"Master, it's dinner time."
A robotic, child-like voice roused Moya from his sleep. He had been asleep for a very long time, yet somehow felt even more exhausted upon waking.
He looked to the side and was greeted by a welcome sight.
"Hello, Rusty! What did you cook for your master?"
Rusty—formerly known as the system—found Moya far too enthusiastic; it was suspicious.
It wasn't exactly thrilled about being forced to live inside a broken robot and being named Rusty. And to the part where it has to call the host master.
But hey! The fool had promised not to go OOC anymore, so… maybe this scenario could still be salvaged.
And the fact that it now had a separate body, rather than just existing in the host's consciousness, made it somewhat happy. It wouldn't admit this, though.
Still, that didn't stop it from speaking its mind.
"Master, I'm telling you—and don't you dare say I never warned you—you will pay a great price for disrupting this world's narrative. You will pay very, very dearly."
Rusty poured a whole lot of emotion into its warning-slash-threat, but its foolish host merely pretended to clean his ears and blew nonexistent earwax off his finger. Still had that stupid grin.
"Ha? You saying something?"
• • •
Later, in the kitchen.
The half-human, half-Zerg and the robot stared each other down.
"Rusty. Why didn't you tell me we're out of food?"
The robot, displaying an innocent emoji on its display panel, defended itself. "Master, you only said to wake you up at dinner time. Not to prepare food."
Moya stared at it, looking helpless, and let out a long sigh. "Ha! No choice then."
He looked at the robot one more time before telling it to get the camera.
In Moya 1.0's memory, it seemed he used to go hunting every day—for both himself and the villain—and even cooked the food. He'd also gone through the guy's Star Stream account that has the username MoyMoy and found out the guy was insecure about his hair and tail (being a half-Zerg and all), so he never showed them on camera. Never revealed he lived on a desolate planet either, afraid the audience would mock him.
He just talked to them about random things. Sometimes played games.
And… that was it.
But Moya was going to change that—starting today.
"Rusty, make sure you get the right angle. Yes, like that. Hmm… A little to the left. Yes. Yes. Follow me. I'll say when we'll start."
As soon as they stepped out of the manor, Moya was immediately assaulted by all sorts of smells. Decaying animal flesh, stagnant water, and pollution. Not far away, he could see mountains upon mountains of trash. Because this planet has long been abandoned already, the other planets seemed to collectively turn it into a massive junkyard. An entire planet for their trash to be thrown into.
The ground itself was uneven with cracked concrete and muddy soil that squelched with every step. The smog made it impossible to see where the trash ended and the sky began. And the sky—if one could even call it that—was murky brown.
While actively reviewing the original owner's memory, Moya soon arrived at a clearing not too far away—half swamp, half pit—where some beasts liked to gather. They used to be normal animals but after centuries of feeding on waste and poison had turned them into something that, well… looked wrong to the eye.
Soon enough, he spotted a bloated rat the size of a dog, nibbling on a can of sardines.
"Rusty, start the live stream."
The camera in Rusty's little hands beeped, and the stream appeared on his display panel.
At first, the viewer count showed zero. Then one. Then three. Then ten. Names started popping up in the chat—casual greetings and half-bored comments trickled in.
[Yo, MoyMoy's online again!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!]
[What's today's topic? Another game review?]
[Hope he doesn't ramble too much, lol.]
But then the camera zoomed out and caught him in the frame.
Suddenly, the chat froze for a second. Then it exploded.
[???]
[WAIT!!!!!!!!!!!! IS THAT HIM??]
[No way, MoyMoy actually showing his face?!]
[He's outside??? Where even is this??]
[surprised cat.jpg]
Moya smiled at the camera, dimples showing on his cheeks, and gave a small wave to the audience. At that exact moment, the chat erupted before he could even say another word.
On the audience's end, they were finally seeing the person they'd been following for a long time. MoyMoy had never shown his face on any of his social media accounts. Some had even speculated about his appearance.
Maybe he's super ugly and shy about it?
Nah, he's just protecting his privacy.
What if MoyMoy is actually a celebrity? Voice changers are everywhere.
But now—for the first time ever—he was showing his face. And because of that, the viewer count skyrocketed after a few people posted about it on Star Stream.
A few eagle-eyed viewers began to notice something swaying lazily behind Moya.
[wait a sec]
[IS THAT A TAIL????]
[bro what is that thing behind him lol]
[WAIT IS THAT A STINGER]
And then someone commented Moymoy must be a Zerg and the chat wasn't having it.
[yo hold on]
[no way]
[NO WAY]
[ZERG????]
[HE'S A ZERG??????]
With the amount of people commenting, the chat actually began lagging.
[no no no zergs are MONSTERS]
[look at his face tho???? he's literally pretty]
[bro Zergs don't look like that]
[that's because it's AI. AI is getting crazier each day!]
[doesn't change what he is.]
[i'd let him kill me tbh]
[EXCUSE ME???]
[zergs are NOT cute]
[wtf is wrong with you people, have you seen real zergs??]
[this dude has DIMPLES]
While the audience warred amongst themselves, Moya tilted his head slightly and then he spoke.
"Hello!"
His voice was bright. Almost cheerful. The kind of voice you'd hear on a cozy cooking channel—except the chat immediately went silent.
"As you can see," he continued, "I am a half-human, half-Zerg."
Another wave of reactions hit the chat, but Moya didn't pause.
"I live on a massive junkyard planet. Formerly known as the Purple Planet on the outskirts of the Dodoro Galaxy."
The camera adjusted slightly as Rusty rolled to the side, panning for a wider view.
"And starting today, I'll be showing you how I've been surviving on this planet so far."
His dimples showed again as he grinned at the lens.
"I haven't eaten dinner yet, and I'll be hunting that thing over there."
The camera panned again—this time further out, zooming in on something in the distance.
It was a bloated rat the size of a small dog, waddling lazily through a pile of rusted scrap metal. Then as if on cue, the creature let out a wet burp—a cloud of green smoke puffed out of its mouth.
And just like that, the Live Stream totally exploded with thousands watching.