Chapter 41: The Cannon Master Reigns Supreme

In less than five minutes, Zhang Qiyang had sent out seventy aircraft carrier fleets! Adding in the eleven fleets sent by others he’d stirred into action, and the barrage of gifts from excited viewers in the live stream—rockets (500 yuan), airplanes (100 yuan), sports cars (50 yuan), bicycles (10 yuan), 666’s (6.66 yuan), horseshoes (1 yuan), and more—the total value of gifts in the special broadcast room soared directly to half a million!

With a high roller setting the pace, the atmosphere was electric! The audience was in a frenzy; the stream was awash with gift-giving animations, leaving ordinary messages completely drowned out.

Dong Huan and Li Dia were stunned by this earth-shattering display; they couldn’t even take screenshots fast enough. The explosive thrill was even more exhilarating than receiving the gifts themselves!

Since aircraft carriers were publicized across the entire platform, Zhang Qiyang’s fleet launch drew viewers from every Zebra live broadcast room. In a flash, the real-time audience in the special room broke one million!

The Zebra tech team had not anticipated such a surge; the live stream line was on the verge of collapsing!

Not only did all of Zebra’s viewers swarm in to witness the magnificence of Cannon Lord, but even users from rival platform Hyena, upon hearing that Cannon Lord was taking on Zebra’s top ten tycoons, flocked over to join the spectacle.

Zebra’s web traffic skyrocketed. Though they usually lagged far behind Hyena, under Zhang Qiyang’s onslaught, they were rapidly catching up.

The Zebra team was ecstatic. And to think, Cannon Lord hadn’t even shown his face yet! Of Zebra’s top ten tycoons, only three had appeared so far.

If things kept up, not only would Zebra create a sensation and a trending topic, but profits would pour in by the bucketload!

Meanwhile, stuck in rush hour on the Third Ring Road in her nanny van, Qin Xueyang was about to lose her mind.

Abandoning her sunflower seeds, she anxiously counted the profits on her pudgy fingers.

Before witnessing this live stream spectacle, she never would have believed there were such brainless haters in the world—actually challenging Zhang Qiyang with aircraft carrier fleets!

Nor had she expected any tycoon to casually send an aircraft carrier formation just to mess with Zhang Qiyang!

Clearly, she’d been away from the high-roller scene for too long; the world of the wealthy was beyond her comprehension.

She might not understand the ways of the rich, but she knew profit and loss. Those small gifts were nothing compared to the aircraft carriers. Ignoring the minor stuff for now and counting only the carrier fleets, Zhang Qiyang’s wild spree at this point had actually cost him over twenty thousand yuan!

It seemed no other tycoons dared challenge Zhang Qiyang. Afraid he’d get carried away and lose more, Qin Xueyang hurriedly urged the driver, Old Zheng, “Uncle Zheng, please speed up. If we’re any slower, young master will squander the whole family fortune.”

After prodding Old Zheng, she glanced at her phone—and nearly popped her eyes out in shock!

A new aircraft carrier fleet had appeared!

[Still—Burning Flowers Bury Love]
[It’s—Burning Flowers Bury Love]
[Cannon—Burning Flowers Bury Love]
[Lord—Burning Flowers Bury Love]
[You—Burning Flowers Bury Love]
[Can—Burning Flowers Bury Love]
[Play—Burning Flowers Bury Love]

The number one tycoon on Zebra, Brother Bury Love, had arrived!

The live stream exploded once more!

Immediately after, the second-ranked tycoon on Zebra, Uncle Fang, appeared as well!

[Bury—Uncle Fang]
[Love—Uncle Fang]
[You—Uncle Fang]
[This—Uncle Fang]
[Fool—Uncle Fang]
[How—Uncle Fang]
[Can—Uncle Fang]
[You—Uncle Fang]
[Join—Uncle Fang]
[The—Uncle Fang]
[Commotion—Uncle Fang]
[Blindly—Uncle Fang]
[Stirring—Uncle Fang]
[Things—Uncle Fang]
[Up—Uncle Fang]

Bury Love immediately clapped back—

[You—Uncle Fang]
[Are—Uncle Fang]
[The—Uncle Fang]
[Fool—Uncle Fang]
[—Uncle Fang]
[Big—Uncle Fang]
[Gold—Uncle Fang]
[Tooth—Uncle Fang]
[!—Uncle Fang]

No sooner had Bury Love finished than Zebra’s third-ranked tycoon, the only woman among the top ten, Pig Third, jumped in to stir the pot—

[You—Pig Third]
[All—Pig Third]
[Still—Pig Third]
[Can—Pig Third]
[Or—Pig Third]
[Can’t—Pig Third]
[Just—Pig Third]
[Speak—Pig Third]
[Properly—Pig Third]
[Now—Pig Third]
[?—Pig Third]

A small tycoon who admired Pig Third joined in the ruckus, replying—

[No—Crazy for Pig Third]
[Can’t—Crazy for Pig Third]

Pig Third retorted bluntly:

[Idiot—Pig Third]
[,—Pig Third]
[Don’t—Pig Third]
[Blindly—Pig Third]
[Join—Pig Third]
[The—Pig Third]
[Commotion—Pig Third]
[You—Pig Third]
[Can’t—Pig Third]
[Play—Pig Third]
[The—Pig Third]
[Rich—Pig Third]
[People’s—Pig Third]
[Game—Pig Third]

The small tycoon, unable to keep up with such extravagant play, angrily sent a pitiful aircraft carrier to mock Zhang Qiyang: [Damn, Cannon Lord’s scheme is the deepest—you’ve all been led into being fools. —Crazy for Pig Third]

Having his scheme exposed, Zhang Qiyang laughed and sent out a set of straightforward new aircraft carriers:

[Thank you all for your support. I started this game, and now I’m wrapping it up, sending one word at a time—these two hosts are probably seeing double by now. —Cannon Lord Himself]

[Haha, Cannon Lord admits defeat! —Pig Third]
[Admit—Cannon Lord Himself]
[Defeat—Cannon Lord Himself]
[?—Cannon Lord Himself]
[You—Cannon Lord Himself]
[Sure—Cannon Lord Himself]
[You—Cannon Lord Himself]
[Want—Cannon Lord Himself]
[To—Cannon Lord Himself]
[Play—Cannon Lord Himself]
[To—Cannon Lord Himself]
[The—Cannon Lord Himself]
[End—Cannon Lord Himself]
[?—Cannon Lord Himself]
[Don’t—Cannon Lord Himself]
[Want—Cannon Lord Himself]
[To—Cannon Lord Himself]
[Leave—Cannon Lord Himself]
[Any—Cannon Lord Himself]
[Money—Cannon Lord Himself]
[For—Cannon Lord Himself]
[Your—Cannon Lord Himself]
[Coffin—Cannon Lord Himself]
[Fund—Cannon Lord Himself]
[?—Cannon Lord Himself]

Cannon Lord’s single-character carrier fleet was simply more imposing than the rest—even the final syllable had its own fleet; such extravagance, who could match?

The audience was whipped into a frenzy by Zhang Qiyang, bombarding the chat with messages urging him to crush Pig Third!

If it had been anyone else, Pig Third would have fired back without hesitation; but this was Cannon Lord—she dared not cross him!

It was clear Zhang Qiyang was giving her a way out.

She immediately took the hint—

[I—Pig Third]
[Admit defeat—Pig Third]
[Cannon Lord, you’re the greatest—Pig Third]
[Haha—Pig Third]

[That’s more like it—Cannon Lord Himself]
[Hahaha, first time seeing Pig Third admit defeat! —Burning Flowers Bury Love]
[You’re amazing! You try taking on Cannon Lord, see how easy it is to talk big from the sidelines! —Pig Third]
[I wouldn’t dare either, haha, Cannon Lord’s the best—I admit it. —Burning Flowers Bury Love]

As the number one tycoon on Zebra’s leaderboard, Brother Bury Love’s words convinced everyone.

These people were chatting with aircraft carrier fleets, sending out single-character fleets at the slightest disagreement, leaving the ordinary viewers both awestruck and exhilarated.

The world of the rich was truly beyond the comprehension of common folk.

The black-clad haters from the Xuan’ai Family who had pooled funds to slander Zhang Qiyang in the chat were now too intimidated to make a sound.

Having once been wealthy herself, Qin Xueyang was absolutely dumbfounded, struggling to count on her chubby fingers just how much the wave of gifts Zhang Qiyang had instigated was worth.

A rough calculation showed that, even after accounting for Zhang Qiyang’s losses, they’d still netted at least two hundred thousand yuan!

Just as Zhang Qiyang had said, tonight’s earnings from gifts alone might well surpass his appearance fee!

“Uncle Zheng, slow down! As long as we reach Zebra headquarters by eight thirty!”

“Get lost! You money-grubbing glutton… Uncle Zheng, just drive normally. Try to get us there early.”

Old Zheng, following Zhang Qiyang’s instructions, pulled into Zebra headquarters right at eight o’clock.

Staff were already waiting in the underground parking lot for Zhang Qiyang.

Cannon Lord truly lived up to his reputation—even before appearing on camera, he’d already set the entire Zebra platform ablaze. The staff, buzzing with excitement, ushered him into the live broadcast room with special enthusiasm.

As the main guest entered, Dong Huan, responding to the tycoons’ request, was improvising a playful folk song teasing Zhang Qiyang, singing merrily:

“…My name is Zhang Cannon, I was born to stand out, a golden spoon in my mouth, clad in silks, I want to flirt with everyone I meet…”

“…My name is Zhang Cannon, my temper’s a bit wild, with pure water I wash the streets, yellow earth paves my path, everyone runs when they see me…”

Zhang Qiyang burst out laughing at Dong Huan’s performance.

This was a challenge right out of the gate! It was clear the battle of songs was about to begin!