The Rumors About the Thunder King (Continued)

Suddenly becoming a "historical figure" left Si Ming in a daze, and the image of his own portrait hanging in the school corridor involuntarily flashed through his mind, making it feel unreal.

He snapped out of his daze and said in a panic, "Compiling history is such a serious matter, you wouldn't include what just happened, would you?"

--Si Ming, also known as Mad Ink, is a woman with many eccentricities.

It's strange no matter how you look at it, isn't it? Cao Cao was fond of other men's wives, but no one in the official history has mentioned it!

Just then, Ji Shichen said, "Don't worry, official history won't record these things. They'll be put into unofficial histories or fictional stories."

"Thank goodness..."

Si Ming suddenly realized, "What a load of rubbish! Who reads official history these days? People love novels with more compelling stories. The historical Guan Yu didn't have a face like a red date, nor did he wield the Azure Dragon Crescent Blade; Zhang Fei wasn't a ruthless brute with a leopard's head and bulging eyes—it was Liu Bei, not him, who whipped the inspector; Zhao Zilong wasn't a handsome young man on a white horse with a silver spear, but a 'majestic and imposing' man. But who cares?"

Interesting things are what people remember. Then, fictional images force the perception of reality to change, eventually becoming the established impression. Even those who are well-versed in official history, when talking about Liu Bei Guan Yu Zhang Fei, Zhao Yun, will first think of the images from "Romance of the Three Kingdoms" before reminding themselves that these are not the correct historical figures and reconstructing them in their minds. But this knowledge is useless. Apart from occasionally showing off in front of friends, when communicating with others, the default image is still the established one.

Si Ming pondered that he should strike first and write his own image before others created a preconceived one. Even if he couldn't fit himself into the Zhuge Liang template, it would be barely acceptable to fit himself into the Zhao Zilong template.

If he were to entrust the compilation to someone else, and they happened to portray him as a fierce Zhang Fei, there would be no way to reason with them. In particular, Si Ming's fighting style was easily interpreted in that direction, not to mention his nickname "Mad Ink," which gave him a strong sense of crisis.

"No, I need to start thinking about crafting a story when I get back. Writing about myself directly might seem like self-praise, but I can subtly allude to something and leave an impression on people."

The more he thought about it, the more motivated he became. Si Ming couldn't wait to pick up a pen and write a story about Baiyi swordsman roaming the martial arts world, much more enthusiastic than when Auntie Liu was urging him to write.

However, before he could even come up with an outline, the cruise ship had already arrived at the dock.

As Si Ming disembarked, he met Ying Zhou and Murong Wu, who had come to pick him up. The former had an impatient look on his face and kept pawing at the ground with his toes.

"So slow! It's two hours slower than scheduled, what a waste of my life!" Ying Zhou complained, unsurprisingly.

Murong Wu reassured him, "There's nothing we can do about it. Passenger ships are different from trains; delays are very common, especially for long voyages like this that take several days. It's impossible to calculate the time precisely."

"It's good that you're back safe and sound."

It was Liu Qingqing who spoke. Only when she opened her mouth did everyone realize that she had also come and was standing right next to them.

Murong Wu glanced at Si Ming and his group, then asked in confusion, "Where are Sister Yu and Sister Huaruo?"

Si Ming, "Yu Shuying went to the Barbarian Continent for training, Si Huaruo went back to her hometown."

On the other side, Ji Shichen stared at Liu Qingqing for a long time. It was probably the first time she had encountered such an unnoticed quality, even the Spirit Transformation's perception ability had been deceived. She asked, "Are you Si Ming's childhood sweetheart?"

"Um."

"She's also his girlfriend?"

"Um."

So Ji Shichen turned her head and gave Si Ming a look that said, "Chang Wei, you still say you don't know martial arts."

Si Ming had no way to defend himself and could only acquiesce. He thought to himself that he should have brought Si Huaruo along. Among the women he was close to, she was the only one who was normal.

On the way back, Ying Zhou suddenly said, "By the way, have you heard? There's a piece of news that's been spreading everywhere lately."

"What news?"

"There are rumors that Thunder King Xing Daozhuang is not human, but Monster Race that disappeared from the Sea Continent long ago. It's also said that he was a member of the Remote Heaven Society because he wanted to cut down the Divine Pillar to save his people, and that he orchestrated the bombing of the International Building." Ying Zhou asked Si Ming, "The Monster Race is the enemy you fought in the Barbarian Continent, right? Do you have them here in the Sea Continent too?"

Si Ming recalled the scene of Xing Daozhuang pinning the Moth Emperor to death with a single halberd strike and scoffed, "Nonsense, where did this news come from?"

"I don't know, it seems like everyone knows all of a sudden. Although it sounds absurd, the rumors are quite detailed. I heard that some tabloids have even published evidence that he is a member of the Monster Race, as well as clues that could prove he is a member of the Remote Heaven Society. Now it's all over the place, and people are talking about it everywhere. Some people are even shouting for Thunder King to publicly prove his identity."

"Absurd!" Murong Qing retorted, frowning. "This is clearly someone jealous of Thunder King's achievements, deliberately trying to smear him and ruin the image of a hero. Has the government not reacted at all, allowing those petty people to insult the heroes of the Mohist School?"

Murong Wu said, "The government sent people to block those tabloids, but it backfired. The more they blocked them, the more widely they spread. People everywhere were saying that they were being suppressed and blocked just because it was the truth."

Si Ming scoffed, "The official's brainlessness in propaganda is truly inherited. It's obvious that the more you suppress something like this, the stronger the backlash will be. The correct approach should be to divert attention or stir things up. Either create a huge scandal involving a celebrity's infidelity to divert public attention, or spread all sorts of absurd news to bury the news related to Thunder King and make it inconspicuous. In terms of propaganda channels, the official side is clearly superior to those unorthodox methods. They should play to their strengths instead of being led by the nose by the enemy. Suppressing all voices is the Lower Vehicle approach. History has long proven that it's better to guide than to suppress."

Ji Shichen looked at Si Ming in surprise again. "That's a great idea. I didn't expect you to have such unique insights into publicity. Your thinking is indeed different from others."

Murong Qing had long witnessed Si Ming's talent for propaganda and was not surprised. She said, "Such a strong public opinion campaign cannot be created by one or two people. It must be a premeditated and organized smear campaign. Perhaps Remote Heaven Society is the thief crying 'stop thief!' We might as well follow the clues and find out who is in charge behind it."

Si Ming, "It's also possible that they're using the same old trick again, trying to cover up some truth and deliberately creating a gimmick to attract everyone's attention."

Murong Wu hesitated and asked, "Will Senior Thunder King ultimately step in to witness this?"

"Impossible and meaningless. Even if it were publicly proven, others could still question whether the whole process was fabricated. There are always a thousand reasons to deny something. It takes only a mouth to spread rumors, but it takes a lot of legwork to refute them. And forcing the dignified commander-in-chief of the Allied Forces Spirit Transformation Grandmaster, to publicly prove himself because of some rumors will only make those rumor-mongers raise their glasses in celebration."

Si Ming suddenly recalled an article he had read in his previous life and slowly said, "When a warrior dies in battle, the first things flies discover are his flaws and wounds. They suck at them, buzzing and swarming, thinking themselves superior, even more heroic than the fallen warrior. But the warrior is dead and can no longer swat them away. So the flies buzz even louder, believing themselves to be immortal voices, because their perfection far surpasses that of the warrior. Indeed, no one has ever discovered the flies' flaws and wounds. However, a flawed warrior is still a warrior, and a perfect fly is still just a fly."

Murong Qing and Ji Shichen's eyes lit up. The former laughed and said, "What a scathing satire! This passage is so vivid. The contrast between the warrior and the fly is striking. There's no ambiguity; anyone can understand what you're talking about at a glance."

The latter also said, "Although it's sharp to the point of being sarcastic, there's no need to be so polite to those petty people. However, this isn't like your writing style. Your works are grand and majestic, with a broad scope, emphasizing the overall situation over details. Even your satire is as dignified and upright as two armies facing off, not so biting."

Si Ming thought to himself, "Being a plagiarist is indeed very stressful. You can fool ordinary people by saying that your writing style is varied, but you can't fool discerning people at all. Moreover, this world has all sorts of strange and Divine Arts. Who knows, a verification technique might come along and expose my fraud."

He then admitted, "It was indeed not written by me, but by a friend of mine named Lu... Shuren."

"Lu Shuren?" Ji Shichen recalled for a moment. "A name I've never heard of. His literary talent would be quite suitable for propaganda work. Is he interested in taking up an official post? I can recommend him."

"Sorry, he's not from this country."

"Alright, so what about you? What you said before sounded very reasonable and logical. If I hand over all the newspapers under the jurisdiction of the Mohist Religion to you, are you confident you can resolve this media storm?"

In the era before the internet, newspapers, television, and radio were the best channels for ordinary people to obtain information. As the state religion of Su State, Mohist Religion has always attached great importance to public opinion propaganda. Four of the top ten best-selling newspapers in the country are from Mohist Religion, namely "Mohist Religion Literary Digest", "Su State Observer", "Wisdom News" and "Universal Love and Peace News". Its propaganda channels can basically cover the entire Su State.

Si Ming, "It's too easy to defuse the public opinion storm. We don't even need to do anything. The authorities can simply turn a blind eye, not care, not discuss, and not pay attention. Over time, everyone will naturally forget about it. After all, what ordinary people care about most is their daily necessities. As for the true identity of the Spirit Transformation Grandmaster, as long as it doesn't affect them, who cares?"

More importantly, Spirit Transformation Grandmaster have a strong ability to withstand pressure and will not be defeated by public opinion. This is because the biggest asset of Spirit Transformation Grandmaster is their own cultivation level, not their wealth or status. No matter how harshly others criticize them, it cannot weaken their cultivation level in the slightest. As long as their strength remains, they will be able to make a comeback sooner or later.