Couple of things stood out to me - first the earnings is low for that many reads - you can earn more with less than 1K reads for a boosted story

Second that many views external or otherwise is very rare -

thirdly, you are right - engagement is not reflective of actual views

I agree with Marcus views

However, given the chances of going viral or even boosted is not that common, it is always best to have your community, subscribers aka personal network to boost you - just my 2 cents :)