Chapter 223 So Poor That Only Money Is Left
"Why would I joke about this? When you signed with StreamVerse, it was all laid out. Did you forget?" Ophelia sighed.
"I remember the contract saying they'd let me act if I streamed on their platform. But it never mentioned I had to place in the top three in this competition!" Sylvie replied, her voice barely above a whisper.
"You're so careless. Sure, the contract says they'll let you act, but it doesn't specify the role. To get the lead, you need to be in the top three. Got it?" Ophelia shouted, exasperated.
"What do I do now?" Sylvie was freaking out, her hand shaking as she held the phone.
She'd joined StreamVerse to snag the lead role. If she couldn't get it, all her hard work this month would be for nothing.
"What else can you do? Start your stream, and I'll get someone to send you some gifts. Let's see if we can win this round first!" Ophelia said, sounding resigned.
"What about the money for the gifts?" Sylvie asked, hesitating.
"Didn't you get a signing fee of like five million dollars? Use that to beat Seraphina. Once you're in the top three, you'll get the money back, so you won't lose out," Ophelia said calmly.
"But I don't have that much left. I blew it all on a car and a house!" Sylvie was on the verge of tears. If she'd known about this rule, she wouldn't have spent that money.
"You!" Ophelia was at a loss for words. She finally asked softly, "How much do you have now?"
"About a million dollars," Sylvie replied, biting her lip.
Ophelia hesitated, then said softly, "Sylvie, I'll find someone to lend you some money, but it won't be much, maybe five hundred thousand dollars. Add that to your one million dollars, and we can compete with Seraphina. What do you think?"
"How much is Seraphina planning to spend?" Sylvie asked, still unsure.
"I don't know, and it doesn't matter. We only have this much. The question is, do you dare to take the gamble?" Ophelia said softly.
Sylvie stared at her computer, looking conflicted.
"Alright, I'm done talking. I'll borrow some money. If you want to take the gamble, start your stream. If you want to give up, then don't!" Ophelia shouted anxiously before hanging up.
As the call ended, Sylvie lay on her bed, feeling utterly hopeless.
James saw her despair and couldn't help but ask softly, "What's wrong?"
Sylvie looked up at James and quickly filled him in on her situation.
James got where Sylvie was coming from. If she wanted to compete, she'd have to risk all her savings and owe five hundred grand. If she won, she'd snag the lead role with no loss. But if she lost, she'd be left with nothing.
"James, do you think I should take the gamble?" Sylvie asked, clearly torn and looking for his advice.
James looked at her, staying silent for a moment.
"I don't know how much Seraphina's got lined up. If her backer has a ton of gifts, all my money might just go down the drain. But if I give up now, I won't be able to live with myself," Sylvie said, her eyes pleading with James.
"Why not take the gamble? I think you can win!" James said softly.
"I can win?" Sylvie was taken aback, then looked at James with a mix of hope and despair. "How? If I had a backer like SuperSmith, maybe I could."
"Maybe SuperSmith will show up in your stream and send gifts!" James replied with a grin. "Anyway, you've already got a house and a car. Even if you lose, it won't be the end of the world. You can always make more money later!"
Sylvie hesitated, then nodded. "You're right. What you said makes a lot of sense. If I give up now, I'd definitely regret it. So I might as well take the gamble. Worst case, I'll start over!"
With that, Sylvie quickly touched up her makeup in front of the mirror, then sat back down and started her stream.
James watched her and thought, 'Sylvie helped me before, so I'll help her this time. It won't cost much anyway!'
Sylvie had always been good to him, never looking down on him, and even helped him find the culprit behind the photo incident.
So James figured it was no big deal to spend some money to help her out.
As soon as Sylvie went live, her viewer count shot up.
The chat was buzzing, and gifts started rolling in.
Sylvie casually explained why she was late.
There were less than twenty minutes left in the competition. Since Sylvie hadn't been streaming, she had very few gifts, while Seraphina had racked up nearly two hundred thousand dollars in gifts.
After explaining her lateness, Sylvie started singing.
Sylvie's popularity was way higher than Seraphina's.
Just by singing a few songs, Sylvie's gift progress bar almost caught up to Seraphina's, with both receiving nearly two hundred thousand dollars in gifts.
But both Seraphina and Sylvie knew that winning the competition with just two hundred thousand dollars was a pipe dream.
They were both waiting for the final moments. Whoever had more money ready to drop would be the ultimate winner!
James sat calmly behind Sylvie, knowing she wouldn't lose today, as he had nothing left but his immense wealth.
Competing with someone who inherited ten trillion dollars was basically a dead end!
