Chapter 4

"Thank you so much, Misty Nicky, for the 21 Grand Prize Gifts! Nick, I need to head out for a bit. I'll stream again later just for you, okay?" At that moment, Melody's sweet, melodic voice echoed through the livestream, instantly sending the small audience into a frenzy. They all melted at the sound of it. Nicholas casually sent a message in the chat before exiting the livestream. Back on his homepage, he noticed several new DMs. TubbyDoggo: "Can I ask you for a favor? How about lending me a couple hundred bucks for a meal?" Young and Ambitious: "Nicholas, my lord, can you shower some gold on me too? I don't need much, just enough for a pork rib meal." SweetiePie: "Nick, can we exchange numbers?" Nicholas smirked as he read Melody's message. Those 21 Grand Prize Gifts must have completely rocked her world—no doubt about it. For a small streamer with just over a thousand followers, getting that kind of reward was like hitting the jackpot. Honestly, even a few sports car gifts would have been enough to make someone like Melody instantly reach out. He sent her his number, then closed his DMs and logged out of TikTok. Slouching onto the couch in his living room, Nicholas pulled up his bank app and checked his balance—127,552 dollars. He pulled out a cigarette, lit it, and took a slow drag. Exhaling a stream of smoke, Nicholas could not help but grin in satisfaction. There was a reason he did not immediately capitalize on this and splurged on more pretty streamers for endless cashback rewards. It was straightforward. He was still processing the fact that he had just gone from a broke nobody to a guy sitting on a six-figure balance practically overnight. For someone his age, having more than ten thousand dollars in savings was already a huge deal. Just then, a WhatsApp notification popped up. Nicholas tapped on it and found that it was a message from Melody. Her profile picture was a full-body shot. She wore twin pigtails tied with blue ribbons and what looked like a school uniform-inspired outfit with a matching blue bow at the collar. Her pleated white skirt stopped just above her knees, revealing a pair of long, perfectly shaped legs. No stockings, no extra embellishments. Ordinarily, Nicholas preferred a little something extra—maybe some sheer tights to complete the look. Then again, with legs that good, who needed anything else? "Damn... absolute perfection." Nicholas took a deep breath, flicked his cigarette into the ashtray, and leaned back with a smirk. Not long after, a voice message popped up. Melody said, "Nick, I've got something to take care of. Can we talk later?" Nicholas listened to the message, then left it on read. Without replying, he exited WhatsApp, but instead of opening TikTok, he tapped on his novel app. Scrolling through his library, he clicked on an urban tycoon novel. Gifts were available—each worth 500 dollars. Without hesitation, Nicholas instantly spammed ten of them, dropping 5,000 dollars. Immediately after, a notification sound rang out. "Congratulations, Host! You have completed a transaction and received a 4x cashback reward!" That would be 20,000 dollars. Seeing another deposit of 20,000 dollars hit his account, Nicholas grinned in satisfaction. He had promised to support this author, so he did not overdo it. Sometimes, a gesture was enough—no need to stir up unnecessary trouble. Exiting the novel app, he opened TikTok. The moment he logged in, a loud, energetic voice greeted him. "Welcome! So glad to have you here! Come play some fun games with me!" Nicholas barely had time to react before the algorithm pushed a livestream onto his feed. He thought maybe it was because of the 21 Grand Prize Gifts he had sent earlier. Without clicking in, he glanced at the preview. A masked female streamer, wearing nude-colored stockings, was holding up a sign that read, "One tiny heart for one step on an acupressure mat. One big beer gift for three steps on an acupressure mat..." Nicholas chuckled and shook his head, thinking it was too basic. Then, he noticed the highest-tier punishment was just a sunglasses gift. Each pair of virtual sunglasses would cost 99 TikTok Diamonds, just about 9.90 dollars. Moreover, the so-called punishment was standing on an acupressure mat for a minute. It was just too cheap, and it was not even worth the effort. "Let's top up 100 thousand dollars first," Nicholas said as he navigated to his homepage and added more funds. Within moments, his balance updated to one million TikTok Diamonds. Just as he was about to scroll away, he accidentally clicked into the stream. The streamer's voice perked up the moment he entered, excitement evident in her tone as she greeted, "Welcome, Misty Nicky! Do you want to play a game?" Nicholas smirked and shook his head. Since he was already in, he might as well drop something. "Misty Nicky has sent 1x Sunglasses Gift to the streamer!" "Oh my! Thank you, Nick, for the sunglasses! As promised, I'll stand on the acupressure mat for the next minute!" Grinning, the streamer immediately kicked off her shoes. She stepped onto the mat, and the camera caught the slight twitch in her brows as the discomfort set in. Nicholas chuckled and shook his head. Of course, he knew it as easy as it seemed. However, he sent nine more sunglasses gifts without much thought. A total of ten, which was enough for ten minutes of punishment. He was about to leave when the streamer's voice rang out again. "Wow! Thank you so much, Nick, for the ten sunglasses! I'll be standing on the acupressure mat for ten whole minutes now! Everyone, don't forget to follow our top donor, Misty Nicky! Let's boost his followers!" Nicholas raised an eyebrow and thought, "Huh. She's actually good at giving emotional value." Since she knew how to play the game, he rewarded her with another 100 pairs of sunglasses. Eventually, the 110 pairs of sunglasses came out to 1,089 dollars. With TikTok's cut, the streamer would pocket around 544 dollars. But in return, she had to stand on the acupressure mat for 110 minutes. Honestly, it felt a little too long to stand on those things, and it was not exactly easy money. "Holy shit! Nick just sent another 100 sunglasses! Oh my god, I've never received this many gifts before! I have to screenshot this—it's unreal! Thank you, Nick!" Before long, the sound of screenshots filled the stream. The streamer bowed, thanked him repeatedly, and even wiped at the corners of her eyes as if she were tearing up. Nicholas smirked. He knew it was an act, but the emotional value was real. Without hesitation, he sent 300 pairs more sunglasses.