Chapter Thirty-Five: The Livestream Officially Begins

The next day.

At eight o’clock in the evening, Wang Mo officially began his livestream.

Facing him were more than a dozen staff members bustling about. Some reminded him of the next steps. Some pretended to be viewers to boost the popularity of the stream. Others were ready to connect with Wang Mo during the broadcast.

At the very start, the team invested ten thousand yuan in platform promotion. Otherwise, for a newcomer to stand out among millions of streamers on the Douyin platform would be as difficult as the sinking of a prosperous nation.

After meticulous preparation, Wang Mo, wearing a faceless mask, appeared in the livestream.

Streamer: West Tower.
Bio: Though I am ugly, I am talented.

Thanks to the platform promotion, soon some viewers stumbled upon his stream.

“Whoa, you scared me!”
“A ghost!!!”
“Damn, wearing a creepy mask at night—what a nutcase.”
“Hmm… Looking closely, the mask is actually kinda cute.”
“I declare: this ghost design is mine now. I’ve sent it to Yiwu to start mass production.”

As the number of viewers reached several dozen, Wang Mo cleared his throat and began, “Good evening, brothers and sisters in the livestream. I’m the streamer ‘West Tower.’ I hope you’ll all support me…”

Before he could finish, the comments exploded.

“Wang Mo?”
“Holy crap, isn’t that Wang Mo’s voice?”
“Definitely Wang Mo—I’d recognize that voice even if it turned to ashes!”
“West Tower? More like West Eight!”
“He still dares to livestream?”
“You think wearing a mask keeps me from recognizing you?”
“A fallen celebrity, and he dares to show his face?!”
“……”

Instantly, the viewers were in uproar. A room of only a few dozen people generated a barrage of comments fit for an audience of ten thousand.

Especially as the number of viewers began to soar.

Fifty.
One hundred.
Five hundred.
It was bound to break a thousand soon.

But all this was within Wang Mo and Yunhai Media’s expectations.

Wang Mo smiled slightly, gazing past the computer at the cardboard cue, and recited, “Please calm down, everyone. My voice merely resembles that of the fallen celebrity you mentioned. I am, in fact, a streamer with talent. I don’t show my true face because this voice has brought me much inconvenience in real life. If I were to remove my mask and someone dug up my actual identity, it would cause me endless trouble.”

He spoke reasonably, but the viewers weren’t convinced.

Someone shouted, “He claims he’s not Wang Mo, but a talented streamer. Why don’t we test him with a few knowledge questions to find out the truth?”

Clearly, this person was a Yunhai Media plant.

Sure enough, a bunch of unsuspecting viewers chimed in.

“Yeah, let’s test him.”
“Wang Mo is an illiterate.”
“Do you dare to connect with viewers live?”
“For fairness, connect with two viewers: one to ask questions, one to answer with you. If you beat the viewers, we’ll admit you’re not Wang Mo.”
“……”

Wang Mo agreed readily.

Soon, he opened the live connection feature and accepted requests from two viewers.

One was ID: Far Traveler—a young man with glasses, clearly educated.
The other was ID: Little Fish—a girl in her twenties.

Meanwhile, Yuan Xiong was asking the staff, “Everything going smoothly?”

The staff replied, “Everything is under control. The first viewer is our plant, and the second is a real audience member. The mix of genuine and fake makes it impossible to tell. Since our guy is asking the questions, West Tower has our answers, and even the real viewer was carefully chosen for her lack of knowledge. So there’s no way the audience will win this quiz.”

Yuan Xiong gave a thumbs-up. “Good work!”

He glanced at the viewer count; in less than five minutes, it had already surpassed five thousand. Besides the promotional effect, it was clear how terrifying Wang Mo’s traffic was. Just his voice drew crowds.

Back in the stream, Wang Mo said, “Alright, now I’ve randomly connected with two viewers. Let ‘Far Traveler’ ask a few knowledge questions, and both I and ‘Little Fish’ will answer, okay?”

“Sure.”
“Sounds good.”

With their approval, Far Traveler asked, “First question: What is the capital city of FJ Province?”

Little Fish responded instantly, “Sanya.”

???

Even saying Xiamen would be better.

Wang Mo rubbed his brow. “Fuzhou.”

First question: Wang Mo wins!

Far Traveler asked the second question: “Which river is Heilongjiang Province named after?”

Little Fish again answered quickly, “Yangtze River!”

Impressive.

Wang Mo said, “The Heilong River.”

Second question: Wang Mo wins.

Far Traveler posed the third question: “Where is the dividing line between north and south in our country?”

Little Fish was first again: “Everything outside Guangdong is the north.”

Wang Mo waited for her excitement to pass, then replied, “The Qinling-Huaihe Line.”

Third question: Wang Mo wins!

Of course, Wang Mo felt no sense of accomplishment. These three questions, in his view, insulted his intelligence. Not to mention he had received the “Blue Star Encyclopedia of Knowledge” from the system—even without it, he could have answered them blindfolded.

But glancing at the comments, he nearly coughed up blood.

“Eh? He got them all right?”
“The streamer is amazing!”
“He’s got some skills.”
“Looks like he really isn’t Wang Mo.”
“Wang Mo doesn’t even know who Yue Meng is; there’s no way he could answer these three questions.”
“……”

Actually, when Wang Mo received Yuan Xiong’s list of questions a few days ago, he laughed and asked if they weren’t too simple.

Yuan Xiong replied, “Don’t underestimate them. Just these three questions could eliminate half the streamers and entertainment celebrities. Trust me—if you can answer them easily, the viewers will believe you’re not Wang Mo.”

Wang Mo had thought Yuan Xiong was joking, but now he saw it was true.

Of course, only these three questions weren’t enough to establish Wang Mo as a talented streamer.

So next, Wang Mo connected with more viewers. The questions grew much harder.

For example:

Where is the world’s second highest peak?
What is the largest organ in the human body?
What is photosynthesis?
What are the Seven Wonders of the World?
Who was the longest-reigning emperor in Chinese history?
Who invented papermaking?

These questions were beyond most college students, unless they were in high school—the period known for peak knowledge retention.

After all, it’s widely acknowledged that high school is the apex of one’s knowledge reserves.