She Was Already Dead

"Master Xiao, are you still picking today's fated viewers through a raffle?"

"I feel like the raffle isn't very fair. With Master Xiao's abilities, he's bound to get more and more fans. It'll get harder and harder for us original diehard fans to win!"

"Yeah, I don't think it's very fair either! I suggest holding separate raffles for diehard fans and new fans!"

"Diehard fans all believe in Master Xiao's abilities. New fans who just joined are bound to suspect he's a scammer. I think us diehards could pay to enter. We'd be spending voluntarily, while new fans could enter for free. Nobody could complain about that!"

"Master, I suggest splitting it into a paid raffle and a free raffle! Diehard fans could also enter the free one to improve their chances! Besides, under your rules, once we win, we can keep getting our fortunes told the next day. That would give diehard fans a much better chance!"

"I support that too! Rather than giving everyone equal odds, only for the slots to go to random viewers who doubt you and then trash you-maybe even lie and refuse to pay after you get everything right, like that criminal before, just to disgust everyone-you might as well give them to us diehards!"

Xiao Yu thought it over and felt that the Livestream Viewers had a good point.

"All right, we'll switch to a gift-entry raffle. First, we'll draw three slots, then draw one more for free!"

"The big spenders have already had their fortunes told. I have a feeling I'll win today!"

"Woohoo, we're taking off! Defying fate, marrying a rich, fair-skinned beauty, and reaching the pinnacle of life-it all starts today!"

Each one-yuan gift bought one entry.

Originally, Xiao Yu had only set up the raffle as a way to find people connected to him by fate. He had never intended to make money from it.

Yet some people couldn't win no matter how many times they entered, and they were terribly envious of the first few people who had won fortune-telling slots.

So the more they lost, the more they wanted to enter!

The most extreme case was someone who sent over a thousand one-yuan gifts!

Tang Xiaoxiao had escaped death and landed a managerial job paying over ten thousand a month even during probation. It might well provide her with a lifelong livelihood.

Zhao Yan had not only gotten revenge on her womanizing ex-boyfriend, but also sought a romance with outrageously demanding criteria.

Boss Qi had really taken off. First, he had escaped an earthquake, then made ten million, and now he was about to resolve his child's emotional troubles.

All of this left the diehard fans itching with impatience, desperate for their names to be drawn.

This wasn't fortune-telling. It was an "express train to the pinnacle of life"!

Changshan Zhao Ergou: "Wahahaha, I won! I finally won! Heaven rewards persistence! I sent over twelve hundred gifts, and I finally won!"

"You shouldn't be called Ergou. You should be called Lord Zhao! That's fucking extravagant! If you're so rich, why didn't you just send a Rocket two days ago instead of fighting us poor bastards for a slot?"

"Help! You despicable rich bastard! You made me lose again!"

Changshan Zhao Ergou: "You can't blame me! I wasn't here on the first day. Gifts weren't allowed on the second day, and I didn't win. Besides, when I first came yesterday, I also suspected the streamer was a scammer. Isn't today only day three? Don't lose heart. Once you win, you won't have to enter again from tomorrow onward. You can just get your fortune told, so you'll have less competition too. Master Xiao is so fair. Any other streamer would squeeze every last penny out of us!"

"Master, I'd like to report a rich guy disrupting the raffle's balance!"

"Hahaha, I won too! Took me eight hundred entries!"

"Master, how did you set up these prizes...? The odds are way too low!"

"You don't get it, buddy. Master probably just set up three grand prizes at random. That's how this platform's algorithm works. There are over five hundred people watching now, so the normal chance for each prize is two in a thousand, with the three prizes drawn one after another. But if someone throws money at extra entries, the odds drop. For example, if someone sends five hundred gifts, the system calculates it as a thousand people entering, making the odds one in a thousand!"

"Who gives a damn about the odds? Just send gifts!"

"Hehe, I won the third one! Thanks to the guy above for explaining. I was going to enter one at a time, but then I bit the bullet and sent a hundred gifts. I won right away! Hubby, I'm coming to get my fortune told, hubby!"

"Fuck! You shameless humans! I was still typing out the explanation, and you snatched up all the grand prizes!"

The frenzy left every newly arrived passerby dumbfounded.

"Is this streamer really that amazing? Everyone's sending gifts like crazy. And judging by the rules, you still have to send a Rocket to get your fortune told?"

"Why does this look more and more like a pig-butchering scam?"

"Hey, we're happy to send gifts. If you don't trust the streamer, just don't send any. Watch the show, okay? Keep your wallets shut. What, are you afraid he'll reach through the internet cable and steal your money?"

"You'd better never send any gifts, either. Every extra person who sends one means less chance for us diehard fans!"

"Front-row seat here. I'm bored of gaming streams anyway, so let's see how amazing this fortune-telling streamer really is! It doesn't cost anything to watch!"

"Newbie here, just entered the stream. What's going on? People are entering hundreds or thousands of times, at one yuan per entry, just to win a one-yuan cash prize? What kind of ridiculous new gimmick is this?"

The stream already had over 550 viewers.

It was getting livelier and livelier.

"Let's invite our first Livestream Viewer, Changshan Zhao Ergou, to connect by video."

A man of twenty-seven or twenty-eight appeared. He was quite handsome, and the most striking thing about him was the bulging muscle on his arms.

A handsome man with muscles all over!

He had practically maxed out masculine appeal!

"Oh my god, hubby is so handsome! Hubby! I'm drooling!"

"Get lost, you boy-crazy idiot above! You were calling Master your hubby earlier! Women like you embarrass the rest of us! Hey, handsome, need a girlfriend? I'll even be your mistress!"

"All of you get lost! They're both my husbands!"

Changshan Zhao Ergou: "Hehe, hello, Master! Could you tell me about my past first? To be honest, I still have just a tiny bit of doubt, and I'd love to experience your amazing abilities firsthand!"

"Sounds perfectly reasonable! Master, hurry up and slap him in the face! How dare he be so handsome, with such a great body and all those muscles? Is he trying to leave nothing for the rest of us men?"

"My blind guess is that he peeped on girls bathing when he was little! Why else would he call himself Zhao Ergou? Master, please expose his embarrassing secrets!"

Seeing the embarrassment on his face, Xiao Yu shook his head in amusement.

The Livestream Viewers were hilarious.

"Jin Hong, male, twenty-eight, martial arts instructor. The reason you started practicing martial arts was that girls bullied you every day when you were little..."

"Girls bullied him, so he learned martial arts. Perfectly reasonable! Sorry, I laughed!"

"LOL, have you beaten away all the girls who bullied you by now?"

"Every strong man starts out being bullied by girls!"

"...At thirteen, you entered a national youth martial arts competition and suffered a crushing defeat in the first round. At fourteen, you entered again, stunned everyone, and took second place."

"From then on, martial arts became your whole life. You won more medals than you could count."

"Amazing. Truly amazing! Master, I'm convinced. Every word was spot-on. You gave me goosebumps! If someone claims you found all that online in a few seconds, I absolutely won't believe it! Master, you're fucking awesome!"

Changshan Zhao Ergou tipped one Rocket.

"Mr. Jin, what would you like to ask about?"

"Uh..."

Jin Hong suddenly blushed, his face growing redder and redder as his gaze wandered evasively.

Finally, he lowered his head, looking almost timid.

"Master, I want to know where the girl next door who used to chase me around and beat me up every day moved to. I... I've been looking for her for years. I want to tell her I can protect her now! I want to date her!"

"Ooh, childhood sweethearts! She beat love into him!"

"So inspiring! You have to raise your future wife from childhood. Sure enough, I'm single because I didn't have a childhood sweetheart! Damn it!"

"My blind guess is that the girl's already married. Hahaha!"

"The girl you're looking for is already dead."