing the script were straightforward—the real time sink was post-production editing, especially adding his commentary. Still, with his prior experience, it wasn’t a problem.

Once the video was edited, Bai Renzong began adding his voice-over.

"The most infuriating part of this game is its bizarre climbing mechanics, which are split into two types: ladders and steps. Let’s talk about steps first. Even when three-quarters of your character’s body is already on the step, you might think, ‘That should do it, right?’ But the developer seems to say, ‘No, if even a single toe isn’t up there, you’re not getting on,’ and down you go—falling to your death. And since this is a Souls-like game, dying means a long corpse run and having to try again..."

All of Bai Renzong’s attention was focused on this video. He didn’t want to do anything else that day, so he ordered takeout for all three meals and just got on with it.

After injecting some humor into his commentary, Bai Renzong made a final check of his video. By then, it was past midnight—a new day had begun.

He clicked "Upload Video," took a deep breath, stood up to stretch his stiff body, and felt a bit dazed.

"So exhausting... I’ll have to find someone to help me in the future," Bai Renzong thought to himself.

Game and movie videos were manageable, but for food videos, he’d need someone across from him to help with filming.

"One step at a time. It’s only the first day..." Bai Renzong sighed, picked up his phone to check the Game Connoisseur app, confirmed that he’d received both the daily check-in and upload rewards, and finally prepared to rest.

After a busy day, Bai Renzong took a shower and went straight to bed.

But the next morning, just after nine, he was jolted awake by his phone vibrating. Annoyed, he grabbed his phone and glanced at the screen, seeing several notifications.

He was instantly wide awake. He snatched up the phone and checked.

Most of the notifications were about "comment rating upgrades," moving from D to C, then B, then A, and finally reaching the highest S tier, which came with one hundred thousand heat.

But today, there was an extra notification: "Developer has been triggered, awarded five hundred thousand heat."

"Five hundred thousand!?" Bai Renzong was stunned. He rushed to his computer, where his video had already surpassed eight hundred thousand views, with over one hundred thousand likes, more than one hundred twenty thousand coin donations, and over forty thousand saves.

This level of popularity on D Station was already quite impressive, especially since the video had been up less than ten hours—there was still room to grow. At this rate, he might even take the top spot on the site’s daily rankings!

"Damn!" Bai Renzong was now thoroughly excited. "This is promising!"

He’d also confirmed something important: ratings were based on the like ratio, and "heat" varied by platform algorithm. For instance, on the Sheam platform, one hundred thousand heat didn’t equal one hundred thousand views—there simply weren’t that many players. But on D Station, it essentially translated to one hundred thousand views.

For a D Station uploader, one hundred thousand views meant about three thousand yuan in income. Of course, there were thresholds for joining the incentive program: you needed at least a thousand followers and one hundred thousand views.

But with this one video, Bai Renzong had gained over two thousand followers—meaning that starting today, he was officially an uploader and could make a living from it!

He began applying to join D Station’s incentive program while considering tomorrow’s content.

Today was a game video; tomorrow, he’d search for material for a movie commentary.

Of course, the outstanding results were largely thanks to the "developer triggered" bonus of five hundred thousand heat. Otherwise, there was no way he’d have achieved such numbers on the first day.

"Wait a minute..." Bai Renzong suddenly frowned. The app notification had said, "Developer has been triggered..."

He had no idea why the developer would be upset. In his view, his review was balanced—praising the game’s strengths, critiquing its weaknesses.

He pressed his hands together and muttered, "Sorry, whoever got triggered. I was just being honest..."

He had no idea who that unfortunate soul might be...