Chapter 53: My Gosh, the System Dad Can Even Be Repaired?

The program had only a few minutes left.

Teacher Fang, dazed and confused, glanced casually at the panel, suddenly froze, and felt as if his eyes were playing tricks on him.

He blinked, scanned again, and the Starlight Value jumped once more, surging by 10,000.

Holy cow, where exactly has this gone?!

About six days ago, the Starlight Value had risen to over 50 million; back then, he had saved it up, unwilling to spend it.

After the release of "Added Value" and the launch of the "I Am the Sole Monarch" interview, it skyrocketed to 70 million in four days.

From yesterday to today, within the 24 hours following the program's broadcast, it climbed to 82 million.

And now, within just 50 minutes after the rebroadcast, the Starlight Value has surged all the way to 95 million!

Just how many people were attracted by the rebroadcast?

The director of Jishi TV deserves a bonus chicken leg!

The Starlight Value was finally enough; Fang Xinghe had originally intended to max out Coordination directly, but seeing the number still rising rapidly, his heart stirred suddenly, and he decided to wait a bit longer.

Wait for it to break one hundred million, achieving his first small life goal.

Although it had no practical effect, it was like unlocking a milestone node, which felt very satisfying.

The interview on the television had already reached the stage where the outcome was undecided; another highlight was coming up next, but he couldn't spare a glance, his mind entirely filled with the Starlight Value about to break one hundred million.

A nine-digit dream, achieved in such a way, was truly wonderfully bizarre...

Amidst the handsome man's slightly anxious and excited waiting, the Starlight Value, like an unbridled husky, frantically sprinted toward the small goal.

Until that moment—on the television, he lightly raised an eyebrow and said nonchalantly, "I am definitely the dark horse; as for others... love it or leave it."

The Starlight Value biu—shot through the final bit of progress, truly standing atop the 100 million mark!

In that very instant, something wonderful happened—

The system popped up a prompt box for the first time on its own.

【Congratulations, Host, on accumulating Starlight at the hundred-million level for the first time. Consuming 100 million Starlight, the Star God Auxiliary System (Broken Version) can receive a primary repair. Execute?】

Huh?

This thing isn't completely broken after all?

So... should I add points or repair?

"Repair, repair!"

Hesitating for even a second would be disrespectful to the Big Daddy; as for Coordination or Stamina, go queue up for two days at the back.

With a thought, faint dark golden lines swept across the system's concise panel; then the interface vanished and reappeared, the repair completed instantly.

Fang Xinghe looked forward with high expectations, only to be immediately struck with a forehead full of black lines.

【Star God Auxiliary System (Damaged Version)】

Holy cow, changed from "heavily broken" to "moderately broken"; in short, it still can't get away from that word "broken," right?

Apart from that "damaged" part, there seemed to be no major changes in other aspects.

It wasn't until he looked at the Starlight panel carefully again and again that he finally found a slight difference.

【Starlight Panel】

【Fan Count: 8.05m (Expand)】

【Starlight Value: 250k】

【Star Glory Value: 3】

Yes, an "Expand" option appeared after the fan count number.

Fang Xinghe had a guess in his heart; he focused his will on it, opened the originally fixed data, and in a rush, a Level 5 Fan Detail Table flashed out.

Level 1 Floating Fans: 7,546,300

Level 2 Core Fans: 482,500

Level 3 Die-hard Fans: 27,520

Level 4 Fanatics: 857

Level 5 Believers: 0

"Huh?"

So the change after leveling up is here...

He glanced at the other attribute panels again and found that indeed, there were new expandable items.

Fang Xinghe suppressed his excitement and switched back to the Starlight Panel, suddenly discovering another peculiarity—

As long as the 【Starlight Panel】 remained open, if his gaze passed through the floating transparent window and focused on a specific person, the panel would glow with corresponding colored light!

Fang Xinghe looked at Yu Xiaoduo; the panel outlined a purple-red hue, and the 【Level 4 Fanatic】 tag flashed simultaneously.

Looking at Fang Yuting next, it was a deep azure blue, Level 3 Die-hard.

Lu Tingting, a clear red—rational fanatic fan?

Looking at them one by one, there were eight Fanatics and four Die-hards; whether one was a fanatic or not was not entirely consistent with affection, but mainly depended on each person's nature.

The firmer one's will, the harder it is to increase fan level.

For example, Director Fang himself; back when he was a water army member, he greatly admired Xiao Zhan and Yang Chaoyue, but he was merely a fence-sitting Floating Fan, whereas he was actually at the Core Fan level for Xiao Tian and Na Zha... ahem, physical fans.

Generally speaking, passerby favorability means knowing who you are, with a generally positive impression.

Level 1 Floating Fans can accurately recognize your face, know your representative works, hold considerable favor, and are willing to offer appropriate support when you have new works.

Representative stars with massive Floating Fans include Fang Long, Li Lianjie, Zhou Xingye, Zhou Nai Cha, Yao Pangzi, and now Xiao Yanzi, who enjoys near-universal favor.

Level 2 Core Fans begin to support you firmly, but they won't like only you; their support level is also within the premise of not affecting their normal lives.

Level 3 Die-hards are unreasonable; if you, Zhou Nai Cha, cross over to make a movie, we will blindly support you; even if the previous one was terrible, we'll still watch "The Slam Dunk."

Die-hards can still have their attention scattered; for example, a Die-hard of HOT might also like Lu Yi and Fang Xinghe, after all, the fields don't conflict, and some fans aren't that sensitive.

But once they reach Level 4 Fanatic Toxic Devotee, there can be only one idol.

The TF Three Little Ones might be the artists with the most toxic devotee fans; years of internal battles have mostly refined them down.

Bo Jun Yi Xiao isn't bad either; when the couple was split, they refined fans with a crash and bang, and just mentioning the other triggers a stress response.

And people like Fang Long and Li Lianjie have no crazy fans—actually, not many die-hard fans either—when they transitioned to filming dramatic roles, stopped fighting, and immediately lost all support.

This is a typical phenomenon of many floating fans and few die-hards.

From this, it is clear that raising fan levels is not easy; it is truly not something that happens naturally just because you are handsome, beautiful, or have good works.

The Thirteen Eagles, plus the unofficial Fang Dadan, produced only eight fanatic fans.

And there is a detail here—excluding Fang Xinghe himself, only twelve of the thirteen people are above the die-hard level.

The one who fell behind...

left Fang Xinghe in a very complex mood.

Li Gang'ao, the Omen of Death, ranked Little Eight, fierce in fights, speaks little, usually radiates a gloomy aura, and looks at people with a dark face.

His fan level is only Level 1, emitting a weak Bai Guang.

For the most part, it is a respect that must be given, but not a sincere one.

Jealousy? Injustice? Anger? Wanting to take his place?

Probably all of these to some extent; when people are young, they indeed easily fail to see themselves clearly, get swept up by negative emotions, and focus their attention on the outside world rather than themselves.

Never mind, the cause is not serious; he is already a passerby in Fang Xinghe's heart.

If seven of the thirteen people were floating fans, it would surely mean the Big Brother didn't do enough, that there was something lacking; but if only one of the thirteen is an outlier, then there is no need to look for reasons in oneself.

It's not to the point of hatred, just that there is no need to continue interacting anymore.

The Thirteen Eagles are still the Thirteen Eagles; Fang Dadan wants to mix in so badly he's going crazy, and even more people are lining up outside; except for Fang Xinghe who is indispensable, anyone falling behind is not worth mentioning.

Then let it be so...

Fang Xinghe did not indulge in sadness; on the contrary, he was very happy.

The new function is of great significance; not only can it identify fan levels face-to-face, but it can also provide precise data.

The head of the water army couldn't help but shout in his heart: Brother, we can finally put our professional ethics to work!

Living in 1999, the thing that made Boss Fang most uncomfortable was precisely the lack of data.

Without advanced data collection tools and without comprehensive data collection channels, Boss Fang felt more than half of his skills were wasted; everything had to rely on guessing rather than targeted, precise decision-making.

In the later period of his time as a water army soldier, AI tools and big data analysis tools could pinpoint the number of true fans of a target to the hundreds, could precisely separate the paid water and tap water bought for a drama, and could collect the specific spending power and user profile of a single fan from social media platforms...

Having grown accustomed to that level of directness, it now felt like being blind with eyes open.

It wouldn't affect life, but it was just awkward.

Post-2000 brats playing with various AI tools, while the mighty Boss Fang lay in a pile of newspapers weighing over ten jin extracting text information... painful.

Now, finally possessing some precise data, he can at last make further analysis and plans regarding his own situation; congratulations and celebration.

Judging from the disproportionate fan structure, his initial judgment was quite correct.

A writer is a profession that easily attracts fans but is not easy to retain them.

The reach of text is very good; when encountering the right person, it can reach deep into the soul.

However, the connection between literary works and the author themselves is very poor.

The most obvious example is J. K. Rowling; with global official sales of the Harry Potter series exceeding 700 million, uncountable pirated copies, and extremely successful film adaptations, surely her fans must be numerous?

Her social media account has only 14 million followers, and the die-hards number less than ten thousand.

After she publicly opposed transgender issues, all relevant parties cut ties with her; fan websites even expelled her from authorship, which was extremely magical realism.

And how many fans dared to support her despite public opinion pressure?

Very few.

Most of the supporters who spoke out were driven by ideology, using the opportunity to vent dissatisfaction and engage in hostile ranting.

Who truly cared whether she herself was okay? No one cared at all.

Da Liu and Dang Nian Ming Yue were the same.

Therefore, a writer and an idol writer are truly not the same thing.

Han Er and Guo Si: one pioneered the path of the idol writer domestically, the other carried it forward and made it great; both are impressive, but their methods are completely different.

Han Er embarked on the path of an opinion leader, attracting angry young men as fans.

Guo Si took a sharp, unconventional turn, torturing young girls with youth trauma literature, and also reaped the benefits of fujoshi fans; thinking about it, it wasn't easy.

In terms of general popularity and the number of floating fans, Big Brother >>> Guo Si; but in terms of the number of die-hard fans, it is exactly the reverse.

So, don't look at how their first movie box office numbers were similar; in essence, they are completely different: one is a call from a literary-minded angry young man to a similar group of people, the other is a purely girlish fan-oriented film version of a youth dream.

So, can the advantages of both paths be combined, seeking the horse according to need, and playing more precisely?

Fang Xinghe felt it was worth trying.

In the early startup phase, follow the same path as Big Brother—

establish an image with sharp text, focus on the pain points of teenagers, and while expanding fame, trigger resonance among a minority group.

The result, due to extremely high looks, displayed an illusion of universal appeal.

Now, the truth is finally clear: 80% of the female fans are looks-based fans, persona-based fans, and mommy fans, not text or literary fans.

Most male fans are personality-based and text-based fans, but they are naturally difficult to become die-hards.

So the overall result presented is an explosion of floating fans, a shortage of core fans, too few die-hards, and extremely few fanatic fans...

If it weren't for being scolded daily and brutally tortured, the number of core fans might have been discounted by seventy percent, and die-hards would be even harder to find.

Hmm, this is very scientific.

What's even more painful is another matter: the emotional projection of text is already poor enough, and among all literary works, essays are the worst kind.

Big Brother wrote so many exhilarating great essays, accumulated fans over ten years, and fought the world every day; yet when Han's three pieces came out, more than half of the floating fans defected, and a volume of tens of millions collapsed instantly.

It wasn't until three years later, when his first film was released, that he began to recover somewhat—but mainly thanks to the film's quality sustaining its longevity.

The real-name, all-caps suffering was brutal, but it was inevitable.

After the rage of the angry youth phase, how much genuine feeling could the author still retain?

In contrast, Fang Xinghe had only been famous for a few days, yet he was already far more popular than Han Han during the Three Gates period.

Thanks to the hotness from the Nanchang System's old iron fans, thanks to the brilliance that maximized the looks.

But whenever he saw Xiao Yanzi's news, Xiao Fang immediately calmed down, with not a trace of arrogance left.

Don't get cocky—you're just a shitty writer, nowhere near the lead of a hit drama.

Even if you don't compare yourself to those prodigies, just look at Lu Yi, your direct rival—the truth is quite cruel.

"Eternal Sleeplessness" premiered this year on Beijing TV, but due to plot issues, its second rerun was ordered to be revised and re-reviewed, not to air on multiple channels until next year; yet even this single-channel premiere turned Xiao Tong, the beautiful-strong-tragic character, into a lifelong white moonlight for female viewers.

In terms of heat, Lu Yi, who never promoted himself, was nowhere near Fang Xinghe; in terms of diehard fans, he crushed him.

Xiao Tong crushed the genius writer.

This is how a classic character in film and television elevates the actor: powerful emotional projection, enduring imagery, vast imaginative space, a real and tangible fantasy object…

Can't compare, can't compare.

Keyboard-pounding losers aren't even worthy of comparison.

Although Fang Xinghe is an orphan and personally fits the beautiful-strong-tragic definition, real-life suffering lacks the visual immediacy of film and television—it can't be projected onto the soul's depths, lacks tangible impact, so the effect is far weaker.

Mao Xiaotong suffered even more—who even fanned her?

Fake suffering, once filmed, evokes more empathy than "real but unseen" suffering.

On this point, the whole world is the same: Leonardo DiCaprio's self-sacrificing rescue of his girlfriend in "The Great Ship" made him a top-tier idol; the perfect persona in "Twilight" turned Kristen into a female top idol; Wei Wuxian from "The Untamed," Xiang Liu from "Longing for You," Li Lianhua from "Lotus Lantern"—all skyrocketed instantly.

Just one classic character is insanely powerful—it's enough to establish a lifelong foundation.

But once you have three…

What does middle-aged weight gain even matter~~~

Later, many young people who never watched dramas didn't understand why Fat Fairy still held the top spot in female business—she'd made over a decade of films, none of them good, yet she was always trending; they assumed she relied purely on marketing, failing to grasp the mechanism of emotional projection from classic characters.

Luxury brands that deeply understood this logic didn't care at all—they poured on deals without hesitation, ignoring all the chaos in the fan circles.

In the big data models and commercial value assessment systems of consumer giants, one core metric for endorsers is whether they possess a classic character that endures, continuously generating positive influence.

If you don't have one, you don't deserve a high price.

Another good example is Jiao Enjun—Jiao Shu isn't actually top-tier handsome; in his natural state, his features have many flaws; of his hundreds of dramas, only a few held up ratings—but in the public's mind, he is the ancient costume god: the filters of Li Xunhuan, Yang Jian, and Zhan Zhao have long detached from reality, reaching a point of defying basic logic.

That's why Fang Xinghe is solely focused on becoming an actor.

Whether you have a classic character directly determines the upper limit of diehard fans and Starlight Value.

This isn't a problem solvable by literary quality—it's a comprehensive project combining artistic image, personal image, marketing ability, coverage ceiling, and depth of projection.

Before today, Fang Xinghe had only made inferences based on experience.

Now that the fan tiers have been revealed, they finally validate his thinking—so his future direction is clearer than ever.

Prepare, accumulate, portray a classic character, reach a level unmatched by anyone else; if no good role exists, create one yourself—take on writing, directing, and acting; even seize control of funding…

Not seeking profit, determined to create classics.

Everything, everything, serves Starlight Value and Starlight Glory Value.

Precisely because of this, he isn't rushing to add points to writing—79 points of output capacity is more than enough; for now, he mainly relies on intellectual depth and ultra-contemporary material to write essays; his current prose is more than sufficient, adding more would just be waste.

By the time he makes the final revision of his first long novel in two months, he'll have plenty of time to upgrade his writing attribute.

Then he can leave it alone—89 points of output capacity will suffice for life, unless he suddenly aims for the Nobel Prize, no need to add more.

On the other hand, Coordination directly affects countless martial arts skills, various actor training methods, voice, diction, movement, performance—all fundamental skills; such a vast array of skills can't be brute-forced with Starlight Value—the gap is too wide, only steady personal practice can close it.

So the earlier you max out Coordination, the greater the benefit.

In Fang Xinghe's ultimate life goal, Health 1, Immunity 2, Recovery 3, Endurance 4—strength and speed mean nothing.

But in his mid- to short-term plan, Coordination comes first, the rest vary with circumstances.

This is Fang Zong's core working philosophy and method for climbing to the top three of the entertainment industry: focus tightly on the central thread, take what's needed, discard what's not, move forward relentlessly without deviation.

…

"Shit shit shit shit shit!"

Xiao Yanbian suddenly jumped up and swung his fist, pulling Fang Xinghe back from his daydream.

The program froze on his faint smile; the Xiao Ying group exploded.

"Fuck! So fucking hot, right?!"

"Damn right—I'm now drooling over white shirts!"

"Big bro just sitting there radiates serious aura!"

"Father of Sanzhong Sect! National Teenage Top Boss, Xinghe·Fang Landau!"

"Yes, big bro, raise your arm and shout—first unify Nongan, then the whole country, ascend to power today!"

"Pfft!"

Fang Xinghe spat out the watermelon he'd just bitten into, his toes digging desperately into the ground, his mind filled with Geneva, you idiot.

Everyone's a total extrovert—do they even have the word "embarrassment" in their dictionary?

But Zhang Qi, who shouted "Fang Jiaofu," wasn't even the craziest—the ones after him were even more insane.

"It says in the interview it was me!" Bao Fu boasted proudly, strutting around, "The very first person to pay money to the boss was none other than yours truly!"

"Fatso, what the hell are you proud of? I was the first girl to throw myself at Big Bro—did I brag about it?"

Fang Xinghe could no longer bear to listen.

These fourteen- and fifteen-year-olds—innocence and stupidity intertwined, childishness and restlessness blended; if you don't crack down on them, they really will cause major trouble in minutes.

"Finished watching? Then get back to studying right now."

Fang Xinghe glanced sideways at them and announced with a cold laugh: "I've discussed this with every teacher in the class. This summer break, all of you are going to obediently attend make-up lessons. Anyone who still fails next semester will be expelled from the Eagle roster."

"Ahhhh… no!"

"Brother, you'd be doing me a favor just killing me!"

Instantly a wail of lamentation rose up; Seventh Sister Little Stutterer even tried to wrap her arms around his leg and throw a tantrum on the ground.

"It's not up for discussion."

Fang Xinghe kicked the crotch-grabber over in front of Little Stutterer and cursed with a dark face: "The only shred of human feeling I have is spent on you lot. Why would I care if outsiders drop dead? Smoothing things over with the teachers cost me a lot of face. I'm only giving you this one warning — take it or leave it!"

"Ugh… o-okay…"

The boys and girls were out of options and trudged home dejectedly, muttering along the way that they might as well not have come, which piqued the curiosity of a tabloid reporter who had been staking the place out; he came over to pump them for information.

After spending ten yuan to buy them sodas, he finally learned what had happened, and the paparazzi rushed back in a frenzy to write his piece.

Don't look down on it just because it's a small matter — an article like this that reveals a side of Fang Xinghe's character clashes sharply with his arrogance of "I am a lone tyrant," and written up it can fetch big money. Wasn't squatting in this godforsaken little county town for exactly this?

This was Fang Xinghe's current level of buzz. Although he didn't pull in fans the way Xiao Tong did, his topic value crushed it several times over.

In reality, though, Boss Fang had already been working hard to cool the hype. In just over a month, the new-concept essay collection would hit the shelves, and a month after that, the full-length novel would be released. It was time to let the fans properly nurse their bodies and take care of their throats.

All of you, rein it in, save your strength, and hoard that passion for me properly.

Don't worry — when the day comes for you to scream, not a single one of you will survive.