Chapter 116 - The worth of an anchor.
Thank you to the 2 Anons for your Ko-Fis!
They did not go further into the topic on the way back. When they returned to their apartments, Kang Shengzhe went to install his equipment to prepare for his live broadcast while You Liangxing took the time to find the official homepage for MengMao TV. It was only then that You Liangxing understood what Kang Shengzhe meant when he said he was ‘currently fighting with all the anchors in MengMao’.
For the past few days, MengMao TV started broadcasting a ranking competition between anchors and all the anchors were required to participate. The ranking competition consisted of a twenty-minute PK battle and the two anchors’ broadcasting rooms would go live at the same time. The fans could give the anchor they liked praises and gifts in the shared room, which would all be calculated into the final statistics of their popularity value to determine the victor, who would be allowed to proceed to the next match.
As a matter of course, the anchors in the top twenty of the ranking list would be issued an honorary title and a large sum of money.
After reading through the foundational competition rules, You Liangxing roughly understood why the platform was doing this. While the competition appeared to be quite meaningless, it was essentially trying to stimulate consumption. The so-called ranking list was calling for the fans to smash money at their favourite anchors to prove their popularity through heaps of flowers to attain the first place.
Concurrently, this sort of competition also had a huge impact on the anchors under the website. The award money sounded nice, but the most important thing was that the final ranking determined the anchor’s reputation and position in the website for the next half of the year.
Question: which anchor didn’t want to be called the most popular on MengMao TV?
Perhaps because the platform was taking the anchors who were weaker in popularity into consideration, they allowed the biggest anchors curated from a comprehensive algorithm to enter the quarter finals directly, thus leaving more opportunities for the other anchors. However, while the seeded anchors included Piaoluo and Howling Wolf, KK was not included.
“According to the website’s logic, the comprehensive algorithm takes popularity, qualifications and records of service and the amount of time live broadcasted into account. My popularity is high enough, but my qualifications and time served is not up to par, therefore...”
Therefore, he had to start fighting from the first round?
You Liangxing did not voice it but his heart had its own calculations. Fighting from the first match was not a difficult thing to do where Kang Shengzhe was concerned. No one could win against him, but therein lied the problem.
Precisely because no one could fight him, all the anchors who competed against him were phased out of the competition early, even if they were initially capable of reaching the top twenty. Meeting Kang Shengzhe was equivalent to exiting the arena with regrets.
Which meant that victory or defeat was not important, the most crucial thing was that... from beginning to end, he was offending too many people.
This feeling was similar to that of the basketball match against the Physical Education Institute. Try this for size: originally, a competitor could have entered the finals but due to bad luck, they met the champion in the first match and the opportunity slipped out their fingers as a result. Even if it was exchanged with anyone else, they could not accept it either.
You Liangxing could not resist the urge to fall into deep contemplation. With the perspective of a businessman, Kang Shengzhe’s current popularity and position should make him the main pillar and the money shaking tree of MengMao TV, but the choice of placing Kang Shengzhe on a path of elimination made MengMao’s table manners extremely unsightly.
For the sake of making Kang Shengzhe’s fans pour in money on his road to ranking, they had placed Kang Shengzhe on the other side of all of the anchors... it was not excessive to say that they were truly short-sighted.
If he had to give his opinion, a money-shaking tree like Kang Shengzhe ought to be protected with the utmost care.
You Liangxing closed the page he was skimming and asked: “Kang Shengzhe, you should probably switch to another platform.”
Kang Shengzhe laughed softly, but he chose not touch the underlying meaning of his words as he responded, “Switching isn’t a bad idea. As long as they can give me a price that allows me to raise Liang Liang, I don’t mind going anywhere.”
“Kang Shengzhe, do you want to...”
You Liangxing hesitated. He was about to speak again but Kang Shengzhe was already done with his preparations. Since it was happening in real time, the live broadcasting room was lively with activity and it was business as per usual.
【KK fan army reporting in!!】
【Come come come!! I wanted to see which anchor wants to receive this old man’s big knife!】
【Trash K, you’re finally online, I’m about to die waiting.】
【KKKKKKKK, you’re finally here!】
【Itching to have a go, been accumulating energy and waiting to act!!】
Kang Shengzhe hooked up his lips and the live broadcasting room stirred. As KK exchanged greetings with his audience, You Liangxing managed to skim through the competition schedule and realised that while Kang Shengzhe had been busy with his basketball practice, his night broadcasts remained consistent. Tonight’s broadcast featured the later stages since it was the quarterfinals to determine the final four and it was turn-based.
Now that it was shortlisting eight into four, the competition between fans were no longer just small fights and bickering because their gifts could easily reach several millions in MengMao currency which evidently proved the amount of gold an anchor could heap with their popularity.
However, at this point in time, it was also beneficial; the opponents who could match up to Kang Shengzhe were few in number, and if he was not going against Piaoluo tonight, then it would be Howling Wolf.
Having made some predictions in his heart, Kang Shengzhe’s live broadcasting room entered the matchmaking model and his audience who had been following him through three days of fighting, started getting excited in an instant.
【Who is it, who is it, who is it, who is it, who is it!!!】
【KK’s wives will never admit defeat!!】
【Everyone prepare yourselves!!! Charge!!】
Before the matchmaking, the two anchor’s rooms were independent of each other, but once they were paired up, it would become a shared room, thus giving both sides the option of which anchor they wanted to send the free flowers or their gifts to.
“Ding Dong—” The rooms collided. The frame of Kang Shengzhe’s live broadcasting room shifted in its entirety to the right side while a considerably memorable young man appeared.
Piaoluo.
Sure enough, it was one out of the two options. You Liangxing was not surprised.
The current match tonight was the first match before the semi-finals stage and this was the first time two heavyweight anchors met face to face. The fans’ enthusiasm ran particularly high and everyone could not help but voice their surprise for the match combination.
【AHHHHHH KK versus Piaoluo!! I knew that this day would come sooner or later!!】
【Spectating the fight between godly beings.】
【This is probably most exciting day for me this year.】
【Fight!! Fight!! What are you standing there for! Fight now!!】
【MengMao, did grime get into your get into your little brains when you were matchmaking, you’re truly capable!!】
Before Kang Shengzhe had the time to speak, Piaoluo smiled first, saying, “Wah, it really came quickly, it’s actually KK, I’m a little nervous.”
When his words landed, another voice came from Piaoluo’s live broadcasting room: “Don’t be nervous, what do you have to be scared of when I’m around?”
You Liangxing did not have an impression of this voice and he only thought that it was some passer-by because he was not the best when it came to recognising people. However, most of the fans in the live broadcasting room could not be more familiar with the voice, and they immediately brushed out a screen of comments.
【Howl howl howl howling husband!!】
【???? Did Husband just speak?? Howling Wolf??】
【Husband, Husband, I love you, all my cat villas belong to you.】
Indeed, it was Howling Wolf, the person who was deemed as the most popular in MengMao TV before Kang Shengzhe suddenly rose up with his veritable troops. This person was sharing the same microphone as Piaoluo.
Piaoluo said: “And I thought that my opponent tonight would be Big Wolf. It’s quite awkward for the two of us to be squeezed together, no?”
Despite saying that, not a trace of awkwardness could be seen on his expression and it retained its usual amiability instead, as if the upsetting conversation he had with Kang Shengzhe previously hadn’t occurred. Similarly, Howling Wolf laughed softly and he did not have any intention to leave the room and give the floor to Piaoluo and Kang Shengzhe.
Howling Wolf said: “KK ah, shall we play a game together?”
Leaving was not in his considerations, therefore he had to stay. In a PK room meant for two anchors, there was one sharing the same the same voice channel...
In other words, they wanted a two versus one.
It could be seen that no matter who Kang Shengzhe was matchmade with, whether it was Piaoluo or Howling Wolf, the results were bound to be the same because it was blatantly obvious that these two people were standing on the same line, with every intention to ally and fight against him.