Chapter Fifty-Nine: Where Is the Promised Little Angel?

"I really didn't expect it—you, a newcomer, are about to sign a Platinum contract?" If the person in charge of the Ghost Zone hadn’t repeatedly insisted that Zhang Shuihan inform Luo Chen of the news, she wouldn’t have even known how highly Stardust Platform valued him. Was Stardust trying to cultivate their next pillar, a replacement for Huang Ying?

"I wasn’t expecting Stardust Platform to be so generous, either." Although Luo Chen never intended to stay with Stardust Platform forever, he did appreciate their goodwill.

Unfortunately, Luo Chen wasn’t able to accept this kindness.

"No, I’m planning to refuse."

"Refuse?" Zhang Shuihan asked in confusion. This was the best offer possible—what could he possibly be dissatisfied with?

"Yes. Haven’t you also never signed a streamer contract? With your popularity, you would surely be offered Platinum as well, right?"

"That’s different. First, I don’t need the money, and second, you know how the reputation of female streamers is these days."

In recent years, many streamers on Stardust Platform—especially female ones—had resorted to all kinds of tactics to boost their popularity, nearly ruining the industry’s reputation as a whole.

"In that case, I’m planning to set up a website. Are you interested in joining?" Hearing that Zhang Shuihan also had no intention of signing with Stardust, Luo Chen’s interest was piqued. As a future site administrator, if he could bring in someone with her popularity from the start, it would be a tremendous advantage.

"Start my own site? Heh, do you have the money to pay my salary? My rates are quite high, you know." Zhang Shuihan immediately understood Luo Chen’s reason for turning down the Platinum contract—he was planning to strike out on his own.

She smiled brightly through the phone, asking her question without the slightest hint of mockery. After all, it was normal for young people to have ambitions, especially one as talented and driven as he was.

"You name your price," Luo Chen said after a brief silence.

Luo Chen had already witnessed Zhang Shuihan’s influence and charisma in the fan café. If he could secure her for his new site, it would go a long way to stabilizing its popularity. Unless her terms were completely unreasonable, Luo Chen was ready to agree.

"Name my price?" Zhang Shuihan was taken aback by Luo Chen’s decisiveness; she’d only been joking, but he hadn’t hesitated at all.

"At least let me see your website first. I’m just like you—I turned down Stardust’s Platinum contract, remember?" After a brief pause, her voice came through the phone again.

"The website isn’t ready yet," Luo Chen admitted after a moment. He realized that he hadn’t even finished building it, yet he was already trying to poach talent from Stardust.

"Not ready? Luo Chen, are you trying to trick me? You don’t even have a site and you want to sign me?" Zhang Shuihan’s tone grew odd at this bizarre answer—was this “Demon King” secretly a human trafficker?

"You’re overthinking it," Luo Chen tried to explain, but couldn’t come up with a suitable excuse, so he gave up with a helpless sigh.

"Hmph, whatever. You owe me another favor now."

"Fine, fine." He’d lost count of how many favors he owed her by now. If he couldn’t pay them back, he’d just let the debts pile up and settle them someday.

"By the way, Luo Chen, even if you’re not planning to sign, you should still meet Stardust’s management. I promised them you’d show up, so don’t make me break my word." Seeing Luo Chen’s cooperative attitude, Zhang Shuihan didn’t press the issue any further and turned to business.

"Meet with them?" Luo Chen frowned, feeling uneasy. Stardust Platform had gone out of their way to look after him; while it was true he’d brought them considerable profit, he also felt a certain gratitude for their trust and appreciation.

He really didn’t want to reject them face-to-face.

"Yes, and it’s not just about you. The platform also wants to sign Luo Shui Tianyi. You should give it some thought." Stardust’s staff had been unable to get in touch with the siblings, so they’d approached Zhang Shuihan, who had recommended their videos. In a way, she’d been dragged into this mess against her will.

"Then I’d better meet with them." If he refused to meet, it might be misconstrued as disdain for the platform and result in trouble for him.

"Alright, I’ve arranged everything. It’ll be at the NS Restaurant, table 27."

"NS Restaurant?" Luo Chen forced a wry smile. Surely there wouldn’t be any more trouble waiting for him there? Knowing Zhang Shuihan’s personality, she’d probably find a way to give him a hard time.

Maybe I just shouldn’t go.

Just as he was thinking of declining, Zhang Shuihan decisively hung up, not even giving him a chance to object.

Smiling bitterly, Luo Chen put his phone down—he really had no choice. He’d just have to go.

Setting aside these vexing matters, Luo Chen finally had time to review his recent achievements. He’d been in this world for nearly a month, and still didn’t know exactly how much he’d earned.

Logging into his Stardust Platform profile, all the results from the past days were laid out before him:

Main account: Pure-hearted Little Angel
Verified title: Demon King
Followers: 3.75 million
Posts: 4
Highest single video views: 14.9 million
Total number of tips: 1.02 million

These were truly staggering statistics, especially the view and tip counts: nearly fifteen million on one video, and over a hundred thousand tips.

He owed much of this to the selfless promotion from Professor Yuan Ning. Many of the tips came from people who disliked or resented Yuan Ning, people from all walks of life who applauded Luo Chen, believing he’d set out to teach the professor a lesson for his unsavory behavior.

Luo Chen had gladly played along, using the opportunity to shift public opinion in his favor. But this verified title—what was that about?

Why “Demon King”?

What happened to “Little Angel”?

Which bastard was behind this!

Thanks to reader “Gluttonous Youyouko” for the tip of 100 starting points—throwing confetti! By the way, the three ghost videos mentioned in the episode have the following site numbers: “The Loyal Traitor” 5263217, “Zhuge Liang’s Love Story” 1999489, and “How to Make Children Love Learning” 2274779. These were originally introduced in previous chapters, but due to a mistake, ended up in the author’s notes and didn’t show up properly.