Chapter 188

The only sound that filled the air was the heavenly melody of the piano, echoing like a siren's song in everyone's mind. The room fell into a hushed silence as all eyes fixated on Stella, their expressions a mix of awe and disbelief.

In the audience, Jasper, who had been clutching his phone, ready to broadcast Stella's supposed embarrassment to the world, found himself swept away by the music. He had spared no expense to ensure Stella's downfall, investing a fortune to secure a prime spot on the live-streaming platform's homepage. As soon as he went live, tens of thousands of viewers flooded into the stream.

Before Stella started her performance, those watching were confused by the chaotic noise from the event, assuming some sort of mishap had occurred. In today's digital age, nothing captures people's attention like a bit of drama. The livestream audience leaned into their screens, hungry for drama—but as Stella's first notes filled the air, the comment section froze mid-snark. Not from technical glitches. From pure, unwilling awe.

Then the dam broke. Emojis, ALL-CAPS rants, and keysmashes of disbelief flooded in so violently that Jasper's custom-built phone stuttered, its processor overwhelmed by collective hysteria.

“Wow! That was unbelievably beautiful! Even as someone who knows nothing about music, I was completely entranced!”

“I’m a music student, and let me tell you, this girl is better than Antony! You know, the famous Antony, right?”

“Damn it, I was so caught up in listening that I forgot to record! Did anyone manage to record it? Please share it with me, I’d owe you one!”

“Is it just me, or is this girl stunning beyond belief? Does anyone know her name?”

“She’s just so breathtaking… I want to keep watching her forever!”

“I’ve just followed you, streamer. Can you adjust the camera so we can see her beautiful face again?”

“Let’s shower her with gifts, everyone! Maybe she’ll play another piece?”

Jasper snapped out of his trance just in time to see the avalanche of comments. He glanced at the viewer count and was utterly dumbfounded. In less than five minutes, Stella's performance had drawn in hundreds of thousands of viewers to his stream! His follower count skyrocketed to tens of thousands and was still climbing at an incredible pace. Soon, Jasper’s stream shot to the top of the trending list.

Meanwhile, other prominent streamers watched in bewilderment as their viewer counts dwindled.

“Hey folks, is my connection acting up, or are viewers just disappearing in droves?”

Many viewers, upon hearing the buzz, left comments as they prepared to check out the commotion.

“There’s a big spender throwing money around for a top spot; looks like it cost a few million. Let’s go see what’s happening!”

Stream notifications blitzed across screens as top creators piled into the livestream— “Wait, is this the Stella drama everyone’s—HOLY SHIT!” Then the digital gifts erupted. Those who watched Stella’s performance couldn’t help but shower the stream with gifts.

“This streamer is going to be a star, mark my words. I want to get on her radar early.”

Not to be outdone, other big-name streamers joined the gift-giving frenzy, vying for the top spot on the leaderboard.

“Hey there, beautiful, I’ve followed you. Let’s do a collab sometime!”

“Folks, give me a follow if you’re new here!”

The stream was a constant flurry of gift effects, one after another, without pause. Watching this unfold, Jasper’s eye twitched with frustration, nearly driving him to the brink of rage. He had spent all that money to expose Stella’s flaws to the entire internet, not to elevate her to stardom!