After clearing away the annoying Connie, it was a smooth, crushing victory for Adonis’s squad. Their points soared rapidly as they finished clearing the battlefield, collected all the energy stones, and promptly submitted their mission. Throughout the entire process, Adonis did not even lose a scrap of skin.
Tracy, after admiring the slick operations of his consort, froze in front of the streaming terminal, stunned.
“The host must be shocked by the female’s combat power.” A bullet comment drifted across the screen.
“No, if the host is truly a male, his impression of this female must have hit rock bottom.”
Some viewers provided a logical analysis: “Females are generally warlike, irritable, and filled with violent tendencies. They only wear a mask when in front of males. If the host were really a male, he definitely would not like Adonis’s type.”
“If you don’t like Adonis, do you like Connie instead? That evil face of his is what makes bugs want to vomit!”
Did Tracy not like it?
He liked it far too much!
He was even impatient to ask Adonis for a demonstration on how to use those cool steel guns. When the tip of the gun was aimed at Connie, his heartbeat nearly hit the roof!
He truly was a female with an intense personality; he was like solid ice, yet also like a raging flame and boiling magma, radiating lethal masculine charm. When he stood as an opponent, he was terrifying, but if he were a teammate, imagining that alongside Lurie and Conrad felt absolutely exhilarating!
Tracy tapped his fingertips on the table, joyfully awaiting his consort’s victorious return. Meanwhile, the chat had erupted into chaos, with everyone arguing their points and demanding Tracy deliver a verdict.
Tracy replied sincerely: “Of course I like such a female. Don’t you think he seems to be shining? A distinct personality, powerful individual combat strength—is this not worth admiring?”
The bugs were in an uproar.
“Isn’t it said that male Lords only like delicate sub-males?”
Therefore, everyone currently considered sub-males to be the standard of beauty. Countless females had abandoned powerful combat strength to find ordinary, mundane jobs, all to ensure their aggression levels remained low. Some females even deliberately starved themselves to look thin, thinking their frail figures would appear more safe.
“How could that be?” Seeing these sentiments, Tracy sighed. “Health is the most beautiful thing. You don’t need to feel wronged or change yourselves for the sake of males.”
“To step back a thousand steps, clean water, fresh food, and a safe shelter all require a massive amount of contribution points. Isn’t a powerful female capable of creating a better living environment for a male, which is why military females are so sought after?”
Just like him, the candidates he had been dragged to see for blind dates were all legion commanders and generals from various military branches. It was precisely because of this incentive mechanism that females were willing to travel to the cold, harsh frontiers and dangerous asteroids. Military females, positioned at the top of the Zerg food chain and able to acquire vast amounts of contribution points, naturally became the top choice for males.
Once these remarks were made, the females were stunned. Because males were such an absolute minority, they had no way to understand or interact with them up close. They only knew that males were cold, arrogant, and fastidious; they despised the strength of females and treated military females with harsh, violent attitudes. On front-page headlines, there were always stories of military females being whipped until they were drenched in blood. They had never known that there could be a male who would see their brilliance and not withhold praise.
“This female is so brave! How dare he randomly speculate on the Lord’s thoughts?”
“That is right, he is only going to mislead us. In this era, softness is beauty!”
“What is so great about military females? As long as we get to meet a male Lord, we will lower ourselves, do everything in our power, and we will surely win their favor! Perhaps after one night, we will be pregnant with a bug egg!”
Such remarks became rampant, and Tracy said seriously: “Not all males are fond of promiscuity. That is a stereotypical impression of males.”
Tracy was also a victim of this.
He truly did not want to be sprayed with pheromones every time he walked down the street. Perhaps this was also the reason why males had to act cold and aloof. Once they gave females a friendly face, they easily misunderstood and began to overstep boundaries.
Tracy noticed his screen flash, and his terminal went offline.
What was going on?
Had he been removed?
Tracy could not believe it. He restarted his terminal, but it kept showing a black screen.
What the heck!
Tracy, who was in the middle of a heated argument and forced to disconnect, felt somewhat frustrated. Before long, a buzzing sound, annoying to any bug, echoed outside the window.
“Respected Lord.”
The little blue sphere bowed to him: “According to Article 1688 of the Interstellar Law, every bug can only bind to one terminal. Your recent stream was illegal, so I temporarily cut off your signal.”
“But I have streamed before with no issues?” Tracy asked, blinking in confusion.
He watched helplessly as the little blue sphere extended a mechanical arm and gently removed the terminal hidden behind his wrist.
“You were not considered a citizen of the First High-Level Star previously,” the little blue sphere said apologetically: “There are always management oversights in the Black District; it was my fault for not discovering this sooner, but I must correct this error now.”
“We have purchased a brand new terminal for you. It will transfer your previous account information, and you will gain the right to browse the entire Star Network while enjoying all the privileges of a male Lord.”
The mechanical arm unfolded to reveal a brand-new silver terminal equipped with holographic projection capabilities. It was the latest poster model designed by the Universal Technology Company, which Tracy had seen on advertisements only two days prior.
Well, they even had the plan ready.
It seemed he could not refuse.
Tracy fiddled with his new terminal and was satisfied with this compensation. But after Tracy understood how to use it, he looked up in confusion: “Why haven’t you left yet?”
The little blue sphere swayed as if feeling shy: “We conducted real-time monitoring of your stream just now. We discovered that the viewers’ mood happiness levels were very high, and the overall social hazard level dropped by five percent.”
Tracy: “So?”
Did they want to give him some kind of reward?
“So we would like to invite you to participate in a social observation and improvement activity initiated by the Judgment Tribunal.”
The avatar of the Judgment Mainframe introduced: “The reputation of males is currently plummeting, and I have to censor tens of millions of entries every day.”
Most of them were complaints from low-level females. They said there were so few males that they would not find a male Lord in this lifetime, so they might as well lie flat. There were also females who worked hard for half their lives, only to finally find a male Lord and be brutally abused, their dreams shattered in an instant.
There were also bugs acting rashly. They wanted to simply capture a batch of males and lock them in the prisons of the Black District, handing them out as prizes to the thugs. Social conflicts were intensifying, and males were becoming increasingly demanding regarding the details of protection regulations. They were afraid to expose their information for fear of running into lunatics among the females; meanwhile, females were intensely craving interaction with males but did not know how to get along with them, instead treating the perverted males in social news as the entirety of male existence.
This made the high-ranking Lords of the Judgment Tribunal exceptionally troubled. They demanded a change in the reputation of males to fight for more rights for them, but out of a need for face, they needed to find a representative bug. This male’s status could not be too high, or the females would not be able to reach him. He could not be too arrogant or fastidious, or it would intensify social contradictions. He also could not be too socially anxious or introverted, making it difficult to promote him as a typical case.
Actually, there were many normal males. They quietly married and existed; while sweet, they were not easily visible. They wanted to promote a star male and display reasonable, appropriate interactions between him and females; if they did that, the entire social atmosphere would become more guided. They had tried testing this with a few males before, but their conditions were all poor.
“So, you chose me?” Tracy raised an eyebrow.
The Judgment Mainframe nodded repeatedly: “That is the idea.”
“That is the idea.”
“We will invest traffic for you, allowing you to be displayed on the home page. But in return, you must stream for three hours every day, appearing as a male.”
The Judgment Mainframe’s abacus was clicking loudly: In the industry of streaming, a bug truly needed to step forward to break the stereotypes about males, create a fantasy for females, and allow these unstable factors to gradually stabilize. And Tracy was the best choice. Today, he had done no styling at all—a plain, bare face, a bird’s nest head, and even under the identity of a fake male, he had so many bugs crazily obsessed with him. If his true identity were revealed, the traffic he would welcome would certainly be terrifying!
Tracy pondered for a moment. According to the Judgment Mainframe, they would give him some specific topics and scenes to improvise on, along with a styling team to let him display male charm in the near future. Moving from being a freelancer to a team-based development, the primary consideration was the salary level.
“Is there a base salary? How does the split work?”
As a simple, small-town citizen, what Tracy cared about most was the distribution of income. Would they charge him an exorbitantly high tax?
The Judgment Mainframe’s information processing capability was indeed powerful; it quickly understood Tracy’s meaning.
“It is linked to male welfare.”
The Judgment Mainframe uttered one by one, with a cold, inorganic voice, the sweet words that were simply tempting to Tracy:
“We will issue living expenses to your terminal on time, sufficient to cover your daily expenses.”
“All entertainment facilities in the central district of the First High-Level Star are open to you; you can spend your time however you please.”
“Fixed partner merchants will name their products according to your streaming situation and will send you relevant gift packages for trial.”
There was such a good thing?
Tracy readily agreed.
A travel blogger, a product-review blogger, and a monthly base salary.
This was a god-sent job.
Tracy’s gaze toward the Judgment Mainframe became even gentler, as if he were looking at a little angel.
Although it was a bit shameless, he still brazenly asked: “How is the split for tips calculated?”
“It all belongs to you.”
Tracy immediately turned around and rummaged through his bag.
“What are you looking for?” the Judgment Mainframe asked considerately.
Tracy pulled out a pen and happily twirled it on his fingertip. A big, bright smile appeared on his lips: “Where is the contract for this public welfare and charity activity? I will sign it immediately!”