Chapter 1377 An Event Thousands of Kilometers Away

Huang Sibobo was taken aback. "No, I don't think so."

"Of all of President Pei's projects, *The Successor* is probably the one he interfered with the least. It's basically been proceeding according to the original plan. President Pei hasn't given too many specific requirements or suggestions."

Meng Chang shook his head. "There has to be something, think carefully!"

Before he'd thought of this, Meng Chang had been a bit confused and lost.

But after realizing this, he suddenly became incredibly certain.

Someone writing a smear piece, attacking *The Successor* at its core, was actually a very likely event.

Meng Chang felt that he hadn't thought of it because he was too incompetent, or that he'd been blinded by the previous successes of using Pei's publicity methods and lost his vigilance.

There's no way President Pei hadn't thought of it.

Since President Pei had thought of it, he definitely left a backup plan, and gave a hint.

Huang Sibobo saying there wasn't anything probably meant that he wasn't sensitive enough, and didn't realize that President Pei's ordinary words already contained a hint to break the situation.

"This... wait a moment, I'll think hard."

Seeing Meng Chang so certain and so insistent, Huang Sibobo had no choice but to scour his memories, digging out every little detail from when he went to report to President Pei.

After a long time, Huang Sibobo said somewhat uncertainly, "The only thing President Pei changed about *The Successor* was the broadcast schedule..."

"Originally, I planned to release one episode per week, but President Pei said that the timing wasn't right and wanted to change it to two episodes per week, finishing on January 12th."

"This is actually a bit strange, because lengthening the time would be more beneficial for accumulating popularity. Each episode of *The Successor* is nearly an hour long, and the content is rich enough to give the audience plenty to discuss for a week."

"But President Pei still insisted on changing it to two episodes per week."

"I asked President Pei at the time if something was going to happen around January 12th? Otherwise, why rush so much?"

"President Pei was very vague at the time. He said that it might be useful, or it might not be, not to have too many expectations, but trying our luck... wouldn't hurt."

"If there was any special request, it would only be this."

Meng Chang frowned slightly. "January 12th?"

"Is that a special day?"

"And President Pei's wording is very strange. It's too ambiguous."

"Logically, with President Pei's vision, he can generally accurately discern the results of most things. Something that President Pei is so uncertain about definitely isn't a small matter."

After analyzing it slightly, Meng Chang felt that what Huang Sibobo said was very likely the contingency plan that President Pei had left behind.

So he immediately opened the QianDu search engine and began searching online for any major events that would be happening around January 12th of next year.

It seemed... to just be an ordinary weekend, not even an auspicious day.

Meng Chang was not discouraged, and began to expand the search range, extending the date to between January 8th and January 15th. The search content was no longer limited to domestic news, but extended to the entire world, and he even searched some foreign language web pages.

After searching with his head down for half an hour, Meng Chang, while quickly scrolling through the web pages, scanned an inconspicuous piece of foreign language information.

"Eudonian country elections? The results of the second round of voting will be announced on the evening of January 13th, basically marking the end of the election."

Meng Chang's first reaction was not particularly concerned, because although this country called Ukraya was not small in Eudonia, it had always had a relatively weak presence in the country.

After all, there are so many countries and regions in the world. Many people only know the names of countries when they watch the national football team play matches. It's normal not to know about countries like Ukraya.

But after brushing past this news, Meng Chang felt that something was wrong again, and quickly turned back.

It may have been because the keyword "election" touched his nerves, causing him to unconsciously associate it with the superhero election in *The Successor*.

Meng Chang originally knew nothing about the election in Ukraya, so he began to dig up more foreign language website information and cram related knowledge.

The more he learned, the more magical it seemed!

Ukraya has an election every four years, and this year happens to be the time for the current president to seek re-election.

Although this president doesn't have any particularly outstanding achievements, he hasn't made any major mistakes in the past four years. Logically speaking, it should be no problem for him to be re-elected normally. After all, he has a long history and good achievements. Among the other candidates, no one should pose a direct threat to him.

So far, the situation has gradually become clear. The first round of voting will be held this weekend. If none of the candidates' votes exceed 50%, a second round of voting will be held on the third Sunday afterwards, and the third Sunday happens to be January 13th.

"Could it be related to this?"

"But it feels difficult to connect it with *The Successor*. Even if it can be connected, how many people would recognize it? News without a sensational angle won't have a very good dissemination effect."

The country called Ukraya was not very famous in the country in the first place. Even public intellectuals were too lazy to touch it, let alone any legends about oil paper packages.

Take this election for example. Meng Chang found some relevant information on foreign websites. Not many people in the country are paying attention to it at all. How could it be useful?

But in terms of timing, it is very suitable.

Meng Chang was not discouraged and began to check each of the candidates participating in the election.

Suddenly, his eyes lit up.

Because there was a guy in there whose style was obviously completely different from the others!

This guy is quite handsome, even you could say he has an upright look. He was born into a wealthy family. He studied law at a famous foreign university, but after graduation, he engaged in the entertainment and media industry, and then became a famous actor and program host in Ukraya.

Three years ago, he made a movie in which he played an ordinary history teacher who became popular online for criticizing the authorities and was unexpectedly elected as the President of Ukraya. So he formed a makeshift team, and eventually defeated the corrupt prime minister representing the oligarchic interest groups with this "ragtag army."

This movie caused a heated reaction in Ukraya, and he also became a national comedy actor with the movie, deeply loved by the people.

Of course, although he performed well in the polls, the mainstream media on foreign websites completely do not think that he will be elected, and think that the current polls are not accurate. Many people express their dissatisfaction with a joking attitude when interviewed. The final election result will definitely be the successful re-election of the current president, without a doubt.

"Is President Pei talking about this?"

"Hmm... that does make sense."

"Only things of this level would make President Pei say he can't be sure, giving such an ambiguous statement."

"But if President Pei can't be sure, the risk of this matter is too great, isn't it?"

Meng Chang fell into contemplation again.

Huang Sibobo watched Meng Chang search online for a while, even searching some English information pages, feeling a bit bewildered.

"It shouldn't be so hard to find, right? Since President Pei chose something as an auxiliary promotional method for *The Successor*, that means it must be a hot topic that will cause widespread discussion. If it's too niche, it won't have the effect of sparking heated discussions. Even if the timing is perfect, it won't work."

Meng Chang shook his head. "What if it's niche now, but suddenly becomes very popular in the future?"

"I've already found the major event that President Pei was talking about. It's this."

"The Ukraya election."

"Look at this candidate named Da Vasily. He's handsome, born into a wealthy family, has a law degree, works in the media field, is a famous actor and host, became known through a movie, and is now participating in the election, and has even gained the support of many people..."

"Isn't he very similar to Phil? You could even say they were cut from the same cloth."

"His name is also very interesting, close to the word 'comrade,' and he also calls himself a 'public servant.'"

"The most important thing is that he can participate in the election, on the one hand, because he gained high popularity through television programs, and on the other hand, because he made a movie, playing a capable president in the movie."

"Isn't this more bizarre than the story of *The Successor*? Phil at least had three or four steps of preparation. He first opened a talent show to be a judge, then commented on hot topics of superheroes, and finally reluctantly became a superhero. It took him several years to climb up step by step, and he had to use various conspiracy methods to kill his competitors, going to great lengths, and almost bankrupting the entire family."

"As a result, this Da Vasily is much simpler. After filming the movie, he directly participated in the election. There's no need for so much preparation."

"This proves that novels need logic, but reality doesn't need it at all."

"Think about it, if this person is really elected a month later... what will happen?"

Huang Sibobo's eyes widened. "This... this is too coincidental, isn't it?"

"Could it be that when Cui Geng wrote this book, he used him as the prototype for Phil?"

Meng Chang shook his head. "I don't think so."

"Because Da Vasily was just an actor before. He didn't announce his participation until this year's Ukraya election. And Cui Geng wrote the original *The Successor* much earlier."

"Da Vasily is very famous in Ukraya, but no one in our country has ever heard of him. Cui Geng probably hasn't heard of him either. And even if he had, he couldn't have predicted that he would participate in the election."

"This may be a pure coincidence, except that President Pei noticed it before us."

"President Pei obviously thinks that this Da Vasily is very likely to win the election, so he requires that *The Successor* must be broadcast before the election results come out."

"Because once the election is over, various media will definitely report on this matter overwhelmingly. A comedy actor with no experience successfully elected can be said to be a big news worldwide."

"And *The Successor* must be broadcast before this, creating a false impression of 'the reputation has settled' in order to perfectly reverse it after this event happens!"

Huang Sibobo: "But, according to the current reports, his chances of winning are not high, right?"

Meng Chang nodded. "Yes, so President Pei also said that this matter cannot be completely determined. After all, he should have learned about this news earlier, when Da Vasily had just announced that he was running for election."

"But... even if the success rate is very low, I still believe in President Pei's judgment!"