You Really Deserve to Die

Yang Ruoqian stood in front of the office window, blowing air against the vent of the air conditioner, feeling desolate.

At this moment, he had only one question in his heart.

Why?

Why was it popular?

This wasn't a matter of whether it was scientific or not, but rather about the mysteries of superstition.

The content of the entire live broadcast was under Yang Ruoqian's control, from the smallest gestures to the large filming scenes. All were deliberately made to disgust the audience. But why were there still so many viewers willing to willingly endure it?

After being cooled by the air conditioner for a while, Yang Ruoqian finally calmed down a bit. He took out his phone, opened the Baidu search, and looked up "Why can the host become popular?", trying to find answers online.

But at a glance, all he found were ads for 9.9 online courses on Douyin.

"I used to believe in science, now I believe in 9.9 courses." Taking a deep breath, Yang Ruoqian painfully parted with nearly ten yuan from his already meagre balance to buy a live streaming course, supposedly the same one used by Huang Rushi.

After reading, Yang Ruoqian expressionlessly deleted the course material from his phone.

He felt like he had just fed a dog.

Why do these course sellers peddle such trash online?

"Yang Ruoqian, time to go home and celebrate!"

Chang Zhiqing gazed at the handsome man in front of her, lost in thought, with overflowing admiration and respect.

This was what it meant to be neither arrogant in victory nor discouraged in defeat. Yesterday, he calmly faced the disappointing live broadcast data, and today, when their broadcaster became a hit, he remained composed.

Hearing Chang Zhiqing's words, Yang Ruoqian nearly choked.

Celebrate?

Celebrate the fact that after all his hard work, staying up late in the summer feeding mosquitoes, he just got a bonus of 5,000 yuan? And with the rate at which Huang Rushi's fan count was increasing, he feared he wouldn't even be able to keep that!

"Why didn't Huang Rushi tell me about these great results?" Yang Ruoqian managed a smile, continuing the conversation with Chang Zhiqing.

Chang Zhiqing gestured to Gao Naiyun waiting at the door, then turned to Yang Ruoqian, saying, "You scheduled him for the night shift, he's probably still asleep. You're out of it, aren't you?"

Right, I'm frustrated.

Yang Ruoqian found it hard to explain anything to Chang Zhiqing.

There were strict rules in the broadcasting system, including one that prohibited revealing its existence. It also prohibited any malicious actions that would cause a broadcaster or artist to lose fans, including making inappropriate remarks or committing crimes.

So, Yang Ruoqian could only blame his own inadequacies.

"Let's go home."

The three of them who lived together headed downstairs. Yang Ruoqian took the driver's seat, Chang Zhiqing sat shotgun, and Gao Naiyun was in the back.

"Gao Naiyun seems a bit quiet these days," Yang Ruoqian commented casually as he started the car, "If you have any work-related problems, feel free to tell me. Don't keep it to yourself."

Startled, Gao Naiyun quickly shook his head, "No, boss... It's not work-related!"

Yang Ruoqian remembered Gao Naiyun mentioning his hospitalized mother before. Glancing in the rear view mirror, he offered, "If you need financial help for medical expenses, let me know. You can get an advance on your salary."

The company had plenty of money; it was better spent than left unused.

Chang Zhiqing turned her head in surprise, "Your mother's ill? Why didn't you tell me? Only told the boss, huh?"

Feeling embarrassed, Gao Naiyun replied, "I didn't want to worry you, Chang... I have enough money... I'm fine, boss. You don't need to worry."

Seeing Gao Naiyun's reaction, Yang Ruoqian didn't press further.

Just as they were leaving the parking garage, Yang Ruoqian's phone, stored in the car's compartment, lit up with a new WeChat message notification.

Chang Zhiqing uncrossed her legs and picked up Yang Ruoqian's phone, "There's a new message, should I check it for you?"

"Go ahead," replied Yang Ruoqian, wondering why she suddenly seemed so interested in his phone. He was focused on parking and didn't give it much thought.

"Give me your hand for a sec," Chang Zhiqing said, grabbing Yang Ruoqian's left hand and using his fingerprint to unlock the phone.

Observing the interaction between the two that showed no signs of unfamiliarity, the head of Gao Naiyun in the back seat sank a bit lower.

Chang Zhiqing opened WeChat and let out a long "Oh", "It's from your college classmates' group. Shao I-qi says he's inviting everyone for a dinner gathering."

Although Yang Ruoqian and Chang Zhiqing attended the same school, they were in different departments and hence not in the same group chat.

Yang Ruoqian recalled that in his past life, such an event had indeed occurred. But back then, he was so busy that he missed this classmates' gathering.

Yang Ruoqian, after parking the car, took out his phone. He walked towards the elevator while looking at the increasingly active classmates' group chat.

Shao I-qi: "Feels like it's been a long time since we all got together, huh? How about a dinner next week? My treat."

Gu Jiwen: "Our rich second-generation always talks big."

Shao I-qi: "Everyone, click on the link to get a group discount coupon. [Link]"

For a minute after this message, no one responded.

After a while, a new message popped up.

Gu Jiwen: "Got the coupon. It's a significant discount, everyone hurries up and claim yours!"

Yu Lanyun: "This coupon looks good, thanks, Boss Shao."

Wu Zizheng: "You don't say, really, you don't say."

What the heck are they talking about? At this point, as Yang Ruoqian exited the elevator and entered his home, he was utterly confused, not understanding why his classmates were making a fuss about a coupon.

Out of curiosity, he clicked on the discount link.

The mobile page redirected, but instead of leading to a review site, it opened a Bilibili video that was over a minute long and had millions of views!

Before Yang Ruoqian could react, a flurry of comments, known as "danmu", floated across the screen. The comments were mainly the same few phrases.

"Congratulations, you've been fooled!"

"Welcome back."

"Total loss in quality."

"Congrats, you got fooled again!"

Following this, Yang Ruoqian heard the lively prelude of the song "Shi Takarajima."

In the centre of the video was a tanned man with a shiny complexion, determined eyes, and a protruding belly, dancing energetically. Although the video was blurry, it was visually impactful.

No matter how blurry the video was, Yang Ruoqian recognized the man!

Because he was the one who filmed this video!

The dancing man was Huang Rushi!

After watching the entire video and the barrage of comments, Yang Ruoqian understood the reason behind Huang Rushi's sudden rise to fame.

Damn it! Someone must have been so disgusted by Huang Rushi's dancing that they couldn't sleep at night. Hence, they devised a scheme to disguise this video link as various other types of links and spread them all over the internet.

Those who got "scammed" didn't want to be the only ones fooled, so they began sharing the link with others, leading to a chain reaction and viral spread of the video online.

The person who made this video deserves to die!

You truly deserve to die!

Because of your momentary thrill, I lost nearly a hundred million!