Chapter Seventy-Four: Mindset, Madness, System Collapse

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The October issue of "Fashion Men’s Style" was not just a digital release; there was also a print edition. However, the print issue was published on the 15th of each month, unlike the digital edition which was released at midnight on the 1st.

So, while Lin Xing was busy filming in recent days, "Fashion Men’s Style" had already begun daily promotions for its October digital issue. After all, a magazine issue couldn’t possibly feature only Lin Xing, Hao Zhi, and Xu Han as its celebrities.

This issue also covered the variety show "Comedy Should Make You Laugh," the September art film "Three’s Company," a television drama called "Glory," and several articles on the world of fashion.

In short, each issue of "Fashion Men’s Style" aimed to create buzz. This buzz was meant to drive sales—for example, by giving Lin Xing, Hao Zhi, and Xu Han each their own cover.

Yet, buzz and sales alone were not enough; "Fashion Men’s Style" also strove to deliver content. This approach resembled the TV formula of blending popular stars with veteran actors.

But, of course, the status of the fashion world was acknowledged by everyone in the entertainment industry. How many celebrities vied for the favor of the editor-in-chief of "Fashion Men’s Style"?

For stars like Hao Zhi and Xu Han, relying on their work alone to be featured in "Fashion Men’s Style" was difficult. Sales were their only hope.

If their sales were spectacular, it would be easier for them to appear in magazines in the future. After all, magazines also have targets to meet—they need to make a living.

“Hao Zhi and Xu Han’s fan clubs are already going crazy. It’s not just our first appearance in a magazine in ten years; it’s the first time for both Hao Zhi and Xu Han,” Sister Dao said with a smile. “Their fan clubs are even raising money to boost sales.”

“Oh.” Lin Xing shook his head slightly. “If they insist on this, let them be. We said before we wouldn’t take advantage of our fans.”

“Right, they need the sales, but we don’t. So, with ‘Fashion Men’s Style,’ we only need to cooperate a little,” Sister Dao nodded gently, then moved on to business. “I’ve been reviewing scripts these days, but most of them are trying to ride the Du Fei wave, so I’ve politely declined.”

“No rush. I’ll be filming for another half month, and the last episode of ‘Back to Farming’ is scheduled for October 20th. Besides, I still have to film two more episodes of ‘Following the Stars to Alleviate Poverty’ at Da Feng Mountain...” Lin Xing shook his head. “As I’ve always said, I’d rather have no script than a bad one.”

Unlike other suddenly popular stars who scramble from one project to another, Lin Xing always followed the rules. Even with variety shows, he maintained his standards.

After chatting a bit more with Sister Dao, Lin Xing reiterated his principle: only accept quality scripts.

Of course, good scripts are hard to come by. Lin Xing never expected to find another script as excellent as "Sweeping the Underworld." Wasn’t that wishful thinking?

Now, many people believed Lin Xing was cast in "Sweeping the Underworld" only because he was backed by capital.

To be honest, serious dramas probably wouldn’t even consider Lin Xing at this point. In everyone’s eyes, he was still just a popular idol. Changing that perception wouldn’t happen overnight.

After all, it had been less than three months since Lin Xing’s resurgence.

This required patience. He had time to change people’s minds.

For now, he would rely on his work to gradually shift public opinion. Du Fei in "Just Waiting for You" was one such role, and the upcoming "Sweeping the Underworld" would be another.

As for other scripts, he’d have to wait and see.

Right now, Lin Xing couldn’t recklessly take on new projects and risk squandering his hard-won reputation.

Of course, variety shows counted, too.

Many celebrities tried to restore their image or gain popularity through variety shows. But Lin Xing was different—he joined "Back to Farming" initially just to return a favor, not to improve his reputation.

As for "Following the Stars to Alleviate Poverty," there was even less to say. Lin Xing simply wanted to do his part.

How to put it? Zhou Bo believed in the inherent evil of human nature, but in his past life, Lin Xing leaned toward inherent goodness.

You could call him superstitious—he believed in cosmic justice, and that being given a second chance at life meant ultimate justice would prevail.

He set his own code: be honest, work diligently, never betray his conscience, and keep his compassion.

After all, for Lin Xing, living a second life in this world was something science couldn’t explain.

For the past ten years, Lin Xing had participated in charity for this very reason.

In short, Lin Xing treated being a celebrity as a job, and outside of work, he did what he could to help others.

Do good, and care not for the future.

His decade of honing his craft was what led to his recent three months of success.

Half an hour later, Lin Xing returned to the hotel. After showering, before reviewing his script, he decided to check the buzz on Weibo.

“Supporting Hao Zhi, waiting for the midnight release!”

“Hahaha, only four hours until midnight! I’m giving up next month’s living expenses to support Hao Zhi!”

“I even asked my boyfriend for money to support Hao Zhi!”

“Whoever buys Hao Zhi’s issue, I’ll give them a chance to date me!”

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“Hurry up and release it already! Supporting Xu Han, these two hours are dragging on forever.”

“Support Xu Han! And remember, everyone, make sure you buy the right link—after all, the main cover is Lin Xing.”

“Damn it, why is Lin Xing always overshadowing our Han Han? Screw him.”

“That’s right, let these sales show who the real top star is this time!”

In the comment section of "Fashion Men’s Style’s" Weibo reposts, Hao Zhi and Xu Han’s fans were both spamming and cursing Lin Xing.

Indeed.

For over half a month, Hao Zhi and Xu Han’s fans had been cursing Lin Xing from time to time. And the combativeness of these two fandoms was impressive.

Put simply, if you see a star whose fans are being exploited, you’ll notice their fans are always fierce.

After all, the favorite pastime of popular idols is to torment and ‘cleanse’ their fans.

The basic narrative is always, “Our idol is being bullied; he’s strong yet tragic. I must stand up for him!”

Fan circles need a rival to rally against—a common enemy to attack.

Right now, Lin Xing was that enemy for Hao Zhi and Xu Han’s fans.

Someone once said, “There’s no sisterhood in fandoms, only camaraderie in battle.”

Because your idol might not always be your idol, but your rival will always be your rival.

That’s why Lin Xing’s fans were no match for Hao Zhi and Xu Han’s. Lin Xing had already distanced himself from the fandom world.

Now, Lin Xing had the support of general audiences.

But Hao Zhi and Xu Han’s fans didn’t see it that way. They believed Lin Xing could be defeated.

Now, they were eager to shake Lin Xing with their sales numbers.

Lin Xing scrolled through the discussions but quickly lost interest. He found the whole thing rather ridiculous.

No wonder Sister Dao advised him not to pay attention to what was being said on Weibo.

Clearly, in the minds of Hao Zhi and Xu Han’s fans, Lin Xing was the enemy. They were fighting for honor, determined to defeat him.

Absurd.

It was just that kids had time because of the National Day holiday.

Lin Xing was now immensely grateful he’d disbanded his official fan club and that Sister Dao did her best to guide his fans. Otherwise, his fans might have been joining the fray as well.

Casual viewers couldn’t care less about fandom wars. In the end, it’s always “fans’ actions, idol pays the price.”

Shaking his head, Lin Xing put his phone away.

Better to spend the time reading scripts.

After all, tomorrow would mark the end of his scenes with Ren Yi.

Their final scene together was a three-way performance with Ren Yi, Wang Fei, and Zhou Bo.

Before he realized it, Lin Xing had been reading scripts until ten o’clock.

“That’s enough. Time to sleep.”

Lin Xing decided to go straight to bed.

Meanwhile, things online were reaching a fever pitch.

As mentioned, Hao Zhi and Xu Han were newly minted top stars. Their fandom leaders were eager to profit, so they urged fans to spend money.

The brainwashing was intense: if you didn’t go all out to boost sales, you weren’t worthy.

On top of that, the fans kept cursing Lin Xing, doing everything they could to put him down.

Originally, Lin Xing’s fans hadn’t responded. During his ten years out of the spotlight, his fans were few and very laid-back.

Take Big Cat, for example. She always managed the fandom, and when Lin Xing announced the disbandment of his official fan club, she was the first to support him.

She never liked those exploitative top stars.

Big Cat believed she had chosen the right person to support.

She wasn’t alone; many long-time fans felt the same.

They were genuinely happy to see Lin Xing on "Fashion Men’s Style."

“Our Xing is really coming into his own.”

Big Cat even considered helping boost sales, but after talking with Sister Dao, she dropped the idea.

For days, Big Cat and the other veteran fans watched Hao Zhi and Xu Han’s fans make a fuss, screaming about fighting for honor.

Sometimes Big Cat wanted to ask, “Little sister, what grade are you in?”

It had to be said, these veteran fans were pretty chill, but not all of Lin Xing’s fans were like that.

After all, the fan base had grown since the fan club was disbanded, which happened before the broadcast of "Just Waiting for You." Back then, his following was much smaller.

Now, thanks to his role as Du Fei in "Just Waiting for You," Lin Xing had amassed a vast new base of fans.

These new fans were a mixed bunch.

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With so many new fans, there were all kinds of people among them.

Without organization, they couldn’t compete with Hao Zhi and Xu Han’s fans in online arguments, but their purchasing power was another story.

Moreover, the constant attacks from Hao Zhi and Xu Han’s fans, and their talk of dominating sales, had left some of Lin Xing’s fans feeling indignant.

Who’s the real top star?

Who are you to call yourself top star?

That was one aspect.

There was also a silent group of casual fans supporting Lin Xing.

Yes, silent casual fans.

These people didn’t help Lin Xing with stats, nor did they defend him online, and most of the time, they didn’t have the time to say nice things about him.

They just supported Lin Xing when he had a good project, and if something flopped, they’d even criticize him.

These silent casual fans were much like readers of online fiction: they never left comments or interacted, and you wouldn’t even know they existed unless you saw their votes.

But most of the time, they paid up.

The logic was the same.

Lin Xing’s silent casual fans were just like that.

Some of them liked Lin Xing because of his role as Du Fei.

Ever since "Just Waiting for You" premiered on August 11th, Du Fei had become a hit, and the satellite TV finale hadn’t even aired yet.

Even more, there were countless "Domineering CEO Lin Xing" edits floating around on Bilibili and MicroVision.

So, when these people saw Lin Xing featured in the October digital issue of "Fashion Men’s Style," and the magazine’s promotion was all about "Domineering CEO Lin Xing," the silent casual fans figured, "Ten yuan for a digital copy isn’t expensive. Why not buy one?"

Thus, when the October issue of "Fashion Men’s Style" officially went on sale at midnight on October 1st through their mini-app, the platform crashed in less than three seconds.

“Hahaha, this is the power of Hao Zhi’s fandom! We broke the ‘Fashion Men’s Style’ system!”

“It’s hilarious, Hao Zhi’s fans are too strong!”

“This is our strength on display.”

“I told you Xu Han was a top star, didn’t I? Now do you believe it?”

“‘Fashion Men’s Style,’ hurry up and fix your system! Only ten thousand copies for Xu Han—are you kidding us?”

“That’s right, you should at least put up a hundred thousand copies!”

Currently, "Fashion Men’s Style" had three separate purchase links—whichever you bought counted toward that celebrity’s sales.

Lin Xing, Hao Zhi, and Xu Han each had twenty thousand copies in stock.

No one expected that before sales even started, the website would crash.

The magazine’s official account quickly reassured everyone: “You’re all so enthusiastic! The system is being fixed right away.”

Meanwhile, the comments were filled with Hao Zhi and Xu Han’s fans bonding over the event.

“No rush, you just didn’t stock enough for us.”

“Haha, editor, can you see Xu Han’s buying power now?”

“Twenty thousand copies? Who are you underestimating? Fix it quickly!”

“Hao Zhi’s fans say that’s not even enough for a few of us!”

“Haha, it’s a National Day spectacle!”

In short, both fandoms believed themselves the strongest.

A minute later, the system was back online.

Hao Zhi’s stock dropped to just over ten thousand.

Xu Han had just over eight thousand left.

But Lin Xing’s twenty thousand copies had already sold out.

Faced with this, Hao Zhi and Xu Han’s fans had only one thought:

The system must still be broken, right?

At that moment, Li Rong, the director of "Fashion Men’s Style," was at home, calling the technical team: “Is the system fixed yet? What happened to Lin Xing’s inventory?”

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