With that, Stan opened his banking app. He structured the transfer as a private equity investment into Maya’s holding company, reviewed the details one final time, and authorized the full $620 million wire transfer in a single transaction.
The confirmation arrived almost immediately.
He mentally logged the expenditure as Maya’s first rebate cycle of the week, one of the four transactions now permitted under System 2.0.
The system responded at once.
[Ding!]
[Investment spending on Maya Zimmerman confirmed.]
[Favorability tier: 120 (12× rebate).]
[Rebate issued: $7.44 billion deposited into linked account.]
Stan let out a slow breath. A few seconds later, his banking app refreshed.
An incoming deposit of $7.44 billion appeared under the familiar description:
[Internal Credit Adjustment.]
His account balance had plunged to almost zero the instant the wire transfer left. Now it surged to a figure larger than any amount of liquid cash he had ever possessed. One transaction. One rebate.
His net liquid wealth had increased by $7.44 billion.
He didn’t linger on the number. There was still work to do.
...
Next, Stan opened TikTuk Live. The discovery feed loaded almost instantly.
Over the past several weeks, the Sir Streak account had trained the platform’s recommendation algorithm well. Rather than random broadcasts, the feed was now populated almost exclusively with top-rated female streamers, creators the algorithm believed matched his viewing and spending habits. The platform was doing anything they
’Perfect.’ He smiled...
He began scrolling. His first target was Kira.
Twenty-three. A former model who had transitioned into livestreaming, she had built a respectable mid-tier audience. The system assigned her a beauty rating of 8.7.
Stan bound her without hesitation.
[Binding successful.]
[Reward: Equity stake acquired in a regional cosmetics company.]
He entered her stream and quietly sent $2 billion worth of gifts. The effect was immediate. The chat descended into chaos.
Kira stared blankly at the rapidly climbing gift counter before covering her mouth with both hands. Seconds later, tears streamed down her face. She repeatedly tried to thank Sir Streak, only to lose her composure each time another wave of gifts appeared.
By the end of the broadcast, the platform had already recorded it as the highest-grossing stream in her channel’s history.
Her favorability settled at 65, genuine gratitude tempered by the lingering disbelief that a complete stranger had just changed her life.
[Favorability tier: 60–69 (6× rebate).]
[Rebate issued: $12 billion.]
Stan moved on. The second streamer was Lyra.
[Beauty rating: 8.6.]
She specialized in cooking streams and had cultivated a smaller but unusually loyal community. After binding her, Stan repeated the process. Another $2 billion in gifts.
Lyra froze for several seconds before forcing herself to smile. Years of streaming experience showed through as she regained her composure, thanked Sir Streak with remarkable professionalism, and somehow continued preparing dinner despite the unprecedented flood of donations.
She remained calm.
The excitement in her voice, however, became impossible to hide.
By the end of the stream, her favorability had climbed to 52.
[Favorability tier: 50–59 (5× rebate).]
[Rebate issued: $10 billion.]
Without hesitation, Stan opened the next stream. The third target was Sera.
Beauty rating: 8.9.
A high-energy variety streamer whose broadcasts thrived on controlled chaos.
He bound her. Then he spent another $2 billion.
Sera’s reaction was explosive. She screamed. Jumped out of her chair. Paced around the room. Cause what the fuck was that. Returned to the camera. Burst into tears.
Over the next hour, she thanked Sir Streak in three different languages, laughing and crying so often that even her moderators struggled to keep the stream under control.
Her gratitude felt immediate and completely unfiltered.
When the broadcast ended, her favorability had reached 71.
The system quietly highlighted her profile.
[Target demonstrates unusually high emotional responsiveness.]
[Favorability tier: 70–79 (7× rebate).]
[Rebate issued: $14 billion.]
Stan acknowledged the notification with a brief glance before moving on. The fourth streamer was Mei.
[Beauty rating: 9.1.]
The system marked her as Exceptional. Stan paid noticeably more attention before completing the bind. Another $2 billion in gifts followed. Unlike the others, Mei never lost control.
A former entertainer, she carried herself with polished professionalism. She expressed sincere appreciation, thanked Sir Streak repeatedly, and maintained the steady composure expected of someone accustomed to performing under pressure.
Even so, the occasional pause and subtle tremor in her voice betrayed just how overwhelming the donations truly were.
Her favorability stabilized at 68. Measured. Sincere. Professional.
[Favorability tier: 60–69 (6× rebate).]
[Rebate issued: $12 billion.]
Four new bindings. $8 billion spent. $48 billion returned.
Stan looked at the figures for several moments. Even after weeks of using the system, the scale remained difficult to internalize. Earlier that day, he had considered himself unimaginably wealthy.
Now his account balance was climbing by tens of billions of dollars in a single evening.
Money was beginning to lose its intuitive meaning. It had become numbers. Inputs. Outputs.
A resource to be fed into the system so the system could produce more. Stan set his phone back on the table. He wasn’t finished yet.
Next, Stan opened Sophie’s TikTuk profile. She wasn’t live.
Earlier that evening, she had mentioned that she would be busy organizing new tenant agreements for Crown Jewel Tower. Fortunately, TikTuk’s gifting system wasn’t limited to livestreams. Users could also send premium gifts directly to posted videos, a feature that had grown increasingly popular among high-spending patrons who wanted to support creators without waiting for their next broadcast.
Those gifts still generated platform-wide notifications and counted toward a creator’s earnings.
He opened her profile. As always, Sophie’s content was polished and carefully curated.
A behind-the-scenes clip from her cheerleading appearance at the basketball game. A morning routine reel. A lifestyle video showcasing the panoramic view from her apartment in Crown Jewel Tower.
Each had already accumulated millions of views. Stan opened the cheerleading clip first.
He began sending premium video gifts, the platform’s highest-tier animated items, each leaving a twenty-four-hour visual effect over the video for future viewers.
Then he moved to the morning routine. Then the lifestyle post.
He continued down the page until all seven of her most recent uploads had received gifts, distributing approximately $1 billion across them with measured precision.
By tomorrow morning, the platform would be in an uproar.
The gift notifications alone would dominate TikTuk’s trending discussions, and Sophie would wake to a cascade of alerts informing her that Sir Streak had become the largest single video gifter in her account’s history by an almost incomprehensible margin.
Her favorability already stood at 125. The system responded immediately.
[Favorability tier: 120–129 (12× rebate).]
[Rebate issued: $12 billion.]