Is live streaming this competitive

At 4:50 AM, Song Anquan and Chen Qi in the car had unknowingly dozed off.

Su Yang glanced at the navigation, which showed five kilometers remaining to the Hangzhou toll station.

He twisted his neck and muttered to himself, "Damn, finally almost there."

Driving at dawn was exhausting for the eyes, but the highway was nearly empty, allowing smooth sailing all the way.

If not for waiting for the ten cars behind them, Su Yang would have exited the highway half an hour earlier.

Soon, the navigation instructed him to take the right exit ramp.

He slowed down, entered the ramp, followed the curve, and drove another seven or eight hundred meters before finally arriving at the Hangzhou toll station.

After passing through, Su Yang pulled over to the roadside and parked.

Song Anquan sat up straight, rubbing his eyes. "We here?"

"Yeah."

"What time is it?"

"Almost five."

"Finally! Let me check how far the others are."

Song Anquan took out his phone, opened the group chat, and tagged everyone to ask.

Replies soon poured in.

The farthest one was still over forty kilometers away, while the closest had about thirty left.

"Almost there. They should arrive in half an hour max."

"Got it. Let’s rest for a bit."

"Bro, you should take a nap too. You’ve still gotta drive back later. Ugh, damn."

Su Yang chuckled. "Nah, I’ll just scroll on my phone."

"Alright."

He reclined his seat slightly, leaned back, and opened Douyin to browse.

The moment the app loaded, a familiar face popped up on his screen.

Su Yang stared at the person in the video, stunned. "What the—?"

"What’s up?" Song Anquan tilted his head.

"Nothing, nothing. Go back to sleep."

Su Yang turned back to his phone, thinking, Damn, streaming at 5 AM? What’s going on? Is the livestreaming grind this brutal now?

Indeed, the person on his screen was none other than Lin Yiyi, whom he hadn’t seen in a while.

Puzzled, Su Yang tapped into her livestream.

The moment he entered, his Level 46 badge prominently displayed itself in Lin Yiyi’s view.

She froze for a second before beaming with excitement. "Su Gege!!!"

Su Yang hastily turned down the volume. Seriously, why the yelling?

"Gege~~ You finally came to my stream!!"

At that moment, only about a dozen viewers were in Lin Yiyi’s chat. Someone asked:

"Big spender’s here?"

"Who is this guy?"

Ignoring the comments, Lin Yiyi continued talking to Su Yang.

"Su Gege, why are you up so early?"

Su Yang typed back: "Out handling some stuff. Why are you streaming before sunrise?"

Lin Yiyi pouted. "Gotta make money, duh~"

"How much can you even earn with this few viewers?"

"Every little bit counts! Streaming’s tough these days. Gotta hustle."

Su Yang smirked and typed: "Start a PK battle, then~"

Lin Yiyi immediately understood. She jumped in excitement, her joy unmistakable. "Love you!!"

Meanwhile, a few viewers in the chat scoffed:

"Who’s this guy acting all high and mighty?"

"Never seen him before. Level 46 acting like he’s Level 75."

"Pfft. Let’s see what he’s got."

......

Soon, Lin Yiyi initiated a PK battle against another strikingly beautiful streamer with 500,000 more followers than her.

Normally, Lin Yiyi wouldn’t even attempt such a lopsided match—but today was different.

Lin Yiyi grinned. "Wanna battle, pretty girl?"

"You got points?" The other girl sat with her arms crossed, expressionless.

Lin Yiyi smirked. "Wanna find out?"

"I don’t PK with no-name streamers~"

"I’ve got points!" Lin Yiyi quickly interjected, afraid the other streamer would disconnect. She rarely encountered such arrogance—this was the perfect chance to humble her.

"Oh? Then let’s go. What’s your punishment if you lose?"

"Twenty squats. Same if you lose?"

"Fine. Muting."

......

The moment the battle started, the opponent’s score instantly jumped from 0.

But Lin Yiyi wasn’t worried. She grinned at Su Yang, still in her stream. "Su Gege, hold off for now. Wait for the multiplier before sending gifts."

Su Yang didn’t bother responding. He didn’t care about multipliers—he just tapped the gift icon, selected "Grand Gala" (the most expensive gift), and sent ten in a row.

Instantly, ten extravagant gift animations lit up the screen.

Lin Yiyi’s eyes widened. The opposing streamer, who had been lounging, abruptly sat up straight.

The score rocketed from 0 to 300,000, instantly choking the opponent.

The rival streamer froze, narrowing her eyes at the screen.

Watching her reaction, Su Yang felt a surge of satisfaction.

[Ding! Host’s mood detected: thoroughly enjoying the moment. Reward: 800,000.]

Su Yang chuckled and sent another ten "Grand Gala" gifts.

The screen erupted with dazzling effects once more.

Lin Yiyi was ecstatic, her cheeks flushed as she showered the screen with thanks.

Su Yang thought, Let’s end this.

He tapped again—another ten "Grand Gala" gifts.

Now, the opposing streamer was completely stunned. She had assumed an easy win against a nobody with a few thousand followers—only to get humiliated.

Still, this kind of thing wasn’t rare in the streaming world. Pretty streamers always had a couple of big spenders backing them.

But for a small-time streamer like Lin Yiyi to have a whale like Su Yang drop thirty "Grand Gala" gifts in one go? That was practically unheard of outside top-tier streamers with millions of followers.

Su Yang decided to quit while he was ahead. He typed: "Call it a day after this. I’m out~"

"Got it!! Love you, Su Gege!!"

Smirking, Su Yang swiped away to browse other streams.

......

About half an hour later, several wedding cars exited the Hangzhou toll station one after another, pulling up behind the Rolls-Royce Cullinan.

Su Yang closed his phone, stepped out of the car, and walked over.

A white Audi Q5 soon arrived as well. Chen Zhaoguo rolled down the window, grinning at Su Yang. "Xiao Su, you’re too fast! How long have you been waiting?"

"About half an hour. Uncle Chen, come down for a smoke." Su Yang pulled out a cigarette and handed it to him.

Chen Zhaoguo accepted it cheerfully and got out.

"Xiao Qi’s in your car?"

"Yeah, still sleeping."

"Good, let her rest. Man, my back’s killing me after this drive, haha."

Su Yang laughed. "Same here. My back’s sore too—it’s a long trip."

"Tell me about it. And we’ve gotta drive back later. What a pain."

As they chatted, Song Anquan hurried over, pulling out two packs of cigarettes and handing them out to the drivers in the other cars.

"Thanks for the hard work, uncles! Here, take a smoke and rest up."

"Alright, let's take a smoke break and then hit the road again. Just 30 kilometers left—keep your spirits up, everyone!"

Ten minutes later, at 5:40 AM, the eleven vehicles lined up in formation, led by the Rolls-Royce Cullinan, and set off toward their final destination.

......