A real killer playing a villain; the guy surnamed Zhen in Detective, run!

Before the live stream's traffic distribution mechanism could even be activated, someone on Weibo had already captured his Douyin homepage.

"Lu Yuan is live streaming! Go for it!"

"Sisters, go and yell at him! Let him know the consequences of hitting someone!"

"Where's the live stream link? Post it here!"

It took less than forty seconds for the number of people to jump from two digits to four digits. From four digits to five digits, it took a minute and a half.

The barrage of comments poured in like a waterfall.

"Those with connections should get out of the entertainment industry."

Did you compensate for Zhao Xiujie's broken ribs?

"If you're so capable, give a straight answer instead of pretending to be dead."

"This beating maniac dares to show his face???"

On the other side of the screen, Lu Yuan kept his head down, not looking at the comments. He was fiddling with the function buttons in the lower right corner of the live stream.

Found it. The yellow bike. A product display window.

He spent ten minutes browsing the product selection section on Pinduoduo beforehand and added a link. The product image was of a bag of cat food with blurry printing; the brown packaging featured a cartoon cat of unknown breed.

Nineteen yuan and ninety centimeters. Three jin (1.5 kg). Free shipping.

Commission is 20%.

You earn about four yuan per order.

The link is up. The yellow bike icon appears in the bottom right corner of the live stream, shaking along with the scrolling comments.

Lu Yuan finally looked up at the camera.

He cleared his throat. "Everyone—"

The barrage of comments was still going strong.

He ignored the entire text and spoke in a broadcasting tone that couldn't be more perfect:

"19.9 yuan for 3 jin (1.5 kg), free shipping. The ingredients are mainly puffed grains and chicken meal, with a protein content of 25%, which isn't great, but it won't kill you. A top choice for low-income families with cats."

All the haters are silent!

Lu Yuan turned to the side, scooped up the sixth brother who was licking his paws in the corner of the sofa, and lifted him up in front of the camera by the scruff of his neck.

With his four legs dangling in the air and his head tilted to the side, Lao Liu was bewildered by the sudden change in physical state and looked furious!

Lu Yuan freed one hand and pinched the cat's two cheeks together, squeezing them into a bun shape.

"Look at its physique, it grew up eating this. Whether its coat is good or not is another matter, but it's really tough."

The sixth brother struggled twice but couldn't break free.

It meowed, its tone filled with deep dissatisfaction.

There were 23,000 viewers in the live stream. A strange blank space appeared in the chat section.

silence!!!

then.

"??????"

"Wait a minute, what is he doing?"

"I'm here to swear, he's selling cat food???"

Is that kind of cat food that costs 19.9 yuan okay to eat?

"No...don't you guys think that cat is kind of cute?"

Lu Yuan put Lao Liu back on the sofa and patted its head. Lao Liu, its fur standing on end, ran to the back of the sofa and lay down, its back to the camera, its tail wagging excitedly.

"Someone just asked about the ingredients in the cat food, so I'll repeat it here."

He picked up the bag of cat food and showed the ingredient list on the back to the camera, pointing his thumb to the third line.

"25% crude protein, 12% crude fat, and 5% crude fiber. At this price point, these figures are definitely worth it."

The comments section has split.

Half the people were still mechanically chanting boycott slogans, but the other half were beginning to be consumed by a huge sense of confusion. They were prepared for everything: an angry response, a guilty silence, or a carefully crafted public relations rhetoric.

Nobody was prepared for this scene: a person who was being attacked by the entire internet, speaking in a broadcasting voice to sell cat food for 19.9 yuan.

Thirty minutes later, Lu Yuan turned off the live stream.

Backend data: Peak online users: 47,000; 382 cat food orders sold; commission received: 1,528 yuan.

He looked at the number and nodded in satisfaction.

He tossed his phone back onto the sofa, got up, and headed to the kitchen.

The sixth brother had already jumped off the backrest and squatted at the kitchen doorway, making gurgling noises.

"Alright, you deserve the most credit today."

Lu Yuan opened the cupboard and took out a can of imported cat food that Xu Changlin had asked Xiao Zhong to send. He pulled the tab, and the smell of chicken wafted out.

"I'll give you the whole jar. No deductions."

The sixth brother pounced on him.

......

Sister Li's fingernail stopped on the screen.

On the backend data panel, Lu Yuan's live stream replay views exceeded eight million within two hours. In the comment section's trending words cloud, the three words "cat food," "Lao Liu," and "19.9 yuan" occupied the largest color blocks.

Her million-dollar public opinion campaign was completely thwarted by an orange cat and a bag of cat food from Pinduoduo.

Zhao Xiujie sat opposite him, the light from his phone screen reflecting on his face, the slight upturn at the corners of his mouth long gone.

"People are starting to use memes." Sister Li tossed her phone onto the table. "Someone made a meme of him holding up cat food, with the caption 'The whole internet is criticizing me, but I'm selling cat food.' It's gone viral more than any of our articles."

Zhao Xiujie remained silent.

Sister Li stood up and walked to the floor-to-ceiling window. The city skyline stretched into a grayish-white horizontal line on the glass.

She turned around. "Change direction."

The call was made. The head of the online trolls answered quickly.

"An additional two hundred thousand." Sister Li's voice was calm. "From today onwards, all our firepower will be focused on one point—acting skills."

She drew a line on the glass with her index finger.

"Facial paralysis. No formal training, no systematic learning, got into the cast through connections and funding, and this extra acted like a big shot in front of Su Qinghan for a few days. They threw this concept into the film and made everyone believe that this person would ruin the whole movie."

"Understood. Get it in place within three hours."

Sister Li returned to her desk and opened the press release backend. The second tier of marketing accounts were already editing, their headlines all aiming in the same direction—

"The biggest flaw in 'Black Gold': A complete novice with no experience taking on the main roles; industry insiders say it couldn't be salvaged in post-production."

"Comparing Zhao Xiujie's and Lu Yuan's audition materials: How big is the gap between ten years of formal training and self-taught individuals?"

"A renowned acting teacher commented: Lu Yuan's so-called acting skills are essentially expressionless, lacking any professional foundation whatsoever."

The comparison chart is also ready. It shows screenshots of Zhao Xiujie crying on stage, compared to several shots of Lu Yuan with minimal facial expressions in variety shows. The caption is simple and direct: "Left: acting skills; Right: expressionless face."

Within half an hour, it went viral on Weibo, Douban, and Hupu.

The comments section was so precise that every single one hit a blind spot in the public's understanding—"Acting is a professional thing, not just anyone can do it," "Variety show NPCs and movie acting are completely different things," "Su Qinghan is destined to crash and burn."

Inside Su Qinghan's studio.

Publicity director Zhou Ming rushed in for the second time, "The wind has changed again. This time it's all about acting skills. Expressionless, bringing investment to the production... We've got at least thirty big accounts posting simultaneously, and the topic has garnered over 100 million views in half an hour."

The legal counsel sat in the corner, his face clearly saying, "I knew it."

Zhou Ming spread the data charts in front of Su Qinghan. "Director Su, this wave is even harder to stop. This time it's all about acting skills, and since the audience hasn't seen the finished film, they can only believe the interpretations from marketing accounts. We can't release the finished film footage in advance—"