Chapter Thirty-Three: Wordless, I Ascend the Western Tower Alone

After Yuan Xiong had thoroughly explained the flow of live streaming and outlined the precautions Wang Mo needed to keep in mind, he raised two requests:

“First, the company needs to make you a mask. You can suggest the design yourself—whatever style you want. Second, you need to give the company a name, which will be used to register your streaming account. That will also be the name you use during your streams.”

Both points were quite important.

Wang Mo pondered for a moment, then picked up a pen and some paper and sketched out a design. “Let’s use this.”

Yuan Xiong leaned over to take a look and exclaimed, “This? That’s an odd design—and honestly, it looks a bit creepy.”

Wang Mo had drawn the Faceless Man—a main character from “Spirited Away.” From the first time he watched the film, Wang Mo had been captivated by this pure-hearted, gentle spirit, so he decided to use it as his mask. Of course, he had another reason: he was afraid to show his true face—after all, isn’t a faceless man the perfect fit? So the Faceless Man it was.

Wang Mo nodded. “That’s right. Let’s use this. It’s called the Faceless Man.”

The system chimed in as if on cue: [Faceless Man design registered. Host may proceed with confidence.]

Yuan Xiong was even more surprised. “It even has a name?”

Wang Mo nodded. “Yes.”

Yuan Xiong scrutinized the drawing for a while before saying, “This character is interesting. At first glance, it’s a little scary, but the longer you look, the cuter and more intriguing it becomes. All right! We’ll go with this!”

With the mask settled, only the streaming name remained.

Without hesitation, Wang Mo said, “Let’s use ‘West Tower’—‘West’ as in the direction, and ‘Tower’ as in an upper floor.”

Yuan Xiong asked, “Is there a story behind that?”

Wang Mo replied, “Alone I ascend the western tower, in silence.”

He did not recite the rest; if he had, Yuan Xiong might’ve been startled out of his wits.

Yuan Xiong repeated the name, his eyes showing curiosity. “Impressive. You really do have some literary background. The phrase has a poetic ring to it. But… why are you climbing your own tower alone?”

Climbing is one thing, but to emphasize doing it alone…?

Wang Mo’s mouth twitched.

The two sat in silence for a while.

Then Yuan Xiong asked, “By the way, I haven’t dared ask about your family all this time. After your incident, how are your parents?”

Wang Mo smiled. “Everyone’s fine at home. Thanks for your concern, Brother Xiong.”

Yuan Xiong nodded. “That’s good. If anything ever involves your family, just let me know. Neither I nor the company would ever stand by and do nothing.”

Many celebrities, after a scandal, have pushy reporters digging up their families and splashing their private lives all over the media. Such things not only cause great emotional distress to the star themselves, but also bring enormous negative impact to their relatives.

So with Wang Mo being a top influencer whose reputation had collapsed, it was possible that some reckless reporters would seek out his parents or relatives, just to chase clicks and headlines.

But after Wang Mo first shot to stardom, he had already sent two million back home from his modest earnings—a million for his parents, and another million to establish a security fund in his village, ensuring the safety of the locals.

Wang Mo’s hometown was in Xiang Province, a village of over a thousand people with a long tradition of unity and revolutionary legacy. Though the villagers might squabble over trivial matters, whenever outsiders posed a threat, they would immediately band together as one.

It was fine if villagers quarreled among themselves, but if outsiders dared to bully their own, that was unacceptable.

And that was just the villagers acting on their own. With the lure of Wang Mo’s security fund, they were more eager than ever—almost hoping someone would cause trouble.

If any reporter dared to hassle his parents, it would be just what the villagers were waiting for.

…

After that, Wang Mo, in preparation for his live streams, borrowed a mountain of books from the library—works like “Geography of China,” “Exploring the Universe,” “A History of Chinese Culture,” “Five Thousand Years Up and Down,” “Common Knowledge of China’s History,” and all sorts of other knowledge-based books.

The system had bestowed upon him the “Blue Star Encyclopedia,” a compendium of all knowledge, so he had to at least make an effort. Otherwise, who would believe it if he suddenly became a knowledge expert?

By putting on a show of diligent study, he’d have a plausible explanation for his sudden erudition.

Yuan Xiong visited Wang Mo nearly every day. Seeing him always engrossed in books, he finally couldn’t resist asking, “Do you really love reading that much?”

Wang Mo replied matter-of-factly, “Of course. I’ve loved learning since I was a child.”

“Really?” Yuan Xiong doubted.

“It’s true. Studying made my mother happy, and when she was happy, the whole family was happy,” Wang Mo answered.

Of course, he meant his previous life. Since his transmigration, he’d relied completely on his looks.

Study?

He didn’t need it! Why work hard when he could get by effortlessly?

“…”

Yuan Xiong regarded him for a long moment before saying, “Now I finally understand how you managed to get through after your fall from grace.”

“Is it because I’m upright, resolute, robust, spirited, tenacious, unyielding, steadfast, determined, tough, willful, decisive, persistent, and resilient?” Wang Mo rattled off.

“No, it’s because you have a thick skin,” Yuan Xiong replied.

Heh.

Heh heh.

They fell into another brief silence.

Suddenly Wang Mo said, “Actually, I’m not just reading to enrich myself. It’s mainly for the stream—I plan to become an educational streamer.”

Yuan Xiong burst out laughing. “An educational streamer?”

“Absolutely,” Wang Mo nodded. “Where I fell, I’ll rise again. I’ll conquer the audience with knowledge.”

Yuan Xiong was clearly skeptical. “Can you pull it off? That’s quite a leap.”

“That’s the whole point—contrast. Only with contrast can you grab viewers’ attention and explode in popularity. Think about it: a girl with glasses and one without—it’s night and day. That kind of contrast is irresistible,” Wang Mo explained.

“So you know quite a bit, huh?” Yuan Xiong teased.

“Not really. I just read what people say in the comments,” Wang Mo replied.

Yuan Xiong thought deeply, then nodded in approval. “This idea of a contrast streamer isn’t bad. If you suddenly show a ton of talent—so unlike the old ‘Wang Mo’—and with your recognizable voice on top of that, it’s sure to create a traffic surge. I’ll have the company run some campaigns to direct traffic your way—this could really take off.”

The more he considered it, the more excited he became. “A scholar persona! That’s perfect. I’ll have the planning department come up with some strategies to turn you into an online literary star.”

Seeing Wang Mo frown, Yuan Xiong thought he was worried and patted his shoulder. “Don’t worry, you won’t have to be a real scholar. We’ll prepare all the streaming content for you—you just follow the script. We wouldn’t trust you to improvise as a genuine scholar. Building a persona is our specialty.”

“Ahem…” Wang Mo wanted to say he wasn’t worried at all. By now, he was already a walking encyclopedia. He had no need to build a persona.

But seeing Yuan Xiong’s skeptical expression, Wang Mo could only spread his hands in resignation: fine, he’d follow the company’s plan for now.