My Account!

A rental apartment in a city somewhere in the south.

It was less than fifteen square meters, simply furnished and a little messy. Empty snack wrappers littered the computer desk, and the ashtray was already overflowing. On the bed behind it, a young man lay sprawled, tangled up in his blanket and fast asleep.

Ten minutes or so passed before a phone rang, jolting him awake. He opened his eyes groggily, picked up his phone, glanced at the unfamiliar number, then answered.

"Hello, who's this?... What spicy strips?... An advertising deal... What!" At the word "deal," the young man's eyes flew open, and his sleepiness vanished. His lips trembled with excitement. "You really want to work with me? That's right, that's right... I uploaded that meme video... Views... It's got seven or eight hundred thousand, I think... I'll check..."

As he spoke, the young man scrambled over to his computer, logged into his Bilibili creator dashboard with practiced ease, and checked his video stats.

"Seven hundred and ninety thousand views... More than three thousand bullet comments... Right, right, it'll keep growing. This video's definitely going to be a hit this year. I'm confident about that. You want to put an ad link on it... Five thousand yuan?" Hearing that figure, the young man pinched his thigh hard. His tongue was starting to trip over itself. "Sure, sure, we can discuss the details in a bit. Don't worry, I'll save you a spot... By the way, how did you find me? Oh~~~ I believe you. You went to all this trouble to find me...

A broke creator like me doesn't have anything worth scamming, haha... Contact me on QQ? Sure, my QQ is XXXXXX67... You want to pay a deposit first? You're so generous. My bank account is xxxxxxx89..."

The young man was so moved he was nearly in tears. After he hung up, a deposit notification immediately came through on his phone. He opened it and saw that the promised five hundred yuan had indeed arrived.

"Oh my god, I'm finally making money! My luck's finally turned around!" The young man flopped onto the bed and pounded the mattress, shouting at the top of his lungs. It was hard to tell whether he was crying or laughing.

His name was Gong Liang. He was twenty-one years old, a tech geek who knew how to make videos and loved gaming. He was currently a Bilibili creator, mostly making gaming videos with technical commentary.

There were countless ordinary gaming creators like him on Bilibili. After more than half a year there, he still hadn't managed to make a name for himself.

Then, a few days ago, he suddenly had a breakthrough. Making nothing but gaming videos on Bilibili was a dead end. ACG dance videos, anime clips, meme edits, and comedy videos were the way to go.

So he changed his approach, spending a day searching various websites for videos he could work with. In the end, he found a barbecue video on Youku.

The video was more than twenty minutes long, and the people in it just kept eating. Most viewers would probably find it appetizing, but as a creator who'd spent years on Bilibili, he saw something different.

He saw the humor.

He downloaded it, edited it, added music, and processed it in various ways, turning it into a funny meme video.

If Li Xian had been standing in front of his computer, he would definitely have pointed at Gong Liang and cursed, Damn it, so you're the little bastard messing with me!

That was right. Just by posting a meme video about Kidney Bro, he was finally on the verge of making it.

Once his excitement had settled, Gong Liang sat back down at his computer, logged in again, and casually opened his messages, which were already at 99+.

"Dumbass... Your account's gone..."

"Idiot... Your account's about to be gone."

"Your account's gone... Gone, gone..."

"Hahaha... Your account's gone..."

"..."

Ever since the night before last, all his messages had been variations of the same thing. They were driving him crazy, and he hadn't slept well for two days.

"Damn it, who's got so much free time? If you've got the guts, take down my account. What good does spamming me with messages do?" Gong Liang cursed, then deleted them all, just as he had the day before.

But now, those messages couldn't affect his mood anymore. That advertising deal had wiped away all his negativity.

He was making money. He could finally earn money from his videos.

After all that time struggling, he was finally getting somewhere.

Gong Liang contentedly lit a cigarette. In the current climate, very few creators could make money from videos. Most of them lost money just to attract views, then tried to figure out how to turn that traffic into cash.

It sounded easy enough, but in practice, it was incredibly difficult.

First came the hurdle of getting views, which had defeated countless creators. He was one of millions of nobodies himself.

The creators who could turn their traffic into money were all major creators who'd built up a following over many years. JY, Xiao Zhi, Xiao Mo, and Boxer No. 7, all creators he liked, were among them.

Gong Liang envied their ability to promote their Taobao shops through their videos or make money by advertising for businesses.

That was the life he'd always wanted. He used to imagine what it would be like once he got popular, and now his dream had finally come true.

His first hit video had already earned him five thousand yuan in advertising fees. He was sure plenty of people would be green with envy.

"Those people sending me spam must be jealous my video's gone viral. They even want to take down my account? Eat shit! I'm about to get rich, you losers!" Gong Liang smirked smugly. Just then, a friend request popped up on QQ.

[I Have a Stomachache wants to add you as a friend!]

"Stomachache? Must be the client. That's an interesting username," Gong Liang muttered as he accepted the request.

"You are?"

"I'm Brother Xian Spicy Strips. We just spoke on the phone."

"Hello, hello."

"I'll get straight to the point. Put our company's link on your video and leave it there for a day to see how it goes. If the results meet our expectations, I'll pay the rest right away."

"No problem, no problem. Send me the link, and I'll add it to the video now."

A long string of link code came through. Curiously, Gong Liang clicked it open.

It took him to a very ordinary online shop. The most eye-catching thing was the banner ad: a chubby, fair-skinned, handsome young man holding a packet of spicy strips in one hand and giving a thumbs-up with the other. He wore a smile that looked a little unsettling and mocking.

Gong Liang frowned slightly and muttered, "This spokesperson's look is a bit... Well, whatever. The client likes him. What do I care?"

After closing the webpage, Gong Liang went into his dashboard and pasted the link into the video.

"Please let this meet the client's expectations. My whole future depends on you." Gong Liang clasped his hands and prayed, then happily went to wash up.

About an hour later, he returned to his computer and logged back into his dashboard. A system notification immediately left him stunned.

[Creator Squirrel Can't Beat Hamster, since you posted a large amount of prohibited content and obscene content, seriously endangering the physical and mental health of minors and seriously violating the Bilibili Community Guidelines, you have seriously disrupted the online public order and become a public menace on the internet. After discussion by the site, your account has been banned.]

What?

Prohibited content?

Impossible!

Gong Liang frantically clicked on his video, only to find that it wouldn't open. Many of the functions in his dashboard no longer worked. He searched his ID on the site, but couldn't find it either.

He stared blankly at the computer screen, murmuring, "Where's my account? Where did it go? How could this happen?"

Then he suddenly remembered the spam messages he'd been getting over the past few days. His mind filled with the words: "Your account's gone."

Grand Hyatt Hotel, Bin City.

Li Xian leisurely enjoyed the instant noodles he'd made himself—Master Li's Abalone and Sea Cucumber Instant Noodles. One mouthful of rich, savory noodles, one swig of happy fat-kid water. Life couldn't get any better.

"There wasn't quite enough. Next time, I'll use two blocks of noodles." Once he'd nearly finished eating, Li Xian drained the rest of his happy fat-kid water with satisfaction.

Just then, his phone rang. He looked at the screen and saw that it was Du Ziteng.

Du Ziteng was a good friend of Sui Jiji's. The two of them were classmates in the computer science department at Neusoft University.

"Hey, Ziteng. What's up?"

"Brother Xian, you have to treat me to a bathhouse."

"Hahaha, you should ask Jiji. He's the one who knows the ropes."

"Forget it. He's too stingy. I don't like hanging out with him." Du Ziteng joked, then said, "It's taken care of. That guy was so easy to fool. There wasn't any challenge to it."

"Heh. What, a little job like this wasn't enough to show off your skills?"

"Yeah. I'll get that five hundred yuan back, then. Otherwise, it's no fun."

"Never mind. Let's leave him a little dignity." As Li Xian spoke, a system notification appeared in his mind.

[Quest (2): A Small Lesson — Completed]

Man, why were kids these days so gullible? Since when did money just fall from the sky?

Li Xian put away his phone and searched for the video on Bilibili. His most popular meme video was gone, but quite a few copycat edits were starting to appear.

P.S. Tomorrow, my book gets a new-book recommendation in its category. I'm a little nervous!