Chapter 119: Even The Great Dao Has Been Obliterated
Half an hour after voting started, Tong Yulu and Chi Leying’s scores reached 8732:8965.
Both sides’ votes were neck and neck; this was probably the most evenly matched matchup so far in the competition.
Most of both fans hadn’t arrived yet; those voting now were mostly casual fans who didn’t hang out much in the community and had little combat power.
Fan circle regular troops always mobilized collectively— they wouldn’t strike unless they did, but once they did, they would catch the opposite side off guard.
Numerous, crazy enough, firm in faith, relentless, strong battle desire, organized and disciplined— fan circles on the internet really weren’t a rabble.
Not fatal, but really annoying…
With nothing better to do, Yu Wei simply went inside to check Hu Xing’s creation progress; he had already written two chapters himself, but Hu Xing hadn’t even finished the first one.
It was actually pretty normal; previously, he could grind on a 6000-word new opening for two months and still end up with a rejection, getting so mad at the reply that he laughed in anger.
When you curse a failure for writing crap, they actually have even worse stuff they haven’t shown.
“Write slowly; stuff that’s not smooth to write probably won’t be smooth to read either.”
Yu Wei patted his shoulder to comfort him, then called out the photographer along the way; for a shut-in, how torturous it was to code under someone else’s watchful eye was imaginable.
He wasn’t good at writing to begin with; if several photographers stared at him too, it would be a wonder if he could produce anything…
While he was chatting with the photographers, the fan circle main force arrived; Chi Leying’s votes surged by tens of thousands, and a few minutes later, Tong Yulu refused to fall behind and chose to follow suit.
This definitely wasn’t their full strength; they were probably still probing, making the opponent nervous while also showing off some strength.
In fan circle professional terminology for voting, this behavior was called “releasing fireworks,” because the vote count chart would suddenly show an irregular upward waveform, especially eye-catching amid the natural growth curve.
Besides the visual image, the sudden vote surge also meant self-celebration, so it was described as fireworks.
Small-scale growth was releasing fireworks; a direct massive surge was flooding, and everyone could tell where the data came from.
Yu Wei had actually seen vote counters for Top Streamer, and some even live broadcasted the stats, constantly monitoring data growth.
This was both for traffic and with a fun-watching mindset in squatting; when the time came, everyone could spot who was manipulating votes at a glance.
Last time, Zhou Mumu’s fans’ vote manipulation was discovered by these people; it could only be said that statisticians were put on public screen.
From all aspects, Yu Wei’s fake competition was becoming more and more real, except there was no venue or organizer.
Just as the competition heated up, Tong Yulu sent a private message strongly condemning Chi Leying’s off-the-board tactics.
Editing a singing video into an MV— wasn’t that shady?
“I report: Chi Leying’s singing video heavily uses material from Japanese dramas, putting film and television drama clips into her own performance without copyright— that’s clear commercial infringement.”
“Get her disqualified quickly.”
What a big reporting era; if you can’t win head-on, just report the other side, huh…
“Makes sense, but this is a fake competition.”
If it were a real variety show, using uncopyrighted videos for performance could indeed cause disputes, but Yu Wei’s competition didn’t even exist— where would infringement come from?
Then I ask you, where’s the commerciality?
Without commercial nature, it’s just her whimsically making a video for everyone to watch for free; that definitely doesn’t count.
Tong Yulu grumbled and left; with this plan failed, they could only settle it on the battlefield— elk, charge with me!
In the time Yu Wei took to drink some water, Tong Yulu’s votes began surging wildly, gaining dozens almost every refresh, with the surge lasting over five minutes.
After a fierce assault, the two sides’ vote gap directly widened to over thirty thousand; Chi Leying’s side symbolically chased a bit, but still couldn’t catch up.
Burned out?
It didn’t feel like it; both sides’ fan counts, activity, and combat power were basically similar— no way they’d run out of steam so early. Yu Wei felt they were deliberately showing weakness.
Voting also depended on tactics, especially with uncertain factors like internet trolls; exposing your hand too early would make you more passive.
Show weakness to the enemy, then strike unexpectedly to steal the lead, winning against the opponent at the smallest cost…
Things Yu Wei could think of, these veteran fan circle fans definitely could too; it could only be said they were all in a game of strategy.
Perhaps the deterrence from readers “voting for the opposite side” had worked; today, both sides’ fans were still hurling insults, but their wording was much more restrained.
Just when he thought the comment section would be more peaceful this time, a glaring malicious comment popped up, making Yu Wei hesitate for several seconds.
“Hilarious, can’t the cheap elk die sooner? Does Elk Sis even know how to sing? It’s all auto-tuned to hell; does cheap elk dare claim her master’s voice? Praising it as good while knowing better— are your ears deaf?”
Yu Wei first thought it was Chi Leying’s fans attacking the opponent, but on second thought, it didn’t add up; knowing trash talk would force neutrals to pick sides, yet deliberately stirring trouble— this was probably a netizen.
But without a doubt, the netizen succeeded; not only were many Tong Yulu fans enraged and joined the battlefield, plenty of neutrals believed it too.
Trash talk, huh? Then this upvote had to go to Tong Yulu.
Tong Yulu was already leading in votes; with pure neutrals joining like this, the vote gap widened even more, directly putting them in a passive position.
There were smart readers, but they could hardly change most neutrals’ minds, only teasing a bit in the netizen’s comment section.
“Deliberately baiting Chi Leying into a fight; must be a Tong Yulu fan, such a low-level netizen.”
“Your heart bled typing ‘cheap elk,’ huh, fun.”
“Elk Sis’s move is too ruthless; she has heaven, earth, and people all on her side.”
When a netizen stirs things up, no netizen is innocent; Tong Yulu not only took the lead in votes but briefly occupied the moral high ground in public opinion.
But even so, Chi Leying’s fans didn’t mobilize en masse; only a few casual fans were busy explaining, with little effect.
Not panicking?
If they could stay calm with the vote deficit because of good mentality, then enduring even a public opinion disadvantage meant they definitely had a backup plan.
Until the first day of program recording ended, Chi Leying’s side still hadn’t properly made a move; though votes were rising, the gap with Tong Yulu kept widening.
When Yu Wei got off work, the two had already pulled ahead by over ninety thousand votes— definitely not a small number.
“Remember to submit your manuscript to the editor soon; faster ones can get results tonight.”
Hu Xing’s new opening was decent; most web novels had ready templates, and with a good entry point, even formulaic writing could be interesting— at least signing shouldn’t be an issue.
By the time the program aired, his book should draw some traffic; there would always be audience curiosity, so it shouldn’t flop too hard…
Yu Wei ordered takeout when he got home and was about to shower when Qi Luo An’s private message came, telling him to check Weibo.
What was cool about Weibo?
Big data precisely pushed the trending search entry to Yu Wei— it was about Chi Leying, and her fans had indeed hidden a big move.
#Vote Exchange
Yu Wei was still clueless, but clicking in shocked him; Chi Leying’s fans had directly vote exchanged with fans of sixteen domestic entertainment artists.
He’d almost forgotten about vote exchange.
Besides internet trolls manipulating votes, fan circles had resource swaps: everyone agreed on cooperation— you vote for me today, I vote for you tomorrow, expanding the vote base from the source.
Not just entertainment circles; gaming circles, esports circles, anime circles— they all exchanged when needed.
Compared to directly paying internet trolls, vote exchange took tons of time and effort; roping in sixteen fan groups at once, Chi Leying’s fans would be swamped later.
“Impressive; the musician is really going all out this time.”
“Worth it; beating the rival is profit.”
“No choice then; elk, contact vote manipulation channels ASAP.”
Not everyone could vote exchange; cooperation required trust and certain connections.
A star everyone in entertainment shouts down couldn’t get anyone to exchange even if they wanted.
This was where Chi Leying beat Tong Yulu: fan counts, popularity, etc., were similar, but Tong Yulu was far behind in connections.
Chi Leying’s emotional intelligence outclassed her by miles; that’s reputation.
Fake competition but real victory or defeat— settling grudges and grievances; last time Tong Yulu rose by arguing, and Chi Leying’s fans remembered that score.
This time, they found their chance; pure strength competition, same song— taking it down would let them step on the opponent forever.
For this competition, they were determined.
“Whoa, sixteen fan groups.”
One fan circle was scary enough; over ten acting together— what a scene that would be!
At this point, netizens and haters’ small antics were irrelevant; before absolute numbers, individual influence was basically negligible…
Except for Yu Wei; if he wanted, he could delete votes and comments anytime.
He opened the comment section; where were the netizens’ shadows? The front rows had become check-in spots for other fans.
“Xia Zan fans check-in, boosting Leying sister straight to the top.”
“Huang Chuyang fans check-in; Yu Wei, look at our Yangyang.”
“Yu Yuan check-in.”
What the heck? Yu Yuan?
Even Qi Yuan’s fans were summoned; enduring hatred to subscribe to his novel for KPI…
The sixteen fan groups’ voting speed was terrifying; not only did the ninety-thousand-plus gap close rapidly, before Yu Wei’s takeout even arrived, they overtook by forty-eight thousand.
The surge showed no sign of slowing; at this rate, Tong Yulu’s fans couldn’t catch up even at full gallop— probably heading for the biggest positional gap in history.
No technique, pure numbers; no matter how strong one fan group was, what could they do against sixteen?
At this point, only magic-on-magic; either copy with vote exchange or hire internet trolls, or wait to concede and get faceslapped hard.
But vote exchange was blocked; normally, exchanges happened on demand, and Chi Leying grabbing sixteen meant most artists needing exchanges recently were covered.
To win via vote exchange, a few groups would’ve sufficed; grabbing so many at once was clearly monopolizing the market.
Already weaker in connections, and now the market monopolized— why bother exchanging?
At this juncture, the only path to not lose was hiring internet trolls to manipulate votes…
“Gonna hire internet trolls again?”
Yu Wei watched the growing vote gap with some helplessness; why manipulate votes? That money given to him would’ve been nice— he could’ve directly rigged it, no?
He thought it would turn into internet trolls descending again, but in just minutes, the comment section filled with posts slamming Chi Leying’s fans as shameless.
“How disgusting are you bitches? Warning internet trolls ahead of time?”
“I get it now; to win, you really spare no effort.”
Yu Wei skimmed a few and got it; Chi Leying’s fans had apparently tipped off several major internet troll groups, directly inflating prices.
Now, if Tong Yulu’s fans wanted to manipulate votes, they’d need to pay several times the usual rate.
Could manipulate if they wanted, but it’d cost a fortune.
Plus, this revealed a signal: Chi Leying’s fans had talked to internet trolls too, so they could naturally manipulate as well.
Tong Yulu and her fans were schemed against completely, with almost every viable backup path blocked.
This style was very much Chi Leying’s— comprehensively schemed, but fairly merciful, not exterminating utterly.
If a bit harsher, they could’ve waited till the opponent bled dry before striking— that would’ve been losing the wife and the army.
Warning them off early was actually honorable; maybe she still couldn’t let go of that brief roommate bond…
Even if personalities clashed, the wrinkles of time still etched each other’s growth rings.
Yu Wei thought it was over and planned to eat dinner, but Tong Yulu’s fans, who had been raging in the comment section, suddenly flipped and started trash-talking again.
“The most humane company is stepping in!”
From the sound of it, Tong Yulu’s company was intervening; capital’s entry undoubtedly marked the battle entering a new dimension.
“Still fighting?”
Even Yu Wei, as the organizer, hadn’t expected it to escalate this far; fighting on would grind everyone down!
