288: Chapter 288 Money Power is Combat Power

The next afternoon.

Afternoon in Jiang City, the sun baked the glass curtain walls of SOHO Future City until they were scalding hot,

the noisy chirping of cicadas merged into a sticky wave of sound, trying to pierce through the soundproof glass and disturb the indoor peace.

Lin Que finished the hot and sour shredded potatoes and rice made by Wang Xiulian,

wiped his mouth, and slipped into the studio in SOHO Future City.

He set the air conditioner to twenty-four degrees.

He took a can of cola from the fridge, pulled the tab with a hiss, and white mist rose from the opening.

Lin Que leaned back in his chair, feet propped on the edge of the desk, and opened the Wenyuan Pavilion forum.

After a night and a full morning of fermentation, the post "Mud and Starry Sky: The Duel of the Twin Stars of the Chinese Literary World"

had its reply count soar from over a hundred to eight thousand six hundred.

And it was still rising at a speed visible to the naked eye.

Lin Que took a swig of cola and began scrolling down.

The battle was even more intense than he had expected.

Fans of the Jian Shen faction were uniformly spamming the slogan "Hardship forges the backbone," and their profile pictures had all been changed to desolate scenes of the Loess Plateau.

Their arguments revolved around "the social responsibility of literature," citing classics with earnest words,

carrying a steady energy unique to intellectuals.

But in stark contrast to this steady style was the Dream Weaver faction.

Lin Que's gaze quickly locked onto a familiar ID.

"The Drowned on Land."

This person hadn't gone offline since charging into the battlefield last night.

Lin Que did a rough count; there were over forty featured replies alone.

Moreover, every single one accurately attacked a pain point, precise and ruthless.

[Floor 3847 · Under the Gate of Pen Name]: Dream Weaver's readers are all a bunch of reality-evading ostriches!

Sun Shaoping fought for his life on the Loess Plateau, what about you?

Hiding behind your phones imagining you're some children of the abyss? Go out and move bricks for two days before coming to talk to me about literature!

[Floor 3848 · The Drowned on Land]: Even if you move bricks until you die, you're still just a brick. Sun Shaoping's backbone might be straight, but who is he showing it to?

To a universe that never changes its trajectory because of one person's efforts?

You aren't moved by his strength; you're moved by the fact that you're still willing to believe in this trick.

Below this comment were over three hundred likes and forty-some replies.

Lin Que scrolled down a few more pages.

[Floor 4102 · Faith of the Sunflower]: Dream Weaver's stuff is just peddling anxiety and fear!

Young people will only lose confidence in life if they watch too much of it! Teacher Jian Shen's works are positive energy; they can give people strength!

[Floor 4103 · The Drowned on Land]: Positive energy. Those two words again. How many years have you used them as a fig leaf?

Every time someone speaks the truth, you stuff those words into their mouths.

When Sun Shaoping was gnawing on black flour buns, where were you to send him positive energy?

Suffering doesn't become sweet just because you praise it. But the abyss is at least honest.

It tells you—you are nothing. And then? Then you are actually free.

Lin Que took a sip of cola, his eyebrows arching slightly.

This kid's writing skills have improved again since last time.

Every sentence isn't long, but each cut goes to the bone. He doesn't preach or cite classics; he just uses the most straightforward words to pierce the weakest link in your logical chain.

Moreover, he has a natural, cold persuasiveness.

That persuasiveness doesn't come from technique, but from real pain. In every sentence he speaks, you can feel a soul standing behind it that has been repeatedly crushed by the world.

Looking at the Jian Shen faction, although they were numerous and the passages they cited were indeed brilliant, their responses seemed somewhat soft when facing this kind of piercing counterattack.

Their core argument boiled down to one sentence: choosing to stand up amidst suffering is greatness.

This wasn't wrong. But after saying it a hundred times, it became a slogan.

Slogans can't beat knives.

Lin Que was watching with interest when he suddenly noticed a golden horizontal box pop up at the top of the page.

Site-wide sticky.

In the rules of Wenyuan Pavilion, a site-wide sticky card is a paid item. This thing was originally intended by the forum for fans of niche books to promote them; spending a few hundred yuan could keep a post at the top of the homepage for twenty-four hours.

But because the print media circle itself was lukewarm, and Wenyuan Pavilion's daily active users were worlds apart from those entertainment forums, this sticky feature had been out for several years with very few users.

Today, however, it appeared in an extremely high-profile manner.

Inside the golden horizontal box, a post was forcibly pinned at the very top of all content.

Poster ID: Online Alias.

Post Title: "The Hymn of Humanity is the Hymn of Courage — A Letter to the Believers of the Dream Weaver."

Lin Que's finger stopped on the scroll wheel.

Online Alias.

This name looked familiar.

He stared at those characters for two seconds, his mind spinning rapidly.

Er Dong — Chen.

Shi Kou — Ji.

Jia — Jia.

Before he could finish the combination, a round, chubby face with an eternally boisterous expression automatically popped into his mind.

"This guy..."

Lin Que's lip twitched, and he clicked on the post.

The body of the post was a full three thousand words, with passionate phrasing and abundant emotion, using plots of Sun Shaoan starting a business in Shuangshui Village and Sun Shaoping risking his life in the Tongcheng Coal Mine as evidence, hammering the nihilistic theories of the Dream Weaver faction paragraph after paragraph.

[You say human effort is meaningless in the face of the abyss? Then let me ask you—Sun Shaoan's brick kiln exploded, and he knelt before the ruins crying like a dog. According to your theory, he should have just laid flat and waited for the universe to collect his corpse. But he didn't! He got back up! He borrowed money to rebuild the kiln! On what basis? Just on that breath of spirit!]

[Sun Shaoping was almost buried by a cave-in deep in the coal mine. According to your words, on a cosmic scale, a miner's life or death doesn't even count as an error. But he survived! The moment he dug himself out from the rock crevices, he was humanity flipping the middle finger to the abyss!]

[The hymn of courage is the hymn of humanity! The abyss is just an excuse for cowards to evade reality and refuse to work the land!]

The last sentence was bolded and in red, with the font size maximized.

After Lin Que finished reading, he leaned back in his chair and finally couldn't help but let out a low laugh.

This unreasonable momentum was indeed Chen Jiahao's style.

In terms of literary talent, this post was at most above average.

But in terms of momentum... it was quite fierce.

Typical Chen Jiahao style.

He doesn't play dirty; he just charges like a stubborn bull, knocking you over in the most overbearing way.

Moreover, the enhancement effect of the site-wide sticky was too terrifying.

This post lay directly across the most conspicuous position on the forum's homepage; every user entering the forum, regardless of their faction, had to see it first.

Visual impact is sometimes more important than the content itself.

Just as Lin Que was thinking, his phone screen lit up.

He picked it up and looked; as expected.

[Chen Jiahao]: Master Que! Are you online?!

[Chen Jiahao]: I just snagged a site-wide sticky card for Wenyuan Pavilion! Come help me build the thread! Those abyss lunatics are too arrogant; I can't handle them alone!

[Chen Jiahao]: When the handsome guy goes to war, not a blade of grass remains! But I still need backup! Master Que, you have good writing skills; come help me write some counterattack material, and I'll just copy and paste!

Lin Que looked at the chat box, the corners of his mouth curving.

He set down the cola can and typed a few words on the keyboard with one hand.

[Mu Xia]: How much was the sticky card?

Less than three seconds after the message was sent, the other side replied instantly.

[Chen Jiahao]: The original price for a Wenyuan Pavilion site-wide sticky card is 5,888 a day. But I bought a weekly package at a discount, 39,999.

[Chen Jiahao]: What is this bit of money? Compared to Teacher Jian Shen, my small investment is just a drop in the bucket! Just consider it topping up for faith!

Lin Que stared at the words "topping up for faith" for two seconds, an indescribable warmth welling up in his chest.

He looked down and typed another line.

[Mu Xia]: The post is well-written; that last sentence is quite interesting.

[Chen Jiahao]: ??? Master Que, you're praising me? You actually praised me?! Wait, let me take a screenshot! This is the highlight of my writing career!

[Chen Jiahao]: No, Master Que, don't slack off! Quick, come help me!

That guy called 'The Drowned on Land' is like a piece of dog-skin plaster; for every one I post, he replies right underneath!

Lin Que switched back to the forum page, and sure enough, the first top comment under the sticky post was Dan Yi's reply.

[The Drowned on Land]: Sun Shaoan's brick kiln exploded, and he rebuilt it.

And then? Can he rebuild the sun? Can he rebuild a collapsing star?

The courage you praise is nothing more than an ant clutching a leaf in a flood.

The leaf indeed allowed it to live for three more seconds. But the flood never cared about this ant from beginning to end.

Likes: 1,247.

After Lin Que finished reading this, he fell silent for a brief second.

Then, he switched back to the phone chat box.

[Mu Xia]: Just leave your post hanging there; don't go head-to-head with that ID.

His style isn't suited for a frontal clash; the more anxious you get, the more he gains the upper hand.

Just stick to your argument and output it repeatedly, crushing him with the exposure of the sticky card.

Remember, a positional war is about resources, not lip service.

[Chen Jiahao]: !!! Master Que is indeed Master Que! This is a wave of divine guidance! I get it! Money power is combat power!

[Chen Jiahao]: Then I'll continue the confrontation! No one is getting me to leave this forum today! I've prepared three cases of Red Bull!

After the message was sent, no further messages came from the other side; he had clearly switched back to the forum to charge.

Lin Que put down his phone and picked up his cola again.

In the forum, the number of replies to the sticky post began to soar at a rate of twenty per minute.

Chen Jiahao was frantically following up under the post, citing plots from the book and striking back paragraph by paragraph.

Although the quality of a single post couldn't match Dan Yi's, he couldn't be stopped due to the sheer quantity and momentum.

Coupled with the natural traffic boost of the sticky position, many previously silent Jian Shen fans were also moved to follow up one after another.

Ten minutes later, the post's popularity index began to catch up with the long review section on the opposite side.

Fifty minutes later, the replies below the golden sticky post had completely turned into an ocean of support.

Under Chen Jiahao's cost-no-object spamming and sticky-induced traffic,

the wave of the Jian Shen faction finally temporarily overwhelmed that cold monologue,

retaking the high ground in this battle for public opinion.

...