Chapter 24: A Relentless Call

Perhaps due to the impending gloomy weather, the sky over the Tengli Desert was filled with a pale veil of clouds today, a welcome change from the scorching heat of the past few days.

Sand! Sand! The charcoal-burning site, located opposite the Fenced Courtyard on the Sand Slope, lacked any grass lattice, making each step a mix of sinking and skimming that took its toll.

However, before Xu Hao could enter the courtyard, his personal phone rang once more.

“Could that be the Ancient Architecture Research Institute?”

Startled, Xu Hao quickly fished his phone out of his pocket.

At nine this morning, Bai Ming, head of the personnel department, had messaged him that all the formalities were complete and that his salary card had already been registered with Finance. He added that if anything else came up, they would get in touch.

“Hmm?”

Squinting at the caller ID, Xu Hao raised an eyebrow.

It wasn’t Bai Ming’s personal number or the Ancient Architecture Research Institute’s landline—it was from an unfamiliar mobile number in Yan City.

After a brief pause, Xu Hao answered the call, thinking that since it was from Yan City, it might have something to do with the institute.

“Hello, who am I speaking with?”

“You’re Xu Hao, right?”

In the next moment, a young man’s voice came through the phone.

“And you are?”

“This is Wang Jun, manager of the operations department at the Ziyun Live Stream Guild. You can call me Manager Wang.”

The young man’s voice cut in sharply again.

“Ziyun Live Stream Guild? Do we know each other?”

Xu Hao’s brow furrowed.

For some reason, the tone in the man’s words made him feel looked down upon.

“Even if we don’t know each other, we do now, don’t we?”

“So?”

“I’m calling to invite you to join our live streaming guild.”

Manager Wang repeated.

“Sorry, I’m really not interested. I’ve got other matters to attend to—goodbye!”

With that, Xu Hao hung up immediately.

Putting aside the so-called manager from the Ziyun Live Stream Guild, he recalled that these kinds of guilds were full of gimmicks.

They scoured the internet every day for short videos or impressive streamers to coax into signing up for promotion deals.

Some of these guilds might work normally, but most were dismal.

A few companies even promised lots of support—traffic boosts, prime spots, guaranteed earnings—only to have you pay for extra promotion once you were in.

Others would sign you up and then neglect you entirely, or include sneaky clauses that demanded exorbitant penalties if you ever wanted to cancel.

In short, there were many traps to watch out for.

Besides, now that he was with the Ancient Architecture Research Institute, he had no reason to sign with any live streaming guild.

Ding-ding-ding. Just a few steps after hanging up, Xu Hao’s phone rang again.

He picked it up to see that it was the same number as before.

“Manager Wang, I’m not interested. You should look elsewhere,” he said.

After a moment’s thought, Xu Hao answered the call once more.

“Xu Hao, please don’t hang up just yet. I want you to hear about the strength of our Ziyun Live Stream Guild first,”

Manager Wang explained.

“Strength?”

“Exactly. Our Ziyun Live Stream Guild is one of the top-tier guilds on the KuaiDou platform. We boast a headliner with 30 million followers and about a dozen other major streamers with over a million followers each.”

It’s also a platform that many aspiring streamers dream of joining—just a casual mention during a stream, and the followers roll in.

Our boss noticed your streaming flair and sees potential in you. He hopes you’ll value this opportunity.

“Oh, I’m sorry! I only stream for survival challenges in the wilderness. Once those challenges are over, I probably won’t stream at all. So, you should look for someone else.”

Xu Hao couldn’t help but feel exasperated.

Really, couldn’t Manager Wang tell what he meant? “You’re saying you’ll quit streaming? Then what will you do—make movies? Come on, be realistic. What’s wrong with being a top influencer? A single live commerce session can earn you tens of thousands, even hundreds of thousands, which beats making films any day.”

“Besides, being a major influencer doesn’t stop you from making movies!”

“Our company only picks the best. You need to seriously consider your future.”

“Our boss even set a precedent with a 20-80 split, while other new streamers get 10-90 or even less.”

Hearing that Xu Hao didn’t plan to pursue streaming further, Manager Wang immediately interjected,

“I didn’t say being a top influencer was bad—I just meant that I might not stick exclusively to streaming in the future. Anyway, I have to go now.”

Xu Hao hung up immediately, even blocking the number on the spot.

He had too many tasks to handle today to waste time chatting with some so-called Ziyun Live Stream Guild.

After all, no matter how impressive the Ziyun Guild might be, it had nothing to do with him.

Yan City, Science and Technology Industrial Park—an office building housing the Ziyun Live Stream Guild Studio.

Ten minutes later,

a furious Manager Wang stormed into Boss Yang Ziyun’s office.

“Xiao Wang, have we finalized things with Xu Hao yet?”

At the sight of Manager Wang, Boss Yang Ziyun paused his work at the computer and looked up.

“Boss Yang, not yet! That guy is way too pretentious!”

The more Manager Wang thought about it, the angrier he became.

Especially after being hung up on and then trying to call back only to find he was blocked—he nearly had a heart attack.

Since taking over as operations manager, this was a first.

Every new streamer from the Ziyun Live Stream Guild had greeted him with utmost respect.

“Too pretentious? What do you mean?”

Yang Ziyun’s brows furrowed.

“Hmph, wanting to be both a celebrity and an exemplar, yet having the gall to say he won’t stream anymore. If he wasn’t truly giving up streaming, why join a wilderness survival challenge? It’s all just to grab attention and boost views.”

Manager Wang, embellishing the call’s details, ended up even slandering Xu Hao’s character.

“So, he blocked you?”

“Of course!”

“Do you think another guild might have already contacted him? With his follower count already at 300,000, surely other guilds are interested.”

Yang Ziyun’s expression darkened.

The rapid rise of his Ziyun Live Stream Guild wasn’t just due to unique streaming techniques—it was also built on one strict rule: any streamer they liked had to sign with Ziyun. If not, they’d find a way to ruin them.

After all, the streaming audience pool was limited, and advertisers with quality products were scarce. Ziyun Live Stream Guild couldn’t just sit by and watch a future competitor emerge.

A rival rising meant less income for their own streamers.

“I’m not entirely sure, but it’s definitely possible. Besides, his response was very decisive!”

Manager Wang hesitated for a moment.

“Forget it. The Long Kingdom has plenty of great streamers—he’s not worth the effort. Since he’s blocked us, there’s no need to lower our standards. Let’s proceed as usual.”

Yang Ziyun glanced briefly at his computer screen.