Chapter 360 - 358: If Not Now, When?

Messages came from classmates.

Messages came from her master and seniors.

Even Chuck Lawson, the guy who had just fobbed them off at the company, sent a message.

The incident was clearly spreading faster than they had imagined. The power of online media was immense. In just half an hour, this violent public incident had already gone viral on every video platform.

And the videos with the most views, likes, and comments were all filmed from the perspective of the person who recorded Blair taking down the assailant.

Blair didn’t bother replying to the messages yet. She opened her social media account, and every metric was now showing "999+"!

When she took a closer look at her Tiktok follower count, even the usually unflappable Blair was left with a jaw-dropping expression.

2.205 million?

"Oh my god!"

Seeing this, Estelle gasped, "It’s already over two million?"

Blair had only been streaming for less than two months. She had painstakingly accumulated her fans one by one with each stream, totaling less than three hundred thousand.

And now, in just half an hour, her follower count had multiplied by nearly ten times?

Just then, Fitzwilliam Sanders personally brought over their coffees. He handed one to each of them, his eyes landing on Blair’s phone screen with a slight smile. "I just followed you, too."

Blair was still reeling from the aftershock of her sudden fame. It took Fitzwilliam Sanders’s words for her to snap back to her senses. "Thank you."

"Enjoy your drinks. Let me know if you need anything."

After Fitzwilliam Sanders left, Estelle snatched Blair’s phone and did a pull-to-refresh on her profile page.

The follower count, which had just shown 2.205 million, suddenly jumped to 2.567 million.

Estelle Goodman’s eyes widened even further. She kept refreshing, and the follower count just kept shooting up!

Meanwhile, Cecilia Sterling and the others were on their phones, checking the news on platforms like X, news aggregators, and other social media sites.

Independent content creators were masters of clickbait. The headlines for related articles were all things like, "SHOCKING: Man Goes on Rampage, but the One Who Stepped Up Was..."

"Short-Haired Beauty Knocks Out Knife-Wielding Thug with an Ashtray!"

"Violent Assault in Downtown Lorcain! Woman Takes Down Attacker in Just Two Moves!"

It was trending high on the charts. The clicks and engagement were skyrocketing. The combination of keywords—rampage, male assailant, beautiful woman, ashtray, kitchen knife—had sparked an unprecedented chemical reaction.

Blair being a tall, beautiful woman undoubtedly generated even more attention and heat for the topic. Anyone who saw the headlines couldn’t help but be curious enough to click.

And Blair in all the videos? The word "cool" didn’t even begin to cover it.

Even fight scenes in movies weren’t as clean and decisive as her moves. When a woman perfectly embodied the word "cool," she could shatter hearts right through the screen!

That’s why seventy percent of Blair’s new followers were women.

A big sister who was cool, beautiful, fierce, brave, and righteous? You just had to love her!

"Blair, you’re about to blow up!" Cecilia Sterling slowly raised her head, looked at Blair, and asked with calm seriousness, "There’s something you need to do right now. Do you know what it is?"

Blair had also calmed down by this point. Even though her Tiktok follower count had already surpassed four million, just as Cecilia Sterling said, there was one thing she had to do now—

"Go live!"

Hearing this, Cecilia Sterling smiled. ’Blair is still Blair,’ she thought. ’This hasn’t gone to her head. Her main goal is still to make money!’

This sudden fame had fallen into her lap, but she had earned it through her own abilities. All the benefits that followed should be hers by right. She deserved them!

Estelle nodded too. "That’s right, that’s right! Go live and cash in!"

That was a bit too blunt, which made everyone laugh. But as crude as the words were, the logic was sound. If not now, when?

The group quickly finished the coffee the owner had brought them. Before leaving, Blair went back inside to thank Fitzwilliam Sanders. He enthusiastically brought out two large boxes of pour-over coffee packets he had made himself, saying they were made from excellent beans.

It was an offer too kind to refuse, so Blair accepted it.

On the way back to the university, Blair finally had a moment to open WhatsApp and reply to her messages one by one. Most of them were from people saying they’d seen the news and thought she was so cool and amazing.

Only Chuck Lawson’s message was different.

"Miss Blair, we’ve seen the videos online. The incident is blowing up incredibly fast. This wave of popularity and follower growth could very well launch you to the top of the industry overnight, into the ten-million-follower tier. The company will work through the night to create a management plan for you and will assemble a professional team for you within a day. We must seize this opportunity. If you’re free tomorrow morning, please make sure you come to the office. We’ll go over the plan with you in detail and introduce you to your team."

The man’s attitude had done a complete 180. He was now proactive and enthusiastic.

Blair showed the message to Cecilia Sterling and Estelle. Estelle frowned in annoyance. "The contract is still active. Blair’s streaming revenue still has to be split with them. It’s so frustrating just thinking about it!"

Blair definitely felt uneasy about it too, but on second thought, she figured it was fate. "If the company hadn’t been so useless, we wouldn’t have been at that coffee shop near the office today. Let’s just leave it for now!"

While the other two were feeling vexed, only Cecilia Sterling was deep in thought, analyzing the problem.

She suddenly pulled out her phone, found the event page for Tiktok’s "Top 100 New Streamers" competition, and quickly scrolled down to the rules.

After confirming that her memory was correct, her eyes lit up. She quickly pointed it out to Blair. "Blair, look at this rule!"

Blair and Estelle leaned in from either side. Estelle read aloud as she scanned the text: "New streamers who successfully place in the ’Top 10 of the Top 100 New Streamers’ will enjoy a 100% revenue share bonus from their MCN. From the start of the event until its conclusion, all streaming revenue, after taxes, will belong entirely to the streamer!"

"Entirely to the streamer?"

Estelle covered her mouth in pleasant surprise, almost bursting out laughing. "Oh my god, I don’t even remember this rule! So, that means if Blair can get into the top ten of the ’Top 100 New Streamers,’ all the revenue is hers?"

Cecilia Sterling nodded. "Exactly! Actually, this is just a tactic by the platform. With this rule, the competition for the top ten will be incredibly fierce. People will pour tons of money into fighting for a spot. But there are only ten spots. Those who don’t make it will have spent the money and will still have to give half to their agency."

"In the end, even if the top ten streamers get to keep all their earnings, the platform only makes more money, because the money they’re after from the start is from all the streamers outside the top ten!"

Cecilia Sterling’s words made it all click for Blair and Estelle. Capitalist tricks always came in flashy, tempting packages.

"Blair, let’s use this popularity to push into the top ten!"