[Sister Qing, wow!]
[Good, good, good. With Sister Qing's words, my wallet is saved.]
[Let's go, let's go! Defend the honor of Starlight!]
Xu Yiran burst out laughing. Was a single PK really tied to the honor of Starlight?
It seemed he would have to work hard; if he ended up losing, wouldn't he become the scapegoat?
"So you're saying I'm under a lot of pressure right now."
[The hope of the whole village rests on you. If you lose, you're on your own. (Dog head)]
[Hahaha, it's fine. If you lose, just do a self-inflicted punishment.]
[Qing Ruxu: Don't worry, we won't lose.]
The only way she would lose is if she didn't have time to top up her account.
Since they had all said as much, hesitating any further would make him look like a coward.
"Alright, in that case, I'll go with random."
When Xu Yiran clicked the mouse, he felt a sudden, inexplicable panic.
The moment his opponent appeared, his suspended heart finally died.
[...Brother, today is really not your day for PK.]
[Brother, your luck...]
[Unbelievable, you actually managed to match with him...]
Qin Qing was a bit curious about the situation. The opponent didn't seem very well-liked.
[Qing Ruxu: What's wrong? What's going on?]
Before the fans could explain, the other side spoke up.
"Bro, what kind of livestream is this? Can you even livestream cartoons nowadays?"
The words sounded very grating, delivered in a condescending tone.
Tianlu checked the other guy's follower count and was astonished that such a stream could even have tens of thousands of followers.
His fans egged him on to stay, so he moved the mouse away from the exit button he had been hovering over.
Qin Qing furrowed her brow. Why did the opponent's words sound so petty and bitter?
The chat started explaining the situation to her.
Tianlu was a fairly well-known ACG streamer, but instead of streaming cartoons, he appeared on camera as a real person.
Unlike Xu Yiran's small audio-stream format, Tianlu appeared in full cosplay character.
He had been blacklisted by many people repeatedly simply because he treated people differently based on their status.
He fawned over those with larger fanbases, while either walking away from those with fewer followers or deliberately making things difficult for them after winning a PK.
Perhaps because he was quite good-looking and his cosplay was convincing, his follower count and engagement remained very high.
Xu Yiran's smile was faint as he nodded slightly.
Anyone could tell that he was not fond of Tianlu.
Tianlu ignored his attitude, wearing a slightly malicious smile.
"Bro, wanna play a round?"
Xu Yiran's handsome brows carried a hint of impatience. Without answering, he looked at the comment section.
Some of the Starlight fans insisted on leaving, while others felt that since Qin Qing was present, they could take him on.
They wanted to crush the opponent's arrogance so he wouldn't act so condescending all the time.
[Qing Ruxu: What are you afraid of? Just play.]
She had already topped up all her diamonds, so fighting anyone was fine—at worst, she'd just spend a few more diamonds.
Unfortunately, the one thing she lacked least was money.
Seeing this comment, a surge of courage welled up in Xu Yiran's heart.
"Sure, what are we playing for?"
Tianlu wasn't shameless enough to suggest playing for the top-ranking spot on the leaderboard.
The opponent's stream only had just over a thousand viewers, and fighting for the top spot would be too hard on them. After all, he still had to make a living on the internet; making it too ugly wasn't good either.
"How about this, let's do an overall leaderboard battle. Can you handle it?"
Xu Yiran nodded. As it happened, this was right in their wheelhouse.
"Alright, let's do it!"
Xu Yiran was brief and to the point. Real skills were proven on the battlefield.
The fans in Tianlu's livestream were used to small-time streamers reacting with enthusiastic flattery. Seeing the opponent maintain such a cold attitude made them extremely unhappy.
[Crush them!]
[Once they lose this PK, we're going to hit them with brutal punishments!]
Both livestreams were charged with energy, waiting for the PK to begin.
Qin Qing didn't hold back her strength this time either, immediately throwing out sixty Carnivals with the double-boost bonus.
The score instantly shot up to three million points.
Combined with the votes from other fans, it all added up to quite a bit, and before the opponent even realized what was happening, they lost the PK.
(The score gap during the PK was too large; four million points secured an instant victory.)
Tianlu was completely dumbfounded. A streamer with three million followers like him had actually lost to a small-time streamer with only tens of thousands?
Moreover, he had been broadcasting for so long, and his big-spender brothers and sisters weren't few in number, yet he had just been completely shut out without scoring a single point.
Neither the opponent nor his own livestream had seen it coming.
[What's going on? Did it lag?]
[Huh? Didn't the PK just start? How is it already over?]
[Are we not fighting anymore? (Confused)]
Xu Yiran was stunned for a moment before bursting into laughter.
"Thank you to Sister Qingqing for the sixty Carnivals. Congratulations, Sister, on reaching Level 45."
[Qingcheng orz: ! Swept them out!]
[Pink Mengmengda: Ahhhhh Sister Qingqing is too cool! 400w points wiped them out instantly.]
[That's amazing!!! (Cheers~)]
[Starlight fans are awesome! You've really saved our face!]
The Starlight fans celebrated while Tianlu turned on his mic with a suppressed breath, a rather forced smile on his face.
"Bro's strength is formidable. I didn't see that coming."
Now it was Xu Yiran's turn to smile as he humored him with a humblebrag: "It's alright, my big sister at home spoils me."
Tianlu gritted his teeth secretly. "Fine, what's the punishment?"
[Qing Ruxu: Make him stop broadcasting for three days.]
She checked and saw that the opponent was currently on a winning streak; cutting off the broadcast for three days would effectively snap that streak.
However, since the opponent had started with unfriendly behavior, they had only themselves to blame.
Xu Yiran noticed this as well, the corners of his lips curving upward as he repeated the punishment out loud.
The opponent's expression sank abruptly, as if he hadn't expected the penalty to be so severe.
He could barely maintain his smile anymore; if they weren't live on air right now, he probably would have flipped out completely.
"Is this definitely the punishment?"
Xu Yiran nodded firmly. He wasn't a pushover—when someone bullied him right to his face, he wasn't going to be polite to them.
Tianlu took a deep breath, swallowing back the curses that were about to spill out.
Holding back his anger, he carried out the punishment and ended the stream on the spot.
Tianlu's fans completely broke down, flooding into his chat to hurl abuse.
After all, they had persisted for so long, and this punishment meant all their previous efforts were completely wasted.
Several moderators stepped up together, but they couldn't even keep up with kicking the trolls, so they eventually just gave up and let it go.
Let them say whatever they wanted; it didn't hurt or itch anyway.
Seeing so much drama, Xu Yiran knew it wouldn't stop anytime soon, and since he had already completed his mandatory three-hour broadcast, he simply decided to end the stream.
Though they had gone offline, the drama on the internet didn't stop.
When gossip channels livestreamed this piece of juicy gossip, everyone was shocked.
Tens of thousands of followers playing for millions in stakes?
Winning with four million points to completely shut out the opponent was simply too fierce.
[Audio-chat rooms are way too intense these days.]
[That sister is way too hardcore. (Cover face)]
[That sister dropped 18w all by herself. Absolutely legendary.]
[Scary, scary.]
[Is he considered a top-tier host in the audio-chat room scene? (Curious)]
"Not in terms of follower count, no. His scores basically rely entirely on that big sister, Qing Ruxu," the streamer explained.
[True, but if he can maintain this kind of revenue stream, he can still be considered top-tier.]
"Generally speaking, he still needs to build up a foundation. It all depends on whether this big sister can keep supporting him."
Followers in an audio-chat room aren't the most important thing; whether you have big spenders backing you at home is what matters most.