Popularity is everything; I play a super genius.

Chapter 4 Villain Characters

Viewers flooded into the live stream and discovered that Qi Ji actually had a prediction contest.

But there are just too many options, aren't there?

All the streamers with their own channels were included, including even those who hadn't started streaming yet.

"Guys, the suspect must be this masked man, otherwise why would only his livestream have a betting feature?"

"Exactly! It must have been that evil masked man!"

"Don't try to make your sleeping god laugh. I watched his livestream all morning, and he slept all morning!"

"Honestly, the suspects are definitely one of those characters who aren't streaming. Committing a crime while streaming live is just too stupid, isn't it? The production team wouldn't do something so laughable."

"A reasonable analysis: Whoever didn't broadcast is the most suspicious!"

"Also, those who were broadcasting but suddenly stopped during their lunch break are very suspicious!"

These words sent a chill down the spines of many fans who follow Liuli.

"Could it be Liuli?"

"Impossible! Absolutely impossible!"

"Brothers, give Sakiji a good rinse, it must have been Sakiji who did it!"

There were all sorts of guesses in the comments, but in terms of the votes, Qi Ji's name stood out from the crowd and was far ahead.

……

When Qi Ji returned to the classroom, everyone was still attacking Huo Mu.

That scene could only be described as bullying.

There are two reasons why things have escalated to this point:

Firstly, because Huomu's father's act of "stealing fire" was so heinous that he, as the son, also became an object of public scorn.

Secondly, someone is secretly activating the "Mind Echo" at this moment, silently provoking and amplifying the malice and prejudice in everyone's heart.

Qi Ji yawned, walked back to his seat as if it were none of his business, slumped onto the table, and fell asleep immediately.

But after a short while, he seemed to have finally had enough of the noise, picked at his ear, and said in a low voice:

"It's so noisy."

The moment the words were spoken, the crowd, which had been in a state of high excitement, fell silent.

The reason is simply because the person who spoke was Saki, known as the "Miracle of the Fire".

—He was able to complete second-tier missions solo during his preparatory period and was hailed as "the number one genius of the City of Fire".

It is said that when he was ten years old, his strength had already surpassed all the teachers in the preparatory school.

During his graduation assessment, he single-handedly set a record that is unprecedented and will likely never be repeated.

The live chat exploded instantly:

"Holy crap, is this the kind of dominance a streamer can have?"

"One sentence shut the whole class up; masked guy, you deserve my attention!"

"What do you mean by 'status'? This is what you call 'status'!"

Under everyone's watchful eyes, Saki slowly stood up.

Huo Mu looked at him, and a strange expectation involuntarily rose in her heart.

Could it be... that he's going to help me?

However, it seems that Saki simply finds the classroom too noisy.

He didn't say anything extra, and didn't even glance at anyone.

With his hands in his pockets, he strode out of the classroom under everyone's gaze.

Apart from saying "It's so noisy," he didn't say another word.

But it made the entire classroom instantly fall into such silence that you could hear a pin drop.

The comments section immediately started scrolling again:

"Holy crap... they're gone already?"

"Brother Ji, don't go! Please help Huomu!"

"You're overthinking it. My brother Ji only cares about sleeping."

"Do you even understand the true value of being called the God of Sleep?!"

"Let's all go, let's all go. I bet five cents that your Brother Ji is definitely back on the rooftop taking a nap again."

Just as the comments predicted, Saki returned to the rooftop once again, as if she were back home.

He lay comfortably in a familiar spot, as if nothing in the outside world mattered to him.

He was just sleeping.

"Your brother Ji is an amazing person too!"

"Such enviable sleep quality!"

As everyone was making comments, a comment suddenly flashed by:

"Brothers, let's go! Love and Redemption is starting its live stream!"

With just that one sentence, the number of viewers in Qi Ji's live stream instantly dropped by more than half.

Seeing the sudden drop in popularity, Qi Ji's brows twitched involuntarily beneath his mask.

His money...

This is all his money!

It's important to know that the daily popularity score for a personal channel is calculated based on the average popularity during the live stream.

You little devil, Liuli! You're trying to steal my popularity by starting your live stream?

Qi Ji silently made a note of Liu Li in his notebook.

He clicked into Liuli's live stream and discovered that not only had Liuli stolen his popularity, but she was also secretly teasing him...

He immediately added another entry to his notebook.

Indeed, when viewers enter Liuli's personal channel from their own perspective, Qiji can hear Liuli's inner thoughts, which are expressed in the live stream as part of a performance, just like ordinary viewers.

"Ugh! They've been hogging the rooftop, it's such a nuisance."

Liuli stood at the corner of the corridor, the shadows obscuring the upper half of her face.

Thin-rimmed glasses, used to suppress echoes, rested on the small bridge of the nose, their lenses reflecting a cold light.

The girl still wore her usual gentle and obedient smile, but paired with such villainous lines and gloomy lighting, that smile suddenly looked somewhat sickly and creepy.

Upon seeing this, the comments section erupted in surprise:

"Holy crap?! Ruri, you..."

"Liuli, why have you suddenly changed? Are you a villain after all??"

"Give me back the kind and harmless beautiful girl, Ruri, from just now!"

"Guys, isn't this even more exciting? I love bad women!"

"I knew it! There was something fishy about Liuli's live stream ending! The culprit who stole the crystal has already confessed!"

Despite revealing a completely different persona so early on, the number of viewers in Liuli's live stream actually increased rather than decreased.

After all, what initially attracted viewers to Liuli was not her personality, but her incredibly high-stat character model.

As long as her character model isn't nerfed, her core fanbase will remain stable.

Furthermore, since Liuli revealed this side of herself during her lunch break, she was the prime suspect for stealing the crystal.

As a result, a large number of viewers from the main live stream and Qiji's live stream suddenly flooded in.

In the prediction section of Qi Ji's live stream, Liu Li's votes skyrocketed.

……

At this very moment, the tension in the classroom reached its peak, under Liuli's covert manipulation.

"Believe you? Why should we believe the son of a sinner!"

"You want us to believe you? Go ahead and jump off the roof right now, then we'll believe you!"

It is worth mentioning that during the lunch break, some students with strong physical abilities or those who had awakened some of their echo abilities did jump directly from the third floor.

But that's completely different from jumping off a rooftop that's eighteen stories high.

"What? You're scared now?"

"Scared? That just means you have something to hide!"

"Exactly!"

Harsh words came like knives.

Huo Mu gritted his teeth, his eyes reddening with anger.

The boy's rational mind, under the constant influence of Liuli, finally teetered on the brink of collapse.

In the corridor, Liuli leaned against the wall.

The girl's smile grew sweeter, and at the same time, her innermost thoughts echoed softly in the live stream:

"Huomu, I really envy you... You have the right to decide your own life and death."

"very nice."

"Then let me help you..."

"To help you find liberation."

"I'll help you get to that... place I can't go."

……

……