Chapter 294 - 238: Descent of the King

Chapter 294: Chapter 238: Descent of the King

"Descent of the King" was the exclusive gift TikTok Live had custom-made for Gu Heng, equivalent in value to a Carnival.

This special gift had appeared on Gu Heng’s personal account as early as two months ago. However, since receiving it, Gu Heng had never sent it out in public.

Gu Heng opened the gift menu. Just as he was about to send the gift, his finger paused for a moment. He looked up at Lin Qingge, who was standing front and center on camera, and then silently selected her name from the list of group members.

This time, Gu Heng didn’t hesitate.

In an instant, a majestic and magnificent gift animation filled the screens of every user in the Xingchuan 001 stream.

Not only did the animation have an epic feel, but it also came with its own unique sound and vibration effects. Although it was the same value as a Carnival, in terms of its visual impact, it absolutely blew the Carnival out of the water.

The moment Gu Heng sent the gift, not only the viewers, but even the experienced stream host was stunned into silence for a full three seconds upon seeing the animation.

"Thank you, Prince Heng!"

"For sending the exclusive gift, ’Descent of the King,’ to Qing Qing!"

When the host snapped out of it, his voice jumped several octaves, his face flushed with excitement.

Because he had been completely focused on hosting, he had no idea that "Prince Heng" was actually their group’s Chairman Gu. He just assumed "Prince Heng" had happened to drop in by chance.

It wasn’t just the host; aside from the high-level executives standing beside Gu Heng, none of the other staff on site knew the truth yet.

Inside the stream, the moment Gu Heng sent the "Descent of the King" gift, the comments section exploded, growing at a rate of dozens of messages per second.

"What is that gift? Why can’t I see it in my gift menu?!"

"Same here, same here! I’m a veteran TikTok Live user and I’ve never seen this gift before!"

"Oh my god, so the rumors from a while back were true? TikTok Live’s officials really did custom-make an exclusive gift for Prince Heng!"

"An exclusive gift? Holy shit, that’s some serious clout!"

"If it’s really an exclusive gift, this must be its first time ever being sent on the entire platform, right? That girl Qing Qing is way too lucky! This is a straight-up deluge of traffic!"

"Prince Heng truly lives up to his name as the number one god-tier whale on the internet. Even TikTok Live has to bow its proud head and suck up to our whale lord!"

"Damn, you really get what you pay for. An exclusive gift that came from spending over seventy million, of course the animation looks amazing!"

...

Meanwhile, as the viewers in the Xingchuan 001 stream were in an uproar, a system notification about Gu Heng sending "Descent of the King" in the Xingchuan 001 stream instantly appeared at the top of every single stream on TikTok.

Because Gu Heng was sending the gifts at a steady pace, the system notification seemed to be permanently embedded at the top of every stream, making it impossible to ignore.

PM was peak traffic time for TikTok.

Under these circumstances, the reappearance of the online legend "Prince Heng," who had been silent for months, immediately created a siphoning effect on traffic. Countless people followed the system notification and swarmed into the Xingchuan 001 stream.

20,000, 30,000, 50,000, 80,000...

In less than two minutes, the number of viewers in the Xingchuan 001 stream skyrocketed from under 10,000 to 80,000. The speed was like a runaway horse, showing no signs of stopping.

This scene left the crowd of corporate executives completely dumbfounded.

In fact, Gu Heng himself was also a little surprised to see this.

He had expected that his reappearance after several months might cause a bit of a stir, but he hadn’t anticipated the sensation would be on this massive a scale.

"Chairman Gu, isn’t this a little too over-the-top?"

Chu Zhengxiong’s eyes were wide with shock, his voice filled with awe and emotion.

He thought about how they had just thrown hundreds of thousands into attracting viewers, yet had failed to even get 10,000 people in the stream.

Of course, Qingcheng Entertainment’s sabotage was partly to blame. But even without their interference, based on initial estimates, they would have considered it a great success if that money had brought in 30,000 viewers.

Hitting 100,000+ viewers on their debut group stream was a fantasy they wouldn’t have even dared to dream of.

And yet, this very thing they hadn’t dared to imagine, Gu Heng had made a reality with just a few taps of his finger.

"To be honest, this effect is a bit beyond my expectations as well."

Gu Heng said truthfully. And in the short time the two of them were speaking, the live viewer count in the Xingchuan 001 stream jumped past the 100,000+ mark.

For Xingchuan 001, a girl group of complete newcomers with no established fanbase, hitting 100,000+ on their very first stream was a dazzling achievement that was rare even in the entire live-streaming industry.

On camera, the seven girls, led by Lin Qingge, felt immense pressure as they watched the viewer count explode from a few thousand to over one hundred thousand in just a few short minutes.

If they hadn’t all just taken turns rotating off-stage for a short break, someone might have collapsed from the sudden, immense pressure.

But compared to the other six girls, Lin Qingge was under the most pressure of all. That was because the legendary "Prince Heng" of the live-streaming world was directing all of his gifts specifically to her.

A single gift was worth three thousand yuan.

Since "Prince Heng" started sending gifts, he had already sent 27 in a row, and from the looks of it, there was a continuous stream still to come.

According to her contract, Lin Qingge would only receive 25% of the net profit after the platform’s cut, meaning she only earned 375 yuan for each "Descent of the King" gift.

But the sheer quantity was overwhelming!

In just a few minutes, she had earned nearly ten thousand yuan!

’Who on earth is this "Prince Heng"?’

’Why is he showing me so much favor?’

Just as this doubt filled Lin Qingge’s mind, a thought suddenly flashed through her head.

’Wait...’

’Prince Heng?’

’Gu Heng?’

’They’re both uncommon characters, but what a coincidence!’

At this thought, Lin Qingge’s gaze involuntarily flickered for a moment toward where Gu Heng was. When she saw that he was indeed holding his phone, her suspicion solidified.

If "Prince Heng" was Gu Heng, then everything would make sense.

But...

For him to send all the gifts specifically to her, in front of so many high-level executives...

What did this mean?

Favoritism?

In an instant, Lin Qingge’s heart was in turmoil.

...

「A few minutes earlier.」

Before Gu Heng had sent the "Descent of the King" gift, Bingbing, Xinxin, Yaya, and Lili—who had all had "in-depth exchanges" with Gu Heng before—were in a co-stream PK battle.

Originally, among the four of them, only Yaya and Lili were considered friends. Their relationship with Bingbing and Xinxin was that of mere passing acquaintances; they weren’t familiar with each other, let alone friends.

But after that one night, they successfully forged a "deep friendship."

After all, they had even played piling-on games together; it would be hard *not* to become familiar after that.

Since that night, they had started contacting each other frequently.

They would occasionally co-stream for PK battles or collaborate on a couple of videos.

It was a mutually beneficial arrangement, sharing resources and opportunities.

Just as the four of them were in the middle of a heated PK battle, scrolling comments suddenly appeared across the top of all four of their streams.

The message was simple, just four words: Prince Heng has appeared!

The four girls, who had been in high spirits, instantly lost all motivation for the PK battle after seeing the reminders from their fans.

"What’s going on?"

"He’s actually making a public appearance again?"

Lili asked the other three girls. Her use of "he" was quite clever—it wasn’t as distant as calling him "Prince Heng," nor did it expose Gu Heng’s personal information by calling him "Chairman Gu."

"Which stream is he in?"

Xinxin, with her signature cutesy voice, chimed in.

However, just as the words left Xinxin’s mouth, a system notification appeared at the top of all four of their streams at the same time: [Prince Heng has sent Descent of the King in Xingchuan 001’s stream!]

As the system notification appeared before them, the sour expressions on the four girls’ faces were practically visible to the naked eye.

Descent of the King!

They had all been there to witness the day TikTok Live custom-made the exclusive gift for Gu Heng, so of course, they all knew about it.

Over the past two months, they had all expressed, both openly and subtly, their desire to be the first to receive this exclusive gift, but Gu Heng had always brushed them off.

And now, they had to watch as the gift they had coveted for so long was sent by Gu Heng in another stream, in front of the entire internet. How could they not be salty?

"Tsk, tsk, tsk, I can practically smell the saltiness coming off Xinxin through the screen!"

"You guys still have the nerve to be doing a PK battle? Your house is being robbed!"

"Xingchuan 001 is a group stream, sure, but Prince Heng is directing all his gifts to a young girl named Qing Qing. It’s like he’s spending a fortune for a beauty!"

"I just took a peek in the stream, and I gotta say, Brother Fu’s taste is top-notch. That Qing Qing girl perfectly matches my fantasy of a pure college student. Her lively eyes look like they can talk, and she’s as exquisite as a porcelain doll!"

"Agreed, agreed! I’m calling it now: with Prince Heng’s support this time, that girl Qing Qing is going to be the next queen of traffic!"

...

The four girls, who were already feeling salty, became even more restless when they saw the comments saying that Gu Heng had given the first-ever "Descent of the King" gift to a newcomer girl.

At first, they might have considered peeking with their alternate accounts.

Now, they planned to drop in directly with their main accounts.

"Everyone, something’s come up. I’m ending the stream now!"

Bingbing, a woman of few words, was the most decisive of them all. After a brief announcement to her fans, she ended her stream directly.

"Ahem..."

"Babies, I just remembered my male cousin is giving birth!"

"I’m ending the stream too. See you tomorrow!"

After a tactical cough, Xinxin spouted a quirky, nonsensical excuse and quickly followed Bingbing in ending her stream.

Of the four who had been in a PK battle together, two had logged off in the blink of an eye. Yaya and Lili exchanged a look, then each made up a random excuse and ended their streams as well.

As for the many fans and viewers in the four girls’ streams, after the streamers logged off, they all swarmed over to the Xingchuan 001 stream to join in on the excitement...