Free Web NovelChapter 30: Ch 29: Understanding The Audience
After hanging up the call with his dad, Luke sat up on the squeaky mattress and tapped open the T-Stream app on his phone.
[Quest: Live Terror Stream]
Objective: Conduct a live-streamed terror operation within any commercial or public facility.
Conditions:
25+ minutes duration (Completed)
15+ hostages (Completed)
Reward: Terror Shop Discount Voucher (75% off) + 120 Terror Points
[Bonus Condition:]
Engage in battle with a superpowered individual. (Completed)
Bonus Reward: +100 Terror Points (Extra points awarded depending on enemy strength.)
[Status: Accomplished successfully.]
Luke scrolled down to check the extra details. Just like his last operation, the system had laid out the bonus rewards for overachieving.
[-------------------------------------------------------------------------]
— Exceeded duration by 1+ minute: +2 TP
— Exceeded hostage count by 5: +15 TP
Available Rewards:
— Terror Shop Discount Voucher (75% off)
— +120 Base TP
— +100 Battle Bonus TP
— +17 Overachievement TP
[Accept Rewards] [Reject Rewards]
[-------------------------------------------------------------------------]
’Again, why is that even a question...’
Luke tapped [Accept Rewards].
He clicked over to check his updated statistics.
[---------------------------------]
Username: Luke Dunphy
Terrorist Rank: 4,932,441 → 4,899,457
Power Level: D
Achievements: New Recruit freēwebnovel.com
Total Terror Points: 431
[---------------------------------]
[Next Quest Wait Time: 20 Hours 11 minutes]
[---------------------------------]
Latest Stream Stats - Patron Section:
Max Viewers: 43
Total Duration: 26.1 min
Total Hostages: 20
Comments: 38 | Likes: 18 | TP Donations: 161
[---------------------------------]
"Damn," Luke muttered, his eyes widening in surprise.
The donations alone were more than his base quest reward. During his first broadcast at the Daily Bugle, his total donations had only been 38 TP.
To jump all the way to 161 TP was massive progress.
Sure, The Fool Fan had carried a huge portion of that by dropping a single 90 TP donation, but the growth was undeniable.
He tapped the comments section and braced himself for embarrassment. Checking comments was part of the job now. Had to know what worked, what made people throw TP at him.
Basically, he needed to understand his audience.
Data-driven terrorism.
Patron comments:
[Saitama_0004: I suppose he is born for this.]
[Fyhc: He’s playing this bit a little too well.]
Luke blinked. ’Huh. Thanks, I guess.’
Never in his life did he think that getting praised for being a good terrorist would make him feel a little... good.
Next was the comment from when he had shared his tragic backstory with Gwen.
[Ark_D_Lucifer]: Is that a true story, or is he just messing with them?
[Alkole]: Im surprised where is the backstory coming from?
"A bit of both, buddies," Luke whispered.
[The Fool Fan: He reminded me so much of him... A sticky white tear just rolled down between my legs...]
Luke choked on air. His face contorted through five different expressions in two seconds—confusion, horror, awkward gratitude, more horror, and finally a pained acceptance.
"Terror Points Daddy, chill!" he wheezed, covering his eyes with one hand.
The Fool Fan had also left other comments saying he appreciated the nostalgia but would prefer Veritas develop his own original style going forward. Luke understood completely, and he respected the feedback. Honest, constructive, generous.
Moving on
[BindgeBindge: bite pillow, hulk going in dry.]
[BindgeBindge: it’s all shits and giggles until someone giggles and shits]
Desperately moving on.
[The_Disgraced_One_: It’s one surprise after another with this brat, huh? To think he would actually kill him. Looks like I underestimated you. I do wonder... if you can keep up this level of entertainment or if you’ll break just like the others.]
That one had popped up right as Luke blasted Patrick’s head with a point-blank explosion.
"I can only try to keep up with the growing expectations," Luke murmured.
His scroll slowed as his thoughts drifted to Patrick. Luke lowered his phone, letting his head rest back against the mattress as he stared at the ceiling.
This had been his first kill.
Veritas and Luke were two different personas, carefully separated. But the decision to end Patrick... that was something they both agreed on.
Patrick was a monster wearing a human suit. Letting him keep breathing just meant more people... more children suffered fates worse than death.
Still. First kill.
Strangely, Luke felt... nothing. No nausea. No guilt twisting in his gut.
He sighed, picked the phone back up, and kept scrolling.
The next batch of majority comments came from the fights and interactions with Gwen.
[EvilWhisp: "Hate me.. more" I’m a man and I’m Ovulating rn]
[R6617DARK9732: Unfortunately, I have nothing to properly show the visuals and train of thought this sentence just sent me on..]
When he fought with Gwen, a few people donated some TP, enjoying the hardcore action.
But then, there was the moment Gwen had briefly landed on his floating phone-camera in the sky. Because she had stood directly on top of the device, the lens had been looking straight up.
Unmentionable comments... that was purely unintentional, but these freaking degenerates!!!
[ BindgeBindge: 5 tp for the phone, I want to smell it 🥰🥰🥰 ] [THE_ONE_WHO_LOVES: well save some explosions for some heavy backshots later]
And when he spammed Gwen in the sky with his non-stop attacks, that raised the most TP from multiple viewers. About 40 TP from just 1 minute of the aerial fight.
And another embarrassing segment came... when Gwen had choked him from behind.
[Wandering_Demon: Literally flirting during a fight smh. The single dogs are crying here ]
[HIM_6730: The ship is sailing ]
[BindgeBindge: can’t believe I’m the only normal one here]
Luke snorted, "You’re not normal, bro. You freaking donated 5 TP asking to smell the phone..."
These viewers were... a lot. Chaotic. Unfiltered. Degenerates. Sometimes downright unhinged. But they showed up. They watched. They even threw TP his way.
And honestly? He was grateful.
He’d realized something important today: his audience wasn’t just a bunch of bloodthirsty monsters. Sure, they wanted "Terror," but to them, it was a genre of entertainment. They wanted stakes, drama, and a villain with a bit of flair.
Basically, Terror and Entertainment.
Just like the about page had described.
Sure, there were always a few in the chat posting things like ’kill the hostages already’ or ’blow up the train,’ but they were a very small minority. The vast majority of his viewers preferred his current style.
Besides, Luke was only doing this to protect his peace, not destroy his soul and mental peace by killing innocents, which would haunt him each night.
Every streamer on T-Stream across the omegaverse probably had their own kind of audience, he figured. Some catered to gore-hungry maniacs. Some to tactical masterminds.
Luke’s crowd, apparently, was a bizarre mix of action junkies, drama lovers, and deeply unhinged romantics who shipped him with the heroine.
The fact that his Terrorist Rank was climbing proved he was doing something right.
He knew that the Terrorist Rank wasn’t a measure of his actual power level; it was a popularity index. That’s why it only increased after he streamed, and not when he powered up.
After finishing the analysis, he concluded a few things... TP flowed the most when fighting with Gwen began. And the more intense the fight, the more the TPs.
Which was expected since he even got a bonus for fighting super-powered individuals.
He swiped over to the Quirk Mastery tab. His Explosion quirk had been sitting at 79% since the last mission.
[Please experience a near-death situation to unlock mastery beyond 79%. Alternative: Spend 100 TP to bypass the condition. ]
He tapped the button to pay the 100 TP fee.
[Initiating...]
"Initiating?" Luke tilted his head. "Initiating what? Usually, it just says ’Updated.’ Why is there a loading bar for—"
"Gah! Son of a—"
Suddenly, a sharp, stinging pain stabbed him right in the center of his chest. It felt like a hot needle threading through his heart. But it ended in a moment.
[Process Finished!]
"Again, what finished? A little clarity would be great!" Luke wheezed. The pain was gone, but he didn’t appreciate the surprise.
He tilted his head, frowning. Something felt... off. Or rather, something felt too right. Like his body had just gone through a massive evolution in a single second.
He noticed a spark near his hand. A tiny particle of his sweat had exploded without him willing it... this had never happened before.
And then—
BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM.
A massive, violent orange-and-yellow explosion erupted—not from just his palms, but from his entire body.
The garage didn’t stand a chance.
When the smoke cleared, Luke was left standing in the middle of a blackened, smoldering ruin.
He let out a long, exhausted sigh. He was alive. He was stronger.
And he was completely, 100% naked.
"You’ve got to be kidding me," he muttered.
The phone floated in front of him, and he quickly tapped equip on his terror outfit.
This hideout was officially out of service from now on, since no way the police and fire department would ignore this even if this place is far from public.
"Time to move," Luke said, his voice dropping into his serious Veritas tone.
But he couldn’t just run. He looked at the wreckage. There might be hair or skin cells. And while Luke only brought food, water, and a bedsheet with him... there still might be some mundane shit that could link ’Luke Dunphy’ to this hideout.
"This mess was some very, very bad luck," Luke muttered. "But I won’t let it turn into anything more than a two-para news segment."
He aimed his palms forward, towards the garage floor, and fired.
Then he burned the floor one time, just to be sure.
And while doing so, he marvelled at his control and the intensity of his blasts...
.
.
.
.
A couple of days later, a small red icon blinked on the notification bell in the top right corner of T-Stream. He tapped it.
Two messages expanded onto the screen.
[1000th Anniversary Loot: All Terror Shop items at 5x lower price.]
[Wait time: 2 days]
[Annual Terror Q&A Stream: An hour-long private interaction stream for patrons. No combat. No objectives. Just you and your audience, answering questions and building your brand. Reward: 20 TP upon completion.]
[Wait time: 15 days]
’Oho,’ I’ll be eagerly waiting for the Loot event. Hm, maybe I’ll hold onto the discount voucher for now. If the discount voucher can be paired with the Loot event, then I might be able to buy an overpowered ability with just the remaining amount of TP I have left.’
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