OFR – Chapter 338 begins.

At that moment, in the Xuanwu Zhongshan villa district, Mu Bai had just gotten into his Koenigsegg. Hearing the string of grateful words coming from the other end of the phone, he simply let out a soft chuckle, exchanged a few casual sentences, and hung up.

Afterward, he pulled up the navigation and found a high-end restaurant that was still open on New Year’s Eve, then drove off.

As he cruised along, his calm expression returned to deeper thoughts—not about the bank deposit he had just discussed, but about the afternoon’s streaming-industry side quest and random mission.

Indeed, that was the problem at the forefront of his mind.

Mu Bai knew that in the future, he wouldn’t have much time to linger in an industry that was, at its core, just entertainment.

On one hand, his accumulated wealth had already reached a point where the so-called “god-tier patrons” of the streaming world had ceased to be rivals and had instead become mere figures beneath his gaze.

Even the industry giant Douyu TV, hailed as the leader of the field, was only valued at just over ten billion USD. Forget that it wasn’t yet publicly listed—even if it were, with his current financial firepower, he could crush its stock price in the market without breaking a sweat.

His strength had quietly grown beyond what the entire streaming industry could withstand. Continuing to “play” here felt out of step with his identity and power—like a hulking giant insisting on arm-wrestling with a group of children.

On the other hand, external pressures were mounting as well. He understood perfectly what Dongfang Jing’s words yesterday meant, and he knew exactly what kind of overwhelming old-money aristocracy the Rong family’s return would bring.

Against power of that level, even with the God-Tier System, he would need to brace himself fully.

After all, it had only been a few short months since he acquired the system. Pitting a few months of meteoric growth against a family that had been consolidating power for decades? The outcome was far from certain.

All of this forced Mu Bai to accelerate the completion of his streaming-industry missions and focus on the real-world storm about to hit.

And this afternoon would be the perfect opportunity.

Thinking this over, he pulled up to the restaurant.

Perhaps it was the Koenigsegg and the blindingly rare “Jiang A99999” license plate, or perhaps it was simply that there weren’t many diners left at the end of the year, but the moment he parked, a group of servers and the manager themselves came out to greet him warmly.

Every pair of eyes lingered on the hypercar, unable to hide their awe and envy.

For his first visit here, Mu Bai merely returned their courtesy with a gentle smile and a nod, offering respect to those still working on New Year’s Eve.

Escorted by the deferential manager, he was led to a private room.

Under the manager’s attentive gaze, he casually ordered several of the restaurant’s most luxurious signature dishes and an expensive bottle of red wine. The total for the meal exceeded 300,000 RMB.

The manager’s already respectful smile edged into outright obsequiousness.
“Honored sir, please wait just a moment. We’ll have everything served immediately.”

With a nod from Mu Bai, the manager left, still smiling.

Inside the private room, the two young female servers cast looks of surprise and envy at the boy in front of them.

Yes—boy. If they weren’t seeing it with their own eyes, they would never believe that someone who looked even younger than they were could so casually spend hundreds of thousands on lunch.

And thinking back to that suffocatingly luxurious car outside, they couldn’t begin to imagine what kind of background this seemingly twenty-year-old youth possessed.

A young, wealthy, refined, and gentle man like this was almost too perfect, like the protagonist of a story whispered about in street corners or told in online novels.

But a boy with that kind of main-character aura was, to them, forever out of reach.

So they simply focused on giving him the most impeccable, respectful service they could.

Time slipped by. Before they knew it, it was already past 1 PM.

While Mu Bai savored his meal and wine, he had no idea that the industry-wide rookie selection—a centerpiece of the streaming world—had ended faster than any previous year. Nearly two hours faster, in fact, something no one had expected.

Not only had the Top Ten Newcomers list been finalized, but the prelude to the fiercest event—the Battle for the Throne Seats—had already begun!

What did it mean to call something the most thrilling, blood-stirring event in the entire industry?

Right now, with 130 million viewers crowding the stream and crashing over a hundred server lines despite countless optimizations, the answer was clear:

Packed to bursting.

No one expected 130 million viewers this year. That was three or four times last year’s numbers!

And yes, these were real concurrent viewers—not inflated numbers generated by platforms or celebrity fluff.

One hundred thirty million. That figure alone needed only a few comparisons to convey how terrifyingly huge it was:

The current king of mobile games, Honor of Kings, had a daily active user base of only 30–40 million, yet it was already called a “national game” that influenced a generation.

Taobao’s daily active users barely hovered over 100 million, but that alone made it the untouchable emperor of e-commerce.

Douyin’s daily actives were a little over 100 million, and that was enough to make even the massive Penguin Empire take notice, fear it, and try to suppress it.

So 130 million real-time viewers? That was a number that could crown any platform king of kings.

And now, all of them were flooding into this industry event.

At this moment, the ferocity of the Battle for the Throne Seats wasn’t just “high-profile”—it was searing.

Under this white-hot spotlight, as the scrolling chat filled with golden dragon-etched messages, a wave of congratulatory messages from the top god-tier patrons of every platform detonated like a thunderclap:

【Douyu Supreme Patron Luo Tianshen】: Luo Tianshen, leader of the Royal Team, congratulates the official start of the 3rd Annual Throne Event!

【Douyu Supreme Patron Yuanyang Jun】: Yuanyang Jun, leader of the Junwei Team, congratulates the official start of the 3rd Annual Throne Event!

【Douyu Supreme Patron Guan Zong】: Guan Zong, leader of the Hongmen Team, congratulates the official start of the 3rd Annual Throne Event!

【Douyu Supreme Patron Goddess Xiao Xi】: Xiao Xi, leader of the Shenmeng Team, congratulates the official start of the 3rd Annual Throne Event!

【YY Supreme Patron God-Tier 315】: I, God-Tier 315, congratulate the official start of the 3rd Annual Throne Event!

【Huya Supreme Patron Yu Qingfeng】: I, Yu Qingfeng, congratulate the official start of the 3rd Annual Throne Event!

【Quanmin TV Supreme Patron Nine-Kills-Eight】: I, Nine-Kills-Eight, congratulate the official start of the 3rd Annual Throne Event!

【YY Supreme Patron God-Tier 312】: I, God-Tier 312, congratulate the official start of the 3rd Annual Throne Event!

【Huajiao Supreme Patron Aston Martin】: I, Aston Martin, congratulate the official start of the 3rd Annual Throne Event!

For a moment, the entire stream was dominated by dazzling golden bullet comments.

Many viewers, seeing so many legendary patrons—names they had only ever heard in rumors—felt their blood surge uncontrollably.

But for the Douyu users and the Dusty Splendor team members who reopened their streams—Zhang Yuyan, Warm Baby, Han Xiaoxiao, Dai Mei, Wen Tian—their eyes were fixed on the chat, waiting.

Waiting for one ID.

The one that gave them all their sense of security.

Leng Hao.

To them, that name was destined to overshadow every other god-tier patron today—a name the entire streaming industry would look up to in awe.