38: Chapter 38 Black Screen Ranking Third! Huang Zitao Appears on Livestream!

Seven fifty-five in the evening.

Huang Zitao's personal livestream room was still in a black screen state.

The number of online viewers in the top right corner was locked at a staggering five million people!

What concept was this?

With no images whatsoever and no sound, five million people were frantically spamming the chat screen at a pitch-black mobile phone screen.

The servers of the entire Douyin platform were choked and lagging due to this terrifying surge of traffic.

Just ten minutes ago, the top ten spots on Douyin's trending search list were completely dominated by "Huang Zitao Livestream" and "The Truth of the Thirteenth Person".

The popularity of major livestream rooms experienced a cliff-like plummet.

An edgy female anchor was Dancing, but when she looked up, all the big spenders had run away.

A merchandise-selling celebrity anchor was screamingly shouting "Three, two, one, put up the link", only to find that the chat was entirely flooded with "Gathering in Huang Zitao's livestream room".

In just a few minutes, Huang Zitao's unstarted black-screen room rocketed straight to third place in popularity across the entire Douyin platform!

Ranked first was CCTV News, and ranked second was the platform's top-tier merchandise-selling king.

And third was a black screen!

This shocked countless major anchors.

In Shanghai, Wang Wenjian's livestream room.

One hundred thousand netpals were online.

Wang Wenjian switched his screen, showing his own face on the left and Huang Zitao's black-screen livestream room on the right.

Looking at the continuously jumping popularity value and the chat scrolling so fast that even afterimages were blurry, the hand Wang Wenjian was using to hold his water cup trembled slightly, splashing water onto the desktop.

"Brothers, I surrender. I'm completely surrendering today."

Leaning back in his e-sports chair, Wang Wenjian couldn't help laughing out loud.

"Having been a streamer for so many years, I've seen all kinds of hype routines and traffic myths."

"But reaching third place across the whole platform in a black screen state, with online viewers breaking five million."

"This damn thing has broken internet history records!"

Pointing at the right side of the screen, Wang Wenjian's smile carried the excitement of someone eager to watch the world burn.

"Tonight is really lively."

"Look at this chat, the smell of gunpowder is almost burning up to my eyebrows through the network cable."

"Two factions directly set up formations and started fighting right inside the black screen. This combat power is simply peerless."

Inside Huang Zitao's livestream room.

A war was breaking out.

The factions were distinctly divided.

The faction believing that Su Chen was the KING of back then took the lead in launching a charge.

Six uniform chat messages, like mortar shells, blasted onto the public screen.

[Even Lu Han has stood up, is there any need to whitewash this? God Su is the KING of back then, suppressed by capital for five years, and today we must demand justice!]

[Five years! His guitar was destroyed all alone in a foreign land, and upon returning, he quietly moved bricks and fed pigs without ever playing the victim. He is truly a tough guy!]

[This is the pride of our China, full of backbone, willing to be destitute in the countryside rather than bow down to that group of filthy chaebols!]

[Those of you saying it isn't true, have the guts to step out and explain how that all-S rating sheet came about! That is solid evidence!]

[Tonight, as long as Brother Tao says a word, we will directly raid South Korea's official website! Let them know that Chinese people are not to be trifled with!]

[Make those thieving robbers spit out all the dividends they swallowed; today we must restore God Su's innocence!]

[...]

Passersby carried a chest full of resentment and hot-blooded passion.

Initially, they only followed Su Chen after seeing a dance video accidentally recorded by Yan Yu, thinking he was just an ordinary Dancing teacher, but who would have thought it would lead to such a huge matter later on.

Capital blockade!

In the past, people always said that capital never goes against an individual.

And now?

These capitalists don't treat people like humans at all. If someone hadn't recorded a video, all traces of Su Chen's past would have been completely erased!

Too ruthless!

Submerging themselves into the scenario, anger filled the chests of these ordinary people.

Anger occupied the screen.

But XO's domestic fandom fans and Su Chen's anti-fans weren't idle either.

Their level of organization was equally astonishing; after a brief wait, they immediately organized.

[Hilarious, you guys can reach a climax just because Lu Han casually posts five words? On what grounds do you say he was referring to that internet celebrity? Stop gilding your own faces!]

[Moving bricks makes one a real man? In front of our older brother, he's just a coward who doesn't even dare to show his front face, putting on airs of a big shot!]

[Where did some pheasant come from, daring to touch porcelain with Asia's top group? Can you create a god by taking a few tattered photos and adding a baseless fake behind-the-scenes clip? I think you guys are crazy!]

[A fraud who started up by hyping traffic, still wanting to step on a legitimate Trainee to rise to power—this script is written too poorly, keep dreaming!]

[SM Entertainment even issued a transnational statement to clarify that there is no such person at all! What are you trolls self-high-ing about here? Don't you feel embarrassed?]

[Later when Brother Tao starts broadcasting, he will definitely come to debunk the frauds! Just wait for that fake immortal to have his true face ripped off and be completely ruined!]

[...]

Both sides went back and forth, refusing to yield to each other.

The chat messages from both sides, like two violent mudslides, clashed wildly on the black screen.

No one backed down; everyone held their breath, waiting for the man who could end this debate to appear.

...

On the winding mountain road from Dali to Nu River.

The carriage was pitch black.

The Buick circled up the steep mountain path.

Brother Cai gripped the steering wheel with both hands, staring intently at the road conditions ahead.

In the back seat, Yan Yu hugged her phone, staring fixedly at Huang Zitao's livestream room interface.

Even with just a black screen, she didn't dare look away for a single second.

A-Li was biting his fingernails beside her, making a slight clicking sound.

"Yan Yu sister, do you think Huang Zitao can hold his ground?" Xiao Liu asked softly from the front passenger seat.

Yan Yu took a deep breath.

"The fact that he dares to start broadcasting at this time proves that he has no intention of backing down." Yan Yu's voice sounded a bit strained in the bumpy carriage, "Now it all depends on what he says."

Yan Yu knew very well that Huang Zitao was carrying a confidentiality clause backed by a thirty-million yuan breach-of-contract penalty.

Such a sky-high penalty, plus the risk of reputation damage, would cause any star in the Chinese Entertainment Industry to choose to play dead.

But he chose to stand up.

A real man!

...

Seoul.

The SM Entertainment headquarters building.

The lights in the president's office were as bright as day.

Kim Young-min sat on a wide leather sofa, his tie already ripped off and thrown on the floor.

Opposite him, an eighty-five-inch LCD TV on the wall was connected to domestic Douyin network, with the image frozen on Huang Zitao's black-screen livestream room.

Lee Sang-hyeok stood nearby holding a tablet computer, trembling.

"What does the technology department say?" Kim Young-min stared gloomily at the TV screen.

"President Kim, there's no way to cut it off." Lee Sang-hyeok swallowed a mouthful of saliva. "This is a domestic platform in China; our hacking technology simply cannot penetrate their firewall. Moreover, the number of online users right now is too large. Once we forcefully intervene, it will trigger an even larger international public opinion crisis."

"Trash!" Kim Young-min gritted his teeth.

He took out his phone and glanced at the time.

Seven fifty-eight.

Two minutes until the broadcast starts.

Kim Young-min's fingers tapped hard on his knees.

He had already prepared for the worst.

If Huang Zitao really dared to expose the inside story of back then during the livestream, he would immediately have the legal department initiate a transnational lawsuit, while simultaneously having all cooperating media release dirt on Huang Zitao to completely muddy the waters.

"Go contact the troll companies over in China." Kim Young-min coldly issued the instruction. "As long as he dares to say half a word about that person, immediately guide the narrative in the chat, saying that he is hyping for a new variety show and distracting attention!"

Lee Sang-hyeok nodded repeatedly and ran out of the office to make arrangements.

...

Seven fifty-nine.

Time ticked away second by second.

All anger, anticipation, speculation, and mockery were compressed to the extreme in front of this black screen.

Just like a dynamite barrel filled with gunpowder, the fuse was already lit, waiting only for that final, earth-shattering explosion.

The palms of Yan Yu holding her phone were covered in sweat.

Wang Wenjian stopped joking around, leaned forward, and stared at the screen.

Tyrannosaurus sat in the airport waiting room, even softening her breathing.

Guan Heng and his four brothers stopped the van, parked it on the side of the road, and the five of them crowded in front of a mobile phone screen.

Countless people held their breath.

"Beep!"

Exactly eight o'clock in the evening!

The black screen of the livestream room suddenly flashed once.

Immediately after, the screen lit up!

The background was a very ordinary e-sports room.

And right in the center of the frame.

Huang Zitao was wearing a loose black hoodie and a black baseball cap.

Wearing a pair of oversized black sunglasses on his face, covering most of his face.

A lollipop's plastic stick was held between his lips, swaying slightly up and down with the movement of his lips.

His entire body leaned sideways into the large e-sports chair, legs crossed, with his right foot casually resting on the edge of the computer desk.

His sitting posture was extremely arrogant.

It exuded a madness of 'I am number one in the world'.

The moment the screen lit up.

The number in the top right corner of the livestream room directly exploded.

Six million!

Seven million!

Eight million!

Ten million!

The number of online viewers jumped wildly in units of millions, and Douyin's server experienced noticeable stuttering at this moment.

The chat-filled screen was instantly and completely submerged by the same phrase.

Dense and overwhelming, covering the sky and earth.

It was entirely these four words.

[The Thirteenth Person!]

[The Thirteenth Person!]

[The Thirteenth Person!]

The fonts overlapped together, turning into a dazzling white patch so that even Huang Zitao's face was becoming hard to see.

Gift special effects surged upward like crazy, but Huang Zitao didn't even glance at them.

He hadn't turned on the tipping function at all.

Facing the crazy chat-spamming of over ten million people.

Huang Zitao made no movement.

He didn't speak, nor did he greet anyone.

Just leaning sideways in the chair like that, through the black sunglasses, he quietly looked at the camera.

One second.

Two seconds.

Five seconds.

Inside the entire livestream room, only the slight current sound coming from his headphones could be heard.

The emotions of over ten million people were pulled tighter and tighter by this eerie silence of his.

This speechless aura instead formed a terrifying sense of oppression.

He didn't need to please the audience, nor did he need to guide the narrative.

Sitting right here, he was the master of tonight.

A full ten seconds passed.

Huang Zitao moved.

His hands moved to both sides of his cheeks.

Grabbing the edges of the sunglasses.

Slowly, he took off that pair of black sunglasses.

Revealing that pair of eyes with dark circles and a gaze as sharp as a knife.

There was not the slightest bit of fear, nor any dodging.

He looked straight into the camera.

"Clang."

The sunglasses were casually tossed onto the desk by him, making a crisp sound.

He leaned forward, leaving the back of the chair, and placed his hands crossed on the desktop.

His face moved closer to the camera.

At this exact instant, the chat messages in the livestream room actually experienced a brief stagnation.

Everyone was waiting for him to speak.

Waiting for him to speak out the truth that would make the entire Asian entertainment industry tremble.

Huang Zitao looked at the scrolling information on the screen.

The corners of his mouth suddenly pulled into a sneer.

He cleared his throat.

His voice was deep, carrying his signature Qingdao accent, yet revealing a force compressed to the absolute extreme.

"I am holding this livestream."

Huang Zitao spoke, biting out every single word extremely heavily.

"Not for making money, not for hype."

"I also know you guys are anxious, but don't rush yet!"