Rian Sinclair had never thrown money at a Best Actor in her entire life. With such a blatant opportunity right in front of her, how could she possibly pass it up?
And so, Rian began frantically topping up her Sharkstream Coins. Staring at the massive balance of one billion Sharkstream Coins, she clutched her trembling fingers.
She thought, "This is totally worth it!"
Evan Rivers casually answered questions from his fans. Noticing the virtual gifts rolling in, he told them not to send too many and to only give what they could afford.
When the fans refused to listen, Evan’s signature sharp tongue made an appearance. He raised his eyes, looking at the stubborn viewers on his screen. "Trying to throw money at me? You?"
Evan was famous for his biting wit. He had never hidden his identity as the only son of the Rivers Family in the entertainment industry. After all, he only joined showbiz for fun because he loved acting.
His fans naturally knew his background, but every single one of them had a rebellious streak. They were dead set on "sugar-mommying" him. As a result, Evan and his fandom had a notoriously hilarious love-hate relationship.
[I’m so mad! I hate that I’m broke! I can’t afford to keep our Evan!]
[To the person above: Evan’s family has been wealthy for a century. Give it up.]
[Evan, how can your 98.6-degree mouth spout such ice-cold words?!]
[Seeing Evan’s disdainful little side-eye just makes me even more excited! I’m going to sell everything I own to support my man!]
[Our Best Actor’s tongue is too sharp!]
[You’re never going to find a partner acting like this!]
[Speaking of which, he is already twenty-five this year, but there hasn’t been a single dating rumor about him.]
[The year before last, they said he entered a hotel with a mysterious woman, but it turned out to be President Evan’s childhood friend—he just happened to have long hair!]
[And the year before that, they said he was vacationing in The Azure Sea with a gorgeous woman. It turned out to be Evan’s mother! As soon as the gossip dropped, his dad used the official Rivers Group corporate account to announce that she was his wife!]
[Stop, just stop! It’s nothing but tears!]
[I really worry my heart out for him!]
[Evan is too good. He’s always doing charity work and keeps his nose completely clean. I even suspect the mosquitoes around him are all male!]
[Family, let’s stop chatting. Send gifts if you have them; tap the like button if you don’t. It’s so rare for him to stream! Even if he’s not doing it just for us, we need to help Evan go further on his charity journey!]
[My mom gave me a hundred thousand in pocket money. I’m going to spend half of it on gifts.]
[I only have three hundred thousand left in allowance this month. I can’t send him too many gifts.]
[My family owns a factory, and I just so happen to manage it. I just made a quick couple of million, so I’ve got the funds to shower our Best Actor with gifts!]
[Not gonna lie, I feel like the average Evan fan is a filthy rich sugar mommy.]
[Boohoo, look at me, Evan! I’m not like them; they only know how to throw money at you, but I only know how to cherish you~]
...
Rian massaged her knuckles for a moment, then selected the most expensive virtual gift—the Treasure Map—and began continuously tapping the "Send" button.
Immediately after, a barrage of Treasure Map special effects flooded the stream.
When a dozen or so were sent, everyone thought nothing of it. When dozens were sent, they praised Evan’s fans for being so generous. It wasn’t until the count broke past a hundred that the viewers began discussing which wealthy sugar mommy had joined the fray. Watching the never-ending stream of Treasure Maps, the people in the chat could no longer sit still.
[Wait, which rich lady is this? How come I’ve never seen her around?]
[This rich lady has some hardcore tastes. Innocent Maiden Pigsy?]
[Who is this? Evan’s new fan or the alt account of one of the top spenders?]
[This username looks so familiar!]
[I was lured in by the Treasure Map global announcement. The last time I was lured into a stream like this was just a little while ago.]
[This rich lady is packing some serious firepower!]
[She’s sent over eight hundred and she still isn’t stopping!]
[She must have spent over a hundred million by now!]
[Gasp! It’s this woman again!]
[Ahhh! Miss Innocent, I’m here!]
...
Evan also noticed "Innocent Maiden Pigsy" crazily showering his stream with gifts, and she hadn’t stopped her combo yet.
At this moment, the Treasure Map count had already crossed a thousand. There was still no sign of it stopping, though the speed of the gifts had noticeably slowed.
Watching the Treasure Map count hit 1,200, Rian really didn’t want to move anymore. She felt like her fingers were going to fall off. Right now, she just wanted to file a complaint with Sharkstream’s official support. Couldn’t they increase the bulk sending limit? Why did she have to tap them one by one?
In Evan’s stream, the barrage of Treasure Maps finally came to a halt. A total of 1,200 Treasure Maps had been sent, costing a staggering six million.
But Rian had recharged one billion coins. She hadn’t even spent half of her balance yet, though her fingers were genuinely exhausted to death.
Tossing her iPad aside, she began rubbing her knuckles and fingertips. Shortly after, an urgent ringtone blared. Seeing an unfamiliar phone number on her screen, Rian immediately hung up.
However, a few seconds after she declined the call, her phone started ringing again. It was the exact same number.
Rian answered the call, put it on speaker, and tossed the phone aside.
A rustling sound came from the other end of the line, followed by a slightly flattering and cautious voice. "Hello, may I ask if this is Miss Rian Sinclair, also known as ’Innocent Maiden Pigsy’? I am an official representative from Sharkstream, Mr. Chen. I am currently in charge of the live-streaming division."
She wasn’t surprised that the caller had stated his affiliation and recognized her identity. After all, as the premier live-streaming and short-video app, all its users had to pass real-name authentication. The platform was probably calling her because of her exceptionally high spending. "Is there something you need from me officially?" she asked.
Mr. Chen was likely stunned to hear such a young voice, but he recovered after a moment. "Hello, Miss Sinclair. In light of your high consumption on Sharkstream, our official team will be opening a special VIP channel just for you.
"Regarding virtual gifts, we have increased your combo limits. Your minimum combo is now two, and your maximum is 9,999. You can also customize the combo value within this range. This will make it much more convenient for you to reward your favorite streamers.
"Additionally, our backend team has adjusted your top-up options. The original top-up tiers remain unchanged, but we have added a custom amount feature for you. You can now manually input the exact amount you wish to recharge, and the Sharkstream Coins will be credited to your account instantly. This will prevent you from getting fatigued by having to make continuous top-ups.
"Lastly, we have also discussed designing a custom entrance effect and an exclusive virtual gift solely for your use. May I ask if you have any specific requests for these two features?"
Mr. Chen quickly relayed all the key points with impeccable timing, ensuring he wouldn’t come off as overly verbose or annoying. Rian was quite pleased to hear about these changes; after all, sending so many gifts manually really was a hazard to her hands.
However, she didn’t have any specific demands for the entrance effect or the exclusive gift. She simply instructed him to set the price of the exclusive gift at one hundred thousand coins each, and told him to figure out the rest on their end.
Once they finished their discussion, Rian hung up the phone.
She picked up the iPad she had tossed aside, force-closed the Sharkstream app, and re-entered Evan’s stream. Opening the gift menu, she saw that she could indeed manually input the quantity now. She couldn’t help but mentally give Sharkstream a thumbs-up for their efficiency.
Looking at her remaining coins, Rian immediately typed in 9,999 Treasure Maps and hit send. She wanted to fire off another wave of 9,999, but noticed her balance was insufficient. Rian went to top up her account with more Sharkstream Coins. Fortunately, the top-up interface had already been updated, so she simply deposited another one hundred million in one go.
As soon as the Sharkstream Coins hit her account, Rian unleashed another wave of 9,999 Treasure Maps. With two consecutive combos of 9,999 Treasure Maps deployed, the entire stream experienced a momentary lag, and the chat froze for a split second. What followed was a screen completely smothered in a frenzy of scrolling messages.