Chapter 116

Edited by: kapekopicoffee

The final eight of the Fire War came to an end at eleven o’clock that night.

At noon the next day, a Weibo account called @Fire War Eating Melons published its usual summary of the battle statistics, and also wrote a long post focusing on Su Mingqian’s classic soul-stirring promotion battle.

The post started with Su Mingqian being unexpectedly set on fire, and analysed the deep content below the surface:

“In this King of Fire eight-to-four match, the fan organisers of the strongest King of Fire candidate ‘Xin’ had their eyes on the dark horse Su Mingqian, so they plotted to ‘borrow a knife’ to snipe Su Mingqian out of the competition through a series of operations such as collective voting and exchanging votes with each other.

“At the beginning of the competition at 00:30, they had pulled in front of Su Mingqian by ten thousand votes. By 9am, the gap had grown to forty thousand votes.

“The Su fans, who had woken up after a sleep, realised that they were behind and urgently assembled everyone to vote. Despite their desperate counterattack, they were unfortunately still losing the battle.

“The ending looked ready to be finalised, but at 8pm that night, things changed again.

“The Cunxing Fire War page revealed the highest prize for a single Weibo post in this battle: fifty thousand yuan. It was a forwarding raffle to pull votes for Su Mingqian!

“At the same time, all Cunxing Fire War related groups put up announcements, organising Cunxing fans to transfer their true love votes to Su Mingqian.

“In just a single hour, the Cunxing fans exploded with a shocking amount of enthusiasm and votes, helping Su Mingqian overtake his opponent in one fell swoop.

“After that, the battle became a stalemate, but, the Cunxing fans helped the Su fans hold on to his ten thousand vote advantage until the end of the game.

“Finally, the battle ended with Cunxing sacrificing himself to send his friend to advance, and made the record for the highest number of true love votes in a single match since the Fire War was held.

“After the results came out, Su Mingqian’s Fire War group and the Fire War homepage immediately responded.

“The group was instantly flooded with countless written red packets expressing their love for Cunxing and his fans.

“The Fire War homepage published a long Weibo post at the same time, not only expressing their gratitude for the generous support from Cunxing’s fans during the battle, but also making a clear promise:

“No matter the outcome of this year’s Fire War, we will do everything we can to help you advance in next year’s Fire War.

“To sum it all up in one sentence:

“’@Cunxing, thank you for sacrificing yourself today, we will fight for you next year!’”

Eating Melons’s Weibo post was already getting a lot of attention during the Fire War, and with Su Mingqian’s match in the tournament being a real highlight, the post was quickly forwarded, forwarding around until it actually made it to Li Shuoxing’s home page.

Li Shuoxing was stunned when he first saw it.

Emm?

What’s the Fire War?

How could there be a story about Cunxing sacrificing himself to protect Su Mingqian?

He searched for this keyword on the website, slightly puzzled, and search results popped up quickly.

It was a fictional character popularity contest hosted jointly by video sites. The first-place prize was:

An opening screen push on social media across the web and a large screen advertisement on the Bund ¹ 外滩 [wài tān] literally translates to Outer Beach and is a waterfront area and a protected historical district in central Shanghai. in Shanghai on May 20th.

An opening screen push of the cub’s picture on social media across the web on May 20th?

A video directly advertising the cub on the Bund in Shanghai?

Li Shuoxing: “?!”

When he thought about it, he imagined seeing the cub on all social media as soon as he opened them, and having a night cruise along the Huangpu River, enjoying the breeze as he watched a video of the cub on the advertisement. He suddenly felt moved, so he went back to the competition’s homepage to study it. He found that, completely unbeknownst to him, Su Mingqian had quietly become one of the final four. With just two more wins, he could win the first-place prize!

Unable to help himself, he forwarded the Weibo post and said, “Su Mingqian go for it! Next year, Cunxing go for it too!”

Then, the fans under Li Shuoxing’s Weibo were also stunned.

“Is boss Cunxing cold? Why? What’s Fire War?”

“Why didn’t anyone tell me that Cunxing was in danger?”

“Cunxing actually went cold without a word while I was fighting to the death next door for the Queen of Moe?? I’m not convinced!!!”

“Both of them clearly should’ve made it to the final! Why’d they lose their hands and feet now!”

Amidst the uproar on Weibo, the Fire War groups of both Su and Cunxing fans were instantly flooded with a huge number of new recruits. The addition of these new recruits led to both teams opening several more thousand-person Fire War groups in succession. Until nine o’clock that evening, many people were still joining in one after another.

Then, Nine Crossings’s Silver Alliance Masters, Lotus Leaf Blade, Mixed Touch King and other book friends who knew about the Fire War met up with the previous organisers.

Both sides exchanged their usual bragging, and then entered into the rhythm of conversation, quietly communicating:

“Is that Weibo post earlier that said Xin sniped at Sister Qian true?”

“It’s true. They made an announcement in the group!”

“Have you been following the Queen of Moe side of the tournament today?”

“No. What happened?”

Lotus Leaf Blade gloated and laughed. “The one who allied and exchanged votes with Xin is a seeded player on the Queen of Moe side. This seeded player lost by three thousand votes today. Now, the fans in the group are mad, madly bitching about the Xin fans not keeping their word, as they’d clearly agreed that both sides would exchange votes, but the final vote count was a full fifteen thousand votes lower than their agreement.”

Everyone was in a daze.

But they immediately came back to their senses.

“So, we can…”

“Unite all the forces that can be united and make the enemies of our enemies become our friends!”

***

That day, 00:00

The King of Fire four-to-two voting officially began.

Xin vs Lin Tianze

Su Mingqian vs Elfa

This time, fans from several sides stayed on in the early hours of the morning to vote for their idols.

The following day, 00:30

Both sides’ votes were refreshed for the first time.

Su Mingqian had more votes than Elfa.

After that, the number of votes and the percentage of votes for both sides further increased with every half-hour refresh.

No matter how many votes the Elfa fan group poured in at the same time, they were always behind in the half-hour refresh, and were falling further and further behind.

This game made people outright dumb.

Xin’s fan group had previously been divided into two factions, debating whether to let Su Mingqian or Elfa take the spot. They were thinking of replicating the tactic they had used in the final eight again and kicking the stronger one out first, but found that…

This game, how come it’s not quite what I had in mind?

This game, Su Mingqian should’ve been behind Elfa, but with our help, he’d struggle to catch up with Elfa and narrowly beat him in the end. Then, when the other side is full of confidence in the final, we’d take away the votes we had quietly given him, which would make the Nine Crossings fans puzzled with doubts and collapse their mentality. Then we’d finally get an easy win… right?

This game, it’s gone too damn far!

Xin’s fan group was dumbfounded as they watched Su Mingqian furiously ride off into the distance, like a rainbow, pulling away from Elfa by nearly a third of the vote count in one fell swoop and directly making his opponent collapse.

Once mentality collapsed, all was lost.

Nine Crossings fans celebrated together that night, pulling out the slogan: “I’ll always be beside you, no matter when and where you are; I’ll face difficulties and dangers with you, no matter what they are!”

The Xin fans had won that night, and yet seemed to have lost. The group was silent for a long time, and only one sentence came from their management group: “Save your strength and prepare for the battle of life and death the day after tomorrow.”

***

The day of the final game of the Fire War.

Counting from eight o’clock in the morning.

08:00am

Xin: 61000 votes

Su Mingqian: 56000 votes

08:30am

Su Mingqian: 83000 votes

Xin: 71000 votes

09:00am

…

Refreshing all the way, both sides’ votes were neck-and-neck all the way through.

Under the fan group’s leadership, Nine Crossings fans had started a vigorous talent-for-votes campaign from midnight last night.

For those who wrote articles, they first wrote a beautiful three thousand word article, and then started recommending:

“Gentlemen, don’t miss it when you pass by. Please take a look at Nine Crossings and cast a vote. I’m willing to exchange it with an article [heart][heart]”

For those who drew, they first drew a beautiful picture, and then also started recommending:

“My dear little angels, look at Sister Qian and look at Nine Crossings. One vote from you in exchange for an avatar. One hundred votes from you and I’ll draw a big picture [mutual fans][mutual fans]”

There were also some very prominent readers who were used to splurging money on reading books:

“…Is having money counted as a talent? Why can’t adults buy votes with money? [crying][crying]”

Just when Nine Crossings fans were using all the methods they could to get votes, some rumours came from the opposite side’s Xin fan group.

“Haha, why is the other side’s vote count always increasing at a constant rate?”

“Anyone with a clear eye knows what’s going on.”

“Officials, be human. How come the other side adds as many votes as we add?”

“Tell us earlier if you’ve decided. Everyone’s time is precious.”

When the Nine Crossings fans looked at that, they got a little fired up.

But, for the time being, everyone ignored the other side and continued to actively ask for votes.

Maybe this was the other side’s dirty psychological warfare tactics, first tugging at their emotions, pulling them into a vortex of cursing, then taking the opportunity to overtake them and win over them… No, they couldn’t fall for it. They had to be steady today. When they won, they could curse them until they were unable to take care of themselves.

Something unexpected also happened at the same time.

After the usual update maintenance, the game official of the character “Xin” sent out an official “Help the Fire King” email to all game players. The email showed that as long as they went to the designated page to vote for the character through the internal link in the game, they could get in-game rewards.

The official came off the bench, and the tide of battle immediately changed.

In a short time, both sides went from having an equal number of votes to being directly pulled apart by fifty thousand votes. They were losing by ten thousand votes more than when Su Mingqian went eight to four.

Nine Crossings fans: “…”

Nine Crossings fans: “???”

The tension suddenly spread.

The chef head urgently organised everyone to start casting their true love votes, but this didn’t seem to be of much use. By the time another half hour had passed, the original gap of fifty thousand had become a gap of seventy thousand, and the gap was still widening further.

The opposite fan group’s increasingly jubilant atmosphere came along with the widening gap.

Now, the earlier rumours of organisers manipulating the votes silently disappeared, and all of them were saying that their own game was awesome.

The Nine Crossings fan group couldn’t help but curse:

“Cursing when you’re behind and laughing when you’re ahead, you really can adjust quickly!”

“You have an official and we don’t? Wait for me to go @Terminal, is Terminal dead?”

Li Shuoxing, who’d been paying attention to the situation since he found out that the final prize for the Fire King was something he wanted, wasn’t happy about this.

Although we’re currently behind for the time being, what are you @Terminal for?

Do you think it’s unfair that the other side has a dad and you don’t have one?

Let’s be clear, Su Mingqian’s dad isn’t Terminal.

Su Mingqian’s dad is me, Caramel Ximu!

Li Shuoxing actually felt a bit of secret taboo pleasure inside when he thought of this.

He coughed twice and straightened himself out. After pondering for a moment, he first briefly dissuaded his fans on Weibo.

“Everyone, stop @Terminal. Let’s make an event of our own.”

He said.

Li Shuoxing thought about it, and felt that as an author with nothing to do, he should do his own job, writing his article and bursting out updates. So, on his Weibo and Nine Crossings’s homepage on Terminal, he separately, ruthlessly, typed out a line of words.

“For every additional 10,000 votes, I’ll add 10,000 words; monthly votes can be lost, but the King of Fire must be won!”

As soon as this statement came out, the first to be excited weren’t Nine Crossings’s fans, but the authors who were second, third and fourth on that month’s monthly voting list.

Them: Huh?

Their fans: Huh?

Nine Crossings had unexpectedly won the battle for monthly votes with Master of Myriad in January this year, and everyone was shocked.

But, everyone didn’t expect that another shocking thing was yet to come.

Most authors took a break for several months after a month of battling for supremacy, but not Nine Crossings . After January, it was as if Nine Crossings was playing the rhythm and style of the monthly vote list. At the beginning of February, everyone still wanted to fight with Nine Crossings. By the middle of February, no one thought so anymore. By late February and all of March, everyone’s heart was as dead as ashes and they had calmly reached Nirvana.

But this time.

The Great Demon King had suddenly wanted to abdicate.

It was as if a ray of hope had finally fallen from the sky that had been overcast for so long.

Everyone’s minds were alive and all thinking: If Nine Crossings is willing to withdraw from the monthly vote battle this month, doesn’t that mean that I can… and the premise for Nine Crossings withdrawing from the monthly vote battle is…

Their eyes focused on the Fire War.

They even found out that Fire War votes turned out to be free to collect, while monthly votes cost money!

Their administrator and the administrator of Nine Crossings connected the dots.

Everyone quietly, quietly said:

“Hey, look at our author, it’s the first month the new book entered VIP. Otherwise…? We can give you votes, and all our fan groups can vote on your behalf.”

“Hey, look at our author, stuck in the Great God class for a long time, just waiting for this wave to rush up. Otherwise…? Vote? What’s wrong with voting? How about me and my brothers’ uncles, aunts, cousins, nieces and nephews, all being able to vote and exchange for what we need?”

“Hey, look at our author, in the twelfth anniversary month, but not once first in monthly votes. The hearers are tearful and the listeners are sad. We’ll smash all our pots and sell the iron to move you up, so please give way for the monthly votes?”

As the news spread, the top four in the monthly vote list were the first to come down, then, immediately after, the top ten also got caught up, and then, later, more authors joined in for fun.

The wind travelled all the way to Paper View of the World.

Paper View of the World was slaughtered again and again. Half the wall was of Su Mingqian’s Fire War and half the wall was of April’s new overlord candidates. A lot of noise was being made, exposing the matter to even more authors.

If even the rest of the authors were like this, what about Li Shuoxing’s Nine Crossings fan circle?!

Li Shuoxing did what he said he’d do. He asked for more votes from the moment he made his canvassing announcement!

Jobs Million appeared once again and cheerfully said, “Eunuch, hurry up and write. I’ll use the Silver League to count for you.”

So.

“Eunuch go for it! Now you owe three chapters!”

“Eunuch go for it! Now you owe ten chapters!”

“Eunuch go for it! Now you owe twenty chapters!”

On the day of the Fire War, every half hour from the afternoon onwards, a silver treasure chest for Nine Crossings crossed the favourites of all book friends.

Once, twice, thrice, countless times.

Everyone got high.

“Boss 6666666666!”

“I’ve calculated. Does he now owe 50 updates? 2000 * 50 = 100K words. Eunuch, are you okay?”

“Let’s have a few more things like the Fire War. I’m willing to happily read under the boss’s glorious light. – By Nine Crossings reader.”

“We got the idea for how to urge updates. More tournaments like this will come in the future, and we’ll sign up for Sister Qian, send fans to cry under Eunuch’s Weibo when the battle isn’t going well, and then… hehehe, hahaha.”

All the good readers of Terminal, spurred on by the silver treasure chest, happily went to the video site to increase the burden on Li Shuoxing by one vote, and opened the treasure chest anyway. Aren’t 3 Terminal coins Terminal coins? Isn’t a comic book voucher a voucher? Isn’t an audiobook voucher a voucher?

Oh, it’s always a good thing!

At nine o’clock in the evening that day, when the other side’s game official went down into the field and Terminal didn’t respond.

Su Mingqian was tied with Xin.

It was a watershed.

It was as if a dam standing in front of it had finally been washed away by a flood.

After that, it became uncontainable.

Su Mingqian repeated the four-in-two match, riding away until the end. He had pulled away from the other side by almost one hundred thousand votes by the final stretch.

Even though the Xin fans weren’t in a very good state of mind when they were tied, the Nine Crossings fans were still fighting fiercely until the very last minutes, and the very last seconds.

Because.

One vote = one word!

Not one word less!!!

That night.

Li Shuoxing was sitting in front of his computer.

His hands, placed on the keyboard, were already stiff.

He counted silently.

One, ten, one hundred, one thousand, one hundred thousand, two hundred thousand… I owe two hundred thousand words.

It’s not twenty chapters.

It’s two hundred thousand.

He began to think.

Now, I am jumping out of the window.

Can I pretend that nothing has happened?

1

外滩 [wài tān] literally translates to Outer Beach and is a waterfront area and a protected historical district in central Shanghai.