Chapter 33 : Driven to the Brink, a Silver Lining Emerges
Chapter 33: Driven to the Brink, a Silver Lining Emerges
Seeing the girl's serious expression, Chen Fan was somewhat amused.
"That...okay."
"I'll accept this money."
"Thank you."
Only then did Su Ruochu show a smile.
She was excited to be able to help Chen Fan.
"What are you planning to do next?"
Chen Fan shook his head with a wry smile.
"I haven't figured it out yet."
Su Ruochu suggested, "There's just over a month left before school starts."
"You can't just keep coming to Brother Honghai's place every day, can you?"
"Since you say you haven't thought of any other way, why don't...you use this money to buy a computer first?"
"With a computer, you can maintain websites from home, and even when university starts, you can take it to the dorm."
Her words made Chen Fan somewhat tempted.
After all, not having a computer was really inconvenient for him.
He would still need to start a business after entering university, which would inevitably involve a computer.
But after thinking it over, he dismissed the idea.
It had nothing to do with male pride.
It was simply that, as Su Ruochu had said, she had saved up this money over several years.
He absolutely could not squander it carelessly.
"I'll think about it some more."
Chen Fan gave Su Ruochu a slight smile.
"Maybe I'll come up with another solution soon."
Chen Fan didn't have a good winning strategy in mind.
But soon, his opponent provided him with a new source of inspiration.
That day, Chen Fan and Guo Shuai were surfing the internet at White Birch Forest.
On the desktop of Chen Fan's computer was an open webpage of Xinlang.com.
Three days ago, Chen Fan's promotional contract with Xinlang.com had expired.
Chen Fan was unable to continue paying for promotion.
And today, the advertisement on Xinlang.com had changed to Yiyu.com.
It seemed the opponent really wanted to drive Chen Fan out of business completely.
Chen Fan shook his head with a helpless, wry smile.
Against a true moneybag competitor, he was simply no match.
Should he just admit defeat?
Chen Fan felt somewhat reluctant.
He casually clicked open his own Yuming.com.
With the expiration of the promotional contract, Yuming.com had already been surpassed by the opponent's Yiyu.com in terms of traffic.
But fortunately, through the previous promotion, Chen Fan's Yuming.com had also accumulated a lot of traffic.
Many netizens had already gotten used to posting and leaving comments on the forum sections of Yuming.com, chatting and gossiping...
Some people naturally also noticed the promotion of Yiyu.com, and even a portion of netizens had tried out the opponent's Yiyu.com.
However, the experience was really poor, and eventually, they cursed and returned to Yuming.com.
It was like being used to living in a spacious, bright mansion, and then being forced to squeeze into a shabby, leaky room in a hostel, you would naturally feel uncomfortable.
Chen Fan's Yuming.com was the mansion.
The style and approach that Chen Fan had built were far ahead of Yiyu.com by at least two versions.
"What kind of crap is Yiyu.com?"
"They dare to put out such a thing for promotion?"
"With that much money, I'd rather spend it on a good meal."
On the forum of Yuming.com, some netizens who had tried Yiyu.com returned and vented their complaints.
"Everyone, don't go to Yiyu.com, it's a waste of life."
"Compared to our Yuming.com, Yiyu.com is like a shoddy knockoff."
What was originally just some forum netizens entertaining themselves with complaints soon saw the appearance of other voices.
"I thought Yuming.com was so great? Now that I look, it's just so-so."
"Everyone, hurry and register at Yiyu.com, the traffic there is at least ten times more than here..."
"How good-looking the website is doesn't matter. Without netizens visiting, it's just a pile of crap..."
Such defamatory comments appeared concentrated almost on the same day.
Naturally, they quickly caught the attention of Chen Fan, the forum administrator.
Looking at the accounts posting these comments, most of them were newly registered usernames within the past one or two days...
Chen Fan shook his head in speechless dismay.
Who would have thought that in this era, there would already be online behavior of registering alt accounts for defamation.
And looking at the defamatory comments from these accounts and the timing of their posts, Chen Fan would never believe there was no one behind instructing them.
No wonder the future Mr. Yao left his mark on the internet.
Who would have thought they already understood using internet brigades for defamation in this era...
Internet brigades?
That's right.
Suddenly, a flash of inspiration struck Chen Fan's mind, and his eyes instantly lit up.
Looking at these alt accounts deployed by the opponent for defamation, at most there were only twenty or so, clearly premeditated.
Unfortunately, Mr. Yao had not yet conceived the concept of internet brigades at this time.
He also didn't know that in the future, internet brigades would become such a terrifying and massive force.
Chen Fan couldn't say whether he loved or hated internet brigades.
In his view, internet brigades were like a double-edged sword.
As long as they were used properly, they could also be incredibly effective.
Since he couldn't outspend Mr. Yao on promotion,
Then why not explore a different path and change his approach?
It was as if Chen Fan's thinking had suddenly opened up, his thoughts becoming unprecedentedly clear.
"Mr. Yao, ah Mr. Yao, this is because you sent people to defame me first, so you can't blame me for this."
After muttering those words, Chen Fan raised his hand and slapped the gaming Guo Shuai.
"Let's go."
"Huh? But it's not time yet."
Guo Shuai looked confused and shouted towards Chen Fan.
However, instead of leaving, Chen Fan went straight to the internet cafe counter.
Guo Shuai hesitated for a moment, worried that Chen Fan had something going on, but eventually abandoned his game and followed quickly.
"I want to see your boss."
Chen Fan cut straight to the chase with the counter staff, directly stating his intention.
The staff at the counter was playing on the computer and glanced at Chen Fan with no expression.
"The boss is busy. Not available."
Seeing this scene, Guo Shuai, who had followed behind, was about to flare up but was stopped by Chen Fan.
Chen Fan smiled at the young man in front of him.
"It's fine, talking to you is the same."
"Brother, are you interested in making some extra cash?"
Upon hearing this, the counter staff's gaze finally shifted from the computer screen and looked at Chen Fan for the first time.
"What do you mean?"
Chen Fan smiled and took out a piece of paper from his pocket.
"Look, I've created a new QQ group."
"Starting today, try to get as many people coming to the internet cafe as possible to join this group."
"For every person that joins, I'll give you five mao per head. No cap."
"How about it? Do you want to make this deal?"
The counter staff stared at Chen Fan in confusion.
"It's that simple?"
"That simple."
"Are you telling the truth?"
"Of course it's the truth."
Chen Fan smiled, "Even if I tried to trick you, what could I gain? You don't need to put in any effort, just move your lips and you can make money, right?"
"Of course, if you don't agree, I can ask your network admin instead. I think he would be interested..."
"Who said I won't do it? I'll do it!"
Upon hearing about going to find the network admin, the counter staff panicked.
He snatched the piece of paper from Chen Fan's hand, carefully looked it over, and asked with some doubt,
"But what if...you go back on your word and don't give the money?"
Chen Fan smiled.
"We're almost here every day surfing the internet, so we're familiar faces to each other."
"Do you think I would trick you over something like this? Whether it's true or not, you can try inviting a few people into the group today and see for yourself."
"Five mao per person, ten people is five yuan, a hundred people is fifty...If you can get a thousand people to join at once, you'd instantly earn five hundred yuan..."
The counter staff was clearly swayed by Chen Fan's words.
Thinking that he didn't need to put in any effort, he might as well give it a try.
"Okay, I'll trust you on this!"