Investment Cashback, Billionaire God [Quick Transmigration] - Chapter 23 Day One of the Competition

Chapter 23 Day One of the Competition

[I’ve already fallen for more than six streamers just today, how am I supposed to choose, Mega-Entertainment?!]

[Those actors who were begging for crumbs from Giant Entertainment Short Drama must be kicking themselves now. They’re probably scrambling to submit resumes for the second batch of streamer recruitment overnight]

[The top six not only get short drama resources but also offline fan meetings and magazine shoots. Tao Mi better get ready to level up – mom will definitely vote you up there]

[Can someone point me to Cheng Jinyu’s fan group? My wallet is ready]

[Isn’t the champion prize a bit too extravagant? Not just a private lounge and personal assistant, but also commercial endorsements from three Star Federation top-100 companies and a month-long display on Federation Central Square’s giant screen. Even second-tier celebrities can’t get resources at this level nowadays…

Mega-Entertainment, when are you opening the second batch of streamer recruitment? Please consider our niche Gen Z idols]

[This is like an 800x speed version of mixed idol survival shows and annual elections combined. Brother Fang, you really know what we want to see. As a ten-year veteran survival show fan, I’m happily settled in]

[Thank goodness all these Mega-Entertainment streamers are independent small creators. Finally no more capitalist’s unattractive children forcing their bland, shovel-faced aesthetics on us]

[Can someone knock me out with one punch? I want to wake up five days from now]

[I don’t understand what everyone in the comments is so excited about. This is just an ultra-low-budget version of survival shows]

[The champion prize is obviously just a gimmick. The resources the streamers actually get will probably be discounted by at least 50%]

[Do you even understand what a month-long display on Federation Central Square means? Even Star Entertainment’s top stars can only afford to book it for a week maximum for their birthdays.

Those hyping this probably never followed celebrities before. They’ll probably just symbolically book one day to appease fans. Well, Mega-Entertainment stans will blindly adore them anyway^^]

[If you like complaining so much then don’t watch]

[Who are you to tell me whether to watch or not? I’ll click in to see exactly how bad it is]

[+1, live streaming competitions are much cheaper to produce than survival shows too. Brother Fang is really good at achieving big results with small investments…

Can I say that Zhou Zongyun from the sixth group has the best potential here? With looks like his, he’d become popular even without the Group Broadcast]

Right after the official announcement was posted, Fang Zhuo stood before the large screen, watching the latest comments with the streaming operator.

Their eyes fell on several comments expressing skepticism about the competition. A staff member asked, “Director Fang, should we enable protection mode?”

Fang Zhuo waved his hand dismissively.

The purpose of this announcement was to generate hype, and having some questioning in the comments was normal. Having some dissenting voices could actually spark other viewers’ curiosity.

He also remembered this Zhou Zongyun mentioned in the last comment – during the recruitment, two people sat in the back row, with loyalty levels unusually reaching 2, practically wearing “suspicious” on their faces.

Fang Zhuo actually didn’t care whether these two were sent by Ruan Zihan.

As long as they were here, they could make money for him under this model. If the other side wanted to vote Zhou Zongyun into the top six, they’d have to spend far more than initially expected.

After all, if Ruan Zihan invested 100,000, Fang Zhuo would receive 1,000,000 in corresponding tenfold returns. There was no business more satisfying than extracting money from a rival company.

These small-time streamers usually don’t have access to core information. Even if they managed to capture some peripheral so-called “dirt,” he could turn the negative publicity into genuine popularity.

Given Ruan Zihan’s smooth-brained nature, Fang Zhuo was quite curious what angle the other party would take this time.

By 2 AM, the public opinion trend showed no new developments. Several staff members responsible for traffic allocation, after finishing two large boxes of late-night snacks together, turned off their physical Light Brains and strolled back to the company dormitories in small groups.

Someone posted the Group Broadcast schedule for the next few days in the coordination group. Employees like them who had worked late tonight could take a compensatory day off tomorrow according to company rules.

The group immediately responded with a synchronized wave of “received” messages. Fang Zhuo then sent over a dozen consecutive 10,000-yuan red packets to the group – even the unluckiest person could grab over a thousand yuan.

Lying on the two-meter-wide bed in the company dormitory, Zhou Zongyun happily snatched over 3,000 yuan and sent a screenshot to brag to the friend who had joined Mega-Entertainment with him.

Zhou Zongyun: [Bro, how much did you get?]

Yu Yu: [I didn’t take it. Why would I grab Mega-Entertainment’s red packets?]

Yu Yu: [Bro, are you thinking of betraying us… If it weren’t for Brother Ruan, we wouldn’t even have this opportunity to enter the industry. Don’t you feel any guilt at all?]

[Besides, we’ve already received a 600,000 advance payment. If we can obtain useful information from Mega-Entertainment, Brother Ruan will definitely pay us the remaining 1 million balance later. There’s really no need to covet these small amounts now.]

[Starry Galaxy Media’s scale is more than ten times that of Giant Entertainment. Starry Galaxy has been established for five years already, while Giant Entertainment hasn’t even been around for a full month… You should at least consider your own future prospects. I’m only saying all this because I care about you – I wouldn’t speak so frankly with anyone else.]

Reading the chat history, Zhou Zongyun’s joy from grabbing the large red packet instantly vanished.

With a “ding-dong” sound, a notification popped up on his Light Brain showing a new transaction in his bank account.

He initially thought it was this month’s credit card bill notification, but upon opening it, he discovered it was actually a transfer of over 130,000 yuan, with a remark indicating it was today’s daily settlement for his live stream earnings.

The entertainment industry is notorious for withholding payments – daily settlements are unheard of, and getting last month’s earnings by the end of following month is considered good. This was his first time receiving such immediate feedback.

He had originally thought Mega-Entertainment’s contract terms about 90-10 revenue split were completely fake. Given the current Star Entertainment ecosystem, newcomers getting 30% of their earnings would already be considered the company being generous.

Zhou Zongyun never expected Mega-Entertainment to actually give the vast majority of earnings to the streamers. They even included a detailed breakdown of large gifts in the appendix documents, making it easy for them to verify if the gifts roughly matched their salaries.

The “typing” indicator next to Yu Yu’s avatar in the chat box disappeared, replaced by prolonged silence.

After five minutes, Zhou Zongyun finally sent a message: [Bro, how much did you receive?]

Yu Yu: [Uh, nearly 200,000]

Unlike his previous cold, persuasive tone, Yu Yu’s reply was followed by a fox spinning in circles emoji.

After maintaining an awkward silence for a while longer, Zhou Zongyun replied: [Bro, maybe you should go claim the red packets in the group after all]

Yu Yu: [Mhmm~~]

The next day, Zhou Zongyun’s group was scheduled to begin their livestream at 4 p.m. He had carefully ironed the performance outfit from the previous day, neatly packed it into a box, and brought it to the dressing room.

When it was his turn for makeup, the stylist merely glanced at the clothes in the box from across the room and casually asked, “Why did you all bring yesterday’s outfits?”

Zhou Zongyun was momentarily stunned. “Ah, aren’t we using them today?”

Liu Xiaolan, holding a large sketchbook filled with over a dozen styling drafts, replied offhandedly, “No need. We’re changing the looks todaythe scenes and styles are different every day.”

Zhou Zongyun was completely floored by Mega-Entertainment’s lavishness. “Then, don’t we need to return these clothes to the company? I saw online that they’re quite expensiveseems like a luxury brand, costing thirty to forty thousand per set…”

As a soft brush swept across his face, the stylist’s words felt almost surreal:

“Of course not, you can keep them for yourselves. Don’t worry, the company isn’t short on that kind of money.”

After hearing the stylist’s explanation, Zhou Zongyun was too shocked to speak.

First, there were random reward red envelopes of over three thousand, then the massive wages paid on the same day, and now thirty to forty thousand yuan outfits given away like nothing. He had never experienced such a positive work environment before.

Before signing with Mega-Entertainment as a streamer, he and Yu Yu had been commercial models under a subsidiary of Starry Galaxy, mostly shooting product images for clothing brands. Only on rare occasions did they get to walk in small-scale fashion shows. This was his first time facing an audience of over a hundred thousand viewers on such a large livestreaming platform.

Facing seven or eight cameras on set, he felt an inexplicable sense of ease.

Today’s theme was “Summer by the Sea.” Zhou Zongyun wore a brown shirt with three or four buttons undone, paired with beige striped beach shorts.

Thanks to the official promotional posts from the previous night, the viewer count stabilized at around 280,000 right from the starteven higher than the day before.

His movements were even more precise than yesterday, and he won several times during the gift request segment, performing over ten dances upon audience demand.

Even after the livestream ended, he still felt somewhat dazed.

Just as he stepped out of the streaming room, Zhou Zongyun bumped into Yu Yu, who had arrived early for makeup with the next group. Both wore expressions of unspoken awkwardness.

Surprisingly, Yu Yu was the first to speak, lowering his voice: “Brother Ruan asked me to secretly take photos of Mega-Entertainment’s stylists for him. Did you take any?”

Zhou Zongyun shook his head.

After experiencing such generous treatment at Mega-Entertainment, he would rather delay indefinitely than leak any information.

Yu Yu also breathed a sigh of relief and whispered, “I didn’t either. I told Brother Ruan that Mega-Entertainment disables terminal photography during makeup sessions. Don’t let it slip later.”

As the two whispered in the corridor, neither noticed the large group approaching from the far end

Fang Zhuo and Deng Jiaqiang had prepared three or four public relations strategies to counter corporate espionage from rival companies, but after a day and night, no smear campaigns had emerged.

On his way to the streaming room, Fang Zhuo spotted the two furtive figures from a distance. This time, however, their loyalty ratings were no longer 1 or 2both now displayed [Loyalty: 5].

It seemed Ruan Zihan clearly hadn’t paid them enough.

As they brushed past the two individuals, Fang Zhuo gave a light cough and, as expected, saw the panicked and guilty expressions on the faces of the two small streamers.

Zhou Zongyun quickly bowed and called out “Director Fang,” only to see the assistant following behind him hand him a large box of fruit from a bag.

“Head back early after your broadcast ends. The company doesn’t encourage overtime.”

Zhou Zongyun’s guilt and inner turmoil had reached their peak. He spent the next five days in a state of anxiety, fending off every message from Director Ruan urging him with the excuse that Mega-Entertainment’s confidentiality measures were too tight.

On the morning the competition began, Ruan Zihan sent seven or eight voice messages in a row, berating him harshly and issuing an ultimatum in the group chat with absolute certainty:

[Useless fools. You already know there are terminal signal jammers in the dressing roomscouldn’t you two just wait by the door for the stylists to come out?]

[Forget it, I can’t rely on your brains anyway.]

[Once I get both of you into the top six in the next couple of days, I want you to relay the daily filming content of Giant Entertainment Short Drama to me. Understood?]

It took Zhou Zongyun a long time to reply with a simple “Received.” He closed the chat interface and took several deep, steadying breaths.

The hype around Mega-Entertainment’s Group Broadcast competition format had already exploded across the entire StarNet. Even the least popular streamers had managed to gather fan groups numbering in the thousands.

The moment the live stream began on the sixth day, the viewer count surged to a peak not reached in the previous five days, with nearly 400,000 people on a single platform alone.

The large screen at the front displayed real-time comments from five different platforms. Each of Star Entertainment’s streaming platforms was in competition with the others, and Zhou Zongyun had no idea how Mega-Entertainment had managed to get the other platforms to compromise on this simultaneous broadcast model.

It seemed that, with enough money, even such established streaming platforms could be swayed.

The comments flew by so fast they were barely more than blurs. Even before the competition officially started, extravagant and exaggerated gift effects appeared one after another without pause at the bottom of the screen.

Holding a microphone, Fang Zhuo briefly explained the rules for the first round:

“Thank you for your patience. On the first day of the competition, we will proceed with six groups. Each streamer in a group will have six minutes for a dance performance and a vote appeal. The vote appeal segment will be conducted over three rounds.”

“During this time, the ranking chart will update in real time. All viewers can check the overall rankings and add gifts at any time.”

“At 9 PM tonight, the full ranking of all thirty streamers across the six groups will be officially announced. Only the top twenty will advance to tomorrow’s blind voting round.”