Chapter 10: Going Viral? Infamy is still fame!

Liang He sat where she was, caught between laughter and tears, watching the chase between Xu Yi and the Ink-Gold Tiger.

To be fair, Xu Yi was quite fast; he managed to finish his meal without spilling a single drop.

"Liang He! Help me!"

Glancing out of the corner of his eye at the Ink-Gold Tiger, who showed absolutely no intention of stopping, Xu Yi felt like he was losing it and hurriedly called out to her for help.

Seeing this, Liang He couldn't truly just stand by; after all, the Ink-Gold Tiger was her beast now.

"Ahem, Cedric."

A soft call caused Cedric, who was immersed in the joy of the chase, to stop abruptly. Without any hesitation, he ran toward Liang He, collapsed by her side, and began seeking praise.

"Alright, alright, I know you want to help Dr. Xu treat his hiccups, right?"

"Awoo!"

Exactly!

Finally able to stop, Xu Yi was left speechless by the response from the human and the tiger.

He wanted to argue, only to find that his hiccups had actually stopped!

"Eh? My hiccups are really gone. Why is that?"

"On our Blue Star, if someone is hiccuping, scaring them works. It's an old method," Liang He explained earnestly, sounding nothing like someone making excuses for her beast.

However, how could the Ink-Gold Tiger truly understand such things?! She was simply finding an excuse for him.

That said, Xu Yi couldn't bring himself to hold a grudge against Cedric; at least he felt great right now! In fact, after the exercise, he felt like he could eat another two bowls of rice!

"Haha, then many thanks to Cedric."

Xu Yi gave a dry laugh and sat back down by the pot, feeling his sweat pouring down.

"Luckily the bowl didn't break. I'm going to keep eating!"

He had to eat more to comfort his wounded soul, which had been traumatized by Cedric!

As Xu Yi continued his frantic eating, he felt as if his mouth had been set on fire. It was a burning sensation, yet he was unwilling to stop his spoon—after all, he hadn't yet mastered the more difficult chopsticks.

"Dr. Xu, eat more slowly."

Seeing Xu Yi eating so profusely that he was drenched in sweat, Liang He was a bit hesitant to let him try the chopped chili fish head; she was afraid of ruining the stomach of this interstellar traveler.

However, Xu Yi was eating quite happily. His spoon was already making a move toward the chopped chili fish head. Before Liang He could warn him, he had already shoved a whole spoonful of fish meat and chilies into his mouth.

"Roar!"

Don't misunderstand; this time, it wasn't the Ink-Gold Tiger's roar, but Xu Yi's.

He had been hit by the spice.

"I—I—I!"

Unable to speak from the heat, Xu Yi could only put down his bowl, point at his mouth, and fan himself incessantly.

"You've been hit by the spice. Quick, drink some water."

Spice? Was this what they called spice?

While absorbing this new knowledge, Xu Yi drank water frantically to alleviate the heat.

Seeing him looking as if he had been set ablaze, his colleagues in the control room watched with a mix of tension and curiosity.

"Xu Yi clearly looks like he's in pain, so why does he keep eating?"

"He keeps shouting that it's delicious, but his face is turning red. Could he be shy?"

"What does 'spicy' feel like? I've never tried it. I'm so curious! Why is he sweating so much?"

While everyone was still wondering just how delicious Blue Star cuisine was and what "spicy" tasted like, a wave of excitement was already sweeping through the Star Net.

The Star Net account named "Fluffy Keeper" hadn't had much attention initially.

But even interstellar humans have no resistance to cute animals, so netizens who frequently browsed animal content were naturally pushed toward it by big data.

"Ink-Gold Tiger, Azure Blue Falcon?"

Rick was a famous blogger who loved nature and enjoyed interacting with various wild animals.

While browsing the Star Net as usual today to find interesting pictures and videos for his blog, he was inadvertently drawn to the words "Ink-Gold Tiger" and "Azure Blue Falcon."

"Rick, is there something wrong with these pictures?"

Seeing him staring intently at the images, Rick's assistant thought there might be an issue.

As an animal protector, Rick often used his influence to launch public opinion campaigns against those who mistreated animals to achieve the goal of animal protection.

"I don't know."

A somewhat bewildered Rick frowned slightly, staring fixedly at the screen.

"The Ink-Gold Tiger and the Azure Blue Falcon are first-class protected animals of the Federation. From the pictures, there doesn't seem to be any problem, but..."

"If there's no problem, isn't that good?" the assistant asked, confused by him.

"But looking at the comparison with the prey they captured, the size of these two Ink-Gold Tigers and Azure Blue Falcons is clearly more than double the normal size."

It wasn't just Rick who noticed this; other animal enthusiasts did as well.

[The proportions of the Ink-Gold Tiger and Azure Blue Falcon in these pictures are clearly wrong. Did the blogger intentionally Photoshop them?]

[I knew it! How could these two possibly hunt together? Turns out it's all fake?]

[Avoid this account, everyone! It's fine to use Photoshop for memes, but this person is clearly faking it to gain followers. Don't let her succeed!]

Netizens were calling for "Fluffy Keeper" to delete the set of images immediately and were requesting an official ban to prevent certain people from gaining improper benefits.

Because the Interstellar Federation placed great importance on intellectual property, even downloading images from the internet required payment in Federation Credits.

Wanting a free ride? Impossible!

Unaware that she had been branded a fraud and "blacklisted" by netizens, Liang He was still blissfully basking in the afternoon sun with Cedric and Landon.

*Beep, beep, beep.*

Xu Yi, who had just finished washing the pots and pans, was about to say goodbye to Liang He when he noticed his light brain was beeping frantically.

"What's going on? Who's looking for me so urgently?"

As he slowly opened his light brain, Xu Yi's eyes widened further and further. By the end, his mouth was nearly agape. He hurriedly ran to Liang He's side.

"Whoa!"

Suddenly remembering that the Ink-Gold Tiger and the Azure Blue Falcon were still lying beside Liang He, Xu Yi almost failed to brake, nearly treating himself like a horse to be reined in.

"That was close. I almost delivered myself to the tiger's mouth."

Xu Yi patted his chest in lingering fear, soothing his racing heart. When he met three pairs of eyes looking at him as if he were being nonsensical, he silently swallowed.

"Um... Liang He, did you create an account on the Star Net and post photos of Cedric and Landon?"

"Yeah."

Not understanding why Xu Yi was asking so suddenly, a belatedly aware Liang He shifted from lying down to sitting up, looking at him nervously.

"I reported it to District Chief Huo, and he agreed! I didn't violate any rules, did I?"

"No, it's not a matter of violating rules. No, you didn't violate anything."

Xu Yi, who had almost been confused by Liang He, finally remembered the main issue.

"It's mainly because Cedric and Landon are different from their peers; they are much larger in size. So, netizens think you're faking it to grab attention and scam money."

Because of Liang He's unique situation, to prevent her from feeling fear toward beasts that had transformed from SSS-class beastmen, Huo An had ordered that no one should proactively mention the existence of SSS-class beastmen to her. Thus, Xu Yi couldn't be entirely blunt.

Fortunately, Liang He came from Blue Star and didn't know much about interstellar affairs, making her easy to manage.

"Ah? There's such a thing?"

Liang He sighed softly. Based on her previous understanding of the internet on Blue Star, she couldn't even imagine how many people might be chasing her to curse her.

"Then what should I do now?"

"How about you post a video?"

This was also the first time Xu Yi had encountered such a situation. Primarily, because Liang He hadn't paid attention to the Star Net's trends in time, netizens saw her lack of response and inaction as intentional evasion and disregard for them, which naturally caused their anger to grow.

"Anyway, you've basically become an overnight sensation."

Though it couldn't quite be called "overnight," since the pictures were posted in the morning and the person blew up at noon.

"Infamy is still fame, I guess."

Liang He curled her lip in speechlessness. She appreciated Xu Yi's comfort, but felt it wasn't necessary.

"I know. It just so happens that when Cedric and Landon were hunting today, I recorded a video in addition to the photos. Otherwise, there would really be no way to defend myself."

Relieved that she had prepared a backup, Liang He quickly took out her light brain and pulled up the video that had recently been uploaded from her recording equipment.

At this moment, she didn't dare think about fine-tuning it for fear that someone would claim it was fake again. She simply cropped a relatively non-bloody segment and uploaded it directly.

Because Liang He had not come forward to respond or resolve the issue, the trending topic regarding "Fluffy Keeper" had climbed directly into the top three of the Star Net, showing signs of potentially hitting number one.

Now, she had finally posted her latest update, causing the netizens who were waiting to judge her to instantly perk up, ready to see what kind of nonsense she would pull next.

[Video recorded at the same time. Once again, praising the wonderful Ink-Gold Tiger and Azure Blue Falcon! P.S.: Everyone is welcome to try and debunk this! [Video]]

Because the situation had been so exaggerated, netizens were unwilling to believe it was real. Liang He felt so wronged, haha! (There is another chapter coming later, please collect, comment, and follow, dear readers! *Finger hearts!*)

(End of Chapter)