Near an apartment complex, Bai Ye emerged from the bushes, leaped onto the surrounding wall, and then into the complex.
"Ah, finally escaped!"
Bai Ye breathed a sigh of relief. He had actually used his flame ability to block everyone's sight, then jumped into a nearby potted shrub. While everyone was distracted by the dazzling flames and petals, he had quietly slipped away.
After tidying his attire, Bai Ye walked for a while, only to find the complex surprisingly vast and the exit nowhere in sight.
"No choice, I'll just find another secluded spot and jump over the wall."
He then headed to a commercial plaza and found a Huaxia mobile phone store, where he began selecting a phone and computer.
***
In the capital city, at a company named Tian Lan Entertainment.
A recently skyrocketing online female singer was discussing plans with her team, with even the company's general manager attending their meeting, indicating her significant importance.
At the front of the conference table sat a girl with a pure and adorable appearance, whose charm instantly ignited protective instincts in men. She looked somewhat displeased.
This was the popular online singer, known by her stage name, Song Qianqian. Despite her sweet and cute looks, her singing voice possessed a husky boldness that captivated listeners. Tonight was the release party for her new song, to be broadcast live across the internet.
For the past two days, Tian Lan Company had been heavily promoting her, placing advertisements on various platforms, hiring internet commenters, and pushing for trending topics. They had put in significant effort, especially on the Douyin trending list.
The top trending spot should have been hers, but an unexpected event occurred. A small magic streamer's sudden surge in popularity had completely displaced her heat. Currently, her best ranking was second on the Douyin trending list.
#Tonight at 8:30 PM, Song Qianqian's new song release party 'Let Me Be Your Eyes' will be with you.
On Bilibili, Weibo, and other platforms, her trends had been pushed to the bottom, rendering them almost useless.
Song Qianqian asked with a hint of dissatisfaction, "Manager Wang, is there no way we can secure the number one trending spot?"
The portly Manager Wang sighed, "Qianqian, the company has done its best. That Ye is too formidable! We've communicated through various channels, but we still can't get the top spot for these past two days. Most importantly, he doesn't have a company or guild behind him, nor has he hired any internet commenters. We have no way to deal with him, we can't even negotiate!"
Song Qianqian pouted and looked at Bai Ye's video on her phone. She poked at Bai Ye on the screen with her finger, muttering, "You brute Ye, stealing my trending spot! Why are you so amazing? I'll poke you to death! Poke you to death!"
After watching Bai Ye's videos, she knew that she wouldn't be able to get the top spot. Even a competitor like her couldn't help but watch all of his videos, let alone ordinary viewers.
Manager Wang and the rest of the team comforted Song Qianqian and then briefed her on some important matters for the release party.
Suddenly, a young assistant exclaimed, "This is bad! Manager Wang, Qianqian, our second trending spot on Douyin has also been taken!"
"What!!!"
"Who is it?"
"Mobilize our commenters and get it back!"
Manager Wang stood up, his expression turning angry. "After spending so much manpower and resources, we can't even hold onto second place now?"
Song Qianqian's pretty face was bewildered. "Could it be that Ye again?"
Everyone simultaneously took out their phones and opened Douyin to check. The next moment, their expressions all turned grim. The person who had snatched the second trending spot was none other than the one they most feared – Ye.
The current second trending topic was titled:
#Renowned streamer Ye subdued a murderer Yu in Modu, saving two little girls.
Everyone couldn't help but click on it, finding numerous videos all filmed by bystanders. The video began with the murderer Yu getting out of a car, his face contorted with rage as he raised a gun to kill Bai Ye and the two little girls.
In the next second, Bai Ye, with extreme speed, unleashed a ball of blue flame, subduing the killer.
"Bang~"
Hearing the gunshot in the video, Song Qianqian and Manager Wang's group were startled. "This isn't staged!"
"So amazing!"
Seeing the scene at the end where Bai Ye subdued the killer and left with the little girls, Song Qianqian's beautiful eyes moved, and she promptly gave the video a like. Manager Wang and the assistants next to her cast strange glances at her. "He's your rival! And you're praising and supporting him?"
Seeing their gazes, Song Qianqian's fair cheeks flushed, and she whispered, "So many people liked it, it doesn't matter if I'm one more!"
There were five or six videos of Bai Ye subduing the murderer, each from a different angle, clearly filmed by different bystanders. The video with the fewest likes had 200,000 to 300,000, while the one with the best side-angle view had directly surpassed 2 million likes! The videos also had hundreds of thousands of comments.
Almost all of them were praise for Ye. Compared to the magical illusions, the spirit of stepping forward to save people was more readily accepted by the public. Thus, Ye gained the title of a hero who saves people. Consequently, the heat of this topic surged rapidly, quickly pushing down "My Love-Hate Relationship with Gou Dan!" and taking the first trending spot.
"Gulp~"
Manager Wang swallowed with difficulty, his face looking grim. "Let him have the first and second trending spots! Since they're all his, let's try to secure the third trending spot!"
After having the first trending topic usurped, their second trending spot was definitely not going to last.
"Understood, Manager Wang."
Song Qianqian's manager and assistants immediately contacted various resources. The current fourth trending topic was Ye's "#Believe It or Not? Ye Roasts Oysters Barehanded with Flame Magic!" With his rising popularity, if they didn't act, they would definitely be pushed down.
However, just as they issued the operational notice, another hot topic rapidly entered the top ten trending list and was still climbing.
"Not good! Another topic related to Ye is surging into the top five trending spots!"
"It's reached fourth place!" the little assistant exclaimed again.
"What fresh hell is this?" Manager Wang felt his heart could barely take it. He quickly opened his phone to check.
Fourth trending topic:
#Renowned streamer Ye disappears in plain sight after a 'magic trick' post-rescue.
Upon clicking and opening the video, Manager Wang immediately took out a bottle of emergency heart medication from his suit pocket! After taking two pills and half a bottle of water, he finally recovered. He sighed, "Let's try to hold onto fourth place!"
He saw Ye's spectacular flame magic, his mysterious disappearance into thin air, the entire process gripping and unbelievable. Such a video and topic, as expected, would naturally soar to the top trending spots.
The surrounding managers and assistants nodded solemnly. Having worked in the entertainment industry for so long, they had never found climbing the trending charts so difficult.
"This is uncanny!"
Only one person was absentmindedly watching the videos filmed by bystanders, quietly liking them. The person in question was Song Qianqian.
Manager Wang glanced at Song Qianqian. He wanted to say something, but the words were held back. If it were any ordinary streamer or influencer, no matter how popular they were, daring to act like this in front of him would have earned them a stern lecture. However, he dared not scold Song Qianqian. Her background was even more terrifying than their entire company!
A while later, without any surprise, they dropped from third place to fourth on the trending list. But before they could settle into fourth, another topic related to Ye came rushing in.
#Who is Ye?
It snatched their fourth spot away.
"Ye, damn it, can't you leave anyone else a way to live?"
Manager Wang expertly took out his pill bottle and swallowed a few more emergency heart pills.
However, this was just the beginning. As Ye dominated the front-row trending spots, his popularity grew, and more topics about him were unearthed.
#What props did Ye use for his magic?
#What time and where will Ye stream?
#Why is Gou Dan so large? Is it a mutation or a new species?
Manager Wang and all the managers and assistants were going mad. They had been completely pushed out of the trending list!
"Ye is dominating the charts!"
They were in tears! They had spent countless resources promoting Song Qianqian's new song, but it had all gone to waste! Was Song Qianqian's new song "Let Me Be Your Eyes" not good? No, it was exceptionally good! They were even confident it could surpass those A-list singers and propel Song Qianqian directly to the top position in the entire entertainment industry! At that time, with her success, the entire company would also achieve a qualitative leap! Therefore, they supported Song Qianqian almost without reservation! But now, a problem had arisen halfway!
"Manager Wang? What do we do now?" the manager asked cautiously. This time, they might have suffered a huge loss. "How about we postpone it for a few days? Avoid Ye's limelight?"
"Avoid what? Will he die in a few days?" Manager Wang gasped in anger. His mind raced to come up with a solution, and suddenly his eyes lit up, and he said excitedly, "Since we can't compete with him, let's join him!"
"Join him?" Song Qianqian and the team members looked confused.
Manager Wang smiled mysteriously, "Let's cooperate with him! Try to get in touch with him."
"Yes, Manager Wang!"