Chapter 16.1

As soon as Mu Ling’s new post went live, it received ten comments in the blink of an eye. Another refresh brought thirty comments. Eager fans who had been waiting pounced on the post, claiming the top spots without even reading the content.

Mu Ling looked at comments like:

“First!”

“Ahhh my wife!”

“You rascal, you finally came back!”

She finally realized just how terrifyingly popular she had become.

Mu Ling’s tendency to get carried away started to emerge. Just as she was about to cover her mouth and giggle, Wei Li interrupted her, “Boss, it seems no one is paying attention to our reopening. They’re all asking about Qilin.”

Mu Ling froze.

Reality check: Qilin was the popular one, not her. She had nothing to do with the hype.

Looking at the later comments, Mu Ling confirmed that after a few token compliments, all the comments revolved around Qilin.

“Can we see Qilin today? Is it really Qilin? Why would Qilin accept being caged?”

“Has Qilin’s mental instability been cured? How was it treated?”

“Did your zoo discover a new method to treat neural trauma in beasts? Can it cure other species of war beasts too?”

“Will you post a video of Qilin’s treatment today? Can you livestream it?”

“Livestream please, don’t make me beg on my knees!”

Not a single person mentioned the reopening.

However, Mu Ling remained resilient. “It’s okay. The post will stay up. As long as I keep updating regularly, Qilin’s fans will surely be won over. If just a tiny fraction of the two billion views are interested, we’ll still get a thousand visitors.”

Mu Ling didn’t expect to attract many people initially. After all, a wildlife park had its barriers. Observing animals wasn’t as convenient as in a regular zoo. Her main goal now was to establish a good reputation, so that when people considered visiting a wildlife park in the future, they might prioritize their Bi Ke Wildlife Park.

Wei Li understood her point and asked, “Should we start a livestream then?”

Mu Ling immediately refused, “Livestreaming is different from recording videos. With videos, we can re-record if needed. But livestreaming requires me to respond to viewers on the spot. I’ve only been at the zoo for two days. If I can’t answer their questions well, they’ll doubt me again. Don’t think I’ve forgotten how they reported me yesterday just because they’re calling me ‘wife’ now. I even rode in a police car yesterday!”

Wei Li suggested, “Viewers might send gifts during a livestream.”

“Let’s do it!” Mu Ling immediately switched to the StarNet backend to figure out how to start streaming. “The customer is always right. If potential clients make a request, we should try our best to fulfill it. Customers wouldn’t harm us, right?”

Wei Li remained speechless.

When it came to money, the boss’s principles became a mystery.

By this time, the little wolf had finished its breakfast. Mu Ling thought, “Whether it’s one sheep or a flock, they all need tending.” Since she was going to livestream Qilin’s treatment anyway, she might as well treat the little wolf too. It would be a good opportunity for the wolf to gain some publicity.

After finishing breakfast, the little wolf limped over to Mu Ling’s feet. It sat on her shoe, looking up at her with its face ringed by a white milk mustache.

Mu Ling crouched down to pet the wolf’s forehead. While looking at the livestream interface, she said, “Wei, can you keep an eye on the comments for me? I won’t be able to watch the screen constantly while treating the animals. If anyone insults me, just kick them out. What’s your username? Add me, and I’ll make you a room moderator.”

Wei Li leaned in and gave his StarNet account nickname: “Universe’s best Sniper.”

Mu Ling paused.

She hadn’t expected the seemingly steady brother Wei to have such a childish username.

Mu Ling added brother Wei and set him as her room moderator. She glanced at her earlier promotional post. Ten minutes after posting, it had a thousand likes, four thousand comments, and five hundred shares.

This meant at least four thousand people were currently in her chatroom. As soon as she started streaming, they would receive a notification.

StarNet’s rules were simple: if you’re in someone’s chatroom, you see their latest updates. If you’re not in their chatroom but want to know their updates, you have to follow them.

Mu Ling took a deep breath. Gathering her courage, she finally pressed the “Start Streaming” button.

At that moment, countless fans who had already followed Mu Ling, were commenting on her promotional post, or rewatching her previous two videos for the nth time, saw a small banner appear at the top of their screen:

«Streamer ‘Bi Ke Zoo Official Account’ is now live. Come join the stream!»

“Ahhhh they really started a livestream!”

Instantly, countless netizens flooded in.

Almost as soon as the stream began, Mu Ling saw the viewer count in the top right corner climbing at a rate of nearly a hundred per second.

The comment section in the bottom left was a flood of messages, overwhelming in their density and speed.

It was too fast, way too fast.

The viewer count was increasing rapidly, but the comments were flying by even faster. Mu Ling could barely read a single word before it disappeared into the distance.

Once again, Mu Ling deeply experienced just how terrifying Qilin’s popularity was. Her mouth hung open in shock.

Wei Li was nearly cross-eyed trying to keep up. He hurriedly pressed pause, hoping to see what the viewers were saying. But in the less than a second it took him to pause, the backlog of comments had already exceeded a thousand.

Looking at the viewer count, it had already surpassed 600,000 in just a few minutes.

Swallowing hard, even Wei Li, who considered himself pretty experienced, couldn’t help but feel a little overwhelmed.