Xiong Xin’s friends had already moved on from talking about the livestream to other things.

They were still connected to their terminals, still wearing their sensors, just so they could cast a vote when the PK battle ended.

But now that the outcome seemed set in stone, there was no need to keep watching.

"Looks like he’ll be fine without us, huh? Why don’t we call it a night? I was thinking of catching a late movie, haha."

"Nah, we said we’d support our bro, so we’ll support him—" The speaker’s expression suddenly froze. His voice caught, and he sniffled sharply. Before he could say anything else, he swallowed hard. "Wait, do you guys smell that?"

"What smell—" Leaning closer to the sensor, the pent-up aroma aggressively assaulted their senses.

The friends looked at each other in bewilderment. The sensors only transmitted what was happening in the livestreams. Xiong Xin was killing virtual Insect Race members; there was no way he could be the source of such a fragrant smell.

That left only one possibility—

Their eyes widened as they clicked, somewhat astonished, into the livestream of the host they had just written off as doomed.

At that moment, Jiang Qiuqiu was opening the lid of her pressure cooker.

As the pot was opened, the aroma of alcohol assailed their nostrils. Just as potent as the strong scent of alcohol was the fragrance of the mature duck. After braising, its umami flavor had intensified, and its aroma had deepened right along with it.

The fresh, savory scent of the duck was the appetizer, sweeping through the entire livestream like a tornado.

And hidden behind this appetizer was the rich, mellow, and enticing aroma of the alcohol. It was the first time anyone had smelled such a strange liquid fragrance. In the intoxicating atmosphere, practically no one could stop themselves from drooling.

Along with this group, a huge wave of lurkers who had previously fled the stream trickled back in.

???

I was only gone for 20 minutes! Did this place switch dimensions???

What is that? Holy crap, I’m done for. My hand moved on its own. Before I even realized it, I’d switched back to this channel—

So enchanting! I... I feel like this streamer is a Spirit Healing Master? I was getting sleepy reading my book, but now I’m not tired at all! I’m full of energy. I feel like I could eat a whole basin of this stuff!

These lurkers who had returned hadn’t seen the whole process. All they knew was that when they left, it was just a pot of pale, ghastly-looking duck pieces soaking in water, giving off a faint, fishy smell. But now that they were back—

Even the slightest sliver of light was enough to illuminate the steam rising from the beer-braised duck, revealing its beautiful, brownish-red color! In the bubbling sauce, every piece of meat looked like a treasure, beckoning to be plucked.

As the fragrance grew ever more intense, more and more people flooded into Jiang Qiuqiu’s livestream.

Meanwhile, in the stream next door, Xiong Xin, who was fighting for his life in an Insect Nest, suddenly caught a whiff of an overwhelmingly potent aroma. The scent was unique and captivating. He lost focus for a split second and actually made a mistake.

A virtual battlefield was still a battlefield, allowing no room for error. His attack missed, and a massive insect pounced onto his Mecha, piercing its abdomen with a sharp pincer.

Xiong Xin vanished in a stream of light.

Making a mistake at this crucial moment, his bullet-comment section also filled with question marks.

But their meaning was completely different from the ones in Jiang Qiuqiu’s stream.

???

How did Xiong Xin suddenly mess up? Such a low-level mistake!

A virtual battlefield is still a battlefield. He shouldn’t have lost focus—

Xiong Xin was also stunned. The aroma in his nose grew stronger, and he finally realized that the scent he’d just smelled... was coming from the stream next door.

He’d been affected by the aroma! But he couldn’t admit that was the reason. He could only grit his teeth and dejectedly own up to his mistake. "I was wrong. Everyone is right. Every step on the battlefield must be taken only after careful consideration. I hope you all can learn from my mistake and not let your minds wander."

His apologetic attitude earned everyone’s approval, but when he glanced at the top-right corner—

The number of viewers had already dropped from 6.6 billion to 5 billion.

A sense of crisis welled up within him.

But things had already come to this point; feeling a sense of crisis was useless now. 𝙧𝙚𝙚𝔀𝒆𝓫𝓷𝙤𝓿𝒆𝙡.𝒄𝙤𝓶

Just as those people had said earlier, the outcome was decided. It was just that the scales of victory had tipped back in the other direction.