Lin Chang's eyes darkened with intensity.
"Fine, fine. So they chose to air 'Chinese Paladin,' did they? Huh, Lake TV—hope they don’t regret this."
His voice was icy as he ordered, "Contact Zhejiang TV. Tell them 'Celestial Love' will air on their network."
The two stations were direct competitors.
Once 'Celestial Love' became a smash hit, Lake TV’s audience would inevitably flock to Zhejiang TV.
And from now on, all their company’s dramas would exclusively air there.
He’d make Lake TV rue the day they crossed him.
"Dad, I’ll arrange it immediately," Lin Qingwan nodded, though an inexplicable unease gnawed at her. Something felt off about this.
Meanwhile, Wang Ba had been staking out the Lin Group headquarters, waiting for Lin Li to show himself. But since returning from abroad, Lin Li hadn’t stepped foot outside the family estate.
Wang Ba frowned.
This wouldn’t do. He needed to find a way inside.
If the gang had business requiring his presence—like capturing Lin Li—and he missed it? That’d be a colossal blunder.
But how?
He rubbed his chin, deep in thought.
Just then, two Lin family employees passed by, gossiping.
"Lately, the young master keeps having nightmares about people trying to harm him. He’s refused to leave the house, even when Madam insists."
"Pfft, since when do dreams mean anything? He can’t hide forever."
"Not forever. I heard he’s planning to hire elite bodyguards. Once that’s done, he’ll probably venture out again."
Bodyguards?
Wang Ba’s eyes lit up.
Now that was his specialty.
He immediately rallied a few gang brothers to pose as candidates for the job.
Meanwhile, 'Celestial Love' and three other dramas from Sky Screen Group had all premiered.
Lin Chang stared at the screen, disbelief etched on his face.
Central TV!
They’d secured a slot on Central TV!
His fists clenched.
What connections did Lin Xuan even have?
A wave of dread washed over him—until he checked the ratings. Relief followed.
No matter what tricks Lin Xuan pulled, none of his shows could outperform 'Celestial Love.'
And just as Lin Chang predicted, Sky Screen’s three dramas initially trailed far behind in viewership.
Lin Xuan smirked. "Now that the plots are hitting their stride, it’s time to go all-out on promotion."
He instructed Lei Hui to flood their own platform, TigerTone, with edited promotional clips, pushing them to every user. With their in-house platform, traffic costs were irrelevant.
"Boss," Lei Hui called to confirm, "Should we buy trending spots on Weibo too?"
Lin Xuan scoffed. "Why waste money?"
"Huh?" Lei Hui blinked. "But you said we’d promote there. No paid hot searches, no visibility?"
Lin Xuan’s smirk widened. "I said we’d trend without spending a dime."
A few keystrokes were all it took. Money? Please.
Lei Hui: "…"
Was that even possible?
"Just watch," Lin Xuan replied.
Curiosity piqued, Lei Hui refreshed Weibo obsessively.
Within three minutes, the top ten trends were dominated by:
#ThreeKingdoms
#MySheepishStar
#ChinesePaladin
Lei Hui gaped.
It actually worked?
But… how?
His confusion mirrored Weibo’s tech team’s panic.
A staffer burst into the supervisor’s office. "Sir, we’ve been hacked—again!"
"WHAT?!"
The supervisor spat out his water.
"By whom?!"
They’d recently upgraded their firewall. Months without breaches had lulled him into false security.
"No traces, same as before. The hacker only forced these three drama tags into the top trends. We can’t remove them," the technician reported.
The supervisor checked his phone.
"#ChinesePaladin, #MySheepishStar, #ThreeKingdoms." His brow furrowed. "They hacked us just to trend shows?"
The technique felt eerily familiar.
"Sir, all three belong to Sky Screen Group. PalmNovel—their subsidiary—hosts the original works," the technician added.
"Sky Screen… Lin Xuan’s company?" the supervisor realized.
"Correct."
"It’s him!"
Now he suspected the firewall hadn’t kept Lin Xuan out these past months—Lin Xuan simply hadn’t bothered to hack in.
Defeated, the supervisor escalated it to the CEO.
The CEO, opting for diplomacy, dialed Lei Hui.
"Director Lei," he greeted smoothly, "I’m Weibo’s General Manager."
"Hello," Lei Hui replied, wary. Their companies had no prior dealings. Why the sudden outreach?
e school belle recognized by the whole school, a genius girl from the kendo club. She also has a hidden identity, the youngest legendary demon hunter. Chen Shuo just transmigrated and found himself turned into a weak, helpless little vampire. He was caught by Su Xiyen and taken home at the very beginning. Since then, Chen Shuo's life creed only had two items. "First, classmate Su Xiyen is always right." "Second, if classmate Su Xiyen is wrong, please refer back to item one." Many years later, Chen Shuo, who had turned back into a human, led a pair of twins to appear in front of all the vampires to share the secret of how he turned back into a human. "It's simple, I tricked a female demon hunter into becoming my wife!"
young master of the Shen family—a figure of immense power and wealth beyond measure—and awakened the "Destined Ultimate Villain System"! His starting scenario? Running into his icy fiancée who shows up with a mountain-descending divine doctor to break off their engagement. The divine doctor arrogantly taunts: "What does your Shen family have besides a bit of stinking money? You're not even worthy of tying Qingxue's shoelaces!" Shen Fei just smiled. He completely defied the usual script: "Fine, I agree to break off the engagement. Also, notify the finance department to withdraw all investments from the Su family." Minutes later, with its capital chain severed, the Su Group teetered on the brink of bankruptcy! The once aloof and proud ice queen CEO was thrown into utter panic. That very night, she went to Shen Fei's villa, casting aside all dignity to beg and plead desperately... From then on, in this world teeming with Sons of Destiny, Shen Fei embarked on a path of extreme dimensional suppression! A mountain-descending divine doctor? Peerless medical skills? Shen Fei: "Reporting you for practicing medicine without a license! I'll gladly take your ancient medicinal cauldron and twin sister assassins." The Crooked-Smiling Dragon King? Commanding a hundred thousand soldiers with a single order? Shen Fei: "Illegal assembly and suspected treason! Let a fleet of attack helicopters sanitize the area and teach you what the state apparatus really means!" A reborn tycoon? Knows all the golden opportunities of the next decade? Shen Fei: "A trillion in capital to reverse and pump the stock market, making you blow your margin and jump on the very first day of your rebirth!" What Chosen Ones? What bearers of Heavenly Fortune? In Shen Fei's eyes, they're all just chives (i.e., suckers/marks) waiting to be harvested! Shen Fei: "Sorry, but as the Destined Ultimate Villain, I don't play by the rules of honor. I only play the game of dimensional suppression."
rowess are unmatched, commanding a million-strong army! Yet, the Emperor wants to depose him for the sake of a false prince? Hold on, are you throwing me into some female-oriented romance plot? How can I tolerate this? With a grand wave of his hand—the Nine Clan Extraction Technique! Slander the Emperor? Very well, all of you shall die! ... The False Prince: "Although I am not the biological son, Father and Mother love me more. The throne should be mine!" The Female Lead: "Qin Xiao, you are the Emperor, and I am a commoner. If you wish to marry me, you must abdicate. Otherwise, you will never have me!" The Empress: "After we divorce, you must give me half the empire!" The Transmigrator Consort: "You worthless Emperor, why should I kneel to you? All men are equal—I advise you to be kind!" The Great General: "The enemy general is my childhood sweetheart. For her sake, I willingly abandon the frontier defenses!" The Retired Emperor: "Although Yu'er was adopted, I prefer him. Qin Xiao, you should abdicate and let him become Emperor!" ... Very well! So this is how you want to play? Facing this twisted world of female-oriented tropes, Qin Xiao grins and raises his hand to unleash—the Nine Clan Extraction Technique! I am the Emperor. Why would I bother reasoning with you? Seal the gates! Leave none alive!
e bizarre and supernatural had descended. The previous emperor was a thoroughgoing tyrant; no longer satisfied with human women, he had set his sights on a stunningly beautiful supernatural entity. He met his end in his bedchamber, drained of all his vital essence. As the legitimate eldest son and crown prince, Wang Hao was thus hastily enthroned, becoming the young emperor of the Great Zhou Dynasty. No sooner had he awakened the "Imperial Sign-In Intelligence System" than he was assassinated by a Son of Destiny—a classic villain's opening. The Great Zhou, ravaged by the former emperor's excesses, was in national decline. The great families within its borders harbored their own treacherous schemes, martial sects began to defy the imperial court's decrees, and border armies, their pay and provisions in arrears, grumbled incessantly against the central government. Fortunately, the central capital was still held secure by the half-million Imperial Guards and fifty thousand Imperial Forest Army who obeyed the court's orders, along with the royal family's hidden reserves of power, barely managing to suppress the realm. As the Great Zhou's finances worsened and supernatural activities grew ever more frequent, the court sat atop a volcano. Ambitious plotters everywhere dreamed of overthrowing the dynasty, and even some reclusive ancient powers emerged, attempting to sway the tides of the world. At the first grand court assembly, the civil and military officials nearly came to blows, fighting tooth and nail over the allocation of fifty million taels of silver from the summer tax revenues. The spectacle opened Wang Hao's eyes—the Great Zhou's bureaucracy was not only corrupt but also martially proficient, a cabinet of all-rounders. Some officials even had the audacity to suggest the emperor release funds from the imperial privy purse to address the emergency. Wang Hao suddenly felt weary. Let it all burn.
