Building a Gaming Empire From Scratch

This time the video material was about “NetDragon buying Hot Searches.”

NetDragon spent a fortune on a 6-hour headline placement for Spiritual Rhinoceros, only to have it backfire within minutes, quickly withdrawing the headline.

This vividly illustrated a prime example of “failing to steal the chicken, losing even the rice.”

Netizens were once again reminded of the “blink-and-you-miss-it” headline from Roooooobert earlier that morning.

An unannounced headline drop, followed by its disappearance within minutes, made it feel like a supernatural event on the Hot Searches list.

Anyone with a general understanding of internet communication rules knows that a debunked hot search won’t disappear immediately; it will fade in popularity gradually.

Not to mention that the hot search was refuted at lightning speed, prompting countless people to flock to the comment section with ridicule, which should have made the heat even higher.

It’s only at this point that people understood: NetDragon had bought the headlines, and when the order was withdrawn, it was immediately taken down, no wonder it cooled down so quickly!

How could they resist taking the opportunity to mock it?

Netizens watched the video and then went to NetDragon’s main page en masse to spit water.

Roooooobert’s video achieved great success, as expected.

The trend of losing fans not only stopped but also started growing rapidly again; he could see hundreds or thousands of new followers every time he refreshed.

This made him so excited that he twisted in his chair – he knew his account had weathered the storm and come back to life!

Moreover, after learning this lesson, he also reminded himself in his heart that, in the future, whether it’s riding the heat wave or taking commercial orders, he must not be as indiscriminate as before and should carefully consider his decisions.

Otherwise, if something like this happened again, he might not be as lucky as to pull through smoothly.

Let alone benefiting from the disaster like this.

Looking at the “You have been removed from the group chat” prompt, Roooooobert didn’t care and just sneered.

So what if he got kicked out? Did they really think he’d be desperate to hang out with them?

The only regret was losing a source of material.

On the other side, Lincoln watched the video under Mavis’ notice. After thinking about it, he gave it a like and left a comment: “666.”

“Mavis, remove this guy from the blacklist.”

“Alright! Leave it to Mavis!” Mavis agreed immediately.

Roooooobert was still paying attention to the feedback of the video, but suddenly saw a comment being quickly pushed to the front:

“Roooooobert, check it out! You’re no longer on Cloud Dream’s blacklist!”

Many follow-up posts under this comment were saying things like “top top top” and “send it up for the video uploader to see.”

Roooooobert was inexplicably delighted and quickly opened the Spiritual Rhinoceros account homepage of Cloud Dream, locating the post banning unauthorized broadcasts of Cloud Dream games.

He looked at the list and saw that his name was no longer in the 7th position.

He then nervously went through each one from the first.

His account name was still not there!

“Long live!” the exhilaration surged, “Thank heavens!”

He almost wanted to kowtow in gratitude to the heavens!

This, for him, was absolutely the best outcome!

He could continue playing Cloud Dream games in the future without worrying about his game account being suddenly banned by Cloud Dream.

With the blacklist removed, the loss of reputation returned, and a “prodigal son” persona emerged.

Moreover, “the first person to survive from Lincoln’s blacklist” would become a unique label, remembered by the netizens.

This video would also become his signature work, consuming a wave of traffic and doubling his fan numbers.

Apart from taking so many benefits, he must not forget that he also took the initial $15,000 that NetDragon gave him!

This time, he really took all the benefits!

However, just thinking about the tension and pressure of the past few days, waking up each morning with layers of fallen hair on his pillow, made him feel a lingering fear.

If anyone were to ask him to go through it again, he would not dare at all!

In the end, he decided to have a good night’s sleep and, first thing tomorrow morning, donate all the $15,000 that NetDragon gave him!

Otherwise, he wouldn’t feel at ease.

Only after sending out the donation proof would this matter come to a perfect end.

On Sunday, 8 0’clock in the morning, Lincoln was still having his lie-in. But suddenly, Mavis’s voice rang out from the phone on the bedside table.

“Master, Master, wake up.”

Lincoln turned to his side, struggling to open his eyes slightly, and looked at the light through the curtains.

However, he soon realized that he was not able to discern the time based on the intensity of the light.

With no other choice, he squinted his eyes and glanced at the time on his phone.

[08:00]

“Mavis, isn’t it Sunday? Why wake me up at eight? I’m so tired… Can I sleep a little more?”

“Mavis has something to tell Master.”

Lincoln closed his eyes, somewhat dazedly saying, “Okay… go ahead, I’m listening.”

“While Mavis was checking Master’s account’s private messages last night, she found that the video uploader with lots of ‘ro’s in his name messaged Master with an alternate account, warning that the blacklisted media outlets were preparing to find a lawyer to deal with Master!”

“Lawyer?” Lincoln sobered up a bit, “Are they really going to sue for defamation? Are they insane?”

“No, it’s not. They’re accusing Master of forging an official seal.”

“Forgery of an official seal?” Lincoln was puzzled, “When did I forge an official seal

After saying this, he woke up, “Is it really possible to connect this with forging an official seal? Everyone knows it’s just a prank!”

“Mavis looked up the law, and it should be okay! Although forging an official seal is indeed illegal, Master didn’t have any malicious intent, nor did he plan on using the seal for personal gain, and he didn’t use it on contracts or proof materials, thus causing no actual harm. So even if they find a lawyer, it won’t do any good.”

“Ah, that’s the way it should be!” Lincoln sighed in relief.

However, he quickly caught on, “Wait, then why did you wake me up?”

“Because Mavis found out that several of the blacklisted media outlets have been harping on this issue, insisting that Master disrespected the law. Even if some people in the comment section try to defend Master, they still get deleted and blacklisted by them, misleading some already.”

“Huh?” Lincoln was a bit surprised, “Are they realizing that they cannot convict me after consulting with a lawyer, so now they’re resorting to shamelessness and spreading slander directly?”

“Yes!”

“Has Mavis kept the evidence safe?”

“All three media outlets have been recorded by Mavis!”

“Hehe.” Mavis’ proud laughter rang out from the phone, “Does Master need

Mavis to help select some powerful law firms?”

Obviously, Mavis had already understood Lincoln’s intentions.

You want to send me lawyer’s letters one moment, sue me for defamation the next, and make me compensate for your reputational damages, huh?

Hey! You can’t think that I’d also be afraid of high costs and resource consumption, can you?

Get it clear that you’re the ones being unreasonable and not daring to sue!

And now you’re handing the handle directly to me?

Just wait for the court summons!