“Don’t be so shy on stage. Communicate well with the big spender. I think this President Ku is someone who keeps his cards close to his chest. Make sure you seize this opportunity—you might even get more votes tonight.”
Hearing this, An Mengyue rolled her eyes slightly and stifled a sigh in her throat.
Seeing her impatient attitude, the operator suppressed his irritation and continued, “This is how we make our money. Everyone contributes voluntarily. You need to fix that mindset, got it?”
No, no, no! She sighed again.
Seeing how impervious she was to his words, the operator felt frustrated at her lack of progress. As he left, he threw out one last line, “Have a good chat with the big spender, got it?!”
An Mengyue added another generous eye roll for good measure. After confirming he was truly gone, she picked up her phone again. “You heard that, right? They all want you to spend money. Don’t fall for their tricks.”
He had heard the entire conversation clearly. His increasingly impatient tone was a perfect reflection of just how infuriating she must have looked.
He let out a snorting laugh. “How are you so cute?”
Seeing his unserious demeanor, An Mengyue furrowed her brows and spoke one word at a time: “I’m being serious with you.”
“Mm, I know.”
“Why didn’t you come to me?”
Not understanding what he meant, she asked in confusion, “Huh?”
“Why didn’t you ask me to join the Guild Tournament?”
“Wouldn’t asking you just be asking you to spend money? That’s no good. So I didn’t.”
He didn’t hang up, and she didn’t think to either. They just kept chatting like this, and the taut string inside her finally relaxed. Fatigue crept in, and An Mengyue covered her mouth with her hand to stifle a yawn.
Hearing her drowsiness, he said, “Tired? Get some sleep.”
“A little. I’ll just close my eyes for a bit. We’ll talk later.”
The noisy sounds suddenly went quiet. An Mengyue fell asleep within seconds of lying down.
From ten to eleven o’clock, the celebratory cannons didn’t stop for a single moment. The screen was flooded with gifts until everyone’s eyes went numb. The couriers from each team were running nonstop, and both hosts’ voices had grown noticeably hoarse.
Jiang Mingzhou looked at the photo sent in the chat window. An Mengyue was curled up on a black sofa, the room’s lights bright, sleeping deeply with one arm pillowed under her head. She looked completely exhausted.
Feeling a gentle shake on her shoulder, An Mengyue slowly opened her eyes to see Shark. She sat up and pressed her fingers against her temples.
“Three more until it’s your turn. Get up and prepare.”
[A Yue: I’m up. Felt much better after that nap]
[MZ: Then go back up there and stand like a statue]
[A Yue: …]
Top 15 to top 10, and now it was time for the solo stage vote-pulling segment.
“Hello everyone, I’m Maomao from Wan Tang 2016. Tonight, I want to thank my baobaos so much for pushing me this far. Thank you to my coolest, most handsome boss! Thank you for supporting me unconditionally. As long as you’re here, I feel at ease.”
She then tilted her head and flashed a brilliant smile at the camera.
After that came Coolest Villain’s carnival solo show—whatever was missing, he’d make up the difference.
Brother Feng should be very familiar with this scene.
They kept going until one in the morning. The score had reached 4.3 million, securing a spot in the top ten.
President Ku’s title had fully evolved into Emperor Ku!
Dongdongmao’s four million points were all thanks to him alone. Countless fans in the livestream were won over by his wealth, and even more people were anticipating Dongdongmao’s performance.
Coolest Villain had leveled up from 38 to 52 tonight, and his followers had grown from 20 to over 1,000.
This man was impossible to read or predict.
He had never made her any promises.
He never said he would come for the weekly matches or the Guild Tournament, yet he always showed up right on time, bringing her unexpected surprises.
With Coolest Villain around, there were no surprises.
Catcat’s fans pulled up their little stools, crouched in front of their screens, binge-watching this satisfying drama, afraid of missing a single detail.
An Mengyue had lost count of how many times she had stepped on stage.
Top 10 to Top 5, but everything that had just happened was like copy-paste—there was no sign of it stopping. As long as she stood on that stage, her score would just barely pass.
By the time she reached fifth place, her hand holding the microphone was already trembling, her voice choking up, and the unease growing stronger by the second.
After stepping off stage, An Mengyue hugged Tutu and burst into tears on the spot. Shark stood nearby, eyes reddening as well.
No one had expected this. Other contestants had hundreds or thousands of fans pooling their resources together, but Coolest Villain had carried her into the top three all by himself.
The fan group was absolutely exploding at this point—everyone was hyped beyond belief, the screen flooded with messages: “Long live Emperor Cool!”
By the time she reached the top three, her base score had climbed to 700,000 points. An Mengyue and Qiqi were on stage together, rallying for votes.
A 700,000-point base meant it was just 24 Carnival gifts from Coolest Villain. She hadn’t even said a word before the votes had already passed her through.
Shark also jumped on as host, screaming at the top of her lungs: “Emperor Cool! Catcat’s guardian god! The coolest, the most awesome Emperor Cool!”
Qiqi’s side could only scrape together 300,000 points in the end, stopping at third place.
An Mengyue was already second, but if she kept going forward…
First place was something she didn’t even dare to imagine.
Lizi stepped on stage and gave her a gentle smile, standing beside her.
The camera panned across the two of them. Lizi was composed and graceful, wearing a smile, while An Mengyue beside her was teary-eyed, sobbing softly, her little mouth turned down, red lips trembling slightly.
“Dongdongmao, tonight’s dark horse!”
“We’ve now reached second place—truly unexpected. This is our Catcat’s first time participating in the Guild Tournament, and making it this far is already an incredible achievement. Thank you to Emperor Cool for single-handedly carrying Catcat this whole way.”
“The score? Currently, Catcat is 1.2 million points behind Lizi.”
An Mengyue slowly picked up the microphone, took a deep breath, and tried her hardest not to let the tears fall. “Thank you, Boss Cool!…”
The moment she opened her mouth, she saw the screen flooded with gifts—all unfamiliar IDs. Lizi’s side had already sent out three rounds of express deliveries before she realized it was the opposing side topping up votes. She quickly handed the microphone over.
Tutu ran on stage to hand her a tissue. She leaned her head against Tutu’s shoulder—at this moment, she needed that kind of support.
“Keep going, Catcat!”
An Mengyue nodded and wiped away her tears. Her pupils reflected the constantly flashing special effects, her gaze fixed on the leaderboard.
Coolest Villain was hanging right there at second place on the rankings.
She had a feeling he still wasn’t done…
“Catcat, restarting the timer for two minutes. 9.82 million points to catch up to Lizi—that’s a bit of a gap, isn’t it? But! What if a miracle happens?”
Unexpectedly, Lizi’s round of topping up had directly surpassed her entire night’s total score.
That gap was one she didn’t want to chase even a tiny bit!
An Mengyue pursed her lips into a smile as tears slid down the corners of her eyes. Her voice thick with a nasal tone, she said, “Making it this far is already a miracle for me.”
“Tonight, I feel that my fans, my Baobaos, have already created too many impossibilities and surprises for me. Thank you, Coolest Villain! You’ve really worked hard! I’m already overwhelmed by this honor, and the road ahead is still long…”
【Coolest Villain: Don’t want to take first place?】(Screen-Floating Message)