134. Chen Shang’s Tourism Industry Plan

"You want me to accompany you on an adventure livestream?" Jon took a breath, his legs still trembling uncontrollably. "No way... You went through all this trouble to dig up my secrets, just to make me go on a livestream with you?"

"Why else?" Chen Entropy tilted his head and asked in return.

"Then what exactly do you want? Traffic? Money? Or popularity?" Jon maintained his composure and asked sharply, "I remember you were the winning strategist in the last Grand Tournament. You don't need me to help you get famous, do you?"

"No, no, no. I have no interest in vulgar things like money and traffic." Chen Entropy wagged his finger, acting like a riddle-maker. "You don't need to know the specific reasons. The only thing you need to do is accompany me on a livestream, and then just follow the script I've prepared for you."

"That... that matter..." Even with a sword held to his neck, Jon asked subconsciously.

"Of course I won't spill your secret; it wouldn't do me any good, after all." Chen Entropy thought for a moment and answered solemnly, "Besides, your reward won't be small—it will be a number so large you won't be able to refuse."

***

Three days later, on Friday night, the official account of "Adventurer Jon Williams" posted a livestream teaser:

"The Great Adventurer delves deep into the Wasteland Refinement Zone to reveal the secrets hidden in Nightspire City for ten thousand years! A mysterious guest will participate in a joint broadcast! See you all this Sunday!"

Upon receiving this notification, Jon's fans immediately fell into heated discussion.

If one were to look through this adventurer's previous videos, they would find that every livestream involved him going to extremely dangerous, uninhabited forbidden zones outside the city. Yet this time, he had set his target for exploration within Nightspire City itself.

This feeling was like an explorer who had repeatedly braved the Amazon rainforest and the Sahara Desert suddenly announcing he was going to do a horror livestream in the cemetery next to his house. Because the change in style was so abrupt, the audience was having a hard time adjusting.

"Why go to a hellhole like the Wasteland Refinement Zone? We want to see you go to the Eastern Radiation Zone again!"

"What kind of secrets could the Wasteland Refinement Zone possibly have? Have you started clickbaiting too?"

"Oh my god, a mysterious guest?! Is it Miss Amon? If it's not her, I'm not watching!"

"Amon... hehehe... Miss Amon..."

Watching the pile of negative comments under the announcement, Jon Williams made a worried phone call: "Strategist, I've posted the livestream announcement as you said, but the audience doesn't seem to be buying it."

"I know, it was all within my expectations." Chen Entropy snapped his fingers and said with a smile, "Just watch my operation next."

In order to promote the Abyss as a "tourist destination" and attract the people of Nightspire City to go in and play—and hopefully draw the conglomerates in as well—Chen Entropy needed to generate some appropriate hype for the place.

This kind of hype wasn't as simple as just finding a stuttering villager and molding him into a "pure superstar." He needed a more hardcore spokesperson, one who could attract the tough guys in the city who lived on the edge of a blade to go explore, rather than attracting fan-girl demographics to check in for photos.

After hanging up on the great adventurer, Chen Entropy turned to call Black Calis: "It's your turn. Let me see the power of professional internet trolls!"

"Damn, you really think of me as a troll?" Black Calis retorted impolitely. "Although your plan is fun, don't forget, I'm getting paid for this!"

Chen Entropy felt a sense of déjà vu, as if he had heard this before at the Tokugawa Corporation. Thinking of what Black Calis had said to him that day, Chen Entropy casually quipped, "You wouldn't be trying to ask me out on a date too, would you?"

"Hahaha! Don't group me with that love-struck little yakuza girl!" Black Calis burst into breathless laughter, seemingly feeling no shame at all. "I haven't decided on the reward yet, but I'll see how I feel~"

"Whatever. Before we talk about rewards, just get the job done for me." Chen Entropy sighed and smiled thoughtfully.

After arranging everything, Chen Entropy took a deep breath and checked his system and character status again. Three days had passed since he explored the Abyss, and his mental state was gradually recovering. Although he would occasionally see strange phantoms drifting by, these shadows no longer greeted him, nor did they scare him.

The Honkai Core in his chest was still malfunctioning, and the system functions were unusable. Black Calis's repair had only temporarily suppressed the energy leak, but the noise of the core's operation had become louder than before, as if it could explode at any moment.

Tossing his finished homework back into his schoolbag, Chen Entropy prepared to lie down and rest. Just then, he received another call.

"Hello, Mr. Adventurer, what is it now?" Chen Entropy asked with some impatience. He had had a lot on his mind lately and wanted to go to sleep early.

"Strategist, look!" On the other end of the line, Jon's voice was incoherent with excitement.

"Look at what?" Chen Entropy frowned.

"Look at Weibo and Douguan! Why are there so many comments under my announcement? And my followers have increased so much!" Jon babbled, "This is impossible... I've actually hit the trending list on Douguan! What on earth is going on?!"

"Damn, make a mountain out of a molehill." Chen Entropy sighed and brushed him off. "I hired a professional entertainment company to boost it for you. I'm going to sleep now. Don't forget, see you on Sunday."

***

The reason Chen Entropy chose Jon Williams was not only because he had leverage over him, but because Jon had potential that traffic-driven stars could only dream of.

Those traffic-driven stars were useless on their own, relying entirely on the entertainment company's hard-core hype. They were like the small-fry side characters in fantasy novels who used drugs to forcibly raise their cultivation levels; although they seemed to have a higher level than their peers on the surface, their foundations were unstable, and they would suffer a backlash and die if any accident occurred.

Jon Williams, however, was a top-tier doer. He already possessed the solid strength to become a big-name star; he only lacked operation and opportunity. He was like the classic fantasy protagonist who cultivated the most difficult techniques while desperately suppressing his own power. On the surface, he looked like a scrub, but in reality, he was long capable of killing high-level experts above his rank.

So, when Black Calis gave him a little push, his popularity skyrocketed like a rocket:

"In this restless society, I've never seen such a dedicated adventure streamer. Love it, love it!"

"Teacher Jon is one of the few remaining conscientious adventure bloggers on the market. Must watch next episode!"

"Our whole family loves watching Teacher Jon's videos. We will support you forever!"

Black Calis had directly used the template Chen Entropy had used half a year ago to "praise-to-death" Jin Yuchuang, sending a wave of internet trolls to Jon Williams.

However, while the same words used on traffic-driven stars were sarcastic "praise-to-death," when used on a doer like Jon Williams, they were sincere compliments that felt completely natural, to the point where one couldn't even feel a hint of awkwardness.

Overnight, the name "Jon Williams" climbed into the top twenty of the Douguan heat list, second only to the latest single "Buy Buy Buy" released by the idol group under the B-Hand Company, and topics about him even appeared on Weibo.

When Chen Entropy woke up the next day and opened Douguan, he found that Jon Williams' follower count had surged by over 100,000 overnight, and the number of reservations for this livestream had reached 300,000. Although these figures included quite a few bots, it was still quite considerable.

He called Jon Williams. Before he could even speak, the other side said in an excited voice:

"Strategist... Mr. Strategist, this is too crazy, my follower count has increased so much!"

Chen Entropy laughed, unfazed: "You're famous, happy?"

"Of course I'm happy that so many people are watching my livestream!" Jon's voice trembled as he grinned. "Actually, I've wanted to cooperate with an entertainment company for a long time! But every time I was about to close a deal, the Joestar Group would send people to obstruct it, saying they didn't want me to embarrass them in front of others!"

"That's truly 'fatherly kindness and filial piety'~" Chen Entropy nodded solemnly and then instructed, "Anyway, don't forget the agreement. We'll meet at the Wasteland Refinement Zone on Sunday."