Monday.

Three days after Lu Zhixian returned from Jingzhou, the VALENTE global advertising campaign officially launched.

Lu Zhixian's face appeared simultaneously on giant billboards across four time zones.

The domestic fan groups exploded.

International students, overseas Chinese, and passers-by traveling abroad posted photos to Weibo from all over the world.

There was also a programmer on a business trip who took a photo of a giant poster on the outer wall of a shopping center, with the caption: "Working overtime on a business trip until the early hours of the morning. I looked up and, well, Old Lu is waiting for me outside."

#Lu Zhixian Takes Over Global Billboards#

The hashtag sounded exaggerated, but it stayed on the trending searches list for an entire day. The official team didn't buy it; it was purely spontaneous from the public.

Old Zhao sat in his office scrolling through his phone, flipping through the location photos posted by fans one by one.

"What do you call this? A global screen takeover, and we didn't have to spend a cent."

Lu Zhixian sat at the piano in the studio, fingers resting on the keys without playing.

"Mm."

Old Zhao had already grown accustomed to this reaction. Even if the sky fell, it would just be an "Mm."

Before the hype of the ad campaign could pass, something more substantial arrived.

Wednesday afternoon, Old Zhao pushed open the door and walked in holding a tablet with a translated email on it.

"The data for VALENTE Greater China is out." Old Zhao handed the tablet over.

"In the first week of the ad launch, online sales increased by 217% year-on-year."

Lu Zhixian took it and glanced over it.

"Marco from the Asia-Pacific region personally wrote the email, and even his wording has changed. Before, it was 'pleasant cooperation'; now, it's 'looking forward to a long-term strategic partnership.'"

Old Zhao sat on the sofa and crossed his legs. "Do you know what that means?"

"How many years?"

"Huh?"

"The 'long-term' they mentioned—how many years is it?" Lu Zhixian put the tablet back on the coffee table.

Old Zhao blanked for a moment, then laughed.

"At least three years."

"Fine."

They didn't discuss the matter further.

Lu Zhixian's attention wasn't on that.

He closed his eyes and brought up the system panel.

His popularity points were still rising. With the VALENTE ads launching globally and the 'Godfather drinking tea' topic continuing to ferment.

He stared at the string of numbers for three seconds.

Then he remembered the disastrous outcome of his last three-hundred-draw streak.

Shampoo. Toilet paper. And that iron pot.

Lu Zhixian took a deep breath and moved his finger away from the "Lucky Draw" button.

No rush.

Save them. Use them when truly needed.

The peace didn't last long.

Friday morning, Lu Zhixian was woken up by a call from Old Zhao.

"Have you checked Weibo?"

"No. I was sleeping."

"Get up and look."

Lu Zhixian hung up, picked up his phone, and opened Weibo.

Thirteenth on the trending searches.

#The Capital Behind Lu Zhixian#

He clicked in.

The source was a marketing account called 'Entertainment Monkey' which had posted a long article yesterday afternoon titled: "Lu Zhixian's Road to Success: Genius or Capitalist Scheme?"

Lu Zhixian leaned against the headboard and read it from beginning to end.

The article was about three thousand words long. It traced his career from his debut, listing the time nodes of every viral moment.

"dispelling sorrow" launched with zero promotion, yet was precisely recommended by UP-loaders.

The release of "bubble" was timed perfectly with the peak of public opinion regarding an event.

The release rhythm of the R&B album perfectly matched the schedule of the Youth Singer Competition.

The timing window for the VALENTE endorsement announcement.

Every point was backed by data, with the timeline organized clearly.

The article didn't directly say "Lu Zhixian relied on capital to rise," but the end of every paragraph added an ambiguous remark.

"Such a coincidence once is luck; twice is vision; but if it's every time, then it's worth thinking about."

The final paragraph was written the most ruthlessly.

"In this era, no one can reach this stage purely by talent."

After this article was posted, it didn't make much of a splash for twelve hours.

But in the middle of last night, a financial Big V with over five million followers forwarded it, adding only one sentence.

"Some questions are worth thinking about."

Then it exploded.

The hashtag started climbing at 3:00 AM, and by 8:00 AM, it had squeezed into the top fifteen.

The comment section was split into two factions, arguing incessantly.

"It makes sense; the timing of his viral hits is just too coincidental."

"Can you use your brain? Show me a capitalist scheme that can produce an S-tier voice like that?"

"Don't get excited upstairs, they're just raising questions."

"Raising questions my ass. It's a standard conspiracy theory tactic: first throw out real data to gain your trust, then use hints to guide you to a conclusion. This is at the level of a failing high school argumentative essay."

Lu Zhixian read the article once more, then turned off his phone.

Ten minutes later, Old Zhao arrived.

He shut the door tightly as soon as he entered.

"I've finished reading it." Old Zhao sat down across from Lu Zhixian, his face lacking his usual playful grin. "This isn't something an ordinary marketing account could produce."

"What's not ordinary about it?"

"The data is too detailed. The timing of every song release, the climbing curve of every trending search, even the fluctuations in the brand's stock price before and after your endorsement announcement were dug up." Old Zhao leaned back, fingers interlaced.

"A marketing account doesn't have this capability, nor the motive."

He paused.

"Someone is targeting you. It's organized."

Lu Zhixian didn't speak.

"Think about it, who would be dissatisfied with you lately?"

Lu Zhixian gave a small smile. "That list is too long."

Old Zhao didn't laugh.

"I had someone check the background of that 'Entertainment Monkey.' The account was registered last year and usually posts gossip about various artists with inconsistent quality. Only this piece about you is several levels higher in professionalism. Someone ghostwrote it."

"Who's behind it?"

"Still checking. But I have a guess." Old Zhao held up two fingers.

"Two directions. One, the group of people you've slapped in the face before, taking a shot while you're at your peak. Two—"

He paused.

"Peers. Your commercial value is rising too fast; you've touched more than one person's cake. Once that VALENTE endorsement came out, at least three top-tier stars' business teams held meetings specifically to discuss you."

After hearing this, Lu Zhixian leaned back in his chair.

"Of the things said in the article, which one is false?"

Old Zhao's expression shifted slightly.

"Factually speaking... every single one is true. You really did hit the hype every time, and you really did go viral every time." He chose his words carefully.

"But his logic is reversed. He's hinting that these weren't accidents, but pre-arranged."

"And?"

"And so he's saying you were manufactured. Not grown naturally."

The room fell silent for a few seconds.

Lu Zhixian knew better than anyone that his "precision" was indeed not an accident.

He knew exactly how much of a role the system had played.

He thought for a few seconds and spoke.

"No response."

Old Zhao frowned. "No response?"

"Responding means losing. The more you explain, the more it looks like a guilty conscience." Lu Zhixian stood up and walked to the window.

"He says I was manufactured by capital, so I'll do something that capital can't manufacture."

"What thing?"

Lu Zhixian didn't take the bait.

"Is the time set for my solo stage at the Penguin Gala?"

Old Zhao was startled by the sudden change of topic. "Next month on the eighteenth. Are you serious? You're going to use the gala to respond to this?"

"It's not a response." Lu Zhixian turned around. "It's a lesson."

Old Zhao looked at the expression in his eyes and swallowed his following words.

Having partnered with Lu Zhixian for so long, he knew that every time this man said he was giving a "lesson," it meant someone was going to be in trouble.

"Fine. Then the stage plan—"

"I'll decide it. Don't worry about it."

Old Zhao nodded, picked up his coat, and prepared to leave. He stopped at the door for a moment.

"I'll keep looking into the article. I'll let you know as soon as I find anything."

"Mm."

The door closed.

Lu Zhixian was the only one left in the studio.

He stood by the window for a while, watching the traffic below, then walked back to the desk and sat down.

He closed his eyes.

The system panel expanded.

The popularity points glowed quietly there.

15,370,000.

His gaze slid past the regular lucky draw button and moved to an infrequently used option next to it.

[Targeted Draw].

For the same amount of popularity points, the number of draws was cut directly in half.

But the benefit was clear enough. He could lock in a direction and would no longer pull iron pots and toilet paper.

His finger moved onto it.

[Please select the Targeted Draw direction]

The options expanded one by one.

Life Skills Category. Physical Enhancement Category. Social Charisma Category.

He skipped all irrelevant options, his gaze locking onto one of them.