Chapter 177: Dramatic Development: An All-Out Water Army Melee

At first, being a group admin was pretty boring.

Because... the group was full of middle-aged and older people.

The average age was actually only around forty, so they should’ve still had some vitality. But for some reason, everything they discussed was so provincial and rigid.

They talked a lot about food, but that was all it was—talk. You never saw anyone fangirling over celebrities.

You never saw any flame wars either.

And when arguments did break out, it was for the weirdest reasons, like: "You said my Beast Gene is ugly, well, the gene you inherited is just for some ornamental pet, blah blah blah." It was incredibly dull.

Until two days ago, when someone who seemed like a real "green tea" suddenly appeared.

That’s how Dong Dongdong described the post. It reeked of that two-faced "green tea" attitude—pretending to be neutral, but with a really twisted way of phrasing things.

Anyway! It was hilarious!

He followed the so-called "critique" post about the streamer, analyzing it as he read, thoroughly enjoying himself.

Seeing the post blow up, he went with the flow and checked out Jiang Qiuqiu’s livestream. Originally, he just wanted to watch the drama unfold and be done with it.

But, as luck would have it, he won a taste-testing spot in Jiang Qiuqiu’s stream.

The moment he tasted the food—

’Who am I? Where am I? What am I eating?!’

’I hereby declare myself a slave to this dish.’

’How could something this delicious suddenly exist in the universe!’

He finally understood why someone would be willing to spend a million on a single dish.

And so, the newly converted fan, Dong Dongdong, decided to head back to the Federation Food Circle to promote this hidden gem of a livestream he’d discovered to all his friends and family!

But when he got back, he found the group had suddenly been flooded with a bunch of bizarre negative reviews.

The food is bad?

It doesn’t whet your appetite?

You’re comparing it to Nutrient Liquid!?!!

...

[This person must be a liar, right? Probably just mad they didn’t win a spot and taking it out on her.]

[Your account is old, but a quick look at your profile shows you’re a hater of a lot of things.]

[Tastes bad? Then please, name a streamer who cooks better than her.]

[Everyone, stop paying attention to these posts. They’re all fake.]

Dong Dongdong replied passionately, not wanting the people in his group to be deceived.

You have to understand, he’d been in the group for over a decade and loved to surf the web, so many members knew him. Seeing him come out to vouch for Jiang Qiuqiu, many people believed him and asked: [So, Big Bro Dongdong, you watched the stream too? What did you think?]

[It’s heavenly, one of a kind. I was just about to start recommending her to everyone.]

[Don’t miss out! Seriously, it’s the real deal! No wonder she has a crowd of young fans. It’s delicious!]

Seeing the situation they had worked so hard to create about to collapse...

...the members of Qingshan Green Water Studio quickly discussed it internally. This wouldn’t do!

’Someone’s bound to come along and say Jiang Qiuqiu’s food is delicious...’

’Those people are so good at praising things. Once their comments are up, it’s sure to draw people in.’

’Then another wave of people will get hooked.’

—How about we just label everyone defending Jiang Jiujiu as part of a water army?

—Yeah, just say they were all paid off and that they’re lying. It’ll be a free-for-all anyway. The messier it gets, the better for us.

—Xiao Hong is right. The more chaotic, the better. Let’s just slander them like that.

—But... if we keep this up, won’t some people get curious about the streamer and go check out her channel?

That wasn’t impossible.

But to follow the plan, this was what they had to do.

—Stop overthinking it. We just do what the client says. The client is never wrong.

If the client was wrong, they would have to bear the responsibility themselves.

If the studio members overthought it and made a mistake, they were the ones who would have to take the blame.

—Alright, I’m starting to reply now.

—Go ahead.

—Remember, from now on, everyone here besides us is a paid shill.

—Got it!

—Got it!

—Got it!

The highest state of being a hater was to first deceive yourself, then deceive others.