The Empress’ Livestream - Chapter 4: The Bandits Den

In a world governed by the mysterious power of dimensional gates, young Dabi, once frail but gifted with a photographic memory, discovers his life-altering ability: a leveling system that grants him new skills and magic as he rises through the ranks. After his family perished in a gate-related tragedy, Dabi swears to protect his siblings and unravel the mysteries within these deadly portals. Alongside his loyal spirit pets and rare allies, Dabi faces ancient threats and powerful enemies tied to his parents’ tragic past. As he rises in power, Dabi’s quest draws the attention of noble families, dangerous royals, and sinister forces seeking control over dimensions and the future of humanity itself. Secrets, betrayals, and a growing vendetta lead him deeper into a battle that threatens the fabric of existence. With the fate of his world hanging in the balance, Dabi must outwit and outfight forces beyond imagination all while confronting the truths hidden within the gates of the lost dimension.

In the year 2090, technology has advanced to the point where Simulation Boxes, (Sim Box for short) are common place, allowing for the user to link up their brain's neural network to a full dive Simulation. While initially used for educational purposes, recently a large gaming company, Averon, released a fully fledged immersive MMORPG simulation where users can become anyone they desire, level up, choose their class, and become a hero or a villain. The name of this simulation is The Shattered World Online.

Eli Winters had no interest in playing it. His father, a jobless bum who spent his entire life playing games in the hope of becoming a famous player or streamer, was able to use the release of The Shattered World Online to gain wealth and fame, quickly becoming the number one player and a household name as the game took the world by storm. He immediately abandoned Eli and his mother in favor of being with someone from his guild, despite his mother having worked two jobs to support them and raise Eli by herself. Eli had nothing but spite for his father and the game.

When Eli's best friend convinces him to try out the game, his father's fame begins to interfere, culminating in him being singled out and shunned by his peers, and his father offering to pay for his university tuition in return for Eli hiding their relationship and quitting the game. Instead of complying with his father's wishes, Eli decides to prove to everyone how useless a guy his father is by challenging him that if Eli is able to surpass him in the game world he must delete his account and quit his streaming career. His father accepts the challenge believing his son to be useless at games - but Eli will soon show him just how ambitious a spiteful person can be.

[Player Name: Qin HuaiUnlocked Illustrations: 0/12Skills:Dough Fermentation (Intermediate): Your dough fermentation technique has surpassed 99% of breakfast shop chefs nationwide. (0/10000)Stuffing Preparation (Advanced): Your stuffing preparation skill has surpassed 100% of breakfast shop chefs nationwide. (0/100000)...Evaluation: A novice just starting out]The moment he stepped into the cafeteria, the protagonist of this foodie novel welcomed the successful activation of his system.Qin Huai: A foodie novel, you should have said so earlier! I'm familiar with this!Later on—Qin Huai discovered that this system might not be purely about food.It seemed like some odd elements were added.Even his view of neighbors, friends, guests, and employees started to seem less human...But no problem.When in doubt, take a bite!-----------------------Game Instructions:1. This game has a very high degree of freedom; please explore on your own.2. This game will not interfere with any of the player's choices; please strive to unlock all illustrations.3. All explanations belong to the game.