The doll company emailed him three “vlogs,” each about five minutes long, and even thoughtfully attached a digital cooperation contract.

The contract basically said: Hu Ying would promote the doll company as an agent on X-site. All revenue generated during the promo would go to the agent. The company would pay the remaining balance a week later—five hundred thousand up front, five hundred thousand on completion.

Even if he didn’t work with them, he’d still pocket a free payment. But Hu Ying wasn’t the type to take money for nothing. His goodwill toward the company was already at MAX.

He knew Gussy had to be some kind of black-tech miracle. The realistic design was indistinguishable from a human being, and it called itself an alien… Obviously that was just the client’s sense of humor!

You could think of Gussy as similar to a virtual streamer. The difference was, other VTubers were a person playing a 2D avatar, while Gussy was a person playing a 3D “real-life” doll.

When Gussy claimed it was alive, that was just to boost immersion for the audience. Hu Ying suspected the doll company’s ambition wasn’t limited to the physical doll market. Judging by how they operated, they were very likely planning to reach into the entertainment industry too. With how generous they were, there was definitely capital backing them.

From talking with Gussy, Hu Ying had learned they weren’t based in Huaguo. Did that indirectly prove their funding came from overseas? …Yeah. If not Japan or Korea, then the States.

Hu Ying smiled slightly. He felt he was being extremely clever, deducing the identity of this mysterious company from just a few details. Their purpose in working with him was obvious too: they wanted to break into Huaguo’s market, and he happened to be the first door into that market.

If he did well, maybe he’d get to share the cake with the company, maybe even jump ship to work for them and glimpse the tip of the iceberg of their doll tech.

He dreamed of knowing what materials and tech were used to make a doll as perfect as Gussy.

After downloading the videos, he couldn’t wait and clicked play.

After watching the first video, his expression went completely blank. Something felt off.

This was supposed to be a vlog? Were they trying to shoot a movie?

After the second video (company staff introductions), his expression relaxed a bit, but he still couldn’t help wanting to roast them.

What the hell was with that guy called Ma Youcai?

The third video was exactly what he wanted—a solo appearance from Gussy. It was basically a self-intro, establishing her Setting.

Thankfully, the “fawning over otaku with fanservice” Setting he’d worried about (would never pass review) didn’t appear. Instead she had a serious, chuuni, icy-cool style. The show effect was fantastic, and Hu Ying fell for it in an instant.

He laughed to himself. These videos would slap Xi-chan hard across the face. “If you’ve got the guts, go cosplay a few more dolls on video. If you can reach even a tenth of Gussy’s level, I’ll admit defeat!”

He posted the three videos on X-site, marked them as “Reupload,” and pinned a comment at the top:

“Hi everyone, I’m Yinghua.

A lot has happened these last few days. I’ve gotten a deep understanding of how terrifying fandom drama can be. If I need to apologize, I choose to apologize to the fans who support me. Thank you for always standing by me and believing in me.

I have no copyright dispute with the doll company. On the contrary, we’ll continue working together.

As for Xi-chan and her PR team, I’ve got nothing to say. I’ll respond to them with new videos.

I really like one thing Xi-chan said—‘Don’t be shaken by verbal attacks. Fairness lives in people’s hearts.’”

Once the videos went up, his comment section turned into a new battlefield. Sarcastic comments flooded in and drowned it. In just a dozen minutes, the comment count broke a thousand.

At a glance, most of them were flaming Hu Ying.

Ironically, the view count was only a few hundred. Almost nobody actually watched the videos, because everyone felt the comments had to be more entertaining than the content.

The onlookers felt they’d gotten a fresh new drama to snack on.

But gradually, people’s attention shifted toward the videos. New comments started changing the direction of the comment section. A good number of passersby expressed how amazed they were by his videos.

Not everyone liked drama. Many casual viewers had come purely for his content. The war in the comments had nothing to do with them. They only cared about the star of the videos—the moving doll, Gussy.

Hu Ying had reuploaded three videos.

The first one played like a slick movie clip.

It opened in first-person. The point of view floated in the sky like a bird. Then it suddenly plunged at high speed in one direction—straight toward a group of foreigners holding guns.

They were panicking, like they’d just seen an alien. They fired wildly at the camera. Bullets tore through the air, whizzing past the edge of the frame.

In the blink of an eye, the viewpoint landed lightly on the ground. The foreigners all turned their fire that way, but the camera weaved left and right, dodging everything. Not a single bullet hit.

The scene and sound design felt so real that even Hu Ying couldn’t help sweating for the “cameraman,” worried he’d actually get hurt. But obviously, the “cameraman” was steady as hell, even a little relaxed.

The shooters finally sensed the danger. One of them made a hand signal, and they all turned and ran in unison, movements clean and decisive. They knew the area well, diving into dark alleys, vanishing in seconds.

But nobody could get away.

What followed was the “cameraman’s” personal parkour show. The POV sprinted along walls to the rooftop like some action-game protagonist, then leaped off, diving straight toward the fleeing group.

Once the “cameraman” got close, each runner was knocked down in an instant. Then the chase continued toward the next target. The sequence of shots flowed like water, weaving between sky and ground. It was so thrilling that you couldn’t help marveling at the sheer mastery of POV and motion. After watching, you couldn’t even tell where virtual ended and reality began.

In under three minutes, everyone was down.

It was clear the “cameraman” wasn’t killing them, just knocking them out. Every time someone went unconscious, a barrage of comments popped up:

“Pause successful.”

Those who paused at the right moment could see the “cameraman’s” slender, pale little hand—only four fingers, like a tiny claw.

At the end, the “cameraman” moved into a secluded corner and fixed the camera in place. A few seconds later, a small head suddenly popped up in the bottom right of the frame. She blinked, smiled, and waved.

It was a cute doll-like loli—no, she literally looked like a living doll.

Anyone who’d seen Hu Ying’s previous video instantly realized it: wasn’t this the ultra-realistic physical doll he’d reviewed before? It could actually move? This tech was insane!

The video ended there. It wasn’t hard for viewers to put two and two together: that entire over-the-top, stylish action sequence had been performed by the loli doll alone.

She’d fought a group of armed bad guys and taken them out with ease.

Why call them bad guys? Because cute is justice.

The second video explained why the loli doll was fighting those men: they were trying to attack her companions—Kurosawa Rengatsu and Ma Youcai from the doll company.

The doll fought to protect them.

Kurosawa Rengatsu was from Neon, Ma Youcai was from Huaguo. Both of them gave exaggerated self-introductions.

Kurosawa Rengatsu was beautiful and elegant, and should’ve been the center of attention. Yet somehow, Ma Youcai totally stole the spotlight.

What was with this guy named Ma Youcai? Was he here as a gag?

In the remaining two minutes, Ma Youcai performed a “Shadow Stream Master” routine for the audience, and the comments exploded.

“Why is there a creepy dude mixed in with the cute girls?”

“Brat, get lost, I wanna see the loli!”

“Any bros wanna team up and carry this guy off-screen? (1/5)”

“You’re blocking my view of the Neon onee-san!”

“Doesn’t feel right.”

“Hahaha…”

“…”

With the cursed “This Is Your Excuse For Breaking Up” BGM looping in the background, Ma Youcai shoved his big face right up to the camera, eyebrows waggling, grinning like a clown. “Dear viewers, you absolutely have to follow us, okay? I’ll prepare an even more amazing performance next time.”

Video over.

Everyone who watched it was as confused as Hu Ying had been: what the hell did I just watch?

Fortunately, the third video was the long-awaited solo performance from the doll, and the result was fantastic.

“The me you see now isn’t the real me. Just by living in this world, everyone is playing some role.”

“From this moment on, I’ll step out of the darkness into the light, and witness this world being exiled by my hand… Everyone, my name is Gussy, a demon born from blazing flames, and I’m officially making my debut!”

Gussy slowly emerged from the darkness. Her black, ornate dress was covered in jewelry. A spotlight shone on her small body from a low angle, casting a giant shadow behind her. Her clear voice carried a slightly cold edge, forming a striking contrast with her cute loli appearance.

If anything, that contrast made her even better. The screen turned into a mass graveyard for all the Simps of the world.

Her speech was peak chuuni, but who doesn’t love a girl who’s both adorable and cool?

Teens at that age felt their blood boiling, while older viewers could only smile in recognition and think back to their own cringey youth.

At the end, Gussy declared that in two days she’d do her first worldwide livestream on ABC in the States. This video was just a teaser. She hoped everyone would watch her stream.

Most people assumed she was joking. After all, how could some random uploader casually appear on American national TV?

But they still felt how badly Gussy wanted to be popular, and filled the screen with supportive comments.

Hu Ying’s doll videos blew up again. His first doll review was also reuploaded to X-site by someone observant, and its views started skyrocketing.

“Gussy is amazing!”

“I’m all in for chuuni loli dolls!”

“Why do I feel like she’s not joking…? (whispers)”

“I actually like the Neon onee-san more.”

“Any experts know who Gussy’s voice actor is? My friend’s in love.”

“Is this really a doll? How is it moving? I’m super curious.”

“Please let Gussy open a personal account on X-site!”

“She already gave her Twitter, didn’t she? Use a VPN and follow her there.”

“Anyone else wanna ‘fence’ with Ma Youcai?”

“…”

After virtual streamers blew up on MyTube, more and more virtual uploaders cropped up on X-site. So a human voice actor dubbing a 2D or 3D character wasn’t anything special.

But Gussy blurred the line between virtual and real, opening a new door for viewers. Some people already believed Gussy was actually real.

Riding the wave, X-site opened a dedicated doll-video category, letting more people discover Gussy.

As for Xi-chan, she deleted her own video the moment Hu Ying posted the doll clips. Her hired trolls and fans all beat a retreat and went dead silent.

The “Yinghua vs. Xi-chan” drama ended there. Many people, only then realizing they’d blamed Hu Ying wrongly, couldn’t help sighing: the internet really is this half-true, half-false place. Guess you really can’t just follow the crowd blindly.

Later, an uploader from X-site’s “exposing drama” zone made a video about Xi-chan’s incident, laying out the truth. From then on, this became a permanent stain on Xi-chan’s record. She gained a whole new wave of dedicated haters. Every time she posted something, someone would jump out to quote her classic line: “Don’t be shaken by verbal attacks. Fairness lives in people’s hearts.”

Eventually, Xi-chan couldn’t take it anymore and posted a video titled “I’m Being Cyberbullied By Everyone,” milking the situation for more traffic. Later, after her relationship with a boyband pretty boy fell apart, she posted another video: “I Have Depression.”

After getting slapped in the face by Hu Ying, Xi-chan simply walked down a different, very profitable road…