The Secret to Going Viral

Masamichi Yaga warned Xia Jie, then left with Gojo Satoru, who had been secretly making faces.

"Hey—you should've told me sooner!" Xia Jie said miserably as he looked at Panda and Okkotsu. As for Maki, he simply ignored her.

"Xia Jie, don't go accusing innocent people!" Panda said with a grin. "Toge, Okkotsu, and I all tried to remind you. You were the one who got too absorbed in talking and didn't notice!"

Xia Jie opened his mouth, then suddenly remembered that the three of them really had seemed to quietly warn him. But he had been hiding too many secrets in his heart. Once he got talking, he couldn't help but tell them a little more.

"Forget it," Xia Jie said helplessly.

He knew he couldn't blame Panda and the others. In the end, he had let down his guard. Besides, his Perception was weak as hell—two people had suddenly appeared behind him, and he had not noticed at all.

Masamichi Yaga and Gojo Satoru walked forward at an unhurried pace.

Masamichi Yaga suddenly looked at Gojo Satoru. "How did it feel to have your student defend and trust you?"

"Not bad." The corners of Gojo Satoru's lips curved up. His mood was more than just not bad—he was downright delighted.

Okkotsu and the others had always respected him, but they rarely stepped beyond their identities as students to consider things from his perspective. And he could hardly tell them everything he was thinking.

As a result, Okkotsu and the others could not fully understand his decisions.

But now, there was Xia Jie.

When Gojo Satoru first met him, he noticed that Xia Jie had a lot on his mind. Still, since he did not seem malicious, Gojo Satoru had recruited him into Jujutsu High.

After entering Jujutsu High, Xia Jie still had many thoughts weighing on him. It left him with a constant faint sense of urgency, driving him to train desperately and make the most of his time. Yet that only made his progress in training painfully slow.

Gojo Satoru had advised him once, but it had not worked very well.

Considering that Xia Jie could control a Special Grade Cursed Spirit, Gojo Satoru had him try developing a Cursed Technique that worked in tandem with Cursed Spirits. That was how the so-called Shadow Mode came about.

Gojo Satoru had called Masamichi Yaga over because he wanted him to see Xia Jie in that state. He had not expected to overhear Xia Jie discussing Jujutsu High.

How could Gojo Satoru not be happy to be understood like that?

More importantly, Xia Jie's speech had not only helped the other students better understand his thoughts—it had also planted the seed of "questioning Jujutsu High" in their hearts.

Wasn't that exactly what he wanted?

Perhaps someday in the future, Xia Jie might lead his companions in bringing about the changes in Jujutsu Society that he had been hoping for.

Masamichi Yaga watched Gojo Satoru's delighted expression and knew what he was thinking without even having to consider it. He warned him sternly, "Satoru, having thoughts like that is not necessarily a bad thing, but it is not necessarily a good thing either!"

"If you think too little, your mind can easily be controlled by others. If you think too much, you can easily become extreme and lose your way!"

"Keep an eye on him." As though recalling something, Masamichi Yaga sighed. "Don't let him become another Jie!"

A trace of desolation flashed across Gojo Satoru's face, but he quickly smiled again. "Don't worry! I'll keep it in mind! Speaking of which, didn't you find those lines where Xia Jie flattered you pretty funny?"

"Hmph!" Masamichi Yaga looked at Gojo Satoru, knowing his words had sunk in. "I always thought he was mature and thoughtful. I never expected him to have such a frivolous, lively side!"

"Xia Jie, are you in there?" Panda knocked on the door and spoke quietly.

Xia Jie discreetly opened a crack in the door. After confirming that no one was around, he said, "Come in, Panda!"

Panda did not stand on ceremony and pushed the door open. The room was spacious, and Shadow Maru's clone had already set up the game console, phones, ring lights, microphone, sound card, and other equipment.

"Are we starting now?" Panda asked Xia Jie. "Or should I just sit there and play games like usual?"

"Yeah! Just like before!" Xia Jie said as he opened his Douyin account: My Daily Life with Panda.

Likes: 10.659 million, Followers: 1.368 million

Douyin ID: 165***2018

Personal bio:

1. Recording the daily life of the not-so-famous online writer JOJO Jie and Panda (livestream every Wednesday at 21:00).

2. My work, Parasite Spirit, is currently being serialized on major online fiction platforms and has reached 1.4 million words.

Xia Jie had only recently built up this Douyin account. He usually posted snippets of Panda's daily life, along with his thoughts on writing novels.

His original purpose in creating the account was to bring some traffic to Parasite Spirit.

His work had been featured several times on L.Q and major fiction sites in China, and readers loved it. But it was still a long way from the 1.5 million Legend Points Parasite Spirit required.

The comic adaptation Tsukamatsu Hayato had mentioned would take a long time to get moving, so Xia Jie had no choice but to personally promote his work as best he could.

Creating video accounts on platforms like Kuaidou was one solution he had come up with.

There were two benefits to building these video accounts. First, they could promote his books. Second, if an account became popular, he could easily accumulate a group of readers whenever he released a new book.

So Xia Jie worked hard on the content for his accounts. But... he had no idea what to post, so his daily uploads and livestreams were almost entirely about writing and playing games.

Naturally, that did not bring in much traffic, and Xia Jie's Douyin account had only a few thousand followers.

Until one time, when he was livestreaming a game, Panda wandered in by accident. The viewer count instantly exploded... Only then did Xia Jie realize that the secret to going viral had been right beside him all along.

He should have realized it much earlier. But when he made these video accounts, he was like a student sneaking a look at a novel during class—he instinctively did not want anyone else to know about it. That naturally included Panda.

But after Panda caught him, Xia Jie stopped caring. He even nagged and pleaded until Panda agreed to livestream with him.

Panda had refused at first. After all, his existence involved certain secrets, so it was not suitable for him to show his face in public. Masamichi Yaga would not allow it either.

But Xia Jie offered him two reasons to put his mind at ease:

First, they would be livestreaming on video platforms in China. In Japan, not only Jujutsu Sorcerers but even ordinary people rarely used these apps. Even if ordinary people did use them, they used overseas versions. That meant that even if they appeared on camera, it would be difficult for Jujutsu Sorcerers to discover them.

Second, Panda could pretend to be a human wearing a realistic Panda costume during the stream, so no one would suspect his true identity. Xia Jie himself would not show his face either, so even if someone discovered them, they could simply deny it.

Besides those two reassurances, Xia Jie brought out a "big gun"—he showed Panda the earnings the stream had generated last time.

When Panda saw that string of numbers, he was tempted.

Jujutsu High did pay wages, but most of Panda's salary had always been held by Masamichi Yaga. Only a small portion actually made it into Panda's hands.

Panda was not especially attached to money, but he would not mind having a little more pocket money.

Beyond the temptation of money, Panda had a deeper reason for deciding to livestream with Xia Jie—he wanted more people to see him and accept him, rather than remaining hidden in Jujutsu High and only getting to see the outside world when he was assigned a mission.

And so, Panda "reluctantly" agreed to livestream with Xia Jie.

Thanks to Panda, Xia Jie's Douyin followers rose to 1.56 million in just over a month, while his total followers across the internet surpassed three million.

That number was still growing rapidly, and his System Spirit was about to reach the moment of evolution.