What are the major online media platforms today?
The first ones that came to mind were probably Weibo, VX public accounts, Tencent, and Toutiao. After that came blogs and all kinds of forums, Yidian Zixun, H Fox, B Degree self-media, and so on.
These were the social media platforms netizens used most often, and their influence had gradually surpassed that of traditional media.
With the development of mobile phones and the spread of 4G networks, mobile reading would completely become the mainstream in the future.
Since Li Xian wanted to make his big debut, he naturally had to choose these online media platforms. Of course, his first choice was definitely Weibo, which currently had the most traffic.
Ever since he received the random mission, he had set his sights on Weibo's trending searches.
No platform could make someone famous faster than trending searches. Nowadays, celebrities and artists, company products, and even TV shows, movies, and variety programs all relied on trending searches to attract traffic.
Getting on the trending list had become the norm. Every media company treated Weibo's trending searches as a key promotional strategy.
There was no helping it. In modern society, traffic was king—and traffic meant money.
Conversely, buying traffic cost money, and getting on the trending list cost money too. Of the trending topics visible on the platform, at least sixty percent had been bought.
Luckily, he'd been wondering where to spend his money.
Buy, buy, buy...
Today, Brother Xian was going to dominate the charts.
Seated in front of his computer, Zhang Cheng was unusually excited. His long face was flushed from his eyes down to his chin, as if he'd been boiled.
Over the past two days, Zhang Cheng had felt like he was living in a dream. He'd never imagined that one day he'd reach the pinnacle of his life.
Before, he'd been an obscure internet troll, throwing punches online and following the crowd to make a quick buck. Now, he was a behind-the-scenes mastermind with a huge sum of money in his hands. The difference between the two was beyond description.
He lit one of the 1916 cigarettes Brother Xian had given him, took a sip of the sugary soda Brother Xian had provided, and tapped away at the keyboard like a conductor.
"Old Evil Huang, get ready."
"No problem, boss."
Zhang Cheng's lips curved up slightly. Hearing himself called "boss" felt great.
But now wasn't the time to get carried away. He slowly wiped the smile from his face and typed to confirm, "I've given you a big order worth forty or fifty thousand yuan. Don't screw this up. One thousand real accounts, not one less, and no duplicate comments."
"Don't worry. I guarantee it with my reputation. Just watch."
"All right. Start on the dot at one."
After confirming the details with the troll-farm boss, East Heretic, Zhang Cheng opened the chat window with West Poison and typed, "Old Poison..."
"I'm here, boss. What do you need?"
"Get ready. At one this afternoon, publish three hundred promotional articles across the whole internet at once. Fifty million-follower Big Vs, one post every three minutes. Can you handle it?"
"No problem, boss. As long as the money's right, I can get it done in minutes."
"You'll get paid, of course. Didn't I give you a deposit yesterday?"
"Boss, you're making a big move. A few Big Vs got wind of it and want to raise their rates."
"Shit... The market rate for one promotional article from a million-follower Big V is a thousand yuan. I'm paying fifteen hundred, and they still think it's not enough?"
"Uh... I don't know who let it slip, but someone said you'd set aside a million. Then... those guys got greedy."
Fuck!
Zhang Cheng cursed, his expression darkening. He clenched his fist and typed, "Anyone who doesn't want to earn this money can get lost. Find someone else. I'll pay two thousand per post."
"Uh... isn't that a bit much?"
"My boss has plenty of money, but he won't put up with this crap. If they don't want the job, they can get lost. I'm telling you, I have the list in my hands. If anyone refuses, I'll make sure to remember."
"Fine, you're the boss. You decide. I'll make the arrangements."
"However you arrange it, don't hold things up."
"Understood..."
After closing the chat window, Zhang Cheng took a deep breath, then slammed his desk several times.
Fuck...
Damn it...
I've got people of my own. Why am I dealing with these assholes, each one acting like they're too good for the job?
After venting for a while, Zhang Cheng calmed down and told Li Xian what had happened.
A few thousand or even ten thousand yuan more really wasn't much. Li Xian didn't care at all and told him to do a good job.
Zhang Cheng returned to his computer and opened North Beggar's chat window on QQ.
"Old Beggar... Don't tell me you're raising your price too."
"Of course not, boss. You paid 650,000 for a full day in the top ten of the trending list. That's the highest price this year. If the market weren't so tight lately, I'd have knocked it down to 500,000 for you."
"Cut the crap. Just make sure it stays in the top ten for twenty-four hours."
"Heh, no problem. As long as the money's right, you could stay up there for a whole week."
"Start right at one. Push it to number one first, then give it another push at four this afternoon, eight tonight, and ten tomorrow morning."
"OK..."
After giving all the instructions, Zhang Cheng stood up and stretched, rolled his shoulders, then took out a calculator and started doing the math.
"Brother Xian gave me a million. A thousand real accounts for one day costs fifty thousand; I paid a twenty-five-thousand deposit...
"Each promotional article costs a hundred, and the deposit was fifteen thousand. Each Big V costs fifteen hundred; fifty of them is how much? Oh... seventy-five thousand. I paid a thirty-two-thousand-five-hundred deposit...
"Weibo's trending searches for the whole day cost 650,000, and I paid a 200,000 deposit. All together, that comes to... 272,500 yuan. I should have 727,500 left, plus the more than 40,000 in startup funds from before. Good grief, this is hard to keep track of."
Zhang Cheng had never handled this much money before, so doing the math really was difficult for him. Li Xian didn't care about a difference of ten or twenty thousand, but Zhang Cheng still wanted to get every single expense straight.
He knew very well that Brother Xian had entrusted him with so much money because he trusted him. If he couldn't even keep the accounts straight, how could he expect to help Brother Xian again in the future?
Ten minutes passed. After checking the figures three or four times with the calculator, he finally got everything sorted out. He had 716,500 left. Aside from the deposits for Weibo, he'd also paid several tens of thousands in deposits to other websites.
Zhang Cheng organized the day's accounts, then calculated the remaining payments due tomorrow. All told, the two days of work wouldn't cost a million.
Of course, that was assuming nothing unexpected happened.
He rubbed his hands together, lit a 1916, and enjoyed it. After taking a short break, he picked up his phone and started a video call with Li Xian.
The call connected. On the other end, Li Xian was fiddling with his figurines.
The figurines he'd bought earlier had all arrived. On a whim, Li Xian had taken out Rei Ayanami and put her together.
"Isn't my Rei Ayanami beautiful?" Li Xian said.
"Absolutely. Watching you play with figurines makes me want to buy one too, Brother Xian."
"Heh. Once we're done with today's business, I'll get one for you. I just placed another order for over a hundred thousand yuan."
Gasp...
Brother Xian bought this stuff as casually as vegetables. Damn, you couldn't even eat the things.
Of course, Zhang Cheng couldn't say that out loud. He grinned and replied, "Thanks, Brother Xian."
"By the way, how are the arrangements going? Don't let things fall apart at the last minute. I don't care about the money, but I can't afford to lose face."
"Don't worry, Brother Xian. Just wait and see when the clock hits one." Zhang Cheng grinned as he spoke, though he was still a little uneasy. It was his first time running something like this, and he was genuinely worried something might go wrong.
Don't mess with me. If you dare try to fool me, I'll go all out.
Zhang Cheng steeled himself, trying to work up his courage, while keeping a grin on his face. "Brother Xian, this is our first time playing the trending-search game. Those bastards are taking us for a ride."
Hearing this, Li Xian waved his hand dismissively. "Like I said, I don't care about the money. Just don't let me lose face."
After ending the video call, Li Xian glanced at the time. It was already twelve, so he went to take a shower.
He'd been staying in the Presidential Suite for nearly a week. He hadn't picked up many other good habits, but he'd grown to love taking baths.
With the chance to shower and soak in a tub, taking a few baths in summer was genuinely comfortable, especially for someone like him who tended to sweat a lot.
At 12:50, Li Xian sat down in front of his computer with an Iberian hot dog in his mouth and a bottle of sparkling Lafite in his hand.
At ten minutes, five minutes, three minutes, and one minute, he refreshed Weibo's trending list.
"Top ten on Weibo." Li Xian glanced over it and spotted a trending topic about himself in last place.
Bilibili Viral Bilibili Video
This was the first wave. There was a second, and only the third would actually mention him.
Li Xian clicked on the trending topic and immediately felt a little awkward. There were only about sixty comments beneath it.
"What is this? It's trending with only sixty comments?"
"Probably bought its way on."
"Definitely. What even is Bilibili?"
Looking at the comments, Li Xian felt embarrassed. Damn, this was too obviously fake.
Just as he was about to message Zhang Cheng, the shares on the trending topic suddenly shot up, and the comments began multiplying before his eyes.
"Bilibili friends checking in!"
"Whoa! My Kidney Bro is awesome!"
"Kidney Bro is the best! Everyone, boost this!"
"Kidney Bro is awesome!"
"666666"
"This is our Bilibili's number-one parody video creator!"
"Everyone, boost it!"
200 comments. 300. 500. 1,000.
In the blink of an eye, the comments topped a thousand. At this rate, there'd soon be two thousand. The trending topic climbed three spots, reaching seventh place.
My zombie followers sure are active.
Li Xian shook his head and smiled. Anyone could tell at a glance that this was a fan army, but only he knew that every last one of them was fake.
Whether real or fake, the topic was climbing the charts. The money hadn't gone to waste.
"Brother Xian, we're about to get you to number one. Post something on Weibo, quick. Then the next wave starts." Zhang Cheng sent him a voice message.
After listening, Li Xian prepared to write a Weibo post. But just then, another trending topic suddenly climbed into the top ten and caught his eye.
<Wang Feng National Tour Concert, Bin City Show on June 21>
Oh?
"Heh. Brother Feng's trying to compete with me for the headlines."
Before you continue