Chapter 96: It Backfired
Seeing the situation turning unfavorable, the marketing accounts that had slandered "Blood Mist" for plagiarism wanted to beat the drum and retreat, but never expected it was already too late.
After careful consideration and obtaining Qin Linlin's agreement, Sally took the hashtag #BloodMistPlagiarizesWorldsApartYetSoClose#, which those marketing accounts had spent money to push up and then spent money to remove, and pushed it back up again.
However, she didn't do it as obviously as the marketing accounts. She used water armies to push the hashtag up again through comments and likes.
To outsiders, it looked as if someone who had already targeted "Blood Mist" once wasn't willing to stop and wanted to do it again.
"Since Linlin said the creation time of 'Blood Mist' is earlier than 'Worlds Apart, Yet So Close', then there's nothing to worry about. Let them stir up trouble, the bigger the better. When the time comes, we'll release the publication times of both books together," Sally said with a smile. "Since they insist that these two works are involved in plagiarism, then let time determine who copied whom. Let them also experience the wonderful feeling of dropping a rock on their own foot."
When fans of "Worlds Apart, Yet So Close" saw this hot search topic, they clicked in and started cursing without a second word, openly hurling insults at the author and fans of the other work. They even clamored that if the author of "Blood Mist" didn't properly admit their mistake, apologize, and accept the criticism, they would pursue legal action.
Bystanders gathered around to watch the drama, looking down on this plagiarizing behavior.
However, as the onlookers continued to follow the gossip, they suddenly realized, "Eh? Wait a minute, the original 'Blood Mist' was published a full three years earlier than 'Worlds Apart, Yet So Close'. 'Blood Mist' had been completed for over a year before 'Worlds Apart, Yet So Close' started serialization. According to this timeline, if anyone copied, it should be 'Worlds Apart, Yet So Close' that copied 'Blood Mist'?"
Faced with the bystanders' questions, the fans of "Worlds Apart, Yet So Close" quickly realized the situation was unfavorable and immediately changed their tune, denying plagiarism, and even brought out a comparison chart of the two books to prove their innocence.
Yet, laughably, the comparison chart they produced was actually made by the fans of "Blood Mist". There was a large watermark right in the middle of the chart image, and the watermark in the lower right corner was so thick it seemed like a family heirloom, and it had been spread around by fans of "Blood Mist".
First, they accused the other party of plagiarism without evidence. After discovering the other party's publication time was earlier, they then used a comparison chart made by the other party's fans to prove their own innocence. This ridiculous series of actions was utterly laughable. Coupled with the fact that the hot search hashtag #BloodMistPlagiarizesWorldsApart,YetSoClose# stubbornly remained, more and people came to witness the foolish antics of the "Worlds Apart, Yet So Close" fans.
Seeing that things were taking a bad turn, the official account of "Worlds Apart, Yet So Close", fearing the plagiarism controversy would spread to them, hurriedly issued a statement telling the marketing accounts to stop spreading rumors, or else they would send a lawyer's letter.
This act of a thief crying "stop thief" was truly ridiculous. Many bystanders screenshotted the content of the hot search topic, telling the team behind "Worlds Apart, Yet So Close" to open their eyes wide and see clearly who was actually being slandered and who was spreading rumors now.
Everyone was not new to Weibo, nor were they fools. The official account of "Worlds Apart, Yet So Close" had just released promotional stills and started appearing on hot searches in various ways, all for the sake of heat and attention.
But they felt independent promotion wasn't generating enough heat, so they thought of an alternative path, trying to climb up by leveraging the recent popularity of "Blood Mist".
Who would have thought that even while climbing, they greedily tried to step on "Blood Mist", even resorting to underhanded tricks, attempting to associate "Blood Mist" with the term "plagiarism", showing their malicious intent.
Well, now it backfired. That step they took wasn't steady, they missed their footing.
The team behind "Worlds Apart, Yet So Close" dared not cause any more trouble. After issuing that one statement, they muted their account and played dead, pretending they never existed.
Online news moved in waves, with each new surge pushing the previous one aside to fade away. They simply waited for this particular storm to pass, planning to find another opportunity for promotion later.
The online turmoil from the night did not affect the next day's filming. The shooting of "Blood Mist" proceeded as scheduled. Rong Yu finished his scenes in the morning, took a short break at noon, and then rushed to the boy band's dance practice.
The situation was ironic. Previously, people online had blamed Rong Yu for his drama filming schedule affecting the GCD boy band's tour, with Ming Qian's fans being the most vocal critics. Yet, Rong Yu managed both commitments without falling behind in practice. In contrast, due to his filming for "Worlds Apart, Yet So Close," Ming Qian himself often could not attend the training sessions. After the group had been practicing together for over ten days, Ming Qian had only come for two days, and even then, he stayed for less than two or three hours before rushing back to the film set.
While everyone was busy, which was understandable, the main point of irony was that Ming Qian's fans had previously blamed others so self-righteously, while it was ultimately Ming Qian who lacked the time for team practice.
Furthermore, Ming Qian was not a quick learner. He had no prior dance foundation and had risen to popularity based solely on his looks. His debut itself was facilitated by significant external support, meaning he should have dedicated more time to practicing the group dance.
Hmm~
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