Chapter 41: Manipulating Data?

Ming Ruan didn’t know.

After chatting with the comments for a bit, Ming Ruan even positioned Shi Huai belly-up in his arms and asked that commenter: “Can you hold the cat like this? Control its paws, then pinch the two indentations on either side of its face.”

In the uncurated comments:

【This is way too difficult】

【Even if it’s a small beastman, very few people dare to handle them like this】

Shortly after, the commenter Ming Ruan had been communicating with also indicated they didn’t quite know how.

Ming Ruan alternated his hands, smoothing down from the little fox’s chin to its chest twice. Then, catching it off guard, he placed his index finger and thumb on either side of the fox’s muzzle and squeezed!

Shi Huai: Ah—

The little fox obediently opened its mouth, revealing a row of sharp canine teeth.

Super well-behaved.

【……】

“Though foxes are canids, so it’s a little different.” As if that wasn’t enough, Ming Ruan put the fox down. He reached his arm back, hooked it around the White Tiger’s head beside him, and cupped his hands into two fists, pressing gently against the tiger’s cheeks—

Su Yuyun: …

Feeling the feather-light pressure on his face, Su Yuyun hesitated, then pretended his mouth was being pried open.

Long, sharp fangs were exposed.

Satisfied, Ming Ruan held the tiger’s mouth open and began a detailed lecture. “Look. This part of the cat’s teeth, this part, and here—is there something that looks patchy, dirty, maybe with traces of blood? Could be dental calculus.”

While Ming Ruan carefully taught, the tiger indulgently kept his mouth open, and the livestream audience was dumbstruck.

【Uh, wasn’t someone guessing before that this might be the Adjudicator?】

【It was debunked, right? Anyway, no one dares to guess it now. Don’t dare…】

White Tiger had kept his mouth open too long and involuntarily yawned. His huge, bloody maw looked like it could swallow Ming Ruan whole.

Ming Ruan glanced into White Tiger’s oral cavity, even taking the opportunity to lean in and inspect its oral hygiene.

The teeth were clean and glossy, no food residue, no unpleasant odor. As expected of his own fluffball. Ming Ruan thought, satisfied.

But from the livestream’s perspective, this scene looked like White Tiger had bitten Ming Ruan’s head off and was holding it in his mouth.

The livestream audience was scared out of their wits, crawling all over the floor in panic, a familiar reaction from long ago.

Eventually, the questioning comment indicated the situation was indeed as Ming Ruan guessed: dental calculus. The two exchanged a few words. Ming Ruan promised to send the solution to the Research Institute after the stream, and they finally moved past the topic.

But then, Ming Ruan seemed to get addicted. One by one, he had Gray Wolf and Lion also open their mouths so he could check them. While educating on the necessity of brushing small pets’ teeth, he also secretly showed off the fluffballs under his care.

Xie Gewen: “……”

Fuxi: “.”

What else could they do?

Of course they’d humor him.

And so, several bigwigs of the Alpha Galaxy, who could overturn the galaxy with a flip of their hand, sat in a row, going “Ah—” one after another and letting Ming Ruan praise them: “Such white and clean teeth! Good job!”

【Ming Ruan is awesome!】

【!!】

【User 8736251 sent Star Dust x666】

【Huh??? We can send gifts!!】

Previously, Ming Ruan’s official Inspector Live Stream was akin to real-time surveillance, without interactive functions. For today’s interactive live stream, the higher-ups had opened a livestream for him on an entertainment platform partnered with the authorities.

The viewers were initially absorbed in drinking in Softie content. It wasn’t until this moment, when someone suddenly bombed a string of gifts, that everyone realized today’s livestream had a support function enabled!

Thus, on today’s Starnet Entertainment Live Platform, a bare-bones new account’s livestream went from being completely unlisted to rocketing up the leaderboards at a terrifying speed after a certain point!

Other currently streaming hosts who hadn’t disabled the platform’s gift effects were instantly bombarded. Thousands upon thousands of the platform’s most expensive gift effects—the kind that displayed site-wide banners—flooded their screens, making their scalps tingle. Their viewer counts were suppressed to death, but no one dared utter a peep.

Of course, the majority of foresighted hosts without full-time attendance pressure had long since requested leave and were already squatting in Ming Ruan’s livestream.

—

“What the hell, what Stellar Calendar year is this? People are still blatantly manipulating data?”

Xin Yuan was one of the top streamers on the platform. He’d previously done content on alien organisms. He’d just returned from a trip to an outer star domain two days ago and opened his livestream as soon as he got back.

He cracked open a can of retro sparkling water with one hand and leaned in to scrutinize the leaderboard. Upon seeing the rise speed of that bare-bones new livestream, he couldn’t help but click his tongue. “Doesn’t anyone know tampering with data is illegal now?”

For some reason, his livestream today only had about one-thirtieth or one-fortieth of its usual viewership. Only after a long pause did a lone comment float past: 【Where? I don’t see any data manipulation. Give me the ID, and I’ll go report it】

“You guys can’t see that?” Xin Yuan raised an eyebrow in surprise, pointed at the livestream whose ranking was still jumping rapidly. And in just that brief moment, the number in front of that bare-bones new livestream had already jumped to “1.”

And it wasn’t even the daily chart, but the All-Time Leaderboard.

The All-Time Leaderboard of a live streaming platform! Hadn’t budged in decades, and today this crappy little new stream climbed it without any effort. There wasn’t even any resistance when its ranking jumped!

“Not even pretending. Could it be someone deliberately provoking the Central Authority?” Xin Yuan had been a streamer for ages but this was a first. He couldn’t help feeling a bit intrigued. Since his first comeback stream had no viewers anyway, he clicked on that small livestream with a thrill-seeking mentality. “I bet you, in half a minute at most, this host is getting carted off. I’ll go in and see what they’re streaming, witness history in the making.”

He clicked into the livestream.

However, the scene inside the stream wasn’t the sensational, horrific, attention-grabbing spectacle he’d expected.

The warm, relaxed style made him pause.

At this point, Ming Ruan had just finished feeding the fluffballs their brunch—breakfast had been so late, he’d just combined the meals.

After the meal, during digestion time, Ming Ruan was introducing body parts one by one to the livestream audience.

“Look! Paws like this!” Ming Ruan pointed commandingly.

Xie Gewen sighed helplessly and lifted one paw.

“Pay attention. If your baby at home has long fur, the fur growing between the paw pads needs to be trimmed regularly. Otherwise, it can cause slipping, odor, inflammation, pain, and other problems.” Ming Ruan’s fingertip traced across Gray Wolf’s paw pads.

Xie Gewen felt the scratching tickle unbearably. As Ming Ruan tried to slip his fingertip between the paw pads, he retracted his paw, abruptly leaned forward, opened his mouth, and caught Ming Ruan’s hand in a gentle bite.

The wolf’s teeth also tickled Ming Ruan’s hand, making him laugh unreservedly.

At this, amusement also tinged Gray Wolf’s icy-blue eyes.

Ming Ruan then went to Lion, pinching the ears hidden within its mane and discussing the importance of cleaning ears with the livestream audience.

Fuxi obediently allowed himself to be handled, and after Ming Ruan was done, he nudged him before leaving the bustling living room.

Within the livestream comments, everyone was celebrating in their own ways:

【Omg! The walking and foot odor situation for my family member is exactly what Ruanruan described! Just finished trimming for him, waiting for the results!!】

【Is anyone offering services to clean beastman ears? Small canine, I really can’t do it myself but I want him to feel better…】

【Fuxi is still so aloof, actually went into a room by himself】

【My assessment! Has backbone, but no taste】

【These bigwigs really have zero temper in front of Ming Ruan. Told to open their mouths, they open their mouths. Told to lift their paws, they lift their paws. Ears pulled however he pleases. Hmph, just playthings for men (jk)】

Xin Yuan, who had entered with the mindset of “witnessing history,” had unknowingly been watching, stunned, for quite a while. His favorite sparkling water beside him had rapidly lost its fizz, but he remained oblivious.

Once, he, too, had a beastman brother… But his brother had thermorphized too early. It was the most turbulent, darkest period of the Beastmen Era. His brother hadn’t managed to hold on until the situation improved.

It was because of this that Xin Yuan became an enthusiast of alien organisms research. He traveled between star domains, calling himself a novelty science broadcaster on the surface, but deep down, hadn’t he been seeking a way out for beastmen?

Yet today, what was he seeing?

How could a beastman look so relaxed and at ease?

How could someone communicate and even live together with beastmen so seamlessly, without any barrier?

Xin Yuan rubbed his eyes, pointing at the screen in disbelief, asking his own livestream: “Oh my god, do you guys see this? Is this some virtual simulation? The tech these click-farmers have nowadays is this realistic? Isn’t this way better than that previous crappy niche film about beastmen??”

As he exclaimed, a reluctant longing he couldn’t describe rose in his heart.

Maybe he should wait before reporting it? Maybe just let the Central Authority discover it themselves and ban it? He wanted to watch scenes like this for a little while longer. Even if it was fake.

After a moment, Xin Yuan received no response and realized he’d forgotten to turn his comments back on.

He hurriedly opened them.

There were slightly more comments now, but they weren’t what he’d expected.

【Dude, you’re not acting, are you? You just said this livestream is data manipulation? You? You wanna look again??】

【Bro, after that trip to the outer star domain, do you feel like a time traveler from a rural village? Times have changed, sir!!】

【LOLOLOL oh god! This proves outer domain Starnet tech is really important! Already explained this to several people returning from trips today】

【Go catch up on your reading, Yuan Gege. The Beastmen Era is ending! From now on, call it the Fluffball Era!!】

【You see that? The one on your screen, Ming Ruan. Remember to call him Big Brother next time you meet!!】

What? What was all this?

As if he’d lost the ability to read, Xin Yuan pressed his face close to the comments for a long time. Then, hurriedly, even trembling slightly, he clicked on the StarBlog collection that enthusiastic viewers had provided.

Many others were in the same situation as Xin Yuan.

Furthermore.

An Inspector Live Stream, after all, followed strict official procedures and had many taboos. But this entertainment livestream was different. Before it even ended, clips were rapidly edited and posted, fanworks created… It circulated so fast it even reached outside the star domain.

Even far away in the Deep Blue Star Domain, several mermaid-tailed residents were lying on reefs, tapping their light brains: “Did you hear? That Beastman Star System—you know, the Alpha Galaxy—seems to have had someone pop up.”

“They say they can cure Therianthropy… Huh? Really? Seems kinda fake.” A merman tried to recommend it, but uncertainly.

“Ah, doesn’t have anything to do with us anyway.” Another merman flopped backward into the water. “Can’t solve our problems, either.”

“That’s true…” Thinking this, the merman slipped back into the water, dejected.

Ming Ruan, who was being thought of by countless people, suddenly shuddered and let out a huge sneeze!

The sneeze interrupted his entire afternoon of educational content.

He finally stood up and stretched his body fiercely.

A section of his fair waist, along with his lower back dimples, was exposed.

After stretching, Ming Ruan opened his arms wide in front of all the fluffballs and called out: “Let’s all do some exercise together!”

【I know Wifey didn’t mean that, but I offer a slight yellow tint as a sign of respect (shy)】

【I don’t believe it. How could it not mean THAT!! What DOES it mean then!!】