Have you ever been a celebrity? Why are you writing about entertainment?

Chapter 111 I want to see a river of blood!
The opponent that Yu Wei arranged for Zhou Mumu was none other than Fei Hong.

Nothing's more interesting than watching young couples eliminate each other themselves...

This isn't just his twisted sense of humor; the plot of "Top Idol" is definitely going to start with a fight between two real-life celebrities.

On the one hand, it's to help readers quickly understand the rules of liking and voting; on the other hand, it's to create buzz and attract attention from the very beginning of the show.

Let young couples compete, one stepping on the other's head to advance—is there anything more exciting than that? I want to see rivers of blood!
Their relationship is just one step away from being officially announced. Apart from their fans who are stubbornly denying it, everyone else in the entertainment industry knows the truth. Yu Wei's writing is downright malicious.

Casual viewers are just watching for fun, and the two fan groups have a good outlet for their mutual dissatisfaction, making this first match destined to be extraordinary.

It's practically impossible for these two to compete in real life. Not only would it be difficult for them to participate in the same competition at the same time, but even if they were to be brought together, the production team wouldn't need to arrange it that way.

This is just too much! The production team is clearly making them a couple, yet they still do this. I bet many casual viewers can't stand it, and they're bound to face a barrage of criticism…

But Yu Wei's novel wouldn't be like that, because the competition is fake, and the two have never had a direct confrontation, so how can they talk about a love-hate relationship?

Because everyone knows it's fake, they won't have so much psychological burden. They can just treat it as watching a couple arguing in fanfiction and enjoy it purely for fun.

It doesn't affect the feelings of the people involved, and you can even see parallel world "what if" scenarios. How great is that?

Yu Wei's second chapter was only half-written when Fei Hong sent over a singing video. He sang Yu Wei's "Nameless Man," which he had also chosen himself.

Zhou Mumu and Fei Hong probably thought similarly: Yu Wei was able to include them in his novels, which was a good thing for them, so singing Yu Wei's songs was the best choice at this time.

It not only helps promote his song, but also conveys their goodwill, and more importantly, lets fans see their stance!

Their singing of Yu Wei's songs shows their support for Yu Wei's work, and they urge everyone not to cause trouble.

Of course, there is another crucial point: Yu Wei's songs are indeed very good. They really like these two songs, and they suit them well.

Fei Hong is also an actor, but his singing skills are average. Among Yu Wei's songs, "The Nameless Man" is relatively easy to sing, but he can't handle the others.

"Not bad, the singing style is rather simple, but the emotion is very good."

While typing, Yu Wei listened to Fei Hong's singing video. It was full of emotion, and he probably really brought himself into the song.

Once a well-known child star with solid acting skills and good resources, her career should have been on the rise, but fate had other plans, and her face grew up to be less attractive.

This feeling of falling from grace and returning to the ordinary is probably not pleasant...

If Yu Wei were to judge, Zhou Mumu's singing is slightly better than his. Both of them have fairly basic singing skills, but Zhou Mumu's voice is more pleasant to listen to.

In comparison, Fei Hong's voice was merely average and unremarkable.

However, he can't say for sure who wins or loses. Today's second chapter is about Fei Hong's performance and the mentors' scores. Let the readers vote for the winner themselves.

After quickly completing the new chapter, Yu Wei easily copied the video and gave it to Qi Luoan, while he himself posted a bonus chapter.

[Fei Hong's entry in the first round of "Top Idol" was "The Nameless Man"]
Yu Wei dared not slack off and quickly opened the novel, flipped to the last sentence of the new chapter, intending to post two poll comments.

He had only updated for half a minute when there were already several comments at the end of the chapter: two people checking in, one saying they had read it, and one saying he was just padding the post...

Dude, is this quantum speed reading?
I seriously suspect that many people didn't even watch the plot; they just wanted to scroll to the end, be the first to read it, and then post it to show off.

[Vote for Zhou Mumu.]
[Vote/Like: Fei Hong.]
[Vote counts will be held at the same time tomorrow.]
After posting the chapter review, Yu Wei pinned it to the top so that everyone could see the voting comments at a glance. The voting period was 24 hours.

He'll just copy the number of likes into the novel, making the plot mirror reality and maximizing immersion...

He refreshed the page twice, and the votes between the two had become 9:4. It seems there are quite a few people using quantum speed reading.

One advantage of voting by likes is that you can select multiple options. If you really think both sides are good, you can give each of them a like. Anyway, with more people, there will definitely be a difference in the number of votes.

Many things don't require a binary choice, and art isn't either one or the other. Freedom of voting can also avoid the conflict of praising one while criticizing another.

Furthermore, to leave a comment or like this chapter, you must subscribe to this chapter...

Yu Wei refreshed the page again, and the score was now 34:19. Fei Hong's overall performance was indeed not as good as Zhou Mumu's, partly because everyone had preconceived notions.

Zhou Mumu's singing video was released earlier than Fei Hongfa's, but this kind of thing is hard to avoid, after all, even serious singing competitions have an order of release.

Having a first impression has its advantages, but striking last can also produce a stunning effect. There's not much to say about this; in the face of absolute strength, the order of attack doesn't affect the outcome.

Even if they haven't seen Fei Hong's video yet, they can come back and resubmit it after watching it. They can change their minds at any time, liking or canceling their votes, giving them ample time to appreciate it.

"You dog author, are you even human?"

"How could Yu Wei be so mean, making these young lovers fight like this?"

"What a morbid sense of humor! I like it. I suggest calling it the Battle for the Head of the Family."

"Stop trying to scam us, okay? We shepherds didn't do anything wrong."

"I came here to see the truth; true bloodshed comes from a love-hate relationship."

"I feel like Prisoner is going to make it to the revival round."

After the majority of readers finished reading the new chapter, the real discussion had just begun. Yu Wei was indeed serious; he not only arranged performance videos for the two people but also opened a voting channel.

So, they're supposed to be the villains and let them vote?

This is the perfect opportunity! A simple tap of a finger to like a post can give you an authentic sense of participation and even change the course of the novel's plot. Who can resist such temptation?

The most important thing is that this match is very interesting. Damn, letting a young couple fight in the ring, Yu Weizhen is a genius.

The readers, who love a good spectacle, are naturally enjoying themselves, and fans of both sides have already begun to actively participate.

Regardless of whether winning or losing is important in the novel, this is a perfect opportunity to kick the other side while they're down, so they certainly won't let it go.

Zhou Mumu's fans want Fei Hong to face reality. Although Fei Hong has few fans, even a rabbit will bite when cornered. How will he know if he doesn't try?

In the entertainment industry, it's rare for the weak to triumph over the strong because the difference in fan strength is significant. In the past, Fei Hong's fans would have simply given up and accepted the ridicule. But this time is different. This time, the battlefield is within Yu Wei's novel, which introduces the variable of casual readers. Yu Wei's fans are neutral observers who will also vote.

They certainly won't participate in fan wars, but voting is different. The number of casual voters is enormous, making them a huge variable in voting.

Fei Hong's fans understand that this is the closest the two sides have ever been; whoever wins over the general public wins the world.

They were right. Among the netizens, especially book lovers, there were quite a few who were just looking for fun and didn't mind the drama.

School beauty pageants are just for fun, but if an anime character appears in them, the nature of the competition changes.

Who cares about celebrities or fans? They love watching bloodshed...

What's the point of being one-sided? At this point, we must muddy the waters!
Seeing that Zhou Mumu, who had more fans, was getting more and more votes, the clever readers decided to help the weak. Hey, everyone, give more likes to the one with fewer votes, and the competition will be exciting again, right?

"Both songs are great, but please only vote for the one with fewer votes. I can't do something like bullying the weak."

"I'm not taking sides, I'm just causing trouble. Otherwise, it would be too boring to just judge wins and losses based on the number of fans!"

"9494, we have no choice but to take action now."

"We must severely punish the chaos in the fan circle. It's not shameful to lose an argument with the fan circle, but there are definitely more normal people than fan circle fans."

Yu Wei witnessed the whole process firsthand. Originally, with the fans' efforts, Zhou Mumu's votes had already exceeded Fei Hong's by more than double.

But as onlookers eager for drama join in, this gap is slowly narrowing.

Yu Wei has quite a few fans. Their fighting power may not be as strong as that of idol fans, but in terms of sheer numbers, they are certainly not inferior to other celebrities.

Asking them to comment and argue might be too much trouble, but liking a post is just a quick thing to do...

"Was this within your expectations?"

When Qi Luoan saw the competition rules, he thought, if it's about the number of likes, then it's just about the number of followers. The more followers you have, the more likes you get.

Who knew she was still taking things for granted and overlooked one thing: it wasn't just the fans of both sides who participated in the vote. Yu Wei's voting channel had a very low barrier to entry; anyone could vote as long as they subscribed.

No matter how many fans there are in the fandom, are they more numerous than the general public?

Moreover, there are many troublemakers who like to cause trouble. As long as the number of voters is large enough, the competition will eventually come down to the quality of the performances.

"more or less."

Yu Wei had indeed thought about it, since he was writing about real celebrities, and launching a poll could easily turn into a chaotic fan war. That's when the importance of casual observers becomes apparent.

As the comments section said, there are definitely fewer fans in the fandom than normal people, but normal people don't like to get involved in these things, so he specially made the poster to attract more people.

A fake competition can't possibly achieve phenomenal participation, but as long as enough casual viewers like it, the influence of fandoms can be minimized.

Putting everything else aside, he really made a killing from the subscriptions for this chapter...

But if fan groups don't cause trouble, they're not really fan groups. Yu Wei only had dinner for a short while when Zhou Mumu's fan votes surged again. According to the book club, they were manipulating the votes.

Code!
Online trolls are an important part of the fan culture ecosystem. They are called "trolls" because they are excellent at generating data. As long as you are willing to spend money, you can get online trolls to do your bidding!

Is it really necessary? It's just a fake competition, and they're already throwing money at it to buy votes?

People often talk about vote-rigging in the fandom, but actually, vote-rigging by paid trolls is really expensive. Those people are selective about who they pay, especially for those who are in a hurry to rig the votes. They charge five figures or more, depending on whether you want to rig the votes or not.

They take advantage of your anxiety. For novels like Yu Wei's, where the voting period is only one day, they won't say a word when you ask about the price.

Zhou Mumu's fans are really wealthy; they're prepared to bleed money just to win...

Actually, Yu Wei's performance in this competition isn't important; what's important is that they can't afford to lose face.

Fan groups place great importance on battle records and take them very seriously; it wouldn't be an exaggeration to say that losing a single battle could lead to being talked about for a lifetime.

Fei Hong, who doesn't have their approval, can lose to anyone but this wild boar who dares to try and steal their idol—that's his bottom line.

They also have reasons why they can't afford to lose!

The book club was immediately filled with lamentations. Hiring online trolls, which often involved hundreds of thousands of ghost soldiers, was still far too much for the current situation.

Even with the popularity of Yu Wei's novels, it's impossible to attract so many casual readers in a short period of time; the readers' enthusiasm has already waned.

"Still can't do it? It's hopeless."

"It's already amazing, everyone. It's already incredible that you can make fandom dogs bleed so much, sob sob."

"I'm still not satisfied, kuso."

What's with the main characters' defeat...?

Honestly, the competition has only just begun, and many casual observers haven't even gotten involved yet. Under these circumstances, it's not shameful to have a go at fandom.

In fact, they had already controlled the situation and successfully defeated the core fans of the fandom; they were simply defeated by the power of money.

As long as the competition continues in an orderly manner, more and more netizens will come to watch the drama, and after a few more rounds, they will be able to compete with the online trolls.

The main problem is, if this continues for a few more rounds, these fan groups will run out of money...

Just as Yu Wei continued browsing posts and enjoying the gossip, an interesting new post popped up in the book club.

"Mu Jiajun asked me to vote for him. I liked the post, took a screenshot, got paid, and then unliked it. Then I gave Fei Hong a vote. Brothers, did I do the right thing?"

A troll defector, a double agent, right?
I think this online troll is a complete idiot.

(End of this chapter)