Chapter 390 - 409: Crowdfunding to Cause a Stir

The friendly competition was also divided into two PK stages.

The first two rounds would narrow the field from 120 to 60, and then from 60 to 30. Once the top thirty streamers were selected, the group ranking stage would begin.

They would continue to use live PK battles, but a loss no longer meant immediate elimination. Instead, the 30 streamers would be ranked collectively based on their vote counts, and the bottom three would be eliminated in each round.

All the matches would conclude around December 11th to determine the first-place winner, and on December 15th, the Federal Company would hold its annual gala.

In the past, the top streamers from lower-tier categories were always the ones eliminated in the first two rounds. It couldn’t be helped—their fan bases were simply too small to secure a victory.

But this time...

A streamer from beyond the top 70 had actually knocked out the number one streamer from the Appearance category, someone with a fan base of 3.7 billion?

Ummm!

This was a massive upset, plain and simple.

The upset was one key reason the post went viral. The other was that the PK battle itself was utterly bizarre. Just... really weird.

The strange content of the PK battle and its incredible outcome pushed the topic to a fever pitch.

Of course, Jiang Qiuqiu wasn’t paying any attention to this.

She was still busy baking a cake. Mrs. Ai’er had scheduled her to act as a ’mobile fish bait’ at another location tomorrow morning. With no time in the morning and another PK battle in the afternoon, she had to get the cake done now.

During a break from baking, Meimei sent her a message.

"Qiuqiu? You there?"

"Yeah, I’m here. What’s up?"

"Today’s stream was such a rollercoaster." Even though everyone had faith in Jiang Qiuqiu, the gap was just too huge. No one was confident she could win; we were all braced for a loss. I never expected—

"Now that you’ve won this PK battle, you’ll have so many more opportunities."

’Yes, opportunities.’

’Now that I’ve scraped my way into the top thirty, most of my opponents will have sizable fanbases. Interactive PK battles might be a distraction for others, but for me, it’s actually great news.’

’Take today, for instance—’

’I’m a living fan magnet.’

"Yeah, as long as I don’t get matched against an even stronger opponent—"

"Don’t say that!" Meimei immediately cut her off. "Don’t jinx it! We can definitely get a much higher rank."

"Don’t worry, Sister Meimei. No matter who I’m matched with, I’m ready for a fight."

"Well, I’d still prefer you to fight them later... The higher your rank, the better." After saying that, Meimei remembered something else. "Oh, right! Do you remember that streamer you had the PK battle with today?"

"An editor from their branch of the company just messaged me. They’re asking for your ID."

"What do they want my ID for?"

"That streamer, Chen Yu, seems to want to add you as a friend."

’Chen Yu, huh?’ Jiang Qiuqiu thought for a moment and decided not to refuse.

She gave her ID, but a friend request didn’t come through right away. Jiang Qiuqiu put it out of her mind, placed the finished cake in a temperature-controlled container, and fell into an exhausted sleep.

She slept so soundly that when her terminal vibrated twice in the early hours of the morning, she didn’t even stir.

Meanwhile, things were heating up in Jiang Jiujiu’s fan group.

The "master analysts" were coming out in full force.

—I don’t think the situation looks too good!

—We won, but it felt like we barely scraped by.

—Our Juju is talented, for sure. But if the people from the other stream don’t come over and try her food, that talent is useless.

—If that handsome Chen Yu next door hadn’t uncharacteristically given Juju a shout-out on his own stream, there’s no way she would’ve made it through this round.

Even with that shout-out, the vote difference was only a little over three hundred million.

—But the bullet comments clearly showed they acknowledged Juju’s cooking.

—I talked with some of his fans in the "Chenyu Beauty" fan groups. A lot of them admit Juju’s food is amazing and addictive, but they’ve been following Chen Yu for longer...

—We have to face it: this PK battle isn’t completely fair. The size of a fan base has a huge impact on the outcome. For Juju to get better results, we need to get our plan rolling ASAP.

—So here’s the plan, blah blah blah...

That night, a payment QR code appeared in the group.

Funds from all over quickly began to pour in.

Wanxing: This is a fundraiser. Only contribute if you’re able. Students, please don’t spend your Star Coins; just showing your support for Juju during her streams is enough.

She had a plan, but it required some money.

The moment she sent the message, several people in the fan group replied with strings of question marks.

—[Image] Hey, what gives? Can’t a student donate a little of their allowance? Heh.

The attached image was a screenshot of his terminal balance: a shocking 8-figure sum.

Wanxing: ...

Wanxing: To any fans who are tight on funds, please don’t feel obligated to spend anything.

Wanxing: For those who have donated, please register your name with me.

—Will we get rewarded with Juju’s cooking later?

—Really, really!? The more you donate, the bigger the reward!?

Wanxing: ...

Wanxing: In your dreams. The reward will be my cooking.

—Pfft~~ (ˉ▽￣～)

—I’m not donating anymore! Damn, we don’t want your cooking!

Despite all the grumbling, the funds still arrived in an instant.