Popularity is everything; I play a super genius

The live chat exploded instantly:

"Holy crap, is this the kind of dominance a streamer can have?"

"One sentence shut the whole class up; masked guy, you deserve my attention!"

"What do you mean by 'status'? This is what you call 'status'!"

Under everyone's watchful eyes, Saki slowly stood up.

Huo Mu looked at him, and a strange expectation involuntarily rose in her heart.

Could it be... that he's going to help me?

However, it seems that Saki simply finds the classroom too noisy.

He didn't say anything extra, and didn't even glance at anyone.

With his hands in his pockets, he strode out of the classroom under everyone's gaze.

Apart from saying "It's so noisy," he didn't say another word.

But it made the entire classroom instantly fall into such silence that you could hear a pin drop.

The comments section immediately started scrolling again:

"Holy crap... they're gone already?"

"Brother Ji, don't go! Please help Huomu!"

"You're overthinking it. My brother Ji only cares about sleeping."

"Do you even understand the true value of being called the God of Sleep?!"

"Let's all go, let's all go. I bet five cents that your Brother Ji is definitely back on the rooftop taking a nap again."

Just as the comments predicted, Saki returned to the rooftop once again, as if she were back home.

He lay comfortably in a familiar spot, as if nothing in the outside world mattered to him.

He was just sleeping.

"Your brother Ji is an amazing person too!"

"Such enviable sleep quality!"

As everyone was making comments, a comment suddenly flashed by:

"Brothers, let's go! Love and Redemption is starting its live stream!"

With just that one sentence, the number of viewers in Qi Ji's live stream instantly dropped by more than half.

Seeing the sudden drop in popularity, Qi Ji's brows twitched involuntarily beneath his mask.

His money...

This is all his money!

It's important to know that the daily popularity score for a personal channel is calculated based on the average popularity during the live stream.

You little devil, Liuli! You're trying to steal my popularity by starting your live stream?

Qi Ji silently made a note of Liu Li in his notebook.

He clicked into Liuli's live stream and discovered that not only had Liuli stolen his popularity, but she was also secretly teasing him...

He immediately added another entry to his notebook.

Indeed, when viewers enter Liuli's personal channel from their own perspective, Qiji can hear Liuli's inner thoughts, which are expressed in the live stream as part of a performance, just like ordinary viewers.

Of course, this is still something only Saki can do.

After all, the other characters don't have a system; their personal channels are simply being run by the world's will.

"Ugh! They've been hogging the rooftop, it's such a nuisance."

Liuli stood at the corner of the corridor, the shadows obscuring the upper half of her face.

Thin-rimmed glasses, designed to suppress echoes, rested on the small bridge of the nose, their lenses reflecting a cold light.

The girl still wore her usual gentle and obedient smile, but paired with such villainous lines and gloomy lighting, that smile suddenly looked somewhat sickly and eerie.

Upon seeing this, the comments section erupted in surprise:

"Holy crap?! Ruri, you..."

"Liuli, why have you suddenly changed? Are you a villain after all??"

"Give me back the kind and harmless beautiful girl, Ruri, from just now!"

"Guys, isn't this even more exciting? I love bad women!"

"I knew it! There was something fishy about Liuli's stream ending! The culprit who stole the crystal has already confessed!"

Despite revealing her reversed persona so early, the number of viewers in Liuli's live stream actually increased rather than decreased.

After all, what initially attracted viewers to Liuli was not her personality, but her incredibly high-stat character model.

As long as her character model isn't nerfed, her core fanbase will remain stable.

Furthermore, since Liuli revealed this side of herself just after her lunch break, she seems to be the prime suspect for stealing the crystal.

As a result, a large number of viewers from the main live stream and Qiji's live stream suddenly flooded in.

In the prediction section of Qi Ji's live stream, Liu Li's votes skyrocketed.

……

At this very moment, the tension in the classroom reached its peak, under Liuli's covert manipulation.

"Believe you? Why should we believe the son of a sinner!"

"You want us to believe you? Go ahead and jump off the roof right now, then we'll believe you!"

It is worth mentioning that during the lunch break, some students with strong physical abilities or those who had awakened some of their echo abilities did jump directly from the third floor.

But that's completely different from jumping off a rooftop that's eighteen stories high.

"What? You're scared now?"

"Scared? That just means you have something to hide!"

"That's it!"

Harsh words came like knives.

Huo Mu gritted his teeth, his eyes reddening with anger.

The boy's rational mind, under the constant influence of Liuli, finally teetered on the brink of collapse.

In the corridor, Liuli leaned against the wall.

The girl's smile grew sweeter, and at the same time, her innermost thoughts echoed softly in the live stream:

"Huomu, I really envy you... You have the right to decide your own life and death."

"very nice."

"Then let me help you..."

"To help you find relief."

"I'll help you get to that... place I can't go."

……

……

Chapter Five: But that's idiotic thinking.

Upon hearing this, the audience exclaimed, "Holy crap!"

The girl's gentle, harmless smile contrasted sharply with the dark thoughts running through her mind.

"Liuli, no! You can't!"

"I'm a fan! Bad women are the best!"

"You like bad women? You're something else!"

Liuli took off her glasses and activated the Echo with all her might. In the girl's pupils, fine lines lit up, and heart-shaped patterns like golden threads appeared.

Several thin-winged butterflies fluttered around her fingertips.

The next moment, in the classroom—

Huo Mu felt all the grievances, loneliness, and resentment that had accumulated over the years surge into his heart in an instant.

As the child of a sinner, whatever he does will be viewed with suspicion.

He had clearly been trying his best to please and flatter everyone...

He clearly tried his best to prove himself...

A father is a father, and he is himself. Why should all the father's sins be placed on his shoulders?

The main live stream flashed back, unfolding Huomu's dark childhood memories—

Because the production was so excellent, a large portion of the audience became immersed in it without even realizing it.

I can't help but feel sorry for the firewood.

"Okay! Will you believe me if I jump?"

"of course."

"No, Huomu! Don't do anything foolish!"

"What?! The main character of this anime is so pathetic! He tries to kill himself after just a few provocations?"

"Upstairs, it's easy for you to talk when you're not the one suffering the consequences, isn't it? You call this being provoked? This is clearly being manipulated by Liuli's emotions!"

"Exactly! That bad woman is just too bad!"

"Don't talk about my Liuli! Liuli was just trying to help Huomu, what did she do wrong?"

"Wow, Liuli already has brainless fans so quickly, huh?"

While the comments were divided into several factions, arguing and tearing each other apart, Huomu had already rushed to the rooftop.

Just as he was about to prove his innocence by leaping into the air, he saw Saki lying on the rooftop, taking a nap in the sun.

The other person seemed to be awakened by the noise he made, and turned his head impatiently, his gaze falling on him from behind his mask.

Huo Mu opened his mouth, but feeling the oppressive aura emanating from Qi Ji, he quickly organized his thoughts: "...I'm sorry, I want to be alone here for a while. Could you...please let me have this place? Please."

"No," Qi Ji refused outright. "This is my place."

Eager to prove himself, Huo Mu blurted out, "You were in the classroom just now, weren't you?"

"Well, then what?"

"Do you even know anything about me?! My father is Yan Yi, that fire thief whom everyone despises!"

"So what? What does it have to do with me?" Saki's tone was completely indifferent.

"The testing equipment used in the class has been destroyed, and the echo crystal inside has disappeared. Everyone thinks I did it!"

"Everyone?" Qi Ji tilted his head slightly and corrected him, "You don't seem to be qualified to represent me."

Huomu was stunned and looked at Qiji in disbelief.

From childhood, because of his status as the son of a sinner, no matter what bad things happened around him, everyone would immediately assume that he was the one who did it.

Everyone!

He has been embroiled in countless unfounded rumors.

But the person in front of me actually...

Haven't you heard the rumors about me?

"I hear it often."

The other person seemed to find his question utterly boring, and their tone even sounded somewhat angry.

"But that's just a rumor. To attack someone without even verifying its truth is incredibly stupid! Do you think I'm one of those idiots in the classroom?"