To be honest, there was nothing shameful about hyping something up. It was simply a way to promote yourself.
Online hype was an even cheaper and more efficient form of promotion. Back on Earth in his previous life, celebrities, writers, and anyone with a bit of fame would make a big fuss online to raise their profile.
Whenever a new movie or TV show came out, the people involved would take the initiative to hype it around the clock on forums, message boards, Weibo, and all kinds of other sites until everyone knew about it.
After all, this wasn't an age when good wine didn't need to be advertised. The better the wine, the more it needed publicity and hype. That was how you made business boom and earned a fortune.
Xia Ping wasn't exactly a saint, either. He'd seen plenty of darkness in his previous life. A work's success depended fifty percent on its quality and fifty percent on how it was marketed!
And on Yanhuang Planet, netizens seemed rather innocent. They'd never experienced the sort of frenzied online hype that had been common on Earth. They simply posted and discussed things honestly.
Against that backdrop, he figured he only had to use a few hype tactics from Earth to make a splash and raise his novel's profile.
As soon as the thought occurred to him, Xia Ping got to work. He began hyping his novel on Yanhuang Planet's most famous forum, the Sky Eagle Forum, starting by registering an alternate account.
Using that account, he immediately wrote an article titled, "Teacher Bai Rong, This Is the Best Erotic Novel I've Read in Years. All the Others Were Crap."
The article was pure flattery. He praised the novel's plot, creativity, depth, description, and everything else, making it sound like the greatest work under heaven. Anyone who didn't read it was wasting their life. Even Xia Ping felt embarrassed by how nauseatingly over-the-top it was.
But that was only the beginning. Next, he registered five or six more alternate accounts and used them to reply.
"Absolutely! The original poster is right. This novel might not be the best in the world, but right now there isn't a single book that can compare. It's a masterpiece carrying the banner of erotic fiction, a landslide amid a sea of trash. I can say for certain that it'll be the hottest erotic novel of the year. A master of erotic fiction is rising!"
One alternate account sang its praises.
"Blow your own trumpet, will you? Would you die if you stopped? A master? Why not call yourself a pile of shit? I've read this novel. It's complete garbage, too awful to look at. Even something written by a primary school student would be better."
Another alternate account did its best to tear the novel down. Hype couldn't be all praise, after all, or people would see through it immediately. There had to be both praise and criticism to make it seem genuine.
"The person above is right. I took a look, and it turns out this was written by a dog from Yang Province District. Everyone knows that district is a cultural wasteland on Yanhuang Planet. It's never produced a literary master. What's worth reading in a novel by someone from Yang Province District? It's all trash. Honestly, don't attack me, but people there have no culture at all. They're at least a hundred years behind my Jizhou District."
One alternate account had the malicious intention of stirring up regional conflict.
Since Yanhuang Planet had been unified, the entire planet had been divided into nine major districts: Jizhou District, Yanzhou District, Qingzhou District, Xuzhou District, Yangzhou District, Jingzhou District, Yuzhou District, Yizhou District, and Yongzhou District.
Each district had developed differently, so it was only natural for tensions to arise between them. People looked down on one another, and online, regional bashing and flame wars were constantly breaking out.
"You Jizhou dog! Don't think you're so great just because your district produced a few famous people. You're relying on a bunch of old-timers to prop you up. Not one of your younger generation has made a name for themselves. You've already fallen into decline and can only live off your past glory. And that's not all: this novel alone could beat your Jizhou District for a hundred years without breaking a sweat."
One alternate account screamed back as if it were a Yang Province District resident who'd been bullied.
"Exactly! I've never been able to stand that bunch of trash from Jizhou District. The place is like the setting sun, so what's there to be smug about? What are they even proud of?" an uninformed bystander chimed in. "Of course, as someone from Qingzhou District, I'm saying this from a completely impartial perspective."
"The setting sun your ass! Impartial my ass! Even a starving camel is bigger than a horse. No matter how bad Jizhou District gets, it's still beyond the likes of you. People from Qingzhou District are no better. You're pretending to be impartial here, but everyone knows your district has the most scammers. Who knows how many telecom fraudsters you've caught?"
A Jizhou District resident was furious and immediately fired back.
Since it was nighttime, when the most people were online, this controversial post quickly blew up on the Sky Eagle Forum and drew in countless curious bystanders.
In just one hour, the post had racked up 3.6 million views and 89,000 replies. There were so many that people could barely keep up.
People from all nine districts began hurling insults at one another, escalating to personal attacks. Some even shouted that once they'd made enough money, they'd hire people to cross district lines and beat their opponents up. The atmosphere was explosive.
Even the Sky Eagle Forum's moderator had been alerted and had no choice but to step in and keep the peace.
Xia Ping, the instigator, was utterly speechless. He hadn't expected these people to be so innocent, so easy to provoke. The heated response had far exceeded his expectations.
But when he thought about it, it made sense. These were hype tactics from Earth, a planet countless years ahead of them. The moment these clueless people on Yanhuang Planet encountered such sophisticated methods, they were bound to be stunned. This kind of result was only natural.
But there was no way he was stopping now. For a topic to catch on, countless people had to get involved. This was only the beginning; it was nowhere near over.
So he went to some infertility forums and registered several more alternate accounts. Then one of them quickly started a thread titled, "Good News for the Infertile: Teacher Bai Rong's Erotic Novel."
"This novel is amazing! Before, I couldn't get it up even after taking Viagra. But ever since I read this novel, my back doesn't ache, my legs don't hurt, and I feel great. I can make it up to the ninth floor in one breath without even panting, and my wife has stopped hitting me. She even looks at me with admiration now. This novel changed my life and gave me a second spring. It's not just a novel—it's a miracle cure, way better than Viagra!"
One alternate account offered its personal testimony.
"Don't doubt it, everyone. I've had the same experience. I didn't believe it at first, either, but my older brother recommended it. I read it half-convinced, and it really worked. It's much better than taking medicine."
"Exactly. Treating an illness costs money, but this novel hardly costs anything. Why not give it a try? Maybe it'll work."
"Is that for real? It's really that effective? I'll give it a try."
"Thanks so much, brother. If it really is that effective, then you've saved our lives."
"Yeah. Ever since I got this problem, my boss looks down on me at work, my wife looks down on me at home, and even the nightingales look down on me when I go out to hire one. It's awful. I've lost all motivation in life."
A group of clueless netizens thanked him profusely.
"No need to thank me. I'm just a helpful person. Don't mention it."
Xia Ping's alternate account immediately replied.
Before you continue