chapter 1

Chapter 1

I am a travel streamer.

My schedule is packed, outworking all my peers.

On a July evening, when everyone else had gone home, I was still checking in at the Zoo, connecting with other streamers.

When I connected with the biggest Fortune-Telling Streamer online, I was watching Monkeys.

On screen, the young man wore Daoist robes, his long hair tied up in a crown.

He looked the part.

I pointed my front camera at the Monkeys and greeted him:

“Hello, Daoist Shanyuan. I’m Jiang, and today’s stream is all about showing everyone the Monkeys.”

His gaze swept over the Monkeys. He frowned, his expression grave:

“This is a Monkey from Flower-Fruit Mountain. Once, the Handsome Monkey King stormed the Underworld Palace and erased his name from the Book of Life and Death. He lives, but his lifespan has run out.”

Bullet comments: [Is this some kind of Ghost Festival special?]

I turned around.

That Monkey’s fur was sleek, but its back was hunched, its demeanor aged.

Its eyes were cold, and it was bowing toward me, again and again, knocking its head on the ground.

The quiet Zoo echoed with the thuds.

“He’s bowing to you, borrowing your lifespan.

“One year, two years.”

Shanyuan sounded like a merciless news anchor.

I turned and knelt to the Monkey, bowing back:

“Give me my lifespan back! Ah! Ah! Ah! Ah!”

I bowed fast, hard, and precise, leaving the ghostly Monkey stunned.

Shanyuan: “Who told you you could do that…”

He continued his broadcast expressionlessly, “Minus one year, minus two years.”

The Monkey snapped out of it.

We bowed to each other, face to face.

But it was old, after all; it couldn’t match my speed.

Its forehead was smoking, but it still couldn’t keep up.

Bullet comments: [The streamer and the Monkey are bowing to each other-is this really free to watch?]

As I bowed, I shouted into my phone:

“If you haven’t followed yet, hurry and tap that button to support the streamer!”

Strong and full of stamina, I out-bowed the Monkey by forty-seven times and wore it out.

Shanyuan looked at the sunset behind me. “Leave before the Zoo closes.

“Of all the Parrots here, only one tells the truth.

“Don’t make eye contact with the Python.”

He paused, cleared his throat, and switched to a Live Commerce pitch: “If anything goes wrong, you can buy a Talisman from our Qingtian Temple Mini Program-group price as low as 9.9 each!”