Chapter 219 The Wealthy Patron Behind Debra
Right then, the big bold letters "Final Five Minutes of the Countdown" popped up again at the top of the livestream screen.
The countdown was officially on!
[Debra, now what!]
[Yeah, a trashy streamer like you doesn't deserve any viewers!]
[Let's see if you dare to trash talk us again, Linda's way better than you!]
Everyone in the chat was sure Linda was gonna win, so they started roasting Debra.
But Debra, seeing all this, just sneered and said with a pout, "You really think Linda can beat me? You think you losers can take me down? How hilarious!"
Things had gotten pretty heated, and Debra's tone was getting sharper and more sarcastic.
[You're about to lose, but you're still acting tough!]
[Yeah, what's with the attitude? Just wait till you start crying later!]
The viewers got even more riled up and started cursing her out.
But then, out of nowhere, they noticed Linda's donation progress bar had completely vanished!
In a flash, Debra's progress bar shot past Linda's!
[What the heck just happened?]
[Is the system glitching?]
[Why did Linda's progress bar disappear?]
Everyone in the stream was stunned and confused when they saw Linda's donation bar disappear.
They started spamming the chat, and even Linda was left speechless.
[This has to be a system glitch, right?]
[Definitely a glitch. Debra doesn't have anyone donating to her, how could her popularity suddenly spike?]
[Debra is so shady. Can't get gifts, so she resorts to dirty tricks to win—totally shameless!]
The viewers started cursing again.
Debra's earlier comments had pissed everyone off, and no one wanted her to win.
Linda stared at her screen, totally baffled, trying to figure out what was going on.
Even though the viewers were calling it a glitch, Linda thought a big platform like StreamVerse wouldn't mess up like this!
"What's happening?" James turned to Sylvie and asked.
"Debra must've called in some big spenders to donate gifts!" Sylvie replied casually.
"Someone's donating gifts to Debra?" James was shocked and turned to look at the screen.
[ID: CallmeHenry sends Debra 100 Super Rockets!]
[ID: NovaCresta'sTopSpender sends Debra 10 Space Ships!]
[ID: I'mNotaTrustFundBaby sends Debra 10 Super Rockets!]
Because of a network delay, the donation messages for Debra were just now popping up.
When the viewers saw these messages, they were floored.
A single Super Rocket was worth a thousand bucks!
That guy in Debra's stream just sent a hundred Super Rockets in one go, which was a hundred thousand dollars!
That's why Debra's donation bar crushed Linda's!
And it looked like "Call me Henry" wasn't stopping anytime soon, just kept sending gifts to Debra.
[ID: CallmeHenry sends Debra 10 Super Rockets!]
[ID: CallmeHenry sends Debra 20 Super Rockets!]
Messages like these kept flooding Debra's stream.
Meanwhile, the viewers in Linda's stream were all in shock.
The other side was throwing out a hundred thousand dollars at a time, while they could only manage a few hundred bucks each, no match for the big spender.
[I won't eat this month if it means helping Linda win!]
[Yeah, everyone, start sending gifts, let's take down Debra!]
[Everyone, recharge quickly; there are more of us, we can help Linda win this!]
The viewers in Linda's stream were determined not to give up and started sending small gifts, but it still wasn't making much of a dent.
Linda spoke up, "Guys, stop sending gifts. I know how hard you work for your money. If I lose today, so be it!"
Honestly, Linda wasn't all that desperate to win. This whole thing was just a cash grab for the streaming platform anyway.
So when she saw the big spender on the other side making moves, she started urging her viewers to stop sending gifts.
Two minutes went by, and Debra's donation total had shot past $500,000, while Linda, with her viewers' support, had hit $100,000.
"I didn't expect Linda to get $100,000 in gifts today. That's pretty impressive," Sylvie said, looking at the screen and sighing softly.
"You seemed to know from the start that Linda would lose. How'd you know?" James asked Sylvie after a moment of hesitation.
"Debra's a second-tier streamer on StreamVerse. She doesn't have a ton of fans, but everyone on the platform knows her because her boyfriend, Henry, is loaded. So when push comes to shove, Henry's gonna step in to help her win," Sylvie explained slowly.
James chuckled and said, "If he's her boyfriend, why not just give her the money directly? Why go through the platform and let them take a cut?"
"What do you know?" Sylvie rolled her eyes at James. "If Debra gets into the top three in this PK competition, all the gifts she got during this period will be fully refunded by the platform, plus she gets a $1,000,000 bonus. So if you've got the cash, you can send as many gifts as you want. If you make it to the top three, you don't just break even—you make money!"
"That's a clever strategy!" James said, looking a bit lost for words.
"Of course, there are lots of tricks in the streaming world!" Sylvie replied casually.
"But if the platform refunds all the gift money, how do they make money?" James asked, puzzled.
"Are you dumb?" Sylvie rolled her eyes again. "Only the top three streamers get a full refund. The rest have to give a cut to the platform, and some of their gifts are even confiscated. So the platform makes money off those streamers!"
"Got it!" James nodded, not saying much more.
If Sylvie hadn't explained all this, James wouldn't have known the streaming industry had so many tricks up its sleeve.
While James and Sylvie were chatting, there were less than three minutes left in the competition between Linda and Debra.
Linda felt that even if she lost today, it wasn't a big deal. It was just a month's worth of gift money.
Last time, James had given her millions in gifts during her stream, so she wasn't hurting for cash. She kept urging her viewers to stop sending gifts!
"Linda, looks like you're gonna lose. Why don't you get SuperSmith to send some gifts?" Debra asked smugly, seeing her win in sight.
Linda was stunned by Debra's words.
[Haha, you guys might not know this, but Linda sent SuperSmith to jail.]
[Linda is so vicious. She took SuperSmith's money, didn't sleep with him, and even called the cops saying he tried to rape her. I've never seen a streamer like her!]
[Yeah, she always acts so high and mighty, but she's just a bitch. How can you guys still watch her? Isn't it disgusting?]
The big spenders who had been sending gifts to Debra also jumped into Linda's stream to mock her.
[Without SuperSmith, who do you think you are? You think you can beat my girl? Shameless. I'll send everyone a password red packet.]
After Henry sent this message, he sent a red packet worth $8,888.
To claim the red packet, viewers had to type the word "bitch."
In an instant, Linda's live stream was flooded with comments containing the word "bitch."
