Chapter 54: Live Streaming

Xie Sen entered the Starrnet. First he checked Brandt Star’s live streaming platform rankings, then went straight to the first platform, Trill’s, information page to check out the hosts and live streaming requirements. He looked it over and came to the conclusion that, simply put, there were no requirements.

As long as you were a citizen, you could become an anchor if you had an identity. There was  zero threshold. To open a live broadcast just required the relevant equipment, as for the live content there was no requirement, you could broadcast anything, including the modern ban on adult programs could also be excused, you just had to choose the right group.

He relayed the results to the contract beasts, then asked curiously, “Have you thought about what to broadcast?”

“Fighting!” The giant tiger jumped at the chance.

The spotted leopard said softly, “I can be cute.”

The black leopard, “I’ll be handsome.”

The giant wolf beast, “I can sing.”

Giant rhinoceros beast, “I can perform rhinoceros horn breaking boulders.”

Giant lion beast, “I can perform lion roar.”

The two giant elephant beasts said, “Give us a bucket of water. We can perform the water spray.”

Xie Sen was surprised. So they really weren’t just talking, even the live content had been considered! And also a very reliable look. He suspected that the giant rhinoceros beast’s performance was inspired by the TV’s chest crushing boulder!

After he listened to them, he actually had several items he wanted to see. The lion roars and the wolf howls were too cute and handsome to remove, and the rest of the ideas seemed to be quite interesting.

“A’Sen, cannot?” The contract beasts blinked their big round eyes, looked at him expectantly, and asked in one voice.

Xie Sen nodded, “Yes. Forget about the lion’s roar, and the wolf’s howl for now. It would be bad if this scared people. Until we find a suitable project, you can be the audience!”

Xie Sen rubbed their paws. “There will be a job for you, and the audience is important.”

The golden mane of the giant lion beast was smooth and shiny, and its muscular limbs were strong and powerful. The snow-white fur of the giant wolf beast was particularly good-looking, its pointed ears were covered with fluffy fur, which would make people want to touch them when they flicked smartly.

Xie Sen couldn’t think of what the two were suitable for, but he felt that with their appearances, they would like to be spectators on the sidelines.

They were coaxed, and their tails wagged happily again.

Xie Sen calmed the two, then contacted Sun Mao and told him about the live stream for the contract beasts. He concealed the fact that the contract beasts wanted to make money, just said that it would help people understand the contract beasts better.

Sun Mao was a bit surprised, and praised him, “A’Sen, you’re very kind. Many people will never see these kinds of contract beasts in their lifetime. You’re doing a great job by starting a live broadcast. It will deepen children’s knowledge of contract beasts.”

Xie Sen coughed awkwardly and lightly. He hadn’t even thought about it that much. The real reason was very vulgar, to make money.

Sun Mao finished then asked, not so assuredly, about safety. Xie Sen answered with great certainty that it would be fine. Sun Mao said he would have the feeding department staff cooperate, so Xie Sen said thanks and ended the communication.

Xie Sen then went online, and bought live streaming equipment. While they waited for the equipment, he applied to become a master broadcaster with live content about the daily life of contract beasts. For the group: everyone.

His application was quickly approved, and the system also assigned him a host assistant, 808, who added him as a friend shortly after. They then sent a series of host instructions, and finally said, “You are targeting everyone, so be careful not to broadcast inappropriate content for children. When will you start broadcasting?”

“In the afternoon.”

“Okay. If you don’t understand anything, find me again,” 808 said, and disappeared.

Brandt Star StarLive had a lot of people, and each assistant managed a lot of anchors. Their wages were linked to the anchor bounty, so most of their energy was spent on the popular live anchors, while the new small anchors would occasionally be reminded not to violate the rules.

Xie Sen, after he read the anchor’s need to know, outsourced two large wooden barrels. He thought about the giant rhinoceros beast’s performance project, and didn’t buy a boulder, but a hard metal plate instead. The boulder would break, and the debris would scatter everywhere. If he stepped on it, it could get embedded in the bottom of his foot or the contract beasts might get injured. The metal plate was different. At most it would get dented.

As they waited for the deliveries, he and the contract beasts discussed the order of performances, one by one. Then after they were done, he instructed the giant lion beast and the giant wolf beast as the audience.

“When they are finished performing, you will cheer and clap your two front paws together.”

The two quickly learned to clap. Xie Sen watched, and couldn’t resist rubbing on their two necks. Too cute! The giant lion beast’s fleshy paws slapped together, and with its fierce face the contrast was great.

The giant wolf beast originally looked very good. When it applauded its ears subconsciously twitched. Super cute.

The bucket and metal plate didn’t take long to arrive. He filled the bucket with water, let the giant elephant beasts practice, and then explained to the giant rhinoceros beast how to use the metal plate.

Everything was ready. The installer came with the live equipment. The installer was shocked to see the contract beasts. With their large size, fierce appearances, and all of them together made him extra stressed.

Under the reassurance of Xie Sen, the installer reluctantly, but calmly, installed the equipment. He installed two cameras, one on the left wall, the same direction as the TV, and one installed above, as a global overhead angle. After the installer finished it, Xie Sen turned on the live feed, had him help adjust it to a wide angle to make sure all the contract beasts could be in the frame, then said thanks.

The installer was a little confused at first as to why he had to install live streaming equipment in such a place, but now that he understood, he looked at Xie Sen with a shocked expression. “You’re going to stream them?”

Xie Sen nodded, “Yes. Please help me promote it, the name is Contract Beasts.”

“Okay.” The installer agreed, and after he left Gold Medal, he immediately posted a message on his personal terminal, [There is a new host who is live streaming advanced contract beasts, the host’s name is Contract Beasts!]

He soon got a reply from a friend, [Are you kidding? They don’t like to be filmed, and even a touch from a paw and a wag from a tail can break the equipment. Besides, senior contract beasts aren’t common, and some senior contract beasts have an unusual family history. Who would use them to host a live show?]

The installer didn’t reply. He had gone to look up the live broadcast of the contract beasts. Although it wasn’t on air yet, he still parked his screen on the live interface, and squatted on the broadcast.

Xie Sen asked the contract beasts to get prepared, and make sure they were ready. He stood against the left wall just out of view, then he opened his personal bracelet to watch the live screen, while he turned on the live device.

The contract beasts instantly appeared on the bracelet’s virtual screen. They were positioned together in a circular arc, two spaced rows that faced forward as they lay there and all looked at Xie Sen who raised his hand and pointed to the camera. It was their first appearance.

Xie Sen looked at the popularity value, only 300. The platform popularity ratio was one to ten. That was to say, there were only thirty viewers, which quite surprised him. After all, it was his first time broadcasting. He suspected that the system sent him a lot of new people.

He opened his mouth, “Welcome to the Contract Beasts live broadcast room. I will introduce these guys to you.”

“Giant tiger beast.” After Xie Sen shouted, the giant tiger beast raised its big head towards the screen, roared, and wagged its tail.

When Xie Sen finished introducing the eight in turn, the popularity was already over a thousand, and he looked at the barrage screen.

[Ahhhhh, I found a treasure room! Who started the live stream? This is too awesome!]

[Wow, it’s so cool! I’ve dreamed of seeing a giant tiger beast. I never thought I’d actually see it on a live stream.]

[What a beautiful giant wolf beast! Tough and beautiful. Simply too foul!]

[The popularity is actually so low, it’s so unscientific! No, I have to promote a wave on my personal end.]

Xie Sen smiled when he saw this. “Thank you all for your support. Today is the first time we are doing a broadcast. Viewers who like it can click ‘like’ and help promote us. Next the contract beasts will bring you a talent show.”

Two giant elephant beasts stood up from the back row, They went around the line, one left and one right. Not long after, they each hooked their trunks on the handle of a large wooden barrel and carried the barrel towards the middle.

After they reached the middle, the giant elephant beasts put down the barrel, then stuck their trunks into the barrel. After a while they pulled away, one to the left and one to the right to spray water. The water met in the middle to form an arch. It was very beautiful.

[‘My God’ sent out beast food X100.]

The gift beep from the live streaming platform came. The beep was played externally, so all the contract beasts heard it except for Xie Sen.

Before he started the live broadcast, Xie Sen told them that the anchor could keep half of the money from the gifts sent by the audience, and explained the price of various gifts to them. The beast food was the simplest bounty, one star coin, which meant that ‘My God’ had rewarded a total of 100 star coins.

The rest were 10, 100, 1,000, 10,000, respectively, as shuttle, flying machine, airship, and spaceship.

Xie Sen was about to say thank you when the lion roared, the wolf howled and the tiger growled… Eight contract beasts of six different species. Their excited screams rang through the live room.

Xie Sen was stunned, as he gazed at the madly shining eyes and waving tails of the contract beasts, it was as if he were seeing a group of dirt bags. Only a hundred star coins could make them this happy?

His swiftly beating heart gradually returned to normal. He patted his chest and reminded them, “Pay attention to the volume…Sorry viewers, they are expressing their gratitude.”

The contract beasts thought of the caution Xie Sen had said, and were immediately silent, as their tails lay softly on the ground, their chins rested on their paws. Their eyes gazed at Xie Sen, as they blinked and blinked, with the look of ‘I was wrong.’

[Ah, so cute! Are all senior contract beasts so cute?]

[Anchor, you’re so mean. Don’t be mean to them!]

The corners of Xie Sen’s mouth twitched. Where was I being mean? I just reminded them in a normal voice and tone, okay?

[Are they really senior contract beasts? Their IQ is too high!]

[‘Passerby’ sent out a flying shuttle.]

[‘Lovely’ gave away one flying machine.]

“…”

The sounds of gift-giving kept coming. The contract beasts’ eyes glowed, their tails wagged and wagged impatiently, but they were restrained and didn’t shout anymore.

The giant elephant beasts finished their performance. They each rolled the barrel and left the center. The giant lion beast on the far left of the front row and the giant wolf beast on the far right were very professional as the audience. They excitedly, but softly, barked, then the meaty paws touched and started clapping.

[This… So cute!]

[My God, the giant wolf beast is too good-looking. Those gem-like turquoise eyes, this big fluffy tail. I want to touch it!]

[The giant lion beast’s solid muscles make my blood boil just by looking at it, and the act of applauding is too much of a foul contrast!]

Xie Sen looked at the comments and smiled, “Next…”

He had just said “here,” when he suddenly found that his personal side of the live screen disappeared. He immediately looked at the live equipment. There was no problem.

The contract beasts looked at him in confusion, the next performer was the giant rhinoceros beast. That calm one was rarely excited, but now its front paws scratched on the ground, as it silently urged Xie Sen.

Xie Sen checked his messages while he said to them. “Wait. The live broadcast is broken.”

The message was sent to him by 808, and there were two, [Just received a report that you brushed data. I looked at it. Within ten minutes, your popularity went from 300 to more than 60,000, and is still soaring. The data is not right, so I blocked your live.]

[Didn’t I show you what the anchor needed to know? You are not allowed to brush data. You brushed, so it seems that the family is quite rich, too idle to play to kill time with you, but you can not do this. You have twenty-four hours to rectify this, and if you offend again, your account will be sealed forever.]

Xie Sen, having inexplicably taken a black pot, was very angry, [I did not brush data. Have you seen my live?]

808, [I’m very busy. I don’t have time to watch your live stream, and data doesn’t lie. Don’t hold on to the heart of muddling through. Any brushing will have no place to hide under the data.]

Xie Sen didn’t bother to pay attention to him. He went to the anchor page, clicked into the blocked message alert, then clicked on appeal. Reason, [No data brushing. If you have any questions, you can watch my live history recorded screen.]

After he submitted the appeal application, he switched his personal bracelet to the live stream interface, the live stream was gone, but the people in the live stream were still there and were swiping a bunch of comments.

[What’s going on? Crooked? Did the anchor disconnect?]

[Gift to you. Change to some better equipment, ah! I haven’t seen enough!]

[Just came from the forum live post known, what happened?]

Xie Sen replied to the comment, [Sorry. Because I am a new anchor, the data was too good. The assistant thinks I brushed data, and directly blocked my live room. I have just submitted an appeal.]

[Is there something wrong with this assistant? Is this kind of content data now bad to have? What problem, right?]

[Did they not investigate? The new anchor must have stolen the traffic of the familiar anchor and gave the new anchor a trip!]

[This is outrageous! I still want to see the giant leopard beast!]

[Rubbish. I am so curious, when will the next show be?]

Xie Sen looked at the comments, turned off his bracelet, then calmed down and cooled off the excited contract beasts. He looked at the background data and laughed. “That’s impressive. It’s only been ten minutes, and you’ve already made almost a day’s worth of food.”

The contract beasts screamed with excitement, and the black giant leopard beast said, “Live streaming is really profitable!”

Xie Sen laughed, “That’s not necessarily true. You’re making money because you’re popular.”

Xie Sen turned around, and saw Maine was walking in. He looked at the time, and realized it was time to leave work. He rubbed the tiger’s neck. “You guys take the rest of the day off!”

He turned off the live streaming equipment as Maine approached. “Is this a new installation?”

Xie Sen nodded, and told him about the live broadcast. Then he said irritably, “Saying I brushed data for no reason is just plain wrong.”

Maine took him by the shoulders, and walked out with him. He pondered for a moment. “What kind of contract did you sign?”

“I’m not sure when the contract beasts will return to the forest, so I signed a no-base salary kind. I can stop broadcasting at any time,” Xie Sen said.

“Terminate the contract, and change live platforms,” Maine said.

Xie Sen nodded. “Mn, that’s what I was thinking. If I change to a smaller live platform, they can’t block my live room for no reason.”

The two of them went back to the apartment, had dinner together, then went to their own rooms. While Xie Sen trained his plants, Maine took care of business. Xie Sen finished training the plants, took a shower, and lay in bed while Maine was still in the next bedroom.

Xie Sen felt things were a bit strange. They had slept together all these days, and Maine was very clingy. It was the first time he had stayed alone so late. He went to the next room. The door was open, so he stood at the door and looked in. Maine was sitting on the stool, his eyes were focused on the virtual screen, and his fingers were tapping rapidly on the virtual keyboard.

He knocked on the door. “It’s late. Don’t you want to rest?”

Maine turned his head to look at him with a soft expression. “It will be taken care of soon. You rest first.”

Xie Sen nodded, and went back to his room. He was lying on the bed, half asleep when he felt the bed sink slightly. The next moment he was swept into a warm embrace, followed by a delicate kiss on his forehead.

Xie Sen’s lips twitched, and he was about to say no, when they were sealed. After a while, Maine released him and whispered, “You sleep.”

Xie Sen then fell into a deep sleep. Maine kissed him for a while, then resisted the urge to continue, and fell asleep with him in his arms.

The next day at breakfast, Maine passed him a document. “This is the contract. See if there is anything you need to change.”

Xie Sen was surprised when he opened it, and read the beginning. “You started a live streaming company?”

“The previous company’s sub-business,” Maine sai., “I won’t interfere with you. Broadcast whatever you like, but the company is new, and may not be very popular.”

Xie Sen laughed. “It’s okay. They’re popular, and it saves a lot of trouble. The ratio of one to nine is too high. Let’s go by the rules. You have to spend money to maintain the website.”

Xie Sen didn’t hesitate, and was about to sign it when Maine said, “Wait until you get out of your contract with Trill’s.”

Xie Sen laughed. “I almost forgot.” The contract he signed could be terminated at any time, but if he signed another contract without terminating it, he would be in breach of contract and would have to pay a high breach fee.

He opened his bracelet to apply for termination of contract, but before he could make the application, 808 sent him a message. [Sorry, I made a mistake yesterday. The live stream has been reopened. You can start the live stream anytime.]

[No. The termination application goes through.]

808, [Sorry, this is my mistake. Our platform is the largest live platform, and if you have your live on our platform, you will have a future. Don’t be impulsive, I promise this will not happen in the future.]

Xie Sen, [I’m not impulsive, I’m sensible. I must cancel my contract.]

808, [I won’t give you a pass first. Think about it again.]

Xie Sen frowned. Maine looked at the screen, “As long as the information provided is complete, the termination application will be automatically passed in twenty-four hours, don’t worry.”

Xie Sen nodded, “I’ll go to Gold Medal later, talk to the contract beasts, then go to the orphanage. What are your arrangements?”

“Be with you,” Maine said.

The two of them went to Gold Medal, and then to a remote orphanage built halfway up a hill. It was a long-established orphanage that used to be a place of refuge. Xie Sen played ball with the children. Maine didn’t participate, just sat and watched. Then Xie Sen pulled him over to play with them, and he took on the role of fetching the ball for the children.

It was almost time for lunch before the two of them left. They walked along the path towards the parking lot, which was built by splitting the mountain, with a gradual lowering of the slope on both sides that connected to the parking lot platform ahead. As they were walking, several shouts of alarm suddenly came from the right, accompanied by flying sand and rocks.

Three tall males fell violently from the right side of the higher slope above them. The men looked at the side of the mountain with fearful faces. Immediately afterwards, a huge flying eagle beast dove down from the side of the mountain, and went directly towards the three men before they could get up. They screamed in terror, and rolled on the ground to avoid the attack.

Xie Sen looked at the big bird in surprise. “Flying eagle beast.”

The flying eagle beast landed not far from Xie Sen, then called out towards the three people. The right wing raised a fierce fan, the three people were hit and rolled back, while its left wing was raised and reached for Xie Sen.

Xie Sen raised his hand to squeeze its wing. The voice of the flying eagle beast immediately appeared in his mind. “A’Sen, they are so bad. I heard them say they wanted to harm you. I followed them all the way, so when they were ready to do it, I waved my wings and slapped them!“

Xie Sen looked at the three who had rolled ten meters away, and had a number of wounds scraped on their bodies. “Thank you. Do you know who told them to come?”

“They called them ‘Madam.'” The flying eagle beast cocked its round head.

Xie Sen twisted his head, and told Maine what the flying eagle beast said. Maine didn’t have a doubt. “It must be Julos’ dad. You wait here,” he finished. He walked towards the three who were all wiped out before they could do anything, and were looking confused. With a cold expression, he stepped on the calf of one of them. “What did Soria tell you to do?”

“Get, get you killed, and then take the people around you.”

Maine’s eyes suddenly turned dark. “With you?” He asked in a cold voice, “Do you want to die?” He said, “If you don’t want to die, then do what I say.”

When the three men heard Maine’s words, they ran away. It was only when they were far away that one of them wiped the sweat from his head. “Why did that flying eagle beast attack us for no reason?”

“Maine’s sidekick seems to be Xie Sen, the plant beast master. Just now, the flying eagle beast and he were very intimate. It wasn’t their orders, right?”

“I told you, it’s such a remote place that they might discover what we intended to do. They were deliberately tricking us!”

“How could they know?”

One of them looked at the soybean-sized metal pellet Maine just left behind. “He told us to put this on Soria while we had the chance. What do you think it is?”

“I read Maine’s profile, he’s a senior in the Information Department.”

“Holy shit. He couldn’t have had Soria under surveillance for a long time, that way he knew we were going to do it, right?”

“I think it’s possible. Soria lied to us and said he was just a kid who just came of age and didn’t have a contract. He didn’t even say he was that good. We almost bought it there.”

“We’re not going to wade into this mess. Maine is young and not easy to deal with though. Let the Cox family deal with their own mess.”

Xie Sen saw Maine come back, and asked, “What did you tell them?”

Maine looked at him. “Nothing.” He could handle these shady matters alone.

The two of them found a restaurant for lunch, then went back to the shuttle and sat in the back seat of the shuttle to rest. Maine held Xie Sen and rested his chin on his shoulder, as he watched him surf the web.

Xie Sen checked the forums. With a glance, he saw the hot post above, [Super Cow Live, the senior contract beasts turned out to be so cute!]