Chapter 14 – Congratulations, Visitor 723587, for hitting the bullseye!
[“Here for the show, hehe~”]
[“Hello everyone from Ghost’s livestream!”]
[“WTF???”]
[“Holy crap, what is going on???”]
[“Wait, I didn’t enter the wrong stream, right? DDDD God???”]
[“I’ve been following him since he started streaming, and I’ve never seen this little brat make such a dumbfounded expression before. So I honestly can’t process this… yeah… which means I’m definitely not dreaming!”]
[“Someone hurry up and slap me awake, please?!”]
Qi Qiao kind of wished someone could slap him right now too.
No, actually, what he really wanted was to go back half an hour and slap himself instead.
After finishing that match, he should’ve ended the stream immediately. If he had, none of this would be happening right now!!!
[Faith-Devil has sent you 2 Brilliant Galaxies.]
Watching the exaggerated special effects fill the entire screen, Qi Qiao’s fingers resting on the mouse stiffened slightly.
“Thanks… uh, thanks to Devil for the two Brilliant Galaxies. Really, you didn’t have to spend so much.”
[“Damn, little brat, can you act a little less pathetic?”]
[“Seriously, where did all that attitude from when you were cursing at your dad and mom just now go???”]
[“Aren’t you two supposed to be on bad terms? Show some backbone! Your dad and mom are right here backing you up!”]
[“Honestly, after raising a son this long, I’ve never heard my son talk to me like that before. shrugs helplessly“]
The shock Qi Qiao had felt earlier had mostly faded by now.
He realized the reason he recovered so quickly was entirely thanks to the utterly shameless viewers in his livestream.
“First of all, stop randomly claiming me as your son in the chat.” Qi Qiao put on an annoyed expression. “Second, can the rotten eggs you guys send even compare to a Brilliant Galaxy? It’s such an expensive gift—shouldn’t I thank them properly?”
[“666, wow, so now this is somehow our fault?”]
[“Great, great, selling out your parents for a Brilliant Galaxy!”]
[“Thanks for the invite. First time in Ghost’s stream here—are all the fans in this stream always this… uninhibited?”]
[“You’ll get used to it, hehe, you’ll get used to it. Come join the Dad and Mom Army!”]
[“I get it now. All these years, we haven’t given our son enough nice things, and now he’s become a slave to money! Ah… truly, this is father’s mistake. Father’s topping up right now!”]
[“Everyone, switch to your main accounts and start talking!”]
Watching the barrage of comments flying rapidly across the screen, Qi Qiao suddenly had a very bad feeling.
And sure enough—
[Ghost’s Sugar Daddy from Zhejiang has sent you a Brilliant Galaxy.]
[Ghost’s Landlady Mom from Guangdong has sent you a Brilliant Galaxy.]
[Ghost Remember Filial Piety Between Father and Son has sent you a Brilliant Galaxy.]
…
Qi Qiao sat stiffly in front of his computer desk, the corner of his mouth twitching almost imperceptibly.
As long as this bunch of lunatic viewers started going crazy, nothing good ever followed…
[“Why isn’t our son saying anything? Your mom just sent you a Galaxy!”]
[“Little brat, open your eyes and take a good look — this isn’t a rotten egg, it’s a Galaxy!”]
[“Come on, say thank you! Didn’t you just say expensive gifts deserve proper thanks?!”]
[“Girls in Ghost’s livestream… are all of you seriously this loaded?”]
[“Of course. Back in the day, we sent our son tens of thousands of rotten eggs just to push him to #1 on the weekly earnings leaderboard~”]
Qi Qiao felt like he was starting to develop PTSD from seeing the words “rotten eggs.”
[“So, son, are you thanking us or not? If not, I’m going out there and telling everyone you’re bowing to power and playing favorites!”]
Sitting in front of his computer, Qi Qiao felt like his head was about to split in two.
Fine…
This was the mess he brought upon himself.
“Thanks to Ghost’s Sugar Daddy from Zhejiang for the Brilliant Galaxy.”
“Thanks to Ghost’s Landlady Mom from Guangdong for the Brilliant Galaxy.”
“Thanks to… Ghost Remember Filial Piety Between Father and Son for the Brilliant Galaxy.”
Qi Qiao kept a dark expression on his face the entire time. After thanking each one, he immediately blocked them and kicked them out of the livestream without hesitation.
He never wanted to see those IDs ever again.
If he had known things would develop like this, he never should’ve started this damn stream today.
Embarrassing himself right in front of Pei Ming…
At that point, dying on the spot would’ve been preferable.
While Qi Qiao was absentmindedly spiraling, a message suddenly appeared on the screen.
[“Faith-Devil: Queue?”]
Qi Qiao’s breathing stalled for a moment, his finger pausing halfway through blocking another viewer.
[“What???”]
[“Wait, what did Devil just say? I didn’t misread that, right?!”]
[“I think Devil just asked Ghost if he wants to queue up.”]
[“Queue together???”]
[“No way, I must’ve woken up wrong. Isn’t Ghost supposed to be Devil’s hater?”]
[“Stop calling him a hater every two seconds. Our son hasn’t admitted it, okay?”]
[“Wait, what do you mean “admit it”? Didn’t everyone literally see that apology video?!”]
[“Stop arguing for a second — Devil is asking Ghost if he wants to queue together!”]
Qi Qiao stared fixedly at the screen.
Another message appeared.
[“Faith-Devil: ?”]
Qi Qiao’s fingers curled slightly.
About ten seconds passed before he finally spoke.
“…No.”
After saying that, he paused, lowering his eyes.
“Not interested.”
[“…Not interested???”]
[“Your dad didn’t hear that clearly. Say it louder???”]
[“Millions of people would pay a fortune just to get on D-God’s friends list, and you’re telling me you’re not interested???!!!”]
[“According to statistics, among Ghost’s famous quotes this season, the phrase “Not interested” has appeared a total of 56 times — an increase of over 50% compared to last season!”]
[“Let’s give a warm round of applause and congratulate “Not Interested” for making it onto Ghost’s Hall of Famous Quotes!!!”]
[“Uh… honestly, Devil, I really don’t think someone like Ghost needs to be riding your popularity.”]
[“Wait, who’s riding whose popularity? Devil sent the message himself, okay? What, people aren’t even allowed to send a message and add someone anymore???”]
Leaning back against his chair, Pei Ming watched Qi Qiao busily muting comments, a faint smile on his lips.
Sure enough, his little brother really hadn’t changed much.
The way he said one thing while meaning another was still painfully obvious.
Pei Ming moved his fingers and sent another message.
[“Faith-Devil: Okay.”]
The moment Qi Qiao saw the word “Okay,” the heavy weight pressing against his chest finally lifted.
Although somehow… it felt like too much had lifted, leaving behind an odd emptiness.
Then Qi Qiao saw the notification:
[Faith-Devil has left the livestream.]
Most of the viewers who had come over just to watch the drama followed and left too. Only a small number stayed behind, still busy arguing with his group of utterly shameless lunatic fans.
It felt like everything had returned to normal.
But somehow…
It also hadn’t.
Qi Qiao knew it himself.
The psychological defenses he had spent the past year building were slowly starting to crumble.
It was only a matter of not knowing when they would finally reach their breaking point.
As expected…
Unless he never saw Pei Ming again for the rest of his life, it would be impossible for him to truly remain unaffected.
The moderators in the livestream were still banning people.
[“Fine, I’m saying this right now — D-God’s popularity isn’t something toxic trash-talking fans like you can latch onto whenever you want. Stay away!”]
[“666, wow, the level of brain shrinkage you’re showing is honestly impressive~”]
[“Devil already left. It’s almost time for the giveaway draw, stop arguing.”]
[“Exactly. If you want to fight, do it later on Weibo. Don’t start a comment war in this livestream — your accounts matter, okay?”]
[“Good point. That little brat has already banned several of my accounts. I only have two left… can’t lose those too…”]
…
Qi Qiao pressed his lips together.
Right… it was almost time for Pei Ming’s giveaway drawing.
Thinking that, he picked up his phone, turned at an angle facing away from the camera, and logged into Devil’s livestream.
[“Son, what are you doing now?”]
[“Are you still streaming or not? If not, your dad’s going to eat dinner.”]
[“Sis above, don’t you know you can watch while eating? Makes the meal taste better!”]
[“Wait, the real question is, little brat, why are you suddenly using your phone???”]
[“And you’re hiding it from your dad and mom too. Could it be some shameful little secret?”]
Qi Qiao glanced at the barrage of comments and lied without changing expression.
“Oh, Wink saw that I’m too poor to afford tomatoes and eggs, so he sent me a red packet.”
[“???”]
[“Son, what about that huge Brilliant Galaxy Mom just sent you?”]
[“Dad gave you thirty rotten eggs and a Brilliant Galaxy today — and that still isn’t enough to buy tomatoes???”]
Qi Qiao let out a casual “Mm-hm.”
“I eat a lot, don’t mind me.”
[“6.”]
[“6. I seriously have nothing to say anymore.”]
[“Wink is just ???”]
Qi Qiao couldn’t be bothered arguing with them anymore. He lowered his head and focused entirely on watching the giveaway draw.
Pei Ming had set up a timed livestream drawing, which meant that in one more minute, everyone in the channel would find out exactly who the lucky winner was.
Qi Qiao wanted to know too.
Just who would end up hitting those one-in-a-million odds.
[“Tsk… rubbing hands together, rubbing hands together — time for the draw, woohoo!”]
[“Heaven above, earth below, any passing immortals please look my way. This humble believer is willing to stay vegetarian for life in exchange for Devil’s friend slot!”]
[“Good luck is coming, yes, good luck is coming!!!]
[“Three seconds left, I’m so nervous!”]
[“Two seconds left, holy crap. Amitabha, Amitabha!”]
[“It’s drawing! It’s drawing!”]
Qi Qiao watched as the countdown on the screen shifted from 1s to 0s.
The spinning wheel of fate — the giveaway lottery box — began shaking before finally stopping on a numbered ball.
[Visitor 723587. Congratulations.]
Looking at the name displayed on the screen, Pei Ming spoke calmly.
[“A visitor account? No way. I’m level 10 and I lost to a visitor account?!”]
[“Damn, this kid’s luck is insane. How does a visitor account even win this?! AHHHHH!”]
[“Leaving in disappointment, sob sob… I knew it. I just wasn’t sincere enough.”]
[“I literally vowed to stay vegetarian for life… crying in the bathroom.”]
Qi Qiao stared blankly at the winner tag that had appeared on the screen.
Azure TV could be considered a platform with an extremely strict account ranking system.
Under normal circumstances, as account levels increased, users gained more privileges.
Not only that, high-level accounts had lottery odds several times better than low-level ones.
Not to mention visitor accounts, which practically had no privileges at all.
And worst of all…
Qi Qiao lowered his eyes and looked at the gold-bordered notification box on his phone.
[Dear Visitor 723587, congratulations! On December 25, you hit the bullseye in Faith-Devil’s livestream giveaway event. After the stream ends, Faith-Devil will contact you through private messages!]
Damn it.
Out of one-in-a-million odds… he actually won.
Qi Qiao stared at the message for a long time before slowly accepting that he wasn’t dreaming.
A smile uncontrollably crept onto the corners of his lips.
His thoughts were still a little dazed.
His fingers trembled slightly as he set down his phone and looked back at his own livestream.
Qi Qiao had already planned his excuse.
He’d just say Wink had invited him out to dinner, so he had to end the stream immediately.
But just as he was thinking that—
He suddenly noticed something strange about the livestream.
Something was missing.
Qi Qiao had a lot of active fans, and the viewers in his livestream were always lively. Every time he streamed, if he didn’t turn on the comment assistant, the barrage of comments would completely cover his face.
But right now…
Qi Qiao stared at the unusually clean screen and muttered in confusion,
“What’s going on? I turned on the comment assistant, didn’t I?”
After saying that, he checked to confirm.
The comment assistant was clearly showing “Enabled.”
“No, this isn’t right. Could the system be bugging out or something?” Qi Qiao asked, even more puzzled.
This time, the chat finally reacted.
[“Uh… the system probably isn’t bugging out.”]
[“Agreed. But our brains seem to have malfunctioned a little.”]
Qi Qiao raised an eyebrow.
“Haven’t your brains always been malfunctioning? Why’s everyone suddenly so synchronized in not talking?”
The barrage in the livestream once again fell into an eerily unified silence for several seconds.
Even the moderators, who had been constantly talking earlier, had gone completely quiet.
Qi Qiao became even more confused.
[“The thing is… um… Zhejiang Rich Beauty, you explain.”]
[“No no no, something like this should be explained by Guangdong Landlady…”]
[“Uh… well… I… you… we… maybe…”]
[“…Maybe… son, why don’t you look at the bottom-right corner?”]
By this point, Qi Qiao already had a very bad feeling.
He shifted his gaze toward the bottom-right corner of the computer screen and noticed a notification panel.
The panel wasn’t large, but it was just big enough for anyone to clearly read what was written there.
[Dear Visitor 723587, congratulations! On December 25, you hit the bullseye in Faith–Devil’s livestream giveaway event. After the stream ends, Faith-Devil will contact you through private messages!]
Qi Qiao’s heart skipped violently.
His mind buzzed.
Oh no.
In his rush to log into his alt account earlier, he had forgotten one very important thing—
His damn alt account was linked to his main account information!
Azure TV had always been considered the gold standard of the livestreaming industry, with excellent security systems and strict account management.
For example, while users could create alternate accounts, those accounts still had to be verified and linked to a phone number — and each phone number could only be connected to two accounts.
As for the so-called “Visitor” identity, that was simply the default nickname automatically assigned by the system after he created the alt account, and Qi Qiao had always found changing it too troublesome.
The reason Qi Qiao created this alt account in the first place was to argue with the lunatic fans in his own livestream.
So from the very beginning, he deliberately chose to link it with his main account information, allowing him to jump into battle with them anytime, anywhere, at a moment’s notice.
But after streaming for so long, he had gradually mellowed out.
Recently, he rarely fought with fans anymore, so the alt account had just been sitting there unused.
If Pei Ming hadn’t gone live today, Qi Qiao probably wouldn’t have logged into that alt account for another two months.
But Pei Ming had gone live today.
He had started a giveaway today.
And Qi Qiao had been stupid enough to completely forget about the linked account information, then directly return to his own livestream without logging out of the alt account first.
Wasn’t this basically asking for death?
Qi Qiao bit down so hard on his lower lip that two teeth marks immediately appeared.
Blank-faced, he moved the mouse and clicked the X on the notification panel.
The message disappeared.
But Qi Qiao felt like he was about to disappear too.
[“So…”]
“[So, dear parents… this…”]
[“Mm… what happened to Wink sending you a red packet?”]
[“Mm… what happened to “not interested”?”]
[““Wink Sent Me a Red Packet” has now officially been added to Ghost’s Collection of Classic Quotes.”]
[“Got it. So “not interested” only meant he didn’t want something handed to him — our son prefers winning it with his own two hands!”]
[“Well… okay… using a visitor account to enter a giveaway and standing out among one in a million people… our little brat is still impressive. Consider this encouragement (?)”]
[“Already took screenshots over there for the archives.”]
[“Everyone, get ready for battle. I’ve got a feeling Devil’s army is about to charge over here. I already saw screenshots spreading on social media.”]
Qi Qiao felt like half his body had gone cold.
Putting aside how his own viewers were going to make a huge deal out of this later…
If Pei Ming found out—
Then wouldn’t everything he said to him in the bathroom yesterday…
Qi Qiao didn’t even want to think about it anymore.
…
“Honestly, I didn’t expect a visitor account to win either.”
Pei Ming spoke calmly.
“But I’d say that’s some pretty incredible luck.”
[“Waaah, I’ve had a five-year loyal fan badge and I’ve never even gotten close!”]
[“I’m so jealous. I really want to know who the person behind that visitor account is.”]
[“Come on, it’s a visitor account. It’s probably just some random person. No point digging into them.”]
[“Wait, not necessarily. Streamers use alt accounts all the time too, don’t they?”]
[“True… Devil normally never adds other streamers. If it turns out to be a streamer, they’re ridiculously lucky too, sob sob.”]
[“Honestly, if I’d won, I probably wouldn’t even dare invite Devil to queue with me. I’m way too bad at the game, hahaha.”]
Pei Ming idly watched the livestream comments for a while.
He was starting to feel hungry and was just about to end the stream and go eat when hurried footsteps suddenly came pounding up the stairs.
Thump thump thump.
Jiang Jiang came rushing upstairs wrapped in a thick down jacket.
“Brother—brother, holy shit, this is huge!”
Pei Ming frowned and turned toward him.
“Slow down. Don’t trip.”
He clearly remembered Jiang Jiang saying earlier that he was going out for a walk to help digest dinner.
How had he come back so fast?
Jiang Jiang was panting heavily.
“Brother, brother, brother — guess whose visitor account that was?”
Pei Ming raised an eyebrow but didn’t say anything.
Jiang Jiang clicked his tongue twice, then pulled out his phone from his pocket and shoved it in front of Pei Ming.
The phone unlocked to a social media app.
On the screen was a screenshot.
It was from Ghost’s livestream.
The notification panel that had appeared in the bottom-right corner had been circled heavily in red.
Pei Ming stared at the screenshot for a long moment.
“So, brother… what do we do now?” Jiang Jiang rattled on nonstop. “Should we redraw the winner?”
Pei Ming turned back toward the screen, reopened Ghost’s livestream profile, and while typing into the chat beside the comment feed, said calmly,
“They entered through the proper channels. We can’t exactly go back on our word.”
…
Qi Qiao stared at the endless stream of comments on the screen.
The longer he looked, the colder his heart became.
This is bad.
This time, he’d really messed up big.
He could already barely imagine what things would be like later if he made it onto the starting roster.
If he ended up seeing Pei Ming in future competitions…
How was he supposed to act around him after this?
There were far too many comments flooding the livestream, and Qi Qiao realized there was no explanation he could possibly give anymore.
He was just about to end the stream altogether—
When a new message suddenly popped up.
[“Faith-Devil: Interested now?”]
Qi Qiao’s hand froze just as he was about to press “Close.”
Staring at that message, his mind buzzed.
He genuinely had no idea what to say anymore.
No matter what he said, it felt like the more he explained, the worse it would look.
Qi Qiao pressed his lips together.
After a long silence, he finally spoke.
“…Maybe…”
“…A little.”
Author’s Note:
Qiao Qiao: The corpse isn’t feeling too well, logging off first. 😵💫