Living in a county town, starting as a stock market maker...

“Ding Di—”

It was a message from Su Qingying, a screenshot and a sentence.

Something's happened. Go back to the company immediately.

Gu Ming opened the screenshot.

On the chart, the green curve representing the influx of new students to Star Academy suddenly dropped sharply.

The red curves next to it rose sharply.

The red curves mark three names: [Spark Media], [Liaoyuan Interactive Entertainment], and [Chiyan Culture].

Gu Ming's pupils contracted slightly.

AME's people have made their move.

"Chen Mo, go to the Star Data Center."

"At the fastest speed."

……

Fifteen minutes later, at the Star Holdings headquarters, top-floor data center.

On the huge circular screen, red and green data streams intertwine.

The green data representing stars is decreasing rapidly, while the red data is increasing.

Su Qingying stood in front of the screen, her expression solemn.

"They made their move."

"Starting last night, the three MCNs controlled by AME used a lot of funds and channels to remake all of our popular videos from the past month."

She pointed to the center of the large screen.

Two videos are playing side-by-side on the screen.

On the left is a traditional Chinese style costume change video produced by Wang Min's team; the creativity and camerawork are excellent.

The image on the right is a remake of "Spark Media".

The concept and storyboard are the same, and even the moles on the actors' faces are in the same place.

But their visuals are better, their costumes and props are better, and their investment is at least three times that of StarCraft.

"It's not just plagiarism," Su Qingying's voice lowered, "they also used their platform connections to limit the reach of our accounts. Our videos couldn't be uploaded, but their plagiarized videos were pushed to the top of the trending searches across the internet."

"The data in the newcomer section has collapsed. Eight million followers were lost in half an hour, and three new streamers were forced to stop broadcasting due to cyberbullying."

This is not a business competition.

This is a war waged with money and power.

"I've already had my legal team prepare the lawsuit materials." Su Qingying took a breath and looked at him. "From copyright infringement to unfair competition, we can sue them until they go bankrupt."

tell?

Talking about law with AME?

You're still too naive.

This lawsuit will only drag on until we can't hold on any longer.

When dealing with these people, you can't follow their rules.

My rules apply.

"Stop," Gu Ming said, his voice not loud, and everyone in the data center stopped what they were doing.

All legal actions are suspended.

"What?" Su Qingying was stunned. "Gu Ming, now is not the time to hesitate, we..."

"Who said I hesitated?"

Gu Ming walked to the data screen, looking at the few red curves with a calm expression.

He stretched out his finger and tapped on the label of "Spark Media" on the screen.

"Give me a list of all the top influencers from these three MCNs, including their styles, personas, and fan demographics, within ten minutes."

"Also," he turned to the head of the technology department, "check who within our organization is using encrypted lines to access our script library at high frequency."

"Find him, but don't touch him. Send me his recent browsing history."

Everyone was confused.

The focus should now be on counterattacks and public relations, not on analyzing the opponent's online influencers and catching internal traitors.

Only Su Qingying noticed something in Gu Ming's calm eyes.

She didn't ask any more questions and turned to carry out the order.

She knew that when Gu Ming had this expression, all she had to do was follow orders.

Ten minutes later.

Two documents were delivered to Gu Ming.

He sat on the sofa in the rest area, quickly flipping through the pages.

Three MCNs, hundreds of top influencers, covering all fields.

The mole was a second-level screenwriter named Liu Yu in the content department. He had been with the company for three months and his performance was mediocre, but his authority was just enough to access the scripts that were being written.

Everything is ready.

Gu Ming picked up a piece of white paper and a pen.

He didn't turn on his computer; instead, he leaned back on the sofa and started writing directly on a piece of paper.

It's a script.

Each script was only half-written, full of suspense and plot twists.

An hour later.

Gu Ming threw three handwritten scripts on the table.

ID

Surveillance Storm

AI Awakening

Each story stops at its most tense point.

"Accidentally" put the electronic versions of these three scripts into the server backend that Liu Yuneng can access," Gu Ming instructed the technical director. "Make it look like a mistake."

"President Gu, this..." The technical director looked puzzled. "This is our latest S-level innovation, and it's just been leaked like this?"

"Yes." Gu Ming stood up, patted him on the shoulder, "Not only do I have to leak it, but I also have to keep an eye on them and make sure they bring these three semi-finished products back."

……

The headquarters of Spark Media, a subsidiary of AME.

In the president's office, Li Ang was raising a glass in celebration with several senior executives.

"Hahaha, cheers! To our first day of crushing the stars!" Li Ang's face was flushed. "That kid Gu Ming is too green! He thinks a little skill is enough? Naïve! Compared to powerful capital and connections, he's nothing!"

"That's right! We'll have a film crew remake his videos, increasing the cost tenfold! What can he possibly use to compete with us?"

"Latest data: our three platforms have gained over 30 million followers! Some of the influencers signed with Xingchen are already terminating their contracts! I estimate Xingchen will have to close down within a week!"

At that moment, the content director pushed open the door excitedly, clutching a USB drive tightly in his hand.

"President Li! Great news! Our informant within Xingchen has just transmitted confidential documents!"

He plugged the USB drive into the computer and opened three documents.

"Identity", "The Surveillance", "AI Awakening".

Li Ang's eyes lit up after only five minutes of watching.

"Holy crap! This is a genius idea!" He slapped his thigh, his face flushed. "Even though it's only half written, the suspense and hook... it'll definitely be a blockbuster!"

"Director, are you sure this was written by Gu Ming?"

"Absolutely true! The insider said this is their latest S-level project, written by Gu Ming himself. It's not finished yet, and he risked his life to copy it!"

"Great! Great! Great!" Li Ang exclaimed three times, his eyes gleaming with greed. "This is truly a godsend! Gu Ming's idea is now ours!"

He gave the order on the spot.

"Pass the word! All projects are suspended! Concentrate all resources, with no budget limit! Film these three scripts to movie-quality standards as quickly as possible! I want them released simultaneously in three days!"

"I want Gu Ming to see my hard work bring me success!"

three days later.

The three major MCNs, Xinghuo, Liaoyuan, and Chiyan, simultaneously launched three short dramas adapted from Gu Ming's "half-finished" script.

Upon its release, thanks to AME's relentless efforts to drive traffic, it quickly rose to the top three trending topics across the entire internet.

#FatalIdentityEndingGodhood#

#Surveillance Storm Takes a High-Energy Twist#

#AI Awakening, a Beacon of Chinese Science Fiction#

Many netizens flooded the comments section, leaving numerous likes.

Xinghuo Media's celebration banquet was held that evening at a top hotel in Beijing.

In the banquet hall, Li Ang, dressed in a bespoke suit and holding a glass of champagne, stood in the center of the stage, enjoying everyone's praise and the flashing lights.

"Every era has its king!"

"Gu Ming's era is over! From today onwards, the world of short videos belongs to Li!"

At the very moment he uttered those words.

Star Holdings, Data Center.

Gu Ming stood in front of the huge screen, looking at Li Ang's face on the screen, and the corners of his mouth curved upwards slightly.

He picked up a cup of coffee and took a sip.

Then, he said to Su Qingying behind him:

"Let's begin."

"drop--"

Star Media's official account was updated after three days of silence.

There was no announcement, no statement.

There are only three videos.

The video's title is the same as those three hit short dramas.

ID

Surveillance Storm

AI Awakening

The only difference is the addition of a suffix to the title: "[Director's Cut]".

Many curious netizens clicked on it.

Then, everyone was shocked.

The first half of the video is the same as the version from Xinghuo Media.

However, in the ending of the Spark Media version, Xingchen's [Director's Cut] features an unexpected and extreme plot twist.

In Identity, when everyone thought the protagonist was schizophrenic, the ending revealed that he was actually a "game character" from a higher dimension.

In "The Surveillance," when the protagonist thinks he has escaped surveillance, the camera pulls back, revealing that the entire city he is in is just a film studio being observed.

In "AI Awakens," when an AI develops feelings for a human, the ending is that the AI ​​uses these feelings to gain trust and then presses the nuclear launch button.

Each ending left the audience stunned.

This is the real ending.

Compared to this, the ending produced by Xinghuo Media seems like children playing house.

Before netizens could recover from their shock, the official Starry Sky account released a second video.

That was a screen recording.

The screen recording clearly showed the creation time of the three scripts and their status in the server background—all were unfinished drafts, only half-written.

The video ended with an audio clip.

That was a recording of a phone call between the content director of Xinghuo Media and Liu Yu, the mole.

"...Don't worry, Mr. Li said that as long as you get Gu Ming's core idea, you'll be the Vice President of Content at our new company!"

boom!

The internet immediately erupted in arguments.

If the twist in the ending just made netizens think that Xinghuo Media's capabilities were lacking, then...

Therefore, this evidence is to expose their plagiarism to the public.

So what we've been praising as a masterpiece for so long was actually plagiarized?

And it was a half-finished copy?

Were we made fools of by these plagiarists?

Angry comments filled the entire internet.

The hashtag #FatalIDEndingGodhood#, which was trending just a second ago, was quickly overtaken by hashtags like #SparkMediaGetOutOfChina#, #PlagiarismDogGiveMeBackMyIQ#, and #HeartacheForGuShen#.

The official accounts of the three MCNs, Xinghuo, Liaoyuan, and Chiyan, were flooded with tens of millions of angry netizens.

The comment section was flooded with "CNM, refund!"

Their fan count plummeted on the big screen in the data center.

Ten million...

Twenty million...

Thirty million...

In just one hour, the reputations of the three companies collapsed, and they lost nearly 100 million followers. The hundreds of millions invested in production and promotion went down the drain.

The so-called victory celebration banquet turned into a joke.

Inside the hotel, Li Ang's furious roar and the sound of smashing a wine glass could be heard.

Inside the Star Data Center, however, all was quiet.

All the technicians looked at the man standing in front of the screen with awe, calmly sipping his coffee the whole time.

This is a case of dimensional reduction attack.

A devastating attack launched using precise calculations of content, human nature, and public sentiment.

Without resorting to force, they mentally defeated their opponent.

Su Qingying looked at Gu Ming's profile illuminated by the data light and suddenly felt a pang of heartache.

She discovered for the first time that this man could not only create miracles, but also bring destruction.

He even used the anger of his fans as a weapon.

Just how unfathomable is this man?

Gu Ming put down his coffee cup and glanced at Liu Yu, the mole, who was slumped over his workstation.

He neither asked someone to call the police nor to have him fired.

He simply walked over and said softly:

"Go back and tell your new boss that I, Gu Ming, am looking forward to continuing to hang out with him."

After saying that, he turned around and prepared to leave.

He won, but his expression didn't change.

Because he knew this was just the beginning.

AME's first attempt was met with a heavy blow. Next, they will resort to even more insane methods.

Just then—

A loud "bang!"

The office door was forcefully kicked open from the outside.

Wang Tianqi, the man who was supposed to be in charge of offline promotion, rushed in, covered in mud and with blood on his forehead.

His eyes were bloodshot, his voice hoarse, and he roared at Gu Ming:

"Boss!"

"The online issues... are resolved!"

"But our ground sales team in lower-tier markets... was forcibly 'cleared out'!"