In previous years, the Gourt Zone had never achieved very high rankings. The first reason was that there had never been a number one strear who could truly command the respect of all the others.
If the top strear couldn’t keep the others in check, they certainly couldn’t stop them from constantly challenging the top spot. The Gourt Zone’s strength was therefore fragnted, leaving it unable to climb the ranks.
The second reason was simply a lack of skill. When competing against others, they couldn’t establish a significant advantage. This often resulted in their opponents refusing to even taste their food. Even on the rare occasions they did, they wouldn’t cast their votes for them.
Since they couldn’t secure a top spot anyway, everyone beca even more lax, and the infighting among strears grew especially severe.
But this year was different.
Soone had seized the highest peak, looking down with solitary pride upon the scattered lights below.
Gourt Zone Strears’ Ascension Chat.
—She’ll slay any god or Buddha in her path.
—I suddenly feel like our zone might finally have its day!
—Did she already win the first competition?
—I watched. It was total domination.
—She’s so strong. No wonder this boss was able to get to first place with a perfect winning streak. She creates a huge lead every single ti.
Langlibaitiao was also in this group, and he joined the conversation: She’s definitely strong. She might be our best hope in years to make it to the top.
—The boss has appeared! I’ve already seen him campaigning for our number-one powerhouse in the gourt circles!
Langlibaitiao: Our zone’s representative has never even made it into the top twenty. We’re considered a mid-tier zone, and every ti we go to the Annual Gala, people mock us as strears from a minor league. We’re hoping Boss Jiang can lead us to turn things around.
—Oho, so Brother Lang thinks she can make the top twenty?
Langlibaitiao: No, no, no. I’ve never thought that.
—???
What kind of rhetorical trick was this? Just as everyone was about to ask Langlibaitiao what he ant, he sent another ssage:
With her level of skill, I think she can make the top ten, or even the top five.
—That strong?
Langlibaitiao: Anyone who thinks it’s too good to be true can go watch her stream VODs, or tune in to her live stream tomorrow.
Langlibaitiao: After watching her stream, you’ll all know what I’m talking about.
It’s snowing today: Let’s not talk about anything else—let’s talk benefits. The further soone makes it in the competition, the wider the audience they reach, and the more new fans they bring in. Our zone hasn’t seen new user growth for a long ti. If we can bring in new people, it’s good for all of us.
After this rational strear’s analysis of the situation, more people began posting declarations on their own social dia and in their personal circles, campaigning for ’Jiang Jiujiu’.
This unprecedented unity caused Jiang Qiuqiu’s popularity to rise even higher.
After receiving a flood of @ntions on the Star Network, she thought for a mont and made a post of her own. There was nothing flashy about it. It was a picture of her stir-frying over a blazing fire, with pork belly sizzling and rendering fat in the wok. Superimposed over the center of the wok were the two words "Gourt Zone." Next to this picture of her cooking, she included an image of last year’s Annual Gala PK rankings for all the zones, with the caption: The fire is hot, the temperature is rising.
It wasn’t subtle in the slightest, and even carried a hint of bravado.
This response made so of the strears who weren’t yet aware of the full situation mutter to themselves in suspicion.
But what they didn’t know was that within her own private fan circles, Jiang Qiuqiu was even more of a showman.
After the second round of competitions began, mbers of her hardcore fan group would often ask Wanxing what dish Jiang Qiuqiu was planning to make the next day, what the plan was for the stream, how Juju was doing lately, whether she was under a lot of pressure, and so on.
Wanxing couldn’t answer these questions on her behalf, so after so thought, she invited Jiang Qiuqiu into the hardcore fan group.
When the ssage "Wanxing has invited Jiang Jiujiu to join the group" appeared on their screens, the entire group was stunned.
A thousand words and ten thousand thoughts were all distilled into a single sentence—
Damn it, why would you invite Juju into this group?!
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