Generation Z Artists

Chapter 123 Influence Goes Abroad

I acted on my thought immediately and sent a message to the person with dark circles under their eyes.

Less than 20 minutes later, the two guys showed up at Fang Xinghe's house excitedly.

"Young Master Fang, what are your instructions?"

Fang Xinghe couldn't help but laugh: "Who were you two sent here to interview this time?"

Dark circles under the eyes: "Your uncle!"

Bald-headed man: "And those who dare to speak ill of you are like finding a needle in a haystack."

"Is the overseas assignment fee high?"

"What a joke!" Dark circles under the eyes complained bitterly. "It's just a normal business trip allowance. If I find any juicy material, I can exchange it for a bonus, but right now I can't find any big scoops."

Yes, he's already weathered the storms of arson attempt, imprisonment and abuse, and leading a gang of thugs. Now, ordinary scandals really can't hurt Fang Xinghe.

"So what is Cheng Dayi thinking?"

"Just keep at it!"

The bald man replied carefully, "Black people generally have two tactics. The first is to get big, explosive information, then unleash it all at once, killing people in one fell swoop and forcing out a resolution that will prevent them from ever recovering."

Another approach is to avoid being easily defeated, but through years of persistent criticism, a fixed negative impression is created, ensuring that a high percentage of people dislike you.

What we're doing now is the latter kind. According to Cheng Dayi, it's about persisting in this long-term strategy to undermine your ability to withstand risks and reduce your social credibility. Once a major flaw appears, it could be fatal...

"major!"

Fang Xinghe gave a thumbs up, realizing once again the destructive power of people like Cheng Dayi.

They control the media, have extremely convenient channels for expressing their opinions, and can easily influence long-term trends. They can focus on one person and attack them relentlessly, making them really hard to guard against.

Fang Xinghe carefully examined the two and noticed that they were beginning to glow with a stable green light, which put his mind at ease.

Medium-strength powder is sufficient.

"Are you two interested in switching sides and doing something else with me?"

As soon as Fang Xinghe extended the invitation, the two brothers became as excited as corgis, sticking out their tongues.

"Young Master Fang, what kind of business?"

Fang Xinghe explained in detail: "I want to build a dedicated fan website, tentatively named: Xingwang, which will be my personal fan website for the time being."

Its main function is to gather fans, attract like-minded people in a community manner, and serve as an internal communication platform for various types of fans.

Then I need you to do the following—

First, find a suitable person to stay by my side, record my work schedule and daily behavior, take photos of me, and write some random thoughts.

Second, after similar content is compiled daily, you, as the website's editors-in-chief, need to screen, organize, modify, and polish it before publishing it in the public area.

Third, compile real-world news reports and publish them on online forums.

Fourth, organize some official actions authorized by me.

Fifth, customize and release some official products authorized by me.

This website will temporarily operate as my official personal platform, but I have high expectations for it. If it does well, in the future, it will become the official fan cafe of all celebrities and occupy its own niche.

When celebrities apply to join, the platform approves their applications and creates official fan cafes for them. Their staff then operate these cafes with a high degree of autonomy, while we are only responsible for setting the major rules.

Ultimately, it will form a star entertainment platform that integrates topic squares, celebrity news, celebrity endorsement displays, celebrity work promotion, celebrity merchandise sales, concert and meet-and-greets ticket booking, and internal trading of celebrity second-hand goods.

Then, they will seek to go public.

The moment the word "listing" was uttered, the eyes of the person with dark circles and a prominent forehead suddenly started flashing.

At that time, the domestic stock market had been established for less than 10 years, but it had already created a large number of get-rich-quick myths, and the ultimate goal of everyone who started a company was to go public.

It's not just about the money, but also about the wealth, status, identity, and political influence that come with it...

"Gudong!"

Dark circles under his eyes swallowed hard and asked excitedly, "Young Master Fang, what can I do? Just tell me!"

In contrast, Naotoumen was more mature and asked a crucial question: "How do we persuade or attract other celebrities to open official fan cafes?"

"This issue is inextricably linked to how to ensure the purity of StarNet."

Fang Xinghe explained slowly and deliberately: "Except for a few sections such as the topic square and celebrity news that are open to all internet users, the rest of the personal official cafes are closed private circles. This is to protect the celebrity's fan base from external impacts, so that they can entertain themselves behind closed doors and create a harmonious communication atmosphere."

As you know, fans aren't very popular with the public and often face all sorts of criticism.

Therefore, in order to ensure the purity of the official fan club, three major systems are implemented for registered members: one device, one account, membership fee, and level lock.

Each mobile phone can only register one member account to filter out younger users as much as possible.

The initial membership fee is 10 yuan, and then 2 yuan per month. A one-year membership costs exactly 30 yuan.

If the subscription expires and is not renewed, access to the official fan cafe will be automatically lost, and the account level will be locked...

The two brothers only half understood what they were hearing, and their eyes were somewhat unfocused.

It's not that people are stupid, but that what Fang Xinghe is doing is just too trendy.

"Young Master Fang, I don't understand. What's the use of that level? What's the point of locking it?"

"Increase fan engagement."

Humans are emotional beings who are particularly susceptible to sunk costs.

The more you invest, the harder it is to give up; this has always been true throughout history.

Membership fees are an investment, but isn't it also an investment to finally reach a high-level account?

Having poured so much time and emotion into it, it's hard to let go easily; it's an emotional anchor and a mark of youth.

Therefore, Fang Xinghe will put a lot of effort into the ranking system of the website he is going to create.

The limitations of the times meant there were very few points to explore, making this the most cost-effective and efficient path.

"In the early stages, I will use my influence and fan loyalty to ensure the smooth operation of StarNet. The membership numbers will only be visible to the platform and the managers of the celebrity's official fan cafe. They can choose to make it public or hide it."

I will definitely make it public. 10 followers means an annual income of 300 million. I don't care. Many celebrities do care.

When they see the huge economic benefits involved, they will be willing to proactively open an official account.

After all, they only need to copy my methods to get top-notch fan management strategies and techniques; no one would want to miss out on that.

"Fuck!"

Dark Circles exclaimed in surprise: "10 followers? 2 is already amazing! How many celebrities these days can consistently earn 60 a year!"

Indeed, back when Zhang Zi's film salary was only a few hundred thousand yuan, the membership fee for 1 fans was not a small amount of money, not to mention the widespread significance of such a base.

It can be said that as long as Fang Xinghe sets a good example, no one will refuse to copy his work.

Aside from a very few oddballs, who would turn down money if they were willing to become a celebrity?
Fang Xinghe's idea is both feasible and full of imaginative ideas that are ahead of their time. At the very least, it is unlikely to fail on his personal official social media.

"Done!"

With dark circles under his eyes and a bulging forehead, he rubbed his hands together, eager to get started: "Young Master Fang, what are your plans for us?"

"One of you will manage the topics and gossip sections, and the other will be the chief editor of my official fan cafe. As for website development, you should go back to Zhongguancun and find suitable people to interview me."

"OK, we'll get on it right away!"

Before leaving, the bald man didn't forget to leave a guarantee: "Don't worry, we will definitely keep it from Cheng Dayi and make sure he doesn't know anything."

Look how clever he is.

When people's enthusiasm is unleashed, miracles can truly be created.

They didn't even ask Fang Xinghe about his treatment, because they knew very well that with Fang's magnanimity, he would never mistreat those who worked hard.

This level of trust wasn't just because of the 5 yuan, but also because they had witnessed Fang Xinghe's support and guidance to his friends and senior classmates.

Brother Fang is known for his loyalty and integrity; everyone in the underworld knows him, from women to children.

Following Brother Fang, I get eight meals a day, so I feel at ease~~~
……

Around May 15th, the sensation caused by Time magazine began to subside.

It's not that it's lost its popularity, but rather that its popularity has dropped from its peak and stabilized at a relatively high level.

There is still a lot of discussion every day, but the novelty and high enthusiasm of the public and even fans are no longer enough to sustain it.

In other words, the person has been desensitized and their emotions have stabilized.

Now, Fang Xinghe could finally begin to sort out his gains and determine the value of this honor.

In terms of surface powder, prices have actually fallen.

The online battles that erupted have made Fang Xinghe a universally disliked figure in the eyes of all his other fans.

Currently, there aren't many large fan groups in China, but the number of netizens who are casually identified as fans is definitely not small.

The era of the Four Heavenly Kings is not over yet; the number of fans from Hong Kong and Taiwan is even greater in a broader sense, in addition to fans of mainland Chinese stars, Hollywood stars, Japanese divas, Korean idols, and the relatively niche K-pop fans...

Almost everyone disliked Fang Xinghe.

There's really no way to achieve this; complete unity among fans is impossible.

Even great men couldn't do it, so what makes Xiao Fang think he can?
In the midst of fierce competition, the greatest gain is to preserve one's core base and continuously cultivate high-level fans.

It was falling while rising, and is currently stable at 2000 million.

It doesn't seem to match his influence, because the buzz in the newspapers hasn't fully translated into real interest.

The most crucial question remains: no amount of literary influence can penetrate to the rural towns, the most expansive region in China at this moment. Lee Jung-hyun's "Wow" has sunk, H.O.T.'s non-mainstream cool style has sunk, even Jang Woo-hyuk's dance has partially sunk, but "Time" magazine has not.

Teacher Wang has elevated Fang Xinghe to a very high position, but to be fair, how many urban teenagers can truly understand expressions like "new generation globalized narrative techniques and localized spiritual core"?

Not much really.

The townspeople wouldn't care either; nothing is as convincing as Fang Xinghe's martial arts skills.

Fang Xinghe's only influence that reached rural towns was through parkour advertisements and kung fu legends. However, rural teenagers don't go online or read newspapers. They have to go to school and help with farm work at home. They really don't have the leisure to invest more emotion in unrelated people or things.

This problem is basically unsolvable at present. The literary field is inherently biased towards the upper class and a niche audience. Even with the popular and enjoyable online novels of later generations, the total number of text readers is still less than 5000 million. After the audiobook function matured, the audience expanded to one or two hundred million, but it was then halved by the highly overlapping short dramas.

Online novels like those on Qidian and Jinjiang, which have a bit more depth and a higher barrier to entry, have had a stable audience for many years, making them quite niche.

Tomato Online Novels are more mainstream, but the top works with tens of millions of views are probably read by about 80% of readers who are indifferent to them, only choosing them as entertainment because they don't cost money.

Therefore, Fang Xinghe's books cannot be sold in rural towns and have no profound influence.

The only way to solve this dilemma is to have free TV series; movies are not an option.

It can only be said that every era has its own complexities. If you want to accomplish something great, you have to face all kinds of difficulties head-on, and there is no end to it.

Compared to the superficial followers, the growth of followers at level 3 and above is quite impressive; the battles really are effective...

Tier 2 Midfielder: 125w
Level 3 die-hard fan: 38
Level 4 Frenzy: 66888
Level 5 Belief: 4215
The number of Level 2 core members has decreased instead of increased, partly because they were eliminated in battles, and partly because they were purified to higher levels.

From a data analysis perspective, this means that Fang Xinghe's fan base has undergone significant changes, and a major split may have formed at the grassroots level.

As for literature fans, Han Han has been quite active lately under the guidance of his team, constantly publishing articles and giving two interviews.

In terms of looks, besides Nicholas Tse's explosive popularity and constant appearances in entertainment news, Daniel Wu won the Golden Horse Award for Best New Performer for his role in "City of Glass," making his mark. Meanwhile, Mr. Chan is currently accumulating strength and preparing to make his debut.

The highlight was HOT's concert at the Workers' Stadium in Beijing, which was described by the media as "the most enthusiastic concert in the history of the Workers' Stadium." From the rehearsals, a large number of fans surrounded the venue, to the enthusiastic press conference, and finally the fans' frenzy when the concert started, all of which were recorded by the Beijing media.

This includes more than 100 media outlets such as CCTV, Beijing TV, Beijing Morning Post, Beijing Evening News, and Beijing Youth Daily.

To be honest, the "most enthusiastic" is no exaggeration. The fervor of the fans really surprised many people, including singers from mainland China and Hong Kong and Taiwan. They had never seen such a grand concert at the Workers' Stadium before.

The director of the Workers' Stadium personally came out to express his gratitude: "There used to be a saying that the Workers' Stadium had bad feng shui, and concerts held there would always fail. You have changed the history of the Workers' Stadium."

Fang Xinghe had paid special attention to the relevant reports and found that since then, Bai Fan's fighting power on the Internet had suddenly increased dramatically.

Music and literature are two unrelated fields, but in the realm of appearance and fashion, fans of square faces and fans of white rice have long been irreconcilable.

Therefore, the success of the other party will inevitably lead to the absorption of their fans at the grassroots level.

There's a saying circulating online: Kangta is much more handsome than Fang Xinghe, Jang Woo-hyuk is the King of Asian Dance and his dancing is much better than Fang Xinghe's Tai Chi, and Ahn Seung-ho's sense of style far surpasses Fang Xinghe's...

It's obviously all brainwashing propaganda, but some people actually believe it.

In terms of looks, if they had the chance to appear together in person, Fang Xinghe could easily beat Kangta into looking like a rural non-mainstream person. But that's the problem—they're both videos with filters, while the other person is fully made up and has stage makeup, and is just as polished. So neither of them can convince the other.

Only a minority of Fang Xinghe's fans have actually met him in person offline, and their voices, once posted online, are quickly drowned out.

It's like many passersby later said: Fat Fairy herself is super beautiful, with a more striking face in real life, and she's not fat at all, just right. But netizens who can only experience it through the lens simply don't believe it. People who haven't systematically studied photography just can't understand the difference between the principles of human eye and lens imaging. Who can do anything about that?

Fang Xinghe had no choice but to endure the loss of lower-level fans and try his best to purify the high-level fans.

Fortunately, Time magazine played a huge role in this regard.

The number of die-hard fans increased by more than 1, and the number of fans with unwavering faith doubled, setting a new record for the most glorious achievement since their debut.

What lies hidden behind this record is the skyrocketing growth of Starlight Value and Star Glory Value.

As of the 15th, in a full 15 days, the star value has surged by 1.7 million, enough to reach 89 points and still have 7000 million left over.

Of course, the most precious thing is the Star Value.

8 o'clock, an unprecedented number that filled Fang Xinghe with ecstasy.

The fact that he was able to receive such a large amount of Star Points at once completely validated his judgment of the system mechanism.

To maximize the achievement of high-level emotional resonance, fans must feel an extreme sense of honor and generate the strongest sense of pride and self-esteem that "my idol is awesome."

Time magazine's praise is essentially a recognition of Fang Xinghe by Western discourse power. He is a miraculous flower that he has nurtured in the barren hearts of national self-confidence, which not only excites the media but also his own fans.

The more intensely other people's fans hate him, the more it proves his success.

His success is the success of his fans.

Therefore, the online battles continue unabated, but Fang's fans become more and more energetic as they fight, and the number of high-level fans increases with each battle, precisely because their idol gives them ample confidence.

Extending this further, we should still strive for any awards and honors that are worth fighting for in the future.

But now it's happy time, and Brother Fang can finally spend lavishly.

Adding 3 points to Coordination directly brings this initially selected attribute to its human limit of 99 points.

How exactly should I describe that feeling?
Fang Xinghe had to admit that he hadn't reached that fantastical level of "complete control over his body," but he felt a great sense of freedom.

This kind of freedom is not a spiritual feeling that arises from the heart, but a sense of ease and joy that comes from the body itself.

The bursts of energy are more powerful, the movements are more precise, and the integration of mind, body, and spirit is more seamless.

Go through the training process again, starting with standing meditation and ending with shaking the spear, with the mind and intention in unison, the intention in unison, the hand in unison, and the hand in unison with strength.

The so-called inner and outer triads are so natural, as if they were born that way.

At this point, he had completely acquired the ability to "learn everything quickly and master it with practice".

Mastering a skill and moving on to the next level certainly requires hard work, but in terms of efficiency under the same effort, he has already reached the pinnacle of human achievement.

If we assume that another human archetype of perfect coordination is Jordan, then Fang Xinghe possesses the core conditions to perfectly replicate all of his techniques.

Thinking of Jordan, Fang Xinghe, who had never played basketball in his two lives, suddenly asked his senior brother Charlie to buy him a ball and set up a basketball hoop in the corner of the yard.

He gently patted the ball, then threw it out smoothly, albeit not perfectly, and swish!
I was very lucky; the basketball swished through the net.

"nice shot!"

After Wang Charlie finished praising him, he scratched his head.

"But you're already getting enough exercise. You have a tight schedule for martial arts training every day. Why did you suddenly decide to play basketball again?"

Fang Xinghe caught the ball that his senior brother, the nun, threw back and tried to catch it with one hand, but failed.

He looked at his palms and then at his physique, which had just reached 89 points, and suddenly asked out of the blue, "Senior, do you think that if I went to participate in the NBA draft and got the number one pick, it would help my film and television career?"

Wang Chali was a very smart man. When he heard Fang Xinghe's last sentence, he knew that his junior brother did not suddenly want to switch to basketball, but wanted to use his physical abilities to add a new halo.

"The idea is great, and if it works, it will definitely help. It might even help you break into Hollywood directly."

Wang Chali initially gave his approval, but then changed his tune.

"But... how can you guarantee you'll be the number one draft pick? You've never played basketball before, how will you improve your skills? Your physical attributes are indeed very strong, how will you address your height? Finally, and most importantly, you're Asian, and the NBA has a strong bias against white people, so they're even less likely to trust you..."

"Break down prejudices against people of Asian descent?"

Fang Xinghe muttered to himself, then suddenly grinned, revealing his teeth.

"It's a great topic."

Wang Chali was stunned and turned to look at the nun and the two brothers beside him—they were also terribly confused, looking at each other, not understanding what their junior brother had gone crazy about.

Of course, Brother Fang isn't crazy.

There's nothing left for Han Han to piggyback on, and more broadly, there's nothing left for the entire literary world to piggyback on. If he releases another book, unless he's aiming for the Mao Dun Literature Prize and actually wins it, gaining fans and star power will be his only motivation.

It's not the right time for me to act in movies and TV series.

Idol dramas are a must, but Fang Xinghe shouldn't be the one to start this trend.

Only when the domestic public is thoroughly hurt by idol dramas from Hong Kong, Taiwan, Japan, and South Korea can Ziwei Xingjun (a popular Chinese actor) use domestic idol dramas to save market confidence, thus achieving the effect of generating buzz, attracting criticism, and evoking empathy and sympathy from fans.

During that year or two in between, besides studying, shouldn't we find something else to do?

Think carefully, what could possibly satisfy all of the following needs?

It avoids dealing with complex bureaucratic systems, eliminates the need for travel and excessive study time, yet still achieves a huge sensational effect and contributes to national self-confidence, ultimately accumulating sufficient star value.
Aiming to become the first Chinese player to be drafted number one in the NBA, he perfectly meets all the requirements.

From an honor perspective, if successful, the impact would likely far exceed that of appearing on the cover of Time magazine.

If someone can achieve an 8-star rating in the game, what about the NBA's number one draft pick?
I can't even imagine it, and I don't need to predict it. I'll just have to try it and see.

Technically, with peak coordination, it's easy to practice, and if all else fails, you can add some extra points.

In terms of physical attributes, with the remaining 5 Star Points, one can at least increase another key attribute to 94 points, forming another secondary strength besides technique.

So this isn't just wishful thinking; it's a possibility.

Of course, if one could have two strengths of around 95 points, it would greatly compensate for the lack of height and the physical biases of people of Asian descent.

Fang Xinghe would never increase his height to over 195 cm just to become a top scorer; that would be putting the cart before the horse.

185 cm is the limit; any taller and you really won't find anyone to act with, and your roles will be greatly limited.

A 185cm tall Asian man can only play point guard or combo guard. He tries to break into the NBA with the "Answer" template, facing all kinds of prejudice, discrimination and distrust, and attempting to complete an almost impossible task.

Difficult, too difficult.

However, once successful, the rewards will inevitably be explosive.

For this historic opportunity, Fang Xinghe is willing to temporarily sacrifice a lot and take a gamble.

But where will the missing Star Value for attribute bonuses come from?
Fang Xinghe pondered for two whole days but couldn't find a particularly good solution, which made him somewhat worried.

As a result, on the 18th, an unexpected piece of news came out—Fang Xinghe's interview with Time magazine caused a great stir in Japan, South Korea and Southeast Asia.

(End of this chapter)