Starting from a Bar to Sign Internet Celebrities-Chapter 96 - 94: This Looks Like an Arrest

Seeing Lin Hao’s completely baffled expression, Chen Jincheng smiled and explained, "Go to the officers, tell them you’re an influencer, and let them know this incident is trending hard on Tiao Yin. As the victim, you’re willing to cooperate with them for a public service announcement video on preventing covert filming and promoting their anti-vice campaign."

"You have to understand, besides their work on the ground, the officers also have metrics for public outreach. A victim who’s also a famous influencer, with a trending topic that can help promote their cause—they’ll be delighted. The key is, they’ll want more people to know about their brilliant success with this arrest!"

This was also the classic move of ’Mao’ and ’Liu’.

Get the police to back you up.

Use the most authoritative institution to flip the narrative and create a victim persona.

Besides, getting hotel rooms is highly relevant to young people today. Who doesn’t get a room? And nobody wants to be secretly filmed and end up as the stars of some video. It’s an issue that will easily resonate with the public and help turn the tide of opinion.

As for the whole "casting couch" scandal, as long as both parties are single, it’s just a fun little game between a couple.

Some guys even have their girlfriends call them "Big Brother."

That’s nothing. Some people who are more adventurous even have their girlfriends call them "Daddy."

"Holy shit, you can do that?" Lin Hao was completely stunned when he heard this.

"Why not?" Chen Jincheng retorted with a smile.

This was a limitation of current thinking.

’He thought about the other world, where official government accounts had flooded Tiao Yin, and PSAs like this were a dime a dozen.’

Plenty of influencers had worked with the police to film promotional videos for public safety.

Then, he said to Lin Hao, "Remember, before the PSA and their official case announcement are released, you need to do two things. First, take a picture with the officers. Make sure you stand in the middle, with them on either side of you."

"Why?" Lin Hao asked, confused.

Chen Jincheng explained, "Because that will make it look like you’ve been arrested. If that photo is then ’accidentally’ leaked, people will connect the dots and think the real reason you suddenly stopped streaming was because you were caught. That’ll push the hype even higher."

"Fuck me!" Lin Hao was floored by this maneuver.

He couldn’t even imagine how much hype it would generate.

Those commentators who fancy themselves crusaders for justice would probably come out in droves to condemn him.

Chen Jincheng continued, "The second thing is to build yourself a ’male lead’ persona. I don’t need to teach you that one; you should know how to generate that kind of buzz."

"After all, there are a lot of ’teachers’ in a certain country. Become the male lead who loves ’teachers’. Just remember not to post anything borderline on Tiao Yin."

Hearing this, Lin Hao’s eyes grew brighter and brighter, and he became incredibly excited.

He was even starting to consider his choice of "teacher."

Beside them, Qianqian and the Blue-clothed War God, Luo Xin, had faces full of astonishment.

’They were really learning something new today.’

’But damn, if the boss pulls off this persona, won’t he and this Ancestral Master become Tiao Yin’s most infamous duo?’

’The key thing was, if the boss became the male lead, wouldn’t that make them the female leads?’

’This...’

Chen Jincheng smiled again and said, "Actually, if you play this right, this incident can bring you some extra benefits."

Lin Hao was immediately hooked and asked curiously, "Lao Cheng, what do you mean?"

Chen Jincheng explained with a smile, "Using your status as a victim, you can raise awareness about safety issues when staying away from home and land an advertising deal for anti-surveillance devices for hotels."

Besides getting the police endorsement, the most brilliant move ’Mao’ and ’Liu’ made was to promote anti-surveillance devices for hotels at the peak of the hype. Not only did they land an ad deal, but they also sold those products via live stream, making a killing.

Live-stream e-commerce hadn’t taken off yet, but an ad deal would work just fine.

"Holy shit, Lao Cheng, you’re a fucking maverick genius." Lin Hao’s eyes lit up, a plan already forming in his mind.

’Doesn’t his old man’s company have business in this area?’

As time passed, Tiao Yin became a hive of activity. Thanks to Lin Hao’s manipulations, the news story "Influencer Ah Hao Uses Casting Couch on Employee" became a trending topic, reaching an ever-wider audience.

The crucial part was that Lin Hao didn’t even need to do anything to convince people he was a shameless predator who exploited his employees.

The person who broke the story had actually posted a URL to a shady website in their own comment section, using spaces to bypass filters. In a short time, it had received over 50,000 likes.

’Chen Jincheng never would have thought someone could be so ignorant for the sake of chasing clout that they’d earn themselves five years of free room and board.’

’This guy is finished.’

But Lin Hao’s incident absolutely exploded, and the traffic came pouring in.

Seeing this, Chen Jincheng gave his instructions, "Remember, start a live stream tonight at the peak of the hype. Wear a mask, act all guilty, and then abruptly end the stream and go to the police."

Just as he finished explaining, his phone rang.

It was Lao Chen, probably about the commercial shoot.

Sure enough, as soon as the call connected, Lao Chen’s voice came through: "Boss, we’re almost done shooting the commercial on our end. If you have time, you can come over to film the last scene."

"Send me the location." Chen Jincheng said before hanging up. He then turned to Lin Hao. "Alright, I have to go shoot a commercial. You can handle the specifics of the operation from here."

Since Lin Hao was capable of running a media Company MCN, he naturally understood how to hype up this incident.

However, after Chen Jincheng left, Lin Hao remembered the advertising deal. He hurriedly left his own company and, a short while later, drove his sports car to another company, where he met a middle-aged man.

"So, tell me, how’s that Company MCN of yours doing?" the middle-aged man asked as soon as he saw him.

"Dad, it’s going okay. I’ve already made one female influencer popular, and the others have a decent number of followers." Lin Hao explained briefly before changing the subject. "Dad, I came today to talk to you about something. Take a look at this news on Tiao Yin."

He said, handing over a phone that was displaying the news about himself.

Lin Jian took the phone. The first thing he saw was the trending news: "Influencer Ah Hao Uses Casting Couch on Female Employee." Seeing his own son apparently servicing a woman, he flew into a rage. "Fuck! I gave you money to open a media company so you could go do this kind of shit? And you fucking made it onto the trending news for it?"

"Dad, Dad, don’t be angry! I orchestrated this hype myself." Lin Hao, terrified, quickly explained. He then recounted all the moves Chen Jincheng had suggested.

As Lin Jian listened, the anger on his face gradually turned to surprise, then to disbelief. Finally, when he heard about the advertising deal, he was full of praise. "You little rascal, it looks like you’re really cut out for this business. To think you could come up with a scheme like this... I’ll give you the ad deal. How much do you want?"

"Ten million!" Lin Hao demanded, naming an exorbitant price.

"Holy shit, do you think our family company is a bank?" Lin Jian’s expression immediately said, "Don’t even think about it."

Lin Hao quickly said, "Dad, with this level of hype, I might become an A-list influencer. Tiao Yin has an advertising leaderboard right now, and I want to hit the top spot to build momentum. Setting aside the benefits of this specific ad, I’ll bring my company’s influencers to do two promotional events for your company later. Isn’t that worth ten million?"

"Fine. I’ll have someone contact your company." Lin Jian finally agreed.

As a father, his son’s future was his constant worry. Since his son could make it in this industry, what was another ten million to build up his momentum when he’d already given him thirty million?

"Thanks, Dad." Lin Hao quickly expressed his gratitude and rushed back to his company to prepare the advertising contracts. Besides the one with his old man’s company, he also had to file one with Tiao Yin.

He still had to give Tiao Yin a damn 5% cut of that ten million. But even so, after deducting the cost of the Ferrari S90 for Lao Cheng, he was still making a huge profit.

’The gears in Lin Hao’s mind were turning, calculating his profits with glee!’