Chapter 36

Chapter 36

Shi Yu finished washing his face in frustration and collapsed onto the sofa, brooding. After a while, he gritted his teeth and grabbed the phone he’d tossed aside.

Perfect. After splurging on that medical robot, he’d hoped to save some cash—but now it was clearly impossible.

He’d have to replace his entire wardrobe!

In his current state, there was no way he could go shopping in person. Thankfully, most stores now offered delivery services. He opened an app, scrolled through the latest loungewear trends, and reluctantly placed an order for a few new pieces, wincing as his wallet cried.

Then, he scribbled down a hard-earned lesson in his notebook: low energy was no good, but overeating was just as bad—otherwise, he’d end up like this.

Shi Yu grimaced and flopped back on the sofa, waiting for the clothes to arrive.

A few minutes later, the phone in his hand suddenly rang again. He shielded his eyes and glanced at the screen, going still when he saw the name of the culinary department manager.

Wait—didn’t they just talk?

Did he forget something?

Regardless, it was his boss, so he forced himself upright to answer.

"Hey, Brother Zhu."

Shi Yu snapped to attention. "No worries, I’m on it. Just washed up, and I’ll start streaming soon. The ingredients are all ready!"

His earnest assurance was cut off by the other person.

"No, not about that."

"I didn’t call for that."

Brother Zhu’s tone was strange. "I just got notified—Maogu Platform’s got new ownership. I’ll send you a revised contract later."

New ownership?

Shi Yu went blank. How had he missed such career-altering news?

Still on the call, he searched online and found the announcement had only come out that morning.

"Maogu Platform’s major shareholder has withdrawn from the company. The live-streaming platform has now been acquired by a shadow investor."

His world tilted. He woke up to find they had a whole new boss?

The manager on the other line seemed just as thrown but added, "The new owner hasn’t made any changes yet—just sent a meeting notice. Don’t expect big shake-ups."

"Anyway, remember to stream, Kid."

Before Shi Yu could respond, someone approached Brother Zhu, who then cut the call short.

Shi Yu stared at the search results, where everyone was buzzing about who had acquired Maogu Platform.

"Maogu isn’t cheap, right? Who’s got that kind of money to splash out?"

The platform's streamer group chat was also in an uproar. Shi Yu scrolled through the drama for a while, only to find that this big boss’s identity was super mysterious. Everyone speculated endlessly, but even the top streamers who had close ties with the previous management were clueless too.

By now, he could only give up. Ah well, it didn’t really matter to a mid-sized streamer like him anyway. He’d better grind those stream hours first.

However, the statement released by Maogu Platform early in the morning had everyone shook. As soon as Shi Yu started his livestream, he saw fans spamming the chat.

"Yu Bao, did your platform change owners?"

"I was shocked when I saw the platform’s notice this morning. Thought someone was trolling."

Shi Yu massaged his forehead—he had been startled too.

"Looks that way."

"Otherwise, the supervisor wouldn't have notified me."

Loves Lamb Skewers: "Hope the new boss is a good one. Just not too strict."

Shi Yu thought the same and nodded along, but then he checked the time.

"Alright, enough chit-chat. Let’s start cooking."

"What do you guys want to see me eat today?"

"Drop your requests!"

Since he hadn’t streamed in days, Shi Yu figured he’d hook his fans up with something special today.

As soon as he finished speaking, OG fans started teasing him.

"Yu Bao’s getting defensive."

"Lol, I don’t mind, but Yu Bao’s defensive look is adorable."

Shi Yu blinked—he wasn’t defensive at all!

He just suddenly wanted to switch things up.

He cleared his throat, stood up, and carefully adjusted the camera angle before moving it to the kitchen.

"First, let me show you what we've got on hand. You can use this as a reference."

Distracted by the excitement of making requests, the fans didn’t notice that the camera’s distance seemed slightly different from before.

In previous streams, the camera only showed him from the jaw down, and due to the angle, his entire legs (except his face) were visible when he stood up.

But now… only his upper body was in frame.

A masked silhouette flashed by briefly, with nothing below the waist appearing on screen.

Shi Yu subtly shifted his posture, avoiding the camera before temporarily turning the focus to the fridge.

"Chicken wings, pork chops, broccoli, beef…"

"Ooooh, how about some tomato beef brisket?"

"I think the streamer mentioned it before—sounds delicious."

Hmm, tomato beef brisket? That could work. As dish names kept popping up in the chat, Shi Yu was about to consider them when a previously silent big spender suddenly dropped ten yachts.

"Keep it light. Braised beef with tomatoes is actually really good."

Wait, what?

Alright then.

"Thank you, Big Spender 8836154, for the yachts. Let me check how many tomatoes are left in the fridge."

Shi Yu smiled and was just about to reach into the fridge when another viewer entered the livestream.

He didn’t notice right away since his back was turned, but the fans caught sight of it immediately.

Hm? Isn’t that CardGod?

Didn’t he stop by once before? What’s he doing here again?

Han Chuyi wasn’t here by chance—he had been waiting for Shi Yu to go live for days. But Shi Yu hadn’t streamed at all recently. The second his status went live, Han logged in immediately.

Who would’ve thought he’d run into Shen Yan, that phony saint.

The moment he saw Shen Yan’s alt account on the leaderboard, his blood boiled. He bared his teeth in a cold grin.

"Braised beef with tomatoes? That sounds gross."

"I think Coca-Cola wings are way better. Do the Coke wings instead."

He’d scrubbed through Shi Yu’s past streams and noticed he seemed to enjoy them, so he immediately suggested something completely different from Shen Yan.

But he wasn’t done yet. While the chat sat there confused, Han casually dropped twenty more yachts, pushing "8836154" further down the rankings.

Shi Yu turned around just in time to see a barrage of yachts exploding across the screen. He blinked.

What the hell happened while he was grabbing a tomato? Why are the gaming section’s CardGod and Big Spender 8836154 going at it like this?

Do they have history or something?

Shi Yu wasn’t the only one wondering—everyone in the chat was thinking the same thing.

Are these two enemies?

How did suggesting dishes turn into an all-out war?

Both Shen Yan and Han Chuyi knew exactly who the other was. After a brief pause, they ignored each other and leaned back to type.

"Make whatever you’re craving. Don’t worry about anyone else."

Thirty more yachts popped up on screen, and even the mods were shook.

Zhu Ge, the food category manager, had just stepped out of a meeting when he saw that Shi Yu—who he had just called—was blowing up the leaderboard in the food section. He did a double take.

"Since when is Shi Yu this big?" he muttered to himself.

Unnoticed, the suited-up new boss who had just walked out of the conference room overheard and side-eyed the screen.

Sang Huaiyu quirked an eyebrow—Shi Yu’s that popular?

He pulled up the stream and quickly found Shi Yu in the food section.

The gift rankings kept climbing. Sang gave them a quick scan and realized—it was Shen Yan and Han Chuyi.

Did they reach out to Shi Yu privately?

His fingers hesitated briefly. For some reason, he felt inexplicably... annoyed.

Shi Yu talked them down from fighting and held up the tomato and cola he found. “Stop fighting. I’ll cook both.”

“Perfect timing—I’m starving. Two dishes it is.”

Truthfully, he appreciated the donations, but this was excessive.

Getting more than he earned made Shi Yu uncomfortable. The flood of yacht animations made his eye twitch, worried things might escalate. He quickly stepped in.

Once the streamer put his foot down, Shen Yan behind the alt account stopped first.

Han Chuyi frowned. Seeing that Shi Yu didn’t want them to keep throwing money around, he tsked in frustration and reluctantly backed off.

The chat froze, taking a moment to recover before continuing the stream.

"Hey, Yu Bao, relax."

"They’re just feeling generous—don’t overthink it," quietly comforted a fan who loves lamb skewers.

"It’s fine."

"Thanks, but let’s keep the vibes chill."

Shi Yu gave a thumbs-up gesture to the fans. Seeing no more arguments, he finally relaxed and turned back to continue cooking.

His smooth movements were satisfying to watch, and with occasional commentary, the chat finally settled.

By the time Shi Yu finished the tomato beef brisket and cola chicken wings and brought them to the table, the chat had returned to normal.

But… "Wait, where’d the streamer go?"

Fans looked around the stream, puzzled by the host’s absence. Usually after cooking, he’d already be sitting in his chair. Even if they couldn’t see his face, they’d take any chance to see those hands again—after all, who wouldn’t admire hands straight out of an anime?

Yet the next second, the camera suddenly zoomed in.

After much mental preparation, Shi Yu took a deep breath and reluctantly adjusted the camera to show his upper body.

There was no choice—his little belly bump made it impossible to stream the way he used to. Now, he could only switch to an upper-body shot.

He just hoped no one would freak out.

"This view... kinda odd?"

As the camera moved, fans were still full of questions.

Then they heard the host say, "Only showing my hands was getting weird."

"Let’s switch it up and do this properly."

Properly?

Huh?

Properly?!

The chat lagged, still processing what “properly” meant, when a hand nudged the camera—and there he was, full upper body in frame.

Then... the mask that had always been on the host's face, occasionally slipping down and briefly disappearing, was—removed?!

Chat: Holy shit!

Wait.

Is the host showing his face?

No, wait, give them a second. Who is this school heartthrob on the screen?!

Shi Yu was showing his face on camera for the first time and felt awkward, automatically looking at the lens.

"Ahem."

"Well, this is our first proper introduction."

"Good afternoon, should I start eating?"

As his words fell, the chat went dead silent, with no one responding.

This was the first time Shi Yu had encountered such a situation. For a moment, he thought maybe everyone left.

Huh?

He wasn't that bad-looking, was he?

Though after crossing over into this world with its bizarre attributes, he had worn a mask for years when he lacked self-defense abilities. But before the crossover, his face had been fairly normal—not weird enough to shock people.

Shi Yu paused. He had planned to start eating right away, but now he hesitated.

"Is it not okay?"

"Not the right vibe for a mukbang?"

"Should I add some kind of masked effect before eating?"

A few seconds after Shi Yu spoke, the silence in the chat was finally broken.

"Ahhh no, host, don’t mess around!"

"Why cover such a handsome face? Don’t get me wrong, the masked look is cool too, but from now on, please show your face while eating. I used to think your cooking was appetizing, but now I understand what it means for someone’s face to make the food taste better."

"Awwww, let us see again—how can someone be this handsome?!"

"I'm literally speechless. He’s so pure. Host, you must’ve aced your classes and been super popular in school, right?"

The flood of comments was even more overwhelming than when they spammed yachts earlier, making even the lurkers come out of hiding.

After all, Shi Yu looked like the kind of guy who naturally drew attention in school—good at basketball, effortlessly charming, with that natural likable appeal.

The person on screen, clueless about the storm he started, picked up a glass and took a sip of water, making his sharp jawline even more noticeable.

Shi Yu’s lips were slightly redder than most people’s, something hard to notice unless you looked closely. But now, with the motion of drinking, viewers couldn’t help but notice—his boy-next-door good looks suddenly looked... somehow teasing.

It was the kind of unintentionally attractive quality that made viewers weak.

Because just a moment later, he lowered his head and started eating just like always, exactly as he normally did during meals. Nothing changed just because his whole face was visible.

Shen Yan did a double take. He was shocked the moment Shi Yu took off his mask. He hadn’t expected Shi Yu to look like this.

Due to the strong impression of his voice from their previous encounters, Shen Yan hadn't paid much attention to his appearance.

Today was the first time he saw it.

It was an unexpectedly average look, though he was briefly surprised before snapping out of it. Soon, he realized—given Han Chuyi’s reaction, he didn’t seem surprised?

Han Chuyi had already seen Shi Yu’s face beneath the mask before, so of course, he wasn’t shocked. The only thing that annoyed him was how Shen Yan had managed to see it this time.

What exactly was that hypocrite Shen Yan really after?

Listening to his voice repeatedly in private, now watching his stream… His frown deepened at the thought, and when he recalled Shen Yan’s earlier “threat,” his expression darkened further.

After his gaze wandered for a while, he finally looked back at the screen.

By now, Shi Yu had already eaten quite a bit.

Huh. Was it really that delicious?

The tomato beef brisket looked average, but the Coke-braised wings he was eating on-screen right now seemed pretty tasty.

Han Chuyi watched as Shi Yu finished his meal in no time.

After wiping his hands with a wet wipe, Shi Yu held up the plate.

“Alright, all cleaned up.”

“Thanks for your support today. I’ll be signing off now.”

Shi Yu checked the duration—this stream had lasted twice as long as usual. Satisfied that he’d made up for previous shorter streams, he bid farewell and ended the stream.

As for the pleas to stay in the chat, he could only selectively ignore them.

Once the stream ended and the screen went black, Shen Yan finally shook it off, pushing Shi Yu’s face out of his mind. After calming down, he stopped dwelling on it and returned to dealing with business for the Ability User Association.

Meanwhile, at Maogu Platform’s headquarters:

Sang Huaiyu pulled up the video of Shi Yu’s mukbang, his gaze lingering on the other’s lips for a moment.

He had to admit—this face was indeed pretty good-looking by human standards.

In His eyes, Shi Yu had originally just been another human, distinguished from others only by subtle differences due to his uniqueness. But after getting a good look at him, Shi Yu’s image became much more vivid in His mind.

—This was a “person” who was very pleasant to look at.

So why did Shi Yu, who appeared so easygoing—or in human terms, “wholesome and bright”—push Him away so much?

Had He unintentionally done something to make him dislike Him?

Sang Huaiyu lowered his eyes, watching the way Shi Yu drank water for a while. Then, tearing His eyes away from those soft, pinkish lips on the screen, His fingers paused before suddenly typing out a line:

“Send me all the contracts of the platform’s previous streamers.”

The platform manager, who had just finished a meeting and was finally relaxing, froze when he saw the message from the big boss.

All the streamers’ contracts?

Though confused, he quickly forwarded them, assuming the boss wanted to go over the contracts for potential gaps or updates.

The templates for streamers of all levels were resent. After a long day of work, the executives at Maogu Platform could finally breathe a sigh of relief. Sang Huaiyu skimmed through the backlog of contracts, meticulously locating Shi Yu’s file among the mid-tier streamers.

Hmm...

This kind of contract? The profit share seems kinda low.

Rather than appearing in the livestream like Shen Yan and Han Chuyi, Sang Huaiyu preferred a different approach.

A few minutes later, just as Shi Yu had finally managed to laze around for a bit, he received a message from the livestream notifications.

Because of his rare on-camera stream today, a ton of people were following him—the notifications kept blowing up. Shi Yu instinctively reached for his phone to mute them.

When he opened it, he saw the profile picture of "DeepSeaBro," the one who had sent him snake pics before.

Huh?

That “Snake Daddy” guy?

Shi Yu paused for a moment, wondering why the guy had messaged him again today. When he opened the chat, he was surprised—this time, instead of sending another pic of his silver snake, the snake guy had actually congratulated him.

"Congratulations on making it to the homepage of the food section."

Wow… kinda stiff, huh?

Getting that kind of message from a stranger felt weird to Shi Yu. But then again, he *had* complimented the other’s snake last time, so maybe this wasn’t too strange after all. He relaxed a little.

"Thank you."

He typed it out, then hesitated, unsure what else to say—they weren’t exactly close.

Little did he know, on the other end, Sang Huaiyu paused thoughtfully after reading the reply. After shooting off the revised contract to the Maogu manager, he turned back to the chat.

Staring at the chat screen, stuck, Shi Yu debated whether to bail with a “gotta shower” excuse when suddenly, the guy dropped a file.

The words “Maogu Platform B-tier Streamer Contract” appeared clearly on the screen.

Shi Yu blinked hard, confused about why DeepSeaBro would send him this.

Frowning, he glanced at the guy’s plain-ass profile pic. Then, in the next second, he saw the nickname change to “CEO of Maogu Platform.”

Shi Yu: ???

Wait, what the actual hell?

Why would DeepSeaBro change to such a misleading name?

At first, Shi Yu thought the guy was joking—who knew the guy was such a joker?

But soon enough, to his absolute disbelief, Maogu verified the nickname.

So he really *was* the boss?!

Shi Yu dumbly double-tapped to check, and seeing the name right there, verified, he finally typed out a shaky message.

“Boss…”

Had he really been blind not to recognize Mount Tai himself?

Shi Yu wiped his face, took a deep breath, and hesitantly typed:

“Uh… why’d you send this?”

Was this about firing him?

Sang Huaiyu hadn’t expected him to think that way. When he saw Shi Yu’s question, an image of him involuntarily popped into his mind. He chuckled softly:

"It’s nothing."

"Just thought you had potential—so I upgraded your B-tier contract to A-tier."

Wait… he wasn’t getting axed?

Shi Yu let out a breath—then another thought hit him. His contract was signed for a year, and there were still several months before renegotiation.

The boss was seriously upgrading it early?

Wouldn’t the platform lose money?

Shi Yu double-checked, thinking he’d read it wrong. But when he looked again, the words on the screen were crystal clear—the new contract said exactly the same thing.

He froze, stunned. *No way bosses this generous even exist anymore?!*

Or was this some new Horror trick—using contracts to mark victims?

And he was the unlucky target?

Shi Yu forced a laugh, guard up.

"The contract seems solid, but…"

"Since the deadline hasn’t passed yet, I’ll need more time to think it over."

Just in case the person on the other end really was the boss—some naive, rich guy tossing around a priority A-tier contract—Shi Yu added:

"I’ll get back to you once I’ve decided."

Sang Huaiyu had already predicted his reaction. Humans always hesitated when sudden luck dropped from the sky. He lowered his gaze, unfazed.

"Alright."

"But give me an answer within a week."

A week was just enough time—not too pushy, not too loose—to make Shi Yu weigh it carefully.

Seeing the deadline eased some of his suspicion. Probably just the boss’s random act of generosity.

Time limits made sense. No time limit would’ve been weird.

"Sounds good."

"It’s late—get some rest, boss."

Shi Yu tossed in a cute emoji and dipped before things got awkward.

On the other side, Sang Huaiyu pocketed his phone, eyeing the bowing shark emoji. He had no plans to sleep. After saving it, he headed out via elevator.

Lately, he’d noticed something off about the "Gu Ember" crew.

First, it was just Feng Yunzhen—a whisper of something, easy to miss. But now all three had it. Impossible to ignore.

That aura… it matched the weird vibes from the shore.

Though subtle, it was unlike any known Ability Users or Horrors.

Sang Huaiyu slightly narrowed his eyes and found himself at the Ability User Association after closing them.

...

Shi Yu had no idea that even a faint ripple could be meticulously detected by the Evil God.

At this moment, he was still lurking in various livestreamer group chats.

After quietly lurking all night, he realized that the boss seemed to have sent the new contract only to him?

The streamers in the groups showed no signs of abnormality, nor did anyone mention contracts. After discussing future developments for a bit, nothing substantial seemed to surface.

Shi Yu sighed as he got up in the morning and couldn’t help but glance at the contract again, feeling conflicted.

The new contract looked suspiciously good, but he had to admit the terms were unusually generous—a huge improvement over his previous deal.

Just the commission from this one project alone would soon be enough for him to save up for a car.

Leaning back on the sofa, he automatically opened the terms again and pondered, musing aloud, “Do you think I should sign it?”

The little monster, who had been accompanying his mother through an entire night of indecision: …Wala.

Shi Yu: …

“Oh right, you wouldn’t get it.”

“Never mind.”

He paused, then after a moment, looked down at his abdomen and simplified his explanation, trying to make it understandable for the little monster:

“There’s a chance to make big money right now. If I sign the contract, we’d be rolling in cash.”

“But it might also be a trap.”

As for what kind of danger the trap might bring—he couldn’t quite imagine yet.

“So… should I go for it?”

Shi Yu felt that, as someone who spends his money, the little monster had a responsibility to participate in this family discussion and vote on this major decision affecting their money situation.

Wala?

Sign… contract… money… equals Mom happy?

The little monster’s sluggish mind worked through this and went straight for making Mom happy!

Hurt Mom… bad! Me protect!

After exchanging looks, the little monster’s response came through their connection.

Shi Yu’s brows relaxed, pleased the little monster was on the same page.

Getting that cash came first, no matter what.

He curled his lips into a smile and pressed his hand against the curve of his abdomen, as if giving the little monster inside a high-five. “We’ve got a deal? It’s decided then?”