Daily Intelligence: Forced to Save the Beautiful President at the Beginning

154: Chapter 154 Scandalous Information about Getting to the Top Through Unspoken RulesNo one expected that two days later, Lin Wanyi’s new song, ”wings of rebirth,” would spark phenomenal heat. As the theme song for ”star path: reboot,” the song hit over 12 million streams on Spotify within 24 hours of its release, topping the global new song chart. On YouTube, the song’s MV (filmed by a Hollywood team connected by Lu Qingan) reached over 5 million views in 10 hours. In the comment section, Western netizens were asking one after another: ”What is ’star path’? When can we play it?”

The domestic music scene was even more shocked. Veteran musicians commented, ”The melody of this song fuses Eastern pentatonic scales with Western pop electronic music, and the ’breaking out of the cocoon to be reborn’ in the lyrics strikes a chord with contemporary people.” On the charts of major music platforms, ”wings of rebirth” was far ahead in first place, and even Lin Wanyi’s previous original songs returned to the popular song charts.

The most unexpected part was the overseas pre-order volume for ”star path: reboot.” After the song went viral, the game’s pre-orders on Steam and Epic skyrocketed by 300%. Many players left comments: ”I have to play this game just for the theme song!” ”Eastern martial arts + fantasy elements, I’m so looking forward to it!”

Zhang Fan looked at the soaring data in the backend and picked up his phone to send a message to Lin Wanyi: ”’wings of rebirth’ is a hit, and the game pre-orders have exploded too. Thank you.”

Soon, Lin Wanyi replied with a selfie from the recording studio, captioned: ”It was our collaboration that gave this song meaning. Looking forward to ’star path’ selling well in the West!”

On the other side of the screen, Lin Wanyi looked at the message, a smile curling at the corners of her mouth. She knew that in this life, she had not only established a firm foothold with her own music but had also become a part of the effort to resist Polaris and assist Chinese games in going global.

This kind of life was far more exciting than the grievances and regrets of her previous life.

Far away at the headquarters of Polaris Capital, Robert looked at the streaming data for ”wings of rebirth,” his face so gloomy it could drip water. He hadn’t expected that his plan to cut off publishers and servers would instead be broken by a single song.

On the third day after Lin Wanyi’s ”wings of rebirth” went viral, the entertainment headlines of Jiangcheng were almost entirely occupied by her. From ”Orphan’s Counterattack to Diva” to ”Theme Song Propels Domestic Game Overseas,” even her past stage clips from ”Chinas Good Voice” were played repeatedly, and she had become the hottest rising star of 2024.

In the side hall of the Lu family mansion, Lu Xiaoxiao slammed her phone onto the carpet, the screen cracking like a spiderweb.

She looked at the social media platforms filled with ”Lin Wanyi is awesome” and ”Looping ’wings of rebirth’ a hundred times.” Her fingernails dug deep into her palms, her eyes filled with jealous malice: ”Why? She’s just an orphan who was picked up. Why can she become popular across the internet with just one song? And I, who am the rightful young lady of the Lu family, can only hide here!”

The assistant next to her trembling handed over a tablet: ”Miss, why don’t we release a song too? I contacted the producer who wrote songs for you before, and he said we can ride the coattails of ’wings of rebirth’ and write one in a similar style...”

”Similar style?” Lu Xiaoxiao sneered, snatched the tablet, swiped a few times, and opened the private message interface of a marketing account. ”No need for that much trouble. I want her to get popular fast and cool down even faster. Contact a bot farm now and post the black material according to the script I listed—dig up her orphan background and say she’s ’playing the victim for sympathy’; spread rumors that her original songs were ’written by ghostwriters’; and then frame her collaboration with Zhang Fan as ’sleeping her way to the top,’ muddling the waters!”

The assistant looked at the dense list of smear material on the tablet, her face turning pale: ”Miss, wouldn’t this be too risky? Lin Wanyi has Singularity Technology backing her now, and Zhang Fan just won the lawsuit against Chang Yuan. The Legal Department is very powerful...”

”So what if they’re powerful?” Lu Xiaoxiao interrupted her, her tone filled with crazy certainty. ”I’ve been in the Lu family for over a decade. She’s just a bitch who came back from an orphanage, and she wants to steal everything from me! Impossible! Get the bot farm to steer the narrative and say she slept her way to the top! Once she’s trashed, Zhang Fan will definitely terminate her contract. Then I’ll step out to ’clarify.’ I can play the victim for sympathy and take the opportunity to get close to Singularity. Who knows, I might even be able to take her place!”

That afternoon, a wave of mysterious bot accounts suddenly swept across major social media platforms. #Lin Wanyi Playing Victim as an Orphan# #wings of rebirth Ghostwriter# #Lin Wanyi Zhang Fan Sleeping Way to the Top#

These topics were forcibly pushed to the end of the trending list. The comment sections were full of malicious remarks: ”No wonder she’s popular; turns out she’s just playing the victim. Her orphan status has become her tool!” ”I heard she hired a veteran in the industry to write the songs; she has no talent at all!” ”Getting so close to the national scumbag Zhang Fan, there must be something dirty going on!”

Lin Wanyi’s fans immediately fought back, and both sides argued fiercely in the comment sections, creating a chaotic scene.

When the assistant hurriedly told Lin Wanyi the news, she was in the recording studio recording background music for a public service promotional video. Upon hearing it, she just calmly took off her headphones: ”I know. Don’t panic, Zhang Fan will handle it.”

Just as Lin Wanyi said, at this moment at Singularity Technology, Zhang Fan was looking at the [Today’s Intelligence] popped up by the system: [Lu Xiaoxiao hired a ”Bot Alliance” (registered as a shell company in Southeast Asia) and plans to release smear material against Lin Wanyi in batches at 15:00. The core evidence is a forged ”ghostwriter contract” and edited recordings of her withdrawing from the competition. The funding source is old assets of the Lu family that she secretly transferred.]

In his eyes, Gu Jingshen’s ability to handle such gray-area affairs was always obvious to everyone, not to mention that Gu Jingshen’s girlfriend, Qin Xue, who was a police officer, could lend a hand in tracing the evidence.

The phone was connected quickly, and he got straight to the point: ”Old Gu, I need your help with an urgent matter. See if you can first contact the regulatory agency in the region where the Bot Alliance is registered to get their operation records; then follow the leads to check Lu Xiaoxiao’s bank transfer records, as well as concrete proof of her forged contract. Have the Legal Department prepare the evidence materials in sync, and the Public Relations Department needs to draft a statement in advance as well.”

”Yo, are you assigning me new work again?” Gu Jingshen’s teasing voice came immediately from the other end of the line, his tone filled with familiar disdain. ”I’m already flying busy taking over the core business of Gu Corporation. I’m watched by my mom every day to review reports, and I still have to be pulled in by you as free labor?”

This wasn’t an excuse. Since gradually taking over the affairs of Gu Group according to Tang Wanqing’s plan, Gu Jingshen rarely ran to Singularity Technology, and his workstation in the office had gathered a thin layer of dust.

But Zhang Fan knew in his heart that no matter how busy he was, this best friend was always his first choice when something happened.

”You’re a major shareholder of Singularity, aren’t you?” Zhang Fan smiled and called his bluff, his tone filled with firm trust. ”If something really goes wrong with Lin Wanyi and it affects Singularity’s reputation, won’t your shares shrink? Is it justifiable not to put in more effort?”

”Fine, fine, fine, you have a point.” Gu Jingshen was choked up for a moment and snorted unhappily. ”I’m not Doraemon; I can’t just conjure up whatever evidence you want—just wait, don’t rush me.”

Although he complained, his actions were not slow at all.

In less than three hours, a compressed file marked ”Urgent” was sent to Zhang Fan’s inbox. It contained not only the entire chat history between the Bot Alliance and Lu Xiaoxiao regarding the smear material (even the details of ”how much to delete a negative comment” were not missed), the forensic report on the fake signature on the forged contract, and bank transfer screenshots clearly marking the flow of funds, but even the original project files of Lu Xiaoxiao privately having her assistant edit the competition withdrawal recording using audio software were dug out by him by tracing the IP address. Every piece of evidence struck at Lu Xiaoxiao’s weak point.