The black business car drove smoothly down the road.
But the three people inside were far from calm.
A thick smell of smoke permeated the car.
Lin Yanzhi looked at Josephs beside him, his expression grim.
"Do you think I still have a chance?" he asked with difficulty.
"There should be, after all, Ting Yu was two days behind us. The gap is still huge." Josephs' voice carried a hint of unwillingness.
He felt a tightness in his chest, as if a heavy stone were pressing down on him.
He hadn't felt this way even during the previous Chinese folk song competition.
Electronic music was his signature.
If he were to be completely outshone by Ting Yu again, his mental state would likely collapse.
"It's not that big anymore..."
At this moment, the agent said softly.
"What?" Josephs was startled, blurting out a Chinese phrase with a Northeastern accent.
"'Crossing Eras' has already climbed to number one, and the gap between us is widening..."
As the agent finished speaking, both Lin Yanzhi and Josephs gasped.
To reach number one just ten minutes after release?
Impossible, right??
Lin Yanzhi disbelievingly opened his phone, wanting to check the charts.
However, after searching for a long time, he couldn't find the Net Cloud Music app among the pile of applications.
"That's not right, I just looked at it, how did it disappear?"
He opened the search bar.
When he typed "Net Cloud Music" and the app appeared,
He was completely stunned.
"Holy shit..."
The original Net Cloud Music icon was gone, replaced by a silhouette of a profile, with the words "Crossing Eras" written in a very dominant font!
Then, below the icon, were the four characters for Net Cloud Music.
What the hell? The platform changed its icon because Ting Yu released a song?
Where was their integrity?
Where were their principles?
Lin Yanzhi felt utterly terrible.
He grumbled as he opened the app.
However, as soon as he clicked on Net Cloud Music, a pop-up window appeared.
[Ting Yu's latest song "Crossing Eras," sung by himself. Listen for twenty minutes to receive a 7-day VIP experience card!]
The poster showed a man sitting on a throne, his face obscured, but the outline clearly indicated a screenshot from the city competition where Ting Yu sat on a throne, later redrawn into a silhouette by hand.
Ridiculous!
Ting Yu didn't have a poster for this song, and they made one for him?
Wasn't this a bit too hasty?
Lin Yanzhi, feeling frustrated, tried to close the pop-up.
But to his surprise, there was a countdown in the upper right corner.
"Can be skipped after ten seconds."
Lin Yanzhi felt like he was about to have a stroke.
You're a music platform, why are you flattering Ting Yu so much, is Ting Yu your father???
He waited a few seconds, and finally, he was able to close the pop-up.
But what greeted his eyes was the most prominent banner on the homepage, the same picture, also with the words "Crossing Eras" written in an incredibly dominant font.
Lin Yanzhi suppressed the urge to curse and clicked on the rankings.
Electronic New Song Chart.
First place: "Crossing Eras" Ting Yu - 150 million listens.
Second place: "Big Bowl of Noodles" Lin Yanzhi - 80 million listens.
In just these few minutes, it had surpassed two days of data and directly overtaken nearly half of his listens?
Cold sweat beaded on Lin Yanzhi's forehead, a chilling sensation rising from the depths of his heart.
"This Ting Yu is terrifyingly powerful!!"
He exclaimed in admiration.
"What do you mean, 'terrifyingly powerful'?" Josephs asked, confused.
"Heh." Lin Yanzhi sneered, then handed his phone to Josephs. "That's what I mean."
Then, when Josephs saw the brilliant achievement of "Crossing Eras" on the chart,
A sound of utter disbelief escaped his throat: "Motherfucker??"
Having developed abroad, Josephs had never witnessed such a scene.
He had no idea what was happening, how a song could get over a hundred million plays in the blink of an eye?
It was completely beyond his expectations.
"It's fake, it's definitely fake!" Josephs protested loudly!
"I... do I still have a chance?" Lin Yanzhi ignored Josephs and turned to the agent.
The agent adjusted his glasses, then frowned and began to analyze.
"We need the company to immediately handle public relations. Ting Yu's promotion this time is overwhelming, we can leverage this. We can say it's not that our skill is lacking, but that Ting Yu's traffic is too large. Although it won't be very effective, it can appease the fans' emotions, which is quite good."
Under the agent's analysis, the subsequent situation gradually became clearer.
Ting Yu's dominance in the domestic entertainment industry was too strong. Forget Lin Yanzhi, even an international superstar might not be able to compete with him for the top spot in China.
"Fortunately, we also released it overseas simultaneously. It has already entered the top fifty on the Global Music Chart, and we can make some use of this. Furthermore, ranking second on the domestic charts is also pretty good. We can generously admit defeat to Ting Yu."
Josephs had many fans overseas, and the Global Music Chart could serve as an excuse for Lin Yanzhi.
Directly shifting the public opinion to the issue of Ting Yu's massive traffic would downplay the quality of the music. This way, even in defeat, fans would have an excuse to retort, and with the Global Music Chart as a fallback, that was their safety net.
"You mean, there's still a chance?"
If the focus of the domestic entertainment industry were shifted to the Global Music Chart, then Ting Yu's ranking in domestic entertainment would be downplayed.
Then, by guiding public opinion, Ting Yu would only be able to show off domestically, and there might even be a chance for a comeback.
Thinking of this, Lin Yanzhi's expression gradually relaxed.
Although Josephs understood simple Chinese, when both of them spoke quickly, he only grasped the general idea.
"I'll post a promotion on Twitter. It should help boost the ranking on the Global Music Chart."
Josephs suddenly felt that he had underestimated the domestic entertainment industry and Ting Yu.
He didn't quite understand the Chinese lyrics, but just by listening to the arrangement and the interplay of instruments, it gave him a sense of wild imagination. Especially Ting Yu's fusion of piano and electronic music, allowing listeners to feel the soul of the song just by listening to the melody.
This feeling was incredibly powerful; it was the first time in many years that he had experienced such a refreshing shock.
Just as the emotions within the car were calming down,
The agent's phone rang.
"What!!"
After he answered, he suddenly stood up from his seat, but as he was halfway up, he hit his head with a bang and let out a groan because he had forgotten he was sitting in the car.
Lin Yanzhi looked at his clumsy appearance and stifled a laugh.
"What's so astonishing..." he said, holding back his laughter.
"According to the analysis from the company's data department, besides Ting Yu's song on the Electronic New Song Chart, another song's ranking is rapidly rising and has already entered the top ten!" the agent said at maximum speed, holding his head.
"What!!"
"What??"