Selina froze. "You, how did you..."

I licked the frosting from my lips with an innocent expression.

"You made it look so tempting, I couldn't resist. It really is delicious."

Before she could process why I was acting so out of character, the livestream chat went wild.

[Wait, this is what Selina's friend looks like? I just got attacked by that face!]

[She's already gorgeous and yet she’s that disciplined? Leave some hope for the rest of us!]

[Okay, I take back what I said earlier. It turns out beautiful people can restrict their eating all they want and still look flawless.]

Looking at the livestream where my face appeared half the size of hers, Selina's expression instantly darkened.

"How could you do this? That cake was for my stream! What am I supposed to eat now?"

I looked surprised. "But when you invited me, you just said we're having dinner. You never mentioned you were streaming."

Then I gave her a wounded look. "Besides, I booked this restaurant a month in advance and I am paying the bill. Am I not allowed to have any?"

"You..."

She glared at me furiously. I sneered inwardly.

This place only served regulars and VIPs, and the prices were astronomical. There was no way she could afford to eat here on her own. That was exactly why she had asked me to bring her here for dinner, so she could stream and gain followers.

The chat's tone shifted immediately.

[You were just pushing her to eat, and now you're mad that she actually did?]

[This restaurant is impossible to book, and they do not even accept regular customers. I thought Selina was famous enough by now, but it turned out that she was riding on someone else's coattails.]

Selina's face went pale. She quickly forced a smile.

"Oh my gosh, I was just kidding! You guys actually believed me? How could I not let Cece eat? I was just worried she would overdo it and get a stomachache."

I smiled slightly and pulled the entire cake toward myself.

"I actually have a pretty good appetite. I just think if I'm going to indulge, it should be worth it. Real quality is the only thing worth the calories. Time to dig in."

With that, I picked up my fork and knife and efficiently polished off the entire cake.

The livestream erupted.

[Holy crap, how does she eat that fast and still look so elegant? She didn't even get frosting on her lips!]

[I'm drooling everywhere and I can't tell if I want the cake more or her.]

[This beats watching Selina eat like that any day. Girl, you should start your own food channel!]

Selina maintained her strained smile until she ended the stream. The moment she turned to face me, her facade collapsed completely.

"What's your problem? You're always so picky about food, and yet today you just had to steal my spotlight! Are you jealous that I'm famous now? Did you come here just to leech off my followers?"

I handed her the menu with an apologetic smile. "Come on, don't be mad. I'll treat you to something else. Order whatever you want!"

She frowned and rubbed her stomach, then snatched the menu and slammed it down on the table.

"Eat? I'm too stuffed to eat anything! You pissed me off so much I'm already full!"

With that, she stormed off. I slowly sipped my tea and touched my flat, toned stomach with a smile.

She was a genuine competitive eater. A few bites of cake could never fill her up. The food transfer system I had bound to her was working perfectly. The cake I ate had been transferred to her stomach at ten times the amount.

Selina, this time around, let's see who'll come out on top.

When I got home, I started up my own food streaming account.

The competitive eating contest three months from now was when Selina rose to fame in my past life. I would crush her completely at the height of her success.

My brief appearance in her afternoon stream had boosted my popularity significantly. I struck while the iron was hot and went live that evening.

Viewers flooded into my stream. The metrics exceeded my expectations.

Unlike Selina's competitive eating angle, my appeal was high-end aesthetics and elegant dining, combined with refined plating.

Even a ten-dollar order of street food would look like a thousand-dollar fine dining experience when I ate it.

These were skills I had learned from years of collaborating with luxury brands and dining within high society. Table manners and refined taste were second nature to me now.

In just one night, I gained 30 thousand followers.

By the time I ended the stream, it was already midnight.

I had over a dozen missed calls from Selina on my phone. She must have realized I was encroaching on her territory and was furious.

I ignored them. The very next second, my front door opened and my boyfriend Derek Hayes walked in.

He looked exhausted. The moment he saw me, he demanded, "What are you thinking, starting a food channel? Eating that much will make you gain weight. Do you even want to keep modeling?"

I shook my head. "I quit."

"What?!" Derek's voice cracked with panic. "Are you insane? You just walked away from a job that pays millions a year! Did you even think about me?"

I looked up at him. "Is that all you care about?"

He froze, then immediately put on a sincere expression.

"Of course not! I'm thinking about our future. If you earn more money now, you can retire earlier and we can get married and start a family sooner!

"Babe, I'm not some scumbag. I'm working hard for our future too!"

His eight-thousand-dollar-a-month version of working hard made me want to roll my eyes so far back I could slap myself.

How had I been blind enough to fall for someone like him?

I pulled out the medical report I had prepared in advance. "I've done too many runway shows over the years. My knees are damaged. I can't keep modeling.

"Social media is booming right now, and I want to get a piece of the pie while I'm still young.

"Look at how successful Selina is. I want to try it too. If I do this right, it could be just as good as modeling!"

Derek stared at the medical report for several minutes. Then his eyes reddened and he pulled me into his arms.

"I'm so sorry, babe. This is all because I'm useless. You've had to work so hard.

"I'll support you no matter what you do! Look what I brought you!"

I looked closely. In his palm lay a red cord with a black bead strung on it.

"This is black obsidian. It's for protection."

He slipped the bracelet onto my wrist, staring into my eyes as he spoke slowly and deliberately. "You have to wear this at all times. Don't take it off for even a second."

I was about to respond when I suddenly felt my abdomen swell. It was as if something beneath my skin was expanding.

My heart tightened. Here it was.

In my past life, I constantly felt this swelling sensation under my skin.

At first, I thought I had some kind of growth, but every hospital test came back showing nothing except increasingly thick layers of fat.

Later, I learned that Selina had bound the fat transfer system to me. This swelling sensation was the feeling of fat expanding in my body whenever she consumed food.

I never knew how she had bound the system to me. Now, I finally understood.

In my past life, Derek had given me this same bead. Even when I ballooned to 200 pounds and the red cord cut into my flesh, he would not let me remove it.

This bead was the carrier for Selina's system.

I smiled at Derek. "Don't worry. I'll take good care of anything you give me."

As he leaned down to kiss me, his phone rang.

After taking the call, he said hurriedly, "Something came up at work. I have to go. Babe, I'll come see you tomorrow."

Then he strode out quickly. The air still carried traces of his cologne, the scent Selina loved most.

So they had been involved with each other this early on. Derek was one of the people who killed me.

That night, I contacted a friend who ran a jewelry business and brought the bead to her house.

The next day, that cursed bead was hidden inside Derek's leather wrap bracelet that he had left at my friend's shop for repair.

My wrist now wore an identical fake.

Watching Derek happily retrieve his bracelet, I could not help but smile slightly.

Derek, in this lifetime, you would be the one to gain weight and die.

My food streaming career was thriving.

In just two months, I had accumulated 500 thousand followers, decisively surpassing the numbers Selina had built over half a year.

Thanks to the food transfer system, Selina had to endure ten times the amount of food I ate every day. Her appetite had declined dramatically.

Watching her follower count drop while mine skyrocketed, she seethed with frustration but could do nothing about it.

Then one day, I shot to the top of the trending topics.

[Food Streamer Cecilia Linden Exposed: Plastic Surgery]

[Model Turned Streamer: Sugar Baby Scandal]

[Cecilia's Secret: Purging After Every Stream]

The exposé posts were detailed and convincing. They included numerous photos of me at upscale venues with business partners from my modeling days, claiming I had been kept by multiple wealthy men and only quit modeling after being driven out by their wives.

Several supposed friends shared deliberately unflattering photos, alleging they showed me before plastic surgery.

There was even grainy security footage of a woman in my apartment surrounded by empty plates. After ending her stream, she rushed into the bathroom and hunched over the toilet, frantically forcing herself to vomit.

My followers turned on me instantly.

[Models are never decent people! She's been with so many men… she's disgusting!]

[So it was all surgery? I wasted so much time simping over a fake face! Goodbye, plastic queen!]

[I thought Selina was lying, but Cecilia really does purge! Anyone who disrespects food like that has no right to be a food blogger! She should be banned permanently!]

Within hours, thousands of comments piled onto the hate threads. Someone was definitely orchestrating this, but I had no immediate proof.

The purging video was clearly staged by someone who broke into my apartment to impersonate me. It had to be Selina and Derek.

The security footage from that time period had been completely wiped.

With no other option, I grabbed my camera to take it to the store for professional data recovery.

The moment I stepped outside, a massive crowd swarmed me.

"You gold-digging fraud! I thought you were genuine and spent so much money on gifts behind my wife's back! Give me my money back!"

"You act so classy, but you're just trash! My daughter watches your streams every day. Stop corrupting my baby!"

"Knock that fake chin off her face! Let's see her scam people then!"

A rock struck my forehead hard. Blood trickled down. I scrambled back behind the security gate and called Derek with shaking hands.

"Derek! Where are you? I'm being..."

"Sorry, Cece, I have to work late tonight. I can't pick you up. Just grab dinner on your own!"

Before I could say anything, he hung up.

Right. How foolish of me to think he would keep up the act just to stay close to my assets. He would not even pretend anymore.

My address being leaked was definitely his and Selina's doing. Of course he would not help me.

I steadied myself and called the police. Thanks to the police intervention, the crowd finally dispersed. However, photos of me battered and disheveled were already permanently plastered across the internet.

Selina was thrilled. After weeks of silence, she called me.

"Cece, are you okay? Oh my god, those people were absolutely insane!

"But you know, I always said modeling wasn't exactly respectable work. All that schmoozing with clients was going to come back to bite you eventually!

"Why don't you take this chance to delete your account and quit? Social media pays well, but your safety matters more!"

I clenched my fists and said coldly, "Mind your own business!"

Then I hung up and dialed another number. "You can extend the partnership offer to Selina now. Make sure she signs the performance contract."

With my reputation in ruins, this was Selina's moment to shine. An olive branch from a top-tier MCN agency? She would never refuse.

Proving my innocence myself would be too tedious. It was better to let my opponent prove it for me.

That evening, I went live despite the torrent of online abuse. Not to retire, but to announce I would compete in the competitive eating championship one week from now.