99: Chapter 99: The Top Ranked Player Makes a Surprise Appearance in the Livestream

"But don't you want to know who the other person is?"

Li Li pulled the phone camera closer; the plastic bench creaked.

"Guess what, this video is from three years ago. If I beat someone like that, why wasn't I arrested? Why is there no criminal record?"

He spread his hands.

"Why didn't that guy in white even call the police?"

The scrolling of the chat slowed down.

Netizens weren't all brain-dead; this logic did have holes.

On the right side of the screen.

Su Wantang sat up abruptly.

"That's because you paid him off!"

She raised her volume, trying to drown out the electrical hum of Li Li's microphone.

"He is my friend, and he only didn't call the police to arrest you because of me! And now you're trying to shift the blame!"

Li Li chuckled.

Leaning back, his head rested against the peeling red brick wall.

"Keep making things up. Go on."

He pointed at Su Wantang on the screen.

"Since he's your friend, do you even know his name?"

Su Wantang choked.

She froze, her mouth slightly agape.

In the blind spot of the camera, Sun Kezheng was stamping his feet in anxiety, writing furiously on a whiteboard.

Su Wantang glanced at the whiteboard.

"His name is 'Lone City Wanderer'!"

She stuttered, forcing herself to continue the fabrication.

"We met playing games online! That day was our first time meeting in person! And you just started beating people without rhyme or reason!"

Li Li rubbed the stubble on his chin.

"Lone City Wanderer."

He nodded.

"Right, that really is his screen name. You actually remember."

Su Wantang breathed a sigh of relief, thinking she had gotten away with it.

The chat started fueling the narrative again.

[So what if they met up? Li Li is such a control freak he won't even let her meet online friends?]

Li Li ignored the chat.

He picked up the ballpoint pen and tapped it twice on the worn notebook.

"In real life, his name is Chen Chen."

"Back then, you had only been streaming for two months, and there were fewer than fifty live viewers in your room."

"This 'Lone City Wanderer' was the number one fan on your pathetic leaderboard."

He paused, letting the information sink in.

Su Wantang's face went pale.

"Chen Chen thought you were single, which is why he asked you out to dinner and drove you home."

Li Li pointed at the screen with the pen tip.

"I caught you in the act, and that's when he found out you had a boyfriend."

"After knowing the truth, Chen Chen stopped bothering you right then and there, and even apologized to me."

With millions of people watching online, the chat actually paused for a second.

Haidian District. A high-end apartment complex.

Jiang Rumu's potato chips hung in mid-air.

She stared at the screen and laughed out loud.

"Even a screenwriter wouldn't dare write a plot twist like this."

Crunch, the chip was bitten in half.

"This Su woman has really played herself."

"Nonsense! You're making this up!"

Su Wantang's voice cracked, sharp and piercing.

"To whitewash yourself, you'd even tell a lie like this!"

Li Li shrugged.

"Whether it's a lie or not, we'll know once we check."

He recited a date.

"October 12th, three years ago."

"That night, 'Lone City Wanderer' tipped five thousand yuan in gifts in your livestream. The next day, he unfollowed."

Li Li crossed his hands and placed them on his knees.

"Why did he unfollow?"

"Because he was punched by me that night and found out the truth."

"He's a normal person; once he realized he almost became the third party, he was overcome with shame and ran off."

[Holy crap? The number one fan?]

[Is this tea authentic? Li Li even gave the specific date and amount!]

[Go check! Are there any tech wizards here?]

Shenghui Entertainment, top-floor conference room.

Zhou Hui slammed his hand on the table.

"Cut the connection! Now!"

Sun Kezheng blocked the headset.

"We can't cut it! If we cut it, it shows guilt, and we're completely finished!"

She crouched next to Su Wantang and lowered her voice.

"Insist that he has no proof! The streaming platform's data is cleared every year or two; he can't produce the tipping records!"

Su Wantang re-aligned with the camera and squeezed out two tears.

"You have no proof! Do you have any evidence?"

"The surveillance video is right here; the fact that you hit someone is a fact! Can you cover up the nature of your domestic abuse just by making up a story about a top fan?"

The chat was brought back by these words.

[Yeah! No matter how good it sounds, is there proof?]

[No proof means it's a rumor! Li Li is just trying to divert attention!]

Li Li looked at the screen.

He sighed.

"Oh, Su Wantang, Su Wantang."

"Do you know that Chen Chen even specifically sought me out later?"

Su Wantang froze.

"He treated me to a barbecue and apologized to me specifically."

Li Li took out his phone and swiped across the screen.

"We are still WeChat friends to this day."

"When he got married last year, I even gave him a gift money of six hundred yuan."

The attacker and the victim became WeChat friends and even exchanged gift money.

This plot development fried the brain stems of all the netizens online.

[WTF?]

[Is this even possible?]

Su Wantang slumped into the sofa.

"Impossible... absolutely impossible..."

Li Li held his phone up to the camera.

On the screen—

Remark: Chen Chen (Lone City Wanderer).

The latest chat record was a transfer from last year.

[Transferred 600.00 to Chen Chen]

[Chen Chen: Brother Li, you're too polite! Come over for a drink when you have time!]

Li Li tapped the screen.

"Do you want me to video call him? Let him show his face and prove it to you personally?"

Su Wantang was trembling all over, unable to say a word.

Sun Kezheng was gesturing wildly off-camera, signaling her to fake a faint.

The moment Su Wantang prepared to lean over—

An explosion of brilliant special effects erupted on the livestream screen.

[User "Lone City Wanderer" sent Super Rocket x 1!]

[User "Lone City Wanderer" sent Super Rocket x 2!]

[User "Lone City Wanderer" sent Super Rocket x 10!]

The entire screen was submerged by rocket effects.

A high-level bullet comment with a gold border drifted by slowly—

[Lone City Wanderer: Brother finally stopped being a simp! Brother Li, I've got your back anytime!]

Immediately after, another one followed.

[Lone City Wanderer: I'm happy to show my face! My wife is watching the stream next to me, and she can't even watch anymore! This green tea is such a good actress!]

Boom.

The entire online public opinion flipped completely.

[Holy crap! The real deal just dropped in!]

[The former top fan personally came down to hammer her!]

[Fatal blow! This is a real fatal blow!]

[Su Wantang, what else do you have to say? Playing the victim to scam sympathy, disgusting!]

On the right side of the screen.

Su Wantang looked at the screen full of curses and rocket effects.

Her body tilted, and she slid directly from the sofa onto the carpet.

The fill light fell, and the image shook violently.

The screen went black.

Shenghui Entertainment had cut the connection.

Li Li looked at the livestream room, which had returned to a single-person view.

He tucked his phone back into his pocket.

His left wrist turned half a circle unconsciously, his knuckles making a soft click.

He looked down at his wrist but didn't say much.

Although this was also caused by Su Wantang, he wasn't a resentful person and couldn't be bothered to talk about it again.

If there was a next time, he would bring it out for a fatal blow then.

"Private grudges resolved."

He picked up the enamel tea mug beside him and took a sip of water.

"Now, let's talk about that piece of land worth over a hundred million at the orphanage."

The chat went quiet instantly.

The gossip-hungry crowd only then remembered that the main event of today's show hadn't started yet.

[Right! What about the land!]

[Buying one hundred and fifty million worth of land for ten million, you must explain this clearly!]

"Teacher Wang."

Teacher Wang walked in from off-camera, placing a stack of thick documents on the small table.

Her hands were still shaking.

Li Li picked up the top one and shoved it directly in front of the camera.

"This is a copy of the land property certificate for Qingcheng Orphanage."

"It is clearly written on it—this land is the personal private property of Ms. Zhang Guifang."

He put down the property certificate and picked up another.

"This is Mother Zhang's notarized will. The date is from five years ago."

Li Li pointed at the red seal on the will.

"Five years ago, Mother Zhang was in good health and went to the notary office herself to set up the will. It was written very clearly—after she passes away, this land will be inherited by me, Li Li. There is only one condition: the orphanage must continue to operate."

"I forced her to sign the will? Five years ago I was still in college; what could I use to force her? I only found out about this will myself recently."

The embossed seal on the notarized document couldn't be faked.

The chat went silent.

Li Li threw the will on the table and picked up the third document.

"As for that eight million in debt."

He sneered.

"This is the detailed record of donations and expenditure flow for the orphanage over the past ten years."

"Government subsidies are seven million per year; social donations are less than five hundred thousand per year."

"With over three hundred children and fifty staff members, eating, drinking, pooping, peeing, seeing doctors, and taking medicine. There is a shortfall of one million every year."

Li Li slapped the stack of ledgers.

"For these ten years, Mother Zhang borrowed every penny she could, and even mortgaged this land to the bank."

"This eight million plus in bank loans—it was used to buy rice and meat for the children and to pay for surgeries for the critically ill children!"

He stood up abruptly.

He kicked over the plastic bench.

The bench slammed into the red brick wall with a dull thud.

"Yesterday, people from Hengtai Construction came to force me, offering fifteen million to buy land worth one hundred and fifty million!"

"When I refused to sell, they bought trending searches, hired big influencers, and wrote sob stories to smear me!"

Li Li pointed at the screen.

"Saying I embezzled assets? Saying I wanted to kick the children out?"

He walked to the camera, his face almost pressed against the screen.

"I just paid off the bank loan for the orphanage yesterday, and settled the staff wages that had been in arrears for half a year!"

"I'm going to build a resort hotel on this land, and thirty percent of the profits will go back to the orphanage!"

He stepped back.

His voice actually dropped lower.

"These children... I will hire the best doctors and teachers for them."

"This land now bears the surname Li."

"Whoever dares to touch any child in the orphanage—I, Li Li, will fight them to the bitter end."

Fifteen million people online.

No one sent a bullet comment.

The screen was clean.

Only the sound of Li Li's heavy breathing passed through the microphone to the entire internet.

Haidian District.

Jiang Rumu stood in front of the TV.

She didn't know when she had stood up.

Potato chips were scattered all over the carpet, but she didn't notice at all.

Her phone screen lit up.

She didn't look.

She stared at the man in the tattered vest on the livestream screen, her chest feeling tight, unable to describe the feeling.

Imperial Capital. Byte Group conference room.

Pei Zhao's sandalwood prayer beads stopped moving.

She stared at the big screen, her thumb rubbing the largest bead—this was her subconscious action when judging "hit potential."

She turned her head abruptly to look at the assistant director.

"Contact the PR department immediately! Cooperate with Li Li fully! Suppress the trending search about Hengtai Construction for me!"

The assistant director opened his mouth.

"Director Pei, but—"

"No buts."

Pei Zhao slid the beads onto her wrist with a snap.

"Byte Group is going to eat up this traffic."

Qingcheng Orphanage.

The chat began to recover gradually.

Not with curses.

It was full of [Sorry].

[Brother Li, I'm sorry, I was led astray.]

[I wronged you, real man!]

[Hengtai Construction is too dark! Everyone, go attack them!]

Li Li let out a long breath of turbid air.

He was just about to turn off the livestream.

Outside the main gate—

A shrill screech of brakes.

Then a chaotic sound of footsteps.

Many people.

Teacher Wang ran over from the window, her face pale as a sheet.

"Li Li! Police! So many police!"

Li Li turned his head.

The camera followed his movement.

But his hands didn't stop—he pulled out his phone, dialed a video call on WeChat, and placed the phone face down on the table.

It connected on the other end, a man's voice, sounding languid.

"Hey, I'm watching the stream. Just put me on speakerphone."

Outside the iron gate, several police cars with flashing red and blue lights had already parked, and more than a dozen uniformed police officers walked in with large strides.

The leader was a high-ranking officer in a white shirt.

The officer walked up to Li Li.

He took out his ID.

"Li Li, we received a real-name report that you are suspected of illegal fundraising and tax evasion."

Expressionless.

"Please come with us."

The livestream room exploded instantly.

Fifteen million people watched with their own eyes as the police appeared on the screen.

The chat went crazy.

And the phone in Li Li's hand was still on speakerphone.

That man's voice sounded again.

"Don't panic, I can finally show off."