Chapter Three: If I Am Guilty, Let the Law Judge Me

Valentine’s Day—a day that brings tears to the eyes of those who hear its name, a day of sorrow for all the lonely souls. On this very day, a video titled “For Every Single Person” suddenly appeared across all the major short video platforms.

From the very first curious single dog who clicked to watch, not a single one left without tears streaming down their face. United by the idea that misery loves company, this video was shared relentlessly. That night, countless singles choked back sobs.

It could be said that Bai Qingming’s song for the single-hearted left an indelible mark on their souls—especially on this most sensitive of days, when the pain felt doubly sharp.

What followed was the indignant outcry of the single masses.

“If I am guilty, let the law punish me—don’t make me listen to this song.”

“My fourth-grade nephew saw the video and sent it to me just to brag that he’s already dating the prettiest girl in his class, while I’m still single. I’m furious!”

“Can someone provide the singer’s home address? No particular reason, I just want to deliver some ‘local specialties’ in person.”

“Ten minutes—give me all the info about the singer in the video within ten minutes!”

It must be said, the population of singles is vast. In just one night, Bai Qingming’s performance shot to the top of all the major short video charts. Behind this achievement, not a single single dog was innocent—Bai Qingming’s viral fame owed everything to their combined efforts.

And it wasn’t just singles; even those who had already left that camp flocked to the comments.

“To be fair, I think he sings surprisingly well. The lyrics are really catchy too.”

“I recommended it to my sister, and now she’s chasing me around with a knife. What do I do? Waiting online, urgent!”

“Haha, this song doesn’t hurt much, but it’s deeply insulting. I love it.”

“Insider info: this guy’s a TigerSprout streamer. I was there last night—the female streamer opposite actually cried from the song. It was tragic.”

“Could someone post his streaming room number, please? Last night, the goddess who kept rejecting me finally agreed to go out with me after hearing this song. We just left the hotel. I need to buy him some gifts as a thank you.”

“Wake up, buddy upstairs. You don’t even have a girlfriend.”

“Everybody step aside—let the diabetics stay back. Don’t let them get a taste of this sweetness. My urine is yellow, let me go first and show him reality.”

For a while, the comments poured in, each more creative than the last. Bai Qingming’s streaming room number was quickly exposed.

Soon after, masses of people logged onto TigerSprout and flooded into Bai Qingming’s streaming room.

There, only six words greeted them: “The streamer has not started yet.”

But this did nothing to dampen the enthusiasm of the audience.

“The Dog-Head Army reporting for duty!”

“Peng Yuyan from Guiyang, checking in!”

“Peng Yuyan from Guiyang? Where does that leave me, Wu Yanzu from Shanxi?”

“Does anyone know when the streamer will go live? I’m ready to roast him.”

“Do you need a roasting proxy? I’m a veteran of the Ancestral Zone—ten roasts per second, fair pricing, all ages welcome.”

Even though the screen was still black, messages in Bai Qingming’s streaming room never ceased. The number of viewers was already more than ten times higher than the previous night.

Not only did fans who came for the hype click follow, but even the haters joined in, ready to provide long-term, continuous feedback for Bai Qingming.

At this point, the number of online viewers in the streaming room was on par with the platform’s top streamers, and more people were pouring in by the minute.

Meanwhile, Bai Qingming, blissfully asleep, was completely unaware of all this.

At that moment, in the TigerSprout backend, a technician monitoring real-time data suddenly stared at his screen in disbelief.

“What the—what’s going on?”

He wiped his eyes, unsure if he could trust what he was seeing.

“Ahem.” The sound of a cough announced the arrival of his supervisor. “Xiao Zhang, mind your language. This is a civilized company. We’re all professionals here.”

“No, boss, it’s just—there’s something strange about this streaming room.”

“Strange?” The supervisor chuckled. “If there’s anything against the rules, just ban it.”

“That’s not it, boss. You should take a look for yourself.” Xiao Zhang pointed at the screen.

The supervisor leaned in—and was equally stunned. “What the—? What did this streamer do? Male or female? Is it one of those not-safe-for-work types? Why didn’t you call me over sooner?”

To be fair, something like this had happened before, but only when celebrities were invited to stream or top influencers from other platforms joined in. The problem was, nobody had sent them any notification about this.

“Boss, he’s a male streamer, nothing inappropriate, and he hasn’t even started streaming yet.”

The supervisor drew a sharp breath.

Quickly, he realized what this meant.

They’d struck gold.

If the platform could nurture this talent properly, wasn’t this the next top streamer?

“Quick, drop everything else and monitor this streaming room. Report to me immediately if anything happens!”

The supervisor was thrilled. His job was to discover promising streamers to recommend for further cultivation, and if they performed well, he’d be rewarded too.

Now that he’d found someone like Bai Qingming, a promotion and raise seemed just around the corner!

With that happy thought, the supervisor hurried off to make his report.

At the same time, their rival platform, Douyu, began making moves, trying to reach out to Bai Qingming.

…

In a shabby rented room, Bai Qingming was sound asleep when a sudden voice rang in his ear.

[Popularity has reached 300,000. Reward: One luxury mansion at Top Regent Residence.]

The voice was piercingly loud. Startled awake, Bai Qingming sat up in bed.

Still groggy, he didn’t immediately grasp the significance of what he’d just heard.

It was already noon, and his stomach was growling.

“I’ll worry about finding a job tomorrow,” he muttered, picking up his phone to order takeout.

The moment he unlocked it, he froze.

Over a hundred missed calls!

More than two hundred messages!

Spam calls? Did his counterpart in this world owe people money and now he was getting bombarded?

Without a second thought, Bai Qingming turned off his phone.

He wasn’t about to shoulder this blame.

Then, he noticed a small red booklet next to his pillow—he clearly remembered it hadn’t been there when he’d gone to bed.

Opening it, he was completely dumbfounded.

Good heavens, it was the property deed to a Top Regent Residence mansion!

Even more absurd—the owner was him.

In an instant, Bai Qingming remembered the voice that had woken him.

A system!

The essential cheat of any protagonist in a novel!

He vaguely recalled hearing something when he first transmigrated, but he’d ignored it.

So, does this mean—

“This mansion is a reward from the system?”

“I’m about to take off!”