Chapter 3: A God-Tier Website, Lowering Scores Through Donations?
The top-ranked player known as “Old Zhang from Nanhe” had his ID boldly displayed by the system in thick, prominent font, like a gleaming golden monument, silencing all doubts and skepticism.
The brief silence in the livestream was more striking than the most frenzied barrage of comments before.
Mocking remarks abruptly ceased.
Those keyboard warriors who had been typing “liar” and “madman” hesitated, their fingers frozen mid-air, as if gripped by an invisible force.
In their place arose a strange atmosphere—a mixture of shock, absurdity, and curiosity.
He Yu felt his heartbeat pounding like a drum, each beat heavier than the last.
He could clearly sense a scorching surge rising from his chest straight to his crown.
It wasn’t excitement, but a trembling that welled up from deep within his soul after being recognized and trusted.
“Thank you…” he began, his voice trembling slightly, then quickly clearing his throat. Speaking into the microphone with utmost solemnity, he enunciated each word carefully.
“Thank you, Big Brother Old Zhang, for your support!”
As his words fell, the system’s notification sounded loudly in his mind.
【Ding! You have gained trust from “Old Zhang from Nanhe.” Reputation +100!】
One hundred points!
This initial capital was like pouring aviation fuel into a supercar that had stalled.
He Yu’s tense back finally relaxed, and a newfound confidence surged through every fiber of his being.
His consciousness sank into the system.
“Open the marketplace.”
In an instant, the shabby rented room vanished.
An indescribably vast space unfolded infinitely before him.
A colossal virtual light screen descended like a divine scroll from the heavens. Upon this screen, countless shimmering entries slowly scrolled, each representing a power unfathomable to ordinary mortals.
This was the place that would overturn the world’s understanding.
【Beginner Culinary Master: 50 Reputation】
【Grandmaster of Traditional Chinese Painting: 800 Reputation】
【World-Class Pianist: 2000 Reputation】
…
He Yu’s eyes swept rapidly across the list, his heartbeat accelerating.
These were only the tip of the iceberg.
His gaze continued downward, pupils suddenly contracting.
【Controlled Nuclear Fusion Engineer: 800,000 Reputation】
【Star Destroyer Manufacturing Master: 9,990,000 Reputation】
From basic survival skills to black technologies capable of rewriting human civilization, to godlike creation abilities, this marketplace contained everything imaginable.
He Yu felt his breath catch.
---
He was like a thirsty traveler plunging headlong into a sea of knowledge and power, each option wildly tempting him.
But after only a few seconds of daze, a cold rationality forcefully extinguished the fervor.
He knew exactly what he needed most right now.
Not world-shattering black technology, nor artistic skills that would bring fame and fortune.
He needed a fulcrum.
A platform capable of leveraging reality to transform the illusion of “Longhai University” into tangible existence.
“Step one: there must be a platform to carry it all.”
His goal was crystal clear.
“A perfect official website.”
With lightning focus, he locked onto that single target among thousands of skills.
【Divine-Level Website Design Master: 50 Reputation.】
【Effect: The host instantly masters world-class website design, programming, UI interaction, and network security knowledge. Every line of your code will be a masterpiece.】
This was it.
Without hesitation, He Yu’s intention slammed decisively against the redemption button.
“Redeem!”
【Ding! Redemption successful! Current reputation balance: 50 points.】
The moment the command was issued, an indescribably terrifying flood of information broke through some barrier and violently poured into his brain!
“Ugh!”
He Yu groaned softly, suddenly leaning back heavily against his chair.
Countless codes, logical frameworks, design aesthetics, color theory, interaction models, firewall algorithms… like a breached galaxy, they roared wildly inside his mind.
His brain felt as if it had been transformed into an infinitely powerful supercomputer. Endless knowledge was forcibly decompressed, compiled, and deeply etched into every neuron.
It felt as if someone who had never held a paintbrush suddenly grasped the lifetime skills and insights of Da Vinci in a mere fraction of a second.
Seconds later, the storm subsided.
He Yu slowly opened his eyes, his gaze utterly transformed.
If before there was still a hint of desperate confusion, now his eyes held only absolute confidence and control.
The world appeared different through his eyes.
The scrolling comments on the screen now looked like lines of front-end code waiting to be optimized.
He raised his hands and looked at his ten fingers, as if seeing countless lines of code flowing beneath his fingertips.
He was already a top expert immersed in this craft for decades.
He sat upright again, leaned toward the microphone, and curled a confident smile.
“Brothers, talk without action is worthless.”
His voice was steady and powerful, carrying an undeniable magic.
“I’m ending the stream now to personally design the official website for ‘Longhai University.’”
---
“Three days.”
He raised three fingers.
“Give me three days.”
“In three days, I’ll show everyone a true miracle!”
Without giving the more than half a million viewers any time to react or respond to the sudden explosion of questions and pleas, he moved the mouse and decisively clicked the “End Stream” button.
The screen instantly plunged into darkness.
…
For the next three days, He Yu was completely cut off from the world.
The curtains of the rented room were drawn tightly shut. Only the faint white glow from the computer screen illuminated his face, focused almost to the point of fanaticism.
With the blessing of the “Divine-Level Website Design Master” skill, his work efficiency broke through human limits.
His fingers became streaks of motion across the keyboard, their crisp tapping merging into a rapid downpour of rhythm.
Complex code under his hands was like the most obedient soldiers, arranged and combined at will to build one exquisite module after another.
Meanwhile, outside, a storm was brewing.
The passive effect of the “Livestream King” skill spread like an unstoppable viral contagion, fermenting wildly.
“High school exam failure builds a university through livestream; Nanhe’s richest man tips 30,000 on the spot!”
“The most insane streamer in history creates a top university website in three days?”
“Longhai University: genius’s wild dream or colossal scam?”
Perhaps empowered by He Yu’s Livestream King skill, one eye-catching headline after another, paired with dazzling clips from his streams, spread like a virus across all major social platforms in Nanhe Province, short video apps, local forums, and thousands of groups of exam takers and parents.
People’s emotions were expertly stirred.
Some sneered, dismissing it as yet another crude publicity stunt.
Some were skeptical but intrigued by Old Zhang from Nanhe’s real cash tip of 30,000 yuan.
But most were the students and families suffocating under the pressure of the college entrance exam. They knew it was probably a fantasy, yet couldn’t help but hold a faint, almost humble hope deep within.
What if… what if it was real?
Countless people, bearing complex feelings, flooded into He Yu’s now darkened livestream room.
They saw nothing but the black screen and the gray avatar.
Yet, they all unanimously clicked the red “Follow” button.
Three days.
Just three days.
He Yu’s livestream followers surged from a mere few thousand to miraculously break through the 100,000 mark at a terrifying speed.