Chapter 33: Driven to a Dead End, A Ray of Hope Emerges

Looking at the girl’s earnest expression, Chen Fan felt a mix of amusement and helplessness.

“Well… alright then.”

“I’ll accept this money.”

“Thank you.”

Su Ruochu finally broke into a smile, feeling thrilled that she could actually help Chen Fan.

“What are your plans for the next steps?”

Chen Fan gave a bitter laugh and shook his head. “I haven’t figured that out yet.”

Su Ruochu suggested, “School starts in a little over a month. You can’t keep coming here to Brother Honghai’s place to keep watch every single day, right? Since you said you haven’t thought of any other way, why don’t you use this money to buy a computer first? With a computer, you can maintain your website from home, and you can even take it with you to your dorm once university begins.”

Chen Fan was tempted. After all, not having a computer was incredibly inconvenient. He knew that if he wanted to start a business after entering university, a computer would be indispensable. However, after a moment of reflection, he dismissed the idea. It had nothing to do with male pride; it was simply because, as Su Ruochu had mentioned earlier, this money was the result of years of saving. He couldn't just squander it.

“Let me think about it some more,” Chen Fan said with a faint smile at Su Ruochu. “Maybe I’ll come up with a different solution soon.”

Chen Fan hadn’t found a winning strategy yet, but his opponent would soon provide him with a new spark of inspiration.

That day, Chen Fan was surfing the web with Guo Shuai at the Birch Forest Internet Cafe. On the screen in front of Chen Fan was the homepage of Xinlang.com. Three days ago, his promotional contract with Xinlang had expired, and Chen Fan could not afford to renew it. Today, the advertisement on Xinlang had been replaced by Yiyu.com.

It seemed his opponent was truly determined to drive him into a corner. Chen Fan shook his head with a helpless, bitter smile. Against a real "pay-to-win" tycoon, he was simply outmatched. Was he just going to admit defeat? Chen Fan was not reconciled to that.

He clicked on his own domain name website. With the end of the promotional contract, his traffic had been overtaken by Yiyu.com over the past two days. Fortunately, thanks to the previous promotion, his site had already accumulated a decent base of users. Many netizens had become accustomed to posting, leaving comments, and gossiping on the forum section of his site.

Some had naturally seen the promotions for Yiyu.com and even went to experience the competitor’s site. The experience was so poor that many ended up cursing and returning to Chen Fan’s site. It was like being used to living in a spacious, bright villa and then being forced into a cramped, drafty, communal bunkhouse; naturally, the discomfort was jarring.

Chen Fan’s website was the villa. The style and logic he had built into it were at least two versions ahead of Yiyu.com.

“What kind of trash is Yiyu.com?”

“They actually had the nerve to pay for promotion for this garbage.”

“If I had that much money, I’d rather spend it on a good meal.”

In the forums of Chen Fan’s site, users who had visited Yiyu.com were venting their frustrations.

“Everyone, stay away from Yiyu.com. It’s a total waste of life.”

“Compared to our site, Yiyu.com is just a knock-off that doesn’t know what it wants to be.”

At first, it was just users having fun with their own complaints, but soon, other voices began appearing in the forum.

“Thought your site was so great? Looking at it now, it’s nothing special.”

“Everyone, go register on Yiyu.com. Their traffic is at least ten times higher than this place…”

“What’s the point of a pretty website? Without users, it’s just a pile of crap…”

These smear campaigns appeared all at once on the same day. Naturally, they quickly caught the attention of Chen Fan, who was the forum administrator. Looking at the accounts behind these posts, most were "alt" accounts that had been registered just in the last day or two.

Chen Fan shook his head, speechless. He hadn’t expected that in this era, people were already using alt accounts to engage in smear tactics. And looking at the content and the timing of these posts, he wouldn't believe for a second that there wasn't someone behind it.

"Boss Yao," he thought, "truly worthy of being a name that leaves a mark on the internet in the future. To think he already knows how to use a 'water army' to smear rivals..."

*A water army?*

That was it. A lightbulb went off in Chen Fan’s mind, and his eyes lit up instantly. The accounts sent by his opponent numbered at most twenty—it was clearly a premeditated move. Unfortunately for them, Boss Yao hadn’t yet grasped the full concept of a "water army" as a massive, terrifying force in the future.

Chen Fan didn't necessarily love or hate the idea of a water army. To him, it was a double-edged sword. As long as it was used correctly, it could have miraculous effects. Since he couldn't outspend Boss Yao in traditional promotion, he might as well take a different path and change his strategy.

It was as if his mind had suddenly opened up; his thoughts became crystal clear.

“Boss Yao, oh Boss Yao, since you were the one to send people to smear me first, don’t blame me for what comes next.”

After murmuring this to himself, Chen Fan patted Guo Shuai, who was in the middle of a game. “Let’s go.”

“Huh? It’s not time yet,” Guo Shuai shouted, looking bewildered.

Seeing Chen Fan walking toward the front desk of the internet cafe instead of leaving, Guo Shuai hesitated for a moment, worried that Chen Fan might be in some kind of trouble, but he ultimately abandoned his game and hurried after him.

“I want to see your boss,” Chen Fan said, getting straight to the point with the front desk clerk.

The clerk, who was busy playing on the computer, glanced up at Chen Fan without expression. “The boss is busy. No time.”

Seeing this, Guo Shuai, who had just caught up, was about to flare up, but Chen Fan stopped him. He looked at the young clerk with a friendly smile.

“That’s fine, talking to you is the same. Brother, are you interested in making some extra cash?”

Upon hearing this, the clerk finally pulled his gaze away from the computer screen and looked at Chen Fan for the first time. “What do you mean?”

Chen Fan smiled and pulled a slip of paper from his pocket. “Look. I’ve started a new QQ group.”

“Starting today, I want you to pull as many people coming into this internet cafe as possible into my group.”

“For every person you bring in, I’ll pay you fifty cents. No limit on the total.”

“What do you think? Is this a deal you want to make?”

The clerk stared at Chen Fan, stunned. “It’s that simple?”

“That simple.”

“Are you for real?”

“Of course I am.” Chen Fan smiled. “Even if I were lying, what could I possibly take from you? You don’t need to invest anything; you just have to use your mouth to talk to people and you make money, right?”

“Of course, if you’re not interested, I can ask your net admin. I think he’d probably be interested…”

“Who said I’m not interested? I’ll do it!”

The clerk, panicked at the thought of the net admin being asked, immediately snatched the paper from Chen Fan’s hand. He looked at it carefully, then asked with some suspicion, “What if… you guys go back on your word and don’t pay?”

Chen Fan laughed. “We’re here almost every day; we’re familiar faces now. Do you really think I’d try to scam you over something like this? Whether it’s real or not, you’ll know as soon as you pull a few people into the group today.”

“Fifty cents a head. Ten people is five yuan, one hundred people is fifty… If you can pull in a thousand people, you’ll have made five hundred yuan just like that…”

The clerk was clearly swayed by Chen Fan’s words. He figured he didn't have anything to lose, so he might as well give it a try.

“Fine, I’ll trust you once!”