Chapter 27 Live Blind Play Mode

Two people were sent out in total. Now one has disappeared without a trace, and the other stupidly sent back incorrect location information. Anyone would be furious.

No matter how Ruan Zihan tried to contact Yu Yu, the other party's terminal kept showing a disconnection, and the chat interface was still stuck on the sentence from last night: "President Ruan, Juyu has started blocking the optical computer signal. No matter what Zhou Zongyun says, please don't believe it."

A sharp pain shot through his fingertip, and Ruan Zihan realized that the needle of the hallucinogen syringe had somehow pierced his thumb.

He threw the syringe to the ground with a thud.

He couldn't tell; he simply couldn't tell which of the two people was lying.

With bloodshot eyes, Ruan Zihan sent Yu Yu more than thirty messages but received no reply.

He opened the photo Zhou Zongyun had sent him, zoomed in until every pixel was clearly visible, and after confirming that there were no signs of photoshopping, he slammed his fist on the sofa. Then he called his assistant and gave Zhou Zongyun a million dollars.

The atmosphere in the room was oppressive and somber, with only the director's excited voice still coming from the holographic projection in the live broadcast room.

The lavish stage effects enveloped Ruan Zihan, just as the previous red carpet host was about to perform her talent.

From the awkwardness of the first day to the power in every movement now, it's obvious how much this growth rate of a novice streamer is impactful for fans who develop a fanbase.

Seeing the large amount of gift effects pop up in the lower right corner of the screen, Ruan Zihan suddenly grabbed everything he could reach and smashed it onto the projector.

The physical object passed through the virtual projection without leaving a ripple; only his personal computer popped up another message:

[Mr. Ruan, something terrible has happened! After Cheng Jinyu came on, the qualification threshold suddenly rose dramatically, now it's over three million.]

Ruan Zihan hesitated for a moment, but thought it made sense, so he gritted his teeth and invested another 1.5 million yuan in Zhou Zongyun.

The ranking list for the last round of the top 30 to top 20 event was published in real time, and the advancement threshold was only over three million. Logically speaking, this blind competition shouldn't be any more intense than the previous open battles.

He calmly exited the Giant Entertainment livestream, intending to prepare a new hallucinogen for himself, but before he even reached the storage room, he received another message:

[Mr. Ruan, it's still not enough... The advancement threshold has now reached over five million. I'm sorry, Mr. Ruan, I really didn't expect it to be this high.]

Ruan Zihan immediately blocked Zhou Zongyun.

Very good, he can now tell who is lying.

Only twenty minutes have passed. It's impossible for the advancement threshold to jump by millions in such a short time. Zhou Zongyun really thinks he's a fool.

Zhou Zongyun has probably been bribed by Juyu's sweet talk, but fortunately he sent more than one person this time.

He still has a chance to make amends; Yu Yu is still on the field.

Restarting the live stream, Ruan Zihan called his assistant: "Give Yu Yu six million. If other streamers give large gifts, we'll add more to the bet."

"Mr. Ruan, the company's accounts show that the expenses for Zhou Zongyun and Yu Yu's performing arts training have exceeded ten million. Such a large amount is hard to explain to the shareholders. Why don't you reconsider?"

After hanging up the phone, Ruan Zihan began to review the stocks he held.

Anyway, he is the largest shareholder and actual operator of Xinghan Media. He takes the lion's share of the company's profits and doesn't mind using his own money to subsidize the company.

After quickly selling his shares in two other entertainment companies, and with the cash he had left, Ruan Zihan registered a new account and sent Yu Yu six million yuan worth of gifts.

The moment the gift was presented, Yu Yu had just finished his second round of dance performance. Beads of sweat trickled down his forehead as he stood on the stage, excitedly thanking the presenter.

"Thank you [Han's Dictionary Has No Character] for the carnival gift, thank you boss!"

"Babies, please let me see you, okay? This competition is really important to me. Can I see another special effect?"

After each carnival effect flashed, the lights behind the streamer would flash intermittently. After dozens of carnival effects, it was as if the entire stage was cheering for him.

The director also loudly thanked everyone for the gifts, creating an atmosphere that was perfect for the live stream.

Ruan Zihan had silently clenched his fists without anyone noticing. His heartbeat gradually accelerated with the light, and his eyes were fixed on the screen.

Whenever he saw other streamers frequently receiving large amounts of gifts, he would continue to give Yu Yu tens of thousands of yuan worth of Carnival gifts.

Time flies when you're in the live stream, and it was already 11 p.m. when the itch in my bones returned.

It was time for the group dance, and the rankings would be announced by Juyu in an hour. Ruan Zihan got up, prepared a hallucinogen to boost his spirits, and sat on the sofa until the countdown began.

Twenty anchors returned to the stage simultaneously, and the cameras of the media present captured almost every hair on their faces with extreme clarity.

Fang Zhuo stood in the extended area of ​​the T-shaped stage, with all the lights focused on him alone.

Even with only two minutes left before the results of the second round were to be announced, his voice remained calm and powerful.

"I have some news to share in advance: the final competition will still be held at the Federal Center Gymnasium tomorrow night. In addition to inviting the media and the fan clubs of the various anchors, the official team will release 3,600 tickets to the public at 1:00 AM."

"There's only one minute left before the second round of competition rankings are announced, and I'm sure everyone is feeling very nervous. But I'd like to give the audience watching on screen a heads-up: the ranking results might be quite unexpected."

Before he could finish speaking, the number of gifts refreshed at a rate four or five times faster than during the competition.

Upon hearing this, the top-ranked teams from the previous round were all afraid that their own streamers would be unexpectedly upset and eliminated in this round, and even the chat was in an uproar, with everyone trying to mobilize their respective teams.

In the last five seconds, the gift donation channel was suddenly closed.

All the lights went out instantly, and in the darkness, everyone in front of the screen could only hear their own heavy heartbeats and the calm countdown from above:

"Five, four, three, two—"

[I can't take it anymore, the longest five seconds of my life]

I feel like I'm about to have a heart attack, is there anyone who can save me?

[Why hasn't it been announced yet? If my favorite streamer doesn't make it into the top twelve, I'm going to collapse on the spot!]

[Politely looking for an offline viewing buddy to watch the final round of the competition together.]

[I anticipate that tickets will be extremely difficult to get this time, so I suggest buying tickets first and then keeping an eye out for them.]

[I wasn't planning on going to the offline event today, but my personal computer suddenly malfunctioned and somehow redirected me to the Giant Entertainment ticketing page. Before I knew it, I had filled in all the basic information and accidentally enabled automatic payment. Seriously, I can't be so careless next time!]

[Tonight, Cheng Jinyu's fans alone raised over eight million yuan in donations. Everyone really worked hard tonight. Our little host needs to do his best!]

[Uh, do you really think over eight million people are sure to win? Should we hear how many votes the Beijing fans cast?]

Upon seeing this comment, Ruan Zihan shuddered, and the effects of the hallucinogen instantly dissipated by more than half.

He checked his spending history and found that he had invested a little over seven million yuan in Yu Yu in just two hours.

Is it possible that even with so many submissions, it's still impossible to get into the top twelve...?

Wouldn't all the previous plans have been wasted?

The countdown in the last second seemed to drag on for an eternity. Ruan Zihan placed his hands on his lap and unconsciously pursed his lips.

The lights inside the stadium flickered rapidly, and in an instant, all the walls and even the ceiling glowed with a faint blue light. The cheers of the media present could not contain themselves and were faintly transmitted to the ears of every online viewer through the recording equipment.

The results of the second round of competition on Juyu Live have finally been announced—Jian Yujing secured first place, while Tao Mi rose from tenth place in the previous round to second place, and Xiao Xiao, who had a fan base before, dropped to outside the top six.

Whether it was a side effect of the hallucinogen or not, Ruan Zihan even felt a little short of breath. He blinked anxiously, barely able to see the arrangement of the Chinese characters.

His symptoms only eased slightly when he saw Yu Yu's name in the twelfth position.

Walking through the starkly lit corridor, Ruan Zihan went alone to the storage room in the deserted suite, intending to prepare a hallucinogen for himself to celebrate.

Fireworks burst into bloom, and the corridor was lined with fresh flowers still dripping with water. Staff from Juyu Entertainment lined both sides of the corridor, presenting the newly arrived anchors with ceremonial skincare gift sets and bouquets of ninety-nine pink roses.

Fang Zhuo walked behind all the anchors. After he passed, all the assistant directors and live broadcast staff gathered around him and followed him to the backstage area.

"Report today's data."

"Okay, Mr. Fang. The second round of the competition live stream started at 5 pm and will continue until 12:30 am. The total revenue from gifts after tax is 61.0636 million, which is 31% higher than the revenue from the first round of the competition."

"The peak number of concurrent viewers across the entire network reached 690,000, a 64% increase compared to yesterday. Currently, among the eight major federal live streaming platforms, only Xiaoxiong Live has not agreed to our joint live streaming offer; their Department of Commerce has been manually rejecting our emails."

"We expect the total number of online users to increase by about 3% to 6% after adding the joint broadcasting channels of Xiaoxiong Live."

Now is the stage where group broadcasting needs to break out of its niche and expand its influence; even a small gain is still a gain. Fang Zhuo waved his hand: "It's okay, I'll talk to them later."

The assistant director continued, "The account you are following, [Hanhan Tomorrow Will Be Better], has given a total of 8.7 million yuan in rewards in the past two days. The last reward was given to the influencer Zhou Zongyun."

"In addition, a new account was created today on the same IP address. The account [Han's Dictionary Has No Input] tipped Yu Yu 7.9 million tonight. The two accounts together have a total of more than 16 million."

Fang Zhuo chuckled softly.

Deng Jiaqiang, who was following behind him, pointed to his head with two fingers of his right hand and asked in confusion, "Did he have a high fever when he was a child?"

Fang Zhuo: "I don't know, but one of the side effects of potent hallucinogens is that they affect intelligence."

As you walk through the flower-petal-strewn corridor, the backstage area of ​​the stadium is filled with cheers and celebrations.

The streamers who were eliminated in the previous round also made an appearance in today's final group dance, and everyone hugged each other and cried tears of joy.

The moment Fang Zhuo entered the backstage area, countless expectant or grateful gazes were suddenly cast upon him from all directions.

He strode up to the low platform where he was in charge, turned on the microphone's amplification function, and said succinctly:

"Everyone has worked hard tonight. Whether you are an employee or an artist, you are all indispensable members of Giant Entertainment. The success of today's live broadcast is inseparable from each and every one of you. Thank you all."

He bowed slightly, and when he looked up, he saw that several anchors in the front row had already started wiping away tears.

"Xiao Jiang, please compile a list of attendees today. In addition to the original live-streaming performance bonus, each streamer and employee will receive an extra 100,000 yuan in cash."

Even though she was used to her boss's lavish spending, Jiang Yu still subconsciously pinched her philtrum.

The company's live streaming back-end coordination team always operates on a two- to three-shift system. Tonight, there are about twenty employees present, meaning each of them will receive a bonus of over 300,000 yuan.

While other companies only offer toxic motivational speeches from the boss for working overtime, these employees not only receive overtime pay, but also a cash bonus equivalent to others' annual salary.

Jiang Yu took a deep breath; he was willing to work for Boss Fang for the rest of his life.

The reactions of others present were even greater than his; someone threw a handful of flower petals into the air, and the entire backstage area instantly erupted into a frenzied celebration.

After announcing the rewards, Fang Zhuo left immediately and asked his assistant director to schedule a meeting with the business department of Xiaoxiong Live at 9:30 the next morning.

It was past 2 a.m. when they got back to the hotel. Yi Diandian seemed to have just woken up from a low-energy standby mode, her voice a little languid: [Host, why don't you rest for a bit? I'm a little scared]

Fang Zhuo: [Is death from overwork listed as a cause of death for business operators?]

Yi Dian Dian paused for a moment, then answered honestly: [Not at the moment. In a healthy state without any disease buffs, the host's health will be maximized by default, and death will only occur from fatal external injuries.]

Fang Zhuo: [It's good that you know.]

A few head-shaking emojis bombarded his mind: [But the physical exhaustion is real, how come you're not affected at all, host???]

Fang Zhuo ignored Yi Dian Dian's breakdown. The hotel lights didn't go out until 3 a.m. He searched for information about Xiaoxiong Live before going to sleep.

Among the eight largest live streaming platforms in the Star Federation, Xiaoxiong Live's traffic is definitely not the most outstanding, but its user base is the most vertical.

It is known as the place where game streamers can find their way, gathering a large number of viewers who are deeply interested in games. Every year, all kinds of e-sports events in the Star Federation are broadcast on only two platforms: the Star Network main interface and Xiaoxiong Live.

At the same time, it is also the most picky about its partners. The Ministry of Commerce will reject any invitation to co-host a live broadcast if the type of live broadcast room is deemed to be not closely related to the game.

At 9:30 a.m., as soon as the online meeting began, the person in charge from Xiaoxiong Live said directly:

"Mr. Fang, I'm not sure if you're trying to generate buzz by highlighting our status as the only platform to have all eight major live streaming platforms, but I feel it's necessary for me to explain this to you first—"

We're a platform that started with games, which is clearly a completely incompatible fit with your looks-focused dance group livestreams.

"Even if you open a channel for Little Bear, you may not be able to attract many active users."

"Furthermore, we have strict control over the content on our platform, and currently we only accept collaborations on vertical content. I apologize, Mr. Fang."

The two liaisons finished their refusal in one sentence, and then raised their right hands to close the negotiation window.

Fang Zhuo's expression remained unchanged throughout. He glanced at his watch and said calmly:

"Since both of us are short on time, could you please just give us a total package price?"

"It includes not only channel broadcasting, but also the twelve-hour homepage and splash screen recommendation slots on the Xiaoxiong Live platform."

The two employees of Little Bear exchanged a glance, both reading shock in each other's eyes.

The two discussed for a while, one of them operating the computer for a few seconds, and then a middle-aged man in his fifties appeared on the screen.

The middle-aged man first glanced at the draft paper with the requirements written on it, guided by an employee, and then said to the projection screen of the quantum computer:

"Mr. Fang, if you insist on co-broadcasting on our platform, then I will no longer take 50% of the gift revenue, but instead take 80% of the after-tax revenue of each live stream, and will charge an additional one million yuan in channel fees."

Even a top streamer on Xingyu might not receive a million yuan in gifts during a single live stream, so this kind of offer is itself a rejection in another sense.

After saying this, the staff members nodded slightly to Fang Zhuo, indicating that they would conclude the negotiations.