100 Universe Ships: Who Can Compete?
The timing was perfect, precisely at the last second of the system's lottery, etching "100 Universe Ships" into Lu Mingming's illustrious streaming history.
"Tha-thank you, ALnr, for the 100 Universe Ships."
Lu Mingming's jaw dropped in surprise, leaving her a little flustered, but mostly stirring an ineffable emotion within her heart.
"...You've really spent too much."
Though she knew he held a respectable position in the military, such lavish gifts would undoubtedly cost a fortune. Moreover, having met him in person, Lu Mingming felt a touch of shyness.
ALnr, pushing aside the comments from previous big-gift-givers, reclaimed his usual prominent spot, adorned with a golden reply effect. He posted: 【I hope I'm lucky enough to win a spot this time.】
"You definitely will be. Wishing you good luck."
Lu Mingming's clear, bright eyes conveyed her sincerity.
As soon as her words fell, a string of flashing fluorescent numbers appeared on the live stream's central screen, jumping back and forth before finally settling on the names of a few viewers.
Lu Mingming leaned closer to the screen, reading out the list of winning viewers from the backend, word by word:
"Congratulations to Olana'ar, Xing Luo Qi Bu... Mei Shi An Li Jia, the five viewers above have won the Matcha-flavored Cookies gift this time."
She won!
A faint smile graced Lu Mingming's lips as she encouraged the viewers to applaud.
"Our lucky draw has ended! I hope everyone enjoys the matcha-flavored cookies I personally made myself~"
She picked up a generously filled transparent bag from the table and held it up to the camera, the rustling sound of the cookies clinking together whetting the appetite.
Viewers who didn't win felt a pang of regret but harbored no significant resentment, as the winners were all at the top of the gift-giving rankings, each contribution equivalent to thousands of others.
In the hotel room, the little white tiger could barely contain its excitement, longing to roll around on the bed with Lu Mingming's pillow. However, with two unwelcome guests observing, it decided against it.
"Excuse me," Olana'ar said with a feigned smile, showing off. "I won. Everyone else, try harder next time."
Morian barely lifted an eyelid, a chilling smile playing on his lips. His reply, sounding as if it were hummed from his nose, carried an air of reluctant obligation.
"We can see that on the screen. Your Highness, to which address should it be sent? Surely not... the hotel?"
Reminded of this, Olana'ar froze.
Soon, he formulated a plan.
At worst, he would assign Wang Tianhai from the police department to retrieve it; the man wouldn't dare to refuse.
"Don't worry, the entire Interstellar Alliance is mine. I can have it sent wherever I wish. Speaking so much, are you jealous?"
Morian lay on the headboard, his expressionless face turned towards the bed.
"What would I be jealous of? Mingming will bring the cookies back for me to eat later."
The first exchange ended in a stalemate, and silence fell between them.
The little kitten, curled into a small ball, faced the merciless lottery results with a pathetic expression.
It was clear its gift was too little.
If it couldn't have a good time, it would certainly make those who won feel worse.
Yi Fu deliberately elongated its voice and let out a soft "Mew," successfully drawing their attention to its impending trick.
The little kitten blinked its eyes and said, "Anyway, Sister will bring the cookies back. If you don't like them, you can give them to me. Respecting the elderly and cherishing the young is a traditional virtue."
The little white tiger shot him a cold glance and curtly replied with a single word: "Scram."
After the live stream, Lu Mingming baked another batch of cookies.
She had promised the nobles at the Royal Academy that she would send them small gifts once she opened her shop, and the matcha cookies would be perfect.
She carefully packed each parcel and sent them out according to the lottery addresses provided in private messages.
Two of the addresses were particularly peculiar.
One belonged to Xing Luo Qi Bu; his displayed address was the giant ship at the seaside plaza that Lu Mingming had visited an hour earlier.
"Could it be the slick-haired man sitting next to me when I was buying tea?"
Lu Mingming pondered for a long time, concluding that this was the most plausible answer.
An unprecedented awkwardness began to surface in her heart, the surrounding air seeming to freeze.
She had just put on airs to buy something, only to be ruthlessly exposed less than an hour later.
Lu Mingming patted her burning cheeks and turned her attention to the second person.
Olana'ar's address was set at a street intersection, far from the military zone, at the police department.
One was north, the other south, with no apparent connection, leaving Lu Mingming utterly bewildered yet secretly amused.
Regardless, she sent out the packages according to the addresses.
After loading all the pots and pans into the dishwasher, Lu Mingming returned to her room with the new batch of matcha cookies, sharing two pieces of each of the two textures the little cubs had been craving as an afternoon treat.
The cookies were as crisp as she had imagined; the old man hadn't lied at all.
"Try this."
Lu Mingming brought out a thermos and poured each of the little ones a cup of clear tea.
The pale yellow liquid had a few dark tea leaves floating at the bottom, emitting a slightly bitter aroma.
The little kitten gulped it down in one go, its face wrinkling like a dumpling. The little white tiger could drink it but remained indifferent. The one who enjoyed it the most was the little Samoyed, its pink tongue curling to scoop up the tea, sipping it slowly.
"This tea is quite good."
Morian mused, considering the feasibility of stocking large quantities of tea for the research lab.
While the little ones ate, Lu Mingming began reviewing the day's streaming revenue.
Olana'ar had sent so many gifts; she wanted to know when she should reciprocate.
Upon checking the backend, the dazzling new addition of 780,000 star coins almost made Lu Mingming's eyeballs pop out.
"Seriously?"
Lu Mingming perked up, her fingers counting slowly.
"Ones, tens, hundreds... hundred thousands."
Confirmation complete.
Lu Mingming took a deep breath, cautiously transferring all the star coins to her bank card for safekeeping. Combined with the money she already had, her current savings had reached nearly 1.5 million.
Never in her wildest dreams could she have imagined such a day.
She stared blankly at the backend interface, her joy becoming increasingly difficult to conceal, filling her with confidence even for tomorrow's exam for her保育师 (Childcare Specialist) qualification on the main planet.
The lottery gifts were soon delivered to their respective recipients.
Fat Tart, a popular online recommender on the main planet, had accidentally stumbled upon Lu Mingming's live stream footage a while ago. He had deliberately waited a few days for her stream, even purchasing IP access for Xing Fu Star for the occasion.
Excitedly holding his new delivery, he turned on his camera to stream for his audience on the main planet.
"Hello everyone, today your blogger was fortunate enough to win a lottery and receive handmade cookies from a streamer on Xing Fu Star. I spent tens of thousands of star coins on this, let's see if it was worth it!"
Initial comments were all scolding Fat Tart as an idiot, calling it a waste to spend so much money on food from a remote planet. However, the moment Fat Tart popped a cookie into his mouth, the entire live stream fell into a sudden silence.
Then, the barrage of comments exploded across the screen.
【Everyone wait a moment, I'm going to search for what planet these cookies are from.】
【I'm telling you, 321, get the purchase link up. Forget tens of thousands, I'd pay hundreds of thousands.】
【Blogger, are you selling them or not? I want the rest!】
"Not selling, not selling. Don't even think about it, we're out of stock currently."
Fat Tart finished the entire bag of cookies, licking his lips with satisfaction, and posted a new update in his space.
"Mei Shi An Li Jia v: Today I ate matcha-flavored cookies from a live stream on Xing Fu Star. You've probably never heard of this name before. Welcome to click on the video to watch [Video]. Streamer ID is Mingming Won't Wake Up. Sincerely recommended~"
As soon as the status was posted, tens of thousands of comments popped up instantly.
What?!
The recommender, known for his sharp tongue, was actually praising food?
Just how delicious were these matcha-flavored cookies!
Some fans, who hadn't watched the unboxing live stream and saw it was from a small planet like Xing Fu Star, left comments below even before opening the photos.
【Taking dirty money, unfollowing.】
【Do you think a streamer from an outer rim planet could buy off a blogger with money?】
【...You believe this? There are so many photo editing software now, even the worst can be made to look like a perfect dish.】
This update undoubtedly sparked a major discussion on the main planet. Some idle netizens even dug up multiple main planet accounts with the tag "Lu Mingming," all located on Xing Fu Star, and simultaneously posted many holographic images.
If only Mei Shi An Li Jia had posted this information alone, people could still have thoroughly suspected him of being bribed.
The problem was that a large number of main planet accounts were scattered across Xing Fu Star, and they all consistently gave positive reviews, immediately piquing the curiosity of the general public.
Before Lu Mingming even arrived at the main planet, her name had already begun to catch fire.