Chapter 6: The Livestream Has Caught the Official Eye!

The next day at noon, Zhang Xuan woke up to find his phone flooded with notifications.

He looked at it in bewilderment, only to realize that his follower count had surged to ten thousand overnight.

"Huh?"

He was caught completely off guard. He had spent over three months of hard work to reach three thousand followers, yet he had gained seven thousand in a single night? Furthermore, the background was still constantly popping up with new follower alerts.

"What's going on?"

He blinked, pondered for a moment, and hurriedly opened the appraisal video he had posted previously. Sure enough, he discovered that the video, which originally had only ten thousand views, had suddenly jumped several times over, and the comment section had grown by hundreds.

"Do you recognize the Jin script?"
"What’s the deal with that bronze bell?"
"Host, you're in trouble; watch out for tomb raiders hunting you down!"
"What time does this host stream?"
"..."

After scrolling through a few pages of comments, Zhang Xuan understood what was happening. This influx of traffic was clearly driven by the Western Zhou bronze octagonal bell from last night's stream. However, what he couldn't grasp was that his stream had only peaked at about a thousand viewers—hardly a viral hit—so why, upon waking up, was it even more popular than during the actual broadcast?

He scratched his head, still puzzled. He scrolled down aimlessly. Whether it was due to big data's precise targeting or the sheer viral nature of the content, the first recommended video was actually a recording of his stream from the previous night. It was clearly screen-recorded by a viewer. Judging by the thousands of likes and over a thousand comments, the view count must have reached hundreds of thousands.

"Oh my god... My own post didn't go viral, but the viewer's recording did!"
"Who can I even complain to about that?"

Despite his words, having streamed for over three months, he could smell the scent of impending fame. Although the bronze octagonal bell wasn't his, the Western Zhou dynasty, King Mu of Zhou, corpse beetles, second-generation tomb raiders, and the eerie sound of the bell—these were all things he had revealed! This was the hook, the "live" material! And these things could only be seen in his stream.

He had a premonition that tonight's stream might easily break two thousand viewers. He knew that before yesterday, his concurrent viewer count had never exceeded three hundred. While such spikes didn't happen every day, more traffic meant more "treasure friends," and naturally, more novel treasures would appear. This was the start of a virtuous cycle.

"Time to get up and eat!"
"Recharge and prepare for a great stream!"

With a kip-up, he leaped out of bed.

***

Qingcheng Cybersecurity Supervision Center.

Seeing Liang Jingyi walk in while yawning, Xiao Lü, who was on duty, asked in surprise, "What’s wrong, Sister Liang? You’ve slept all day; still not rested?"

Seeing Liang Jingyi sitting wearily in her chair, Xiao Lü hesitated for a moment before saying, "Sister Liang, why don't we swap shifts? I'll take the night shift, and you take the day shift."

Liang Jingyi stared at him, surprised. "Oh, you know how to show concern for your superior?"

Xiao Lü smiled. "Yeah. Sister Liang is getting on in years, hasn't found a partner yet, and staying up late is bad for your skin. As a young person, I should definitely share the burden for my leader!"

Unexpectedly, as soon as he turned around, he saw Liang Jingyi’s face turn dark. "Shut up. If you don't know how to speak, then don't." She rolled her eyes at him. "I really don't know how someone with your emotional intelligence managed to get a girlfriend! Anyway, you can head off now. By the way, anything to report?"

Xiao Lü grinned and gave her a playful salute. "All the hard work is yours, Sister Liang! As for reports... nothing much, really!" He thought for a moment and added, "Oh, right. The backend keeps getting reports that there's an appraisal host in Qingcheng who has tomb raiders appearing in his stream. It’s making quite a stir, but I don't know if it's real or not."

Liang Jingyi nodded. "Oh, I’m aware of that. It is indeed a bit strange."

Xiao Lü looked surprised. "You saw it too? They say it’s a bronze bell from King Mu of Zhou. We don't know if it's real or fake! The experts will have to weigh in! But that bell's sound was truly eerie; it gave me goosebumps! A very strange feeling!"

Liang Jingyi pulled out her cracked phone. "See this? When I listened to it last night, I was so scared I dropped my phone on the floor."

Xiao Lü was shocked. "It's that intense? It seems that bronze bell really is problematic! According to that 'Brother Xuan,' the bell was found near an ancient tomb and belongs to King Mu of Zhou! If that thing is real, it's a national treasure that belongs in the National Museum! And although he didn't say it explicitly, he implied the bell was dug up by tomb raiders! A Western Zhou tomb... that’s a major case, isn't it? Sister Liang, how should we handle this?"

Liang Jingyi shook her head and scoffed. "You’ve got quite an imagination, don't you? Breaking a tomb-raiding ring and getting a first-class merit?"

"I think you've been reading too many novels!"

"Internet hosts chasing traffic, scripts, hype—it's common. You really take it seriously?"

Xiao Lü countered seriously, "Is that so? That bell looked pretty real to me! And I saw the stream; the host, 'Brother Xuan,' didn't look like he was faking it! Plus, you heard it yourself—the sound of that bell is not ordinary!"

Liang Jingyi went silent, but then conceded, "The sound of that bell indeed cannot be faked."

"Right!"

"Then let's keep observing. If there's more substantial information, we'll report it up and let the leaders decide."

Xiao Lü nodded thoughtfully. "Right, without solid evidence, it's hard for us to intervene. Sigh, I'm heading off, Sister Liang!"

As Xiao Lü reached the door with his phone, he suddenly received a call from the captain.

"Overtime?" Xiao Lü looked dejected. "Captain, I promised my girlfriend I'd take her to a movie tonight!"

"..."

"Alright, I understand!"

After hanging up, he saw Liang Jingyi’s smirk. "What's wrong? Plans changed?"

Xiao Lü let out a long sigh. "Don't ask. Captain Fang said there have been many cybersecurity issues lately and ordered the center to have two people on duty at all times. I'll be relying on you for guidance, Sister Liang!"

Liang Jingyi laughed. "That goes without saying. Go get me a glass of water."

Xiao Lü darkened. "Ordering me around already? Sister Liang, you're really petty."

Just as he stood up, he saw the clock on the wall hit six. He slapped his forehead and said, "Sister Liang, that Brother Xuan's appraisal stream is starting. Why don't you keep an eye on it? See if there are any new developments!"

Liang Jingyi came to her senses, opened her phone, and saw that "Brother Xuan's Appraisal" was indeed live. Upon entering, she was stunned to see gifts flying in and the viewer count already at three thousand!

"Wow, he really did go viral!"

***

Mengshan!

Zhou Zeyi and his group had reached the Corpse-Accumulating Cave where they had failed last time!

"This is it! Last time, Taily and I were defeated here! But the location of the Warring States tomb recorded on the silk manuscript is right here. We must succeed this time!"

Zhou Zeyi looked at his nephew, Zhou Cheng. "I brought you here so you could learn from Taily. One day, you'll inherit your third uncle's business! Are you listening to me? Is that camera on your head for you to start a livestream? You brat!"

Zhou Cheng grinned. "Don't worry, Third Uncle, we'll definitely find the tomb this time!"

Zhou Zeyi ignored him and turned to Taily, who was thicker than an oar. "Let's go."

Taily nodded and began rowing toward the entrance of the cave in the distance. Not long after, the three of them reached the entrance. Zhou Zeyi warned Zhou Cheng, who was looking around with curiosity, "It's not clean in there. Be careful once we're inside."

Zhou Cheng wasn't scared; instead, he asked curiously, "Is this where you caught that corpse beetle that was hiding the bronze bell in its belly?"

Zhou Zeyi nodded. "That's right!"

Taily added with a grave expression, "It seems Third Master has told the nephew everything. To catch that beetle, Black Camel lost half an arm! Tsk tsk, it's terrifying!"

Zhou Cheng’s eyes widened in shock, but he quickly regained his composure, muttering to himself with a strange look, "It was poisoned, right?"

Taily was surprised. "Exactly! The wound on Black Camel's hand wasn't large, but after returning, half his arm turned black!" He looked at Zhou Zeyi. "Third Master, I thought you didn't want the nephew involved, so why tell him all this? Did you change your mind?"

Zhou Zeyi sighed. "Nothing I could do; I couldn't hide it from this kid."

Taily looked at Zhou Cheng in surprise. "Oh, so the nephew eavesdropped on us?"

Before Zhou Cheng could answer, Zhou Zeyi narrowed his eyes. "This kid took the beetle shell and the bronze bell to show a streamer. I don't know who that host is, but he's young and knows not only about the beetles but also the Jin script. His words showed he knew everything about the environment of the Corpse-Accumulating Cave and even our previous operation."

Taily was stunned. "What? No way!"

Zhou Zeyi nodded. "If it weren't for the fact that you and Black Camel were the only ones with me, I'd suspect someone leaked it!"

Taily blinked. "Is he that divine? What's his name? I'll look into him!"

Zhou Cheng blurted out, "Brother Xuan's Appraisal!"

Taily muttered the name, but suddenly realized something and stared at Zhou Cheng in shock. "Nephew, you're really reckless! Are you trying to have the police take your third uncle and me down together?"

Zhou Cheng didn't care. "Don't worry, I'm not that stupid. Don't forget, I majored in information technology in college! The account uses fake info, and the phone was specially treated. They can't find us!"

Taily looked amazed. "I forgot about that. Heh, you really are something!"

Zhou Zeyi slowly stood up, turned on his flashlight, and shone it toward the fluorescent beach in the distance. "We made it this far last time! We haven't run into the swarm of beetles yet, so we should be able to go deeper."

Zhou Cheng looked at the things glowing with green fluorescence in surprise. "What is that?"

Taily said in a low voice, "Corpses!"

Zhou Cheng was horrified. "All of them?"

Taily scoffed, "What else did you think?" He then looked at Zhou Zeyi with a heavy expression. "Third Master, there's no path ahead!"

Zhou Zeyi narrowed his eyes. The flashlight beam revealed a stone wall, and the water flow stopped there as well!

"Hiss! Again! This is troublesome!"

***

In the stream!

Zhang Xuan watched the rising number of viewers and finally felt like he was making his mark. In the world of the internet, a stream with over ten thousand viewers is a real, bona fide big streamer! Three thousand, while not a "big streamer," was a massive improvement for his usual few hundred viewers!

There were already over a hundred people waiting in line for an appraisal. This was something he never dared to imagine before!

"Brothers! The popularity is high today, so please like and share the stream, and I'll drop a big red packet for you all! Once the packet is grabbed, we'll start today's appraisal!"

The comments were significantly more active than usual. Of course, there were more trolls too.

"What a stingy host, giving out five hundred packets worth five yuan total? That's one cent per person!"
"Cheapskate Appraisal, hearing about it is better than seeing it!"
"Who wants your packets? Host, I want to see the Western Zhou octagonal bronze bell!"
"This host only has ten thousand followers, is he staging a script?"
"Was the tomb raider connection yesterday real or fake? Is he coming back tonight?"

The comments scrolled by rapidly. Zhang Xuan saw the queue growing longer and his eyes blurred, so he turned on random connections!

"This treasure friend, this is Hetian jade. The quality is average, not an antique. Keep it for your collection. Next!"
"Five-Emperor coins? Modern craft. Fake at a glance; the patina is manufactured. Real antique patina isn't that green. How much did you pay?"
"Fifty thousand? Brother, stop collecting and watch more of my streams! Next!"

"What's going on? Popularity is so high today, and you're giving me a 'junk' show? New viewers will think we don't have any real goods! Over three thousand people, and now it's dropped below two thousand! You guys are sabotaging me! I don't believe it!"

***

Duty Room!

Xiao Lü watched the screen and couldn't help but laugh. "Sister Liang, you were right! This streamer really might just be chasing traffic with a script. Look, as soon as the popularity dropped, he got flustered!"

Liang Jingyi chuckled. "What did you expect! I've seen plenty of these hosts! Everything is aimed at traffic. Young and doing appraisals—is there enough depth? This kind of grandstanding needs to change!"

Xiao Lü nodded. "Exactly!"

Suddenly, the screen lit up, and a massive castle appeared in the center!

"Good heavens, who sent a Carnival gift! They're rich!" Xiao Lü looked shocked.

Liang Jingyi sat up straight. She often heard people talk about "Carnivals" but hadn't seen one. After the special effects finished, she asked, "It’s quite a sight. How much is this gift?"

Xiao Lü smiled bitterly. "Three thousand!"

Liang Jingyi widened her eyes. "That much? That's a month of your salary!"

Xiao Lü's face darkened. "Sister Liang, can we not be so heart-stabbing in our conversation?"

Liang Jingyi smiled. "Fine. But tell me, who sent this? Why send it to him?"

Xiao Lü scratched his head. "Just someone with money to burn... Wait! 'Snow-White Long Legs'? Why does this ID look so familiar? Holy crap! Isn't this the kid who identified the Western Zhou bronze bell yesterday? Is he trying to connect?"

Liang Jingyi’s interest was piqued!

They heard Zhang Xuan’s voice in the stream: "Thanks for the Carnival, brother! You want to connect for an appraisal, right? Alright, I'm pulling you in now!"