Chapter 1

I'd started copying that guy Riley's whole "get on mic and train your dog" bit lately, and it had blown up a little on TikTok.

Every time I went live, plenty of people showed up, throwing gifts to get on mic with me.

That day I was streaming when Autumn Croft, another woman in the same niche, hopped on a live link with me.

She had a guy in her channel too, a pet influencer named Jared Hooper, and he'd brought a Bichon on stream.

Autumn said to me, "This Bichon keeps peeing everywhere. If you can fix it, I'll drop a hundred Carnivals on you. If you can't, you quit the internet for good!"

As she talked, she reached over to pat the Bichon's head, and the dog peed right then and there.

Watching it happen, I was about to say the thing was obviously getting beaten all the time, that's why it pees the second anyone comes near.

But before I could get a word out, a very mechanical female voice went off in my head:

"Her ring can shock. Whatever she touches, it pees!"

1、

That voice?

Was that Siri?

Was I seriously hearing the voice of a phone's smart assistant?

"Gay Pruitt, you're so impressive, so fix it already."

Autumn was getting pushy.

Jared let out a scoff. "What's impressive about her? All she does is copy Riley's streaming style. Since when is mimicking somebody impressive?"

And in my channel, Autumn's and Jared's fans came pouring in:

"What kind of trash thinks she can steal our Autumn's top-girl spot?"

"Of all people to copy, she picks Riley? He's a dog-abuser influencer!"

"You think she got big on her own? Bet she's got something going with a certain dog-abuser influencer."

And my fans, the second they pushed back, got torn into just the same:

"Gay's a pure comedy streamer, so keep your hands off her."

"Aw, look, the mama's boy showed up to defend his mistress. She gonna reward you once the stream ends?"

"This kid's profile is public. Cute daughter he's got. I'll screenshot it and send it to everybody."

"A streamer like this only draws garbage fans, so a girl with a father like that definitely won't live long."

I honestly never thought that just because I was streaming, even my own fans would get cursed at.

"Mod, kick the ones cursing people out."

I said it fast.

But when I looked closer, everyone defending me had been kicked, and everyone cursing me had been left in.

Some of the people who regularly sent me gifts had been kicked too.

"Have you no shame? Planting a mole now?"

I fumbled with the backend controls, trying to strip that moderator.

But that mod had already posted: "I'm no mole. I just think Gay Pruitt's total trash, that's why I'm kicking people. She abuses dogs off-camera all the time!"

The moment I saw that, I saved his account info, pulled his mod role, then blocked and reported him.

Autumn just sneered. "Stripping the mod, blocking, reporting. That's basically silencing a witness."

Jared was full of righteous fury. "Folks, this woman abuses dogs. We can't let her off!"

Even more people flooded into my channel, all of them trashing me.

And the fans defending me were drowned out in no time.

Normally, in a situation like this, the platform would step in to protect the streamer.

At the very least, a super mod would say something to break it up.

But in my channel, there wasn't a trace of a super mod.

Like someone had put in a word ahead of time.

I thought it over. The smart thing to do was save the evidence, then go to the police.

But Siri's voice went off in my head again:

"Sigh, this streamer's going to lose for sure. There's no way to prove the ring can shock over a livestream, after all."

Then the voice of the smart assistant answered back:

"Plus Jared's phone is full of dog-abuse videos."

"I really hope this streamer takes the real Jared and Autumn offline and saves those poor dogs."

Was this Autumn's Siri and Jared's smart assistant chatting to each other?

I took a deep breath.

"Your dog peeing everywhere, there's nothing I can do about it through a screen."

"Here's the thing. Since we're all in the same city, let's meet up in person, and I'll solve your problem for you!"

Autumn laughed right away. "Same as I said. If you really can fix it, I'll drop a hundred Carnivals on you. If you can't, you quit the internet!"

I shook my head. "That bet's not even. If you want to bet, then we both quit the internet. I don't need your hundred Carnivals."

Autumn went quiet for a beat, then nodded at once. "Fine!"