"I don't even know what to say to express my admiration for the streamer. How about I do a split for you?"
"Zhuang Zhou Meng Die in action—every other platform's viewer count is collapsing! I saw the top gaming streamer on the Killer Whale platform lose millions of viewers, dropping to just a handful during a live game."
"I bet the real-time viewers in Zhuang Zhou Meng Die's stream must have exceeded ten million. The official claim of 'a million-viewer room' is definitely an understatement."
"Zhuang Zhou Meng Die's influence is insane, truly terrifying. Now I understand why the Raccoon platform has risen so quickly. Honestly, whichever platform Zhuang Zhou Meng Die streams on is bound to explode."
"Streamer, was Sun Wenli really dealing with human traffickers?"
Xiang Wan, the person behind Zhuang Zhou Meng Die, addressed some of the most common and debated questions, leaving more detailed responses for when the police revealed more as their investigation progressed.
Meanwhile, in the police department of Baimu Province, Lu Jingcheng stepped out of the station, exhaustion visible on his face. He sat in his off-road vehicle, barely catching his breath when his phone rang.
"Uncle, we've checked. No one has reported anything like this in Baimu Province. Are you sure the information about someone seeing my cousin on the highway is real?"
The middle-aged man on the other end of the line, sounding just as tired, replied, "It's real. It came from Jiang Xiao's friends. They said he even greeted them."
"The car had fake plates. By the time we traced it, it was already in a junkyard. Have the kidnappers sent any more messages?"
"After the initial demand for five million, we've heard nothing."
And so, the trail went cold.
Lu's uncle's phone was suddenly taken by a woman's voice, sobbing, "Jingcheng, you and Xiaoxiao were always the closest. You have to bring him back!"
Lu Jingcheng answered firmly, "Aunt, I know. I'll do everything I can."
"Jingcheng, we're counting on you. You know Xiaoxiao is our only child. If something happens to him, we won't have any reason to go on," his uncle's voice was pained and urgent. Their son had been missing for three days, and despite mobilizing countless resources, they still hadn't uncovered any solid leads. Jiang Xiao's parents hadn't slept for days.
Suddenly, Lu Jingcheng's thoughts turned to the recent cases he'd handled in Baimu Province—particularly the Shen Ning case and the earlier Wu Changsheng case. Just as his uncle was about to hang up, he spoke up, "Uncle."
"Hm?" His uncle's voice was frail, tired, and anxious, barely hanging on.
Lu Jingcheng wasn't one to believe in the supernatural, but the strange occurrences in both the Wu Changsheng case and the Shen Ning case had forced him to reconsider. Zhuang Zhou Meng Die had proven to have exceptional abilities, capable of accomplishing things others couldn't. This was something no one in any occult circle could match.
If they wanted to find Jiang Xiao as quickly as possible, perhaps the best option was to take a shortcut—reach out to Zhuang Zhou Meng Die directly.
The problem was, only Jiang Xiao had direct contact with the streamer, and now he was missing. Their only option was to send a private message. However, Zhuang Zhou Meng Die, being a mega-streamer, likely received millions of messages daily. Even if they messaged, without Jiang Xiao's special ranking as her top supporter, it was unlikely to get noticed.
"Maybe we should try going into Zhuang Zhou Meng Die's livestream and see if that works?"
"What?"
The barrage of comments in Zhuang Zhou Meng Die's livestream was moving so fast that a message would be pushed off the screen almost as soon as it appeared. Gift effects filled the screen, with even the most extravagant virtual gifts, like carnivals, being sent one after another. In Zhuang Zhou Meng Die's livestream, nothing about gift effects was surprising anymore. Xiang Wan, the person behind the stream, never urged viewers to send gifts, always advising them to act within their means. Apart from her fixed fee for fortune-telling, which was a thousand yuan, all other rewards were purely at the viewers' discretion.
"Wow, wow, wow, the big event tonight is here! Diedie streamer is doing her first fortune-telling auction! I'm just curious, what's the starting bid?"
Xiang Wan set the starting bid at one thousand yuan, ensuring a base fee for her service while allowing the bid to increase depending on what people were willing to offer. It was a fair, voluntary transaction.
The stream had already lasted six to seven hours, and now, at 3 a.m., the viewers showed no signs of fatigue. Instead, they were energized, flocking to the livestream.
"Aren't you guys worried about your health? It's 3 a.m.! Don't you have work tomorrow?"
"I've got my latte ready, fully prepared to power through. Today, I'm just here to see the wealth gap across the country."
"I'm also curious to see how much Zhuang Zhou Meng Die's name can drive in fortune-telling bids. From what I know, the most famous Feng Shui master in Hong Kong, Master Huang Yishan, charges over ten million per session. Even as hyped as this auction gets, I don't think it'll surpass Master Huang, right?"
"Master Huang is legendary. The Feng Shui arrangement he did for the Song family in Hong Kong brought them success for generations. The Song family rose to new heights, not just as wealthy businesspeople but also as patriotic figures."
"Yeah, I heard that nowadays, even if you have money, it's nearly impossible to get Master Huang to help."
"If Master Huang is so amazing, go watch him then. Why come into Diedie's livestream just to praise one and criticize the other? Master Huang only serves the rich, and even if you begged him, he might not pay attention to you."
"No, it's not 'might not,' it's definitely won't."
Xiang Wan posted the auction link in the livestream, then closed her eyes to wait. She felt her inner consciousness expand, bathed in the brilliant glow of golden karma. Her sea of consciousness shimmered like water, and at its depths, the form of a golden dragon began to emerge, perfectly aligning with the one from her previous life.
Back in her previous life, as the leader of the Heavenly Secrets Sect, the reason the heavenly tribulation struck her so relentlessly was because her powers were too extraordinary. Once her sea of consciousness had fully solidified into the golden dragon, if she had ascended, she would have become a dominant force in the celestial realm.
"Tsk, tsk, tsk. Such a shame. I was so close."
Her past-life spells started returning to her now, thanks to her expanded sea of consciousness. Casting spells became effortless. In the past, when Su Xiaoling used curses, she had to rely on insects as a medium, but now Xiang Wan could cast curses with simple gestures, leaving no trace.
There was once an online joke about a foreign boy mocking an Eastern person. The Eastern person thought of a clever response and wrote the word "fool" in the air. The boy was later dragged by his parents to apologize, and the parents were deeply wary of Eastern mysticism.
With over a million viewers, the livestream had to be split into several substreams to prevent the server from crashing under the massive traffic. The third fortune-telling auction was in full swing, with the bids rising at an astonishing rate.
What started as surprise turned to shock, and eventually, to numb acceptance. Many viewers had assumed most of Zhuang Zhou Meng Die's followers were just ordinary people, and her most loyal fans often claimed to be just that. But as the bidding war unfolded, they realized their definition of "ordinary" was vastly different from what they had imagined.