Chapter 142: “My superior is currently… fighting two chickens.”

After leaving 《Death by Entertainment》, the System thought seriously.

It said to Chu Zu: “Teacher Big Mango was really working too hard, he would rather act out of character by not being a Long Aotian, just to have a warm farewell hug with you.”

Chu Zu reviewed with it: “You think he wasn’t a Long Aotian and still Out of character?”

The System's little chicken claw tapped on the follow-up displayed on the panel.

“He became your right-hand man——Long Aotian Little Chicken said, a Long Aotian must look down on the masses, only have underlings, and never compete on the same stage as others.”

In fact, the main story's plot climax in 《Death by Entertainment》 only fully cut in after the new year.

The three protagonists gathered on 《Two People Traveling Together》, officially proceeding in parallel on their three career lines.

However, their relationship was a bit better than in the original main story.

When the show aired, Qiao Tian joined a production, starting a three-year documentary shoot, Xu Qiqi formulated a rough three-year plan, ensuring she could maintain continuous exposure.

When there was really no other work, he would call Shen Weidi, ask him out for a meal, beg and plead to take some photos, stuff them into reporters' hands, the theme of the short article was very mild: 《This time the rivals fought, who won?》

Wanshu Zu returned to his previous state, basically fading out of public view.

This also matched the direction of the main story, he had already gradually moved to a different card table.

Using a not-so-very-appropriate analogy, the big boss of a large construction group wouldn't hang around the construction site all day, unless he needed to show his face at a key juncture to put on a show.

Li Yamin also faded out of the main story, becoming part of the original background scenery just like Wanshu Zu.

But his presence was a bit higher, after all, his main job was still an actor facing the public, occasionally having professional crossovers with the protagonists.

A reporter asked him at a new film press conference, have you seen Mr. Wanshu recently?

He replied: How did you know he treated me to dinner last night?

Reporter: Regarding Lishou Entertainment's recent shareholding structure changes, do you have anything to say?

Li Yamin: You help me ask Wanshu Zu, I want to buy shares in Immoral Star, he told me to manage myself first, and flat-out refused, why?

His main tactic was reading the message and replying with nonsense.

Chu Zu: “In Lishou Entertainment, his shares on the board are already higher than mine, it's just that because he occupies an independent director's position, he didn't get the right to speak.”

“Why would you think he's my right-hand man? If we really went against each other, looking at the extreme scenario, he could completely kick me off the board.”

Little yellow chicken: “...What is an extreme scenario?”

Chu Zu: “Marcus Li dies suddenly, I am devastated by the terrible news of my good friend's sudden passing, lose my mind, and fall apart completely.”

Little yellow chicken: “...Isn't that the same as impossible!!!”

Chu Zu said seriously: “It's still possible, this vacation allowed me to bask in the warmth of family and friendship, I feel I am an extremely sentimental person now——what do you think?”

Looking at the host's calm and ripple-less expression, Little yellow chicken also really wanted to say: Yes, you are a very sentimental person right now.

Even if you analyzed “share percentages”, “if we split up”, “if Marcus Li died suddenly”, that must also be a sentimental analysis, no technique, all emotion.

But Little yellow chicken couldn't say it.

A chicken also has its own bottom line, and dignity.

It quickly kicked the panel loaded with the main text to the side, turned around, pulled out a new panel, and laid it flat.

“Why don't we look at the comments first.”

Chu Zu spared Little yellow chicken's bottom line and dignity, and moved his gaze to the comments.

【Ahhhhhhh Little Shen is so well-behaved and cute!!】

【Passerby, just asking, I remember wasn't Shen Weidi famous for his stinky face and explosive temper before? This one with the drooping head doing whatever he's told, who is he? Does Shen Weidi have a biological brother?】

【The manager's double standards are confirmed, I remember seeing Li Yamin's leaked photos before, huh, Wanshu Zu wasn't like this with the Movie King.】

【Wasn't like what, make it clear.】

【You're starting a fight already? Are you sick, Wanshu Zu was Qiao Tian's manager before too, why don't you go pick on Qiao Tian? Li Yamin was grabbed and fleeced for several years, eating grass, producing milk, now he has his own independent studio, you fans are still clinging on and refusing to let go?】

【Is this a joke? Which of Shen Weidi's resources didn't he get himself, I don't see Li Yamin on this variety show either, if you're so desperate for a topic go start your own thread, don't cause trouble on someone else's variety show, OK?】

【Don't get it, are you sour that Wanshu Zu is better to Li Yamin, or jealous that Li Yamin has an independent studio? Can you guys unify first, you want to eat and take, you want this and you want that too?】

【STOP! How can you hold back laughter and still start a fight? I'm laughing as I watch, the other guests and managers get along like friends, only Shen Weidi's side is like Tom and Jerry. What I mean is, Shen Weidi plays both Tom and Jerry at the same time, Wanshu Zu is the female owner who has both a cat and a dog.】

【You try to ‘mo’ one more time? Don't close your eyes when you sleep tonight!】

【Observation room's precise review: The production team went bankrupt to invite Wanshu Zu on vacation.】

【Wanshu Zu's overcoat is so good-looking, want to buy it for my boyfriend, sisters, is it worth spending over ten thousand?】

...

“You got the wrong one.”

Chu Zu flipped two pages, “This is the water army for 《Two People Traveling Together》.”

He said with slight disdain, “What kind of water army team did Gu An find, their rhetorical skill is so bad.”

Little yellow chicken blinked, shocked to realize it really did seem to have pulled out the wrong one.

“But how did you know it was a water army Gu An found...? Aren't they arguing very sincerely?”

“Li Yamin's fans hate it when his full name is used, if they were going to curse, they'd take screenshots and go to their main battlefield. Shen Weidi's fans have always been passive-aggressively calling Li Yamin Uncle Li, their words are very fiery, their arguments don't have this style.”

Chu Zu said, “And in the end, they were promoting goods, I remember all the clothes were provided by the production team, Shen Weidi has endorsements.”

Little yellow chicken said dejectedly: “My god, is there anything real in the entertainment industry?”

Chu Zu: “The production team going bankrupt to invite me on vacation is real.”

System: “...”

System: “So was the Tom and Jerry topic also started by the water army? Also, Host, Host, what is ‘mo’?”

“I don't know either. But don't ask, and don't look it up.”

Chu Zu spoke earnestly, already used to seeing all kinds of storms, patiently dissuading Little yellow chicken, “Usually, it's better to leave things you don't understand not understood, especially forum posts.”

Little yellow chicken nodded in confusion, listened to its host, didn't look it up, and instead reopened the correct reader forum.

Just as it finished organizing the panel, the System suddenly said: “My superior is looking for me, you look first, I'll be right back!”

Chu Zu: “Okay.”

Little yellow chicken fluttered and disappeared from Chu Zu's sea of consciousness.

Actually, Chu Zu didn't really want to read the reader forum, he hadn't put in much effort during this vacation, and the settings were also supplemented according to the situation.

Wanshu Zu's proportion in the main text was lower than all previous characters, there wasn't much to see.

The biggest gain from the mission came from the 「Long Aotian Correction」 specialist.

The Long Aotian specialist was somewhat genuinely invested.

Previously on the forum, he had directly expressed his admiration for Chu Zu.

It was clear, he was probably also engaged in writing-related work, able to handle Long Aotian, and also able to immediately adjust his thinking after discovering the one opposite him was him.

Li Yamin said, my dream is you.

It was something that 【One Punch to Explode the Earth】 would say, after all, he was someone who spammed Big Mango, no matter how corny it was, it was understandable.

He also said, the long vacation is over, whatever you want to do, just go ahead and do it.

Dealing with smart people was very easy, they could organize logic based on the information they understood.

The bad part was that there was no way to communicate directly, perhaps there were cognitive discrepancies...

Previously in 《The Third Economic Law》, it was also him who jumped onto the forum to speak, which made Chu Zu certain that there was an idiot specialist causing trouble.

Specialists were unable to log in and post on the forums, for One Punch to Explode the Earth to leave a comment as an internal staff member, there was only one possibility.

——He had resigned, returned to the real world, continued to follow the novels undergoing correction, and had found him.

When a specialist violated the rules and was reported, even if One Punch to Explode the Earth didn't know the specifics, he could deduce the facts from the report's content and the main story's content.

Chu Zu wasn't sure how much One Punch to Explode the Earth knew, but from the current look of things, he had indeed helped a lot.

His assistance didn't follow chronological order, after all, the system is independent of the timeline, regardless of whether his help was from the past, present, future... any point in time, it could be transmitted to Chu Zu's side.

This was perhaps the magical thing about words.

People use experience to build their own foundation, and then use their experience to judge the world and identify others.

Different experiences collided with different words, making contact with each other, emitting an unfamiliar sound of resonance.

Like a quiet downpour, raindrops randomly fell on the shoulders of two people, some people were captured, and resolved to do some small things that were insignificant to themselves.

This rain, which didn't distinguish time and had no reason, came from far away.

And to the other person in the midst of the rain, this was undoubtedly a timely rain from heaven.

That's why Chu Zu felt that Wanshu Zu would choose to reconcile in the end, if it were in the past, he would definitely have drawn a clear line——for safety.

Thinking about it carefully, it wasn't like that at all.

Li Yamin did some things that weren't very loyal to Wanshu Zu, and vice versa.

If they insisted on not forgiving, they would lose their starting point, they had been together for over a decade, how many decades can one have in a lifetime?

A vacation really does make people relax, at least Chu Zu felt he hadn't exaggerated to the system, he was much more sentimental than before.

In the gap while waiting for Little yellow chicken to return, Chu Zu briefly started reading the reader forum.

Following the plot's development, the forum was flooded with a large amount of discussion about the protagonists.

Little yellow chicken filtered by keywords, picking out the content related to Wanshu Zu, it didn't find the wrong one this time.

...

【The manager's style and Shen Weidi style are really so different.

Shen Weidi: Older Brother has money, Brother is willful, Brother is five million per punch, Brother, I'll strike with a heavy fist.

Manager: Just wait for death, your daughter will also use you as a stepping stone (smile) (smile).】

【I keep feeling... Sister Qiao's idiot dad's accident really doesn't seem like an accident.

The education the manager received before he was eighteen was all made in America, focusing on freedom every day.

If it weren't for his neighbor whose family studied law for three generations, and his parents being strict, given his temper, it's really hard to say what he would have become.】

【And the aftermath was handled very cleanly, did our Marcus Brother secretly do the work again? But Wanshu Zu really doesn't seem to have participated much in the follow-up, what's going on.】

【Marcus Li, the great Partner Li, is enthusiastic about public welfare, doesn't forget legal aid even during the New Year, I think he's capable of it.】

【And didn't Wanshu Zu give Shen Weidi a lawyer's business card before? It's all connected, Shen Weidi can directly contact Marcus Li.】

【Having this kind of dad is really disgusting, when Qiao Tian had her incident before, he didn't make a peep, now he finds out Qiao Tian seems to be successful, he immediately comes knocking.】

【Although the full text isn't over yet, the parts shown so far are very different from typical entertainment circle novels, I think I vaguely smell a certain attitude.

No major plot satisfaction points, no face-slapping or scum-abusing, the pace isn't fast.

There are no miracles of suddenly becoming hugely popular from acting or going on variety shows, nor is there a transformation of fans from belittling to revering.

Behind the emotional abuse and support is a large water army, industrialized assembly-line artists have no love or dreams, only famous “teachers” are qualified to discuss these concepts, to gild themselves.

A few days ago I was writing a digital marketing report (digital marketing report), and I happened to write about this topic.

I am a person who holds a critical attitude towards existing media, and I quite agree with that sentence from Neil Postman's 《Death by Entertainment》:

「There are two ways for the cultural spirit to wither, one is Orwellian——culture becomes a prison.

The other is Huxleyan——culture becomes a farce.」

Today's media is a combination of the two, which in turn affects society.

The terrifying thing about “death by entertainment” is that people seem to be gradually losing their ability for multi-dimensional critical thinking, becoming ignorant, fearless, and extremely aggressive individuals in a frivolous linguistic environment.

Rejecting complexity, rejecting logic, turning communication into refutation, attempting to use one's own life experiences to cover other people's life experiences.

——The above, was what I originally wrote in the report.

Looking at it now, so much 'dad flavor'.

Can't stand it at all.

What I wrote was actually just myself.

Human nature is lazy——it is precisely laziness that promotes technological development——people naturally reject complexity, seeking short, fast, easy-to-understand things that can quickly bring them emotional value within their own comfort zones.

What needs to be confronted is perhaps not the entire era of entertainment, but the reaction to emptiness and superficial, low-difficulty learning while living in this era.

So I talked with my advisor for a long time, mentioned new ideas, and finally changed the report.

「How to walk into reality.」

Entertainment is entertainment.

Shakespeare believed that the kind of entertainment where entertainment is harmed by entertainment does not exist.

Chardonne also said that the most interesting entertainment must be meaningless.

Nowadays, entertainment is actually also just a very simple job.

Performers don't have to love it, and viewers don't need someone to instruct them on how to “correctly” participate.

It's just that during the performance, or when the curtain falls, there are always some people who will try to return to reality.

Recalling what Schopenhauer wrote in 《The Wisdom of Life》:

「They gather together for entertainment and amusement, this kind of entertainment begins with indulging the senses, wallowing in sensual pleasures, and ends in absurd excess.

The root of this practice lies in boredom——and its source is precisely the spiritual poverty and inner emptiness mentioned above.」

Then I saw the reconciliation between Li Yamin Brother and the manager.

Marcus Li became a lawyer for the little cat that died, and for the little girl in the countryside who smiled at him.

Shen Weidi discovered that his own crappy business wasn't a special case, Sister Qiao implicitly forgave Shen Weidi for his past offenses towards her.

Xu Qiqi trained himself into Wanshu Zu's likeness, but was still righteous and true to his nature.

They are in the most impetuous circle, resisting the things that need to be resisted.

This is perhaps the most 《Death by Entertainment》 entertainment circle novel I have read, but it also truly made me understand what 「death by entertainment」 is.】

...

After reading the comments, Chu Zu originally wanted to ask Little yellow chicken how 《Death by Entertainment》's current performance was.

No matter how many professional-looking reviews there were, if the novel's subscriptions didn't go up, the author's situation would become awkward.

It was also possible the author was a creator who transcended worldliness, didn't care about income, and had other ways to support themself——Chu Zu was very worldly, no amount of sentimentality could compare to more realistic things.

When Little yellow chicken returned, it was scrambling and crawling, trembling all over.

It pondered how to explain the current trouble to its host... in fact, it felt that its superior's problems had nothing to do with the host, but they were also a little related, but if one looked deep into it, they really weren't related...

So annoying!

Chu Zu saw its chicken brain was overloaded, its small beak opening and closing, unable to smooth things out for a long time.

He patted Little yellow chicken's head, changed the subject first, and asked what he wanted to know.

“The novel's performance?”

This, Little yellow chicken could answer quickly, “It's already fallen off the rankings.”

“But it's not our fault.”

It said, “Because the author doesn't manage it much, there are just too many pirated copies of 《Death by Entertainment》.”

“Its performance got a little better before, but the main text was stolen simultaneously by pirate sites, they steal it as soon as it's updated.”

“There are also accounts online that look like they're promoting it, but they're directly selling resources in the comment section, you can't see at all how much they like this novel.”

Little yellow chicken, which had always purchased legitimate copies, said forcefully: “Disgusting! Disgusting! Shameless! Morally corrupt! And it's illegal! The police should just arrest them all!”

Chu Zu saw it had recovered a bit, and cut straight to the chase: “So what did the Superior say to you?”

Little yellow chicken: “...”

Little yellow chicken: “We were complained about by the 「Long Aotian Correction」 Superior.”

Chu Zu: “?”

“Teacher Big Mango resigned immediately after detaching, he... he's really fierce.”

Little yellow chicken's mood was complicated.

“Do you remember I told you before, there was once a host who bought 「Who Would Write a Diary Seriously」, and cursed the Superior 500 times inside it, then proactively published the log before resigning, making the Superior so angry they jacked up the price of the diary?”

Chu Zu nodded: “I remember.”

Little yellow chicken: “That host was Teacher Big Mango.”

It closed its eyes, “Teacher Big Mango severely reprimanded the 「Long Aotian Correction」 Superior, saying its guiding principles caused severe homogenization in many novels.”

“Long Aotians also have a Long Aotian's dignity, not every Long Aotian has to do the whole 「thirty years east of the river, thirty years west of the river」, 「a harem in droves after breaking an engagement」, 「no friends, only underlings」.”

“The market causes novel content to become fixed, they're already doing corrections, how can they still encourage this trend, isn't this the same as the new ranking list rules from OO Literature City, forcing authors to create with a mindless, short, flat, fast pace.”

Chu Zu: “...What is this OO Literature City new ranking list.”

“Aiya, it's not important, the timelines are all messed up, I don't know which OO Literature City Teacher Big Mango was talking about, maybe it's the little green software.”

Little yellow chicken sighed, and said, “Then do you still remember I said before, there was a 「Long Aotian Correction」 host, who on his last job decided to live for the moment, exchanged all his credit points, and satisfied his addiction to being a rich man?”

Chu Zu: “...It couldn't also be Teacher Earth, could it.”

Little yellow chicken nodded, trembling: “Yes, it's also Teacher Big Mango... That's where the money Li Yamin used to madly buy Lishou Entertainment's stocks came from...”

Chu Zu: “...He really is a... magnificent specialist teacher.”

“His superior tried to persuade him for a long time, but couldn't, Teacher Big Mango said he wouldn't do it anymore no matter what, said he was going home to do proper business.”

Little yellow chicken said, “The superior asked him what proper business, he said, he was going back to be Lei Feng.”

Chu Zu couldn't hold it in and laughed out loud.

The System didn't understand what its host was laughing at, and continued: “Then the superior checked the system log, and said it was our fault.”

“The superior little chicken even cited classics, saying the 「Hard to let go Correction」 specialist also became crazy after coming into contact with us——it was probably talking about Teacher Guanfu.”

“It said Teacher Guanfu always clamored about some happy and perfect Happy Ending, and just rushed in, the Dazed Feather Little chicken sitting on his forehead was useless, unable to pilot this frenzied Evil Silver-Shaded.”

Chu Zu covered his face on the sofa, his muffled laughter overflowing from between his fingers.

After he had laughed enough, he asked the system: “So what's the situation now.”

Little yellow chicken said blankly: “It's a chaotic battle right now.”

“How so?”

“The 「Long Aotian Correction」 Superior said they lost a fierce general, and wants you to go to its side to atone, the complaint letter sent to my superior even attached the salary package, it seems to be quite good... I'm not clear on the specifics, my superior didn't show me.”

“After the 「Hard to let go Correction」 Superior found out, it wouldn't stand for it, said it was a scheming dead chicken, and if anyone was going to complain, it should be the first to complain, so it also wrote a complaint letter to my superior.”

“My superior is currently... fighting two chickens.”

Little yellow chicken swallowed its saliva, pulled out an electronic document, and said, “The battle won't end anytime soon, I... I saw this on its desk, and secretly brought it back.”

The document's title was: 《The Fifth Door》.

“I've heard of this one, it's a famously 'tribulation' novel.”

“Many specialists have tried it, whether it's 「Long Aotian Correction」, 「Hard to let go Correction」, 「Unlimited Flow Correction」, 「Rules of Horror Correction」... as long as they were related specialists, they all returned in failure, unable to change it at all.”

“This novel has been serialized for almost six years, it's very very long, tens of millions of words.”

“The readers who are still reading it now basically have 'scolded out feelings' for it, they've already evolved, they use it as a medium to train their emotions, saying they just want to see how much angrier it can make them later.”

“We still can't contact the author of this novel, we can't figure out when it will be judged as a violation.”

Little yellow chicken was riddled with anxiety: “I suspect this is the Superior's promotion assessment for you, it's too tricky... I stole it to let you have a look first.”

It grit its teeth and said: “If you think it's impossible, we'll switch jobs immediately, there are two superior chickens offering high salaries for us to go and atone!”

Chu Zu opened 《The Fifth Door》.

First was the preface:

【You must enter the narrow gate, because leading to destruction, that gate is wide, the road is broad, and those who enter are many; leading to eternal life, that gate is narrow, the road is small, and those who find it are few.】

——Quoted from 《The Bible》.

The next sentence was:

【After more than three thousand attempts, I sincerely wish that you can push open the fifth door, which is the narrow gate, and also your only gate of life.】