Sakura Fubuki stared blankly at the screen, unable to regain her senses for a long time.
Her eyes remained wide open.
It seemed as though she was still immersed in the shocking plot from earlier.
After a long while, she finally managed to speak, her voice trembling slightly:
"Tao Yao... is really gone?"
As soon as she finished her sentence, the chat room was flooded with comments like a burst dam.
"That's right, Tao Yao bore the cost for Hiyakura; she sacrificed herself!"
"I can't stand the streamer anymore! I can't believe I trusted you so much before, haha, unfollowed!"
"Sakura Fubuki, are you feeling proud? You finally defeated the big villain?"
"Woo woo, my wife, my wife..."
Faced with the overwhelming criticism, Sakura Fubuki felt a wave of dizziness.
She furrowed her brows, trying to sort out her thoughts.
"No... I don't understand..." she asked, "By the way, wasn't Tao Yao the villain? Why would she do something so strange? Does that make sense?"
The comments continued to refresh furiously.
"What else? Tao Yao has loved Hiyakura all along; her most selfish act resulted in the most selfless thing, what more do you want from Tao Yao?"
"Don't say that, with the streamer's pig brain, how could she possibly understand Tao Yao?"
But Sakura Fubuki could no longer focus on reading.
She felt as if an invisible hand was clutching her heart tightly, making it heavy and hard to breathe.
Taking a deep breath, Sakura Fubuki tried to calm herself down.
She wanted to continue with the tasks at hand.
But she found that her fingers seemed uncontrollable, unable to press any commands on the keyboard.
Recalling the storyline she had gone through.
Sakura Fubuki realized she had been experiencing the game from Hiyakura's perspective all along.
She empathized with Hiyakura's plight and felt a deep sorrow for her misfortunes.
However, now, Tao Yao's actions had completely overturned her understanding.
"What did I misunderstand?"
Sakura Fubuki mumbled to herself.
Faced with the constantly emerging critical comments, Sakura Fubuki felt incredibly irritated.
In the end, she clicked the button to close the stream.
The viewers watching the live broadcast immediately saw her current status on the screen.
[The streamer you are following has temporarily left, please come back later...]
The chat section exploded:
"She ran away?!"
"Snow Dog, come out and face your death!"
"When did the streamer eat the keyboard? If she doesn't eat it, I'm going to make a scene!!"
"Haha, think you can run after doing something wrong? Not so easily!"
"We demand an explanation! Sakura Fubuki, you come out here!"
However, these angry voices could no longer reach Sakura Fubuki's ears.
She sat in front of the computer, covering her face with her hands, and sighed deeply.
Even after closing the stream, Sakura Fubuki still couldn't calm down.
She mechanically opened a video website.
Then, she found that the hot search list prominently featured the animated short she had just watched, "The Last Dance."
The cursor hovered over the title.
She hesitated for a moment, wondering if she should watch it again.
But ultimately, she did not click in.
After pondering for a moment, Sakura Fubuki recalled the gamer Hua Yu, who had once had a conflict with her.
She found a video Hua Yu had previously posted—
"Pink to Black? Villain? No! Tao Yao may not be as simple as we think."
This video had originally not received much attention.
But with Tao Yao's last dance.
Now, the views for this video were soaring rapidly.
After some thought, Sakura Fubuki reopened the video and watched it closely.
In the video, Hua Yu had a unique understanding of Tao Yao.
She mentioned the children's heartfelt affection for Tao Yao at the orphanage, as well as the uniquely prepared items that Tao Yao left behind at the orphanage.
These details were things Sakura Fubuki had previously chosen to ignore.
After finishing the video, Sakura Fubuki browsed through a series of subsequent videos about Tao Yao that Hua Yu had released.
These videos primarily focused on subtle details; although they did not have high view counts, they became particularly significant in Sakura Fubuki's eyes at this moment.
Gradually, Sakura Fubuki began to attempt to place herself in Tao Yao's perspective.
She looked at the comments she had previously left under Hua Yu's video, those once confident words now appeared glaringly eye-catching upon re-reading.
"So annoying, so annoying..."
Sakura Fubuki irritably tugged at her hair, messing up her once neat hairstyle.
The new replies in the comments section made it even harder for her to remain calm:
"Version 1.2 players coming back to look for Tao Yao's pet."
"The remarks Snow Dog made back then, the more I read them, the more I want to laugh."
"Haha, how many people were there to refute this video back then? Now where are they? Playing dead?"
These comments stabbed into Sakura Fubuki's heart like daggers.
She remembered her own actions and felt increasingly guilty.
Regarding Tao Yao, she felt not only deep regret but also profound sorrow for her loss.
At that moment, Sakura Fubuki noticed next to Hua Yu's profile picture the words "Live" indicated that Hua Yu was live streaming at that time.
"She's streaming too?"
Sakura Fubuki felt a bit surprised.
After hesitating for a moment.
She clicked to enter Hua Yu's live stream.
As soon as Sakura Fubuki entered Hua Yu's live stream, she was immediately startled by a heart-wrenching cry.
The crying was deafening, echoing throughout her entire room.
She frowned and lowered the volume.
Hua Yu's cries remained loud.
"Tao Yao! My Tao Yao! How could you just leave like this?"
Hua Yu's voice was choked to the point it was barely recognizable, "Official team, you are so cruel! How could you treat Tao Yao this way? She was clearly so kind, so lovely!"
Sakura Fubuki looked at the screen, feeling a bit at a loss.
Although she felt sad and guilty for Tao Yao's ending after finishing the storyline and realizing many things.
Hua Yu's reaction was simply too extreme.
"Woo woo woo..."
"Tao Yao, you promised to change the world, right?"
"Then why did you have to change it this way?!!"
Hua Yu's voice was filled with despair:
"What will Shiro do now that Tao Yao has left like this?"
"Shiro clearly liked Tao Yao the most; why couldn't she think more about her before sacrificing herself?"
The chat room was scrolling wildly; most viewers were infected by Hua Yu's emotions:
"Streamer, stop crying, I wasn't crying originally, but if you keep crying, I'm going to cry too!"
"Among all the streamers I've seen, your reaction is the most intense! I guess that's because you're the first streamer who liked Tao Yao!"
"Streamer, calm down! They didn't say Tao Yao is definitely dead, right?"
The chat room was filled with all sorts of comments.
Perhaps because she had made that video early on.
Now, in Hua Yu's live stream.
Many viewers had flocked in.
And after witnessing Hua Yu's powerful capacity for empathy, they all chose to stay and watch the fun.
And at this time.
Some viewers in the live stream also noticed Sakura Fubuki lurking in the chat.
"Hey? Sakura Fubuki seems to be in the live stream too?"
"Snow Dog, don't run! You come out and explain yourself!"
"Snow Dog, how do you have the face to watch Hua Yu's stream?"
"Snow Dog, get out! Don't disturb Hua Yu!"
Seeing these comments directed at her, Sakura Fubuki felt a surge of panic.
She quickly exited the live stream, her heart racing, and beads of sweat forming on her forehead.
Taking a deep breath, Sakura Fubuki tried to stabilize her emotions.
She continued browsing the video website.
By now, the main storyline of the game version 1.2 had been completely unlocked for a while, and most of the active players in the game had roughly finished watching Tao Yao's "Last Dance."
For this animation, every player's attitude and reaction differed.
Among the player group who had misunderstood Tao Yao before.
A small number of players expressed deep guilt:
"I was so stupid previously; how could I have misunderstood Tao Yao..."
"I'm sorry, Tao Yao. All the things I said before, I now want to take them back."
"If I could do it over, I would definitely stand by Tao Yao!"
But not as many players expressed guilt as one might imagine.
Most chose silence.
As if nothing had ever happened.
This act of playing dead made Sakura Fubuki feel somewhat uncomfortable.
But she also had to admit she had similar thoughts before.
She was one of the players in that group.
In fact, many players were misled by her as well.
"The more I think about it, the more I feel I deserve to die!"
Once again, Sakura Fubuki ruffled her already messy hair.
Then, she continued browsing.
...
Tao Yao's animation made many people feel sadness.
However.
The joys and sorrows between people do not resonate with each other.
Just as Sakura Fubuki could not understand why Hua Yu was in such a dire state, many players showed relatively calm emotions about Tao Yao's departure:
"I find it strange; I watched the whole thing and didn't feel it was that devastating!"
"I also don't get it; although this plot does seem pretty sad and is somewhat justified, does it warrant that level of craziness?"
"To be honest, this plot really isn't great, it feels like it's just trying to be tragic for the sake of being tragic!"
"I mean, I saw some streamers crying so hard, especially that one called Hua Yu—her mental state... I think it's a bit exaggerated. It's just a game character, is it really that serious?"
"Could it be that my emotional threshold is just too high? I felt a bit moved after finishing but didn't feel it was as heartbreaking as you all say! It was even rather uneventful!"
Sakura Fubuki read these comments and fell into contemplation.
To be honest, she found some of the statements among them quite agreeable.
Although at the beginning.
She indeed felt some sadness and guilt.
But now reflecting back, she felt that the plot didn't seem that heart-wrenching.
Of course, she also had to admit she had misunderstood Tao Yao.
And felt regret for Tao Yao's passing.
This, Sakura Fubuki would not deny.
"Sigh, I should just apologize properly..."
Sakura Fubuki began to reflect on her previous actions and felt it necessary to do something about it.
After thinking about it, Sakura Fubuki opened the live streaming software.
She hesitated for a moment.
Then began typing on the keyboard to change the title of the live stream to "Tao Yao's Pet Dog."
This title was both a self-deprecation for her previous behavior and a fulfillment of her earlier promise.
Adjusting the camera and microphone.
Sakura Fubuki took a deep breath and clicked the button to start streaming.
"Hello everyone, I am Sakura Fubuki."
Her voice trembled slightly but quickly stabilized, "I know I did a lot of things wrong regarding Tao Yao before. But now, I want to start over and finish up the remaining main storyline."
The chat immediately began to mock:
"Wow, Snow Dog finally decided to come out?"
"Do you still have the face to stream?"