"Alright, as usual, let’s start with our star ingredient for today: the duck. On Taotao Fresh, it’s classified under birds, but it’s different from other birds in that its beak is flat. Everyone, take a close look."

[Ugh, I’m looking. It’s so ugly.]

[It’s a corpse... Looks kind of terrifying.]

[This is supposed to be food? It’s all red... So scary.]

Comments like these were undoubtedly from new fans.

The old fans, on the other hand, usually commented: [That duck is huge! Just one of them is massive! How many did you prepare?]

[Delicious, delicious! It’s meat! It already looks so good!]

Jiang Qiuqiu smiled and said, "To save time, I didn’t film the butchering process and am just using a pre-dressed duck. Before we cook it, we need to cut the meat into small pieces."

With a large cleaver in hand, she cut the duck open, pressing down on the bones to break it down into medium-sized pieces. Today, Jiang Qiuqiu had prepared four ducks, hoping every fan could get at least a spoonful of the fragrant beer-braised duck.

She worked quickly, and after about five minutes, all the duck meat was chopped.

"Next, we’re going to blanch the chopped duck."

She cranked up the heat and added water to the pot, her movements swift and efficient. "You want to put the duck in while the water is still warm to blanch it. And no, you don’t need to put the lid on."

"We’ll turn the heat up high."

Soon, the water in the pot heated up. The boiling water drew out the bloody scum from the duck bones, and a faint, gamy odor filled the air. It wasn’t a pleasant smell.

Her longtime fans, who were familiar with her streams, weren’t bothered by this, of course. But the new fans, who had come in with sky-high expectations, couldn’t help but feel a pang of disappointment.

’And here I thought...’

’I thought the thing the entire internet was hyping up would be some incredible, hidden gem. But it’s just... this.’

’I guess an expert could see the technique, but calling it something out of this world... isn’t that a bit of an exaggeration? This is it?’

Just then, messages about the other stream started flooding the public comment feed.

Meanwhile, Xiong Xin was also under a lot of pressure.

He had, in fact, told his editor he wanted to challenge Jiang Qiuqiu. But when he’d said that, he had been full of confidence, completely sure of himself.

He just wanted to compete against a master and score an easy victory.

But he never expected that this streamer, Jiang Jiujiu, would manage to have her fanbase explode in just a few short days, going from trailing far behind him to nearly catching up.

’This... How can this be happening!’

This golden boy, who had never known defeat, was panicking. He was really panicking.

But Xiong Xin was, after all, a prodigy from the Federal Military Academy. Though young and prone to emotional highs and lows, his fundamental training was top-notch.

Under the immense pressure, Xiong Xin’s performance actually became even more steady.

Today, the theme of his stream was taking on an A-level Insect Race nest solo.

He donned his holographic training helmet, piloted his mecha, and charged swiftly into the nest.

In the past, he had only ever managed to successfully clear the nest on Normal difficulty. Today, Xiong Xin had chosen Intermediate. And he was performing exceptionally well.

Every move, every bullet, every laser beam landed in the perfect spot.

Such a young Mecha Soldier, eyes sharp and focused, weaving his mecha through the swarms of the Insect Race—it was an undeniably impressive sight. He was cool as hell.

His high-level maneuvers prompted a flood of effusive praise in the comments.

Comments like: [As expected from the cream of the crop of the Empire’s youth!]

[The next King of Mecha Soldiers!]

[You are the hope of the Federation!]

[He gets better every year!]

There were also guys and girls posting: [So handsome! So cool!]

[A man who pilots a mecha truly is my dream guy!!!]

Comments like these quickly caught the eye of some of the newcomers in Jiang Qiuqiu’s stream.