Chapter Twenty-Three: Each with Its Own Distinctive Charm
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At Cocoon Break Tower, Lin Ke had just finished recording today’s short video.
“Praising suffering is meaningless. Suffering is simply suffering; it deserves no praise and will not lead to success. We toughen our will because suffering is unavoidable. When the day comes that we have the power to choose, human instinct will only seek happiness.”
She maintained her usual style—no plot, no sensitive topics—just a simple statement delivered with a calm, almost knowing expression that seemed to see through everything, yet somehow invited endless reflection.
“That’s right. He’s worked hard, so give him the subsidies and treatment he deserves, not lectures about not complaining.”
“The ox and horse have to bray even when tired; why can’t we complain about suffering?”
“Don’t worry. As long as we bear the burden and move forward, someone will ensure our years are peaceful.”
“What do you know? Overanalyzing again. Isn’t this just an excuse to latch onto someone wealthy?”
“Pursuing happiness? That’s just shamelessness!”
Every commenter seemed to see their own experiences reflected in those few simple words, or they idly speculated what Lin Ke’s sentence might be hinting at.
Even more, some users began a chain of novel-like stories in the comments, covering numerous recent hot topics from trending searches. Each person added a sentence, gradually building complete storylines.
This had become a new form of entertainment in Lin Ke’s comment section.
You could never imagine how powerful netizens’ creativity was. No matter how strange your opening shot, you could always find kindred spirits in the comments.
On the first floor: a heartbroken young woman’s emotional turmoil—once a diligent worker supporting her boyfriend through college, only to be betrayed and schemed against by him after graduation, leading to her death. Reborn, she tears apart deceitful women, beats scumbags, marries into a wealthy family, and enjoys the exclusive love of her CEO boyfriend.
On the second floor: a prodigy in a fantasy world battles a demonic cult to protect his sect but is gravely injured, his divine bone stolen, and he falls from grace. Turning around, he joins the cult as their top guardian, returning strong to command the submission of all sects.
On the third floor: a minor figure in the entertainment industry secretly married to a movie emperor, living humbly like a sycophant, abused by countless fans. After being sabotaged in a dating show that exposes her identity, she gains power through a “the more you insult me, the hotter I get” system, stepping on the movie emperor’s scandals, and becoming famous overnight through a verbal battle in front of the cameras.
On the fourth floor: returning from the ancient wilds to a world at war, she barely survives, but her disciples all become empresses.
There was no restriction on genre or audience—male or female-oriented. Netizens, with just a few dozen words each, wrote hundreds of comments per floor, weaving these nonsensical tales together.
Some inconsistencies existed, and some replies didn’t flow smoothly, but the main storylines remained intact, all aligned perfectly with the theme—“suffering should not be glorified.”
Friends, if only I had this knack for nailing the theme in my college entrance essay back then, would I have ended up in this rundown school?!
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“I really have to hand it to her.”
“Hah, I don’t even know what to say—just ‘hand it to her.’”
The other streamers in her group were full of envy toward Lin Ke but also felt helpless and restless.
Is the social-emotional content field really this easy to break into? Should they just switch careers?
The video itself was so brief! Yet the comment section had turned into its own spectacle!
The last time they saw such a creative frenzy was under a top star’s drama promotion, right?
Now not only was Lin Ke’s video soaring in popularity, but even specialized commentary creators were explaining the novel stories unfolding in her comment section! And there was the so-called “Tentacle Monster God” novelist—never successful with his own works, just a ghostwriter for studios. Once, during a casual live writing session, his lightning-fast typing made him explode in popularity overnight.
The Tentacle Monster God, though his content wasn’t great, could churn out nearly ten thousand words an hour! Even such a top streamer had come to Lin Ke’s comment section, using the snippets scattered in the comments to piece together storylines, then live-streaming to write tens of thousands of words every night.
Each floor, a novel!
A few thousand words expanded into tens of thousands, with tight plots and packed with twists!
When a big influencer got involved, with no copyright disputes over this content, AI video creators jumped on it, producing short videos and even animations!
Who would have believed it, right?
Some of these AI-adapted videos had real-time viewership exceeding ten thousand. Just imagine how viral Lin Ke’s comment section had become!
The title “Cocoon Break Princess” was already well established!
If you claimed there was no promotion behind this, no one would believe it!
“I’m starting to admit the boss’s eye for talent. Isn’t this just pure talent?”
“Yeah, she didn’t even do much—just read a short passage, and she blew up.”
“They say a small flame in the entertainment industry comes from being pushed, but a big fire comes from fate. Maybe this is fate.”
Lv Xiaotong even seriously considered collaborating with Lin Ke. Her own comment section included martial arts stories. Perhaps she could merge with those AI videos?
Everyone hated the “Cocoon Break Princess” not because of her popularity but because they couldn’t ride her wave.
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Lin Ke’s numbers improved day by day. Everyone knew they couldn’t compete. Sarcasm was useless. Instead of constantly criticizing her streams, why not cultivate connections and collaborations to gain some traffic?
Only Sun Yali rolled her eyes in a corner, unseen by anyone, then turned and left the streaming hall.
What’s so great about that? Her own streams were also growing exponentially—just basking in the shade of a big tree.
Wait and see; who will come out on top remains uncertain!
…
As dusk fell, most streamers in the group completed their daily tasks and left the company. Sun Yali, however, returned to the broadcast hall.
Her cubicle was styled like a small-town single-story bedroom, with golden wheat stalks piled in the corner, a clay kang bed covered with a red floral blanket, and a low square table. Sun Yali sat at this tiny table, carefully piecing together a painting in her hands.
Today, she was working on a landscape painting.
Using wheat carving techniques to outline the layers of the landscape was challenging; it inevitably looked a bit childlike or straightforward. Yet Sun Yali meticulously picked up tiny wheat stalks with tweezers and carefully glued them in place.
Her short videos had always mimicked the style of Li Ziqi’s pastoral life, though the quality was worlds apart. She focused on wheat carving but lacked real skill, forcing herself to wear the label of an intangible cultural heritage inheritor to gain some traffic.
Just a week ago, following the company’s plan, Sun Yali placed her wheat carving work priced at 999 yuan in a display window, which sparked a wave of insults and moderate popularity.
The entire Cocoon Break platform was swept up in a wave of debate over the artistic value of intangible cultural heritage, but Sun Yali never responded.
Value and price are not the same concept—anyone who’s attended high school knows that.
But all human effort is ultimately for price, not value, and she believed everyone understood that.
Today, she started a live stream.
Not on a whim. Before entering the Hundred Butterflies Rising competition, she had streamed her painting process to prove she truly made her wheat carvings alone without a team.
After joining the competition, her streams didn’t come often, and the audience was small, but she always kept her head down, focused on completing her work.
Until the door was violently kicked open.