Chapter 45: I Prefer Preying on Acquaintances

"I thought I was just catching a petty thief, but it turns out I've stirred up a hornet's nest."

They are all musical tailors...

Chen Chen's song "Crimson" was actually not that bad; two or three bars sounded somewhat similar, but there was never any solid proof, and calling it a source of inspiration was not entirely objectionable.

However, the self-recommended applicants in Yu Wei's review section were much worse. Very few bars of their songs were original; they were patched and pieced together like a hundred-patch quilt.

If he were to write such universally reviled songs into his book, his readers would probably call the police...

No more viral internet songs!

Yu Wei quickly weighed his options. If he continued to write internet hits, the selected artists would simply follow suit, giving birth to a second and third Chen Chen, which would completely change the nature of the book.

He was a writer, not an influencer promoter. His book was neither a stepping stone nor a vanity fair for internet traffic. Chen Chen was clever enough on his own, but as for the other influencers, they should just go back from whence they came...

As long as he kept writing internet hits, influencers would continue to set their sights on his book. To completely extinguish their delusions, he had to use some serious, legitimate music.

Only by raising the barrier to entry could he make them back off in despair.

More importantly, he couldn't always target internet hits to bully weak opponents. With so many great pieces of music available to compare against viral songs, it would be somewhat of an overkill.

"I really need to write some proper singer-songwriter tracks."

All his previous song selections were voided, and Yu Wei had to make a fresh choice.

Originally, had they not come to advertise, he might have actually randomized their songs. But since they insisted on showing off in person, they had blown their chance now.

Look at them, always in such a rush...

"This is so hard to choose."

Yu Wei wasn't afraid of offending people. After all, whether writing novels or being a celebrity, competition was inevitable. How could one live in the world without offending anyone?

He just didn't want to make too many enemies. Leveling up and fighting monsters had to be done step by step, didn't it? If he went straight for the boss's aggro right at the beginning, wouldn't he ascend to the heavens on the spot?

Better start by picking things that wouldn't offend anyone, and take it one step at a time later on.

Yu Wei suddenly realized that he was living up to his readers' comments—he was indeed walking the path of conquering the entire entertainment industry, and was even mapping out a strategy...

This reader tactic was truly vicious.

"I've got it! If I start by targeting acquaintances, won't that avoid offending outsiders?"

Writing someone else's song into a book and ruthlessly roasting it would definitely offend people, and other peers would probably be furious if they found out.

But if it were an acquaintance, it wouldn't be so bad. Everyone knew he was writing a book and even reading it. Acquaintances wouldn't blow things out of proportion, and even if there were some minor offense, it would be easy to talk things over.

He was a man who preyed on acquaintances.

Start by preying on acquaintances to test the waters of the entertainment industry. Once everyone got used to it, he could switch to targeting strangers...

"Whom should I prey on first? No wait, whose song should I write first?"

Thinking of preying on acquaintances, the first person who came to Yu Wei's mind was Tong Yulu. Sharing his novel to her WeChat Moments was practically an irreconcilable blood feud, but unfortunately, this girl didn't have a single personal solo track to her name, making her impossible to lock onto.

No wonder she kept trying to hook up with him on the show; how could she not be anxious when she didn't have a single piece of work?

Very few of the current generation of young artists had representative works. Among the acquaintances Yu Wei knew, only three had personal solo tracks: Zhang Lingye, Qi Yuan, and Chi Leying.

Chi Leying's singles were all covers, which made them hard to write about since it could easily cause collateral damage to the original creators...

"Old Zhang, what on earth are you singing?"

Initially, he wanted to choose Zhang Lingye. This guy not only had solo tracks, but three of them. However, the moment Yu Wei clicked on the first one, he completely broke down—the song was excessively terrible, so terrible it was almost surreal.

He never expected that someone as broad-shouldered and sharp-featured as Zhang Lingye would sing something so abstract. Listening to it for even one more second felt like it would cause an explosion.

The next two songs weren't terrible, but they were utterly mediocre, and their play counts were abysmally low—the kind of works that nobody cared about except for hardcore fans.

Completely useless!

Yu Wei wrote about real-world songs precisely to make it easy for readers to immerse themselves. For readers, such obscure songs were no different from something he had made up entirely.

"I have to rely on you, God Qi!"

Qi Yuan had enjoyed exceptionally good resources ever since his debut, boasting five personal solo tracks alone. However, four of them were also fan-oriented works and lacked mainstream popularity.

The only one that could truly be called a representative work was "Dust to Dust" (*Tong Chen*). Its popularity was quite decent, and in its debut month, it even claimed the number one spot on the monthly chart.

Its popularity was about one-third of "Crimson", but the song's quality was much higher than that of internet hits—after all, it was crafted by a professional team.

"I've decided on you!"

Targeting a professional team it is.

Qi Yuan's relationship with him was decent; he wouldn't fall out with him completely over a song. This was already the most inoffensive choice he could think of...

The title *Tong Chen* meant blending into the mundane dust of the world. This song focused on the ordinary, featuring a smooth, progressively building melody with a strong sense of artistic conception. Among new-generation singers, it definitely counted as a masterpiece.

The only flaw was that the lyrics were a bit hollow and grandiose, constantly singing praises of mediocrity without offering anything that could truly resonate with ordinary people.

One could only say that these music producers remained too far removed from genuine ordinary mortals.

Today's chapter had already been posted, but considering he was moving tomorrow, he decided to write an extra chapter ahead of time so he wouldn't be cutting it too close.

After giving Qi Yuan a heads-up, Yu Wei started crafting the new plot sequence.

...

"The door isn't locked?"

Zhang Lingye knocked, but received no response. The tactile feedback beneath his knuckles was soft and unusual. With a slight push, the apartment door slid open by itself.

Seeing this, Qi Yuan hurried up from behind, only to find the living room as empty as a washed slate, with a single opened cardboard box left abandoned in the corner, silently signaling the hasty departure of its occupant.

"Looks like he's moved away?"

As if there was any "looks like"—he clearly had.

Zhang Lingye massaged his temples, feeling a dizzying rush of blood to his head. Never in his life had he been left so speechless. He had waited outside the recording studio for Yu Wei for two days without seeing him, only to visit his apartment today and find that the guy had packed up and left.

When a person's luck was down, even drinking cold water got stuck between their teeth...

As expected, he shouldn't have trusted Qi Yuan's nonsense from the very beginning. Missing every single correct answer so flawlessly was a talent in its own right.

Qi Yuan, who was even more eager to "encounter by chance" Yu Wei, appeared surprisingly calm at the moment. He gazed around the slightly cramped, empty room, feeling a complex mix of emotions.

He hadn't actually stayed in the artist dormitory for many days; after the group debuted, he just went through the motions and moved out, and the other members were much the same.

Only Yu Wei had stayed alone in such a tiny room for a full four years. Yet despite that, he hadn't lost his fighting spirit; instead, when the wind finally rose, he soared straight up into the skies.

Just for this fortitude to endure loneliness and willingness to embrace mediocrity, he fell far short!

Qi Yuan looked around, feeling as though he could sense traces of creation in every corner of the room. Who knew how many song inspirations had been born right here...

"Let's go. The guy has already moved out, what's left to look at?"

Zhang Lingye stood at the doorway with a sense of inexplicable irritability. What was this all about, heroes appreciating heroes? It made him, an NPC, look completely out of place.

Qi Yuan nodded and was about to leave when he heard a vibration from the phone in his pocket—Yu Wei's novel had updated.

"You even turned on update notifications?"

"Let's finish reading the new chapter before we leave." Ignoring Zhang Lingye, who had already stepped out and walked two paces ahead, Qi Yuan sat down unceremoniously and began reading.

"There's no saving you."

Zhang Lingye didn't know whether to leave or stay, so he simply leaned against the doorframe and glanced at the new chapter as well. To his shock, upon reading it, he discovered that the rival protagonist's song in the book was none of other than *Tong Chen*.

Wasn't this Qi Yuan's signature breakthrough hit?

He was far too familiar with this song. Back when he and Qi Yuan were in direct competition, rival fans in the comment sections would constantly shove it in his face with mocking remarks.

[Wielding the personal solo track *Tong Chen*, number one on the monthly listening index, multiple charts and platforms hit repeatedly, four-time back-to-back double crown winner of magazine 【instant sell-out】 & 【sold out】—off the charts in popularity and exploding with hype️!!]

Too many tears to mention...

Was Yu Wei planning to roast Qi Yuan's song?

Good news, an absolute blessing! Zhang Lingye even felt a refreshing sense of revenge being served. Throwing weight around, huh? You become honest the moment you cross paths with Yu Wei.

Qi Yuan was reading slowly, seemingly savoring it word by word. At this moment, he still had no idea what was about to happen next.

While Zhang Lingye was gloating with schadenfreude, he flipped to the next page and spotted his own song—the very same uniquely stylized, surreal piece of music.

The book stated that when Zhang Ye pulled out this song, the entire audience laughed hysterically until they were bent double, ultimately leading to his tragic elimination on the spot...

"What the actual f—"

My name is in here too?!

Yu Wei: None of you came for nothing, ho ho.

It wasn't until Zhang Lingye finished reading the book that he noticed the message Yu Wei had sent. Yu Wei had tagged both of them in the old group chat yesterday, but he had muted that chat long ago...

The classic post-graduation mute of the class group.

He certainly wasn't going to take the blame for this cursed song. Back when he was on a variety show, he met a senior industry veteran who claimed Zhang Lingye was immensely talented and vowed to write a song specifically for him.

Zhang Lingye believed him, only to receive this monstrosity...

Once the thing was in his hands, whether he sang it or not was no longer up to him. Refusing to sing would make him look ungrateful and disrespectful to a senior, and with the company constantly breathing down his neck, he had no choice but to sing it.

The moment the song dropped, he was relentlessly mocked across the internet. Fortunately, the internet had no memory, and the incident slowly faded from public view, becoming a harmless dark spot in his history.

And now? Yu Wei had dragged it out for a public execution... Given the popularity of his novel, this song of his would probably become the new meme material for the surreal comedy section tomorrow.

The problem wasn't too big, though. Songs were released for people to listen to anyway, one more or less didn't matter. Besides, Yu Wei had given him a heads-up; adding a bit of comic relief to his book was fine by him.

We're all bros here!

The unhurried Qi Yuan finally reached the section regarding *Tong Chen*. However, he only paused for a single second before calmly resuming his reading.

"Why aren't you reacting?"

Zhang Lingye had wanted to watch his reaction, but Qi Yuan had glossed over it so indifferently. Did that mean he was the only one who didn't check the group chat?

"I knew about it. I checked the group chat and agreed to it."

Qi Yuan had witnessed what happened with "Crimson" over the past couple of days. That internet singer was shrewd, skillfully defusing the conflict while framing Yu Wei's actions as a form of guidance...

That was only because Chen Chen was too weak, allowing Yu Wei to conquer the enemy without a fight. If it were him, he would still have the strength for a real battle.

Last time was just a minor warm-up; this time was Yu Wei's first true battle in the truest sense, and he happened to be that profoundly significant first step.

He had been waiting for this opportunity for a long time!

After thinking for a moment, he typed a reply into the long-dormant group chat.

"Waiting for your song."

As expected, only he was worthy of being his opponent!