Chapter 91: A Pebble Dropped…

Xingcheng Media College.

In the boys’ dorm room, Shao Haoyu dried his wet hair with a towel after showering and sat down at his desk.

He turned on the computer.

It was just the start of the new semester at Xingcheng Media.

But as a senior beginning his final year after summer break, Shao Haoyu didn’t have much time left here.

Next month, he would start interning at his senior brother’s company.

If all went well, next year Shao Haoyu would begin his 996 work life there.

When the login screen appeared, he tossed the towel onto his bed and expertly typed in his password.

He opened his browser and went straight to Bilibili first.

As a respected Lv6 member yet humble small-time UP master on Bilibili, Shao Haoyu had been so hooked on gaming recently that he hadn’t visited Bilibili for several days.

But as soon as he entered the site, a huge ad covering half the homepage shocked him right off his chair!

“High Energy Alert — UP Master ‘Gao Shan’ Teams Up With BLBL To Give Away 1 Million Premium Memberships & Tens of Millions in Prizes!!”

The words “High Energy” and “Gao Shan” stood out in bright white against a fiery red background, impossible to ignore.

What big move was Bilibili pulling now?

Curiosity got the better of Shao Haoyu. He clicked with his mouse.

The new page showed all the activity details and rules.

A UP master with the ID “Gao Shan” was making his official entry into Bilibili on September 1st — which was today.

Any Bilibili member, regardless of level, who gave this UP master the triple combo — follow, like, and share — could enter the prize draw.

Prizes included:

1 million annual premium memberships,

100 high-performance gaming laptops,

300 flagship smartphones,

1000 smart watches,

and 100,000 Bilibili merch packs!

Is Bilibili crazy?

Shao Haoyu’s eyes widened in disbelief!

Never mind all those other prizes.

Right now the annual premium membership on Bilibili costs 148 yuan.

One million of them would be 148 million yuan!!

Shao Haoyu knew well that whatever “Gao Shan” actually paid Bilibili would be lower, since the site often has membership deals.

He got his premium membership at 98 yuan — get one year free with purchase.

But one million memberships? That’s insane!

Even at a big discount it’s a jaw-dropping number.

Add on the computers, phones, watches… Tens of millions in cash was necessary!

Was Bilibili trying to create a god here?

Shao Haoyu swallowed hard, calming his excitement.

He clicked the linked video under the ad.

It was the debut video by the new UP master, “Gao Shan”.

Then his computer froze!

The screen drowned under thick layers of colorful, overlapping bullet comments:

“Holy Big Spender spotted!”

“Here to lower the win odds!”

“Is this for real??”

“Liked the video! Make me win a laptop?”

“Honey! Come see God!!”

“Soooo crazy!”

“My deepest respect — mid-air twist, double full tuck!”

“Gaoo Shaaaaaaaan you’re craaaazy good!”

(ノ≧O≦)ノ I WANT THAT LAPTOP!

“Is this a publicity stunt?”

Shao Haoyu quickly turned off all bullet comments and dropped the resolution to 720P.

The video then played smoothly.

“Hello friends on Bilibili.”

A deep voice and building epic music introduced a slick 60-second video.

“Happy to meet you here on BLBL. To show my love for Bilibili, I’m giving a surprise to everyone! Just follow my channel, like, and share this video to enter the prize draw!”

“Thank you all!”

Sharply cut scenes flashed across Shao Haoyu’s screen.

“I am Gao Shan. An idler.”

The video ended on a shot of a tall man’s back!

He stood with arms folded in front of a massive floor-to-ceiling window, overlooking Magic City’s Luijiazui and the Bund.

His posture was upright, shoulders broad, standing solid like a master sculptor’s statue.

His face stayed out of sight.

Shao Haoyu finally let out the breath he didn’t know he was holding.

It was only then he noticed… UP Master “Gao Shan” already had over 1 million followers!

Likes and shares weren’t far behind.

Though Shao Haoyu didn’t know when exactly the event started today…

He was 100% certain.

“Gao Shan” just broke Bilibili’s record for fastest to reach 1 million followers!

And this was just the beginning.

According to the rules:

First prize draw — Sept. 3rd, 7:30 PM

Second — Sept. 6th

Final — Sept. 9th

Tremble, mortals!

Shao Haoyu pictured every record — 5 million, 10 million followers — getting smashed by “Gao Shan”.

Then setting a new peak no one else could touch!

20 million? 30 million? 50 million?

Bilibili has over 150 million active users; 40 million daily users(DAU); 130 million monthly users(MAU).

Shao Haoyu’s mind could barely grasp it.

Rich beyond measure. Money power unstoppable.

A miracle was being born!

Silently, Shao Haoyu followed, liked, and shared — the triple combo.

He even threw in two “coins”.

As someone he had never been lucky in dungeon looting— never getting rare drops — Shao Haoyu shrugged off any hope of winning.

Even if the odds were tempting.

He simply offered respect to this legendary spender.

After musing a moment, Shao Haoyu closed the video for the homepage. He clicked into his favorites list.

One video in his favorites was gone.

It showed “Playback Failed”.

But Shao Haoyu remembered its name — Three Years of Animation Grad Project.

The CG video he and his senior brother found incredible.

Shao Haoyu had messaged the UP master who posted it several times.

Trying to chat.

But got nothing.

Now the account was deleted.

He shook his head, clicked “Clear Failed Files”, and deleted the video record.

Then he went to see other UP masters’ new uploads.

And just as Shao Haoyu predicted — “Gao Shan” kicked up a storm unlike anything Bilibili had seen.

Followers raced past 2 million… 3 million… 5 million… all the way to 10 million.

Effortlessly.

Before “Gao Shan”, Bilibili’s top UP master needed six years — hundreds of videos — to get to 11 million.

“Gao Shan” surpassed that in under one day!

Then came 20 million… 30 million…

By the prize draw night on September 3, “Gao Shan” already had 35 million followers!

With Weili Bilibili’s promotional power, the mysterious UP master even trended on Weibo.

Though just at No. 10 spot.

But @GaoShan’s verified Weibo account passed 1 million followers easily.

Millions learned online — someone spent 100+ million yuan (Bilibili’s claim) on a wild Bilibili event.

One pebble dropped…

…and stirred a thousand ripples!