The End of the Universe Is Live-Streaming E-commerce – CH12

Chapter 12: The 12th Day of Livestream Selling

The concept of a members-only livestream was also something 1114 had explained to Lin Zhao. As the name suggested, it was content that only viewers who had joined the streamer’s membership could watch. In other words, a so-called private-domain livestream.

It was paid monthly. Of course, one could also recharge several quarters, or even several years, in one go.

Different types of streamers had different kinds of members-only livestream content. Some streamers were simple and direct, treating members-only livestreams as bonus time after normal livestreams, similar to extras outside the main text. Some knowledge-payment streamers treated members-only livestreams as paid courses. As for why 1114 had noticed this, it was because some livestream sellers turned members-only livestreams into major promotions for rewarding old fans.

“For example, clearing out some cheap tail stock or flawed products, or more expensive but limited rare goods, things like that. Of course, some people use this method to make a money grab too. You humans really like using all kinds of methods to deceive your own kind.”

Although 1114 was a transaction system, the moral principles it had always upheld were honesty, trustworthiness, fairness, integrity, and mutually beneficial business. The various shady operations of Blue Star’s black-hearted capitalists had truly opened its eyes. At first, Lin Zhao had been a little worried that after seeing such reality, his Brother System’s Dao heart would shatter, or its data would be corrupted. In the end, the blue-and-white ball held it in for a long time and merely said angrily, “What they’re doing is wrong! Host is a good child. We won’t learn from them!”

It looked exactly like the dead state Lin Zhao used to have at work: cowardly and uselessly getting very angry, while cursing and grumbling and still doing a whole lot of work.

In short, for the current Lin Zhao, a members-only livestream was a very suitable opportunity for one-on-one long-distance video. He first briefly started a stream and had Gray buy a membership, then ended the stream and closed the membership function in the backend. That way, no one else could become a member for the time being. Finally, he opened the members-only livestream, so only Gray could see the supermarket behind him.

Mm. Lin Zhao had come directly to livestream from the supermarket warehouse.

The supermarket owner was an open-handed person. One hand handed over the money, the other handed over the key, and then he happily rode off on his little electric scooter to play cards. He only left behind one sentence: “If there’s any problem with the goods in the warehouse, call me anytime, or have your aunt call my mom.” Even after he had gone far away, the lingering echo could still be heard.

Faced with the owner’s behavior of really agreeing the moment they tried bargaining, Qin Xiaoman was full of worry. “I always feel like we lost out somehow, Linzi. You didn’t make a loss, did you?”

“Do you know how much I spent altogether?”

Although Qin Xiaoman had brought over the contract, Lin Zhao had been the one who negotiated the specific transfer price first.

Qin Xiaoman shook his head.

1114 had already proudly announced it on behalf of its host. “Fifty-five thousand. Most of it was income our Zhaozhao previously earned through labor. Because the supermarket isn’t large, and although it’s called a supermarket, it’s actually more like a slightly bigger convenience store. The owner was eager to get rid of it, so the transfer fee was zero. The inventory was discounted so heavily it practically broke its bones, thirty-five thousand. Depreciation of in-store equipment was five thousand. The remaining few months of rent were fifteen thousand. Total: fifty-five thousand. Our Zhaozhao is super amazing!”

This rent even included the three months Lin Zhao was paying his aunt. In other words, if the money Lin Zhao was extremely happy to pay to his aunt, Ms. Lin, was not counted, then even if this business completely lost everything, the result would simply be neither earning nor losing.

“!!! Are small supermarkets this worthless now?” Qin Xiaoman was greatly shocked.

“The owner was even willing to support installment payment for the transfer fee.” 1114 let out a long sigh, sounding more and more like a modern person as it lamented, “The general environment is poor now. Business is hard to do.”

Lin Zhao said, “So don’t worry about whether we’ll lose money or not. Just focus on enjoying it.”

Enjoying what?

Enjoying the dream they had stupidly talked about while sucking on popsicles on the school playground when they were children.

Dare one ask, who did not have a childhood dream of opening a small store or a supermarket? In any case, Lin Zhao and Qin Xiaoman had. The rolling shutter door opened, and a dazzling array of snacks filled the eyes. Today’s spending would all be paid for by Young Master Lin!

“Boss, hire me. I’m willing to work for our company until I die!” Qin Xiaoman joked.

But Boss Lin looked at him with a solemn, serious expression and told him that no one deserved to give their life for any company that did not belong to them. It would never be worth it.

Qin Xiaoman was stunned, but still subconsciously followed along. There was no particular reason. It had always been like this since they were young. He believed Lin Zhao would not harm him, just as Lin Zhao believed him.

After opening the warehouse behind the supermarket, the two of them finally understood why the previous owner had run away so quickly.

Because he did not want to stay behind and work.

The warehouse, messily piled up with all kinds of goods, was truly too chaotic. It was simply hell for a J-type personality.

Lin Zhao had originally been a little worried that the messy appearance of the warehouse would leave some bad impression on his high-quality customer, but Gray’s only thought about this was: How could there be such a wealthy person in this world? How did he manage to possess so many supplies and still not be the least bit arrogant?

To borrow the words of one of Gray’s former mercenary teammates: You have no idea how much I’ll forget my roots once I get rich.

Of course, it was also that person, who had loudly yelled, “Don’t talk to me about loyalty. I don’t have loyalty at all,” who, before the ferocious compound-eyed sac spider, chose to perish together with it in exchange for the lucky survival of at least fifteen old, weak, women, and children.

Among them was Little Copper Bean from Gear Town. The rocket hero he had always clamored about wanting to become was Rita, who had been known as the Rocket Launcher.

It was also because of Rita that Gray, after weighing the pros and cons several times, ultimately chose to cooperate with the unscrupulous merchant Cunningham.

He felt that he saw certain similar qualities in them.

Of course, it was also because Gray knew very clearly the shortcomings of his own personality. He needed a partner like Cunningham, someone who could connect with all sides and was filled with ambition to climb upward.

But he was not blindly being led around by Cunningham either. By resolving the matter in Gear Town independently, he had made Cunningham understand his attitude: they were collaborators who each took what they needed, not one person acting as the other’s puppet.

Cunningham was outside right now, teasing Little Copper Bean and very immorally attempting to use corn kernels she had tricked away from the child to bribe him into eavesdropping on the communication between Gray and Lin Zhao.

Cunningham felt that a good relationship with Lin Zhao was excellent capital. She had always encouraged Gray to maintain his relationship with Lin Zhao.

But Gray was completely uneasy about letting Cunningham interact with Lin Zhao. He always had the illusion that even if he and Lin Zhao were added together, they would still be sold by this cunning merchant and then help her count the money.

Student Lin Zhao, who looked very easy to deceive, still did not really know how to sell goods through livestreaming. His product introductions were dry and bland. Water was water. Band-Aids were Band-Aids. He even opened a pack of compressed biscuits to taste them, then sincerely choked on them for quite a while before barely saying, “Very filling. Extremely poor palatability.”

Gray tasted one too. How to put it? He really felt that Lin Zhao did not know how to appreciate good things.

These were biscuits! That kind of tightly compressed powdered grain, full of genuine sugar and protein. Occasionally, one could even catch a very faint hint of slight char similar to whole wheat, or a barely perceptible creamy-fat sensation brought by milk powder. They were simply the ultimate perfect combination of energy and nutrition.

If he were not afraid Lin Zhao would be unhappy, Gray really wanted to ask him: Is your sense of taste malfunctioning? Otherwise, why was it that no matter what kind of delicacy it was, you could eat it so ordinarily?

Lin Zhao’s answer, however, was, “Right, there’s sugar in this. Speaking of which, do you need sugar or salt?”

Gray almost stood up in excitement.

Salt!

Just when he thought it was impossible for Lin Zhao to possess anything more, Lin Zhao could always lightly and casually take out an even heavier nuclear weapon. This same excitement had already been displayed once when Lin Zhao showed all kinds of iodophor and disinfectant cotton pads behind the cashier counter.

“How much do you have?” he finally asked.

“How much do you want?” Lin Zhao still answered the same way.

The parents of this supermarket owner, during the salt-panic buying craze that year, had wrongly believed rumors and truly stockpiled a lot, a lot of salt. In the owner’s own words, it was enough for all eight members of their family, young and old, to eat until the year 3026. If you could help me sell it too, my whole family would thank you.

After one livestream, even Gray himself had almost lost count of how many things he had bought.

He only knew that he seemed, probably, maybe to have spent all of his and Cunningham’s startup funds. It was truly a matter of wanting to buy everything he saw and being reluctant to let go of anything he saw. Twenty boxes of this. Ten large bags of that.

In the end, what made him stop was not his reason, but the fact that he had no money left.

It was also at this time that Gray realized Lin Zhao’s livestream could not be said to have made no progress at all. At least this time, aside from the highly technical-looking camera work and the very efficient uploading of links—which were all personally handled by 1114—there was also a magical “straight man” who echoed him.

“This is locally made cigarette from our city. I don’t know the taste. The advantage is that it’s cheap.”

“Cheap! Really cheap!”

“Do you want to try this beer?”

“Try it! Rich taste, delicate foam. Real men should drink big beer, and real women too!”

“These energy bars are near-expiration products, so the price is pretty low…”

“This model is at its historical lowest price today. Price guaranteed for thirty days. Go for it with confidence!”

That feeling of his brain folds being smoothed flat came over him once again, leaving Gray unsure of what to say for a while.

If Lin Zhao knew what Gray was thinking, he would definitely tell him: This is the magic of the control host. Forget you—even my mom would get dizzy if she came.

The person echoing Lin Zhao was none other than his childhood friend Qin Xiaoman.

Originally, Qin Xiaoman had only been doing purely voluntary work, wanting to help his buddy out and also being curious about how foreign trade livestreaming was done. In the end, when he arrived at the scene, he found that there really was not a single bit of technique. It was just hard selling.

And yet things still sold.

Qin Xiaoman could not see what those foreigners on the other side were saying in the comments, but that did not affect him from supporting his buddy’s lines. He had usually watched quite a few livestream selling rooms, and that set of phrases practically came out of his mouth as soon as he opened it.

As soon as the livestream ended, 1114 flew over with a “du-du-du” and said, “Comrade Qin Xiaoman, are you willing to join our company and begin a great journey of opening an online convenience store together?”

Livestream selling, of course, could not possibly be done by only one person. It required a team. Right now, they had one streamer and one cameraman, 1114. If they added a control host, then that would be the standard warrior-mage-priest team!

“Sure, sure.” Priest Qin, who was responsible for healing, cheerfully accepted the invitation and agreed very readily.

Because if it succeeded, he would not have to run deliveries anymore. If it failed, he would just go back to running deliveries.

Theoretically speaking, Lin Zhao should have given some adult speech about this overly casual conversation, but at this moment, he could not spare the attention.

Because after one livestream…

Lin Zhao looked at the string of extra numbers in the backend account and fell into deep thought. Clearly, this was not Gray’s payment. Then where had this sudden extra money come from? While he had not known, what had happened to this world? Had aliens attacked Earth and come to scatter coins everywhere?

1114 could always multitask and answered its host, “It’s livestream gift tips received by the streamer! This person directly lit up your entire gift exhibition hall!”

First of all, what was a gift exhibition hall?

Second, why did he light them up?

Of course, it was because he hoped to become Lin Zhao’s livestream member.

The sole master of the Duchy of Ishtals, the youngest son of Dawn Queen Patricia, the eternal glory of the Second Legion, His Highness Reinhardt was also coming into contact with these things for the first time. He did not know that Lin Zhao had turned off the membership function. He merely followed universal understanding and assumed that if he recharged enough money, he could become a member.

His imperial elder sister had become VIC of famous luxury brands across various star systems in exactly that way.

This duke, who did not lack money, tried clicking through every gift icon that could be lit up.

Unfortunately, even after lighting them all up, he still did not succeed.

Which step exactly had gone wrong?

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