Pei Qian watched helplessly as Ma Yang’s livestream followers and Weibo fans exploded in numbers.

But the worst news wasn’t the increasing followers—it was the fact that the viewers in the livestream and Weibo had started creating memes!

Without a doubt, Old Ma making the DGE team members train with weights had amazing entertainment value, and the audience was thoroughly enjoying it.

A large number of players had also heard that Ma Yang was giving away money on Weibo, so they all rushed to follow and comment, turning it into a massive celebration.

After three matches, a huge number of viewers had been attracted to Old Ma’s livestream, and his popularity skyrocketed!

In the camera, Ma Yang’s long face was beaming with smiles.

“Alright, that’s it for today’s practice. I need to go to Weibo to handle some real business now.”

The DGE team members finally breathed a sigh of relief, leaning back in their gaming chairs, feeling almost completely drained.

Playing games with Mr. Ma—the mental pressure was greater than a world championship final!

Ma Yang took a can of soda from the club’s refrigerator, came to his seat, popped it open with a “bang,” chugged about half the can, and feeling this was a good opportunity to promote his increasing popularity, began chatting with the fans in his livestream.

“Those who haven’t followed me, please hit that follow button. No need to send gifts though, I don’t need that small amount of money.”

“Why follow me? Where else can you find a player like me who has both commanding skills and technical abilities? With my skills, don’t I deserve a follow?”

“I said earlier that we couldn’t win the first game because my teammates were too weak. Once I swapped to four normal teammates, didn’t I immediately carry the game?”

“Anyway, let me check if there are any new dreams on Weibo that I can fulfill.”

Although the viewers in the livestream were already trying to adapt to Old Ma’s mindset, they still responded with a screen full of question marks when they heard his remarks.

“??????”

“Does Mr. Ma think his skills are good?”

“You invited star players from various clubs, and then you tell us these are ‘normal teammates’?”

“I wish I could have such ‘normal teammates’ too!”

“Mr. Ma makes a valid point. I finally understand why I keep losing in Bronze tier! They said I was dragging the team down, but if you got Huang Wang and Jiang Huan to take turns duo-queuing with me, wouldn’t I reach King tier too?”

“Mr. Ma’s expression is so serious, I can’t tell if he’s joking or if he thinks that way.”

“Mr. Ma has truly given so much to this team! If not for Mr. Ma, this game would have ended at 20 minutes!”

The fans were all amused by Old Ma. It’s not scary if someone is bad at a game; what’s scary is being bad and not knowing it!

But if someone is so oblivious to their incompetence to a certain degree, people start to think they’re deliberately trolling, which is quite fascinating.

Many people thought, how could such an investment genius like Mr. Ma, who easily made five hundred million in profit, possibly be so foolish? His behavior was completely illogical!

So, he must be joking around!

Once most people believed this, the viewers started playing along, spamming messages like “DGE Special Tactical Director,” “DGE Spiritual Leader,” “Mr. Ma’s top lane destroys Jiang Huan,” “Mr. Ma’s mid lane dominates Huang Wang,” and so on.

Ma Yang browsed through Weibo, his long face glowing with joy.

In just an afternoon, he had gained over a hundred thousand followers!

Ma Yang couldn’t help but sigh: “Indeed, I have great potential as an internet celebrity! If investment hadn’t held me back, if I had debuted as a streamer, Lu Zhiyao wouldn’t even be in the picture!”

“Let me see if there are any new dreams to fulfill.”

“Hmm? Here’s a student who has a poor computer and bad internet in their university dorm, always unable to reach King rank, hoping for better equipment…”

“No problem! I must support your esports dream. Although your skills are slightly lower than mine, it shows you still have great room for improvement. Here, I’ve sent you the money, go get yourself a ROF setup.”

Ma Yang browsed through Weibo while commenting on these dreams.

“Ah, there are many dreams, but most lack originality.”

“Being so perfunctory makes it difficult for me to send you the dream fund.”

“Since it’s a dream, everyone should write sincerely to move me.”

Ma Yang livestreamed while distributing dream funds on Weibo, making the atmosphere in the livestream even more explosive!

Comments under the Weibo post were being refreshed every few seconds, even faster than Old Ma could read them.

Though most comments were meaningless, Old Ma didn’t seem impatient and continued looking for dreams to fulfill.

Besides the screen full of “666” comments, some people began to grow curious about Old Ma’s identity.

“Mr. Ma, what’s the story behind this dream fund? Tell us!”

“I heard Mr. Ma once invested in IOI, making five hundred million profit for Tenda Group, and he is also an outstanding employee? Could you tell us how that happened?”

“Mr. Ma, investment genius, can you recommend a stock for me?”

“Mr. Ma, I heard you’re Mr. Pei’s closest friend and right-hand man. When can you bring Mr. Pei for a joint livestream?”

“Mr. Ma, could you talk about your career path? Give some guidance to a soon-to-graduate university student!”

Ma Yang continued browsing Weibo while noticing the interactive comments in the livestream, answering them one by one.

When he saw the “investment genius” comment, Ma Yang’s expression suddenly became serious, his long face filled with solemnity.

“I’m far from an investment genius!”

“I never studied anything related to investment. Being put in charge of investments was completely due to Mr. Pei’s trust in me.”

“Back then, Mr. Pei gave me twenty million and told me to follow my first impression and intuition to invest in whatever I liked. I happened to see that the foreign game IOI was pretty good, so I put all the money into it!”

“Looking back now, there was a large element of luck involved.”

“As for later investments, they were basically all things I was personally interested in.”

“For instance, with the Automatic Argument Machine, I convinced Mr. Pei to invest because I thought it was fun.”

“So please don’t overly mystify me. The five hundred million was all luck.”

“I’m just an investor who invests out of personal interest.”

After Ma Yang said this, the comments exploded instantly.

“Wow, is this Mr. Ma’s true mindset?”

“Mr. Ma was boasting about his gaming skills before, so he was just entertaining us? Mr. Ma is such a humble person!”

“Investing out of personal interest! Wow, that’s a whole new level! Other investors look at money, Mr. Ma looks at interest. Respect, much respect!”

“Mr. Ma dared to put twenty million directly into IOI back then. This kind of judgment, this decisiveness, it’s truly amazing! Mr. Ma is too modest. This is not something an ordinary person could do!”

“I always thought all bosses were idiots, but seeing Mr. Ma changed my mind! Mr. Ma is a truly admirable entrepreneur and investor, second only to Mr. Pei in my heart!”

“No wonder Mr. Ma can be friends with Mr. Pei. This mindset, this decisiveness, this vision… impressive!”

“To be honest, Mr. Pei’s image feels a bit ‘too clever to be human,’ like a high and mighty immortal, too distant from ordinary people. Down-to-earth people like Mr. Ma are the role models for ordinary people like us!”

“Following! Cheering wildly for Mr. Ma!”

…

Looking at the various comments in the livestream, Pei Qian was dumbfounded.

What the hell?

Old Ma was telling the truth, but why were they all imagining things?

Even his poor gaming skills weren’t a drawback but became an endearing trait?

Pei Qian had an ominous feeling that things had completely exceeded his expectations.

Who would have thought that someone like Old Ma could attract fans?

Was something wrong with this world?

But thinking again about his own experiences, he felt that perhaps the world wasn’t the problem—it had always been this way. The problem was himself…

“This won’t do. I can’t let Old Ma gather fans like this. I need to think of a solution.”

Pei Qian thought about it. What was Old Ma using to attract these fans?

He was using the DGE club’s popularity!

Streaming with four veteran players to gain followers—the follower growth rate was off the charts.

So, he couldn’t let Old Ma continue streaming with DGE team members to gain followers. He needed to rely on himself.

Once Old Ma had to rely solely on himself, he would likely reveal his true nature, right?

As the saying goes, when virtue doesn’t match position, there will be excess calamity.

For someone like Old Ma, who had no abilities and was purely coasting, with just occasional good luck, being elevated to such heights, if his true nature was exposed and his public persona collapsed, a large number of fans would unfollow!

Pei Qian was very clear about this, which was why he was so resistant to fame and always tried to maintain a low profile.

So, although Old Ma had attracted some fans now, once he left the DGE team members, his popularity would surely drop quickly!

Many internet celebrities become overnight sensations, but few maintain their popularity afterward, precisely because they have memes but no real talent.

Having made up his mind, Pei Qian called Ma Yang after his livestream ended.

“Hello? Qian Ge, how did you know I just finished streaming? Let me tell you, I gained nearly two hundred thousand followers today. It’s amazing! I told you I have talent for being an internet celebrity!”

“…” Pei Qian was speechless. “Um, Old Ma, I want to tell you something.”

Ma Yang: “Go ahead, Qian Ge.”

Pei Qian paused: “In the future, try not to stream with DGE team members if possible. It affects their training too much.”

“Besides, gaining followers once is enough. Viewers find it fresh at first, but they’ll get bored if they see it too often. It’s not good to keep riding on their popularity, don’t you think?”

Ma Yang was silent for a moment on the other end, seemingly thinking: “Hmm, you make a good point, Qian Ge! But… my teammates in regular matches are too weak. I can’t carry them. It’s not fun.”

Pei Qian: “…Well, you could think of other things. You said you have talent for being an internet celebrity, so you should be skilled at everything from singing to comedy.”

Old Ma had a sudden realization: “You’re right, Qian Ge! I understand now! I’ll go back and think about creating new content, finding a different way to gain followers!”

Pei Qian nodded: “Good, keep it up. I believe in you!”

After hanging up, Pei Qian couldn’t help but smile.

Fortunately, Old Ma was very easy to persuade. A few words had cut off the possibility of him and the DGE club joining forces to backstab him.

He just didn’t know what new content Old Ma would create to gain followers.

Just as he put his phone aside, it rang again.

Looking at it, it was a message from Huang Sibo.

“Mr. Pei, ‘Beautiful Tomorrow’s overseas box office is coming in quite fast. It’s already arrived! Fourteen million dollars, nearly one hundred million RMB, already in the company account!”

Reading this message, the smile on Pei Qian’s face completely froze.

What the hell?

This is way too fast!