Chapter 30

They devised strategies behind the scenes and secured victory a thousand miles away.

That was what PR people did.

But when he heard his employee's suggestion, Fei Yue still frowned. "Isn't that a little too rotten? Aren't you afraid Shooter's fans will tear us apart?"

"What's the big deal? Everyone in the industry does it."

The newly hired PR employee was clearly well versed in entertainment industry marketing. He smiled and began laying out his analysis. "First, we compare the groups and drag Shooter down. Then, if Shooter's fans come to fight us, they'll be sending us free traffic."

"As everyone knows, picking a fight with someone below your own level only raises their profile."

"If a fight really breaks out, Color4 and Shooter will be mentioned together as rivals from then on."

Fei Yue: "..."

Isn't that suicidal clout chasing?

"Besides, Color4 has just gained a wave of new fans. Fighting with a rival will actually make the fans more loyal. No matter how you look at it, it's a guaranteed win."

"Finally, passersby will come over and see it and go, 'Wow, this group sings so badly, and their fans won't even let people say so?'"

He clapped his hands. "See? Wouldn't that get Color4 clout right away?"

Fei Yue: "..."

What a marketing genius.

In the end, Fei Yue didn't do it.

After all, they were still in the same industry and would run into each other sooner or later. It wouldn't do to go too far.

Besides, even if Shooter disbanded in the future, Color4 might still have opportunities to work with some of its members. Kicking them while they were down now wasn't a good idea.

Fei Yue had no intention whatsoever of stepping on Shooter.

But he couldn't stop netizens from doing it of their own accord.

First, several comparison posts about Shooter and Color4 appeared overnight in Douban entertainment groups. Then unscrupulous marketing accounts quickly reposted them, adding captions asking which group people thought was better and expertly pitting the two against each other.

The show's in-ear monitors and microphones were poor quality, but its cameras and sound system were excellent. Anyone who wasn't deaf could hear who was better.

As a result, both Color4's and Shooter's fans braced themselves for the outbreak of a world war.

Strictly speaking, the two fandoms should have had nothing to do with each other.

One group was a temporary group about to disband, while the other was a permanent boy group that had debuted under a company. They were on completely different paths.

But this time, the stage had happened to make them opponents.

It had also produced a brutal comparison, giving passersby endless material for ridicule.

For fans of one of the country's top boy groups, this was an insult they absolutely couldn't swallow. It would be unthinkable not to flood Color4's Weibo square with abuse and become sworn rivals.

In the end, though, no fight broke out.

The first reason was that, before Shooter's fans could attack Color4, they actually started fighting among themselves.

More than a year after their debut, the fans of the group's nine members all had bitter feuds with one another.

Faced with such a train wreck of a performance, their first thought wasn't how to clean up the square, but how to quickly pin the blame on their favorites' teammates.

Each member's fans brought up examples to prove that their own fave had sung just fine, and that if it hadn't been for teammate XXX singing like that, the performance wouldn't have been such a disaster. They settled old and new scores with the other members' fans, and in the end, the whole family made it onto the flop-reporting square together.

Meanwhile, Color4's fans trembled as they promoted the album, waiting for the other side to come pick a fight.

But after waiting all day, they found that apart from a few childish provocations, nothing came.

The second reason was that at 10:10 the next day, Color4's first digital album, "Set off," officially went on sale.

As Color4's first official album, it was enormously important to the company, the members themselves, and the fans alike.

The company bought trending searches, the members performed onstage, and the fans-

Naturally, they were in charge of enthusiastically promoting the album!

And so passersby discovered something.

A real-time search of the digital album square on Weibo showed Color4 fans giving albums away for free.

For years, the domestic entertainment and music industries had faced a problem.

Many passersby had consumed music for free for years and never developed the habit of paying for it, much less listening to the work of a boy group they had never encountered before. Generally speaking, idol groups' releases were therefore products for their own fans to enjoy among themselves.

Riding the lingering buzz from the previous day's trending searches, Color4's fans set up shop under the trending topics, giving away digital albums in bulk as if they were handing out cabbages.

One digital album wasn't expensive.

But it bought a chance to introduce their idols' work to someone else, so why not?

Just like that, the popularity and sales of Color4's first album shot up, and major music show platforms seized the opportunity to extend invitations.

In the end, Fei Yue looked at the invitation from New Direction, which had once rejected them, with complicated feelings. "..."

Although he really wanted to show off and say, "You ignored the old Color4, but the Color4 of today is beyond your reach," reason ultimately won out.

Music New Trends was one of the biggest music show platforms in the country.

Although it had rejected them once because they were flops, that had been understandable.

There was no need for them to fall out with the platform, and they certainly couldn't actually do so.

So Fei Yue settled on performance opportunities with several platforms, then notified the four members of Color4.

When Gu Zhijing heard New Direction's name, he suddenly raised an eyebrow.

The memory of New Direction rejecting their request to perform was still fresh in his mind.

He wasn't a petty person, but he still couldn't quite get over it. After thinking for a moment, he said, "Our schedule's pretty busy lately. How about we wait until after we've recorded the next episode of Starlight Show before recording the music show performances?"

Fei Yue readily nodded. "Sure. Anyway, New Direction told me any time works, and they'll go by our schedule."

Although Jiang Yu didn't know New Direction had rejected them before, they were still deeply moved.

"Is it finally our turn to have other people work around our schedule? Is this what it feels like to be a big star? Is it? Is it?"

The others: "..."

Hold on.

In fact, they had only just scraped their way from the 360th tier into the 300th.

They were still a long way from the top!

"It's the end of the year, schedules are tight all around, and you're under a lot of pressure too. If you think there's a conflict anywhere in the schedule, tell me and I'll get in touch with them."

Fei Yue glanced at the calendar and added, "By the way, have you decided on a song for the next episode of Starlight Show?"

The second Starlight Show livestream would begin by announcing the previous episode's vote totals and winning teams. Based on the results, the contestants would be divided into eight winning teams and eight losing teams, then draw lots to determine their matchups.

That made things highly unpredictable.

Last time, they had at least been given a week to prepare after drawing lots, which had allowed them to guess Shooter's song choice correctly.

If they drew lots and competed on the spot this time,

it would be difficult to adjust their strategy based on their opponent's song.

Besides, they didn't know which group they would end up in.

Although they had delivered a spectacular performance in the previous episode, Shooter's fanbase was huge, and they weren't confident they could actually beat them.

How had the temporary group been formed?

Their fans had voted them into existence, one vote at a time.

When it came to voting, those fans had never lost.

Sheng Chi thought for a moment. "How about the title track from our first album? It's pretty versatile."

Jiang Yu nodded too. "It's a safe, solid choice. As long as it's explosive enough to get the crowd going, that's fine. We should be able to beat a team in the losing group anyway."

Gu Zhijing had been about to agree, but at those words he immediately sat up straight. "Why are you assuming we'll lose again? Have you looked at the real-time vote count these past few days?"

The other three all shook their heads.

Everyone had been busy rehearsing the new performance these past few days.

Only Gu Zhijing, the avid internet surfer, had spent all day glued to his phone.

Gu Zhijing smiled faintly and recapped the whole process for them.

When voting had first opened, Shooter had indeed taken the lead without question.

But after several trending searches and promotion of Color4's performance by both the company and the show's production team, more and more passersby had clicked in to watch, and more and more had seen the comparison between the performances.

After watching, passersby went back and looked at the vote count.

They sang like that and they're still in the lead?

That's fucking ridiculous.

As everyone knew, no one was better at dragging one side down in a comparison than passersby.

As a result, the top comments Shooter's fans had worked so hard to control were almost completely pushed down by passersby.

And it just so happened that Shooter's fans had been fighting among themselves these past few days.

Although the official fan club hadn't called for it, several major solo-fan accounts had directly announced they were pulling out of the voting effort.

Their reasoning was simple.

Why the fuck should we vote for this shitty group? Disband already so our gege can go solo. 

Gu Zhijing had watched the whole battle unfold. He couldn't help feeling a little sorry for their opponents, but he added, "And apparently they've been especially strict about purging votes this time. Votes from bots and purchased accounts operated by real people have basically all been useless."

Jiang Yu said, "You're not going to tell me the passerby vote will outnumber the fan vote this time, are you?"

"I didn't say that."

Gu Zhijing paused briefly, then raised his peach-blossom eyes and smiled. "But why can't we believe in our fans for once?"

While Shooter's fandom had been splitting apart, Color4's fans had remained united in their goal.

The little flop group had only begun to make a name for itself a month ago, and the group mattered far more than any individual.

They had to get them the win.

As a result, Gu Zhijing had seen the girls on his feed frantically switching accounts and voting by hand these past few days.

His fighting spirit had been ignited too.

He wanted to take a gamble.

Just once, he would bet on their efforts, their perseverance, and their united resolve.

They would create a miracle.

A few days later, recording for the second episode of Starlight Show finally began.

Three hours before the show started, the real-time vote count was temporarily hidden on the voting page, leaving fans voting completely blind.

Although some of Shooter's solo fans weren't voting, their fanbase was still large.

So when the count was hidden, the two teams were still neck and neck, with Shooter temporarily ahead by a few hundred votes.

All the groups were invited onstage at the same time.

The host standing in the middle held the envelope with the results and, as everyone waited expectantly, slowly opened it.

All the opposing groups stood together that night.

Chen Bei turned his head and noticed that Color4 had changed into all-red outfits today.

Gu Zhijing in particular.

The young man's eyes shone today, and the outfit made him look bold and vibrant.

The vote gaps between the other groups had been fairly wide. Almost everyone had known the basic results before the real-time count was hidden, so they were quite calm.

To maintain the suspense, Shooter and Color4's matchup had been deliberately saved for last, keeping the audience on tenterhooks.

Under everyone's gaze, the host unhurriedly opened the final envelope.

She glanced at it and smiled. "I know you've all been waiting a long time. I wonder whether tonight's result will satisfy you."

Everyone in the audience immediately held their breath.

Comments in the livestream flashed past at dozens per second.

Gu Zhijing grew nervous too.

The white spotlights made him feel a little hot, and he quietly gripped the hem of his shirt behind his back.

The host's warm, pleasant voice rang out. "Shooter's final vote count: 146,871."

"Color4's final vote count: one hundred and forty-"

"nine thousand, five hundred and thirty-six votes!"

Gu Zhijing's eyes shot up, his pupils widening.

The world seemed to fall silent in an instant, leaving only the host's words reaching his ears, perfectly clear.

"Let's congratulate Color4 on entering the winning group!"

Author's note: Put "Color4 is awesome" in the public chat! (Yes, I, their actual mom, gave them a golden finger. If you don't like it, hold it in!)

I ate malatang at noon and ended up making myself feel sick. Boo-hoo, I'm such a pig!