Rebirth of an Anchor Ch. 5

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The rule was simple: within six hours, whoever had the highest live viewer count won.

As soon as the clock hit the start time, the dozen or so streamers in the "King of Glory" section all went live at once. A catchy title was half the battle, so everyone pulled out all the stops to grab attention.

Titles like—

"#1 Zhao Yun on the Server: 1v5 in the Jungle!"
"Haiyou's Prettiest Daji—Soft Voice, Softer Body~"
"Strongest Assassin 1v9 Showdown!"

Someone even tried pulling the Entertainment Channel style—

"Cutest Female Streamer Here, Please Take Care of Me, Big Brothers ♡"

Meanwhile, Han Shu's stream title was as simple as it got—

"Streamer Ah Shu."

No gimmicks, no clickbait. Clean and simple—like a breath of fresh air in the streaming world. Paired with his good looks, even through the screen, there was a cold, restrained vibe about him.

Han Shu's mindset was straightforward—he really did want to be that "breath of fresh air."

He had the looks, the voice, and a professional broadcasting background. His natural edge over the others was huge. If he started using flashy titles like that, it would only cheapen his image—and besides, once he debuted officially, that would just turn into blackmail material.

Fortunately, his starting popularity was high enough. He held steady in the channel's top three, and his handsome cover photo alone was enough to attract plenty of viewers. He didn't need gimmicks.

But when Han Shu absentmindedly checked on the lowest-ranked streamer—Xie Anran—his expression changed.

"Streamer Xiao Xie: Winning streak—lose one game and I'll give away a 288-skin."

Xie Anran's viewer count had shot up from 300 to 4,000. Most viewers were sticking around just to see if he'd lose and give out the prize—but he hadn't lost a single match.

After twenty straight wins, the chat started buzzing.

"This streamer's so good."
"Twenty wins in a row—what's your record?"
"Can you share your rune setup?"
"Show us your Xiao Qiao build!"
"He barely talks but he's so soft and cute!"
"Cutest male streamer confirmed lol 2333"

Along with the messages, small donations started coming in for Xie Anran.

Unlike other streamers, he didn't stop to thank anyone for their gifts. He just kept focusing on his ranked matches, maintaining his perfect record with his steady mid-lane play.

A few hours later, Xie Anran's popularity climbed to fourth place in the channel ranking.

When he saw that number, Han Shu had to admit—Xie Anran was smart. He'd only been streaming for a few days and had already figured out a way to make a comeback.

Watching Xie Anran's viewer count rise little by little, even someone as well-mannered as Han Shu couldn't help feeling uneasy—giving away 288-yuan skins? How was that any different from buying popularity with money? Even if it worked now, once he stopped giving out skins, would anyone still watch? Could that kind of strategy last?

Besides, Xie Anran was still a student who relied on boosting accounts to make ends meet. Ten skins worth 288 yuan each added up to almost three thousand. Where was he getting that kind of money?

You could say Xie Anran was so desperate to win that he hadn't even thought about the consequences.

There was only an hour left before the end of the time-slot competition. Xie Anran's popularity was only five thousand—nowhere near Han Shu's twenty-one thousand. At this rate, he was going to lose both the match and his dignity.

Thinking that, Han Shu forced himself to focus on his own stream, chatting and joking with the girls in his room. But that calm didn't last long—soon, he completely lost his composure, because Xie Anran's data panel suddenly changed drastically.

Then, across the top of the screen, an all-site announcement started flashing over and over again:

"Liangchen Meijing sent 1 Aircraft Carrier to 'Streamer Xiao Xie's' room."
"Liangchen Meijing sent 1 Aircraft Carrier to 'Streamer Xiao Xie's' room."
"Liangchen Meijing sent 1 Aircraft Carrier to 'Streamer Xiao Xie's' room."

It repeated ten times in total.

Donations were the main source of income for both streamers and the platform. Non-contracted streamers split revenue 70–30 with the site, while contracted ones split it 50–50.

On Haiyou Live, donation tiers were symbolized by ships: sailboat, speedboat, cruise ship, and aircraft carrier—each worth 5, 10, 100, and 1000 yuan respectively. Between these, there were smaller items like flowers, landmines, candles, and whips, representing various little "gimmicks."

Each donation came with on-screen effects. Smaller ones flashed by on the left side, while the bigger ones rolled across the top of the screen. But the aircraft carrier—worth 1000 yuan—came with a full-site announcement, meaning that no matter which live room or page you were on, you'd see who had sent one to whom.

And right now, that animation had appeared ten times in a row—ten aircraft carriers, ten thousand yuan.

The cartoon aircraft carrier glided slowly across the screen, leaving behind a trail of dazzling ripples that stung the eyes. Those ten aircraft carriers didn't just represent ten thousand yuan—they carried far more meaning than that.

"Liangchen Meijing" was the top streamer of Haiyou Live's gaming channel. He hadn't gone live today, but for some reason, he'd been drawn in by Xie Anran's title—and then hooked by his gameplay.

His arrival completely shifted the dynamic.

Within just ten minutes, Xie Anran's popularity shot up from five thousand to nineteen thousand, then twenty thousand, twenty-one thousand... until he surpassed Han Shu to become the top-ranked streamer in the category, stabilizing at around fifty thousand viewers.

Of course, these people weren't actually fans of Xie Anran—they were there to watch Liangchen Meijing.

"The boss found a new favorite again!"
"Followed. Boss, where to next?"
"This guy's pretty cute."
"Did he really give away skins?"
"The streamer's not reacting at all—he doesn't even fawn over Daddy?"
"Probably a newbie, doesn't know who Liangchen Meijing is."
"Hasn't given away any yet, because so far... he hasn't lost."
"That triple kill was sick, 666!"

Just as the chat was getting heated, Xie Anran suddenly stopped playing.

After a long while, Xie Anran stared blankly into the camera and said in a dazed voice, "Ah... so many... aircraft carriers."
They were actually for him. So much money... He should probably return it later...

Watching the whole thing, Han Shu couldn't help but tighten his grip on the mouse.

All credit goes to the original author
Feel free to pinpoint us if there are any grammar error or typos
Please don't use Guazi's translations to re-translate in other languages

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