Chapter 26: A Simple Tap to Block

The arrival of Chen Jiaojiao made Hua Yun’s side feel as lively as if a little bird had joined her.

"Yunyun, why do you have so many wild plants here?" Chen Jiaojiao asked, gesturing toward a patch of ground.

"I thought they looked nice, so I planted them. What do you think?" Hua Yun asked in return.

"They really are beautiful," Chen Jiaojiao nodded. Many of the plants were covered in all sorts of colorful flowers, and as she drew closer, she could catch a faint fragrance—a rare sight indeed on the capital planet.

At the Botanical Academy, there was a botanical garden that the professors guarded like a treasure. Every teacher treated the plants they cultivated with the utmost care, bordering on obsession. Seeing so many plants at once, and such beautiful ones at that, even Chen Jiaojiao was momentarily stunned.

"These are all plants I intend to transplant elsewhere later. Eventually, every part of this planet will have its own unique scenery and charm."

"Peach Blossom Star will surely become the most unique planet in the entire galaxy!" Hua Yun declared with conviction.

"Yunyun... how about we make more delicious food?" For the past two days, the food had kept Chen Jiaojiao so content that she had forgotten all about her initial worries. As for the "Peach Blossom Star" that Hua Yun envisioned... Chen Jiaojiao really didn't want to discourage her, but safety and security were paramount. It was incredibly difficult to maintain such a vast array of plants and scenery while ensuring complete safety. Even all the professors at the Botanical Academy combined might not be able to pull it off.

Hua Yun smiled. "The professors from the Culinary Academy told me they’ve already made arrangements and will be coming over in a couple of days."

"It’s a good thing the Dean doesn't know you’re growing so many plants, otherwise, it wouldn't just be the Culinary Academy people coming," Chen Jiaojiao sighed. Those plants had passed all safety screenings and were highly ornamental.

Moreover, Hua Yun’s vegetable patch was beginning to take shape, though it still couldn't compare to the vastness of the barren planet.

"The Dean has also been asking me about the progress." This graduation project was quite unique, and Hui Yuan had been keeping a close eye on it.

"That’s because the Dean definitely doesn't know you have so many plants here! One of these looks just like the one in the Dean’s private garden. Last time I accidentally touched it, the Dean gave me a real lecture."

Hua Yun remained silent; she hadn't mentioned it, after all.

"Never mind that for now. We’re going to livestream again soon. Jiaojiao, what do you think?" As the host of the channel, Hua Yun had to show her face, but she could use a digital mask. She hadn't known about this feature at first, so she had been appearing with her real face.

"Yunyun, put a mask on me, use this one..." Chen Jiaojiao pointed to an image on the Star Net.

"Alright." Hua Yun looked at the image and fell silent. This must be what a rebellious teenager was like; the choice was... truly abstract.

A round, bald head with large black glasses stared back at her. It was hard to imagine what the final effect would look like.

Hua Yun looked at Chen Jiaojiao, then back at the image. "Are you sure?"

"No one will ever recognize me like this!" Chen Jiaojiao insisted. "This image looks tough!"

"If you say so." Hua Yun manipulated the livestream settings, turned the image into a mask, and synced it with Chen Jiaojiao’s profile. From now on, whenever Chen Jiaojiao appeared on the stream, this would be her avatar unless changed again.

"Yunyun, the stream went black last time, right? It won't happen again, will it?" Chen Jiaojiao had been so preoccupied with food that she had nearly forgotten.

"It shouldn't. The platform's customer service messaged me two days ago saying the channel had been upgraded. It can now handle fifty times the previous traffic and audience capacity," Hua Yun explained.

"Fifty times?" Chen Jiaojiao didn't quite grasp the scale. "As long as it doesn't cut out. Last time it interrupted, you missed a broadcast, and I saw people in your comments section nagging you every day."

The nagging wasn't the worst part; it was the trolls and stirrers who made Chen Jiaojiao furious. Seeing Chen Jiaojiao’s anger, Hua Yun patted her head soothingly. "This broadcast will prove everything."

As it turned out, when the stream cut off, Hua Yun had assumed it was a system glitch. Even when Chen Jiaojiao said her stream had "exploded" in popularity, Hua Yun hadn't paid it much mind. It wasn't until later that she realized the internet had been in an uproar.

While some netizens were begging for a new stream in the comments, others were spreading wild rumors, claiming Hua Yun was a fraud and that the platform had banned her. That very evening, Hua Yun’s inbox was flooded with accusations and insults. She had been with Chen Jiaojiao and didn't see them until the next day. By then, the internet was claiming her silence was proof of guilt.

Her supporters, frustrated, had started arguing with the trolls. One post had even trended to the top of the search results, and by the time Hua Yun saw it, the comment section was bottomless.

—"She's clearly guilty, otherwise why hasn't she responded?"
—"Are you sick? Who responds to things in the middle of the night? Not everyone spends all day staring at the Star Net like you."
—"I highly suspect she was banned, and rightly so. You want to develop a barren planet, fine, but don't use 'gourmet food' as a gimmick to scam people. Is this what college students are like these days?"
—"The food is real. I was in the stream, the taste was absolutely divine. Sadly, I hesitated at first, and just as I opened the shared feed to try it, the stream cut off."
—"Ahhh! Who understands? I’m just praying for it to start again!"
—"To the person above, I get you. The Star Frequency is truly terrible, is the broadcasting equipment that unstable?"
—"What a joke, have you all been brainwashed? The stream was banned, and you're still blaming the platform? Hilarious!"
—"Neutral party here. I saw the posts, came to check it out, and it went black the moment I got in!"
—"Me too! I clicked out of curiosity and it was gone!"
—"And me. I saw everyone talking about it and was curious if the food was real. The screenshots on Star Net looked so tempting, I could drink two extra nutrient packs just looking at them."
—"Great, so it was you guys! You interrupted my culinary journey!"
—"A bunch of fools. Can't you see it's all hype? There are so many paid shills here!"

Chen Jiaojiao was livid reading the posts, but Hua Yun just ate while scrolling through them with interest.

"Yunyun, aren't you angry?" Chen Jiaojiao asked.

"Huh? No, why would I be angry?" Hua Yun scrolled through the screen, looking perfectly at ease.

"Yunyun~" Chen Jiaojiao walked over and was shocked. She saw her friend spotting a nasty comment and clicking "block" with a small tap—a permanent block!

*So this was "not angry"?*

She didn't know about others, but if she were permanently banned from Hua Yun’s channel and couldn't watch the videos, she would regret it for the rest of her life! Chen Jiaojiao shivered. If this was considered "not holding a grudge," she didn't want to know what it looked like when she actually did.

"What's wrong? Is there a problem?" Hua Yun asked gently. "They don't like me, so they probably don't want to see me. I’m just fulfilling their wishes!"