Chapter 26
Chapter 26
"You're disgusting! Ptooey, ptooey!"
"Stop scrubbing, it's not toxic."
Jiang Li called toward the pink silhouette in the bathroom. "You done with the other half of that bubble tea?"
Kakayan gargled and spat mouthwash into the sink, then wiped her mouth. "Not drinking it!"
"Then I'll finish it."
"You—you can't drink it either!"
"I paid for it, and you're the one making demands." Jiang Li shot back. Right in front of her, he lifted the half-empty cup and slurped.
"..."
Seeing this, Kakayan turned her face away, scooped up a handful of cold water, and slapped it across her cheeks.
Another gargle, a few ragged breaths, and finally she tossed Jiang Li a sidelong glare.
Absolute beast.
Kakayan was furious—even though she was clearly in the wrong.
Still, Jiang Li could've warned her instead of grossing her out like that.
Ptooey!
Pervert!
She stepped out of the bathroom, her delicate face flushed, lower lip caught between her teeth, looking like a cat that had been dunked in water.
"You're disgusting!" She stabbed a finger at him. "You drank while I was spitting in the cup!"
Gulp—
The last of the tea gurgled up the straw.
Stuffed.
Jiang Li straightened, twirling the empty cup in satisfaction.
"Same difference. With a straw, your spit's already in there."
"How is it the same?!"
In her head Kakayan protested: the liquid comes up the straw, right?
Jiang Li only shook his head.
Arguing science with a prehistoric witch was pointless.
"Anyway, now we're even. Next time, don't swipe someone else's drink."
"Ptooey, ptooey!"
Kakayan refused to answer directly, making exaggerated spitting noises.
Ignoring her, Jiang Li returned to his computer and opened his creator dashboard.
Three months without uploads had bled away almost every bit of fan loyalty.
Active followers now hovered at 5%.
Worse, after posting his new video minutes ago, the count had dipped a few more—down to 10,051.
He typed out a quick update: Graduation thesis swallowed my life—missed you all! Now it's done and I'm back. Hope you'll keep supporting me. (heart emoji)
Finished, he waved Kakayan over.
"What?" She sulked, cheeks still puffed.
"Give me a nice expression. I need a photo."
"I don't follow."
"Then hit me with a spell."
"Really?" Kakayan eyed him doubtfully. In all her centuries, no one had ever asked that.
"Hurry up."
He raised his phone.
"Third tier—Thunder!"
Kakayan straightened, gathering mana. A wisp of pale smoke flickered at her fingertip and vanished.
About as deadly as static cling.
"Perfect. That face is perfect."
Witch Miss really did look most elegant mid-cast.
He saved the shot, attached it to the post, and hit publish. He even set the picture as his new avatar.
"What are you doing?" Kakayan tilted her head and sat beside him.
"Running the account." Jiang Li tapped the monitor. "Making money online takes strategy."
"Running... business?"
"Sort of. You'll pick it up."
Fifteen minutes later, Jiang Li refreshed the post. Comments had trickled in:
[Back from the dead! And the creator's a pretty girl—nice!]
[When did I even follow you? (doge)]
[With a face like that, why hide it?]
[—awesome]
He liked each comment and had Kakayan reply with cute emojis.
Switching to the new video, he found the same commenters already there. Viewers had jumped from single digits to a couple dozen; likes and coins were climbing.
"What do the jumping numbers mean?"
"They mean the data's improving."
He moved the cursor, explaining every metric.
"All because of your management?"
Kakayan blinked long lashes.
"Mostly. Your face helps."
He reached to poke her cheek; she almost bit him.
He stopped.
When Jiang Li had started out, a famous creator had explained the platform's algorithm: videos rolled through a series of ever-larger traffic pools.
First came your own followers—really just "people who once clicked follow."
If they responded well, the algorithm shoved the video into a bigger pool. The faster the metrics climbed, the higher the tiers it reached, until it went viral.
If the initial reaction was tepid, the platform dripped in just enough views to keep small creators from despair—never enough to thrive.
Fan activity was everything.
Jiang Li's update post had pulled traffic to the new video. A plain upload would've been buried among dozens of others in any user's feed.
But a pretty photo plus a heartfelt message stood out. Users clicked in... and then clicked through to the video.
Low fan engagement simply meant users had nowhere to interact. Frequent posts, regular updates, and the numbers would slowly recover.
"So you can do business without leaving the house?"
"Exactly. Think of the internet as a giant communal crystal ball—watch others, or broadcast yourself."
He tried to simplify further.
Kakayan fell silent, thinking.
Jiang Li opened the short-video feed and let clips autoplay one after another.
"..."
Kakayan's lips parted slightly, rainbow light flickering across her wide eyes.
She'd seen plenty of crystal balls that showed images, but never one like this—one that carried sound and burst with color.
The shifting, kaleidoscopic scenes were more dazzling than any magic she'd ever witnessed.
"Is that woman trying to attract a mate?"
On the screen, a woman gyrated her hips, her tattered clothes barely clinging to her skin.
Kakayan asked the question with childlike curiosity.
Jiang Li snapped back to attention.
Huh?
How had the feed landed on this kind of risqué clip?