Chapter 340 - - 338 On and Off the Stage Sensation_1

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Alien Warriors are full of energy, and as long as they have enough energy, they can go without sleep and keep fighting for five days straight as if it were ten.

The disparity in forces between us and the enemy is simply too vast.

Even if Duge stirs up our soldiers’ fierceness and greed, facing an enemy several times our number, I’m afraid it will be of little use.

Therefore.

Whether we can win this war rests upon him; in this world individual martial strength can determine the direction of a war.

Cao Lin is the spiritual pillar of the Cao family’s army. Topple him, and you can pull out the soul of the army he commands.

In that case, without logistical support, they will surely crumble quickly.

For an Alien Warrior, improving attributes is the fastest way to grow, but Luo Shuang’s base is too small, and even in moments of crisis, my unwavering loyalty to her won’t rack up much in the way of attributes.

If loyalty doesn’t work, then it’s time to leverage trends.

Duge’s ability to stand out each time owes much to the profound cultural heritage of Earth.

Without the interference of Pan-Universe Entertainment, Earth’s culture is diverse and flourishes, which is entirely different from Qiyuan Star, where people, after being drained by Pan-Universe Entertainment for over two centuries, have become numb and only focus on figuring out keywords.

Starting a trend of Wolf culture among the soldiers is just a part of it.

The spread of Wolf culture is too slow.

Actually, the best things to influence trends are not high-end concepts like gender equality, enlightening the public, or economic trends, but rather entertainment and fashion – the kinds of everyday things that are easy for the general population to accept.

High-end scholarly topics are lofty but take too long to have an effect because they require a lot of energy to popularize and teach, and they face significant resistance. If mishandled, they could fail to spread at all, ending up stillborn.

To forcefully popularize these, without spending years or even decades, it’s impossible to spread them.

But it’s different with mainstream content.

The gambling games like Pusoy, Mahjong, cards, and Chinese chess that Duge introduced in Linyang City were popularized among the public in just a few days. No matter how dire the situation, entertainment is essential, and these games are simple, easily replicable, and highly addictive.

Promoted by the government, they spread rapidly.

In just a few days, they became the rage across all the towns under Luo Shuang’s control…

At the same time.

Duge also launched the “Linyang Daily Newspaper”, constantly presenting the public with the latest news from around the world.

Such as the trends of various nations, the current situation of the Heavenly Demon, news from the battlefields, and so on.

Public opinion is the most influential on trends.

Duge must control public opinion at all costs.

The rules of games like Pusoy and Mahjong were propagated through the “Linyang Daily Newspaper”, and along with them, Duge’s theory of horoscopes spread.

Back in school, boys and girls were crazy about this sort of thing.

Initially.

Duge studied these things intensively, just to please young girls, so manipulating these concepts became second nature to him.

Thus, every life experience is a valuable treasure, you never know when it might come in handy.

Signs like Aries, Taurus, Gemini… combined with one’s birth date and fortune, were easy to understand and sparked a new craze among the public, rivaling the popularity of games like Pusoy.

This kind of ambiguous yet accessible content is much easier for people to accept than mysterious and obscure divinations.

Aries are impulsive, lively, and full of energy, but they act too rashly and lack patience;

Taurus is stable, reliable, and has a strong sense of self which is good for financial management, but they are too stubborn and possessive;

Gemini are clever and adaptable…

When the theory of horoscopes was spread through the “Linyang Daily Newspaper”.

The citizens of Linyang City easily found their corresponding signs and eagerly followed their fortunes;

“Capricorn’s monthly fortune: four stars… In the early part of the month, Mercury enters Taurus, and with the full moon in Libra and Mercury in retrograde, you’ll see changes in stable relationships this month, and polarizing trends are likely. You may face emotional conflicts, disputes with partners, or arguments with friends and family. You need to speak and act cautiously, adjusting the way you communicate…”

“Cancer’s monthly fortune: four stars; your beneficial sign is Taurus, and your harmful sign is Aries; you need to pay extra attention to matters related to family at the beginning of the month…”

“Aquarius’s monthly fortune: five stars…”

…

The public is enthusiastic about free fortune-telling.

The Barnum effect suggests that when you describe someone with vague, general statements, people easily believe it describes them…

This is why the theory of horoscopes spread so rapidly.

Trends are like trade; the same group of people can be influenced over and over again. Unwittingly, it guides their actions, changes their thoughts, and still, they remain oblivious.

Duge’s attributes have surged alongside the tides, in the past few days alone, they have more than doubled, a far more significant increase than from his strenuous efforts to promote gender equality.

Duge’s sudden change of style has left all the Alien Warriors baffled.

What’s going on now?

Shouldn’t Duge’s keywords be revolution, rebellion, or perhaps public opinion?

Why has he now come up with a set of entertainment games and a theory of horoscopes?

Could it be that his keywords are also related to entertainment and fashion?

If it was about popularity, how had he managed to climb the rankings to the number one spot before without generating any popular trends? In the first month, Duge didn’t create any trends at all.

Moreover, if it were about popularity, he had no need to nurture a disgraced princess and put himself in such a passive predicament.

What exactly was this guy’s keyword?

Everyone was baffled; Duge’s actions were too erratic, and there wasn’t a single suitable keyword that could match his words and deeds.

Not just the Alien Warriors inside the venue.

Outside.

The audience of Pan-Universe Entertainment, looking at Duge and the keywords attached to him—loyalty—were equally perplexed. They were well aware of the game’s rules.

But Duge’s trajectory of growth didn’t align at all with the attributes of his keyword.

…

“Does Duge’s behavior really match loyalty? Strongly suspect Pan-Universe Entertainment of covert manipulation and breaking the rules.”

“If such ’loyalty’ can get first place, it’s unfair to the other contestants.”

“Scandal, Pan-Universe Entertainment is blurring the definition of keywords to create a star, please disclose Duge’s real keywords, or I will boycott this show forever.”

“Scandal, scandal.”

“I demand a refund of the money I bet earlier; this is an unfair gamble.”

…

Last time, Duge helped Pan-Universe Entertainment regain their viewership ratings in the Alien Battlefield.

This time, there was an exceptionally large number of viewers for the Alien Battlefield, who could clearly see the contestants’ keywords and rankings.

They were most interested in the top ten, where most of their bets were placed.

The sudden rise of Duge and his growth trajectory, which severely mismatched his keyword, caused a strong quake in the forums.

After all, not everyone had placed their bets on Duge.

Those who had bet on other contestants were naturally dissatisfied when they saw that Duge’s actions and keyword didn’t match up, yet he firmly held the position of first place; complaints filled the forums.

If it was just watching videos for entertainment, people would laugh it off, but betting and interests behind the scenes were a different matter.

Once whispers of a scandal emerged, aside from bets on Duge, betting on all other contestants almost completely stopped; no one wanted to participate in an unfair gamble.

Concerning Duge’s bets, the clamor of the scandal caused the gamblers to become wary, and they gradually began to reduce the amounts they wagered…

Watching the most profitable betting pool shrink due to Duge.

The executives of Pan-Cosmic Entertainment Company were in an uproar; their technical staff worked overtime, analyzing Duge’s actions and the underlying data, but everything appeared normal.

The backend showed his keyword was indeed loyalty, with no detected loopholes or bugs.

Regarding this.

Pan-Universe Entertainment was forced to issue an announcement:

“The game data is all normal; what affects the rankings is not just attributes but also the influence on the world, a consideration of comprehensive data; backend data will be disclosed after the competition for anyone to verify.

A moment of glory doesn’t necessarily last until the end; odds for Duge will accordingly increase, please be assured of your bets. If Duge wins in the end, Pan-Universe Entertainment will pay out all amounts in full.”

There’s nothing that proves the authenticity of data more than the increased odds.

After all.

If Duge wins, Pan-Universe Entertainment is definitely going to lose money.

With one announcement, the mouths of all the gamblers were blocked, then, a significant amount of money was put on Duge.

The gamblers, eager for Duge to win in the end, even began to reward him with lavish amounts of spiritual power through live streaming platforms.

Of course, other gamblers were willing to bet on another dark horse, putting their money on other contestants.

After all, the underdogs had higher odds, and to ensure their final victory, they too began to receive a large volume of rewards.

The betting pools of Pan-Universe Entertainment finally returned to normal.

Meanwhile, on Qiyuan Star, Bai Long’s face was somber, supervising technicians in the spaceship of Pan-Universe Entertainment, analyzing frame by frame all the data of Duge’s simulated battlefield, as well as replay videos of past victories in the Alien Battlefield from Qiyuan Star, in hopes of finding loopholes.

Not only the audience, but even he himself felt that Duge’s use of the keyword and development was somewhat abnormal.

After all.

He had been on Qiyuan Star for two hundred years and was most familiar with the culture of Qiyuan Star, as well as aware of its training system.

Mahjong, Pai Gow, and Astrology were not from Qiyuan Star, yet Duge managed to produce these things in a short time, which in itself was abnormal, not matching his age and experience.

If these things were also absent from previous replay videos of Qiyuan Star, then there indeed was a problem with Duge; not even a genius could conjure knowledge that wasn’t theirs from thin air.

If there was an issue with Duge, in the future Alien Battlefields, it might affect the company’s operations…

In an effort to quell the public anger, the company forcibly raised Duge’s odds, triggering a substantial amount of betting. As long as he finished first, the company was certain to lose money.

At this moment.

Bai Long even harbored the impulse to let Duge die on the Alien Battlefield, just to prove the fairness of the game.

But he couldn’t interfere with the game process; if they meddled and it got exposed, that would be a real disaster for the company.

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