Chapter 103: Who Exactly Is Casting the Votes?

With the rapid development of social media, soon Weibo and WeChat Moments were flooded with messages supporting Lin Feng’s team in the voting.

Members of the Divine Feng Protection Squad were wholeheartedly mobilizing every friend they had.

In the Jiangning die-hard fan group:

“Beijing City Satellite TV is broadcasting the music PK battle between Lin Feng and Zhou Ziqian. Has everyone watched it?”

“What’s so good about a music show? I’m indifferent. Lin Feng’s basketball skills are fine, though.”

“Come on, how can you say that when you claim to be a die-hard Jiangning fan? Lin Feng brought us the CBA championship. Even if he’s not playing basketball now, he’s being bullied on another stage. Can we just ignore that as fans?”

“Bullied? How so? Damn it, I don’t like music shows, but no one bullies our Divine Feng.”

“He’s competing against Zhou Ziqian. Lin Feng won the first round, but now in the second round, that guy Zhou is fraudulently boosting votes. Looks like Lin Feng is bound to lose this round.”

“What do we do then?”

“Vote! Rally everyone around us to vote for Lin Feng! We must beat that big vote-stacker!”

“How do we vote? Tell me the method, I’ll start promoting it on Weibo and WeChat Moments right away.”

“Count me in, I want to help promote too. If anyone wants to bully our Divine Feng, they have to answer to us Jiangning fans!”

“When it comes to promotion, I’m an expert. Leave it to me. I guarantee within five minutes, one-third of Jiangning will see ads supporting Lin Feng.”

“No way! Boss Liu just gave the order. We don’t have to slog through promotion ourselves.”

“Boss Liu is awesome!”

“Boss Liu, use all your resources! As hometown fans of Lin Feng, we must support him!”

The person called Boss Liu in the group was also a die-hard Jiangning fan, but in reality, he was Liu Ruifeng, chairman of Jiangning Ruifeng Media Group, which owned more than a dozen advertising and marketing companies.

After sending a message in the group, Liu Ruifeng immediately called several managers.

Three minutes later.

At Jiangning City Government Square, the largest billboard displayed: “Cheer for Lin Feng on the ‘Music PK Arena.’ Hometown people proudly support Lin Feng. Voting method…”

The subway station announcements in Jiangning broadcasted: “Lin Feng on the ‘Music PK Arena’ reminds you that the next stop is Century Plaza. Passengers, please support our hometown hero by casting your precious vote. Voting method…”

“What the—what’s going on?!”

“This subway announcement is too impressive.”

“Lin Feng is apparently competing against Zhou Ziqian on ‘Music PK Arena.’ It’s already the second round, but Zhou Ziqian is fraudulently boosting votes. The whole WeChat Moments is flooded with this news…”

“Of course, we must support Lin Feng. Vote, vote…”

At a local TV station in Jiangning during the “Great Sea News” segment, host Da Hai casually chatted about recent events.

“Dear viewers, interrupting briefly to remind you that Lin Feng, who brought Jiangning the first-ever CBA championship trophy, is competing on Beijing City Satellite TV’s ‘Music PK Arena.’ Please, friends who have time, go support him. Voting methods are displayed at the bottom of the screen.”

On several city buses in Jiangning, drivers picked up their onboard microphones:

“Hello, passengers, sorry to take a minute of your precious time. Our city’s basketball hero Lin Feng is now competing on ‘Music PK Arena’ on Beijing City Satellite TV. The competition is intense. Friends supporting Lin Feng, please cast your precious vote. Voting method is…”

...

Liu Ruifeng kept his promise. Within five minutes, nearly every Jiangning citizen knew that Lin Feng, who brought them the CBA championship trophy, was competing on ‘Music PK Arena’ and needed their support.

Far away in Europe, Qin Ruolin watched the live broadcast online. She noticed Sun Hao’s suspiciously high vote count and, displeased, updated her Weibo status:

“Ahem, someone is participating in a music PK show. If you have time, please go support him…”

Though Qin Ruolin didn’t explicitly mention Lin Feng or ‘Music PK Arena,’ anyone could see what she was referring to.

“Wow, even the diva herself is campaigning for Lin Feng.”

“Sun Hao’s votes are skyrocketing, even sister-in-law can’t sit still.”

“Can we interpret this as a public display of affection?”

“Sis-in-law, marry Wenwen to me, and I’ll cast ten thousand votes for Lin Feng.”

“Voting started, voting started! Even the diva has spoken; if you don’t vote now, it’s just shameful.”

“…”

At the live event.

Sun Hao finished his performance.

He received 458 votes inside the venue, but outside votes reached a staggering 410,000.

Everyone believed this vote count would secure the round for Zhou Ziqian’s team.

Sun Hao walked off the stage with a beaming smile and high-fived Zhou Ziqian at the side. They certainly didn’t think such a vote count could still lose.

“Brother, looks like we’re going to lose this round,” Lin Wen said, crestfallen.

Lin Feng nodded. “It’s okay. There’s still the next round. I will definitely beat Zhou Ziqian!”

Lin Wen said nothing but worry crept into her heart. If the other side could fraudulently boost votes this round, what about the next?

Host Wu Chuan took the stage as Qin Han stepped forward.

Qin Han’s flaw was arrogance, but sometimes that worked in his favor. Despite Sun Hao’s astonishing 410,000 outside votes, Qin Han remained confident he could defeat him.

The prelude to “Ten Years” began.

The votes on the giant screen behind Qin Han started rolling.

“If those two words didn’t tremble,

I wouldn’t have realized my pain…”

Qin Han had just sung two lines when the audience gasped.

Outside votes suddenly surged by over 200,000 and kept climbing rapidly. If Sun Hao’s increase was like a rocket launch, this was like adding boosters to that rocket.

The audience barely had time to react before the votes soared past 300,000.

Pfft!

Sun Hao, drinking water at the side, saw this and immediately spat out his mouthful in disbelief.

Damn, this guy had only sung two lines, and the votes already broke 300,000. At this rate, his 400,000 votes were barely a nibble.

Zhou Ziqian was stunned. “How… how is this happening? Did they also buy votes? But this is so blatant…”

On the other side, Lin Feng and Lin Wen were dumbfounded.

“Brother, you wouldn’t have hired people to boost votes too, right?” Lin Wen asked.

Lin Feng shook his head. “Do I look like someone with money to buy votes?”

Backstage.

Producer Zhao Tong was also stunned.

“Who exactly is boosting votes? I heard Zhou Ziqian bought 200,000 votes. How come Lin Feng’s count is rising even faster?”

...