Ch 114: The Cannon Fodder Won’t Play Along Anymore [QT]

Streaming on StarNet?

That works too!

Mu Yue was the first to clap in agreement. “Our family has a unique giant rose wall, it’s bound to go viral quickly!”

She looked at the beautiful courtyard, and in her heart she also felt a bit reluctant. “Such pretty flowers, if we can keep them instead of selling, of course that’s the best.”

So the matter was decided.

Han Jing looked at Mu Xing with some surprise, thinking on one hand, as expected, still a child, with such naïve ideas. On the other hand, no wonder the whole family adored him—it really wasn’t without reason.

They acted right away!

On StarNet, flowers had a dedicated recommendation section with extremely high traffic.

But most of the content there was artificial flower livestreams.

The few accounts with the highest views who could actually grow real flowers—they didn’t stream live.

Mu Xing registered a livestream channel, set it to full holographic sharing mode, with the shared range covering the entire courtyard.

That way fans could enjoy the flowers to the fullest without disturbing the family’s privacy.

Every day, countless little livestream channels like this were created in the flower section. His channel, named “Iya,” was like a single drop in the ocean, completely unnoticed.

But someone always clicked in out of boredom.

Like Rupert.

Rupert was a mecha student, close to graduation, forced to endure his instructor’s “beatings” daily.

As the instructor said: mecha students were destined for the battlefield. The harsher the training now, the higher the chance of survival in the future.

After class, returning to his dorm to rest was Rupert’s most relaxed time.

He liked to scroll for something soothing before bed—sometimes lifestyle clips, sometimes cute pets.

But what he loved most was flowers.

Fresh flowers always brought joy.

Unfortunately, in this world flowers were far too rare.

Rupert’s family was fairly well-off, but at most once a year on an important occasion, they would buy two stems, place them in a fine crystal vase, preserve them in special nutrient solution, just to delay wilting a little longer.

He was idly scrolling through the flower section, clicking in and finding most were just handicraft videos. The streamers pulled every trick imaginable to make fake flowers that looked almost real.

But how could they ever truly fool the eye?

The thumbnails looked real, but once holographic sharing was turned on, to the naked eye, fake was still fake.

Rupert sighed, ready to log off for sleep, when out of the corner of his eye he spotted a channel called “Iya.”

Completely bare, not even a thumbnail.

Must’ve just been created.

*

At the Mu household.

After Mu Xing turned on the stream, aside from Han Jing who didn’t want to appear, the others stood curiously in the courtyard, waiting for viewers to arrive.

But after more than ten minutes, no one came.

“Eh,” Mu Rongrong grew anxious. “Why isn’t anyone watching?”

Mu Yue was unfazed. “We didn’t pay for promotion. Isn’t it normal no one’s watching?”

Mu Rongrong sighed. “Now I really know how hard life without money is.”

In the past, she would’ve casually tossed in a few million starcoins to blast her channel onto the homepage. Why sit here waiting so foolishly?

No.

After a moment’s thought, Mu Rongrong realized with frustration—even if she had the money now, she probably wouldn’t blow it like that.

Having earned her own money, she finally understood how hard it was to make.

She could no longer throw it away so carelessly.

Inwardly she felt old before her time: she was no longer a proper spoiled rich girl.

Just then, a “ding-dong” chimed in their ears.

It was the special sound notification for the stream. When someone entered, both the host and moderators would hear it.

Their spirits lifted as their eyes locked onto the young man who had just appeared.

“A holographic mode? That’s impressive,” Rupert muttered as soon as he entered, realizing he had been transported into a different space.

The first thing he saw were four striking beauties, each with their own style. He frowned. “Did I enter the wrong stream? Is this a beauty cam show?”

Mu Xing blinked, then glanced at the ID above his head, saying, “Welcome to our stream, Brother Lu Dazhuang.”

But Rupert didn’t respond.

He was stunned.

Right after seeing the four streamers, a powerful wave of floral fragrance hit his nose.

Not the synthetic artificial kind, but the original, pure scent of flowers with a breath of wild mountain air.

His instincts made him search for the source, and as he lifted his gaze, he froze completely.

A massive wall of roses. Countless blooms bursting open, with verdant leaves and delicate petals swaying gently in the breeze.

“If this is fake,” Rupert murmured, “then I’ll admit defeat.”

He walked toward the wall without thinking. The closer he got, the stronger the fragrance grew. The blossoms appeared vividly before his eyes, not a hint of artificial industrial gloss.

He lowered his head and inhaled lightly, then couldn’t resist reaching out.

Moist and soft to the touch—he even felt as if with just a little force, he could crush the fragile petals.

Too real.

If it had been just one pot of roses carefully cultivated in a greenhouse, Rupert would not have doubted it at all.

But this was a massive three-sided rose wall. He couldn’t even find where the roots were, nor how many bushes it was made of.

And besides, as his gaze swept across, this was just an ordinary family courtyard. There was no greenhouse for cultivating flowers, no specialized equipment.

Who raises flowers like this?

The Mu family just watched as this guest circled the flower wall in sheer delight for a long time. Seeing how immersed he was in joy, they didn’t interrupt.

Mu Rongrong whispered, “This young man looks so happy he can’t contain himself.”

Lan Xi said softly, “If I suddenly came across a courtyard like this on the StarNet, I too would be overjoyed.”

If it had been the old him, he would definitely have been willing to pay any price to buy such a rose.

Who wouldn’t love such beauty? Especially when it was one of a kind.

Rupert’s eyes couldn’t take it all in. After wandering for over half an hour, he finally remembered he was in a livestream room.

He turned back to look at the four people seated at the table, who seemed to be a family.

“Hello,” he greeted them, his gaze still darting back toward the flowers. “I want to ask, how did you manage to make it look so real?”

A bit embarrassed, he added, “I’m truly a flower lover myself. I’ve been looking for so long, and I still couldn’t spot a single trace of it being man-made.”

Such a level of craftsmanship, even if it only existed within holograms, would still be a massive breakthrough.

For people like them who couldn’t afford flowers, they could just indulge on the StarNet.

Mu Xing hadn’t expected that after watching for so long, he would ask a question like that.

He almost wanted to laugh. “Of course you couldn’t find anything artificial. Because—”

He blinked proudly. “They’re real.”

Rupert’s mouth slowly fell open.

After a long moment, he asked in shock, “R-real?”

Mu Xing nodded.

Rupert said firmly, “I don’t believe it!”

Mu Xing: “…”

Rupert: “Unless you can prove it’s real.”

Mu Xing: ?

How was he supposed to prove that?

He looked up at his family, puzzled.

The Mu family was stunned too.

They had never faced something like this before—how to prove that something real was in fact real.

Rupert saw they didn’t answer and thought he had exposed them.

He scratched his head, a little embarrassed. “I didn’t mean to insult you. Honestly, your hologram tech is amazing—really! Even with my eyes I couldn’t find any signs of artificiality. Even if it’s fake, it’s incredible. You must have just opened this livestream today, right? It’s definitely going to blow up!”

“But don’t lie, or you’ll get flamed hard.”

As he spoke, he tapped the virtual screen in front of him.

[Viewer ‘Sajia Lu Dazhuang’ has sent a Meteor Shower to the livestream]

One Meteor Shower cost 1,000 starcoins. Rupert was being very generous.

He still had training tomorrow, so he couldn’t stay long. After lingering reluctantly for another half hour, he finally bid Mu Xing and the family goodbye.

Once he logged off the StarNet, Rupert shouted, “Unbelievable!”

He swore he could still smell that refreshing floral scent at the tip of his nose.

His roommate jumped in fright. “Are you crazy?”

Rupert threw him a video. “I just found a hidden gem on the StarNet! A hologram livestream—the flowers, I couldn’t tell they were fake!”

As he spoke, he edited his words and pictures, sharing them on his StarNet account.

At the academy, Rupert was somewhat of a well-known figure, and he had plenty of followers. Once he posted, many people clicked in.

Mu Xing was mulling over Rupert’s words.

How to prove the flowers at home were real.

How to prove it?

Since it was a livestream on the StarNet, then let the StarNet officials authenticate it.

He directly contacted StarNet customer service. The staff, surprised by his request, forwarded it to the manager responsible for Red Moon Star.

Although the manager thought the request was rather absurd, since a user had raised it, out of duty he still sent staff to contact Mu Xing immediately.

And so, StarNet employee No. 0377 arrived in Mu Xing’s livestream.

0377 was a pretty young woman. When she saw the rose wall—an entire sea of flowers—she was stunned.

She couldn’t stop herself from circling the wall several times before finally remembering why she had come.

Then she saw the Mu family.

Mu Rongrong and Mu Yue were beautiful, but since she was also a woman, she could handle that.

Mu Xing was still just a boy, exquisite and cute, but she could still… handle that.

But the golden-haired, blue-eyed, stunningly handsome Lan Xi—she couldn’t help blushing.

0377 thought in shock, What kind of family is this? How are they all so good-looking?

To think Red Moon Star had such a hidden gem of a family!

Mu Rongrong noticed the young woman staring dumbstruck at her husband, but she didn’t feel offended. Instead, she felt proud. This man is mine. You can only look.

Ah, satisfying.

0377 forced herself to calm down, recalling her supervisor’s instructions. She asked, “You want to authenticate the roses in your home?”

Mu Rongrong nodded. “Yes, this rose was cultivated by my youngest son. We started this livestream on the StarNet so more people could enjoy it. But some don’t believe it’s real, so we’d like your staff to authenticate it. Once confirmed, we hope you can give us a ‘real flower’ certification on the StarNet.”

“R-real?” 0377’s voice trembled a little.

Her eyes widened in awe at the lush flower wall. If this was real…

Wouldn’t it be worth a fortune?

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