Chapter 18: A World Where Both the Competitive and the Non-Competitive Are Jointly Harmed Has Been Achieved

What Jin Li did not know was that the people now watching her study in her livestream room were no longer just fans; some were merely passersby.

Because Jin Li would start studying as soon as she went live and rarely interacted with her audience, the Cat Paw livestream room had been tagged with labels like "Study Room," "Studying," and "Striving."

This happened to attract a crowd of students preparing for college entrance exams, graduate school exams, and civil service exams.

They entered Jin Li's study room without even knowing she was a celebrity.

Mainly, the comment section was very quiet; after a few days of novelty, Jin Li's fans stopped talking much, either silently keeping her company or stopping their viewing altogether.

A blank comment section, a silent streamer brushing up on the "Five Years of Gaokao, Three Years of Simulation" books, not saying a word for an hour—what do you call this?

This is called sharing the same plight!!!

Thus, before starting their studies, the students posted a check-in comment, and the style of Jin Li's livestream room turned into this—

[honest adj. truthful; upright, brave adj. courageous, loyal adj. faithful; devoted...]

["Air Power Bank" is a device that stores energy by compressing air, capable of storing energy during off-peak hours and releasing it during peak hours. In a certain working process of an "Air Power Bank," the p-T graph of a fixed mass of ideal gas is shown in the figure. The corresponding p-V graph for this process could be...]

[Which animal in the following idioms is not a poikilotherm? A. Mistaking the reflection of a bow in a cup for a snake, B. Flocking like ducks, C. A frog at the bottom of a well, D. Like a fish in water]

Netizens who entered Jin Li's livestream room out of curiosity suddenly fell silent.

Jin Li's fans, entering the livestream room again, blinked several times.

Their first reaction was: What the hell, did I enter a celebrity's livestream room? Or did I stumble into the wrong livestream by mistake?

It must be said that whether in the real world or online, study dogs can always make listeners feel sad and hearers shed tears.

Moreover, the blow they inflict is absolutely a dual strike to both body and soul.

Looking at the dense comments of study check-ins, the onlookers and fans had only one thought in their minds:

Are they... still... competing???

A world where both the competitive dogs and the non-competitive people are jointly harmed has been achieved.

Jin Li had been busy studying these past few days, and while things were calm on her end, online attention regarding "PICK~Next Stop Diva" had never diminished.

The filming of the first episode was complete, and now it had entered the editing phase.

First, passersby leaked that a heavyweight bomb would appear at the opening of this episode: their former senior would be returning to this stage.

This led many netizens to speculate that the top-tier boy group "March Sky" would be called back to vigorously support the new program.

Fans of [March Sky] were eagerly anticipating their stage, all clamoring for more, and spontaneously went to blogs to generate buzz for the variety show.

Afterwards, the various mentors, unwilling to fall behind, rushed to expose sensational details about the stage.

Headlines such as "First time using electronic music interpretation, vocals comparable to synthesized sounds," "What a treasure girl, excellent at both singing and dancing," and "Stunning dance flipping everyone over, recreating perfect synchronization between the two"... dominated the trending searches one after another.

In comparison, Jin Li, who had initially been thrown out by the program to attract topic attention, seemed somewhat obscure amidst this barrage of frenzied trending searches.

Jin Li was not the least bit anxious about this; instead, Sui Lingfang was the one feeling anxious.

On the third day after the recording ended, she approached Jin Li and asked with a serious expression, "Should we also buy a trending search spot to follow the wave?"

Jin Li countered, "Is this your idea?"

Sui Lingfang nodded: "Not only is it my idea, but it is also the company's idea."

Jin Li recalled the profit-sharing agreement she had signed with the company; since the split ratio had reached an unprecedented twenty-eighty, she had to cover eighty percent of the public relations fees.

If they were to buy a trending search spot, the bulk of the cost would fall on her.

Money was not really the issue; if she lacked funds, the company would advance them for her, but the current problem was—

Was the trending search spot actually worth buying?

For a celebrity, this was a question that accompanied them throughout their entire career.

Some celebrities could never become popular, believing they lacked heat and that their talents were unrecognized.

Some celebrities bought trending searches every day and starred in every production, yet they simply could not become famous.

Others would buy a few, get a little push, and instantly skyrocket to fame.

While all three scenarios existed, in reality, most cases fell into the first and second categories.

Jin Li pondered for a moment, then shook her head and said, "Don't buy it."

She spoke frankly: "Sister Fang, I don't feel my stage performance was so breathtakingly beautiful that it warrants buying a trending search. Those mentors dare to buy because they have the confidence, but I lack that confidence."

Sui Lingfang was speechless.

Generally, she disliked celebrities being too naive, but with Jin Li, sometimes she wished she could be a bit more naive.

Sui Lingfang tempted her, saying, "Really not buying? The company will cover the PR fees; you don't have to pay."

Jin Li smiled sweetly and decided firmly: "Not buying."

Sui Lingfang: ...

Two more days passed, and "PICK~Next Stop Diva," originally scheduled to premiere on Sunday, suddenly dropped its release to Saturday, catching many platforms off guard.

Besides Penguin Platform airing this talent show, Kiwi Platform, Blue Sky Platform, and Cool Cool Platform had all launched competing talent variety shows targeting this program.

Their goal was to get a share of the pie, ambush its upward momentum, and fiercely carve up the traffic!

Industry insiders discussing Penguin Platform's sudden broadcast all felt it was a wise move, employing a strategy of deceiving the heavens to cross the sea, locking the traffic into their embrace ahead of time.

They continued their discussions, but for a certain industry insider, things were going terribly wrong.

Inside Chenxi Entertainment.

Sui Lingfang called Lian Baozhi's agent again, asking her, "The first episode has already aired today; do you still not know the rehearsal schedule for the second episode?"

Her agent played dumb: "I don't know; we just wait for staff notification. They haven't said anything over there."

Sui Lingfang laughed in anger, "Luo Meimei, you better speak clearly. This entire call is being recorded. Unless the program team wants to drop Jin Li, I will leak all our conversation records to see who ends up more embarrassed!"

"Don't be ungrateful for the face I'm giving you. Tell me the rehearsal date right now. Don't play those games your artist is used to with me; such sinister plots are tricks I disdain to even finish playing!

Just how much influence do you think your artist has? If falsely reporting the rehearsal date ultimately affects the stage quality and delays Penguin Platform from making money, do you think Penguin Platform will continue cooperating with you?

She's just a superficial minor top-tier star; your artist's top-tier status isn't even solidified yet, and you want to play mind games with me? Let's wait and see who ends up begging whom!"

Sui Lingfang dropped her words, hung up the phone, and waited calmly.

One, two, three, four...

In less than five seconds, the mobile phone rang again; it was Lian Baozhi's agent calling back.

In this call, she politely informed them of the rehearsal time.

Upon hearing it was today, Sui Lingfang felt her vision go dark.