Chapter 29: Platform Extends an Olive Branch
One moment, it was some investor being interviewed saying they would invest a billion to produce a sci-fi blockbuster centered around Dream Home. The next, a director announced online that a Dream Home production crew had already been formed.
The web fiction scene was the most chaotic. One reader complained on Weibo, saying they wanted to try a new author for a change, only to open the new releases chart and find that out of ten titles, eight were something like: “Dream Home Suddenly Arrives, I Made My Ex Cry on the Spot”, “Carrying a Dream Home Planet in My Pocket”, “Told You to Buy a Wedding Home, What the Heck is Dream Home?”, “Sealed for 500 Years, I Burst Out of Dream Home”, “Nationwide Escape, I’m the Only One with a Dream Home”…
A wave of people burst out laughing in the comments.
Mu Lantu nearly laughed himself out of breath too.
Overall, people were responding to Dream Home’s appearance with a surprisingly optimistic attitude—especially those in the country of Jasmine.
Mu Lantu let go of his last bit of unease and focused on working out the details of the upcoming LEGO competition.
[Host, someone from the Doumao platform sent you a private message asking for your contact information.]
“Are they still after a contract? Just give it to them.”
Moments later, a call came in from an unfamiliar number.
Mu Lantu answered, “Who is this?”
“Hello, is this the streamer Spicy Strips Aren’t Spicy?” A young man’s voice.
Mu Lantu stayed sprawled on the sofa. “Speaking.”
“Sorry to bother you. I’m a senior admin at Doumao—my nickname’s Watermelon Cat. I’m calling because we sent you a contract invite, but maybe you haven’t had time to check it yet.”
Mu Lantu replied indifferently, “I’m not looking to sign with anyone right now.”
Watermelon Cat remained polite. “May I ask if you have any concerns?”
“It’s not that. I just don’t like being bound by contracts. That’s all.”
“I see,” said Watermelon Cat. “There’s one more thing—about your LEGO competition. Is it going to be a small event or a large-scale one? If you’re planning something big, we at Doumao would be happy to help. We’ve got plenty of experience livestreaming competitions of all sizes.”
Mu Lantu instantly understood—that was the real reason for the call. His attitude shifted from casual to serious. It was exactly like the saying: just when you’re about to fall asleep, someone brings you a pillow. If the platform partnered with him, his workload would be much lighter.
“If I’m going to host one, of course it’ll be large-scale.”
Strictly speaking, Mu Lantu still didn’t know the success rate of others uploading LEGO models into Dream Home, so a small-scale competition would be the safer bet to minimize loss. But he wasn’t short on money, and he genuinely wanted to do a good job as a streamer. Before he struck it rich as a real estate tycoon, he still had a long road ahead—and he needed a steady income. As long as the event was well-executed, transitioning from a small streamer to a top-tier one wouldn’t be an issue. Plus, hosting competitions could be profitable. Fame and fortune—why not aim for both?
He needed a big event. If it was too small, Doumao wouldn’t even bother.
Watermelon Cat quickly asked, “How big are we talking?”
Mu Lantu didn’t hold back. “I plan to invest 10 million.”
Watermelon Cat was stunned. This newcomer streamer had that much money? Maybe he really was a rich kid just doing this for fun.
He grew even more enthusiastic. “Mr. Latiao, my real name is Xi Wei, staff ID 1234. If you trust us at Doumao, you can leave this project to us. We’ll draft a proposal based on your goals and send it to you for review. How does that sound?”
Mu Lantu trusted the platform—they were a major company, after all. Calmly, he asked, “What are your conditions?”
Watermelon Cat laughed. “Aside from some basic equipment depreciation fees and necessary staff appearance fees, we don’t require anything else. If this competition goes well, it’s beneficial to us too.” Internally, everyone at Doumao knew the company had hit a development bottleneck. Not just them—other platforms were also searching for new growth directions. A LEGO competition could inject fresh energy into the stagnant scene.
Mu Lantu didn’t care about any of that. What mattered was that the proposal would still need his approval.
“Alright then. I’ll leave it to you.”
A pleasant fragrance drifted through the air. He looked over at the white roses on the coffee table, dazed for a few seconds before picking up pen and paper.
005 saw the heading he wrote down and asked in confusion: [Host, are you writing an additional proposal?]
Mu Lantu tapped the paper lightly with his pen and smiled faintly.
[Just in case. Hopefully I won’t need it.]
