The End of the Universe Is Live-Streaming E-commerce – CH22

Chapter 22: The 22nd Day of Livestream Selling

Expert Rein, highly authoritative in the field of stubbornly refusing to admit the truth, finally forced himself to salvage a wave of dignity.

“Besides, I’ve been rather busy recently… I can’t guarantee instant replies to chat messages. In that case, it would be better not to start for now.”

Carlos only wanted to say: brother, your attempt to save face isn’t much better either.

But his worthless friend was not lying. He really was busy. As the youngest younger brother of Anderich V and third in line to the throne, His Highness Reinhardt had quite a lot of royal duties to fulfill. Even if he himself was not currently on the mother planet, that still remained true, because there was something in this world called remote virtual meetings.

Not to mention, Reinhardt was also the lord of Ishtals, with an entire ducal territory’s decisions waiting for him to handle.

Of course, most importantly, he was also the commander of the Yasa Empire’s Second Legion. This was not something his queen mother or emperor brother could casually grant him. It was a position he had fought his way into through his own SSS-level mental power talent and reckless, life-risking battles.

“So busy that you still had time to send gifts during a crucial battle, but no time to chat?” Wyatt, a diplomat with fluffy blue hair, could not help cutting in. He was a good friend of Reinhardt and Carlos, and they had once interned together at the council.

Colleagues could not become friends.

Except first-generation colleagues.

As workplace childhood friends to one another, although they had ultimately chosen different paths of development, their friendship over the years had remained solid. At least, whenever there was a chance to watch Reinhardt make a fool of himself, Carlos would absolutely not forget Wyatt.

Also, their mission this time to travel to the star system that had failed its upgrade and take away stellar energy was indeed extremely important. It was a battlefield where major star system powers fought openly and secretly.

The evaluation report from the Alliance’s Technical Department had been conservative yet full of temptation: the risk of extracting this energy was extremely high, and the physical state of the target star field was extremely unstable. But if they succeeded, its “theoretical total remaining energy value” would be enough to support the standard energy consumption of a medium civilization for a thousand years.

Not every star was valuable.

This one was just especially valuable. A prize tempting enough to drive any energy-starved civilization insane.

From the Hephaestus Industrial Consortium to the Horasgus-Norn Zerg, the Giovanni Alliance Chamber of Commerce that never rose early without profit, and the Pan-Spirit Divine Nation that seemed to be everywhere… Every interest group connected in one way or another to the Universal Alliance’s five major star systems had entered the field, openly or secretly.

But in the end, only the Yasa Second Legion represented by Reinhardt obtained the mining approval from the Civilization Regulatory Bureau.

Along the return voyage, who knew how many covetous eyes and hidden schemes were waiting for their chance? At least among the hidden-danger scan feedback Adjutant Carlos knew about, there were more than ten confirmed signals. The closest one had been in the seven o’clock direction, only three light-years away, where an unidentified ship with sharp energy signatures had been cruising at the edge of a gravitational lens.

But no matter how many hyenas came, dogs were dogs in the end.

Legion Commander Reinhardt, born a weapon, and the warships of various sizes and forms under his command formed ranks and annihilated every petty villain.

When it came to romance, this person might be a fool, but in military ability, he was a monster who could not be underestimated.

A predator standing at the very top of the food chain.

Only, this broad-shouldered, narrow-waisted predator was currently arguing with his blue-haired friend like an immature ghost.

“I was not sending gifts during battle. We had already won. I sent them while we were cleaning up the battlefield.”

He was not Carlos. He would never listen to gossip while doing serious business.

“Then do you know we’re currently in a meeting with the Universal Alliance?” Wyatt asked.

It was an extremely high-level confidential remote meeting, the kind attended by representatives from five major star systems, ten major civilizations, and hundreds upon thousands of member planets.

The three of them could chat like no one else was there only because they were all Yasa representatives. Their virtual images had been arranged together, and from the start of today’s meeting until now, none of them had turned on their microphones.

His Highness Reinhardt’s cold, hard expression stiffened.

All one could say was that this kind of routine assembly, full of old topics that would never be discussed to any real conclusion, did not count as serious business in his eyes at all. Compared with watching a bunch of old tree-root faces spray insults at each other, it was more important to first routinely send Lin Zhao a full set of gifts at unbelievable hand speed, then shut off communications.

The legion commander in his silver-black military uniform sat upright and solemn, so others could only see the impatience toward stale clichés in his eyes. They could not notice the optical computer under his desk where his fingers were flying, ku-ku sending gifts.

Diplomat Wyatt had his eyes opened wide, and his only sharp comment on this was:

“Don’t love too much.”

Reinhardt’s reply was: mind your own business.

“So, what stage has your communication reached?”

“W-what stage? What kind of improper thing are you saying?”

The little red face turned into a little yellow face.

“…Communication. I’m talking about communication.”

Lord Wyatt, who possessed the rare rich romantic experience among the Yasa, nearly rolled his eyes to the sky. He did not care what his friend had misheard. He only asked, “You’ve added each other as communication contacts, right?”

The prince fell silent.

“Don’t tell me the so-called instant reply you mentioned is still chatting through private messages on StarNet, and the chat is limited to saying thank you?”

The prince shut down.

Reinhardt had truly given Wyatt a small shock of pure love.

“I assume the reason you haven’t changed your account name is because you’re afraid the streamer won’t recognize you anymore. Although I don’t think that would happen, as long as you’re happy, fine. Anyway, I’m not the one using that stupid name. But you don’t even take the chance to interact with him. Then what exactly are you after?”

“…How do I add him?”

His Highness Reinhardt, whose actions were always very honest, chose the latter between continuing to be stubborn and getting nothing, and realizing that pursuing his wife was not embarrassing no matter what.

He did not want to seem as if he was demanding a communication ID as a matter of course just because he had money, making Lin Zhao feel offended and uncomfortable.

“Then find some common topics,” Wyatt said. In his view, this was not a problem at all. “If you don’t know what he likes, think about what Carlos did back then.”

Stalk the other person’s social accounts, then also equip yourself with eight or ten pairs of glasses.

Adjutant Carlos lightly pushed up his glasses and expressed a different view.

“I did not stalk, thank you. I was learning about him on a foundation of respect. Social accounts are public information.”

“What if there’s no social account?” Reinhardt humbly asked.

“Then post on your own social account and make it visible only to him. See which photos he likes. Slowly test out what he might be interested in, then start from there.”

Reinhardt understood.

This, he knew how to do. Without discussing it with his two friends, he confidently posted a set of photos of the empire’s newest mecha on his StarNet account.

A painstaking work by Master Taylor, the proud product of the Imperial Mecha Research Institute, custom-made over three years and eight months. Reinhardt himself had not even received the physical machine yet.

But mecha was romance.

No one would dislike it!

Even Carlos, who had a wife, was nodding repeatedly.

Wyatt leaned over to take a look, and his vision went black.

Straight-man cancer. No cure. Just wait for death.

—

His Highness Reinhardt waited and waited, but he never managed to wait for Lin Zhao’s like.

Because Lin Zhao first received a private message from Mechanic. After working day and night without sleep for several days, he had finally completed the first batch of mechanical modules and delivered them ahead of schedule.

Lin Salted Fish expressed that he would never understand in this lifetime why there were people who completed work ahead of time.

Did they love working that much?

However, the saddest part was that, because of the habits left over from his previous job, he had indeed made contingency plans for this. This was why he had recruited so many college students to work part-time. Without robots, humans would pack goods manually. Once robots arrived, they would assemble robots.

Of course, the premise was that Lin Zhao first figured out how to assemble these modules, whether they were easy to assemble, and whether he could manage it. If not, he would have to call in other people, more professional people.

When Mechanic asked Lin Zhao when it would be convenient to receive the goods, Lin Zhao, who was currently in the observation period after taking the medicine, immediately said without stopping: right now, immediately, any time.

He had really been quite free lately. In the past, he always felt so physically tired he could barely stand it. Ever since drinking the body restoration potion, he had been clear-headed, refreshed, and full of energy.

At two in the morning, the last lights in the thousands of households of Jiangzuo had more or less gone out. Only Lin Zhao was still sitting on the carpet in his living room, bitterly studying.

He had already stared for quite a while at the “things” spread out on the coffee table.

A fist-sized polyhedral core unit. A sturdy matte-black energy-module shell. Twelve sets of structural frame kits of varying lengths. Not to mention whatever end effectors, perception and control systems, and all kinds of auxiliary component packs.

Lin Zhao had originally felt that, back then, he had at least been a programming corporate cattle who had minored in electronic technology, so with detailed digital instructions and the assistance of System 1114, surely he would not fail to handle what Mechanic called the trashiest basic module.

Unfortunately, however full ideals were, reality was just as bony.

He really could not handle it.

Just as he was thinking about whether to follow the previous method and open a remote members-only livestream with Mechanic, though the other party was probably asleep at this hour, 1114 found Reinhardt’s StarNet circle for him.

A set of Gundams!

A set of Gundam production process photos!

Although Lin Zhao temporarily could not figure out where such a huge and exquisitely detailed Gundam came from, that was not important. What mattered was that many of this Gundam’s processes were quite similar to the mechanical module he needed to assemble.

Lin Zhao could not help sending a question:

[Boss, is this Gundam yours?]

Here, Lin Zhao had typed too quickly and accidentally left out the words “assembled by,” but before he could add them, the other side had already replied instantly:

[You’re still awake?]

His Highness Reinhardt, who had always kept a regular schedule, had not slept at all that night because he had still been waiting anxiously for Lin Zhao’s reaction.

Just as he had already fallen into despair and felt that he probably really was the incurable fool Wyatt had described, Lin Zhao’s message came.

He knew it!

There was no one in this world who could dislike mecha!

It was just that Reinhardt subconsciously replied with the four words “You’re still awake?” entirely because his brain was unclear from staying up late. After sending it, he immediately regretted it, feeling that his tone was too cold and hard, and that it might make people think his attitude was bad.

Although he often received similar evaluations, he had never cared. Only today, on this night, did he very, very much not want to leave Lin Zhao with the same impression.

Fortunately, Lin Zhao remained enthusiastic:

[Yeah. I’m also assembling a Gundam, and I got stuck.]

[Perhaps I can help?]

At that moment, Reinhardt finally had a flash of inspiration, no less significant than the first ancient ape in Africa learning to walk upright.

[Let’s talk through communication ID. It won’t be clear in just one or two sentences.]

At the meeting the next day, representatives from all races who had been tremblingly waiting for Reinhardt to attack them point-blank were surprised to discover: why did this Highness, who usually snapped at heaven and earth alike, seem to be in such a good mood today?

What happened?

Carlos, however, knew the situation very well. When he bent over and respectfully delivered the documents needed for this meeting to his Highness, he asked with his eyes: Success?

The banner of the Second Legion proudly puffed out his chest: I asked whether he had a communication ID, and he said he could have one.

Carlos: “…”

So, he was not even willing to give you a real communication ID? He only wanted to register temporarily and give you an alt account?

Oh, no. The other side was from a pending-upgrade zone. It was indeed possible he really did not have a communication ID.

That was fine too.

At least His Highness could claim a unique status, being the only communication friend or something.

Then, Carlos discovered that the account he used specifically for watching livestreams had received a group application from 1114.

As a qualified voice assistant, when Lin Zhao was not working, of course it had to work hard.

Recently, it had learned a lot of messy things from Qin Xiaoman again. For example, as a streamer, one needed to be self-aware about providing emotional value. It did not have to coax the boss back into an embryo, but at the very least, one should have contact information to send daily greetings.

Since the number-one boss had asked anyway, adding one boss was adding, and adding a group of bosses was also adding.

Adjutant Carlos: “…”

Your Highness, are you really sure your progress is going well?

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