Henry frowned, his fingers flying across the keyboard. Lines of code flashed across the screen, command after command executed in rapid succession.
"This isn't a network failure," he said. "The campus network has been blocked."
He tried another route. Then another.
Nothing.
His expression darkened. This wasn't a simple outage. Someone had cut off access deliberately—and cleanly.
Whoever did this knew exactly what they were doing.
"Stay here," he said, pushing back his chair. "I'll be right back. Skipper, come with me."
Howard grabbed his jacket and followed without hesitation.
***
At Clearbrooke Estate, after dinner, Riley went straight to her room. The estate was quiet, undisturbed, as if none of the chaos outside existed.
She briefly considered pulling out the equipment she had used for teaching before, her fingers pausing over the case.
Then she let it go.
No need.
This wasn't that kind of situation.
7:59 p.m.
With one minute to spare, she went live using a brand-new account with zero followers.
Because it was a designated event stream, a PK request from Felicia popped up the moment she entered.
Riley accepted.
The screen split.
Felicia's face appeared instantly, perfectly framed, her makeup flawless as she smiled sweetly.
"Riley, your camera isn't showing your face. If you don't know how to adjust it, maybe you could ask someone for help?"
Her tone sounded helpful, but the mockery beneath it was obvious.
Her chat box erupted.
[LOL, as if a fool knows how to livestream. Felicia, you're too kind. Why even bother with her?]
Felicia glanced at the comments, suppressing a smile. She said nothing to defend Riley.
Because of the PK link, a handful of Felicia's fans wandered into Riley's stream.
Sparse. Pitiful.
Soon, some Imperial University students followed, openly voicing their support for Felicia.
Meanwhile, Riley's side remained nearly empty.
A few curious viewers clicked in, only to see an empty frame. They left almost immediately and returned to Felicia's stream.
Felicia was more than satisfied.
She settled comfortably into her seat and prompted, "Riley, should we start now, or do a warm-up first?"
The warm-up usually meant singing or performing for the audience.
Riley had looked it up beforehand. She understood.
"Let's start," Riley said.
Felicia hesitated, then let out a small, awkward laugh.
"But I'd like to sing something for my fans first…"
Then why ask?
Riley sighed inwardly. "Go ahead."
"And you?" Felicia tilted her head. "Don't you want to warm up for your fans?"
Riley glanced at her viewer count.
Not even fifty.
"No need."
Felicia hummed softly, satisfied. The question had only been for show anyway.
She turned back to her camera and began singing.
Within three minutes, gifts started pouring in.
Virtual effects burst across the screen with fireworks, shimmering trails of light, animated yachts sailing across the interface.
Her chat box came alive.
Messages stacked over one another faster than they could be read.
The atmosphere heated up instantly.
Meanwhile, Riley's stream slowly gained a few more viewers.
They stayed for a few seconds.
Then left.
The empty frame, the lack of movement. It felt almost uncomfortable to watch.
Even the chat box remained quiet.
No reactions. No engagement.
Just… stillness.
One of them asked:
[What is this stream about?]
Livestream PKs came in many forms—talent battles, gaming matches, eating challenges.
But this one was simply labelled as "Freshman Representative."
Most viewers had no idea what that meant.
Viewers in Felicia's stream quickly explained, and curious newcomers began to stay.
After her song ended, Riley's stream still had fewer than a hundred viewers.
While Felicia's viewer count reached nearly sixty thousand.
Then came the real show.
Piano.
Dance.
One polished performance after another.
Her stream exploded with excitements.
Comments flooded in. Gifts poured like rain. Rockets and yachts filled the screen in waves.
[Ahhh! Felicia! We love you! Please debut already!]
[She's such an angel? Incredible!]
And of course they didn't forget Riley.
[HAHAHA look at that fool's stream—still dead quiet!]
[What do you expect? She's a fool. What talent could she possibly have? I checked—she's just pointing her camera at a computer. Who knows what she's doing. The freshman rep has to be Felicia!]
After finishing her dance, Felicia sat down, catching her breath.
She glanced at the PK stats and saw her side flooded with gifts.
While Riley received zero.
A flicker of disdain crossed her eyes.
It's already over.
It's been nearly twenty minutes.
Riley hasn't done anything.
Her camera is still pointed at a computer.
What is she even doing?
Felicia curled her lips, about to throw out another mocking remark when suddenly a gold-tier account entered her stream.
[Vagabond gifted ×10 yachts: A small welcome gift for our rising star Felicia.]
[Vagabond recharged 100,000 credits in Felicia's stream.]
The chat box went wild.
Even the platform reacted instantly, pushing her stream with more traffic, more recommendations.
Her livestream followed up with another wave of gifts and her ranking shot up.
Felicia nearly lost control of her expression.
Ten yachts. That alone was worth ten thousand.
But more importantly, a direct recharge of one hundred thousand. It was non-refundable. Not to mention from a gold-tier account.
On QuickFin Live, accounts were ranked as regular, bronze, silver, gold and supreme.
The more one spent, the higher one's status.
And Vagabond was just one step below the highest tier.
A real spender that made Felicia's heart raced.
She forced a sweet smile. "Thank you, Vagabond, for the gifts and your support."
But the excitement in her eyes couldn't be hidden.
She shot a glance at Elaine, who was sitting nearby watching the stream.
Elaine caught on immediately, quickly adding the user and praised him for his support.
Everything was going perfectly on Felicia's side.
Meanwhile, Riley still had zero gifts.
Suddenly, there was a surge.
A group of viewers, all using Riley's profile picture, flooded into her stream.
The atmosphere flipped instantly and the quiet stream burst into life.
[Skipper gifted ×10 rockets]
[Skipper: Sorry I'm Late. I'm here now!]
[ClassSevenHunk gifted ×10 yachts]
[ClassSevenHunk: Our queen doesn't lose.]
[ImYourDad gifted ×10 yachts]
[ImYourDad: Go, Riley! We've got your back!]