Chapter 109 - 107: The Web Novel Writer on the Trending List (Please Subscribe)
——”Abiding by the law is everyone’s responsibility”.
As a loyal fan of Lin Chuan, Old Bai felt obliged to clear his “brother’s” name, and thus, a video just released by the Lincang Police appeared in the group chat.
[Hey, Old Bai, what’s with the video you posted?]
[Don’t tell me you and Mr. Lin are starring in a drama, giving it your all in a performance.]
[Hold on, everyone go and check it out!]
[Video Publisher: Lincang Police Station.]
[…]
Group members immediately clicked on it.
Video Title——985 Master’s graduate ensnared in online romance scam, narrowly escapes death.
In the frame, one can see an interview room at a police station, where a person with somewhat messy hair is being interviewed.
Their face is partially pixelated.
In the lower left corner, a caption appears: Victim, Mr. Bai.
“You have a good understanding of scamming techniques and were on guard, so why did you still follow your online girlfriend’s suggestion and go to a remote corner?”
Asked the interviewer.
In the video, Mr. Bai seemed a bit awkward, and after hesitating, he replied:
“She and I met in person the day before, and she was as beautiful and gentle as she was online, completely submissive to me. Throughout the entire day, she didn’t show any signs of abnormality, so I let my guard down a bit.”
“Second, when we came here, she proposed going to a quiet place as she had something to tell me. I didn’t really want to go, but the way she enticed me, I found it hard to resist…”
At this point.
The group members collectively sent question marks.
[?????]
[Old Bai, can you go into detail about how she seduced you?]
[“I didn’t want to go”!]
[Can’t resist · Bai!]
[Old Bai, you’re really something!]
[Not wanting to go is your lie!]
[…]
Seeing the group’s reaction, Old Bai’s face darkened: “Wrong video, wrong one, this is it.”
The Lincang Police acted so swiftly, releasing two videos in a short period, causing Old Bai to mistakenly click the wrong one.
Old Bai promptly revisited the Lincang Police’s video page, selected the one about Lin Chuan, and shared it to the reader group.
Video Title——Web novel writer heroically rescues, effortlessly subduing fraud ring!
[I recognize every word in this title, but putting them together, I can’t quite understand it!]
[I can’t understand it either!]
[I’m also stumped, utterly bewildered!]
[It’s absurd, the words ‘web novel writer’, ‘heroic rescue’, ‘subduing fraud ring’—can they even be associated?]
[If the publisher of this video weren’t ‘Lincang Police’, I’d already be questioning it.]
[…]
The readers, half in doubt, clicked on the video after looking at the publisher.
In the video.
The very first scene is of Lin Chuan in an interview room, not showing his face, twirling a gun, the editing and close-ups akin to a movie, which left the readers momentarily stunned.
Then, the voice-over narration began.
“Notice this man, Shuai.”
“He is an ordinary web novel writer, spending each day immersed in his writing.”
“But don’t underestimate him, this web novel writer is not ordinary.”
“Using his own abilities, he stopped an international fraud crime, subdued 15 fraudsters, and rescued 12 victims.”
At that moment, the video showed a still photo from that rural road scene, taken from a distance.
A country road, two trucks, a man and a woman standing, side profiles, their faces unclear, and in front of them, fifteen people huddled and squatting down.
The narration continued.
“It all started when Shuai’s novel reader ‘Bai’ met his online love interest in person, only to become a victim of her scam. In desperation, Bai sent a distress message to Shuai.”
“Shuai decisively embarked on a mission to rescue.”
“…”
The video’s progress bar reached the end, and it finished playing, but the readers holding their phones were still in shock.
After a while, the readers came back to their senses.
[Damn, Mr. Lin, are you for real?]
[Is this video really released by Lincang Police?]
[Isn’t this a bit too outrageous?]
[You’re really daring, Mr. Lin, messing with a fraud ring!]
[@Mr. Lin, didn’t you just escape from the factory area? Are you now on a revenge spree?]
[Old Bai, what were you up to when Mr. Lin was going on a rampage?]
[A meek inquiry, isn’t Mr. Lin’s main occupation a web novel writer?]
[…]
Incredulous messages flooded the reader group, creating a wave of chatter.
Suddenly the group messages shot up to ’99+’.
A smile appeared on Old Bai’s face as he continued to post: “See, didn’t I tell you so?”
[Old Bai, I suddenly feel a bit safer, what’s going on?]
[Suspect Mr. Lin, are you doing this to atone for your crimes?]
[@Mr. Lin, big shot author, come out and say something!]
[Mr. Lin, this side of you feels so unfamiliar.]
[Author, you sneakily took down a fraud ring, not in vain for Qianqian promoting your book these past days!]
[I’ll go tell Qianqian, lest she gets slandered by those navy trolls.]
[I’m also going to confront those anti-fans!]
…
Quick Shake live streaming.
Su Qianqian’s live streaming room.
Tonight, Su Qianqian started her live stream as usual.
She wore a pink chiffon blouse, her hair in a bun, with soft makeup accentuating her gentle charm.
“Tonight I’ll continue to recommend Mr. Lin’s book ‘All-In’. I’ve been following it for three days, and now it’s approaching 90,000 words, it’s time for everyone to check it out.”
In recent days.
Although there were people accusing Lin Chuan’s ‘All-In’ of plagiarism, Su Qianqian, as a professional reading blogger, could tell that Lin Chuan was not plagiarizing.
She noticed upon careful reading that ‘All-In’ and Ming’s ‘The Years I Was Tricked into the Factory Area’, both present the first-person perspective of being duped into a factory and becoming a fraud salesman, have fundamental differences.
‘The Years I Was Tricked into the Factory Area’ emphasizes reality.
In its author’s words, it’s 100% authentic to the factory life.
Its characters, events, and objects are also adapted from real cases.
But beyond that, it was lacking in many flavors.
As for Lin Chuan’s “All-In,” in Su Qianqian’s view, it was not just realistic, but also contained much deeper contemplation about fraud.
It didn’t simply expose the ins and outs of the scams, it fully showcased the specific operations of a factory area, revealing the entire industry chain of overseas internet fraud.
Every detail was deeply carved into the narrative.
This was precisely why Su Qianqian preferred “All-In” over the others.
In the live-stream room, viewers’ bullet comments floated across.
[Qianqian, can I touch your bun hairdo?]
[I’m also reading this book, didn’t expect my wife to share my taste.]
[Quit daydreaming, Qianqian is in my arms reading the book.]
[Ha! The host is still promoting a plagiarized book, I’m unfollowing!]
[Qianqian, my dear, stop promoting this book. That author stole someone else’s creative work!]
[Qianqian, I used to like you quite a bit, now I’m somewhat disappointed in you.]
[…]
Su Qianqian was never fond of dealing with those anti-fans and trolls.
However, over three consecutive nights, these anti-fans and trolls were causing trouble in her live-stream room, so after glancing at the floating comments, Su Qianqian, with a smile on her face, retorted,
“Why do you say Mr. Lin’s book is plagiarism? Could being two hours late in publishing be evidence of plagiarism? Where’s the color comparison chart?”
A color comparison chart means comparing two articles side by side, using brightly colored markers to highlight identical sentences in a tabular form, to determine whether an article is plagiarized.
The anti-fans immediately replied.
[Why would we need a color comparison chart?]
[Qianqian, it’s clear to anyone with eyes, Mr. Lin covers multiple industries in his novel, each described so meticulously, I can’t believe he could achieve this!]
[Even if his previous books might be explainable, how about “All-In”? Does he dare to claim he escaped from a factory area too?]
[Obviously, only someone like Ming, who escaped from the factory, could have written this book!]
With a smile, Su Qianqian countered, “So a novel about anti-fraud only gains recognition if it’s written by someone who escaped from a factory area? Can’t others write from this perspective?”
The anti-fans clung to this point and refused to let go.
In the live-stream room.
The anti-fans, rarely seeing Su Qianqian respond to them consecutively, felt immensely satisfied, their fingers swiftly dancing on the keyboards.
[Host, you’re equivocating. I’m talking about Mr. Lin plagiarizing, plagiarizing!]
[Ming has authentic experiences, does Mr. Lin have any similar experiences?]
[Clearly he doesn’t!]
[Don’t even say he hasn’t been tricked into a factory by fraudsters; he doesn’t even have any experience dealing with fraud gangs!]
[Right, without any experience, it is absolutely impossible to write such novels!]
[…]
Su Qianqian raised her clear and pure eyes, pondering momentarily, “How do you know Mr. Lin hasn’t had such experiences?”
[If he had such experience, why didn’t he come out to respond?]
[He’s feeling guilty, he’s scared!]
[He’s afraid of digging himself deeper, so he’d rather be a coward!]
[If he didn’t plagiarize, he would have issued a statement right away!]
[Is he going to send a cease-and-desist letter? I’m so scared!]
[…]
In the live-stream room, the anti-fans’ claims grew more and more exaggerated.
Su Qianqian shook her head reluctantly.
Indeed, it was impossible to reason with anti-fans.
No matter what others say, they just bite down on one point and think they have won.
As for logic, as for evidence…
In the virtual online world, it’s hard to find an anti-fan who uses logic and evidence.
If he used logic and evidence, would he still be an anti-fan?
[Qianqian, my dear, don’t argue with them, it’s futile.]
[They are paid to do a job, no matter what you say, they’ll insist it’s plagiarism.]
[Five cents per negative comment, that’s what hiring trolls is about!]
[Qianqian, I’m here!]
[Qianqian, my cutie, I came here from Mr. Lin’s fan group, I’ve brought good news!]
[Me too, Lin Chuan, the crime suspect, is silently accomplishing big things!]
[Anti-fans, come out and talk!]
[Anti-fans, let’s have a showdown!]
[Count me in!]
[…]
In front of the computer, Su Qianqian looked at the sudden emergence of a bunch of ‘Mr. Lin’s fans,’ her expression slightly startled.
These days, some of ‘Mr. Lin’s fans’ were also in her live-stream room, but when arguing with anti-fans they always seemed to fall short.
Rarely did they appear as they did now.
Full of confidence and assertiveness.
Could it be that they had an ace up their sleeve?
“What big silent deed has Mr. Lin been doing recently?” Su Qianqian asked with a smile.
Lin Chuan’s readers immediately responded.
[Mr. Lin has been traveling in Yundian recently; he’s in Lincang today.]
[Let me enlighten everyone!]
[Lincang, a small border city, connects to the ‘Myanmar area’ on its southwest side, featuring beautiful scenery and a great tourist city.]
Lincang?
Su Qianqian frowned slightly, so Mr. Lin had gone traveling, no wonder he hadn’t been seen responding to this issue for the past few days.
The anti-fans reacted swiftly.
[What big things could he possibly do by traveling to Lincang in silence?]
[Maybe he knew he was accused of plagiarizing, so he went near the border to find inspiration!]
[Hahaha, looking for inspiration, can’t hold back anymore!]
[What if the fraud gang targets him, then he’ll really end up in a factory area, hahaha…]
Before Su Qianqian could reply.
Lin Chuan’s loyal readers began to go into berserk mode.
[Little anti-fans, go check out who’s topping the trending search list for web novel writers!]
[The fraud gang targeting Mr. Lin is behind bars!]
[Who dares say Mr. Lin hasn’t had encounters with fraud gangs?]
[Mr. Lin deals with them hardcore!]
[Little anti-fans, ‘open your eyes to the world’]
[See what a god-tier web novel writer is like!]
Watching the two factions in her live-stream room, Su Qianqian frowned slightly, a confused look appearing on her face, “A web novel writer has made the hot search list?”