Chapter 8

"What do you mean, your past, present, and future? Are you going to read our fortunes?" "That sounds like what it means." "I don't need you to tell me my story. In fact, I don't want to listen to any stories. I want to see you dance like before. I'll buy you gifts as long as you do a sexy dance for me." "I'm not the same as that guy. I just want to hear you call me 'babe.'" "What is up with this streamer? She used to sing and dance during her livestreams, but she's telling stories now. It's fine if she's just telling regular stories—she's even trying out the fortune-telling route." The livestream's viewers clamored for Madison to do something else, but she merely sat there, looking leisurely. The system panicked. "Are you going to just sit there without saying anything, Ms. Locke? You can't just wait for someone to come!" Madison said, "There's no need to panic." The system cried, "How can I not panic?" Suddenly, a viewer submitted a request to join her livestream via video. Madison accepted it, and the screen became split in half. The person on the other end of the line was a young man in his 20s. He laughed when his request was accepted and said, "I want to hear my story." Madison eyed him. "You were born in a middle-income family. Both your parents are still around, and you have an older brother. "When you were about ten years old, your family made it big in business, so you have quite the inheritance. It seems you're also naturally gifted in intellectual pursuits. You should be quite the exemplary student." "Yes, yes! You're absolutely right." Fred Wallis nodded vigorously. Madison frowned. "You should've led a smooth sailing and long life, but something seems to be wrong now. Your physiognomy is great, but your vital gate is clouded, and your face is dull. You should be plagued by misfortune now." Only then did Fred think there was something special about Madison. His expression immediately turned serious, and he said, "You're absolutely right. I've been really unlucky lately. For instance, when I was eating at the food street behind my university, an electric bike suddenly ran into me and injured me." He turned his camera to show his leg, which was in a cast. Then, he continued, "My girlfriend and I initially got along fine. It was her birthday a few days ago, so I bought her a gift. But the delivery guy got the wrong address and sent her a different parcel instead. "She thought I wanted to break up with her, and she's blocked me everywhere now." It was because of this that Fred watched Madison's livestream. He'd been attracted by what she could offer. "I just want to know whether I can reconcile with my girlfriend." "He really is unlucky, huh?" "I've seen unlucky people, but this guy takes the cake." "Don't you guys think this is just someone the streamer hired to make herself look good? There's no way she can really tell what's going on with him just by looking at him, can't she? She's not some fortune teller." "I think it's all an act, too. Genuine fortune tellers are old and experienced. Look at how young she is!" "It's all fake! I'm leaving!" Fred saw the comments in the livestream chat. He was about to explain that he wasn't in cahoots with Madison when she said, "You're shrouded in misfortune, but it isn't because of anything you've done. Your father or uncles have done something to affect your generation." "What?" "Something has probably happened with your family. Why don't you try contacting them?" Fred panicked when he heard that. He immediately called home. His father was the one who answered the call. "Dad, has anything happened at home? How did I know? I asked an expert of the mystic arts for help, and she said something had gone wrong. Is that true? "What? Mom has stomach cancer? My sister-in-law has had a miscarriage? Even your business is facing problems?" Fred was dumbfounded after hearing all the bad news. He only returned to his senses when his father urged him to ask Madison for help. He almost darted toward the camera as he asked, "My father wants me to ask you whether there's any way to help my family!" "It depends on what exactly your family has done," Madison said. Fred hurriedly asked his father whether he'd done anything important recently. He was briefly dazed after receiving the answer. "My father said he only shifted my grandparents' graves." He'd known about this before today. The village he came from was going to have its roads paved, and his grandparents' graves were in the way of the planned path. The government had given them the necessary compensation, and his family had asked a monk to find a good spot for the graves to be moved to. According to Fred's father, small issues had arisen in their family on the first day the graves were shifted. It had been over two months since then, and the problems were only getting worse. "If your forefathers' graves aren't properly shifted, it'll lead to unrest and disaster in your family," Madison said. Her words made a chill run down Fred's spine. He almost wanted to fall to his knees before her. "Ma'am—no, O Great One…" "Don't call me that. I'm just a regular streamer." Fred fell silent. Did she mean there was no hope for him and his family? Jordan, who was still watching the livestream, gave him a hint in the livestream chat. "Maddie wants subscribers and followers. She wants gifts." Fred saw that and immediately said, "I'll subscribe to you right now, Maddie!" Then, he gave Madison a mothership. She immediately tried to channel her spiritual energy but found there was no difference. She asked the system what was wrong. The system said helplessly, "He doesn't believe you completely, Ms. Locke. That's why he can't provide any fortune for you." Madison said, "You didn't mention anything about the people having to trust me when I first started out doing livestreams." "You mainly needed your viewers to like you when you were singing and dancing. Now that you're taking the fortune-telling route and telling stories, what you need is for your audience to trust you." Madison had nothing to say in retort. The system continued, "It's the same thing, really. You just need to gather fortune in a different way because you've chosen a different method. If you can make your audience like you through storytelling, you can also gain fortune from them." Madison was rendered speechless. There was no way that could happen. Fred noticed the odd look on Madison's face after giving her the mothership, and he panicked a little. Was it too little for her? Should he give her another one? Despite his thoughts, he couldn't help feeling a little reluctant. His family had some money, but he'd always planned his finances well. He controlled his expenditure for extra items like these. Besides, Madison had only predicted the situation with his family. That didn't mean she could resolve the problem. Was it really right for him to spend so much money on her? Madison suddenly asked, "How far is your hometown from Riverview?" "Not far at all! It's a village right next to Riverview," Fred said. "Alright. I'll go check on things tomorrow." Fred's eyes widened. "Really? Thank you so much!" "Message me your address." "Alright!" Madison ended the call and looked into her camera. "Today's livestream ends here. Thanks for watching, everyone." As soon as she ended the livestream, her expression changed drastically. She looked icily at the vague silhouette not far from her. "You've got some nerve, coming onto my turf!" The phantom visage had ghostly energy all around it, and it darted toward Madison. She flung a talisman at it. When the talisman came into contact with the phantom visage, the ghostly energy dispersed, leaving nothing but a clear astral body. Madison's eyes widened when she saw the astral body. "It's you?"