After Ye Shaoyang claimed the national server title for [Abyssal Lord], his stream gained several tens of thousands of new followers.

In just a few short days, thanks to his constant presence at the top of the Whale Platform’s homepage as the #1 rising streamer, his follower count had already surpassed 600,000, with 300,000 card-carrying members. The whale of a donor ranked first on his gift leaderboard, [Jungler No. 8], had alone showered him with 200,000 credits’ worth of torpedoes. Fang Fangzheng—Square and Neat—had chipped in 10,000, and many other fans had sent gifts ranging from a few thousand down to a few hundred.

In less than five days of streaming, his backend cash flow had broken through the 600,000 mark.

Among rookie streamers, he was simply leaving everyone else in the dust.

At the Whale Platform headquarters.

Zhang Qi reported: “Sister Yun, Xiao Bai has already taken the national server title for Abyssal Lord. The leaderboard just came out—his Abyssal Lord combat power is 12,000. Brother Yu only barely broke 10,000. Xiao Bai’s average match rating is also clearly higher than Brother Yu’s; he gets MVP almost every game, while Brother Yu often can’t secure MVP.”

Chen Feiyun looked at the data report in her hands and said, “Xiao Bai’s follower count has been steadily climbing, and more and more people are gifting. Very few are unfollowing, which means his ability to retain viewers is quite strong?”

Zhang Qi nodded, feeling nervous: “Sister Yun, what should we do about his contract?”

Chen Feiyun was silent for a moment, then made up her mind: “I’ll go find the leadership. A rookie like this—it’d be a real shame to miss out. If he gets poached by one of the other two platforms, I have a feeling we’ll regret it.”

“I think so too. Xiao Bai’s gaming skill is clearly above Brother Yu’s, and he has that adorable cat, which is super effective at attracting fans.” Zhang Qi had been keeping an eye on Xiao Bai this whole time and couldn’t stop praising the rookie. “What’s even rarer is that his streaming style is relaxed and cheerful, unlike Brother Yu’s side where it’s constant drama and cursing. This kind of streamer has a much easier time converting passersby into loyal fans.”

“Mm, that makes sense.” Chen Feiyun paused, then said, “Tomorrow morning, come with me to see Director Liu. Let’s see if we can still negotiate on the three conditions Xiao Bai proposed.”

---

The next day at noon, Ye Shaoyang was eating when he suddenly received a message from Ms. Zhang Qi: “Mr. Ye, General Manager Liu of our Whale Streamer Department really admires you and would like to meet you for a face-to-face talk. Would that be convenient for you?”

Ye Shaoyang replied: “Convenient. Specific time and place?”

“You’re in Star City right now, correct?”

“Yes.”

“Our company headquarters is also in Star City. Three o’clock this afternoon. Come directly to the Whale Tower in Star City, tell the front desk you’re here for Director Liu, and someone will receive you.”

“Alright.”

Ye Shaoyang changed his Xiao Bai stream room name to “Going out for something this afternoon, temporarily not streaming. See you at 8 PM tonight,” then immediately went to change clothes and prepare to head out.

Qin Rui saw him changing and hurried over to ask, “Ge, where are you going?”

Ye Shaoyang said, “The general manager of Whale Live wants to talk to me about signing a contract.”

“Really? Ge, are you going to become a full-time game streamer?” Qin Rui looked at his brother excitedly.

“Just a meeting for now. It’s not clear yet whether we can sign.” Ye Shaoyang said.

Qin Rui thought for a moment, then turned around and took a band-aid-looking thing out of a drawer and handed it to him, seriously instructing: “This is a pheromone blocker patch. Carry it with you. Since you haven’t differentiated yet, if something happens on the way and you suddenly differentiate, stick it immediately onto the back of your neck to prevent any accidents.”

Ye Shaoyang was stunned, only now remembering… he apparently hadn’t differentiated yet?

The ABO world was truly troublesome.

He had a 50% chance of differentiating into either an Alpha or an Omega. From what he understood, becoming an Alpha would be manageable, but if he differentiated into an Omega, with no one around to take care of him, there really could be an accident.

Back then, Cousin Qin Yue had sent Xiao Rui to keep him company—was it probably out of worry for exactly this kind of situation?

Ye Shaoyang took the “band-aid” his brother gave him and stuffed it into his pocket, pointed to the middle of the back of his neck, and asked: “If something feels off, I stick it here, right?”

Qin Rui nodded: “Yes, then go to the hospital immediately.”

Ye Shaoyang smiled and said: “Okay, I got it.”

---

At three in the afternoon, Ye Shaoyang arrived by taxi right on time at the Whale Live Platform headquarters.

Before him, a ten-story office building rose into the sky, with a massive Whale Live logo hanging from it. The silver-white exterior walls gleamed brilliantly in the sunlight, radiating wealth and confidence everywhere.

The afternoon sun was a bit harsh. Ye Shaoyang squinted, walked through the main doors, and said to the front desk: “Hello, I’m here for Director Liu. I have an appointment.”

The beautiful receptionist smiled warmly: “You are Mr. Ye Shaoyang, right? This way, please.”

Ye Shaoyang followed the beauty into the elevator to the 10th floor, where he was led to the “Streamer Department General Manager’s Office.”

When he entered, three people were waiting for him inside—two women and one man.

The receptionist proactively introduced: “This is our Director Liu. Director Liu, Mr. Ye has arrived.”

Ye Shaoyang looked at the middle-aged man sitting in the executive chair and politely nodded: “Hello, Director Liu.”

Director Liu was about forty years old, somewhat overweight, with a round, smooth face. When he smiled, his eyes narrowed into two slits, looking particularly kind and amiable. He pointed to the sofa beside him: “Little Ye, come, come, have a seat.” Then he looked at the receptionist: “Get Little Ye something to drink.”

The receptionist asked: “What would you like, Mr. Ye? Coffee, milk tea, juice?”

Ye Shaoyang said: “Juice, thank you.”

The beautiful receptionist quickly poured a glass of juice and placed it on the coffee table in front of Ye Shaoyang.

Director Liu carefully sized up Ye Shaoyang.

With looks this good, why put a cat on camera during streams?

He didn’t quite understand.

The young man in front of him was very good-looking—not aggressively handsome and domineering like an Alpha, nor gentle and cute like an Omega. Ye Shaoyang’s temperament was more like a clean, handsome type somewhere between the two. He had a bright smile, beautiful clear eyes, and carried himself with neither arrogance nor timidity, full of confidence.

These looks absolutely ranked in the top tier among streamers.

He could probably even make a living in the entertainment industry.

So why did he have to put a cat there?

Wouldn’t this face on camera attract way more fans?

Director Liu asked curiously: “Little Ye, may I ask whether you are an Alpha, Beta, or Omega? You didn’t fill in your differentiated gender in your backend registration info.”

Because I haven’t differentiated yet.

Ye Shaoyang thought for a moment and said: “May I not answer?”

Director Liu coughed lightly, smiling: “Of course, that’s your privacy. However, I’m puzzled—why do you put a cat on camera when you stream? With your image and temperament, you could totally rely on your looks to attract a huge wave of die-hard fans.”

Ye Shaoyang said: “I’m a game streamer.”

Director Liu: “So?”

Ye Shaoyang said calmly: “A game streamer should attract attention through gaming skill.”

Director Liu: “…”

That statement wasn’t wrong, per se.

But this was an era where traffic was king. Many streamers would do anything to hype themselves up for attention, yet here was someone with such great natural assets who didn’t use them… It was hard to say whether he was foolish or just stubbornly single-minded.

Director Liu was silent for a few seconds, then put on a friendly smile: “We’ve looked at your streaming records and at the conditions you proposed. Little Ye, we really do recognize your potential, but the company has regulations—the shortest contract term for new streamers is three years. If you only want to sign for one year, that’ll be hard for us to manage!”

Ye Shaoyang said: “I originally only wanted to sign for half a year. Knowing half a year was impossible, I said one year.”

Director Liu’s smile somewhat froze.

When he saw the conditions Chen Feiyun submitted that morning, he had been stunned. He had never heard of such an arrogant and conceited rookie. Did he think the streaming platform was his family business? Opening his mouth and demanding 60% of gift revenue—did he know that the top dog in Whale’s gaming section only got that treatment, and that the top dog had tens of millions of followers!

But after meeting Ye Shaoyang in person today, Director Liu’s opinion shifted slightly—

After all, he was very handsome, much more so than his ID photo, the kind of face that God had personally fed. If his gaming skill was even slightly decent, his popularity might very well reach the top tier.

Director Liu patiently said: “If we only sign for one year, the risk the platform has to bear is too high. It takes time to promote and funnel traffic to a new streamer. What if we just make you famous and then you jump ship? We’d be at quite a loss. You have to understand the company’s difficulties.”

He sighed, as if having made up his mind: “How about this—let’s each take a step back. Two years?”

Ye Shaoyang thought for a moment, then nodded: “Okay.”

Then he added: “But the additional clause absolutely must be clearly written—if during the contract period, the streamer becomes a Gods’ War Alliance certified esports professional player, Whale Live Platform must cooperate with the streamer’s esports club to terminate the streaming contract, and the streamer does not need to pay a breach-of-contract penalty.”

Director Liu had seen this additional clause before. Hearing it now, he could barely hold back a laugh.

Young people just don’t know the immensity of heaven and earth, always daydreaming.

Esports pro? Did he really think that getting a national server title for Abyssal Lord meant he could go pro?

At twenty-one years old, going into esports—people would only laugh if they heard. The kids in youth training camps start training in their teens; the talented ones are already gods by twenty-one.

Director Liu asked with a smile: “You insist on adding this clause?”

Ye Shaoyang said seriously: “Yes.”

Director Liu nodded: “Alright, to show our sincerity, we can agree to this clause.” Anyway, writing it was the same as not writing it. He continued: “Regarding the gift split, we can give you 60%. However, a 50-50 split on card membership fees—we have no precedent for that. Platform operations have costs; server bandwidth is very expensive.”

Ye Shaoyang said calmly: “I know, which is why I’m only asking for 50% on card fees, not 60%.”

“… ” Director Liu nearly couldn’t catch his breath. Then do I still need to thank you!

Seeing Director Liu’s stiff expression, Chen Feiyun immediately spoke up to ease the atmosphere: “Little Ye, you’re still a rookie; you can’t ask for too much. The conditions you proposed are basically the treatment given to the top-tier streamers on major platforms. Giving such good terms to a newcomer really wouldn’t be justifiable.”

Zhang Qi nodded in agreement: “Yeah, newbies never get a gift split as high as 60%. For most platforms’ rookie contracts, getting 40% is already pretty good. There’s never been any talk of splitting card membership fees.”

Ye Shaoyang smiled slightly and cut straight to the point: “But you give top-tier streamers a huge signing fee as a base salary. I’m not asking for a signing fee. If you don’t even give me a split on card fees and I only get gift commissions, isn’t that too little?”

The three of them exchanged glances, at a loss for words.

Was he really a rookie? How did he know so much?

Ye Shaoyang continued asking: “The most famous Gods’ War game streamer on the Whale Platform is called Xiao Wei, right?”

Chen Feiyun smiled: “Yes, Xiao Wei has 60 million followers.”

The subtext was: You only have 600,000.

Ye Shaoyang: “How many national server titles does he have?”

Chen Feiyun said: “Four. Xiao Wei’s gaming skill is very impressive; he often plays ranked with pro players and has very wide connections in the gaming circle.”

Ye Shaoyang was somewhat surprised: “Only four? I can surpass him.”

Everyone: “…”

Only? What do you mean, only four!

Did he think national server titles were that easy to get? Like buying vegetables at the market?

The atmosphere in the room completely froze over.

Ye Shaoyang stood up, smiled at the three of them, and said: “How about this—the contract term can be changed to two years as you said, but the additional clause must be clearly written. My other requests remain unchanged: 50-50 on card fees, 60-40 on gifts. The platform cannot interfere with my streaming style; I won’t do face-reveal hype, my stream will only show the cat.”

“I know you all must think I’m a rookie talking nonsense, daydreaming.”

“But the facts will prove that I wasn’t lying.”

“I will become the strongest game streamer on the Whale Platform.”

“Next time we talk, I hope you can bring more sincerity.” Ye Shaoyang politely nodded to the few of them. “I still have matters to attend to, so I’ll head back now. Thank you.”

The three of them watched his departing figure, dumbstruck.

After a long while, Director Liu, whose pupils were still quaking, finally found his voice, trembling with anger: “The strongest game streamer on the Whale Platform? He really dares to say that, isn’t he afraid of biting his tongue?”

Chen Feiyun awkwardly rubbed her nose: “Where does this baffling confidence come from?”

Zhang Qi said quietly: “Our Whale Platform’s Xiao Wei and Mu Mu are both top-tier streamers, regularly invited as commentator guests for the official pro league. If word of what he said got out, he’d get torn apart by the hate.”

Director Liu held his aching temples: “This rookie only has a good-looking face; his brain isn’t working right.”

Chen Feiyun frowned: “Then should we keep watching him, or…?”

Director Liu thought for a moment and said: “If he doesn’t sign, we can’t process the backend cash flow. You two keep an eye on him and see what new tricks he can pull.”

---

Outside the Whale Tower, Ye Shaoyang reached out and looked up at the sky.

Sunlight filtered through his fingers, spilling onto his slightly weary face.

In his previous life, he had also had an account on a streaming platform with very high popularity. He had originally planned to win a world championship, then retire and switch to being a game streamer. But he lost the global finals, got into a car accident, and transmigrated here.

Living again, he was still walking the same old path.

Because he wasn’t willing to accept it.

He wasn’t talking nonsense, nor was he daydreaming. He simply, from beginning to end, knew very clearly what he was doing—his goal had always been only one: the World Championship.

If he couldn’t even beat other game streamers.

What qualification did he have to talk about the World Tournament?