Qu Nanzhu took the scissors and sat back down in front of the camera, his voice having regained its earlier calm as he addressed the viewers. "I went to get something. Let's continue. Three readings. I'll now... connect with someone."
Before he had even finished, another PK invitation from Pang Du popped up. In a rare show of irritation, Qu Nanzhu's temple twitched. Knowing the man would not give up even if rejected, he accepted again.
This time, the smile on the other man's face was much more forced, entirely because Qu Nanzhu had angered him. As for the people mocking him for not understanding divination fees, he had just snapped right back at them.
"I'm a debunking streamer. I simply don't believe in this stuff, understand? Karma, my ass. That's all just the spiel they use to scam people. Anyone who actually believes it is really something."
This display of his "unfiltered personality" earned him several thousand more in gifts.
His top donor outright told him to go ahead and wreck the place. It was only three thousand yuan; just give it to them. With that, he sent him four Huazi gifts.
Greatly encouraged, Pang Du sent another PK invitation. This time, the other side accepted very quickly.
Having learned his lesson last time, he immediately sent a Huazi to Qu Nanzhu's stream and said, "There's your divination fee. Go on, do the reading."
Qu Nanzhu glanced at him. "A reading on how much longer you have to live?"
[Oof, that mouth is pretty vicious.]
Pang Du's smile was fake. "Go ahead, then. It's just that this one's hard to verify. We'll have to wait many years to find out."
Qu Nanzhu noticed that every sentence out of this man's mouth was loaded with insinuations meant to steer the audience. He was particularly obnoxious, and it was deeply irritating.
The viewers felt the same way.
"It won't necessarily take that long," Qu Nanzhu said, his gaze falling on Pang Du's shoulders, his head, in front of him, and behind him. He had deliberately avoided looking at the man earlier, mainly because he was almost entirely covered in the wronged souls of cats, dogs, and other small animals. Even looking, he could hardly see anything else.
Pang Du gave a cold scoff. "Do you know how to say anything besides cursing people to die young?"
Qu Nanzhu looked away and said flatly, "You don't believe me when I tell you. You say I'm cursing you." He fell silent for a moment, then spoke with an insinuation of his own. "You've been hearing animal cries a lot when you sleep lately, haven't you?"
The people in the stream did not understand what he meant, but they all saw Pang Du's expression turn unnatural when he heard it.
Anyone would react that way when someone hit on what was weighing on their mind.
Qu Nanzhu had always been one to speak plainly, and he described what he saw.
"You have a taste for abusing animals, don't you? Mostly cats, because stray cats are the easiest to find. There are dogs, birds, and little rabbits too. Did you know their resentment lingers after their gruesome deaths, and their wronged souls have already packed your room full? Oh, right. Obviously, you've already felt it."
He really would not stop until he said something shocking!
Both streams were almost completely flooded with question marks, but Qu Nanzhu showed no intention of stopping. "Also, you put on makeup for today's stream because your complexion looks too awful, didn't you? Do you dare take it off live and let everyone see?"
Because he kept feeling cold, Pang Du had deliberately turned on the heating today. Now, hearing Qu Nanzhu's words, he felt as though he had plunged into an ice cellar.
Seeing that he said nothing, Qu Nanzhu kindly answered for him. "You don't dare. You like wrapping your hands in bandages to cover the scratches the animals left. Was anything I said wrong?"
He had originally thought he could get through this stream by insisting Qu Nanzhu was talking nonsense and stubbornly refusing to admit anything, then deal with the rest later. But Qu Nanzhu's next words cut off his escape.
The muscles in his face twitched almost imperceptibly. His earlier aggressive manner vanished without a trace.
"Heh, this is getting more and more ridiculous." He forced his voice to sound steady. "You'd even make up a story like this to slander me? Everyone, my family, be rational..."
The comments responded: who's your family?
They just hated fake Taoists who scammed people out of money. They were not brainless paramecia. They had only come to watch the show in the first place.
Aside from a few brain-dead fans still defending him, the vast majority of comments demanded that he prove his innocence.
[Then take off the bandages and prove it.]
[Isn't that simple? Don't you dare?]
His eyes swept over those words, his fingertips icy, and he instinctively tried to move his bandaged hands out of the camera's view.
That tiny evasive movement looked all the more like a silent confession.
He drew in a sharp breath, overwhelmed by the helpless feeling of everyone pushing at a falling wall.
As the comments gradually spiraled out of control and more and more people entered his stream, he felt none of the joy of gaining traffic.
But since he dared to torture and kill those beasts, he naturally possessed a composure beyond that of ordinary people. He knew he could not lose his footing now.
So he feigned calm and began, "Everyone, stop saying I can prove my innocence just by removing the bandages. I really don't dare take them off, but it's not because of any scratches like he says. I was naughty as a child and put my hands into scalding water to play. You can imagine the result."
He shrugged in apparent self-pity. "I don't want to face those ugly scars, and I don't want them appearing online. I've exposed a lot of streamers, and their fans always Photoshop ugly pictures of me to attack me. You all know about that too. So there's no way I'm showing my real scars. You over there, you're very clever. I don't know where you learned my secret, but I won't let you get your way. I'll report this to the police. If you don't apologize, I'll see you in court." With that, he left the PK.
The more he talked, the more convincing it sounded, until he almost fooled himself. He was clearly fleeing in panic, yet he made it look as though he had suffered a terrible shock and left in despair.
He really did fool many people. After all, compared with so-called mysticism, Pang Du's account was more believable.
For instance, Qu Nanzhu might have thought he had leverage over Pang Du, assuming his psychological hang-ups would keep him from talking about his injured hands, and so staged this whole performance.
But some people still were not buying it.
[Seriously, people actually believe this? Do you think the other streamer's an idiot? One check would settle this. All I saw was Pang Du's guilty conscience.]
[This is ridiculous. He could've just shown a tiny patch of scar, but he wouldn't.]
[Let the bullets fly for a while. Waiting for the face-slapping.]
[Wait, doesn't anyone find it weird that he said Qu Nanzhu knew his secret? Before he dragged him into a PK, the guy didn't even know him, right?]
[What's weird about it? The other guy has powerful backing. Someone looked it up for him.]
Opinions were divided.
Pang Du used the excuse that he was too upset to end his stream early. The viewers naturally objected, but there was nothing they could do.
After ending the stream, Pang Du switched to an alt account to monitor Qu Nanzhu's stream again. He badly wanted to curse him out immediately and curse him to die a horrible death, but he knew he could not. That really would put leverage in the man's hands.
After he left the PK, Qu Nanzhu continued his own stream, completely unaffected.
When he said there were two readings left today, the viewers responded with: what!?
In an instant, they even stopped mocking Pang Du.
[Wait, Pang Du's counted as a reading too? Then what about me?]
[Exactly, why should it? He was the one shamelessly pestering you. Baby, you can't do this!!]
[The fools are still complaining. The smart ones have already started streaming and sent PK invites.]
Qu Nanzhu happened to see that comment and said coldly, "I've already disabled PKs. Don't try to get an opportunity by angering the streamer. Let's start connecting."
As soon as he said that, Huo Sili immediately sent ten Huazi to back him up, adding: [Please follow the stream's rules.]
[Ah, boss, you love him so much.]
[Our Brother Numbers doesn't even get readings. He just keeps gifting.]
[Aren't the second- and third-ranked donors the same?]
At that moment, a floating comment from the third-ranked donor appeared: [I just didn't manage to grab a slot, okay!?]
The comments filled with laughter.
Meanwhile, the official celestial masters keeping watch over the stream huddled in groups of two or three, discussing it back and forth.
The white-haired old man asked, "Could any of you read that young fellow's face just now?"
The young man sitting opposite him shook his head. "The makeup was too thick, and there was a beauty filter. I couldn't tell. But his glabella was dark. It certainly didn't look like a sign of peace and safety."
The elderly man sitting diagonally across spoke. "And those wronged souls he mentioned. I've never heard of the heavenly eye letting someone see ghosts remotely."
After a moment of silence, the young man said, "Could he really have great abilities?"
The two old men said, "Hmph!"
The young man shut his mouth.