Chapter 723 - 495: An Astonishing Gap in Vote Count

Following Wu Mu for so long, Zhang Li guessed what was going on just by looking at her best friend’s expression.

She was somewhat speechless, "Have these people not given up yet?"

Such persistence.

Han Yan leaned in with a sly smile, "This time is different."

Yes, at least the anti-fans of Wu Mu felt this time was different.

Han Yan clicked on the often-silent Wu Mu anti-fan group chat to show Zhang Li.

[Wu Mu Anti-fan Group]

Group Leader of Wu Mu Anti-fan Group: "Sisters, the time for the X Night is confirmed. Should we charge once more? @everyone"

Initially, it was the group leader @everyone in the anti-fan group.

There were quick replies below, but they weren’t in agreement, but rather hesitant.

"Is it to rig the votes for X King? Does it even matter?"

Throughout this year, they had charged against Wu Mu, but failed every time.

Failures aside, many times it even increased that dog’s fame, turning them into a laughing stock.

Group Leader of Wu Mu Anti-fan Group: "This time might be different; it’s very likely to work. Before, we failed mainly because that dog never cared about online opinions, just relying on results, and unfortunately, he really had brain-dead fans who’d buy into it.

"But this time it’s not about endorsements or results. X Night is mostly about voting, which is our area of expertise."

"This time, the platform will definitely invite him. As long as we don’t let him get X King, he’ll be thoroughly embarrassed. He seems popular, trending so much, but in the end, X King goes to someone else."

These words seemed sensible, but the severely defeated anti-fans were still hesitant.

"The X King vote is just a part of it, right? Isn’t there also a X expert selection vote? If X wants to give him X King, can’t they manipulate it?"

Group Leader of Wu Mu Anti-fan Group: "Yes, fan votes and expert evaluations both have weight, but if the fan votes have a large enough margin, there’s a big chance to sway the final result."

It doesn’t just affect the final result; there’s another point.

"If the official insists on giving the award to that dog despite a huge vote difference, then we can attack the officials by exposing that dog for inside manipulation."

Before anyone in the anti-fan group could speak, Zhang Li exclaimed watching this.

This... actually does seem a bit different.

She thought for a moment and said, "Online voting has always been his weakness. His fans now only buy things for him but never inflate his data. If the vote difference is too high, the officials would find it difficult to forcefully award him."

Han Yan nodded, "And it’s not just that."

She scrolled down to show Zhang Li.

Beneath the screen, the anti-fan group was still discussing whether to make another move when someone excited emerged.

"This time that dog is finished; everyone out there is targeting him!"

The message was followed by a bunch of chat screenshots.

It was from Wu Mu’s rival fan groups. They were not hesitant at all and were eagerly speaking about taking down Wu Mu.

Each year, the X Night vote was already a major project even without Wu Mu. Now with him, even better, they could step on him together.

But besides Wu Mu’s rival fans, Zhou Yu, Xiao Yi’s circles, and some others...

"Wu Xing? Zhao Yiting? Why are their fans also targeting him?" Zhang Li exclaimed in surprise.

These are also celebrities within the industry but are established and powerful, not new-gen traffic stars, so they never had much conflict with Wu Mu. Yet, in chat screenshots, their fans clearly were planning to bring Wu Mu down.

Han Yan chuckled, "He’s in their way. Who doesn’t know he’s the hottest candidate for X King now? If Wu Xing and others want a chance for X King, they have to bring him down first."

This...

Zhang Li looked up at the sky, it seemed her brother was once again at odds with the world?

...

Zhang Li and Han Yan were not the only ones who noticed this; the outside onlookers eating melons also slowly realized this.

"Whoa, has Wu Gou become the public enemy? Zhou Yu, Qiu Yiyang’s fans aside, I just checked Huang Weiyun’s forum, and they’re also mobilizing to take down Wu Gou."

"Exaggerated, oh, the official X Night account already has seventy or eighty thousand comments below, all resisting Wu Gou’s participation in X Night."

The melon-eating onlookers quickly got excited once again.

"It’s happening, here comes my favorite segment of taking down Wu Gou!"

"Yes, yes, just like this, surround and attack Wu Gou! I want to see Wu Gou against the world!"

"Quickly skip to the part where Wu Gou reverses and slaps all the anti-fans, or where Wu Gou finally gets stomped hard!"

It felt just right. Since Wu Mu’s fame grew more and more and Wu Mu’s anti-fans failed repeatedly, they hadn’t seen the scene where many anti-fans besieged Wu Mu for a while. Now, finally, there was some excitement to watch again.

The online environment suddenly became lively, with audiences discussing this everywhere.

And this enthusiastic atmosphere reached its peak the next day after the voting portal opened.

On the second day after the official announcement of X Night, the vote nomination portals for X King and Queen opened.

As soon as the portal opened, countless traffic star fans rushed in to nominate and vote for their idols.

Then, within just a few minutes, the vote difference became astonishing.

Vote for X King:

First, Qiu Yiyang, 634,800 votes

Second, Zhou Yu, 607,200 votes

Third, Xiao Yi, 579,300 votes

...

Forty-eighth, Wu Mu, 627 votes

Numerous melon-eating onlookers came to witness the vote opening first-hand.

Even the onlookers were a bit shocked by this gap.

"Whoa, why is the gap so huge? The first place has over 600,000 votes, and Wu Gou just over 600?"

"Is there a bug? Even with a gap, it shouldn’t be this much?"

"What the hell is going on? Was Wu Gou just marketing, with actually no real fans?"

The exaggerated difference led some onlookers to genuinely question whether Wu Mu’s fans were even real.

However, some perceptive ones explained.

"Actually, it’s normal. This is the effect that Wu Gou’s anti-fans want to achieve. The voting rule is that every account has a base vote, and based on the account’s activity, you can exchange up to three additional votes. This mode inherently facilitates data manipulation by data workers; they finish with their main account and then switch to alternate accounts for another sweep, so the votes naturally go up."

"Yes, it’s mainly because Wu Gou’s fans don’t inflate votes for him, so the gap seems this large."

"Plus, this time, there are too many targeting Wu Gou. Look, there are forty-eight nominations in total, but Wu Gou is ranked forty-eighth, with anti-fans deliberately pushing him to the last place."

Regardless of how much was said, the vote gap was still shockingly real.

Netizens were curious, "With such a gap in the vote from the start, would X still dare to give the award to Wu Gou?"

Also, "What is Wu Gou going to do about it?"

Well, what can be done?

Of course, there’s nothing to do.

Wu Mu wasn’t even paying attention to this; he was currently having dinner with Sun Yueqing.

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(Slightly overwrought; it’s been too long since I wrote, feeling a bit rusty)