The risk control team behind Chen Siyao

Treasure Sky City was one of Pengcheng's upscale residential developments. It stood in the busiest part of the city center, yet remained a quiet world of its own amid the bustle. Its soaring residential towers formed a triangular arrangement, with sprawling duplex penthouses on the top floors, each worth upwards of thirty million.

Chen Hao had bought the penthouse in Tower B.

The elevator went straight to the top floor, opening into a private elevator lobby. "Wow—" Chen Siyao rushed inside without even changing her shoes and spun around in the living room. "Bro! We're finally home! Nothing beats being home!"

Chen Hao changed into slippers, strolled inside, and set the luggage aside.

Leaning against the doorframe with a smile playing on his lips, Chen Hao watched his sister flutter around like a happy little butterfly. His eyes were full of tenderness. "Go get settled in. You must be tired after the journey."

Chen Hao smiled, sat down on the sofa, and looked out at the city.

Ten thousand years.

He had lived in countless places—cave abodes in the primordial era, palaces in the Qin dynasty, gardens in the Tang dynasty, inns in the Song dynasty, modern hotels...

But it had been a very, very long time since he had known anything called "home."

He lowered his gaze to Wolf Cub, who lay at his feet. The little fellow was studying his new surroundings curiously, his nose twitching as he sniffed.

"We'll be living here from now on." He gently patted Wolf Cub's head.

Wolf Cub looked up at him and gave a soft whine, as if saying, Sounds good.

Still buzzing with the excitement of coming home, Chen Siyao instinctively pulled out her phone. Her finger moved toward the livestreaming icon with practiced ease, but just before it touched the screen, she suddenly froze.

She stood rooted to the spot, confusion written all over her face.

In the past, she had streamed to pay her tuition and living expenses. Every day, she watched the clock and ended the stream the moment she had put in enough hours, unwilling to endure even one second more.

But now her brother was back, and money was no longer a problem. The trip to the Secret Realm had freed her from her financial struggles for good. She clearly no longer needed to make money from streaming, so why was starting a stream still her first instinct?

She looked down at her phone screen and quietly wondered:

It seems... it isn't really about the money. I just want to tell the viewers who chat with me every day and call me "beautiful Yaoyao" that I'm home. I want to show them my new place and talk with them... Somehow, they've all become like friends.

Chen Siyao stuck out her tongue and gave herself a perfectly defensible excuse. "Well, who would complain about having more money? Let's stream! It's not like I've got anything else to do!"

Meanwhile, at Doule headquarters.

Li Na sat in her spacious office. The large screen before her displayed live statistics from Chen Siyao's stream.

Concurrent viewers: 1.53 million.

Followers: 84.25 million.

Gift revenue: over 2 million in the past day.

A faint smile touched her lips. Signing this streamer for three hundred million had been worth it.

Just then, someone knocked on her office door.

"Come in."

A young man wearing glasses entered. It was Xiao Wang, the head of the Risk Control Department's newly established Chen Siyao Special Task Force.

"Ms. Li, there's something I need to report."

Li Na looked at him. "Go ahead."

Xiao Wang handed her a tablet. "A streamer called Outdoor Xiao Yang posted an exposé video claiming Chen Siyao's Queen Mother of the West secret realm was scripted. It's only been up for half an hour, and it's already passed a million views."

Li Na took the tablet and quickly watched the video.

In the video, a young man calling himself Outdoor Xiao Yang stood in front of a barren mountain, comparing it with screenshots from Chen Siyao's stream. He declared with absolute certainty, "Look, everyone! This is the entrance to that so-called Queen Mother of the West secret realm! I investigated it in person, and there's absolutely nothing here! It's scripted! It's special effects! Chen Siyao is just a scripted streamer with a professional production team behind her!"

After watching it, Li Na sneered.

"That's it?"

Xiao Wang asked cautiously, "Ms. Li, how should we handle this?"

Li Na handed the tablet back to him and said evenly, "Take it down."

"Take it down?" Xiao Wang blinked. "But Ms. Li, if we just remove an exposé video like this, won't people accuse us of silencing criticism...?"

Li Na looked at him with a trace of impatience in her eyes. "Xiao Wang, do you know how much Chen Siyao is worth right now?"

Xiao Wang shook his head.

"Eighty million followers. A three-hundred-million signing fee. The most talked-about person on the entire internet." Li Na enunciated every word. "She alone accounts for fifteen percent of Doule's total traffic. If she goes down, how much do you think Doule will lose?"

Xiao Wang sucked in a sharp breath.

Li Na continued, "Besides, are you sure that Secret Realm is fake?"

Xiao Wang froze.

Of course he wasn't sure.

He had watched that stream. With those visuals, those details, how could it possibly have been special effects?

Even the best Hollywood team couldn't produce something like that.

"But Ms. Li..." He still wanted to say something.

Li Na cut him off. "No buts. Starting now, we're establishing a dedicated risk control team for Chen Siyao, and you'll be in charge. Any negative content involving her, especially claims like these without solid evidence, gets taken down. Understood?"

Xiao Wang took a deep breath and nodded firmly. "Understood, Ms. Li."

He turned and left.

Li Na leaned back in her chair. Looking at Chen Siyao's smiling face on the screen, she curved her lips into a smile.

Keep streaming, little girl.

Your big sister will protect you.

An hour later, in Outdoor Xiao Yang's rented apartment.

Yang Feifan stared at his phone screen, his face livid.

His video... had been taken down.

The reason given was "suspected dissemination of false information."

"Fuck!" He slammed his fist onto the table.

He refused to accept it.

He was Yang Feifan, Outdoor Xiao Yang. He had spent three years grinding away on Doule, finally building up three million followers and earning a living through his outdoor adventurer persona.

Then Chen Siyao had appeared, and his popularity had been cut in half.

Every time he streamed, the chat filled with "Go watch Yaoyao" and "Yaoyao's stream is more exciting." His income had dropped from over a hundred thousand a month to barely enough to feed himself.

Why?

Just because she had an incredible brother?

Just because she'd gotten lucky and found some lousy Secret Realm?

He didn't believe it.

The Queen Mother of the West, the Jade Pool, the Agelessness Elixir—it was all fake!

It had to be scripted! It had to be special effects!

He was going to expose her!

So he couldn't post a video?

Then he'd confront her on a live call!

He refused to believe she could keep up the act in front of a million viewers!

He opened Chen Siyao's stream and saw that she was chatting with her viewers and getting ready to play games.

He sent a request to join her stream.

System notification: the other party has disabled live calls.

"Fuck, fuck, fuck!" Furious, he hurled his phone onto the bed.

She had actually turned off live calls!

That only proved she had a guilty conscience!

Yang Feifan took several deep breaths and calmed down.

He couldn't post a video or connect to her stream, so he would try another approach.

He started his own stream and told his followers, "Guys, my video was taken down. Why was it taken down? Because I threatened certain people's profits!"

The chat:

[Xiao Yang's diehard fan: who took it down? Doule?]

[Outdoor warrior: that Chen Siyao must have someone backing her!]

[Go Xiao Yang: don't be scared, Xiao Yang! We support you!]

Yang Feifan continued, "That Chen Siyao won't let me join her stream, right? Then I want you guys to go to her stream and ask her about it! Tell her to face me! Let's see if she dares!"

Facing the camera, he stressed every word. "Guys, go to her stream and flood the chat! Ask if she dares to get on a call with me! Ask if she dares to confront me!"

[Xiao Yang's diehard fan: understood!]

[Rock-climbing Xiao Wu: charge!]

[Outdoor coach Li: let her see the power of the people!]

In Chen Siyao's stream.

She swung her little feet and said brightly, "Just so everyone knows, I won't be doing outdoor streams anymore. School's starting soon. From now on, I'll just stream casually at home, chat, play games, stuff like that~"

[Gaming disaster Yaoyao: no! Yaoyao, please don't play games! Your plays are so hilariously bad I could spray rice all over my screen!]

[Shi Ye: help! Last time I watched you play Honor of Kings, you built tank items on Luban. I uninstalled the game that very night!]

[Once it's on, don't turn it off: we're on your side! Be good, Yaoyao! Stay away from games! I'm begging you!]