59: Chapter 59 The First Step to Becoming an Internet Celebrity: Social Death

Chen Sheng had just finished posting the video, and he had already started planning how to operate it or monetize it once his follower count grew.

Taking advertisements, selling goods, doing tutorials...

However, this plan—or rather, dream—came to an abrupt halt when a sharp ringtone pierced the air.

The caller was his mom.

Chen Sheng answered the phone, confused. "Mom, is there something wrong? Why are you calling me at this hour?"

Mother Chen's voice on the other end sounded hesitant. "Son, do you have enough money to get by?"

"I have enough! What's wrong? Do you need money at home?"

"Son, if you don't have enough money, just tell me. I'll transfer some to you."

"No, Mom, what is actually going on?" The more they talked, the more confused Chen Sheng became. He decided to get straight to the point: "Can you just tell me directly?"

"Your dad and I saw the video you posted online. If you've lost your job, you can just find another one. Don't put too much pressure on yourself. If you're short on money, just call home."

When Mother Chen said this, she spoke very slowly, as if she were weighing every word in her heart before uttering it, terrified that using the wrong word might burden her child.

At the same time, she enunciated every word with extra clarity, afraid that he wouldn't hear clearly or that she wouldn't fully express what she meant.

"Sigh~" Realizing the reason for the call, Chen Sheng sighed speechlessly and hurriedly explained, "Mom, it's not what you think."

As he spoke, he used his free left hand to slap his forehead hard. "How could I have forgotten such an important thing?"

Previously, not wanting to worry his parents, he had chosen to hide his unemployment. However, after binding the Daily Intelligence System, he was earning many times more than he did working like a corporate slave at the company, and his time was flexible, which gradually caused him to lose that sense of urgency.

This was also why, while recording the video earlier, he had naturally used the word "unemployed," which was extremely sensitive for a family or clan.

"Mom! You saw the video I posted, right? That video is fake. It's true that I lost my job and the company went bankrupt, but I'm earning more every month now than I was before."

"Everyone is doing self-media these days. I had some opportunities and gained some popularity online, so I decided to give it a try."

"As for the persona I portrayed online and the things I said, that was all just a character I was putting on. Please don't overthink it."

"I'm really not short on money. If housing prices hadn't crashed so hard, An Xiaonuan and I would even be planning to buy a house."

Chen Sheng finished speaking in one breath and let out a long sigh of relief.

Mother Chen was silent for a good while before tentatively asking, "Son, is everything you said true? You're not lying to us, are you? If something is really wrong, you must tell the family."

"I'm really not lying to you. If there's something wrong, I'll definitely tell you," Chen Sheng promised quickly.

The receiver fell silent again.

After a long while...

Mother Chen's tone suddenly rose, and a machine-gun-like barrage of scolding washed over him like a tidal wave.

"You damn kid, you didn't even think to give us a heads-up! Your aunt saw the video and told us. Your dad and I were worried to death!"

"You're nearly thirty years old, you won't even help take care of the kids when asked, can you be more reliable in doing things..."

Ten minutes later, Mother Chen finally stopped, adding, still unsatisfied, "You're unreliable every single day. I can't be bothered to talk to you. That's it!"

Beep beep beep beep...

Watching the call end on the screen, Chen Sheng's dazed pupils slowly refocused. He quietly got up, went to the balcony, opened the window, and lit a cigarette. Right now, he desperately needed a hit of nicotine to soothe his battered soul.

He wanted some peace and quiet.

But peace and quiet didn't want him.

The constant notification sounds from his phone forced him to return to the living room, grab his phone, and go back to the balcony.

Opening his phone...

Boom~~

Chen Sheng felt like his entire brain was about to explode.

Aunt: "You lost your job and didn't even say a word. I know someone who runs projects; do you want me to ask if they're hiring?"

Sister Yuan: "Not bad, young man. You've started playing on TikTok."

Second Sister: "The internet has been hyping up AI concepts lately. Maybe that's a new track; you could try..."

Zhang San: "Even a top student can get unemployed? Do you want to come work at the factory and screw bolts with me? Food and housing included, plenty of factory girls, 6,000+ pure income per month. Isn't that a great deal!"

Li Si: "Old classmate, being unemployed isn't scary. Doing a little business is much better than being a corporate slave. But doing business definitely requires capital turnover. As the saying goes, it's better to rely on yourself than others. A POS machine can solve all your problems. The machine is free, the fees are cheap..."

Wang Er Mazi: "Old classmate, that platform you're running on right now doesn't have any discounts. You can't make money driving for ride-hailing anymore. I see your car is nice, do you want to do it full-time? It's definitely better than your part-time gig."

XXX: "Brother, need a loan?"

This was only a small fraction of the messages sent by individuals.

There were also various group chats.

For example, their Chen family's "Loving Family" group, and his mother Liu's side's "Loving Family" group, which had launched a heated discussion following the debunking by Chen Sheng's parents.

The topics ranged from unemployment to the changes in the market in recent years, and then to the international situation...

You could say if you could think of it, they could expand on it.

It was hard to imagine that they could even "cite classics" while discussing, making it look very convincing.

For example, "I heard from an expert online..."

Or, "I heard this when I was watching TV a few days ago..."

Or even, "I heard from so-and-so that so-and-so said someone very powerful revealed..."

In addition to the family groups, the middle school and high school groups, which had almost fallen into silence, also rippled with activity because of this.

As for the university group, which remained active daily.

With 99+ unread messages, Chen Sheng had zero desire to click into it.

Chen Sheng patted his forehead and asked himself, "Am I that famous now?"

Famous enough that posting a random video felt like broadcasting it to the whole world.

At this moment, a sense of shame known as "social death" quietly crept into his heart.

He seemed to understand suddenly.

Many of those who helplessly run delivery errands or work part-time temp jobs hide it and don't want to tell others what they are doing.

That feeling of social death, being treated as a topic of discussion by others, is really awkward.

Right now, he just wanted to turn off his phone, cut off all outside information, and then go to the bedroom to sleep under the covers, hoping that when he woke up, it would all just be a dream.

Of course! That's exactly what he did.

He first lit another cigarette for himself, and while he was at it, gave An Xiaonuan a few instructions. Then, he long-pressed the power button to turn it off, and finally left the phone on the coffee table in the living room, while he went to the bedroom to play Go with the daughter of Zhou Gong.

When he woke up, in his grogginess, it really felt like a dream, until An Xiaonuan returned home...

"Hehe~ Bro! You've become quite famous today, huh?"