A band, or a battleground?

Sun Man looked at the server inside the door, somewhat puzzled: "I thought it would require a lot of servers, or a lot of phones..."

My male colleague laughed and said, "There's absolutely no need for that!"

Sun Man: "Didn't the production team say one ticket per machine?"

"It is indeed one ticket per device, but this restriction can be circumvented. Simply put, we simulate countless virtual mobile phone environments, and with the addition of a dynamic IP proxy pool, we can achieve ticket rigging."

Listening to her colleague's explanation, Sun Man nodded. Of course, she didn't understand the technical details, but as long as she knew there were no obstacles to it, that was enough.

The male colleague then asked, "By the way, how many votes do we need this time? We spent a million votes in each round before, but since you specifically asked about this, Sister Sun, it should be even more, right?"

Thinking about the voting results of the first round of the finals, Sun Man gritted her teeth and said, "It might take ten million votes."

"So many?"

"Can't you do it?"

The colleague chuckled and said, "I just think it's a bit much, but if you ask if it's possible to do it, then of course it's no problem."

Sun Man, however, was somewhat worried: "Will it be found out later?"

"Theoretically speaking, there's nothing that can't be found, as long as the person doing the investigation is knowledgeable enough. The question is, will anyone even bother to investigate? And will they investigate thoroughly?"

Sun Man couldn't help but fall into deep thought.

If it were up to her to decide, the championship of "Tomorrow's Band" should go to the Spring Shadow Band. After all, their popularity with the audience speaks for itself. Even if the company forcefully promotes a champion, how much controversy would that cause?

Votes can be manipulated, audience comments can be manipulated, and trending topics can be bought. But how will concert ticket sales be manipulated in the future? If the audience base isn't big enough, the business will ultimately lose money.

Stealing the championship from Spring Film won't cause much harm to those kids; on the contrary, it might trigger a rebellious attitude among the audience, making their fans even more loyal.

But ultimately, the decision wasn't made by her, but by President Lin.

Sun Man could only say, "Then the probability of finding it is probably not high. Let's try again."

"Give the polar day a ten million dollar reward?"

"Yes, ten million."

After explaining the matter, Sun Man breathed a sigh of relief and turned to leave, but she still felt a little unsteady on her feet, as if every step she took was on cotton.

Before she even returned to her workstation, a young subordinate rushed over, saying urgently, "Sister Sun, something terrible has happened! There's an unexpected trending topic!"

Sun Man's heart skipped a beat: "The Tomorrow Band?"

The subordinate nodded: "It's related to Chen Jiashu, please take a look!"

Sun Man quickly sat down at her workstation, opened her blog, and saw the trending topic: [#ChenJiashuIsDeeplyRegretful]

Sun Man clicked in and scanned the link, quickly understanding what the trending topic was about.

It turns out that Chen Jiashu's expression was captured on camera during the Spring Film Festival's performance of "I Want to Fly." Furthermore, some busybodies compared Chen Jiashu's expression during that segment with his comments during the group stage.

After Chunriying performed "Those Flowers" in the group stage, Chen Jiashu commented: "...It's nice. However, since this is a band talent show, the instrumental parts of this song are a bit too simple. From an arrangement perspective, the bass and drums are not very prominent; only the guitar and vocals are relatively important. So I think the arrangement has some problems."

In stark contrast, "Existence" in the semi-finals and "I Want to Fly" in the finals both garnered over ten million votes, taking a commanding lead.

[Haha, Chen Jiashu is dumbfounded, isn't he? He's regretting it terribly, isn't he?]

He should have regretted it long ago.

However, this mentor also has a large fan base, so naturally some people defended him.

[That's right, Haruhi Kage's songs weren't rock enough back then. If they had brought out songs like "Existence" or "I Want to Fly" during the group stage, would Chen Jiashu have refused them?]

[It was thanks to Teacher Chen's advice that Chunri Ying has made such progress!]

However, Sun Man didn't care about these explanations; what troubled her was another issue.

"This trending topic, was it bought? Who did it, Tianhua?"

Another subordinate next to him said with a long face, "We originally wanted to buy the trending search for the Polar Day band, but the platform just replied that we were too late. All the trending search spots in the entertainment section are gone today, even the three trending search spots we had agreed on beforehand were snatched up by someone else at a higher price!"

Sun Man felt a sudden dizziness.

Without a doubt, it was Tianhua Entertainment who did it!

She muttered to herself, "That's great. If there's no trending topic at all, and they just artificially inflate it, how fake would that look..."

Sigrún has taught at the Iceland University of the Arts as a part-time lecturer since and was Dean of the Department of Fine Art from -. In – she held a research position at Reykjavík Art Museum focusing on the role of women in Icelandic art. She studied fine art at the Icelandic College of Arts and Crafts and at Pratt Institute, New York, and holds BA and MA degrees in art history and philosophy from the University of Iceland. Sigrún lives and works in Iceland.

135 father and daughter

Shen Xingyun had no idea that the trending search he bought would cause so much trouble for his competitors. It was just a suggestion from a subordinate in the company's operations department, which he simply agreed to implement.

After all, the show "Tomorrow's Band" has always been quite popular, and the Spring Shadow Band's performance this season has been particularly outstanding. Since Tianhua Entertainment has signed Spring Shadow, even if it's only a two-year contract, they still need to work hard to generate buzz in order to make money.

In reality, the blog platform's trending topics list has fifty positions, but the top ten are the most important. And whether it's the top fifty or the top ten, only about one-third of them are related to the entertainment industry.

Three out of the top ten trending topics and fifteen out of the top fifty are trending, and this is updated over time. In other words, during key periods, there are only a handful of trending topics related to the entertainment industry, especially those in prime positions.

After the first round of performances in the finals of "The Coming One: Super Band," only three of the top ten trending topics were from the entertainment industry:

[#SpringMoonlightFirstBetween]

[#ChenJiaShu is filled with regret]

[#KazBandDisbandsOnTheSpot]

Of the top 50, the remaining dozen or so related to the entertainment industry were all things like "#DualFemaleLeadSingersIWantToFly", "#SpringShadowLeadsByALoss", "#JiangYiPinkStars", and "#AllSongsWrittenByQiYuan", with the SpringShadow Band practically dominating the charts.

As for their competitors, Paper Wind Chimes and Polar Day, they didn't even trend on social media.

"Dad, did you buy all these trending topics?" Shen Yihan, wearing sunglasses and a mask, asked, staring at her phone.

Shen Xingyun shook his head: "They only bought a large portion of the trending topics; the rest were spontaneous. Especially the disbandment of the Katz band—no one interfered. Jufeng wouldn't buy these kinds of trending topics, and we don't need to. Besides, you've been in the entertainment industry for so long; platforms don't sell all the trending topics; they always reserve some. Don't you know this basic common sense?"

"Uh, no, why would I need to know that..."

Shen Yihan was wearing sunglasses, so her father didn't see her blank stare.

But Shen Xingyun could guess without even looking, so he couldn't help but sigh inwardly—you really can't just look at a wife's appearance when choosing a wife, they're all stupid!

Fortunately, Shen Yihan wasn't really stupid; she just didn't care about things she wasn't interested in. She'd be more attentive once Chunriying took the stage.

"I knew it! Qi Yuan would definitely be the lead singer for the second song. See? I was right!"

Shen Xingyun said expressionlessly, "Yes, that's right."

Then, the father and daughter listened to the song "Life is Like a Summer Flower" quietly for a few minutes.

The two were seated quite far out, with no clear view of the stage. Fortunately, there was a large screen, so they could still see the performance. Most importantly, there were empty seats on both sides, with even the closest strangers two or three seats apart. As long as they didn't speak too loudly, they didn't have to worry about being heard.

After the song ended, while the four members of Chunriying were still standing on the stage, the host He Dong came on stage and announced that the voting had begun, inviting the other two bands to come up and wait for the results.

"It sounds so good, so good! Dad, give me the phone!"

Shen Yihan immediately took out her phone and voted for Chun Riying. After voting, she also took her father's phone and cast her vote there as well.

After she returned the phone, Shen Xingyun said, "Actually, you didn't need to vote at all. Chunri Film is definitely still far ahead."

Shen Yihan retorted firmly, "That won't do! The fan group has been saying all along that we absolutely cannot be lazy. If everyone thinks Chunriying is definitely in the lead and doesn't vote, then another band might overtake us!"

Shen Xingyun shook his head: "If only you were this dedicated to your work. By the way, speaking of work, the company recently got you another job."

Even with sunglasses and a mask covering her face, it was still clear that Shen Yihan looked distressed.

She complained, "I'm already spinning like a top, how come there's still new work to do?"

"If you really can't do it, just drop the Detective guy..."

Before her father could finish speaking, Shen Yihan quickly interrupted, "You can't refuse! Where else can you find such a good job—working a regular job while playing live-action murder mystery games?"

Shen Xingyun: "With your current status, you don't need to rely on that at all."

Shen Yihan: "But it's fun!"

Shen Xingyun: "..."

After a brief silence, Shen Yihan suddenly asked again, "Did you guys vote for Chunriying?"

Shen Xingyun was stunned: "You really care?"

"Oh, Dad, you're the boss of Haruhi Film, you have to care. Don't just assume that because they're popular they don't need to rig votes. What if other bands rig votes, but they don't, and then they get overtaken?"

“I won’t be overtaken,” Shen Xingyun smiled slightly. “How do you know I didn’t rig the votes?”

Shen Yihan lowered her voice even further: "Really?"

Shen Xingyun said calmly, "Sometimes you need to boost your votes, and sometimes you don't. For example, in the second round of the semi-finals, if the company didn't boost votes, how did the song 'Existence' reach 18 million votes? The audience for the finals is much larger than that for the semi-finals. The song 'I Want to Fly' only got 14 million votes."

Shen Yihan hurriedly asked, "Then, will others find out?"

Shen Xingyun: "If we are to be discovered, it's not that we have the biggest problem. Tianhua just followed up. In the two rounds of the semi-finals, after the first round, the company's public opinion monitoring department found that something was wrong. Both Jizhou and Kaz were suspected of vote rigging. We only started rigging in the second round."

Shen Yihan was silent for a moment, then sighed, "I suddenly feel that this kind of show is a bit boring. The votes are all rigged."

Shen Xingyun laughed and said, "The entertainment industry is a mix of truth and falsehood. The most important thing is to see what is real, such as Chunriying's talent, and especially Qi Yuan's creative ability."

"To the 70,000 music fans here today, and to all viewers in the online live stream, I hereby announce that the voting channel for the second round of the finals is now officially closed!"

He Dong's voice rang out again, causing all the spectators, including the father and daughter furthest away, to look in that direction.

"In this round, we will determine the third place winner of this year's 'Tomorrow's Band.' The top two bands will enter tonight's final showdown to compete for the overall championship!"

He Dong turned to face the large screen and continued speaking:

"First, let's reveal the team that won third place in this year's 'The Coming One'..."

The first thing to be captured was, as expected, the number of votes for the paper wind chimes.

"Congratulations to Paper Wind Chimes! They received a total of 6,215,300 votes in the second round! Let's give a big round of applause to this energetic all-female band!"

Cheers and applause erupted from the crowd.

The members of Paper Wind Chimes were all smiles on stage, showing no signs of displeasure. For them, reaching this point and winning third place had far exceeded their expectations during the competition.

Meanwhile, the bar charts for the remaining two bands on the screen continued to climb, both surpassing ten million!

Shen Yihan exclaimed in surprise, "The Polar Day also got such a high number of votes?"

Shen Xingyun slapped his thigh: "Swipe again? Do you think others can't do it?!"

Sigrún has taught at the Iceland University of the Arts as a part-time lecturer since and was Dean of the Department of Fine Art from -. In – she held a research position at Reykjavík Art Museum focusing on the role of women in Icelandic art. She studied fine art at the Icelandic College of Arts and Crafts and at Pratt Institute, New York, and holds BA and MA degrees in art history and philosophy from the University of Iceland. Sigrún lives and works in Iceland.

Main text

136 Gods Clash (Please Subscribe After Release)

Regarding the vote-rigging issue, Sun Man soon realized that she had no say in the matter, because President Lin was personally issuing the orders.

She and her colleague who was in charge of voting were called into that office and made to stand in front of the desk.

Sitting behind his desk, Lin Xin wasn't looking at his two subordinates, but rather at the computer on the table. They could clearly hear what was playing on the computer.

That was He Dong's voice: "...Polar Day Band, 13.92 million votes! Spring Shadow Band, 17.42 million votes! Although Spring Shadow Band is still in the lead, Polar Day Band's votes seem to have caught up..."

Lin Xin turned down the computer volume and said, "That's it. First, give Polar Day five million votes, then give the next song another one. That way, we can win the championship without it seeming too abrupt."

Sun Man hurriedly said, "But there isn't even a single trending topic. That's really strange!"

“Who said there aren’t any trending topics?” Lin Xin’s smile was meaningful. “Isn’t that ‘Chen Jiashu is so regretful’ one? The next song by the Polar Day Band is also by Chen Jiashu.”

Upon hearing this, Sun Man was taken aback: "So you want to tie Polar Day to Chen Jiashu?"

Lin Xin leaned back in his chair and crossed his legs: "Chen Jiashu has quite a few fans. As long as we make them dislike Chunriying—no, they don't even need to really dislike her—as long as we create this kind of momentum, the number of votes for Jizhou will be very natural. Sun Man, I've already bought the trending keywords on Dida, which is Chen Jiashu + Jizhou. Go and follow up on it. As for the vote-rigging, I'll follow up on it personally."

Sun Man could only lower her head and agree, "Okay."

Just then, a phone call came into President Lin's cell phone.

Lin Xin answered the phone with a calm expression.

Sun Man couldn't hear what the other person was saying, but from her boss's words, she could tell that the other person was Chen Jiashu's agent or assistant.

"Hmm... But Mr. Chen probably doesn't want to see Haruhi Kage win, right? Perfect, we can hype up that song 'Dopamine Trap' again... Oh, really, don't worry, Mr. Chen should have confidence in his fan base... Okay, that's settled then, don't worry!"

Lin Xin hung up the phone and threw it on the table.

Sun Man asked cautiously, "President Lin, the one on the ticker..."

Lin Xin scoffed, "You don't need to worry about it, just keep pushing forward. No matter how big Chen Jiashu is, he can't control us."