Chapter 16

Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio

“Finally, someone thinks as I do. The popularity of ‘Battle Through the Heavens’ is inexplicable. Its starting point also degenerated…”

“The main character cheated so obviously. Xiao Yan could pick up a treasure even after falling down and skip several levels consecutively. If he was a supporting character, he could only upgrade step by step. It was obvious that the author brought in his own imagination. It had no connotation.”

“The content is too violent. The characters started fighting each other when they had disagreeable conversations. This would misguide children!”

“Our school explicitly forbade students from bringing their cell phones. However, children in my class secretly read novels in class. I have confiscated quite a few cell phones in a row. The learning atmosphere in class is a complete mess.”

“Hem, the performance of ‘Battle Through the Heavens’ was indeed good. But how many of the people tipping are minors who don’t have any financial ability? Writing online novels is really a lucrative business. Binding a pupil is the same as binding the family.”

“The authors’ writing is pretty good. It would be good for him to write something connotative. Instead, he wrote all about fighting, killing, and love. It’s not healthy.”

“Every decent girl would fall in love with the main character. Women are not that shallow. Can the author treat the female characters properly? Don’t let love carry their minds so easily. It’s so disgusting!”

Xu Yuan frowned slightly as he saw the negative comments online. The discussions on the Online Novel Forum were also biased. Whether it was praise or criticism, it would cause an intense debate.

The exchange of verbal arguments was no better than the verbal war in real life. The war without smoke spread from the headline article to the online forum. Finally, the war intensified on Microblog.

Xu Yuan found that the headline account that published the first article had one hundred thousand fans. Although the account was not considered a big shot on the internet where we-media was everywhere, the dissemination of the article surprisingly wide and fast.

The marketing account belittled online novels in the whole article. It even quoted the famous saying, “the strong youth makes the country strong”, to elevate their starting point to the national and future level. It alluded that online novels led by ”Battle Through the Heavens” were poisoning the minds of teenagers.

The article even implicitly accused “Battle Through the Heavens” of targeting teenagers’ money and making a lot of it. It aroused the hatred of the rich to the extreme at once.

Although many people did not participate in the scheme, they were affected by their emotions. Then they criticized “Battle Through the Heavens” online too.

“He is really good at creating Internet Marketers. They thought their ways of thinking were unique when they were used as a tool.” Xu Yuan sniffed.

Although he had never studied marketing, he witnessed several instances of online attacks in the original world. He took the perspective of a bystander and saw clearly inside this mess.

In this whirlpool of online criticisms, the commander of the marketing account created conflicts, and Internet Marketers disseminated conflicts and stirred up emotions. Some ordinary people did not know that they were carried away by emotions. They thought they were righteous.

There was a trader behind this seemingly inexplicable online attack.

It was hard to distinguish between the two sides in this debate because the side that started with justice did not necessarily have true justice. At first, Xu Yuan summed up a rule. Whoever benefited from this scolding battle had a seventy percent chance of being the trader.

However, another unique feature of the online battle was that the public opinion fermented too quickly. It was hard to constrain the emotions that were out of control. If one was not careful, one would be dragged into it. And if the situation was too messy, one would not be able to see the benefited ones clearly.

After Xu Yuan finished reading the marketing account attacking him, he could not help but applaud. It must put a lot of effort. The article was written very delicately. It did not mention the “Battle Through the Heavens”, but the article talked about it entirely.

He relied on writing to make a living, so he understood the charms of words. Substituting one thing for another was often intangible.

“Well, I was treated as the outstanding one as soon I uploaded my novel.” Xu Yuan sighed and left the room to pour himself a glass of water.

The contents in these marketing accounts might not be true, but they were what everyone wanted to see.

Xu Yuan was still a newcomer in this parallel world. He only got one book on the list, so his words carried little weight. It was useless even if he wanted to make a statement. But Xu Yuan was not worried.

Someone was even more worried than him.

When he was sitting in his chair and circling around in boredom, he got another WeChat message. Cai Pingtong indeed took the initiative to contact him.

“Mr. Shu, the public opinion on the internet is getting more and more intense. Do you need us to help you make a clarification statement? It can hedge against the negative news and reduce negative impacts.”

“No. It would only make things worse,” Xu Yuan replied calmly.

Cai Pingtong had not encountered such a situation for a long time. He only watched it from a distance before. In the past, Fantasy was insipid. It could not even reach the edge of popularity. He was in disarray and did not know what to do at the moment.

While he was overwhelmed, Mr. Ma, the chief editor walked into the office.

He had a bald head. The wrinkles on his forehead were like the waves on the surface of a lake. His face looked like a barometer, and anyone could tell how he felt.

“Cai and Liu, come to my office,” he stood at the door and called. Then he turned around and headed back to his office.

Cai Pingtong knew why Mr. Ma called him. He glanced at Liu Fu who was also called and forced an awkward smile at him.

Liu Fu was amused by him. He put his arm around Cai Pingtong’s shoulder and said, “Don’t worry, Cai. You’re not fighting alone! Mr. Shu is still waiting for you to protect him!”

Cai Pingtong felt Liu Fu’s concern completely. He straightened his back to cheer himself up. Suddenly, his heart was surrounded by a sense of mission. After all, he and Mr. Shu were in the same boat at the moment.

“Thank you, Liu. I got it!”

They entered the office side by side. Mr. Ma put his hands under his chin and asked them to sit down with a solemn look.

“I believe you have seen the negative comments about ‘Battle Through the Heavens’ on the internet. I called you here to discuss this matter.”

After saying that, Mr. Ma looked up at Liu Fu. A similar situation had happened to a book that Liu Fu had followed up before. He was the most experienced in the entire editorial department. That’s why Mr. Ma called him in together.

Cai Pingtong was also sitting upright, staring at Liu Fu with a pair of eager eyes.

Liu Fu cleared his throat and said, “First, we must protect the author’s information to prevent the fury of the netizens from reaching and affecting the author’s real life. Second, we should appease the author’s emotions so that the negative news on the internet does not affect his work.”

“Don’t worry. It’s okay. Mr. Shu is calmer than anyone else.” Mr. Shu’s feeling is the least of Cai Pingtong’s worries.

“Then… based on the experience of my previous book, we should cut out the inappropriate contents in the novel and cut off the criticism. So those netizens would have nothing to say.”