Chapter 384 The Traditional Art of Lying Through One's Eyes

The camera cuts back to Baishui City in Eastern Country.

The sun outside was blazing, and the cicadas in the factory area were chirping tirelessly on the treetops.

The time reached 1:30 PM.

Inside the second-floor office of the Li Family Toy Factory.

Li Jiajun sat in a wide executive chair.

He reached out to straighten his collar and adjusted the phone stand fixed to the edge of the desk to the optimal angle.

His finger tapped lightly on the screen.

Li Jiajun's live stream room opened.

There was no pre-heating or promotion.

The screen lit up, and the network signal connected instantly.

Li Jiajun's face, wearing a confident smile, immediately appeared on the recommendation homepages of major live streaming platforms.

In almost the same second.

The server data in the background began to jump rapidly; many Netizens followed the start-of-stream notification and entered.

The number of online viewers in the top right corner instantly broke ten thousand from zero at a speed visible to the naked eye, and it was still rising in a straight line.

...

Amidst this massive traffic.

Behind the seemingly ordinary numbers, a group of the most special existences was actually lurking.

In the high-level office of the General Armament Department in the Imperial Capital.

The Old General did not take a noon nap.

He had his guard bring a tablet computer that was not bound to any official information.

The glow of the screen illuminated the elderly man's majestic face.

In a certain national laboratory.

Elder Qian put down the Carbon Fiber data chart he was currently comparing.

He took off his protective goggles and put on his reading glasses.

Sitting on the sofa in the lounge area, he held a smartphone and watched quietly.

Inside the Ministry of Military Industry building.

Liu Jianguo had brewed a cup of strong tea early on.

He sat in his office chair, his body leaning slightly forward.

There were also those high-ranking officials from the military.

As well as the firefighting personnel from various provinces that Liu Jianguo had urgently invited yesterday afternoon; they had all arrived by now.

These people were scattered across different cities all over the country.

But these were all official big shots.

Their identities were sensitive.

To maintain secrecy and avoid causing unnecessary speculation from the outside world.

Therefore, they were all using secondary accounts.

Online nicknames like "Quiet Years," "Happy Fisherman," and "Striving for Tomorrow," which wouldn't stand out in a crowd at all, became their best cover.

Then, they were all sitting in front of their office computers.

No one said a word.

They just stared intently at the screen.

On this quiet afternoon, these decision-makers who controlled vast resources were all patiently waiting for Li Jiajun to introduce his so-called "safety firefighting supplies."

...

Of course.

Among these tens of thousands of online viewers, official personnel were only a small portion after all.

Besides these big shots, many Netizens had also been waiting early on.

Most of them were Li Jiajun's fans.

Many of them had only just heard about that yellow cart toy that sold out in an instant in another group chat yesterday at noon.

Receiving the start-of-stream notification today, they all rushed in as if they had been injected with chicken blood.

In their subconscious, as long as this "Militia General" started a stream, there would definitely be enormous fun to watch.

It was either having his water meter checked or having a large official convoy come to haul away the production line.

Everyone had brought their small stools and prepared sunflower seeds and drinks, ready to watch the drama of the year.

But.

When they clearly saw the words at the top of the screen with great anticipation.

Everyone was stunned.

Directly above the live stream room hung a line of bold, eye-catching title text:

[Li Family Toy Factory New Safety Firefighting Supplies Exhibition]

Just such a dry line of text, exuding a strong vibe of a neighborhood committee's science popularization propaganda.

When they saw the title of the live stream room and knew that Li Jiajun was really just going to introduce serious firefighting products today.

The Netizens' high enthusiasm was instantly doused like a basin of cold water.

They all became disinterested.

'What the hell?'

'Who wants to watch a firefighting supplies exhibition!' Such a thought emerged in his heart.

This completely failed to meet their expectations for this live stream room.

This huge psychological gap made the Netizens unable to contain themselves immediately.

They began to complain frantically in the bullet comments.

The originally clean screen was instantly covered by dense text.

"Refund! This is a scam!"

"What the hell are you doing? Introducing firefighting supplies—who likes watching this stuff?"

"Exactly, there's no fun at all."

"Everyone, disperse. No Special Agents are breaking down the door today."

Some fans were still unwilling to give up, trying to guide the Streamer back to the "right path."

They were making suggestions in the bullet comments.

"Main Streamer, even if you don't demonstrate the classic scene of being requisitioned on the spot, we can do something else interesting."

"Yeah, or how about putting that Firefighting Parent-Child Pistol on the shelves again?"

"Please put the pistol on the shelves! That was so cool!"

"Selling pistols is better than watching you promote fire extinguishers here!"

Complaints, criticisms, and requests for purchase intertwined, making the public screen of the live stream room a complete mess.

...

Li Jiajun, sitting in front of the camera.

Looking at the screen full of complaining bullet comments.

He didn't feel any panic at all.

He didn't even knit his brows.

Picking up the teacup beside him, he took a slow, deliberate sip of warm water.

Subsequently.

Li Jiajun began to exercise his traditional art.

As a factory director who had weathered great storms and was frequently teased by the entire internet, he had long ago developed a skin as thick as a steel wall.

This ultimate move could be summarized in four words: selective blindness.

For things he didn't like to see, he chose to pretend he couldn't see them.

His gaze automatically filtered out those comments on the screen containing words like "boring," "uninteresting," and "refund."

He ignored the requests to see the pistol.

Putting down the teacup in his hand.

Li Jiajun straightened his back and leaned his face closer to the screen.

He greeted the camera with a face full of smiles.

That smile was as brilliant as could be, as if he were facing not a group of cursing Netizens, but a group of enthusiastic soulmates.

He cleared his throat.

In a tone full of passion and infectious energy.

He spoke into the microphone, saying:

"Good afternoon, family!"

"So many people have come as soon as the stream started; everyone is very enthusiastic!"

...

As soon as these words were spoken.

The bullet comments in the live stream room actually experienced a brief pause.

Two seconds later.

What greeted him was an even more violent storm of text.

Hearing this opening line where he lied through his teeth.

The Netizens were practically laughed into a rage by this bottomless thick-skinned behavior.

They sent bullet comments, ruthlessly retort:

"Big brother, are you blind?"

"Which eye did you see us being enthusiastic with?"

"We're calling you boring, okay!"

"This Streamer is beyond saving; he's immersed in his own world and can't pull himself out."

"I don't think he's selling firefighting equipment; he's selling bulletproof vests, right? Even bullets can't pierce this thick skin."

Faced with this all-around debunking and group mockery.

The smile on Li Jiajun's face didn't change even a single bit.

He continued to pretend not to see.

He even went as far as solemnly taking out a thick notebook from under the table, preparing to start today's explanation.

Seeing his stubborn and unyielding posture.

Then.

Many Netizens who had originally held a sliver of hope, thinking he was using a 'suppress before praise' tactic, were finally completely disappointed.

They felt it was really uninteresting.

"I'm out, I'm out. Watching this crappy science popularization is worse than going to sleep."

"Let's go, the Militia General is closed for business today."

Accompanied by bullet comments saying goodbye.

A large number of viewers began to vote with their feet.

They successively exited the live stream room and left.

This was directly reflected on the background data panel.

In just a few short minutes.

The number of online viewers in Li Jiajun's live stream room plummeted from fifty thousand to forty thousand.

A loss of ten thousand people would be considered a serious live streaming accident for any sales Streamer.

If it were anyone else, they would probably be sweating profusely in anxiety and trying to find ways to do something crazy to keep the audience.

But Li Jiajun sat in his wide chair.

His gaze swept across the jumping data in the top right corner of the screen.

Looking at the dropping numbers, Li Jiajun didn't think much of it. After all, when he first started streaming, because the viewership was too low, he had almost become an 'edge-walking' Streamer for the sake of traffic.

One can only say that the past is unbearable to look back upon under the bright moon.