I changed the world.

Xin Hao's mood these days can be described as soaring. As a struggling, third-rate streamer, his popularity on KuLu Live has always been lukewarm. Since he entered the industry, the number of people online at the same time has never exceeded four digits.

However, everything changed a few days ago. Since his video was uploaded and released on various platforms, the number of viewers in his live stream has skyrocketed. Today, the number of people watching online at the same time has exceeded 100,000, and the number of followers has exceeded one million, making him one of the most well-known streamers on "Cool Donkey Live".

That's why yesterday, the platform of "Kulv Live" contacted him. The platform planned to take advantage of the current buzz surrounding the event and arrange a series of promotions specifically for him. The homepage promotion alone, which went live today, brought him a large number of new users.

Interestingly, even several senior executives of the platform were extremely interested in his experience and privately asked him if it was really true.

In addition, in the past two days, many self-media platforms have contacted him to interview him about his experiences, and even more self-media accounts have applied for permission to reprint his posts. This morning alone, reporters from two well-known industry publications interviewed him by phone, demonstrating that the impact of this incident has prompted even these traditional media outlets to try and capitalize on its popularity.

After all, this incident had video footage as a medium of dissemination, providing visual evidence. The speed at which its popularity surged online was beyond even Xin Hao's expectations. A large number of netizens wanted to know whether the story was true or false. This directly led to Xin Hao's live stream being overwhelmed in the past few days, with the number of viewers increasing so rapidly that the platform had to urgently allocate resources to ensure the stability of his live stream.

His main task these past few days has been to repeatedly recount his experience from that day and answer all sorts of strange and unusual questions from netizens.

"I'm exhausted..." After making an excuse to go offline for a while, Xin Hao, who was a little thirsty, recalled the endless questions in the live broadcast room and began to feel the "troubles of success" for the first time.

Was he coming to build his own team? Xin Hao thought optimistically: At the very least, shouldn't he hire an assistant to help him manage the miscellaneous items?

Thinking about the soaring advertising revenue and tipping fees in the past few days, and the soft, sweet voices of the female streamers who wanted to connect with him, calling him "Brother Hua," Xin Hao felt a wave of weakness wash over him. Remembering the suggestive hints from that female streamer with the outrageously attractive figure, he couldn't help but wonder if he should take a flight over and arrange a date...

Just as Xin Hao was lost in his fantasies, there was a rhythmic knocking at the door.

"Who is it? It's so late..." Xin Hao walked over in his slippers, opened the door, and then froze.

Two men stood at the door. He recognized one of them—a middle-aged man in a police uniform, wearing a bowler hat and the insignia of a first-class police superintendent—as Officer Ye Jianye from the district police station, the same officer who had encountered the paranormal event with him a few days prior. The other man, dressed in a crisp black uniform, wearing gold-rimmed glasses, a silver crown, and gleaming leather shoes, carrying a black briefcase, and smiling, appeared to be around thirty years old. He didn't recognize him. However, as a native of Dazhao, steeped in etiquette and culture since childhood, he keenly noticed a detail: Officer Ye Jianye was half a step behind the man in black. In Eastern social culture, this implied that the man in black was the leader.

After a moment of surprise, Xin Hao's face immediately broke into a smile: "Ah, it's Commander Ye, and this gentleman, I didn't realize it was so late..."

"Hello Mr. Xin, I am Zhou Xilin, a senior agent from the Special Crime Investigation Bureau of the Imperial Ministry of Justice. This is my identification. There are some things I need your cooperation with." As he spoke, the man in black took out an identification with a black cover and opened it in front of Xin Hao. On the left page of the identification was a silver badge with a shield, scales, ears of wheat and two crossed longswords, while on the right was a photo of the man in front of him, along with his name, rank, and identification number.

Xin Hao had seen this scene many times in various TV dramas and movies in the Empire. As a special department under the Imperial Ministry of Justice, the Special Crime Investigation Bureau has always been shrouded in mystery in the eyes of ordinary people. Their duties are also different from those of ordinary local police. They generally do not deal with ordinary crimes, but mainly target crimes that seem unattainable to ordinary people, such as espionage, subversion, terrorist organizations, and international criminal groups.

"Oh...oh...it's Commander Zhou, please come in, please come in..." Xin Hao quickly glanced at the identification, not daring to look at it any longer. As a commoner from the lower class of society, he instinctively felt some fear towards this legendary institution, and hurriedly opened the door to let the two people into the room.

"The house is a bit messy, I haven't had time to clean it yet. Please, have a seat, please have a seat..." In Xin Hao's house, there were some disposable takeout containers lying around. These were all takeout he had ordered and hadn't had time to throw away. There were also many unwashed clothes lying on the sofa. Xin Hao awkwardly pushed them aside and then invited the two of them to sit down.

"Your family is missing a wife to help you with the housework..." Ye Jianye joked with a smile. After all, he and Xin Hao had gone through hardships together, so they weren't strangers.

"It's not like it's not there yet..." Hearing the teasing, Xin Hao's tension subsided a little, and he scratched his head and chuckled awkwardly.

Xin Hao wanted to make tea for the two of them, but Zhou Xilin stopped him. So, with a little unease, he sat down on the single sofa next to Zhou Xilin.

“Detective Zhou is here specifically because of what happened last time. Don’t be nervous, just answer truthfully,” Ye Jianye said first.

"Definitely, definitely..." Xin Hao clasped his index fingers together on his thighs and nodded repeatedly upon hearing this.

“Mr. Xin, I’ve come here today to inquire again about the paranormal event you experienced not long ago. We noticed that you actually used a camera to film that experience?” Zhou Xilin took out his phone, pulled up a video, and placed it on the coffee table in front of Xin Hao. Xin Hao recognized it as the video he had uploaded to the internet with just a glance.

"Uh... I did film this. My electronic glasses have a camera function. I was too nervous at the police station that day and forgot about it. I only realized that the recording function was on when I got back, and I accidentally recorded this video..." Xin Hao felt uneasy, so he smiled apologetically and took out the explanation he had prepared.

"In that case, please hand over the original video recording to us. On behalf of the Special Crime Investigation Bureau, I request that you fulfill your responsibilities as a citizen of the Empire. Please cooperate with us." Zhou Xilin's smile faded, and his gaze sharpened as he stared at Xin Hao.

“Of course, I’ll go get the video data for you right away…” Xin Hao said, and was about to get up, but Zhou Xilin stopped him.

“If your electronic glasses data hasn’t been deleted yet, I’d like to take it back,” Zhou Xilin said, adjusting his gold-rimmed glasses. “Of course, not confiscated, but purchased. We will compensate you three times the market price.”

Xin Hao hesitated for a moment, then nodded in agreement. In fact, he knew that he had no choice but to agree, because the “purchase” here could turn into “forced collection” at any time. It would be better for everyone if he was sensible.

After putting on white gloves and receiving the electronic glasses from Xin Hao, Zhou Xilin took out an evidence bag, carefully placed the glasses inside, and then put it into his briefcase, which he always carried with him.

"In addition, there is another request that requires your cooperation." Zhou Xilin put his briefcase back beside him, his face once again displaying a formulaic smile: "We have noticed that you have recently posted a series of videos related to this incident online." Zhou Xilin paused, observing the tense expression on Xin Hao's face, before continuing: "Because this incident involves state secrets, we will contact various online platforms to delete those videos. At the same time, we hope that you can cooperate with us in some debunking and publicity efforts."

"This..." Xin Hao was immediately conflicted. Although he had prepared for the situation beforehand, things were different now. Having already enjoyed the fame and fortune that came with overnight fame, Xin Hao was no longer willing to go back to being an unknown streamer. Now he understood very well what had brought him to where he was today.

“I think… as a citizen of the Empire, I should enjoy sufficient freedom of the press and freedom of speech… isn’t that stipulated in the Constitution?” With his fists clenched on his knees, Xin Hao tried his best to suppress his guilty conscience and frowned as he protested.

“The Eighth Amendment to the Constitution authorizes the Ministry of Justice, when necessary, to require specific parties and media to keep certain information confidential in order to ensure that important national information is not leaked, and in special circumstances, it has the right to take compulsory measures.” Zhou Xilin seemed unsurprised by Xin Hao’s reaction and said calmly. At the same time, he opened his briefcase and took out several documents: “These are the authorization documents given to me by the Ministry of Justice. You can take a look.”

Xin Hao took the document with a pale face. Sure enough, it was the legendary "gag order". Although Xin Hao had never seen this thing before, since the other party dared to take it out, it could not be fake, and he could not refuse.

"But... if I suddenly change my mind like this, it will be hard to find a reason for people to believe me..." Xin Hao looked down as if he was looking at the document, but in fact he didn't read a single word. He was just looking for a reason to make a last-ditch effort.

"Don't worry about that. We've already thought of a reason for you. Just say it's to promote a certain game. Cuckoo Company will announce a new mobile game development plan later, and this video you released will be part of the topic marketing. Just say that everything you said before was specially designed to market the game."

"This..." Xin Hao's face turned even paler. Zhou Xilin's plan could indeed defuse the current hot topic, but if he actually did it, he would probably be condemned as a piece of trash...

Chapter Ninety-Three: Painted Skin

Thinking of the anger of millions of netizens who felt deceived, Xin Hao felt that his future was bleak...

"Of course, to compensate for your efforts, our investigation bureau will also give you certain financial rewards, including a local house of no less than 100 square meters, plus 3 million yuan in cash. In addition, if you wish, there will be a labor contract with the municipal government."

"Is that really true?" Xin Hao suddenly looked up, seeing that Zhou Xilin's expression didn't seem fake, and felt much more relaxed. Although this compensation was far less than the benefits he would gain from becoming a big star, it was still a decent fallback plan, providing him with a house, cash, and a job.