Su Yan shook her head, tossing aside the distracting thoughts in her mind.
Zhao Qian must have paid Cui Hao to do her bidding.
If Su Yan wanted Zhao Qian to suffer losses right now, there were two options.
One was to simply not add Cui Hao on WeChat.
Cui Hao certainly wouldn’t return the money to Zhao Qian in that case.
That way, Su Yan wouldn’t have achieved anything but would have lost her hiring fee—definitely a loss.
The other was to add Cui Hao on WeChat and keep dangling the prospect over him.
The longer she held on, the higher the chance Zhao Qian would spend more money.
From a rational standpoint, Su Yan preferred the second method.
After all, if she could make Zhao Qian lose even a little, that was a win.
She could end it whenever Zhao Qian refused to play along.
Since there was no risk involved, why not?
But emotionally, Su Yan felt it wasn’t worth wasting too much energy on Zhao Qian.
After all, that person’s actions were nothing more than petty antics to her.
With the time spent on this, wouldn’t writing some chapters be a better use?
Speaking of which, Su Yan’s recent horror novel had become hugely popular.
The readers all said it felt as if they were right there, experiencing it themselves.
Seeing the comments, Su Yan twitched the corner of her mouth—how could it not feel immersive?
It was adapted from her own experiences, after all!
A week passed in the blink of an eye.
Half excited and half nervous, Su Yan opened the app.
“Master! Long time no see, did you miss me?”
Xiaoya waved enthusiastically at Su Yan.
Su Yan’s eyes softened, and she teased her, “Huh? You’re…?”
Xiaoya’s expression immediately fell.
“No way! It’s only been a week! The time hasn’t even changed, and you’re pretending not to recognize me?”
Su Yan smiled and reassured her, “Alright, alright, I missed you tons. Enough teasing—first tell me what’s new in the app. After the show finishes, I’ll check the growth all at once.”
Xiaoya nodded and swiped to a new screen.
A list of ten names was displayed vertically—looking like a leaderboard.
Xiaoya said excitedly, “Ta-da! This is the new feature: the Popularity Ranking List! It ranks guests by their number of followers, from most to least. There are a total of one hundred visible spots.”
Curious, Su Yan looked at the guest in first place—“Chu He Han Jie.”
Wasn’t this the guest she had met in the Hide-and-Seek instance?
Su Yan asked in surprise, “‘Chu He Han Jie’? Is that the person I met before?”
Xiaoya nodded, “I didn’t expect you’d run into him so quickly, master. That’s quite lucky. This guest has been dominating the leaderboard from the start with absolute strength, leading by a wide margin.”
“Absolute strength?”
Su Yan repeated the words, recalling the opponent’s astonishing performance.
Indeed, the title seemed well-deserved.
She couldn’t help but ask, “Is he the type who clears challenges through intelligence?”
If so, then they were somewhat similar.
To stand out, she might need to lean more into the comedian route.
Xiaoya shook her head, “Yes and no, since we don’t really know his abilities.”
She explained further, “All the guests on the Ranking List are well-known faces, so the rewards they got from the Newbie Gift Pack have long since been fully utilized. But ‘Chu He Han Jie’s’ abilities have yet to show.”
Su Yan asked curiously, “Could it be that he didn’t get the Newbie Gift Pack?”
Xiaoya shook her head, “That’s something Chu Shen admitted personally during an interview. He did receive the Newbie Gift Pack and used its powers in many instances.”
Su Yan nodded thoughtfully, “Since you don’t know his true abilities, you can’t tell whether he’s simply incredibly intelligent or if he’s using some special ability to appear so smart.”
Xiaoya gave a thumbs-up, “Exactly! Still, he always clears instances with thunderous speed and has quickly attracted a massive fan base, becoming an unstoppable force.”
Su Yan envied the staggering number of 1.4 billion followers he had—an unimaginable figure.
The second place, with just under 1.1 billion followers, seemed like a distant runner-up.
She sighed and continued scrolling.
When she reached a certain position, she stopped at a familiar name: “‘Ru Shang Ren’ is twentieth?”
Xiaoya nodded, “Yes! He’s a veteran master! At his peak, his follower count would’ve made the top ten even now. But since he’s gotten older, he only occasionally joins variety shows, so his fans have dropped quite a bit.”
“What’s his ability?”
Su Yan asked with interest.
Xiaoya thought for a moment and then answered confidently, “The Liegugong Bow. That’s Ru Shen’s weapon. His bow has devastating power—in the game, he can even shoot down the host.”
Su Yan’s eyes widened.
“Even the host can be killed?”
Now she understood why he was so calm in the Wooden Man game.
He could kill the examiner and complete the task easily. No wonder he was so composed.
“Isn’t that a bit like cheating? Killing the host means he can do anything in the show, right?” she couldn’t help but ask.
Xiaoya shook her head, “The arrows aren’t actually that fast and can be dodged, but Ru Shen’s aim is definitely precise. Still, not every game can be solved with brute force, and not every game has a host involved.”
That was true.
Like in her Hide-and-Seek instance, that weapon was useless.
She couldn’t possibly shoot every piece of furniture hoping to find the change.
Still, the envy was real.
Su Yan sighed deeply, “When will I ever reach that level?”
Pulling herself together, she pragmatically asked, “I’m already in the top 50%. How many followers do I need to reach the top 20%?”
Xiaoya blinked and tried to sound casual, “Five million.”
“Five million!”
Su Yan’s eyes widened.
“That’s way too many! I just barely passed a hundred thousand!”
Xiaoya coughed softly to comfort her, “Master, don’t lose heart. You’ve only been through two instances so far. Your current results are already impressive. Besides, as you participate in more shows, your consistency will improve, and fans will find it easier to follow you.”
Su Yan sighed, knowing Xiaoya was right.
Just two instances, and she was already in the top half of guest follower counts.
That alone was no small feat.
But after looking at the leaderboard, how could she not yearn for a spot in the front ranks?
As a close companion, Xiaoya naturally saw Su Yan’s disappointment.
She analyzed rationally, “Master, you see, this game usually peaks before the age of thirty. Guys might push it a bit further, but that’s about it.”
Su Yan nodded—after thirty, physical abilities decline rapidly.
Facing high-intensity games becomes difficult, and quitting at the right time is common.
Xiaoya continued, “If you can maintain your current level before thirty, even if you never break into the top 50%, you can still make several million.”
Indeed, clearing six instances a year, starting now at age twenty, would mean sixty instances in ten years.
Even without a perfect record, winning more than half would easily net her around five million.
“From what I know about humans, that amount won’t catapult you into the upper echelon, but it’s definitely enough for you to live comfortably without working in the future.”
Listening to Xiaoya’s patient explanation, Su Yan’s furrowed brows gradually relaxed.
As Xiaoya said, as long as she kept her current form, she could support herself for life.
So why chase after the very top?
She suddenly realized her original goal had been just to enter the top 50%.
So why was she more anxious now that she’d achieved it?
Thinking this through, she finally smiled.
“You’re right. There’s no rush. I’m already doing well—why make things harder for myself?”
Seeing this, Xiaoya breathed a sigh of relief.
“I was afraid you’d get stuck in a rut. It’s great you came to your senses.”
They chatted a little longer, and soon the show finished airing.
Su Yan eagerly opened the fan page and was stunned by the huge number in front of her—“1,503,438.”
A whopping 1.5 million followers!
Xiaoya was stunned too.
“What’s going on? How did it suddenly jump to 1.5 million? I specifically checked after the last show, and it was just under 100,000. How could it have grown so fast?”
Su Yan was puzzled as well.
Even with a great performance this time, she shouldn’t have gained over a million followers at once.
That didn’t make sense.
If gaining fans was that easy, she wouldn’t have grown so little previously.
With that in mind, she opened the latest episode video and then glanced at the comment section below.
“Miss, you’re amazing! Smart and funny! I love you so much!”
“I came for the ghost stories and found out she almost always has one.”
“Can I request a special ghost story session with Miss? I really want to hear more!”
“Caught a nurturer-type, so happy.”
“Miss is so creative! Keep it up! Let’s all push ‘Yan Jing’ out of the program!”
Seeing the last comment, Su Yan’s eyes narrowed.
Judging by the tone, it didn’t seem bad.
But “push out of the program” sounded like kicking her off the show.
Such a blatantly harsh comment, yet all the replies were in agreement and praise.
Su Yan asked curiously, “Is there some other meaning behind this? Why do so many people support that?”
Xiaoya glanced over and explained, “Master, you’ve misunderstood. That comment means they hope you’ll appear on other shows, not just the ‘Childhood Variety’ program.”
She scratched her head.
“From your Earthling perspective, it means they want you to ‘break out’ and be seen by more people.”
Su Yan suddenly understood and nodded.
Before she could say anything more, Xiaoya clapped her hands excitedly.
“Oh! Master! I think I know why you suddenly gained so many followers!”
Su Yan hurriedly asked, “What is it? What’s the reason?”
Xiaoya waved her hand, tapping in the air as if operating some unseen device.
As she worked, she answered, “Master, wait a moment. I’m going to verify if this is indeed the cause.”
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