Chapter 41: Outstanding Debts

The next day, after arranging the luggage that had arrived, Ling Zhizhi prepared to tidy up her courtyard.

Scarcely had she begun when Ling Tuantuan’s shrill, old-fashioned voice echoed in her mind:
[Host! Host! Someone watched our video!]

Ling Zhizhi put down her tools, dusted off her hands, and raised them to catch the sphere bouncing toward her.
"Making a fuss over nothing. Isn't people watching exactly what we want? What is the view count?"
[Ten thousand people have watched it! A large portion of them are from Far-View Star, probably because I set the location to Far-View Star.]

Far-View Star?
I'll make a note of that for later.
However, isn't this view count way too low? It would be considered abysmally low even back in Huaxia. What on earth was Ling Tuantuan getting so excited about?
"Didn't you say the entertainment industry is highly developed on your side? Why are the view counts so low?"
Ling Tuantuan hummed and hawed, stubbornly refusing to explain clearly what had happened.
"If you don't tell me, how am I supposed to solve the problem?"
The sphere resting on the table looked as though it wanted to flatten itself into a pancake.
[Host, some people think you used special effects to deceive them. So, nobody came to watch anymore.]

Are aliens really this naive and honest?
Don't they have that stubborn curiosity where the more you forbid them from looking, the more they insist on seeing?
After receiving a crash course from someone else, Ling Zhizhi translated this into Huaxia-equivalent terminology: it meant her video had been thrown into the shadow realm.
Unless there was some new trending topic to boost its exposure, nothing would change.

Having no other ideas for the moment, she asked Ling Tuantuan to check the playback feedback.
Since she lacked fan points, Ling Zhizhi couldn't see the comments on the system interface herself and had to rely entirely on Ling Tuantuan to relay them.
[Host, a lot of them are asking what a hairpin is.]

Ling Zhizhi slapped her forehead. A miscalculation—she had completely forgotten that they had never used such items before.
"Ahem. In future live streams, we can set up a Q&A session. Any difficult-to-answer questions can be addressed live. That should also help attract some traffic to our broadcasts."

With such a small viewing base, surely no one else had crafted these items yet.
Looking at the objects alone might still be a bit monotonous; she couldn't afford to be lazy.
"Tuantuan, during today's live stream, make sure to record the entire space. I'm going to go make some preparations now. You just stay downstairs and study."

Fortunately, those clothes had been delivered yesterday. She had sorted out a portion of them, which would barely suffice for today's broadcast.
Switching to another room and gathering a few items, she began tinkering with her makeshift live-streaming setup.
Thought it was monotonous? Lacking appeal?
A human-machine interaction?
Time to witness some real-scene operations.

No wonder Ling Zhizhi’s family had packed her up and thrown her out; the sheer volume of her belongings had taken days to move, and she was still continuously buying more. Anyone would have lost their patience.
Ling Zhizhi was a woman of action with astonishingly high efficiency.
Before the broadcast started, she had everything fully prepared.
[Whoa! Host, you are so beautiful! Tuantuan has never seen anyone so gorgeous!]

As expected of a system, Ling Tuantuan excelled at programmed flattery.
Since she was going to be crafting things, Ling Zhizhi hadn't worn overly complicated attire. Instead, she wore a pinkish-purple, chest-high ruqun. She parted her hair, styled it into a hundred-flower bun, and adorned it with a hairpin made of velvet flowers.
This tempered the lively aura about her, adding a touch of gentleness and ethereal charm.

Ling Tuantuan slumped motionlessly onto the table, staring intently at Ling Zhizhi with non-existent eyes.
It was the first time she had seen this little gadget turn red.
Ling Zhizhi smiled and told it to start the broadcast.
"Get ready to begin. We'll broadcast for an extra ten minutes today, and you can relay the questions we pinned down earlier."

In front of the floor-to-ceiling windows, Ling Zhizhi had placed a semi-circular hollow-carved screen partition, dividing the room into a larger and a smaller section. To match the theme of the broadcast, she hung several unlettered floral paintings on the wall.
The table that had previously appeared on camera was now adorned with additional decorations.
In a corner of the tabletop, a sky-blue porcelain vase held a few fresh flowers for embellishment.
Drawing upon the knowledge she had acquired, she didn't dive straight into the science popularization this time. Instead, she first introduced herself to the people in the live stream.
Then, she officially began today's content.

...

In the distant Prosperous Star System, a gaming streamer named "Big Treasure" was embarking on his weekly routine of fishing in troubled waters—meaning, entering another streamer's room within the week to challenge them to a PK battle.
Their PK battles were unlike those in Huaxia; they were actual, genuine competitions within a specific industry.
The audience in his broadcasting room thoroughly enjoyed his weekly humiliation rituals, and relying on this unique trait, he had accumulated a massive fan base, soaring to prominence as a top-tier streamer on his platform.

In other words, his actions could also be considered a form of poverty alleviation, because only those truly struggling to survive would ever show up on the Star Network's PK channel.
The PK channel offered support incentives: as long as you defeated your challenger, one-third of all income earned by that defeated streamer within the week would be awarded to you.
Conversely, if the person on the PK channel lost, they didn't have to pay a single cent.
Therefore, following this regulation, all streamers participating in PKs tacitly agreed to choose their opponents on the final day.

[The boys are here to watch the show again! Let's place our bets on which streamer Big Treasure will pick for a PK this time.]
[That kid from last time ruthlessly swept away a third of Big Treasure's money. It made my eyes turn green with envy.]
[What's there to be envious of? That kid will burn through that money in less than two years. Don't forget why he appeared on the PK channel in the first place.]

The comments flashing across the chat didn't distract the streamer. Diligently, he scrolled up from the bottom of the rankings, refusing to miss anyone in need of assistance.
Rubbing his hands together with eager anticipation, he stumbled upon a broadcasting room with zero viewers. "Brothers, this stream is looking so desolate. Let me go save them."

[Ha, Big Treasure is playing the hero in Dreamland again.]
[I know this stream; it's full of a bunch of messy, incomprehensible junk. Completely unreadable. Big Treasure is definitely going to lose.]

The system, thoroughly immersed in the radiant wisdom of Ling Zhizhi, was abruptly jolted by a sudden pop-up message.
"Host! Someone is here to challenge you to a PK!"

Adapting to local cultural contexts, Ling Zhizhi’s eyes lit up at the mention of a PK. "Accept! Only a fool turns down money!"

After the two sides connected, a holographic projection channel was established, directly casting the other streamer into Ling Zhizhi's broadcast room. Instantly, the gamer's chat exploded.
[Are you kidding me? Such a massive, high-end special effects set was put in the PK arena?]
[I must be blind. I actually get to see scenery straight out of a dream right before my eyes.]
[It's over. Big Treasure isn't just going to lose this time; he's going to lose miserably.]

With a flawless customer-service smile plastered across her face and out of caution toward an unfamiliar domain, Ling Zhizhi refrained from speaking first.
This led the other streamer to assume there was no one in the room at all.
"Brothers, there's no streamer in this room! Did the tech crew slip up and put this place in the wrong spot? Let me go report them and get some decent rations for you guys!"

Unable to maintain her smile any longer, Ling Zhizhi said expressionless, "Big brother, didn't you see a full-sized human standing right here?"