Chapter 65: Status
In the end, the Tentacruel's poison gland was auctioned off for over forty thousand, nearing fifty thousand. It also commanded a considerable premium, though not as outrageous as the two pieces of meat fungus earlier. After all, this item was genuinely useful.
There was actually one more item in the discarded remains: the Tentacruel's water storage organ. But Arthur didn't put it up for auction. Instead, he secretly tossed it to his Froakie, making sure it never appeared on camera.
Anyway, if he didn't say anything, most viewers wouldn't know the physiological structure of a Tentacruel.
The auction of the two meat fungus pieces and the poison gland had already brought the production team over sixty thousand in revenue. As an opening success, this result was quite impressive.
According to their prior agreement, Arthur could receive a 30% commission from this. How he and Justin split it was none of the production team's business; they wouldn't interfere in the division between the host and assistant.
However, even if Arthur didn't take advantage of Justin and simply split it evenly, after taxes and agency fees, he would still personally receive an income of six or seven thousand.
All it took was jumping over and throwing a spear, less than a minute's work.
This business seemed very promising to him.
But the other production team members nearby felt an inexplicable shiver as they watched his eager expression.
They felt that the nature of their show seemed to have subtly shifted from this moment on...
Previously, their promotions had emphasized exploration, survival, and venturing into dangerous areas, striving to create a sense of tension and excitement born from perilous situations in desperate environments.
But now, looking at the faint glimmer in Arthur's eyes, they felt something was amiss.
Perilous situations, my foot!
It felt like if they didn't hold him back soon, this kid was ready to go on a killing spree in the reserve.
The thrilling survival advertised by their production team referred to the host, not the predatory Pokémon here!
However, although the nature of the show had changed, the live stream chat remained lively, with popularity staying high.
Many people sent bullet comments asking what Gyarados liver and Sharpedo fin tasted like, clearly treating the show as a food program now.
Watching the increasingly bizarre backend data, the production team members collectively gave up thinking.
Tired. Let's just roll with it...
Afterward, Cloyster froze the three auctioned parts, placed them in pre-prepared packing boxes on the ship, and finally handed them over to two Wingull on board to fly back to Guhuang Island for mailing and delivery.
These two Wingull, like Cloyster, were Pokémon belonging to production team members. Their combat strength was equally weak, but delivering goods was no problem. They could later fly back using the psychic link with their trainer.
After dealing with the aftermath of the Tentacruel, the sailboat continued its journey.
Unfortunately, Tentacruel are not schooling Pokémon. Unlike Gyarados, they generally only gather in large numbers during mating season; otherwise, they rarely appear in groups.
This was quite regrettable for Arthur, who had tasted success.
The audience in the live stream was also disappointed. Being safe behind a screen, they never tired of watching trouble unfold. There were even bullet comments clamoring to "Take down Lugia, eat Kyogre raw."
Only the few production team uncles on the same boat couldn't help but tremble whenever they heard Arthur complain that the sea was too calm.
In the past, when assisting those timid pretty-boy hosts, they always felt like kicking the host to stop them from just flapping their gums in the safe zone.
But on this trip, they suddenly started feeling nostalgic, thinking that those easily startled hosts from before were actually quite nice...
Fortunately, perhaps Heaven heard their repentance, the boat encountered no further danger for a long time afterward.
They filmed schools of Luvdisc dyeing the sea surface a beautiful cherry blossom pink;
They encountered a Shellos that had somehow flipped onto the boat. It wasn't shy at all and wandered around the deck several times. However, bound by the reserve's rules, they couldn't take it with them and eventually had to return it to the sea;
They also captured footage of a Braviary diving down from the sky to catch fish below the water's surface.
Afterward, that Braviary perhaps took a liking to Justin's Pidgeotto. It followed them for quite a while, trying to woo the Pidgeotto with the fish it caught, but Pidgeotto remained unmoved, devotedly following its trainer.
Of course, such live stream content couldn't be called boring, but compared to Arthur's eye-popping mid-air spear throw earlier, it lacked a certain flavor.
The production team members constantly monitored the backend data, and Justin also watched the real-time bullet comments. They gradually noticed this issue.
After the live stream ended that day and the signal was cut, everyone discussed it and unanimously agreed that they needed some new content to stimulate the audience.
So, when the broadcast started the next day, they chose a calm sea area and prepared to go diving.
The production team had already planned for diving; wetsuits and oxygen tanks were ready on board. One of the accompanying staff members was even a retired professional diver.
According to the original plan, the production team was prepared to secretly swap people underwater.
Once the wetsuits were on, it would normally be difficult for viewers to tell who was in front of the camera.
However, just before entering the water, they were surprised to discover that both young men on board knew how to dive.
Arthur and Justin looked at each other, also quite surprised at this moment.
They weren't surprised that they themselves could dive. Justin came from a well-off family and had learned diving from a professional coach during a summer vacation. Arthur, on the other hand, had learned the skill in the military two hundred years ago.
They just hadn't expected the other person to know this skill as well.
This saved a lot of trouble. Arthur and Justin took turns diving, while the professional diver was responsible for handling the underwater camera and being ready to rescue either of them at any time.
This arrangement made the manpower situation much more flexible.
After descending, a whole new world slowly unfolded before their eyes!
Beneath the surface was a completely different world from above the sea, its beauty was breathtaking!
The sea area they chose was not deep. Shortly after diving, they could see vast stretches of coral reefs on the seabed and various marine creatures swimming among them.
The reserve was virgin territory, untouched by humans. It had never experienced the exploitation and fishing of modern human industrialization. The underwater biomes and Pokémon populations were exceptionally rich, truly a dazzling sight.
Arthur and Justin took turns going down, using tools to shovel several pieces of coral reef back onto the boat.
Simultaneously, the production team sprang into action. Off-camera, they skillfully stuffed pearls, fluorite, underwater incense, and herbal corals—items they had prepared beforehand on the boat—into the coral reefs brought back by the hosts.
Arthur saw all of this, but he didn't expose them.
It wasn't really his place to interfere in such matters anyway.
However, during a casual inspection, he accurately picked out two fake Stardust Crystals and casually tossed them back into the sea.
He could accept the production team auctioning off some items at high prices due to the current hype, but he was unwilling to participate in passing off fakes as genuine articles.
The production team members naturally saw him throw the items away, but at that moment, there was silence; no one spoke.
Normally, in such matters, the host should have no right to speak. However, the situation on this boat was vastly different.
Although only a day had passed, Arthur had undoubtedly established his own unshakable status on the boat by now.
Other hosts would definitely not dare to casually throw away items belonging to the production team, but he could.
After all, other hosts couldn't jump up and impale an adult wild Tentacruel with a fish spear, but he could!
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