Chapter 12: Live and Let Live

After toying around on the Shaji for half an hour, Xu Hao finally logged into his KuaiDou account.

The platform worked quickly—Xu Hao’s account not only had live-stream permissions now, but it was also linked to his previous bank card.

According to the rules, any gifts from viewers and sponsorship ads during the stream are split equally between KuaiDou and Xu Hao, with no involvement from the organizers.

Of course, when the money is finally withdrawn, personal income tax will be deducted from the split.

“Done!”

After a series of operations, the live stream officially began.

“The so-called ‘connections guy’ is finally live!”

“I’m here to see the connections guy!”

“Hello, Connections Guy!”

“Honestly, I’m a fan of Lord Bei! I joined now to demand justice on his behalf.”

“Haha, same here—I’m a fan of Lord De! My entire family’s votes went to him, so this contest must be fair!”

“I’m a Matt fan. Whatever you say is right.”

“Right, right.”

Whoosh! Perhaps because Xu Hao’s abnormal moves had already caught many netizens’ attention, or maybe it was because those who picked other challengers were dissatisfied that Xu Hao managed to snag three jumping rabbits without lifting a finger.

Within two minutes of going live, the viewer count soared above fifty thousand, and Xu Hao’s followers almost matched the live viewership.

Although most of them were his haters, their challenges made Xu Hao’s modest fifty-thousand-viewer stream livelier than even some million-viewer mega streamers.

“Tell me, friends, what exactly do you mean by ‘connections guy’?”

Xu Hao was not surprised by the responses from viewers.

But now that the stream was on, he needed to explain it once more, so no one would later bring up the jumping rabbits.

“Connections guy? That’s a rhetorical question! If it weren’t for connections, how else could I have gotten three huge jumping rabbits in one go?”

The audience had been waiting for Xu Hao’s response.

As soon as Xu Hao opened his mouth, a viewer named Gongdi Ren sent several consecutive messages. To keep his messages from being drowned out, he even spent on small gifts worth over ten blocks to secure the top spot.

“Just luck! I dug a pit, and the rabbits, startled, just jumped right in.”

Xu Hao shrugged his shoulders.

Even as he explained, he couldn’t help but feel a tinge of awe. No wonder so many would rather embarrass themselves on a live-streaming platform—it really does pay.

In less than a minute, haters bashing him had already gifted over thirty bucks, netting him a pre-tax split of fifteen!

Isn’t that much easier than slogging away at a regular job? “And talk about luck—can you explain why all the other challengers immediately started building shelters, while I was suddenly busy digging pits? Was it all pre-arranged with the crew?”

“Exactly!”

“You need an explanation!”

Comments on the live chat kept piling up.

“It’s simple. What do the other challengers’ oases look like? And what does my oasis look like? Others can fetch water and boil it whenever they’re thirsty—what about me?

Am I supposed to wait to die of thirst without digging a well?”

After speaking, Xu Hao turned his camera to focus on a distant mud pit.

“Uh? So you were digging a well when you dug that pit earlier?”

The live chat briefly fell silent.

Everyone knew about the specifics of Oasis No.7 where Xu Hao was; fetching water there was dangerous—as falling into the muddy sludge around the pit would have disastrous consequences.

Starting with a well made sense.

In fact, if you put yourself in their shoes, they would probably have dug a well immediately instead of building a shelter.

“Don’t believe it? Let me show you!”

Xu Hao knew that to quiet the skeptical viewers, he had to show them the nearly completed well.

Traversing the desert is tougher climbing up than descending.

A few minutes later, Xu Hao arrived at the well carrying his camera stabilizer.

After much effort, the well’s opening had been firmly packed with wooden strips and the yellow dirt excavated from below. The area around the opening had also been cleared. If it weren’t for the slimy mud still at the bottom, placing a few stones around it would make it look like any ordinary ancient well.

“Take a look.”

Standing still, Xu Hao set his camera to focus on the bottom of the pit.

The bottom was filled with thin, watery mud. Once the stream ended, he planned to clear the sludge and dig just one more foot down so water would never be an issue again.

“That said… getting those three jumping rabbits is just too coincidental!”

After a brief silence,

the top-ranked hardworking viewer replied with another message. Though he continued to question Xu Hao, his tone had softened compared to before.

“Really unbelievable luck! Lord Bei worked so hard and only caught one hedgehog.”

“Lucky? Well, I needed some wood for the well, so I decided to chop down a few dead dry willows from the woods over there.”

“Then take us there—let us witness the process ourselves!”

A viewer named “Matt Loyal Fan” sent a fifty-dollar cake gift, storming to the top of the list.

“We have to go!”

“We must go, just in case there’s something eerie!”

As soon as Matt Loyal Fan spoke, he immediately received plenty of support.

“You still don’t believe it?”

“Yeah!”

“Alright, as you wish.”

Grabbing his stabilizer, Xu Hao headed towards the area where he had chopped trees earlier.

He knew that the fans of survival experts like Lord Bei, Lord De, and Matt wouldn’t be satisfied—they needed every detail proven to silence their doubts.

And that wasn’t all.

Xu Hao also picked up his axe to grab some kindling for the night, taking advantage of the live stream.

Arriving in the barren woodland where trees were chopped, Xu Hao first showed the viewers the surrounding area.

“Streamer, did the jumping rabbits actually come bouncing out from here? This is just too mystifying—such a huge area, yet your well is so far away. Can rabbits really make it in?”

The new top-ranked viewer, Matt Loyal Fan, fell silent for a moment before resuming his questioning.

“At the time, that’s exactly how I chopped them down!”

Drumroll… In the very next moment, setting up his camera, Xu Hao swung his axe at a dead Hu Yang tree, as thick as a bowl, sending a powerful sound echoing afar.

Crashing sound!

With the Hu Yang tree felled, Xu Hao returned to the camera.

“You saw it all—the process was just like this. When I finished chopping trees this morning, it was nearly noon and the heat was unbearable, so I took a break for some water.”

After his explanation, Xu Hao rejoined his stabilizer and went back to the well.

Since he was demonstrating, he was going to show the whole procedure.

A few minutes later, while explaining to his audience, Xu Hao reached the well and once again pointed the camera at its bottom.

“When I glanced into the well earlier, I nearly got a shock. Darn it!”

However, just as Xu Hao was about to reenact the scene for his viewers, his pre-planned lines were abruptly replaced by an unexpected exclamation.

At the same time…

the live chat exploded with a flood of shocked emojis and non-stop comments.

“Holy crap.”

“Are you serious?”