Chapter 252: I use your ideas, that's me doing you a favor! (Seeking...)

The problem is truly big.

Fang Dazhuang is going to the United States to handle his own affairs, and Zhou Yi sat in his room, stunned for a long while.

It is strange to say, but he has actually only known Fang Dazhuang for a little over half a year, yet there is a silent rapport; no matter what unreasonable demands he proposes, the other party can always find support for them in the law.

But now that Fang Dazhuang is going to the United States, what is he to do if he has another case in the future?

Forget it, he can only say he will wait and not trigger any events, nor will he stir up trouble; he will wait until Fang Dazhuang returns before deciding.

Packing his things, this trip to Modu was quite worth it; he didn't spend a cent of his own money and even earned quite a bit.

This includes not only the 200,000 in cash rewards from the task events but also the Return One Compensate Three from the Chengdu Company.

Unaccountably, Zhou Mouren developed an illusion in his heart that he is just like that brother named Wang Duoyu; the more he fights these lawsuits, the more money he makes, and it just keeps increasing.

The Serious System, which was perfectly fine, was almost turned into a Money Laundering System by him...

Time to go back; after his parents finished looking at the house in Lincheng, they already returned to Jingzhou, and there is no point in him staying in Modu, so he is going home.

He bought his plane ticket that same day and Zhou Yi headed straight for Jingzhou.

Returning home, the Yuefu Residential Quarter is still the same as always; without realizing it, the new Property Management Manager has been working here for nearly half a year, and in these six months, the Small Residential District is truly a completely different concept from the past.

The act of occupying the Fire Lane for parking is now absolutely impossible to see; the Property Management indeed does not have law enforcement power, but the Property Management can report it to the Fire Department for penalties.

Incidentally, occupying the Fire Lane, even if it does not lead to consequences, will still be penalized as long as it is discovered.

The underground parking lot has also undergone thorough rectification, and for the behavior of occupying others' parking spaces, the Property Management also has corresponding methods; they don't just smooth things over, and it isn't a case of whoever makes the most noise is in the right.

These are all gradual changes, reflected on the outside by many residents of the Small Residential District discovering that the unpleasant things of the past are slowly decreasing, while the service level of the Property Management is improving.

Service personnel with bad attitudes have already been dismissed.

Walking in the Small Residential District, Zhou Yi feels quite happy.

Although many people might not know this is his credit, it doesn't matter; I am only serious because I like being serious.

The Company has already sent over the edited video, and Zhou Yi went home to start dubbing.

"Hello everyone, my dear audience, after many twists and turns, this Video Part Two is finally out. Everyone is already clear on the specific events, so I am just here to talk about some details."

"For example, at the very beginning, I chatted with Fang Dazhuang, and he talked about the current situation of Big Data Price Discrimination, the reasons, and so on. Many people on the internet think I shouldn't be so serious about this, but have they ever thought about how huge the profits in this really are?"

In the video, Zhou Yi threw out some data, all calculated based on actual samples, such as a food delivery order or a hotel room, what the actual price is, and what it is after the discount.

As well as where exactly the platform's so-called losses are coming from.

This is all a summary after his own investigation; he did not draw any conclusions, nor did he have any corresponding final verdict.

He just simply let everyone take a look, to see why he wants to be serious about Big Data Price Discrimination!

The video accompanying this passage is the chat Zhou Yi and Fang Dazhuang had in the coffee shop at the very beginning.

It is not that the state is not taking action, but that it must take action fundamentally through legislation.

This episode of the video, in Zhou Yi's words, is really just a filler episode; there isn't much useful content.

And at the end, Zhou Yi spoke his true thoughts.

"Today, the internet has completely changed the life of every one of us. They unscrupulously impose everything upon us—all kinds of privacy clauses, disclaimer clauses—and when you ask, they just say, you can choose not to use our products."

"The logic seems correct, but this isn't right, is it? Whether I use your products or not has nothing to do with whether your behavior is illegal, right?"

"So I just want to tell everyone, please don't be a frog in boiling water. Yes, today they are only doing Big Data Price Discrimination, but what about in the future?"

"Some people might feel this isn't something we individuals should worry about, but if you aren't serious, and I'm not serious, then who can we count on?"

Zhou Yi's words were very messy, but that is just what he wanted to say; he roughly checked that there was no Tort content and clicked upload.

Fang Dazhuang has gone to the United States; he still remembers that Miss Xiao Xu asked him to help ask Fang Dazhuang if he could provide a consultation.

Regarding such matters, there is not much Zhou Yi can do, only send Miss Xiao Xu's contact information to Fang Dazhuang and let Fang Dazhuang contact the other party when he is not busy.

This is actually already considered settled, because Fang Dazhuang will definitely help out of respect for him; it is just unclear when he will have time after this trip.

And the most critical thing is, how long will it take for Fang Dazhuang to return after going out this time?

Without Fang Dazhuang by his side, he feels insecure doing anything...

So he will just obediently go to work next; he has been too idle in Modu recently, and Zhou Mouren has picked up the mobile game he had previously dropped.

To tell the truth, setting aside the various problems with this game, just for killing time, it is indeed not bad.

And the most important thing is that he can play it anytime and anywhere, so for this period, Zhou Yi decided to indulge in the game; I refuse to believe that there could be problems with playing a game.

If there are problems with this too, is there any justice left in the world?

Time flew by until the evening, nearly twelve o'clock, and Zhou Mouren was still immersed in the game.

Meanwhile, in a room on the other side of the Yuefu Residential Quarter, Miss Xiao Xu's fingers were dancing on the keyboard.

After typing it all out with a clatter, she checked the time—11:58 PM—and without proofreading, she uploaded it in a hurry; at 11:59 PM, she finally let out a sigh of relief.

She managed to secure her perfect attendance for another day; damn it, every day is a deadline.

Zhou Yi had always been curious about what this young lady did, because her family didn't seem to be wealthy.

Miss Xiao Xu is just an office worker who does some administrative and secretarial work, but in private, she is also an internet writer, and she writes for the male-oriented category.

She herself is very conflicted right now; her work is too busy, but the money she earns is far less than what she makes from writing.

But she cannot just resign to go full-time so rashly; if her novel flops in the future, she will have no way to make a living.

Just after finishing the update, she thought of the previous matter again.

Honestly, Miss Xiao Xu is quite knowledgeable in the web novel industry and knows that as long as one person writes a hit book, in the blink of an eye, ten thousand books following the trend will appear.

It was fine a few years ago, but in the last two years, some free sites have opened, and coupled with some websites that were already copying everywhere, this trend-following behavior has directly evolved into naked plagiarism.

Of course, those authors euphemistically call it "stocking up."

In the past, editors taught her to scan the charts and learn the writing style of those hit books.

But now? People are directly "stocking up," stripping away the ideas and plots, reversing the beginning and end, translating within the same language, and directly changing the appearance of your book to publish it.

There is no way around it; it is hard to make money now, and coupled with the instigation of some laymen, it seems like writing web novels is a very simple thing—anyone can do it, and as long as you come, earning tens or hundreds of thousands a month is not a problem.

What kind of international joke is that? She has been writing web novels for so many years, flopping all the way, and she knows better than anyone that this industry requires panning for gold in the waves.

They only see those who make money, but don't see the many authors who haven't signed a contract, or who signed one but can't even earn back the shipping costs.

Under such circumstances, the situation of "stocking up" naturally came into being.

Just plagiarize anyway; everyone thinks they're so clever, changing things slightly, or even too lazy to change them at all—you can tell just by looking at the book title and synopsis that this is fucking plagiarism.

Xiao Xu has also heard of the phenomenon where copycats kill off original works, and here we must mention another deformed existence in the web novel industry: the Self-Media Studio.

They skin your creative ideas, transport your opening, and then, relying on a large number of authors, use their sheer volume of updates to grind you to death.

People don't call writing books "writing books" anymore; what do they call it? They call it "manufacturing books."

They list out the entire detailed outline and plot of a hit book, and then just fill in the blanks according to those frameworks.

So many people discover that, damn it, as they read, why do the plots of so many books feel almost exactly the same?

A book becomes a hit, then the whole internet is filled with books of the same type, leading directly to severe homogenization, and then—there is no then.

This creative idea dies, the Self-Media Studio continues to look for other books, and continues to repeat the previous process.

In the past, these things hadn't happened to her; she often saw battles on many forums where someone would say such-and-such book plagiarized their own, and so on.

At the time, Xiao Xu didn't feel much, but now, her own book has had a little success, and not to mention this site, a bunch of copycat and even plagiarized books have appeared on many neighboring websites.

The key is that when she leaves comments under those books, she gets permanently banned and muted by the authors directly; she was almost furious to death!

Contacting the customer service or editors of the other party's website, everything is like a stone sinking into the ocean, or at most, they give one sentence: if you think it's plagiarized, then go file a Lawsuit.

Xiao Xu feels she has never been this angry before; on what grounds, on what grounds are they so arrogant after plagiarizing my book?

She can't figure it out; she wants to grant their wish—you want me to file a Lawsuit, right? Then I'll file a Lawsuit!

But she doesn't know any reliable Lawyer, and honestly, regarding the matter of fighting a lawsuit, Xiao Xu is still very clear about the difficulty of such plagiarism cases.

It is too hard to define.

The cost of Legal Aid is sky-high, yet the final result is often unsatisfactory, so the consequence is that plagiarists are fearless; at most, the book gets banned, and at worst, they just change their account and keep plagiarizing.

So she wanted to ask Zhou Yi to see if Lawyer Fang had any good methods.

But many days have passed, and there is still no movement from Brother Zhou; what is going on?

Sigh, this anger in her chest cannot be swallowed, she can't sleep, and Xiao Xu opens the forum again.

Her own post about the plagiarism has already been sent out, but it's useless.

Clicking on the replies above, Xiao Xu intends to see what suggestions everyone has given today.

Reading through them one by one, Xiao Xu suddenly freezes after seeing one of the replies.

It was a reply from a forum user named "Flying Superman."

"Finished writing today, and heard I was being called out, so I came to take a look; the book being called out is mine."

"In the first half of this year, I was scanning the rankings on the site, and saw this creative idea was good, so I took it to write; as for the plot, honestly, the idea was good, but the plot was total trash, a pure flop, simply wasting the idea."

"So I rewrote the content."

"As for saying the synopsis and opening are the same, you call it plagiarism just because the synopsis and opening look the same? It's just borrowing a little bit of the beginning, is this also plagiarism?"

"Does his trash content even deserve for me to plagiarize it? Everyone, finish reading before you blabber, okay?"

The entire comment is very long, but the core meaning is only one: what trash content, me plagiarizing you is me doing you a favor; if you're no good, you can come be my ghostwriter, and I'll lead you to make money.

Xiao Xu is stunned seeing these words; she never thought that there could be such people in this world!

Now, not to mention whether it defines plagiarism or not, just talking about the creative idea, copycats should at least maintain a little bit of respect for the original.

At the very least, it was someone else who thought of this idea first and used it to write.

Using someone else's idea and still acting like 'me using your idea is doing you a favor, you should be grateful and come be my ghostwriter'...

Really, late at night, Xiao Xu is shaking with anger!

She knows that book; it's one from a neighboring novel website, and the opening cannot be said to be the same as her book—it can be said to be exactly identical!

Xiao Xu replies with trembling hands: "So my content is such trash that you still have to copy the opening? I'm such trash and you still have to use my creative idea?"

Looking at the other replies, many people are saying that this is no longer a problem of plagiarism, this is simply a lack of character.

For readers, whether an author plagiarizes or not doesn't matter to many, but for authors, the creative ideas and plots they worked so hard to think of have cost them a whole lot of hair.

And then someone just takes it away and uses it, and finishes by clamoring at you, 'plagiarizing you is doing you a favor'—how would you feel?

Really, Xiao Xu now has the urge to follow the internet cable and have a real-life PK with the other party!

Not long after she finished replying, Xiao Xu saw the other party's reply.

"You think I plagiarized you, right? Then go report me on our website; see who will pay attention to you. If you still feel unhappy, then go sue; anyway, you're so sure I plagiarized you."

"I am really fed up with these authors nowadays; when did using your creative idea become plagiarism? In that book 'Battle Through the Heavens', so many people used the 'breaking off the engagement' opening, and I didn't see any big shots jumping out to say anything, did I?"

"An empty vessel makes the most noise; instead of using this time to write, you come to do this? Are you sick!"

Bang! Xiao Xu pushes her computer directly onto the floor.

She has never, never had such an intense feeling before: wanting someone to die!

Yes, that's it; forget about the law or whatever, she just wants the other party to die right now!

People live in this world not just for bread, but for dignity.

She has reported it to the website, but it was like a stone sinking into the ocean, without a single response.

It's as if the reporting customer service of the other party is dead.

She has also posted on forums, and they all say many websites strictly forbid plagiarism—bullshit; if a book is a hit, the website will protect it to the death; who would go against money?

Isn't it just relying on the website's protection? Isn't it just thinking that no one will really be serious about such a small matter? Fine, very good!

After a good while, that agitated emotion finally calmed down; Xiao Xu looks at the computer on the floor and starts to feel heartache again—there must be reason in this world!

Just as she is feeling heartache, Xiao Xu suddenly sees a stranger adding her on WeChat, with the note 'Fang Xujing'.

Fang Xujing? Who is that? What a strange name.

Wait, Lawyer Fang?

Brother Zhou actually didn't forget this time!

The morning throat-moistening chapter is here. Before writing this plot, I was still hesitating whether to write it, because readers might not be able to relate to this feeling. But after hesitating again and again, I wrote it anyway. Truly, the world has suffered from plagiarism for too long. Defining it is hard, Legal Aid is hard, claiming damages is hard—it is just too hard... Those who don't like this plot can skip it; it won't be very long.

Wine Sword is just a barking dog, only daring to get high on a few words in books.

Thanks to Book Friend 2017, Reader 150, Black Called White, CU Xiaonong, Another Newbie, Peninsula Liushang, A Wild Gaga, Wenchidage, Cautious Human, Feimaowuyu, Justice, and thanks to all the brothers for their tips.

Special thanks to Reader 150 for the Alliance Leader pledge, and to Ai B Zai for another Alliance Leader... But regarding the details of the wedding, I really cannot elaborate...

(End of chapter)